"We're almost at the bridge to Mactan island." Ricardo said as they were walking through the same streets they passed by when they retreated. Besides the houses that were destroyed, even the main roads didn't have as many abandoned cars as one would expect during an catastrophe like this. It didn't fit how an apocalypse would usually look like, thematically. Of course, that was based on television shows. In other parts of the world however, that was indeed the case. It was only because the Philippines was attacked at such a weird hour, much like other countries with similar time zones.

Just as they were getting close, Luna and Sura suddenly stopped, holding up a finger to his lips, signaling for the others to be quiet.

"Do you hear that?" He was looking towards Sura, of course. He didn't expect the others to hear something he could only faintly hear.

"Chirping? No, squeaking. Stay here, I'll scout the area." Not giving Luna any time to reply, Sura took off.

"Lord Luna, what's going on?" Astrid asked.

"We may have a rat problem in our hands." Luna had a serious expression on his face. He wasn't afraid of ETZs or EHZs, he wasn't even that as afraid of facing off against other mutant beasts. The rats however, while a few of them were negligible, but a group of rats, a whole mischief of rats was a another problem.

This was also why Luna wanted to conquer the whole of Negros island. How expansion worked in this new world, was that it removed the need for a sewage system. Even the simple were equipped with disposal systems that made sewage systems obsolete. Or any other type of disposal for that matter.

It removed any preexisting sewers underground, the walls extended underground as well, to where the part you see above ground was only considered the tip of the iceberg. The more you expanded, the farther the underground pests got pushed away automatically.

The rats and roaches took notice of this when the structures were being built, and fled instinctively. When Luna noticed this, he expanded even faster after taking over Bacolod City. After swiftly taking over the whole island, the rats and the roaches scrambled to flee.

They had grown in size and power, but they were still weak enough that the numerous Mages made short work of shepherding them away from the territories. Some of them battled it out with the mutant beasts in Mt. Kanlaon and were eventually devoured, some of them became sustenance for the marine life lying in wait, while a huge majority of them fled past the bridges and settled in the sewers of the yet to be conquered and developed lands.

"Luna." Sura communicated back as soon as she got a visual.

"Sura, what's going on over there?"

"You're not gonna believe this. It looks like the rats are having some type of... tournament?"

"A tournament?" Even with his heightened sense of hearing, Luna was still unsure if heard it right.

"Lord Luna." Astrid interjected. As a caretaker of a species as sensitive as the Tarsiers, she was an experienced Biologist in all branches, while Ricardo, Alfred, and Jean were more specialized as Zoologists. "The rats must be determining an Alpha male."

"An alpha?"

"Yes. When rats encounter each other for the first time, they have to determine their pecking orders and figure out who is alpha. I usually wouldn't exactly call it as organized as a 'tournament' but if Lady Sura actually says it is, then it has to be. We can only attribute this to their evolution."

"So you're telling me all of the surviving rats are about to get more organized? How come you didn't encounter them before?"

"Unfortunately, yes. As for your second question, I honestly have no clue." Astrid regretfully answered.

"Lord Luna, I have a guess as to why they're all above ground, and near the Mactan bridge at that." Jean who was usually the shy, quiet type, finally spoke up.

"Speak."

After hesitating for a moment, she spoke. "I have a feeling that whatever caused the Tarsiers to evolve faster than regular mutant beasts is what's attracting them towards that general direction."

"That seems logical. Or else we'd have received reports of this in the North and South as well. Regardless, this is bad news. We need to get to whatever that source is before they do." He truly regretted not bringing Emergency Food or Angry Bakunawa with him now. He wanted to be inconspicuous, but with these new developments, that wasn't an option any longer. "Sura, keep a close watch on those rats for now."

Right after saying that, he contacted Maxene immediately. "Max, where are you right now?"

"FATHER! Father you'll never guess what I did! Hana and Mabini? They're officially a couple now! I was gonna help them with the Siquijor island subjugation in the South. Why? Do you need me, father?" Maxene on the other end of the line was even more enthusiastic than she usually was. So much so that despite the urgency, Luna couldn't bear to cut her off. Regardless, her story only took a few seconds, so it wasn't a big deal. These days, Luna was finding out more and more why Fathers usually end up spoiling their daughters.

"Yes, I need you as soon as possible. It's imperative that you arrive at my location as soon as possible. Can you do that for me, Max?"

"Yes, father! I'm on my way now!" Right after that she barked out orders to the three tamed beasts "World Destroyer, Spot! Help out the lovebirds for now, okay? Emergency Food come with me! We have to go help father. Okay, bye!" Running towards Angry Bakunawa, she turned around, look towards Hana and Mabini and gave them a devilish grin. "Bye lovebirds!" she then ran towards the spatial gate, as they left right away.

Hana could only look down in embarrassment while Mabini scratched his head. "This little girl.."

Right after the mischievous little cupid left, Hana regained her composure and asked. "What could possibly make Lord Luna require help with?"

"Whatever it is, it's probably way over our heads. We should focus on Siquijor for now, the sooner we can secure it, the less we have to worry about any offensive from the South." Mabini replied as he ushered Hana to go with him and finish preparations.

Back in Cebu.

"Sura, Max is on her way, she should be here in around 30 minutes or less. Are there any new developments?"

"None yet. They don't seem to be finishing anytime soon. I have a question for you guys." Sura was now in open communication with the rest of the party. "What about the cockroaches you were talking about earlier?"

"This.. We don't quite know, some animal and insect behaviors are consistent with how they were prior to the new world, but some change faster than others. There's no way we could predict what would happen. But if I were to guess, the roaches must be gathered in certain locations. They're not usually aggressive, but that could change very quickly."

This was the main issue with the new world. Nobody knew how much beasts, insects, and arachnids would evolve. There were too many factors that didn't appear in the stories, movies, or comics about this.

***

In the municipality of Medellin, Northern Cebu.

The whole area was like a living nightmare made of webs. Countless cocoons were everywhere, some were still squirming, as spiders with legs up to 5-feet long were wrapping up the the rest of the town's remaining survivors.

A man was hugging his daughter as half of their bodies were already wrapped up in silk. "We should have left with the others. We should have left! Now my daughter has to die because of my idiocy. We should have left with the others... we should have." He didn't have time to speak as the rest of their bodies were wrapped up, and the spider administered a lethal injection through it's fangs.

This man was the leader of a small territory. He didn't want to give up his position of power even when most of the people in his community left to join the . Without a solid base of power, things like this could happen to territories like his at any given time.