After Phobos took half an hour to put Diana back to sleep he went out of the room, washed up and started going to the room he was converting into a staircase to the basement. However, as he walked downstairs Eve jumped up onto him. Phobos hardly felt her weight but was interested in what she was doing.

“Master, morning. Good job on placing Diana in her place. I would have joined you but felt that you should be alone. By the way Master, the group from yesterday is a lot worse than I imagined. Maybe we should do something about it.”

While clinging to him Eve’s chipper voice was echoed in the hallway. Phobos was a bit surprised at her actions. Eve had always been a lot more lively compared to Hera and him but she seemed a lot more excited today.

“You should refrain from using that title, It has negative connotations. As for the group. Is it our place to control them? Even if we view their actions as morally wrong, this is just our own subjective view of them. Like some people would view your ambitions as wrong.”

Phobos was reasoning with Eve at the same time he released her grip on him. Eve seeing that she can’t be carried by Phobos just clung to his arm and started walking beside him.

“What’s wrong with the word Master? It has meaning to me. You know that it shows my dedication towards you. Also now there is no society to judge us for the use of a simple word.”

Eve pouted her lips and was acting cute but Phobos didn’t pay any attention to that. He knew her fox-like nature so any emotion she shows can’t be believed. Before Phobos coped with this by ignoring almost everything coming from Eve’s mouth but now he just had to check her mood through the link and he instantly knows her true emotions.

This is why he knew that at the moment she was just voicing a bit of displeasure. Although she did value the word a bit but didn’t have such a strong attachment to it.

“And what is wrong with my ambition? I only want to create a close-knit group that is totally dedicated to you. If someone found a problem with that he would just be small-minded. As for Star’s group, it is totally different. It is obvious that something is wrong when so much suffering is created.”

Eve was giving a passionate speech and was leading Phobos to walk to the dining area. He was originally going right to the staircase as he wasn’t feeling hungry but in reality, he hadn’t eaten in a while.

Wondering what was going on, Phobos analyzed himself and found out that he was subconsciously using some of the energy being sent to him to power his vital needs. This is why he hadn’t been craving anything to eat. This was only possible because he had passively improved his body to be capable of using this energy.

That being said as he was already here he would eat something. Phobos sat down on the table and realized that Star had been following them the whole time. His senses had been improved to such a degree that the information that she was behind them was already sent to his brain but Phobos had just ignored it. He was intrigued by how much disregard he had for his surroundings.

Especially this should be a stressful time and he should be extra sensitive but on the contrary, he was more unconcerned than usual about it. It may be because he has become really confident in his physical ability.

While analyzing his body he found that his inability to turn off the simulated world in his mind was fixed. Now he was easily capable of turning it off and on a whim. He can choose an item to upgrade the design on. The only limitation was that it should be an item he had already analyzed with his ability. Phobos would leave the simulated world turned on most of the time to improve designs as there was no need to waste free processing power.

“You know that I don’t like people being forced to do anything they don’t want to. So anything similar to what Star was about to endure being done would rub me the wrong way. But If I was to go and stop them and force them to comply it would be the same as me doing something I don’t like other people doing.”

Phobos seeing that there was already food on the table started eating. He didn’t like the taste of meat dishes very much but as this is what was mainly prepared so that the meat doesn’t go bad he would eat it. For some reason, cooked meat didn’t go down his throat that easily. He didn’t have a problem with cold cuts, however. Or when the meat is wrapped or covered with carbs. Like with burgers and wraps.

“The reason I am allowing you to do whatever you want is because if I forbid you I would be transgressing my few dislikes. There is also the reason that although you are using ambiguous means, you don’t force anyone to do anything. If you were to do so I would most likely not say anything but would distance myself from you. Although it may be hard to hear, helping Star was already a bit much for me. However, as Hera had already jumped in I would of course follow.”

Phobos was a bit confused. His whole life he has been nonconfrontational because he didn’t see any merit in it. If he saw a problem in his proximity he always just took his distance and at most reported it to the authority that has jurisdiction on that problem.

Even when his father died and left him a lot of companies he sold most of them because they were heavily intertwined in politics or complicated partnerships. He would rather take a bit of a financial loss than fighting over control.

The amount of authority and money gained wouldn’t be worth the loss of peace while contending. At least that is the case with Phobos. It may be because of his upbringing or his innate personality but he didn’t have any ambition. So if he had the finances to feed himself until his death he couldn’t figure out a reason to struggle.

That being the case he didn’t know what to do. If what Eve was saying was the truth ignoring Don’s group wasn’t that easy. Although he was really uncomfortable dictating what a person can and can’t do, in this situation he didn’t know whether action or inaction was worse.

A self-righteous person would immediately go and condemn them of their wrongdoings. Even a person with a normal moral compass and the power Phobos possess would go and stop them without hesitation. Phobos however was too mindful if it was his right to interfere in their group dynamic.

If Phobos was to be attacked by someone or directly confronted his decision would be easy. However, as in this situation, he would be the aggressor and would be imposing his own arbitrary moral code. It was a difficult decision for him.

Two of his beliefs were in contention. The belief that humans shouldn’t be restricted and the belief that nobody should harm anyone intentionally. The answer to this dilemma was technically easy. That being - People should be able to do whatever they want as long as they aren’t causing harm to others.

However, who is to decide what is harming someone. In the case of Don’s group although the women at the moment are being tormented there is the possibility that they would live longer in this group than outside of it.

Hypothetically, Phobos went and killed all the men in the group that had raped and the women were left alone. After that, they would be left without the protection of the group and would most likely be attacked by some mutant and would be killed. In this situation was Don the one harming them or was Phobos.

Of course for Phobos by his own standards, he would be in the clear in this situation because his harm wasn’t intentional. This is where the problem lies. If he were to choose to rescue the helpless women he would be transgressing both his beliefs.

If he were to go to Don’s group it was unlikely the problem to be solved peacefully. So he would be going and intentionally harming people while restricting their freedom. And on top of that, there was an unknown result and consciences to follow. Phobos thought that it would be strange if he made a decision easily.

“Master I can see that you are having a tough time deciding. How about you leave everything to us. Although this isn’t a perfect solution as we are technically an extension of you. However, you shouldn’t mind as me and the girls would be acting on our own accord.”

Phobos didn’t know if that made any difference but it can only be so until he figures out his own morality. The biggest problem wasn’t that he was confused if this was the right move. It was easy to save the women and give them some shelter so that tragedies don’t follow. The biggest problem for Phobos was that if he were to do so it would set a precedent.

If he goes once to judge and then sentences the people that he sees are in the wrong through his own lens of morality then doing it a second time is almost certain. After the second time, there would be a third, fourth and after that, it would be a normal occurrence. Then would he go around policing people's behavior? Prosecuting without the jurisdiction to do so? Judging without the right to judge?

Having finished his meal Phobos got up and started going out of the restaurant. Being a bit muddled in the head he didn’t feel like going back to improving the basement so he went out to find Hera to see what she was doing. At the entrance, he saw his sword wrapped up in leather stips so he took it.

When Phobos was going out he sensed that Star had gotten up and had bowed in his direction. She hadn’t said anything the whole time but she had been looking at him constantly. The bow was most likely a thank you for yesterday. Phobos found that strange because just a minute ago he admitted that he was reluctant to even help.

Phobos being so handsome gained him a high affinity towards women. Even if he said something bad they would mostly ignore it. His affinity was so high that when something good happened to a woman around him she had the tendency to attribute it to him. Like when Star was rescued even if Phobos hardly did anything she believed he was the main reason.

And when there is Eve going around spouting propaganda in everyone's ears having a good impression of Phobos isn’t hard. Although to a lesser degree Megan and Alice felt the same gratitude. Eve was working on Anna as well but now that Star had come along she was once again downgraded to a lower priority.

After Phobos walked out of the restaurant he started looking for a car. Although the luxury van was there he left it so that Eve, Diana, and Star have a vehicle if needed. Going about a hundred meters in the direction he sensed Hera he saw a suitable car. It was a crashed muscle car. Most likely being crashed in the night where everybody fell into a coma.

Although the car had crashed it wasn’t damaged much. The driver's door was opened and when Phobos went closer he saw that there were no bodies inside. It was likely that the driver got out of the car after the crash and unluckily became a mutant. There are other possibilities and hopefully, the driver was alive but in either case, Phobo would be using his car.

Phobos exerted a bit of strength and easily moved the car back on the road. He went around analyzing the whole car and then started improving it. It didn’t take him long until he sat in the car and started it.

After that Phobos started driving in the direction he sensed Hera was. However, he was just cruising along and didn’t hurry. There were a lot of thoughts in his head but he didn’t want to think much so he initiated his ability and started improving his sword that was in his lap. This lessened his thinking capability.

There wasn’t anything major to improve on the sword but the leather strips that were wrapped around started transforming into a scabbard made out of hard leather. Whoever wrapped the sword in the cut-up leather clothing most likely had the same idea.

It was very strange driving around in this dead city. The few times he went around it was quiet as well but now there was no movement anywhere. The knowledge that there were dangerous mutants had spread. There was no electricity, no tools of communication and heavy uncertainty towards the future.

Thankfully there was still water but no one knew until when. Everybody was using this blessing to find a safe hiding place and try to live through the most dangerous period. When society begins to recover they would get out with minimal losses. The problem was that the majority of the population had the same mindset and there were very few people going around actively trying to reconstruct society.

Everyone wanted to wait for the final product without inputting any effort. In peaceful times this isn’t so bad as long as they contribute to the running of the economy but if there is no major change in their mentality the situation would only get worse.

Most people didn’t intentionally avoid the responsibility of rebuilding society but they didn’t know what to do. They didn’t have any direction or understanding of what they can do to better the situation as a whole. This is why groups like Don’s are created.

A person with the least bit of leadership skill can take advantage of the confusion a disaster situation creates to take control of a group. One of the cheap tactics used is what Don was using. Tempting the males to do something taboo to create a distorted unity with the knowledge that after overstepping the line they can’t go back. At the same time degrade the females and make them think that they are useless and only in this group do they have a chance to live.

Phobos continued to drive the car and tried to think less about that. It didn’t take him long to reach the destination by following the link with Hera. The destination was a mall and when he got there Hera, Anna, Megan and Alice were just getting off the van that was used.

There was an additional trailer attached to it for additional carrying capacity. There were a lot of different objects and machines placed on it. Half of them Phobos didn’t know what they were for. Hera and the girls had roamed the whole town searching for useful equipment.

Seeing that a car was approaching, the girls waited to welcome it. Hera had already sensed that it was Phobos coming so there were no protective measures taken. Otherwise, they would have already taken some defensive positions. They had experienced two attacks since the morning and that was only from humans. They had been attacked quite a few times by mutants. To the point that it was strange Phobos’s ride was so peaceful.

“Hello, boss. What brings you around?” As Phobos was getting out of the car Hera greeted him with the other women. “We are at our last stop. It should be the most exciting in terms of mutant population but the items we are gathering from the mall aren’t that interesting. In the previous locations, we found a lot of treasures in this small town.”

“Well. I shall follow you around for a bit.”

Phobos was less keen to talk than he usually is. Hera saw that and just called up the girls to enter the mall. Phobos followed quietly behind. He saw that Hera was a lot closer with them than yesterday. The few hours this morning had brought them together. Phobos was happy to see that.

It was nice to have a good relationship as they would be stuck together for the foreseeable future. Phobos was thankful that the new members in his close circle were so reasonable. However to be truthful if they weren’t he would have just taken Eve and Hera and left long ago.

Phobos really can’t tolerate any irrational behavior or some kind of intrigue in his vicinity. If he saw something like that he tried to stay clear from it. This is the reason that he doesn’t have any close people other than Hera and Eve.

It can be said that this disaster has made some people a lot more logical and tame as it put a lot of things into perspective. It has also made Phobos a bit more accepting as he knew how much more powerful the collective is against the individual. Before he could make do with money but now that was an unneeded resource.

Entering the mall everybody followed Hera closely. Most of the big glass at the entrance was broken so coming in was easy. The women were instinctively walking in an immature formation. Hera was in the center. Alice and Megan were flanking her and Anna was falling a bit behind watching the rear. Phobos was just on the side and didn’t mean to join in and ruin their synergy.

Everyone was holding their revolvers. Looking around vigilantly and trying to notice the presence of mutants before the mutant noticed them. Although Phobos had a revolver on him as well he didn’t draw it out. He was just holding his sheathed sword.

“Okay girls. You have had the time to get used to the mutants.” Hera called out to the girls who were vigilant. “I have been taking care of the mutants who attacked us the whole morning and you haven’t had the chance to really go face to face with them but as we already talked about this time you will have to get your hands dirty.”

Seeing the serious faces of the girls Hera continued informing them.

“The population of mutants in the mall is expected to exceed ten. I shall be watching over you and with the help of the boss there shouldn’t be any problems but that doesn’t mean you can take things lightly. With the power of a mutant, any random strike can be fatal.”

Hera looked around and nodded after noting that the tension hadn’t loosened much.

“Last things ladies. Do mind the recoil. These bad boys have a kick.”