《The Ancient Relic (Axed)》


 Prologue__

    "Fuck you" I swore at the man at front of me and ended it with a spit as I struggled to remove his hands from my neck, which he used to hold me up to the air.


    But I couldn''t... Blood was slowly dripping down from both of my barely movable arms onto the metallic floor, which created a pool of blood as he stared at me with delight.


    "Ah... You are just like your father, Vincent" he said with a snicker.


    "Did you know? Your parents and I survived that hour...."


    "But when I couldn''t find it... I knew, that you had it Vincent"


    "That priceless look on your father as I killed your mother at front of him"


    "How blind can both of you be!"


    "Kekekekeke!" he laughed maliciously.


    "Could have been worse, but at least I kept their dignity..."


    "She is beauty after all... Your father is a lucky one, I could barely hold myself back, but I did"


    "Oi, oi, oi... What''s with that look on your face Vincent!" he asked me as he slapped me with his unholstered gun against my cheek multiple times.


    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    "However your father pleaded for me not to kill you, as he begged with his petty life after I finished off your mother"


    "At least as a friend I still have to oblige to it, right?" he calmly said and threw me onto the floor which made me cough out blood helplessly from my mouth.


    How I wanted to kill him right now but couldn''t, how I wanted to swear at him but couldn''t either... How I wanted to do something!


    "I will have you die here by Ashinova" he said with a big laugh.


    "But first... Let me help you with that blind issue you had, just like your father" he grinned.


    As I laid there on the cold floor with my warm blood smearing upon my back. I could see that he hovered his fingers with his right hand above me face. Actually at front of my eyes. I tried to resist by turning my head, but couldn''t as he held me tightly with his left hand.


    "AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGHHHHHHHHHH!"


    ...

 Chapter. 1

    I''m not a native English speaker, please don''t judge :(. (Never trust Quick edit anymore....)


    Chapter. 1:1 Vincent Walter________________________________________________


    "Hmm, does these clothings look good on me?" I asked myself while turning my body around at front of a mirror to see if the set of clothing fit me.


    As I stare into the tall and clean mirror wondering if I look good or not, I could see a teenager from the asiatic regions of earth who were around 1.6 meters tall. Looking at myself through the mirror of my reflection I then smiled and tried to flex my arm with my black and red checkered shirt. But in the end the expression changed to a sulk as no muscle expanded with the reason being that I had never trained my body ever since I was born. Now rising my gaze slowly away from my slim arms in the mirror until I could see my plain face that had a silly grin to it, brown eyes and black messy short hair, I could only comment with a ¡°meh¡± as I scratched my hair thinking that it fit me perfectly.


    Anyways... I am Vincent Walter, soon to become an adult at the age of 15. Also the only son of the most well known couple in the world of technology known as the Walters.


    The reason why they were so well know, was because my parents have invented countless of inventions, which not only advanced the technology era a few years forward but also improved the security risk, health risk and all the daily needs of your daily life. These inventions didn¡¯t just cause an uproar in the universe, but it also won them the most technology trophies. Sadly it was not as big as the inventor who started the space era or rather space expedition around 1000 years ago...


    Even though I didn''t really care about their accomplishments, just knowing that I am their only child made me only ponder each day at front of my workstation if I should try to surpass them or not. With that in mind, I turned around and walked a few steps away from my mirror across the plain and chilly bedroom with all sort of devices I had made laying around everywhere, until I reached my 8 years old workstation. Staring down onto my old table I then slided my hand across the smooth and cold metal surface of the table with a large ESD mat and all kinds of tools stuck on the wall behind to the it. Now gazing at my awesome working tools that I called partners, I could recall my memories of the past, the memories that which decided my fate and set me on the path of an engineer like my father and mother.


    ¡­


    ¡°Dad! What are you making this time?¡± The seven years old me asked with a cute tone while sticking his head up from the opposite side of his father¡¯s working table, while looking curiously at him. Looking at him do his work I could only see him smile with success each time he used the screwdriver or another set of tool to build his weird device that looked like some sort of bag. It took a while though before he could answer my question, but it was probably because he was in an intense situation since my genius mother usually assisted him with her second pair of hands.


    Actually sometimes I wondered why he didn¡¯t use the robot arm that every working station had to assist him, was it because he loved the traditional way? Either way, I didn¡¯t mind since it allowed me to skip the boring school because they thought that I assisted my father on his work like a trainee.


    After a while of quietness or rather the sound of tinkering, I had observed every detail he used to construct the device at front of him while he sat on a chair. Soon after I noticed that he had completed the device, because he gave out a sigh of satisfaction that had accumulated from the stress of doing the heavy work alone and then he stood up from his chair while brushing off the dripping sweat from his forehead.


    :hotinhere:


    ¡°Hah¡­ Son, this is a small waist bag that can be attached to a belt with the function of shrinking objects within the diameter of 15 centimeters to a tenth of its size¡± he said with a smile while trying to act cool as if he didn¡¯t break a sweat while trying to construct it.


    :ano:


    After he had said that, I could only gape in awe of the device that was the first of its existence and also of how it could shrink objects with a certain mass and form...


    He then patted my head with a smile and said ¡°Well, I actually made it for you Vincent¡±.


    ¡°Waaaa! Thank you father!¡± I said and hugged his legs with my eyes closed and gently massaging my cheek with the help of his warm jeans.


    :kya:


    After a few seconds snuggling around his legs I could see my father give out a big grin and said ¡°Only if you can create one identical to this¡±.


    :agift:


    Shocked from what he had said I took a few steps back from father and asked ¡°But¡­ this is my first time making something...¡±.


    :whosh2:


    ¡°Tch, tch, tch, This is a challenge from your father¡± He said with his pointy finger swaying up and down taunting me.


    ¡°But this is also the first gift you have ever given me...¡± I said while sulking hoping that I would have to...


    :noei:


    ¡°I believe in you son.. Just let me put in the parts and the schematics in the bag and attached it to a belt so that you could try to build it at home where mom have just installed a brand new working station in your room.¡± he said while searching the rubble of parts in his private room of the workshop and packed a few of them inside the bag.


    :keih:


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry Vincent, there is no time limit. Just take your time and enjoy it.¡± He said with a smile to me and gave me the belt.


    ¡°After all in the past few years you have shown great interest but have yet taken the first step, don¡¯t you think it is time for you to try it once at least?¡± he added while gently scrubbing my messy short hair with a grin that indicated that he was right.


    :keuhkeuh:


    ¡­


    Now touching the 5 bags attached to the belt on my waist including the one my father made years ago, I could only remember the look of my father that day, gaping with his mouth open as if I did something impossible. Well thinking about it I did create the device in one day afterall. ¡°Cough¡± Of course, I totally didn¡¯t ask my mother for help that day who single handedly made it together with me without breaking out sweat like my father¡­ She probably laughed behind his back the whole week after seeing my father weep in his bed.


    :panda:


    Fiddling with my cool looking black belt with the bags for a while, I soon after started to recall another memory of my past. The day I got the challenge was also the day I had met my first friends or childhood friends. The reason why it took me so long to obtain a friend was because I didn¡¯t really try to socialize with others, but instead I read a lot of books about the latest technology, novels and all sort of stuff that were abnormal for a young and supposedly playful child. Everyone else just thought I was weird and distanced from me instead who always sat near the corner alone as I read books in the classroom while they talked about video games, guns, the other gender, martial arts and what they did with their friends the other day and so on so forth.


    Anyways if I could remember it correctly... It was right afterward I had gotten the challenge from my dad as I started to sprint as fast as possible to my home, which was around 100 meters away from my father¡¯s working place. As I did I also met a lot of my father¡¯s co workers on the way and each time I passed one of them I also greeted them with a wave and a smile, which of course they responded with the same response I did. After a while of left and right turning I was soon after close to my home, which just needed a left turn on a corner a few meters away at front of me and a few meter dash to my front door. But as soon as I took the turn on the corner, I accidently bumped into someone.


    :cries:


    ¡­


    With a ¡°THUD!¡± I fell onto the floor backwards landing with my butt first at front of the person I bumped. Holding my forehead which was now red from pain because of the bump, I opened my eyes that was once closed from reflex of the incident, just to see a really cute short red haired girl on the floor with a white and green school uniform and a black skirt of above knee length at front of me.


    ¡°Watch where you are going!¡± I said angrily at her without thinking even though I knew I was at fault because I didn¡¯t check around the corner before dashing, but still my pride didn¡¯t allow me to admit it.


    :kawa:


    But no answers was heard from the person at front of me, which made me worry about her anxiously instead. Maybe I went a little bit too far? Now gazing upon her eyes with anxious feelings of my wrong doings, I could see a few tears welling up in her crystal clear blue eyes with long black eyelashes.


    :whosh2:


    ¡°Sniff...Sniff...Sniff¡­¡± Could be heard from the young girl, who soon after started to scrub her eyes with both of her tiny hands while trying to hold in her feelings.


    Just looking at the girl trying to act tough at front of me even though the hints told otherwise, I was now aware of what I had done to her and facepalmed myself of how stupid I could be. The atmosphere felt really awkward as I stared at the girl, hence I decided that I had to do something to ease the situation.


    That is when I realised that this was just like a situation in a novel I had read a few weeks ago. Luckily I had the required objects to do it. Quickly I moved closer to the crying girl and gently gave her a big hug and a few pats to her smooth and silky short hair that seemed to be a natural red colour, other than that I tried to soothe her pain as I did.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry...¡± I repeatedly said for a few times with my ear next to hers, while I started to gently pat her back instead. I couldn¡¯t help but smell her pleasant and sweet fragrance while I did though. But after a while she then stopped crying or rather the sniffing and somehow everything went better than I had expected.


    "This should be fine I guess", I told myself after a while and helped her up and soon after put some distance between us since the atmosphere started to become more awkward than before even though the situation called for it.


    Looking closely at her, she had a pale skin and was around my age. I would give a 10 out of 10 for cuteness, but other than that, I knew that a few gentle pats and hugs wouldn¡¯t have forgiven me or so the novel said... Hence I searched for the lollipop, which I have noticed that my father had snuck into my bag before making me leave the workshop. Probably because he wanted to encourage me to work on the belt. Anyways the main character gave something sweet to the other person, which meant that I also had to give something close that happened to be the lollipop.


    ¡°He...here¡± I hesitantly said and stretched my right hand forward to her with my rainbow coloured lollipop on the palm while trying to glance away because of embarrassment.


    ¡°Fo.. for me?¡± the redhead shyly asked with glimmering eyes with her hands near her chest as if she wanted to pray for something.


    KAWAIIII! I wanted to scream but didn¡¯t...


    :kya:


    I couldn¡¯t help but give out a smile as I saw her cute face questioning my decision and her eyes blinking with those long eyelashes. But soon after I could see that she struggled to pick the lollipop up from my palm, since for some unknown reason she hesitantly decided not to and dropped it a few times and then retried once again after another...


    After a while of watching her yes and no decisions, I remembered that my father¡¯s challenge was waiting for me and what he did to make me decide decide once and for all. That was by forcefully shoving it upon me... Hence I gave out a sigh to distract her and make her confused for a sec, which as planned she really did and quickly I made my move by grabbing her hand with my empty hand and gently pulled the girl towards me so that she landed on my chest. Soon after I embraced her with the same arm to my warm chest. This made us look at each other embarrassedly face to face as if we were a couple.


    ¡°Here¡± I said once again and forcefully gave her my lollipop as she looked up to me while resting her chin to my chest. As I did though, I could once again smell her sweet fragrance. Probably the popular shampoo brand that has been going around here I guessed.


    ¡°Tha..Thanks¡­ I guess¡± she said as she took the lollipop while her pale and smooth face turn bright red.


    Looking at her cute lips I soon after noticed that she still had a few tears near her crystal clear blue eyes on the beautiful face. Quickly I took out my handkerchief that my mother have told me to always have near me and gently scrubbed the last tear off from her smooth face and asked ¡°So, what¡¯s your name?¡±.


    Waiting for her answer I could see that she hesitantly tried to answer, but finally said ¡°Cat...Catherine¡±.


    But right after i had I heard the name Catherine, I started to get a lot of goosebumps around my body¡­ Blinking my eyes a few times as I shrug my head confusingly if I had heard that right, I asked her once again just to make sure who she was...


    :perche:


    ¡°Wait, Catherine from class 2B?¡±


    She nodded and looked away since she knew why I asked her that question...


    Suddenly a strong fear struck my heart and in reflex I went into hiding position behind Catherine, which made her cutely jump a bit and right after I checked the vicinity for someone. Hoping that what I feared didn¡¯t come as I checked the vicinity for something for a few seconds with her confusingly looking at me.


    I soon after gave out a heavy sigh in relief and hugged her since what I feared didn¡¯t come¡­ Although thinking back, I didn¡¯t know why I hugged her, was it because she made me calm down with her petite body? Other than that, I soon after found out the hardway of my mistake...


    ¡°What the heck! Get OFF my SISTER!¡± I could hear someone shout from the end of the hallway to the left side of me. And whoever he was, the gap between us quickly shortened with each long step he took as he ran towards me. Struck with fear, I quickly released Catherine who let out a cute ¡°eek!¡± and I ran with my life in the line to my apartment a few meters away.


    ¡°I CAN MAKE IT!¡± I shouted with confidence and fear...


    As I made my way to the front door, I stumbled a few times like a idiot, but soon after regained my pace once again to the door. But as I did, I could hear a few cute chuckle from behind me from Catherine...


    :cries:


    A second later I was now opening the front door of my apartment, which released a ray of light filled with hope from behind it onto me. Smiling with tears flowing out of my eyes I then felt something tingling on my stomach.


    Quickly my heart went ¡°Doki doki doki¡± beating so fast and pumping the blood to my head so that I started to see and feel everything in slow motion.


    In curiosity of the source of the tingling feeling on my stomach I then slowly turned my head to my stomach so that I could check what it was¡­But what I saw was her half brother Dario giving me a falcon punch to the stomach, which made it vibrate as if my stomach were made out of water and a single drop of water disturbed it causing it to pulsate like waves.


    :punch:


    I didn¡¯t know what he did to obtain such strength, but he did have the strength of a giant that snapped me out of my slow motion and made me fly until I got stopped by a wall with a ¡°Thud!¡±.  Slowly gliding down from it I saw that Catherine were jumping around while cheerfully clapping her hand to her half brother Dario who blew some air onto his hands of as if it was a gun and said ¡°Fatality¡±¡­. Watching her I let out my last words ¡°Ka.. waii¡­¡± and soon after passed out for an hour¡­


    :kya: :imdead:


    ¡­


    Well that is what I remember at least and after various incidents we somehow became childhood friends. But even though I wasn¡¯t really sociable with others, for some reason wherever I went the other students always distanced from me or rather us. This lasted for a few years until I didn¡¯t care anymore and went on with my reading of magazines about the technology or something near that. But whenever I could, I always hanged out with my new made friends who were Catherine and Dario, even though we started out rough at the start nevertheless it was always fun to be with them.


    It was only later that I found out that there was a weird rumors circling around the school¡­ Something about me being the slave of the sadistic brother and sister who beated me to a pulp and if anyone went near me they would also be beaten to a pulp. No idea how that escalated so quickly¡­ Not that I cared though but still, it was weird that I somehow always got into the same class as them from that day on...


    But enough about that. Right now we have more important matters at hand and that is deciding if these clothings on me  is good enough or not for my 15th birthday. Rotating my waist around left and right, I checked for the last time my back and front to see if anything was out of place with the help of my tall mirror in the bright lit room. Fixing a few mistakes on my sleeve and the collar of my shirt, I then gave a few poses to judge how I looked on them together with my belt that had 5 bags attached to it. They had everything that I needed from tools like screwdriver, pencil, a few papers, ESD mat, you could say that I had everything that I needed to build or repair something outside of my home. Hence I always had them on me wherever I went even though I didn¡¯t really need them, but I thought of them as part of myself, which is why I did.


    ¡°This should be fine I guess¡± I said with a sigh and then switched the lights off which engulfed the room in total darkness before going out of it. But since I had been living in this room ever since I was born, the darkness didn¡¯t really affect me at all. But I did see a tiny fraction of pluto covering my whole window with a few bright lights from the city on its surface¡­ Other than that, all you could see was the shadow of the giant space station blocking the sun from bathing its sun over Pluto.


    Afterwards I opening the door to the outside and fixed my sleeves for the last time and soon after went to the rail of fences on the second floor, to look down to the lounge room to see how the party goes.


    Taking a peek everywhere I could, I could count up to at least 20 acquaintances of my father that I knew chatting with each other with a drink and some kind of chocolate cookie at hand. These people also had their own unique and distinct features from around the universe. Even with all their uniqueness though, they all had something in common and that was that they lived in this international space station named Ashinova, which had the diameter of 25km I believe.


    Ashinova had a long tube like structure in the center that had all the vital parts of the space station while also having a donut like structure called the sectors ,which was connected to the tube with the help of train tunnels. The sectors were divided by 20 and right now I was in sector 16.


    Even though we call this the international space station, it was still rare to have a traveler to come this far unless it had something to do with technology. Not only that, being a dwarf planet that didn¡¯t orbit the star system, no one really wanted to go so far out.


    Right now the Ashinova were orbiting around the half terraformed pluto and the reason why I called it half terraformed, was because it could now hold lifeforms but it was still a cold and freezing planet since Pluto is so far away from the sun. Which meant that barely no one wanted to ever live there unless it was for hunting a creature living there that provided a lot of energy.


    It¡¯s a creature that adapted quickly to the changes of the terraformation and quickly became the top predator or rather it was the only living creature that could live in the cold and desolated dwarf planet. But lets not get into details with that¡­


    Looking around a bit more I could see that Catherine and Dario sat or laid in Catherine¡¯s case on a couch near the corner of the big lounge room while playing with a device that everyone had in some sort of shape or form. But what they had was a unique model that my father had made a few years ago, called a support monitor bracelet in short SMB. It had all the basic functions and needs just like a mobile phone, but severely upgraded as it had more than just that. Two of them is a 3D display and the function to show your status and so on so forth.


    Anyways, looking at the all natural beauty Catherine who were laying on the couch fiddling with the SMB, you could only whistle in amazement with her natural slender and curvy body. Her pale body had the perfect proportions that anyone would do whatever they could to obtain. Not only that, with her black qipao that had golden dragon markings and golden lines on the edge of the dress which also had a length that reached her thighs, black knee stocking and long black gloves that both had sakura flower markings at them. Combine all them together, you¡¯ll get a model that would put those in the industry in shame. Everyone who glanced at her few revealing smooth parts would probably immediately fall in love.


    :lahla:


    Thinking back, I have actually lost count of how many boys have tried to confess their love to her, although with Dario at her side for like 24/7, they never dared to do it up front. Instead they sent or rather put letters into her school locker that were next to mine and Dario¡¯s until it was so full that another letter would probably burst the lid open.


    Well as each school day passed I was tasked to get rid of the unread letters by request of the cute little Catherine. As I did, I always noticed that the boys from the seniors or juniors gazed at me with a malicious intent as I dragged the bag filled with their love letters each day through the class hallways to the room with a trash incinerator. To tell the truth, I didn¡¯t really mind doing this everyday though since it was kinda fun to get patted like a puppy by Catherine as I grinned happily to the other guys that probably wanted to rip me to pieces as they watched from a distance¡­


    :keih:


    One day it got so out of hand that the gang of cool seniors stood in the incinerator room waiting for me. Luckily it was also the day that I wasn¡¯t the one who threw the letters as Dario insisted to do it instead for me because he somehow got wind of it¡­ It took them a week later to come back to school¡­ Not that I had any idea what really took place in that dark flamey room.


    :haiha:


    Anyways seeing her with that overkill outfit though, I could only sulk because what I had picked was just some plain clothings. This gave me a feeling that urged me to go back to the room to change to something else but decided that it would just be a waste of time, hence I didn¡¯t. Besides, they wouldn¡¯t fit with my belt that I loved to proudly show anyway.


    Now looking at the handsome Dario with brown short hair and also with a black overkill tuxedo suit, who sat like a gangster next to Catherine with his feet on a small stool I had made for fun, who was also fiddling around with his SMB. You could see that he was a well built and balanced muscle man that fit perfectly with his suit as if it were just made for him.


    Truly, he would be called a perfect man if it wasn¡¯t for the awesome dragon tattoo on his right arm, which made him look like a yakuza but handsome. Even if I were a girl I would still probably scream after him at this spot right now¡­ Actually the bag that I dragged to the incinerator had also Dario¡¯s love letters..


    Anyways, looking at them fiddling with their SMB¡¯s I couldn¡¯t help but smile, since they used the latest model my father had made with a few of my own design added to it. I did envy them a bit though, since only those that had reached adulthood could obtain one, which was 15 by the way. Hence today will also be my last day to envy them and obtain my own SMB. The reason why you could only obtain one at the age of 15 was because it served as a passport and the proof that you were allowed to travel through space.


    Soon after I gave out another a heavy sigh because of my plain outfit and then readied myself to go down the stairs to my birthday party to meet the guest, friends and my parents.


    :noei:


    ...


    Funny enough I somehow ended at front of a ton of nicely stacked presents instead... With a grin I shaked every wrapped box at front of me to guess what was inside of them. And just with that I could feel that they were high grade materials because of how they sounded as they hit the wall of the box or each other and also the weight of them.


    ¡°These lazy geezers did it again¡± I chuckled.


    :lahla:


    Probably too busy with their work, they just took a few leftovers from the workshop and wrapped them in a nice presents expecting me to not know where they came from. Not that I really cared though, it saved me the trouble of asking them for it later and not only that, each guest here have at least helped me once when I was in a slump or taught me a trick or two for the past few years, which was a big help and I appreciated it a lot.


    Bowing in gratitude for my guest but actually towards the presents, I then nicely stacked them back to how they were suppose to be.


    As I was about to leave, I could then hear a box fall onto the floor with a ¡°Clang!¡±


    "What, where did this come from?" I asked myself and went closer to the box which had fallen to the floor.


    Picking it up, I then tried the same sorts of tricks I did with the other presents but to no avail. Whatever I did I could never guess what it was, hence I came to the conclusion that it must be something I had never gotten before. Just like any child with curiosity these days, I couldn¡¯t help but say something which happens to be the first sentence that came to my mind "What lies beyond the unknown?".


    Funny though I didn¡¯t even know where that sentence came from but suddenly a blue light shone brightly through the wrappings, which startled me and once again it was dropped on to the floor with a ¡°Clang!¡± and a pulsy wave that felt cold and tingling as the pulse touched my shoes.


    Quickly picking it up to hide the shining light and to stop it from sending waves of pulsation to the guest, I could then hear a shout behind me calling out ¡°Vincent!¡± which by the looks of it was from my mother who stood a few meters away from me near a table and waved.


    Having no time left to somehow remove the bright light of the unknown present, I instead put it inside my shrinking bag before she could call me once again, which no kid ever wants their mother to do¡­


    ¡°Vincent!¡±


    ¡°Crap¡­¡±


    :cries:


    ...


    Chapter.1:2 A happy birthday?___________________________________________


    The chilly lounge room of the apartment in the first floor were dark because of the lamps being turned off, although it would have actually been a total darkness if it wasn¡¯t thanks to the fifteen fickling candles illuminating the room from the spectacular cake at front of me. As I was sitting down on a chair quietly, I could also hear the crowd singing beautifully...


    ¡°Happy birthday to you¡­ Happy birthday to you¡­¡± The crowd sang happily while looking at me and standing around a long wooden brown table which could fit at least 26 people that had a few cakes at top of it but only the one closest to me had candles. Staring at those smiles as they sang which made the flames flicker and make the shadows dance, as they did I sat quietly on my chair with my cheek red from embarrassed.


    :blush:


    ...


    It took a while before they were done singing. Taking a few glances at them I knew that it was now mine turn to do my part, as they were standing there with happy grins with silence. With a smile I blew all the candles off from their light with a ¡°Fooouh¡± sound, that engulfed the lounge room in total darkness.


    A second later I could hear the lamps getting switched on from the front door and as it slowly lit the room in bright light. So did the claps that sounded like a train coming closer as it got louder with cheers from the guest surrounding the table. A few even gave out some whistles before everyone stopped with their applause and then sat down on the chair so that they could dig in from all sorts of cakes on the table and chat happily with each other.


    Of course I sat on the end of the table on the seat reserved for the main character of the day with my father and mother at the opposite side and my childhood friends next to me. Greeting both of them with a handshake, starting with the charming and handsome brother and afterwards the cute little sister, I could then see a tiny bit of glimmering tears welling up in those crystal blue eyes as I did. Gently brushing of her red bangs and feeling her forehead with the back of my hand to see if she was sick or anything. I noticed that there was nothing wrong with her physically and then dumbfoundedly asked ¡°What¡¯s wrong Catherine?¡± Afterall it was rare for me to see the tough girl cry ever since the first day we had met.


    Soon after I had asked she brushed my hand off and crossed her arms with a cute ¡°hmph¡± while looking away as if she was expecting me to know the reason and apologize to her.


    She then opened her attractive and charming lips and said ¡°As usual Vincent, you¡¯d still choose those presents over your friends, which you haven''t seen in a year.¡±


    Urgh!, what a grave mistake I had made, I have forgotten that I haven¡¯t seen them for a year since they were out training in their dojo to have their secret inheritance be passed down to them from generation to generation.


    :whosh2::noei:


    Quickly I tried to find an excuse and as soon as I had found one I pointed with my finger to the nicely stacked presents next to the front door and calmly said ¡°But Catherine, if you look over there you could see that those nicely stacked presents over there doesn¡¯t even have a hint of anyone touching them¡±


    Shrugging both of my shoulders with a poker face I afterwards added ¡°Hence wouldn¡¯t this serve as proof that I didn¡¯t go to them first?¡±


    ¡°After all, knowing me I wouldn¡¯t bother to stack them nicely again¡± I said trying to state the facts even though my arguments was ridiculous and so bad that it would be a miracle to be believable.


    Now looking at her to see if my excuses did work, all I could see was Catherine trying to make a pouting face so that I would feel bad, although the opposite of what she expected happened instead¡­ Tons of the word Kawaii flew straight into my face and nearly made me fall over and get a nosebleed, because that natural beauty without makeup just made her look more cute than angry. It was as if the sun had pierced my heart with their ray of light, or a cupid that shoot multiple arrows into my heart.


    :kya:


    Staring at her I could see that she started to blush instead after she had noticed that her pouting didn¡¯t affect me as she had expected it to. With her shiny lips she then said with a bossy tone ¡°Brother, explain to him will you?¡±


    Dario who was carefreely leaning with the chair and with his hands behind his back while watching our conversation without popcorn, now joined us with a laugh and a smirk. ¡°Well Vincent, we were actually betting for the fourth time in the row if you would choose your presents or anything else¡±


    :agift:


    He then patted my shoulder with a grin and said ¡°As you can see, I won once again¡±


    Shocked of the confidence she had in me, I quickly made a puppy face to her in hope that she would forgive me.


    With another ¡°hmph¡± she crossed her arm and looked away with struck me with a heavy feeling of rejection... But soon after she looked at me with a grin that just wrote revenge all over her face. Hopefully it wouldn¡¯t be as bad as I¡¯d believe it to be...


    ¡°I forgive you if you treat me to a dinner that would empty your pocket in a flash tomorrow¡±


    :panda:


    Urgh! An effective blow had been dealt on me, which immediately made me nervous and sweat quickly dripped down from my head as I looked away trying to hide my feelings from her. Usually I would spend my money right away just for my friend, but to think that it had to be tomorrow, which was the day I was going to spend my hard saved earnings to buy a important part for my engineering project at home.


    :hotinhere::whosh2::noei::nei:


    But looking at her it seems that she would never give up hence I was about to give up with my hand raising the white flag, but suddenly Dario laughed and boastfully said ¡°Well what a coincidence, I too was going to treat you guys to a dinner with the money I got from the consecutive wins¡±


    :agift:


    ¡°Really?¡± Catherine and I happily asked in sync but with different reasons.


    :gimme:


    ¡°Yeah after all, the three of us has finally been reunited after a year of special training, or in your case Vincent, creating something with your weaponsmithing skills...¡± He said with a grin at the last part...


    ¡°Besides, this is also your special day Vincent¡± he added with a smile but then looked at Catherine.


    ¡°And think about it Catherine of what he has been making us each year, don¡¯t you think that he actually went to check the presents to find any upgrades to add to our arsenal? And the reason why he didn¡¯t want to talk about it was because he wanted to surprise us?¡±


    ¡°I¡­ I guess¡­¡± She hesitantly said with guilt that made her start fiddling with her fingers.


    Quickly I gave Dario a thumbs up as Catherine were distracted with her sulk ice Dario just saved me from walking on a thin ice. Now I can finally finish what I had started the day we had split up the group to do our private issues.


    ¡°Anyways, I¡¯m sorry Catherine, I guess it is my fault after all since usually people would greet their guest first before doing something else and four times in a row at that.¡± I said while apologizing to Catherine.


    :goodjob:


    I then stretched my clenched fist forward to the middle of the three of us and said ¡°I hope you guys will forgive me from my mistake¡±


    "Heh", Dario let out a shrug and did the same as me.


    It took a few seconds for Catherine but after a sigh of guilt she afterwards did the same as us.


    Looking at each other with a  grin, we quickly raised our fist to the air while simultaneously said ¡°For our reunion!¡± with a few laughs after that, since the other guest looked at us confused as they had no idea why we were doing it.


    ¡°Well, I think it is about time we eat the cake right?¡± I asked the obvious question while holding a knife trying to cut the specially made cake just for the three of us.


    ¡°Of course!¡± Both of them said while licking their tongue and readied themselves to battle stations with their sporks.


    ...


    After a few minutes of eating the delicious cake and chatting with each other cheerfully, Dario suddenly grabbed my right arm with my spork and pulled me closer to him, which made me bit confused.


    :wat:


    Thinking of why he would do that, I immediately remembered what he did in the past, which made me quickly try to back away and run. But since he was so well trained compared to me, I just kept being pulled closer and closer as each second passed...


    :nei:


    As soon as he was close to my ear with his mouth, he then whispered with a evil smirk ¡°You had better buy something expensive for her after this¡±


    NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! I screamed inside of me...


    :perche:


    Damn you deceiving bastard! Here I thought you were nice to me for once, just so you could stab me once again in the back¡­ But yeah I probably should, since she had such confidence on me, hence I nodded with a poker face.


    Totally not because he was a black belted martial artist and somehow became the best soldier at Ashinova at the age of 15¡­ The veterans are probably weeping with envy in their bed right now of how they could lose to such a young and handsome person. Because of that he had been in a dire need of a sparring partner because no one could beat him, which was what the rumours was saying lately of course.


    :cries:


    ¡°Hey, sign me in to what you guys are planning¡± Catherine asked us who was whispering to each other while eating a spoonful of cake.


    "You¡¯ll see soon" Dario said while winking at me which laid the bomb as she noticed that it was I who was suppose to do something soon¡­ Now I can¡¯t back out of it or she¡¯ll question me...


    "Clink! Clink!"


    After Dario had replied, we could soon after hear my dad hitting his glass of wine with a spoon to ask everyone for attention so that he could make a speech.


    The room quickly broke out in silence.


    Father cleared his throat with a "Ahem!" and then calmly said " Thank you guys for coming here for my son''s big day."


    He then glanced at everyone until he stopped at me and said ¡°Son, you must be excited to obtain your SMB tonight right?


    I nodded in agreement.


    With a proud smirk he straighten up his back and said ¡°We the USEE aka Universal Space Equipment Engineers have poured our time, pain and love to secretly make a one of a kind SMB for only you to have!¡±


    After he had said that everyone other than me and my childhood friends nodded proudly in agreement since everyone worked for him. Soon after he signaled someone in the back which was my mother who walked to my father with a open and high teched container. Looking closely it was the small container with the highest security available which had some kind of watch looking SMB in it.


    He picked the SMB up from the container and said ¡°We are proud to present you the SMB Alice!¡± and raised it to the air so that everyone could see.


    Suddenly the guest stood up and started to applaud as if they were ready for it and had prepared this scene to come.


    :panda::panda::panda::panda::panda:


    Just with a glance I could see that this SMB model was unlike no other I had ever seen before.


    Staring at it, I could then see my father take the pose of a pitcher, his eyes started shine brightly with the burning flames of his soul indicating that I should get ready before it is too late.


    "Catch!!!" he yelled and threw the SMB at me.


    :goal:


    In reflex, I quickly covered my face with both of my hands and closed my eyes. Waiting for impact, all I could hear was a mechanical sound from the SMB vibrate through the air to my ear, which made a gentle contact to my right arm and hugged it as if it was a octopus.


    Opening my eyes in surprise, I could see a round display that automatically rotated as I moved my wrist around, faced to my eyes at all times. It looked like a watch, although it had a thicker metal band, and the display had weird  markings around the edge as if it was some kind of language. The blank display also had a single button at the bottom. From the look and weight, it was some kind of titanium alloy.


    After checking the SMB with my friends for a while I then looked happily at my father.


    Continuing with his half speech, he then asked me ¡°Vincent, do you know why it is called Alice?¡±


    "No, Please explain father"


    ¡°Unlike our SMB, which have a Artificial Intelligence, yours however have a Smart Artificial Intelligence, which is called Alice!¡±


    Shocked with my mouth gaped towards my father, who had made such a revolutionary AI that everyone deemed impossible, just to give it to me. I could only wonder why he made this one of a kind SMB instead of contributing it. But before I could ask, he soon after answered it.


    :wat:


    ¡°Well, in a few weeks we will mass produce it giving each a unique SAI that could think for itself, learn by itself and even feel the feeling we humans have. Not only that, we have given Alice all of our knowledge and features that the other will not have!¡±


    ¡°I could name you the difference, but I wont. You will have to find out about it yourself¡± he added with a laugh.


    ¡°But it comes with a price¡­ Vincent, click that button would you please? Oh, Catherine and Dario, Please refrain from helping him when he does¡± He added with a cold expressionlessly face, as if he was trying to feign poker face because of the button or something.


    Me and my childhood friends looked at each other confused and eventually on the guest and my parents instead who just stared at us with a sad expression, as they waited for me to click that suspicious button.


    :keuhkeuh::keuhkeuh::keuhkeuh::keuhkeuh:


    Having second thoughts about this, I threw my last glances at my friends who nodded to me and wished me luck.


    "Click"


    "Contract initiated" Appeared at front of me in a 3rd dimension image. Although after waiting for a few seconds nothing really happened, but suddenly a cute chuckle could be heard from the SMB with "Ehehe". And a strong mechanical sound could be heard from the inside of the watch.


    :wat:


    Staring confused at the SMB that was starting to heat up, a sudden pain of thousands of needles piercing my forearm could be felt, which made me scream so loud that it echoed throughout the room until I had lost my breath. Trying to remove the SMB in instinct, all I did was make me fall from the chair to the floor, screaming more with tears running from my eyes. Rolling around on the clean floor, I could see that my friends tried to help me, but my father stopped them and told my mother to go fetch something.


    I started to get dizzy for some reason, my right hand started to go numb, not understanding why, I tried to slam my right hand a few times with the SMB on the floor, hoping that it would hopefully ease my pain but it didn¡¯t.


    Laying on the floor helplessly while the guest watching over me with saddened expression. I could see that the 20 marks, started to pulsate and fill up one by one with some kind of red liquid.


    After a while, my mother ran up to me and laid my head on her soft thighs and gave me some kind of liquid to drink, which made me feel a lot better.


    "Contract complete, body modified, now Loading setup." could be heard a few seconds later.


    ¡­


    I could only hope that what just happened was part of the unique feature that my SMB had¡­ or the customers would sue him...


    Anyways, now trying to stand up after that the immense pain had stopped together with my dizziness. My friends quickly helped me up and dusted my clothes off. But at the same time, I couldn¡¯t help but glance at Catherine''s cleavage and her pink & black bra, because her qipao was designed with the mind of revealing that part¡­ I believe they must be F cups or something.


    :016::am:


    Now that I was standing up without problems, I could then hear the claps from the guests and my parents. Not only that, my parents also had a few tears welling up in their eyes, which my father quickly brushed off, trying to act cool as if he wasn¡¯t a sensible person, he then said ¡°Sorry, Vincent. One of the features requires your blood to modify your body a bit¡­¡±


    ¡°Anyways, let me give you another gi¡­..¡±


    :Xno:


    The Lounge room was now lit by a bright red light and a loud siren could be heard, which interrupted my father and made everyone look around confused as the buzzing sound of the microphone could be heard through the speakers that every apartment in Ashinova had.


    ¡°WE ARE UNDER ATTAAaarrrGGHGHH!!!!¡± The sound of flesh getting cut apart could be heard and a high pitched shriek from something unknown, which ended the microphone.


    "Fortification has been initiated"


    "Every safe zone with a citizen in it will turn to fortification mode within 30 seconds" It kept repeating together with its siren.


    ¡°Citizens have been detected in this room, now activating fortification in 30 seconds.¡±


    A lot of whispers and mumbles could be heard in the lounge talking about what they had heard. That included me and my friends next to me.


    ¡°This is not normal. There is no way that something passed the defensive systems. But if...¡± Dario said with a worriedly.


    ¡°No¡­ We must get ready for the worst¡± He calmly added which made me and Catherine nod.


    After a while you could notice that the guests were beginning to panic, since they was getting louder and yelling about what to do from left to right.


    Oddly though... I felt calm in this situation, shouldn¡¯t I be doing the same as them, running in panic I mean?


    ¡°QUIET!¡± Dario suddenly shouted, which left everyone speechless.


    ¡°Mr Walter, you should have some weapons even if you are a civilian right?


    ¡°Ah, yes Dario.¡±


    ¡°Mr and Mrs Walter and you, you, you, you¡­¡­.¡± He kept pointing until it was the 16th person.


    ¡°Go get the weapons, please I believe we are being under attack and worst case scenario, our army might not make it in time.¡±


    ¡°The rest, help me barricade the door and make some cover, we¡¯ll never know if we need the extra protection.¡±


    Whoa, No wonder he was the top dog in the army of Ashinova.


    Just with his presence and his orders, everyone calmed down and followed them, even though he was only 15 years old, you could only commend him for his performance.


    ¡­


    As I were helping with the barrication of the door with a few random and heavy furnitures, I could hear that the front door was about to be fortified.


    "This room will now be fortified in 5... 4..."


    But suddenly a big earthquake shook the whole space station, which in turn made a lot of furnitures in the room fall over and collapse the barricade. Some were even fragile enough like vases which broke on impact when it fell onto the floor.


    After a few seconds, the shaking calmed down and eventually stopped, but the aftermath were that the lights started to flicker a lot and the front door wasn¡¯t even fortified like it was suppose to be. Broken glasses and plates could also be seen scattered everywhere on the floor with a few cakes lying on the floor.


    Confirming that everyone is okay, the room that was once lit was now dark since the lights had stopped working completely. Luckily it wasn¡¯t total darkness, as a faint emergency light could be seen on the floor which barely made it easier to see. Not only that, every electricity required device with a cable stuck to the wall had stopped working. From those hints, I could guess that the main power cell exploded and hopefully the hull of the station could withstand the blast or at least still use the emergency lockdown to close down the rooms with a leaking hole to the space.


    ¡°Flip the SMB lights on¡± Dario ordered everyone while simultaneously doing it to his own.


    I noticed that everyone in the Lounge room started to flip their lights on right after he had said that. Of course I tried myself but found out that I couldn¡¯t because all the screen said was ¡°Loading¡±....Which made me give out a heavy sigh...


    A while after those that went with my father and mother came back with lots of rifles and some kind of weird device. They shared the weapons to everyone but me, Catherine and a few others, since they didn¡¯t have enough for everyone. Luckily Dario got one, since they knew that he was a fully trained soldier.


    ¡°We need some cover everyone, flip anything that could cover us a few meters away from the door!¡± Dario said which made most of us start flipping bookshelves over so that we could cover ourselves from whatever was going to come. As I did, I noticed that a few guest setup the devices on the floor, which appeared to be the prototype AI controlled turret. Quickly they took picture of everyone who was not an enemy and then helped the rest with the barrication on the door or something that would help us hide in cover.


    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    A minute later a suddenly scream could be heard from behind the door. Everyone including me immediately looked to the door since we were curious to what was going on behind there.


    ¡°Don¡¯t move¡­¡± Dario quietly said, which made everyone returned a nod since they didn¡¯t want to risk the lives of the people here for a risky move.


    A yield for help was soon after heard and a few heavy knocks was made to our front door, but kept getting lighter and lighter as if the source was dying, which ended with a scream and a ¡°thud¡±.


    Everyone were stuck in a trance as if we thought that whatever was behind the door would pass by if we were quiet. And that we were lucky enough for not being that person behind the door.


    A scratching noise could be heard from the door, but was soon afterwards replaced with silence.


    "Scratch, scratch..."


    A few seconds passed...


    :wosh:


    And one of our guest near the door then out of fear took a few steps backwards a bit but accidently stepped onto a few broken glass that they couldn¡¯t see, which let out a loud cracking noise.


    The guest threw a few glances everywhere at us as if he had hoped that he would be forgiven and that hopefully that whatever was behind the door wouldn¡¯t notice it.


    We let out a sigh of relief after a few seconds as if we were safe from danger. But we was quickly proven wrong, because suddenly a few high pitched shrieks could be heard from behind the front door, shrieking in intervals as if it was calling for someone after detecting something.


    "Dun! Dun! Dun!" The unknown creatures tried to bash the door.


    You could see that the door started to slowly bend into a U shaped door, since it was made out of metal hence its sturdiness, but was not a strong one like the fortified one..


    Luckily enough, that none fortified door were strong enough for everyone to get to cover behind the bookshelves and ready their weapons.


    While the door was soon about to break loose from wall, father then ran up to me who were covering behind the tuxedo suited gentleman Dario with Catherine.


    Now standing before us, he pointed into one of the bookshelves we couldn¡¯t budge and said ¡°Vincent, I want you to push those blue books and then go inside with your friends through the old cleaning robot systems.¡±


    Hesitating for a second, I then decided to turn my father down, but suddenly the door blew open, which made the door glide on the surface of the floor with a grinding sound of metal that left scratching marks.


    Tons of weird spider like creatures that I couldn¡¯t clearly see started to pour out from the hallway to the apartment.


    ¡°FIRE!¡± Dario shouted and fired his rifle.


    "TATATATATATATA" Could be heard from the automatic rifles and turrets..


    One by one, the creature fell, but still they tried to crawl forward with their last remaining life. Forcing the defenders to kill them completely instead of focusing on those pouring in.


    Not only that, with the big space around us, a few of the creatures jumped around as if was a hare and made most of the bullets just missed them instead since our guests were just a normal untrained civilian.


    "Grenades!!!" Dario said and threw a few near the entrance and at least one behind it.


    ¡°Ka-booom!¡± could be heard that shattered the creature into pieces and left a burning mark on the undamaged floor.


    This gave our defenders the time to reload, but still a few failed to reload since they were struck in panic.


    "Go, Now!!" Mother then shouted while she was reloading and then kept shooting after she was done.


    Hesitating again, Dario then grabbed my sleeve and Catherine¡¯s while dragged us to the bookshelf and opened it by pushing the blue book. What was revealed then was a vault like door, so we rotated the mechanism until we unlocked it.


    While we were, I could see that my father''s guests got overwhelmed by a new enemy, a bat like creature which shoot out weird bullets from its mouth and pierced through their defenseless skull, until it got stopped by the strong metallic floor. Those that saw it screamed with profanity words then tried to take revenge against those bat like creature that flew around with flawless maneuverability which made them miss.


    Those hit by the bullet from the bats couldn''t even scream, it was a gruesome instant death with blood and brain goo leaking out of the head.


    Even some of the spider like creatures got by the defense and jumped onto one of our guest and then chopping that person mercilessly with their legs, which served like a butchering knife of some sort. Not only that, a few even started to chew the guest alive from head to toe...


    Not being able to stomach what I had seen, I soon after went inside the old systems crying whereas Dario went in first, then Catherine and me lastly.


    I could only hope that they somehow survive...


    ¡­


    Chapter.1:3 The wait____________________________________


    As we crawled into the old and dark system with dust everywhere, we found ourselves in a tiny room with a smaller tunnel at the end. Not only that, since I crawled last and with Catherine before me, I could have sworn I saw something black with pink stripes¡­ Soon after we sat down in the tiny room and waited.


    ¡°Shit!!¡± I let out in a scream and hit the wall of the old system as hard as possible, which kinda hurt more than I thought.


    "Calm your nerves or you''ll attract those things" Dario calmly said from the utmost right of us while sitting down and hugging his weapon together with his knees.


    ¡°But! Where did those things! Come from?¡±


    :angry:


    ¡°Shhh¡­ You are as confused as I am¡± he added.


    I gave out a heavy sigh to calm my nerves and then apologized and asked what we should do.


    Catherine then looked to me and Dario and said ¡°I think it is best that we wait until we can come up with a good plan¡±


    Nodding in agreement we sat there with our backs touching the cold metal wall next to each other and our hands hugging our knees, waiting until someone came up with a good plan.


    We were also probably hoping for someone to open the door to the old system, so that they could tell us of how they succeeded in defend the apartment against those weird creatures.


    But minutes passed and all we could hear were nothing but silence. Not having the resolve to think about what had happened to my family and their friends a while ago, I then looked at my friends if I could find anything else to do.


    ¡°Click, click, click¡­.¡±


    I saw that Catherine was trying to call someone with her SMB by clicking on the orange screen at front of her although to no avail. Probably because the stations in Ashinova are down because of the power outbreak. But reminded by her actions, I too tried to do something with my new SMB, sadly all it said on the orange screen were ¡°Loading¡±.


    Staring at the SMB, I then gave out a heavy sigh as I looked away to Catherine to see if she had made any progress.


    :perche:


    As I stared at her charming short and messy deep red hair with a length that reached her neck and bangs that would have nearly reached her blue crystal eyes if she didn¡¯t brush it to the side. I could also see a single long braided tail at the middle of the back of her hair, which was long enough to reach down to the end of her tender butt. Also at the end of the lengthy braided hair, there were also some kind of triangle metallic mark which held the end of the braid together.


    Actually it was I who made it for her 4 years ago. It is made out of a high grade material type 8 I believe, strong enough to deflect the strongest bullets, plasma and lasers even though it didn¡¯t need to be, but it was still my priciest material I had that day and the most beautiful in the eyes of an engineer or rather mine at least, hence why I made it out of the titanium coloured metal. I also got the design from a really REALLY old game, while I was searching through the barely existing dark net with my high spec computer, I believe it was around 1200 years ago¡­ Called something like the mark of the Assassins Creed.


    I¡¯m still glad that I made it though, there were always something that was missing with her cool and awesome hairstyle. Now looking back to my SMB, to see if there were any progress of the ¡°Loading¡±, it now said ¡°Deal with it¡±...


    :perche:


    Confused I knocked a bit on it, which changed the text to ¡°Ha ha ha¡±. Reading it I could only wonder if she were trying to taunt me¡­ Alice I mean.


    Ignoring the recent incident with a shrug, I could hear that someone was about to cry, or at least started to sniff a bit before crying.


    Looking at the direction of where it came from, I noticed that Dario was patting on Catherine¡¯s back, while signaling me to ask her what was wrong¡­


    Yeah, he shoved the responsibility to me¡­ What a bro.


    :noei:


    Taking a hard breath to calm my nerves I afterwards approached Catherine and teasingly asked ¡°So, how is our strong Catherine holding up?


    Ignoring my question, she stared intently at me while sniffing and asked "Sniff.. Will we.. sniff... will we all survive from those monsters?", a few tears started to well up in her glittering eyes.


    Quickly I took out my recently cleaned handkerchief with the actual purpose of cleaning my devices and tools, which she didn¡¯t know about¡­ And was about to give it to her, but changed my mind as soon as I saw Dario do the gay shout pose. But right afterwards I retaliation with a wink at him, which made him immediately back off with his rifle to the corner and shiver.


    :cries:


    Catherine who noticed that she was crying afterwards, tried to grab the handkerchief to clean her tears herself. But instead I quickly grabbed her hand and pulled her to me just like the time I met her for the first time. Gently I lifted her head upwards and brushed her bangs to the side, and gazed through her eyes as if I could see through her soul, which also made her blush a bit. Afterwards as I was staring into her glittering crystal blue pupils I brushed her tears off gently myself.


    "It''s okay Catherine, your big brother and I will protect you" I told her in a confident voice.


    Suddenly she looked away from me and crossed her arms with a ¡°hmph¡± and tauntingly said ¡°Says the one who doesn¡¯t even lift¡± and tears kept pouring out slowly from her eyes.


    ¡­ That sentence seriously shattered my pride as a man into pieces as I sulked at her...


    :noei:


    Still she had a point, because with her miraculously slender arms and curvy body, she was actually really athletic and could easily lift 30 kg weights on each hand without breaking out in sweat. Meaning if you poke at her you would notice that she had a lot of hidden muscle in that perfect body. Of course Dario could even lift more than that. While I could barely do 10 kg lifts without panting a lot.


    Aah¡­ This also reminded me of the past when she sent me a invitation to join her family dojo.


    ¡­


    One month after I had made my dad weep in his room the whole time because I crafted the bag that shrink objects in one day even though I cheated, which I didn¡¯t tell him of course. That day, someone pushed the alarm button for the front door for the first time in years.


    ¡°Pling, pling, pling!¡± could be heard.


    Sprinting to the front door, to see who it was behind the door. I opened it which revealed Dario and Catherine in their school uniforms.


    ¡°Uh, Hi! Wazzap?¡± I greeted them.


    ¡°He..here!¡± Catherine said and stretched her hand out with a letter that could be easily misinterpreted, although I knew it was a letter of invitation.


    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± I asked to confirm my guess.


    ¡°A invitation to our family¡­ ¡° she then paused a few seconds with a blush and then added ¡°dojo¡­¡±


    :kya:


    Looking at the letter she held at front of her towards me, I hesitated for a moment since trouble was written all over it. But suddenly a strong presence which resemblance the feeling I have felt ever since we three started to go out and play with each other in our free time at school, a heavy presence from her half brother Dario.


    Looking at him, I could see that he made the cutting off the throat motion behind her back without her noticing, probably what would happen if I didn¡¯t accept it¡­ Scary Yakuza¡­ No wonder the other kids didn¡¯t want to play with us in school, I thought for myself.


    Looking back at the cute Catherine trying her best to give it to me I then scratched my head and said ¡°uh.. Sure Catherine¡±. And soon after I took the letter which made her smile in gratitude while Dario wickedly grinned happily.


    Please don¡¯t karate chop me to pieces Dario, I pleaded to myself as I gazed upon him.


    :hotinhere:


    ¡°So where is this family¡­ dojo?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Sector 3¡± she said.


    ¡°But I have never been that far away before, to tell the truth, I barely know sector 16 even though I live here and besides when should I come to visit?¡±


    Suddenly Dario forcefully gave me a bag, which he have been holding for a while that I didn¡¯t notice.


    ¡°Lets go right now! And here is your outfit by the way, go change in your room while we wait in your lounge room¡± he said with a bigger and wicked grin than before, as if he had been expecting that this would happen.


    I nodded and showed them inside to the lounge room, gave them a cup of tea and soon after went inside my room together with the bag to change my clothes.


    ¡°What the?¡± I questioned myself as I changed to the outfit.


    :hotinhere:


    Looking at the belt that came with it I knew that Dario was up to something since the white karate outfit that fit me perfectly had a black belt with a 10 dan on it for some reason¡­ Isn¡¯t that the highest rank or something? Hence I decided to walk to my stash that had my most prized metal plate which costed a fortune for a kid at least.


    A type 4 plate which is strong enough to stop a armor piercing rifle bullet. I picked up the plate from the stash and quickly attached a few leather strap to it with the help of the tools on my working station. Equipped it at front of my chest, I then stood at front of the mirror adjusting the plate so that it wouldn¡¯t stand out.


    ¡°Goood¡­¡± I said with a grin.


    :agift:


    Now done changing, I walked back to the lounge room where both of them was calmly drinking the tea in sync. Afterwards they gently put the glass of tea onto the table and gave the thumbs up towards me.


    Looking at them with a smile, I then said ¡°Lets go then, shall we?¡±.


    ...


    ¡°Whoa¡± Looking at the gigantic double door in sector 3 in awe, I could only wonder who these kids were. Other than the hints hinting that they had something to do with the Yakuza.


    With a few knocks from Dario, the door opened and revealed a large japanese tatami room with tons of karate students of all ages in battle stances. Looking at them I could see that they shouted each time they made a punch into the air. The odor of sweat could be smelled strongly from the dojo. Looking closely, they were only white belted but still they looked skilled as each time they made a punch it had finesse and elegance written all over it.


    Standing there speechless, Catherine then hooked my arm which made me brighten up in red,


    ¡°What are you waiting for? Lets go!¡± She said while smiling and dragged me past another door with Dario walking beside her.


    :blush:


    Past the door, I now saw a lot of red belted students that karate chopped 3 thick stone bricks at front of them, some even did a roundhouse kick and shattered bricks in the air that someone threw at front of them.


    But she still kept dragging me past yet another door, which revealed green belted students cracking 6 thick stone bricks with their thumb or forehead¡­


    :wosh:


    Then yet another door, which revealed blue belted students running through a course one by one filled with traps of sharp knives, flame breathing holes and all sort of deadly traps.


    Some even got hit and had to be taken to the medical room while heavily bleeding everywhere...


    :whosh2:


    Now shivering as I walked with Catherine and Dario to yet another door¡­


    This time it revealed a room filled with black belted first dan students, who sparred with each other until one of them gave up while spitting out blood onto a bowl of redden water. But as soon as they noticed Dario and Catherine, they bowed for some reason even though they were hurt.


    :noei:


    But we kept walking and for each second that passed by, I gained more fear but Catherine¡¯s arm kept me calm¡­ for now at least.


    ¡­ It kept going until I saw a notice board say Black belted 10 dan, which surprisingly my belt also had. Have I walked up to a trap?


    As Dario slowly opened the door, I suddenly felt a presence that soothed my heart that was beating so fast in fear because of what I had seen. You could only call this place hell¡­


    :perche:


    Other than that, I saw that Catherine let my arm go and went together with Dario to kneel before someone without looking at the person. Following suit I tried to kneel like them to no avail, so I just made a normal kneeling position.


    Looking at the tatami floor just like my friends, I could hear a masculine tone of an old person speaking. ¡°Oh, so is this the guy?¡±


    ¡°Yes, grandfather¡±


    ¡°Dario, Catherine¡­ Both of you may leave¡± he ordered them.


    Hearing my friends walk away and closing the door with a ¡°dun!¡±. I was then left there alone without support.


    ¡°You may lift your head¡±


    Slowly raising my head and looking at the direction of where the voice came from. I saw a old man with a long white hair and a long white beard while stroking repeatedly. He had brown eyes, but he just stared at me for minutes without doing anything or so I thought.


    Suddenly a strong presence fell over me, which nearly made me pass out from fear or instinctively stand up and run. Luckily my cold lucky charm strapped around me kept me alive or rather kept me in place since it was kinda heavy...


    After at least 10 minutes with my head looking disrespectfully at the floor instead of the master while also panting heavily I then mustered my last strength and said ¡°Hi?¡±


    :kawa:


    ¡°Hahahahaha¡± He laughed as he kept stroking his beard.


    "Good, good!" he praised and the atmosphere quickly went back to normal and I could once again breathe normally again.


    ¡°But I can¡¯t accept it yet¡­¡± he said which only made me question what he meant.


    :agift::keuhkeuh:


    ¡°Your last challenge is to win against one of my best pupil near your age¡­ Yes I can even feel your opponent from here, you may come in!¡±


    The double door slowly opened which revealed Dario in his outfit. He slowly walked inside which kinda looked cool until he was at front of me and bowed.


    Staring at him I could only give out a "Gulp"


    Glancing at both of them while shivering, I quickly realised something weird with the sentence the old man said before ¡°Your last challenge is to win...¡±.  Did he mean what I think he did? Yeah, I don¡¯t really need to confront him head on right? Hmm¡­ but at least lets do something that have a higher chance of winning.


    :keih:


    So instead of fighting Dario head on who stood a few meters away from me with his stance, I looked at my master and proposed to him with a bet.


    "Uh¡­ Old man!, how about a bet?"


    Not knowing what I should call him, I just said old man since he was old.


    :keih:


    "Ooh, do tell me choosen one"


    :keuhkeuh:


    "I will let Dario punch me freely once at my stomach and if I can still stand up after that I''ll win" I said with confidence.


    "Ooooh"


    "Then how about a kick instead?" He asked.


    "The legs is at least 3 times stronger after all, and if you can accept that, I"ll accept your bet." he added.


    :keuhkeuh:


    What the hell did I get myself into... I asked myself whilst swallowing my drool once again.


    "I accept" I said with whilst shaking endlessly at front of him.


    :hotinhere:


    He then looked at both of us with a nod, as if he was signaling us to get into position.


    I took my stance a few meters away from Dario and took another heavy breath to calm my nerves that was shaking because I didn¡¯t know what to do to minimize the damage of a kick. Shaking my head a few times to remove these thoughts I then looked fiercely at Dario, which he returned with a grin of delight.


    ¡°I am ready¡± I said while Dario bowed once again as response and soon after ran to me with lightning speed. Standing there watching him, I could see that he went for something that looked like a flying roundhouse kick. But it was so fast that I couldn¡¯t see how he did it. But when his feet made contact to my stomach with the plate, I Quickly flew backwards for at least 10 meters and hit the wall with a ¡°Thud!¡±


    :punch:


    Nearly passing out, I cough out blood onto the floor as I tried to stand up with the help of the wall.


    Barely able to stand as I feeling immense pain from my ribs, I walked slowly back to the front of the old man not giving up after I have gotten so far and powerlessly fell onto my knees. Quickly I adjusted my posture so that it looked like that I was kneeling to him instead.


    But now that I think about it, would I have died if I didn''t have my lucky charm?..


    :cries:.


    He then stood up with a smirk and said "Good!! You have won with the help of your wits and luck, hence from now on you are now accepted as part of our family" and then he laughed.


    "Thank you¡­ Grandfather I guess."


    Even though I thanked him, I didn''t know anything about what he meant with the family part. I thought it was just a test to join the Dojo?


    "HAHAHAHA!! Quickly adapting to it I see, you may leave and come back if you wish to train, but first!" he said while stroking his beard once again.


    :haiha:


    ¡°STUDENTS! COME!!!¡± He then shouted so that the whole dojo could hear that quickly responded by pouring out of the door into the room. They sat down in rows at front of the master and knelt before him with respect together with Catherine and Dario at the front.


    ¡°State your name child!¡± he said to me.


    ¡°Vincent.. Vincent Walter¡±...


    ¡°Vincent! You are now also a part of the Yeager family. You may not be bound by blood, but know this! You are the first one in centuries who have walked past the hallway while my family members trained in hell without running with your tail between your back. You passed 4 deadly test and also survived none the less also the same age as my granddaughter and grandson¡±


    ¡°Everyone! Welcome your new family member!¡±


    ¡°YEAAAAAH!¡± Those behind me cheered happily as they ran up to me while I struggled to keep my consciousness because of the immense pain I could feel each time they touched me...


    I soon after passed out and was brought to their custom made medical center in their dojo with top of the line medical equipment.


    ...


    And from that moment on, Dario never stared at me anymore nor did he give off a uneasiness feeling to me. Starting from that day he was just a normal friend or rather my best friend who tried to kill me¡­ Not only that, Catherine kept bugging me each day, trying to find out of how I had won, but stopped 3 years after I had given her the Assassins creed mark braid pin.


    :sleepy:


    I also remember laying in that medical center for a week with her and Dario bugging me each day while my parents just sent a few letters that said ¡°Noob¡± at first but then they sent more letters together with my favourite foods asking about my health and an explanation. It looks like they fully trusted the equipment that had the USEE letters of their company on them. Hence why they didn¡¯t bother to visit me, even though they were probably worried sick at home.


    ...


    Meanwhile behind the scenes that day.


    "I am sorry grandfather, to think that an untrained child at my age could get away alive with our secret technique passed from generations". He said while bowing.


    :perche:


    "Dario, didn''t you notice?" Master asked him.


    :isupercare:


    "Grandfather, what do you mean?" He asked with a question mark written all over his face.


    :nei:


    He then stroked his beard and looked into Dario as if he had seen through his pure heart and said " I''ll not tell you, this will serve as a good training for you. Think about it clearly and one day you will get it."


    "You are not allowed to ask anyone for help either, nor are you allowed to tell anyone of what took place here" he added.


    :keuhkeuh:


    "Yes, Grandfather"


    :noei:


    "You can leave" Master then said and Dario bowed once again and quietly left through the doors..


    ¡°Hehehe¡­ What should I name them?¡± The master laughed to himself.


    :keuhkeuh:


    ...


    Anyways back to reality.


    Ashamed of what she had said about my strength a while ago, as a man I cannot let this slide.


    Without thinking I started out by gently holding both of her smooth cheeks, slowly brushed her bangs once again to the side and gently rested my forehead to her forehead. A warm sensation could be felt and her sweet fragrance could be smelled. With my eyes closed, I calmly said "Please don''t cry, I might not be strong. But I will create anything that you could use to protect yourself  with the strength I know you have"...


    ¡°Besides, didn¡¯t I create you this bracelet for this purpose?¡± I said and held her left hand which had a beautiful looking modern design of a bracelet made out of type 8 metal with the titanium colour. The length it had was longer than normal bracelets, because it nearly covered her whole forearm but enough to not disturb her joints.


    :jumping:


    This isn¡¯t just any normal bracelets, which I gave her last year though. Once again, I stole another design from the Assassins Creed series, but added my own little touch to it. A hidden red plasma blade under the forearm from a red crystal that pops out of nowhere with the click of a button. Although my design and creation had two flaws. 1 day of recharging the battery for a 20 minute use, and a incredibly skilled user was needed. Luckily, I made a sensor that protected the user of accidentally activating it with the hand in the way...


    With my free hand I then held her right hand that had a ring with the same design and clicked a button which let out a ¡°Click¡± sound.


    ¡°Swwu Wwmm¡±


    A red sharp plasma that looked like the blade of a rapier with the length of a arm appearing out of the underside of the bracelet, which cut a hole on the roof of the system and even a few pieces of my hair. The crispy stench of burnt metal and hair could be soon after smelled.


    Looking at the blade which was cutting apart the systems right now, you could see that it had some kind of red aurora flowing around it.


    Clicking on the ring once again, and said ¡°Be confident you are strong¡±


    ¡°Until death?¡± She asked with more tears than before.


    I then hesitated for a second and looked at Dario for some help.


    :hotinhere:


    All he did was nod with a grin¡­.


    I gave up and said "Until death"


    Catherine then brushed her tears of quickly and gave me a big hug. It was a hug that actually made me feel her soft breast pressing against me, but I didn''t mind at all...


    :wat:


    "Sorry for crying" She said.


    "It''s okay, everyone loses their cool once in a while, especially from those ugly creatures" I said while patting her back.


    "Even though you are not really strong enough to protect me, you were considerate enough to have filled me with confidence, Vincent" she added as if she didn''t care that she once again broke my heart...


    ¡°Uh, Vincent¡­ Can I get one of those plasma blades like my sister?¡± Dario interrupted while quietly asking me while patting my shoulder with a puppy face.


    Staring at him I then made a grin, since he usually doesn¡¯t ask me of anything.


    :wat:


    ¡°Yeah, I might have a blue one in my room¡­¡± I said with a proud smirk as my nose grew longer because it was my victory.


    ¡°Really?¡± He said with a smile hoping it was true.


    ¡°Yeah, I was planning to give it to you next year¡­ but¡­ You¡¯ll have to get it later somehow¡±


    :agift:


    ¡°Thanks!¡± He shouted and tried to stand up and bow, but failed as he hit his head on the roof.


    Looking at each other, the 3 of us finally laughed.


    Then something struck my mind. There was actually someone else in that dojo training with these two, someone 5 years younger than us with blonde hair looking from the corner of the room each time I visited. What was she called again?


    The moment I muttered ¡°Silvia¡±, Catherine and Dario quickly became quiet with fear.


    "Shit, I left her at home today because she had her homework to do" Dario said angrily while punching holes into the old system.


    "Okay, calm down guys" I said whilst hovering my hands up and down.


    "This is the plan, since we don''t know where this old system leads to, but only that it is connected everywhere so that the cleaning robot could pass by with ease."


    "Hence one of the exits is bound to be near your apartment."


    They nodded.


    "Lets start crawling then shall we?"


    "Ladies first" I quickly added so that Dario who took crawling positions at front of us could hear.


    Hah that''s what you get for indirectly making me remember the pain I suffered after the Dojo.


    :haiha:


    ...


    Chapter.1:4 The Rescue Mission!_______________________________________________


    After a while of crawling through the dusty systems, we somehow made it to somewhere close to the hallway of their apartment in sector 16, which we believe it was. From what I had heard, they said that they didn''t have a system like this connected to their home. This made me wonder why my apartment had one, but as I pondered about it I suddenly got stopped by the soft butt of Catherine at front of me, as I crashed into it which made her let out a "Eek!" and retaliate with a kick soon after.


    We now sat down at front of a wall as I soothed my cheek from pain. Anyways we believed that the wall at front of us is a way to the outside because there was a button next to it. And knowing this space station there is only a button to go out but not inside because of no reason or whatsoever, hence we needed someone to stay and watch.


    As we were dusting our clothes off we also discussed the plans.


    "Okey here is the deal, Me and Dario will go and rescue Silvia. Hopefully she is still there somewhere, because I know she is a smart girl" I said.


    They then made a sad face as if they will never be forgiven for leaving her at home alone, after the last part of my sentence.


    :perche::perche:


    To spark their confidence back I said "The probability of her still being alive is really high guys, If from what I had guessed. These creatures only notice you if they either see you or hear you"


    They then looked up to me and nodded.


    "Catherine, you will be holding this exit and if you hear us knocking, push this button once again to open it"


    "Roger"


    "Dario, if one of those creatures are inside your house, kill it quickly before it calls for backup"


    He nodded and picked up his rifle which he kept from my house.


    ¡°Brother, don¡¯t forget to grab my Silver Eagle 50.cal barrett and my combat knife¡± Catherine said to Dario.


    Ah, the Silver eagle 50 caliber anti tank sniper full auto, fully homemade and customised to fit her needs¡­ The third gift I also gave her together with the plasma blade last year and a combat knife, afterall she is a fully trained assassin, which was why I stole a few designs from the assassins creed game and why I know she were skilled enough to use them¡­ If I remember right everyone born in the Yeager family had to train to either become some kind of soldier, medic, mercenary or an assassin anything that had to do with the army at a young age, which is something I shouldn¡¯t talk about or they¡¯ll be out for my head¡­ I am just glad that everything I gave her had my initials secretly hidden where you can¡¯t see them without taking them apart.


    Anyways, even though I call myself an engineer, I am actually a all rounder who can craft all sorts of equipments as long as I have the materials and the tools for it¡­ I am lucky to be able to borrow my father¡¯s workshop and the strains of his genes. Hehe actually, my mothers...


    After a while of my pondering I then looked at Dario and saw that he nodded once again.


    I responded with a nod back and said "Commence mission!"


    With a push on the button, we stormed outside the systems and checked our vicinity.


    "So far so good" and we signaled Catherine to close the door.


    Looking around more closely with the help of Dario¡¯s flashlight from his SMB since mine didn¡¯t work properly we saw tons of weird purple coloured organic threads covering the walls and doors as if it was a infestation. Touching it, it felt thick, slimy as if it tried to grab me. It looks like it spreads everywhere with the help of some kind of pulsating and glowing orange cyst or tumor.


    It looked like the energy source we gathered from the creatures in Pluto¡­ Maybe I am wrong.


    Having enough of checking the weird infestation, I asked Dario where his apartment was, since I couldn¡¯t find it.


    "Over here" he replied while waving his hand back and forth. Then pointing on the notice board to the right of the front door, which said Yeager Family on it.


    I walked up to the door and tried to open it, but could see that one of those cyst stuck were onto the door, covering it with threads to make it impossible to open.


    ¡°Take a few steps back for me¡± He said while aiming the rifle to the weird glowing tumor.


    Just like he said, I did as I were told and hid behind him.


    ¡°Pang!¡±


    Some weird orange liquid squirted out of the tumor, which also made it shriek in a cry like a living creature. Soon after the tumor folded its threads back to its body and from pulsating orange it went blank like a dead creature. Disgusted by what we saw, we quickly went inside, since the shriek might have called for allies.


    Closing the door while Dario checked the vicinity, luckily it looked like the infestation didn¡¯t pass through the door which meant that every closed door might be safe. Not only that, because of the infestation blocking the emergency lights, I couldn¡¯t see without the help of Dario, but since this place wasn¡¯t infested I could, hence I told Dario to go get the weapons while I try to find Silvia.


    ¡°Dario, go get the weapons, I¡¯ll try to search for Silvia¡±


    He nodded and pointed to a room, which I believe he hinted that she should be in there. We soon after went our separate ways. While we were running to our destination, a banging noise could be heard from the front door. ¡°Shit, I¡¯d better hurry¡±.


    I quickly ran to the door and then opened it which revealed a pitch black room. Soon after that I could hear a cute shaky voice asking for who it was "Who¡­ is it?"


    "It''s me, Vincent your brothers best friend, we must get out of here"


    :gimme:


    I could then hear small steps coming from the darkness. It sounds like the steps of a child with her shoes on, which was getting louder like accelerating train.


    ¡°Vincent!!¡± A cute yell could be heard from the darkness and as she ran, I could see that she stretched her hands out for a hug.


    Since the petite 10 year old girl with blonde hair and green eyes ran to me, I hugged her in relief that she was still alive. Although I couldn''t help but think about how weird this family''s gene were. One had brown hair and brown eyes aka Dario, meanwhile Catherine had blue eyes with natural deep dark red hair. And lastly Silvia with blonde light hair and green eyes, were they all half brother and sisters?


    Was it some kind of gene modification? Well whatever... I decided not to stick my nose to where they doesn''t belong, rather these features fit them perfectly anyway, I can¡¯t wait to see how Silvia will look like as an adult.


    :kya:


    "Come, lets get out of here." I calmly said to her.


    She nodded and followed me from behind while holding my hands. Those small pale hands was actually very strong, since I could feel that she was nearly crushing my hand. Was she afraid of the banging sound or maybe because I didn¡¯t have a sort of flashlight as I walked toward the entrance?


    Soon after we then met up with Dario who was covering behind a table at front of the front door. He had the Silver Eagle sniper which took me a half of a year polishing and engraving those awesome marks and crafting the weapon itself took me 2 years¡­ While the Combat knife only took me a quarter of a year. And last and not least, the Black Eagle Rifle I made specifically for him that took me 3 years, I am so proud of my Eagle series since they all had the classic look of the weapons from 1300 years ago, unlike the new ones that had more of a sci fi style. This was the biggest reasons why all the weapons I made took such a long time. Which for the most part was because I had to optimize them so that they would be better or at least at the same grade of the weapons we use today.


    :hotinhere:


    Hopefully my father and mother didn¡¯t mind me taking their high grade materials and using their tools.


    Anyways he handed me the rifle which he had gotten from my father, also a few magazines and grenades. We then discussed the plans and with the help of the information we obtained from my parents apartment. What we came up with was that it was best to throw a few grenades in succession to kill of the majority of the unknown creatures. Hence why Dario also gave Silvia a few grenades.


    Now waiting for the door to burst open with our grenades readied.


    We waited.


    Just like deja vu, this front door also turned into a U shaped door. And then finally gave up by bursting open and then gliding on the floor with a metallic sound until it hit the table and stopped with scratch mark on the floor.


    We quickly threw our grenades, but Dario who was a trained soldier timed it so perfectly, that the moment the door bursted open so did the grenade land behind the door.


    ¡°Ka-booom!¡±


    A big explosion causing splinters to spread everywhere and left a burn mark behind the door and shattered pieces of spider like creatures and bats.


    Not waiting for them to regroup, we kept throwing grenades until we felt it was safe to sprint out.


    And when it was, Silvia jumped onto Darios for a piggyback and grabbed the Silver Eagle 50.cal Barrett. It was if they had combined into a tank so that they could sprint outside and annihilate them with good mobility.


    [th_0tive.gif]


    ¡°PA, PA, PA¡± The Silver eagle echoed throughout the corridor that most likely attracted more creatures which the grenades probably already did, while killing every wounded creature with one bullet and with a tiny smoke coming out of the barrel each time. Of course anything else that was coming, was shoot by Dario with his Black eagle. As they made way to the old cleaning system, I shoot at the opposite direction, covering their escape. Luckily his watch could illuminate strongly to the surroundings, or I wouldn¡¯t be able to shoot without missing a lot.


    ¡°Knock, knock!¡±


    The wall opened and Dario dropped Silvia with the Silver eagle and she crawled inside with it.


    But since creatures kept pouring out from the corners of the hallways, we didn¡¯t have any time to rest nor did we have enough time for one of us to crawl inside. Also our ammos were getting low...


    ¡°Shit, Vincent this is my last magazine!¡±


    :nei:


    ¡°Same¡­¡±


    ¡°Dario, you don¡¯t have any grenades left?¡±


    ¡°I have one left!¡±


    :agift:


    ¡°Use it at your side and crawl inside, don¡¯t forget to pull me inside!¡±


    ¡°Roger!¡±


    He threw the grenade at his side and then jumped into the system.


    Quickly I too followed him by walking backwards and shooting, but I had made a big mistake¡­


    What seemed like a flawless plan was actually a bad one. Dario was the only light source I had, hence all I could do now was to drop the weapon and crawl inside because I couldn¡¯t see the incoming creatures from the darkness. ¡°Shit¡­¡±


    "Quickly Vincent! Get here!" he said.


    :nei:


    I dropped the weapon to lose some weight and quickly ran to the old system with a bit of light coming out of it in the darkness, jumped into the system which Dario then quickly pulled me inside. Trying to click the button with my feet when I was far inside enough, I then felt a sudden pain course through my leg.


    ¡°Aaaargh!!¡± I screamed and got pulled outside by some snakey silhouette. As I hanged there upside down with something holding me leg the only thing I saw was the wriggling part at the bottom of the creature, which was illuminated by the SMB¡¯s from my friends.


    The creature quickly flinged me hard onto the wall afterwards, which made me lose my breath and finally coughed on the floor as I tried to catch my breath back. Soon after I could also feel that something heavy forced me down onto the slimy and infested floor, which also ruptured my lower abdomen and made blood drip out of my mouth as I laid there powerless.


    :Xno:


    ¡°VINCENT!¡± I could hear them screaming as my head started to get dizzy with weird echoing noises of what I believe is bullets being fired upon something.


    :nei:


    Feeling my lower abdomen with my hand I felt that my warm blood slowly gushed out of my body. It seems that I had been stabbed by the creature, who now let out a ¡°Grrrrrrr¡± Sound and drool from the creature leaked from the mouth I couldn¡¯t see onto my back. It then whipped me with its tail so that I coughed out more blood and flew once again onto the wall and landed helplessly with my back on the infested floor, while staring into the glowing reptile eyes in the pitch black darkness.


    ...


    My heart started to beat faster, my mind broke into dizziness, time started to slow down as I laid there looking into the only source of light which came from my friend¡¯s SMBs.


    Staring at them I could see that they were crying. A few seconds felt like hours as the empty cartridges from the fired ammos from the sniper and rifle slowly fell onto the metallic floor in the systems with a ¡°clang!¡± which made them bounce away and then slowly roll on the floor away, as they did, they also echoed throughout the systems. Although the noise slowly disappeared as it seems like I started not to be able to hear anything because of the heavy headache I started to feel.


    Looking at them more carefully with the pain I felt throughout my body. I could see that Catherine used the long barreled Silver Eagle to her advantage by resting the barrel on Dario¡¯s shoulder while aiming from behind the back in full auto, which I had warned her about not to do, since it took a big toll on the arm, especially with the bad stance I could imagine she had. I should scold her later...


    Dario himself, sprayed the Black eagle while screaming, which I couldn¡¯t hear but seeing from his mouth language it seemed to be so. But all they did was to no avail, the creature which got heavily shot by them didn¡¯t even get dented by the bullets. Rather the small ones which tried to crawl inside the systems got hit and killed instead as they got shredded by the bullets into pieces.


    Well Silvia just sat there with a saddened expression¡­ I knew it, she was a smart girl afterall.


    Looking at them I could only try to stretch my hand out towards them with my last strength and wave a goodbye.


    Just to be stabbed on my arm multiple times from the creature which now seemed so gigantic.


    ¡°Kya kya kya kya¡± The creature laughed as it was mocking me while my friends watched me slowly die.


    Luckily my arm was still in pieces¡­


    Soon after I could see that Dario hit the wall with his rifle with a saddened expression¡­ Man you should have saved those bullets for later. Why the rifle though? It did nothing wrong...


    ¡°Go idiots¡± I then said with my last strength.


    :cries:


    Dario looked at me for the last time, said something I couldn¡¯t hear and soon after pushed the button, which closed the door on me and engulfed the hallway in total darkness. He probably knew that all he did was to no avail and without any ammo left on the rifle, he was finally forced to go...


    ¡°Kyaaaaaa!¡± The creature shrieked after it had won the battle with a few losses.


    Soon after it tuck its tail inside a wound it had just made on my leg and started to pull me somewhere. All I could see as it did were the tumors glowing in the darkness with its orange colour. Although they didn¡¯t illuminate the surroundings...


    I left a blood trail on the infested floor as it pulled me to somewhere alive.


    I could also hear creatures just run or flap their way past me without doing any harm to me either.


    All I could feel was the slimy floor and my body in pain that instead started to go numb.


    A few seconds later, I saw a light come from somewhere to the right side of my head.


    Turning my head to the light, I could see the deep space with a thousands of stars shining brightly from some far away place...


    Jupiter was still as big as ever¡­


    Pluto is still a tiny snowy globe¡­


    And Earth¡­ So far away but still blue as ever¡­


    Actually I could only see Pluto that blocked everything else.


    ....


    Still... am I just going to die here like this? By blood loss because a bitch creature caused it?


    I still haven''t even avenged my parents yet¡­ How could I die before that?¡¯¡¯


    Why am I so calm even though I am about to die?


    Where is my fear?


    What¡¯s going on...


    .... I can¡¯t think clearly anymore...


    ¡­


    Hey¡­ I forgot to read the latest chapter of my favourite light novel¡­ Crap¡­


    ...


    ... I can¡¯t even feel the pain anymore...


    Wait, am I shivering?


    ...


    Its so cold¡­


    Is there no blankets?...


    Please give me blankets...


    ah¡­


    ¡­ so tired¡­.


    Let me just¡­


    take...


    a quick nap¡­


    ¡­


    For a while...


    O..okay?


    ¡­


    Don''t forget the...


    blankets...


    ¡­


    ¡­


    :sleepy:


    :imdead:


    ...


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ...


    "Emergency Regeneration activated"


    ¡°Health bar depleted for regeneration¡±


    "Loading is still in progress"

 Chapter 2:1 Old man..

    Chapter.2:1 Old man...


    ¡°Aagh¡±¡­ I moaned with my eyes trying to open as I soothed my dizzy head with my non wounded hand confusingly.


    ¡°Where¡­ where am I¡­ And what¡¯s this stench?¡± I quietly asked.


    ¡°The stench of death and the place where everyone will die¡± an old voice said in a cold tone from somewhere I couldn¡¯t make out because of my previous headache.


    After a few more tries to open my eyes so that it could adjust to the bright light, I could finally look around after a few seconds.


    Taking a few seconds to look around the vicinity, I found out that I was in one of the train station that lead to the central part of the Ashinova or just another sector, it was also infested to add.


    That wasn¡¯t the end of it, after having a few more looks around I could see a lot of wounded, unconscious and dead people sitting with their back to the walls. Some were also conscious crying until their eyes turned red. Others just sat there speechless while staring at the floor as if they were waiting for something. A few were children that sat there lifeless, while the other cried for their parents, slept quietly around a corner or shivered heavily while holding in their cry. They all had something in common, all of them were wounded as they struggled to live their last moments.


    Looking at everyone just made me heavily depressed, but luckily their SMB¡¯s had their flashlights on, which illuminated the station or I wouldn¡¯t be able to see anything. Actually, maybe it¡¯s better to die without seeing anything?


    Counting most of them at front of me and the groans behind me there must be around 150 people.


    Having enough of checking the surroundings, I now looked at the old man who tried to catch my attention this whole time, by waving his hand at front of me back and forth with his SMB.


    ¡°So, what¡¯s your story?¡± the old man asked.


    ¡°I.. I remember having my lower abdomen pierced with a hole and¡­¡± I answered while feeling around my body to observe my wounds.


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t seem so to me¡± he quickly interrupted as I felt around for the missing hole in my lower abdomen¡­


    ¡°Yeah¡­ But my clothes is still tattered...¡±


    Now confusingly looking at him for some kind of answer to the mystery, I noticed that he didn¡¯t have any wounds at him at all unlike the other people here. Yet, he still sat there on the slimy floor with that bloodied clothings.


    ¡°Why are you still here then?¡± I asked.


    He looked away and nodded to a direction signaling me to do the same and said ¡°You¡¯ll see¡±.


    Doing the same as the old man, I saw a man wake up from his slumber in confusion for a few seconds just like me recently a while ago. Afterwards he stood up and started to jump with one leg to somewhere with the help of his SMB.


    Having my eyes locked at the limping man who made his way a few meters until he reached a door, which said ¡°Maintenance room¡± it looked like he was about to escape, but suddenly the infested wall next to him started to open as if it was a mouth with sharp teeth and a shriek was let out. The man who tried to escape noticed it and quickly tried to open the door that didn¡¯t budge, panicky he even kicked the door a few times, which made him stumble because his other leg was wounded and couldn''t hold it anymore. A second after a claw could be seen trying to crawl out of the weird hole and a spider like creature appeared right after.


    The man fell on his knees, weeped for mercy as the creature walked slowly to him and raised both of its front legs with a claw on each.


    ¡°Splatter¡±


    ¡°Aaaaaargh!¡± The man screamed and passed out as his body got cut in half by the waist from the creature and blood could be seen on the wall like a straight line of a cut. But it didn''t stop there, the creature immediately went for another cut from head to the bottom half like a cross, which killed him instantly as his body parts fell onto the floor. His blood, brain and cut intestines could be slowly seen rolling out of the body parts. Soon after the creature picked up his parts and threw him into the mouth where the creature came from. The weird wall like mouth started to crunch and eat the dead man as the creature started to look around if anyone else made any trouble, but then went back slowly into the wall.


    Having seen the brutal scene play out near the blood splattered wall, I only hoped that my fate was not the same. I bet that everyone conscious here, thought like that.


    ¡°See?¡± The old man said with a sarcastic smile.


    ¡°Right¡­¡±


    ...


    ¡°Wait a minute¡­ Are you Vayne?¡± He suddenly asked.


    ¡°Uh.. no that¡¯s my father?¡±


    The old man shocked from what he had heard for a second, lightly laughed a bit right after that brightened the mood and said ¡° Damn bastard¡­ Never told me he had gotten a son¡±


    ¡°Do I know you?¡± I asked not knowing what was going on.


    ¡°What, he didn¡¯t even tell you about your father¡¯s master?¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­ I forgot, I have never gone outside from the maintenance room for years¡± he said while rubbing his gray hair.


    ¡°But did he hate me that much?¡± he added while rubbing his mustache and pondered to the ceiling.


    ¡°Is he still alive?¡± He then asked.


    ..¡±I hope he is, but he is more likely dead, from what I had seen¡± I answered with a sulk.


    The old man now had a few tears while staring sorrowfully to the floor¡­


    ¡°Ah.. I see, I am sorry¡­¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s okay, knowing my father he probably died a happily with my mother¡­¡± I tried to cheer him up.


    But the old man kept quietly crying and after a while he looked intently at me and said ¡°Don¡¯t act strong stupid boy, I know you are holding it in¡­ Just let it out and mourn for them, or you make me embarrassed for being the only one...¡±


    I cried until my eyes turned red for the first time ever since my parents died. My parents might not have given me a lot of gifts¡­ But I still loved them deep inside of me. Whenever I needed help, they were there for me. Whenever I wanted to buy something, they did for me. They were the greatest parents who was like a friend to me even though they didn¡¯t show it, since they were kinda shy. Not only that, even the guests in the party and everyone who worked for USEE I mourned for¡­ They were like foster parents that helped me and gave me candies each time I went to the workshop.


    I miss them, I miss everyone, I believe everyone does, I wept next to the cold and infested wall...


    ...


    A few minutes after that felt like hours, the old man and I looked cheerfully at each other after shedding our tears to death. Quietly of course.


    ¡°I have decided¡­Here, Catch!¡± He said and threw a key to me who confusingly tried to catch it.


    ¡°You will survive¡­ No¡­ you must survive¡±


    He then pointed at the key on the palm of my hand and said ¡°That¡¯s the key to the maintenance room where the other limping guy tried to escape¡±


    ¡°In a few minutes I will give you the signal to run over there to open it and escape¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t forget to lock the door¡± he added.


    Looking at the key and then at the old man confusingly I asked ¡°What about you? And the others and those children?¡±


    ¡°Look at us¡± He said while waving his hand everywhere for me to check.


    ¡°Everyone is either old or too young and at least wounded, while either being unconscious, conscious and dead from blood loss, we will only cripple you if you want to escape¡±


    ¡°This is life, you can¡¯t be too optimistic or greedy and expect that you can get out alive in it, especially in these current events.¡±


    As he said that, it only made me sorrowful to think about the short lives of the young ones, who will die by an unknown attack by an unknown creature out of nowhere.


    ¡°Besides, my plan will not work for everyone either¡­¡± he added.


    ¡°I have been here for a while¡± the old man calmly said.


    ¡°That man who needlessly died a second ago made those creatures aware of the exit out of here¡± He said with a sulk.


    ¡°To tell you the truth, I could have easily escaped with the others, but I needed to know what that mouth on the wall did. If it had the same projectile weapons like those bats, I didn¡¯t want to die with others when we didn''t have to¡­ If you have seen them of course¡±


    I nodded to show that I did.


    ¡°Now that I know that it serves just like a tunnel for those creatures, I know the perfect plan to get out of here, but sadly¡­ The wait and test to find out what the mouth was, were a greater loss than I had thought.¡± He said depressingly.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know if you can hear them. I can hear their ugly footsteps moving and gathering around here. I know why they are gathering, which is why I know that I can¡¯t get the most of us out of here anymore¡±


    ¡°You have to trust me, you are the only one who can survive now. But now, we wait until I can initiate my plan.¡±


    ¡°Lets cut it short, ask me any question and I will try to answer them for you.¡±


    A few minutes had passed and he told me about how he had met his father, what he had been doing and why he trained my father, what he did after they parted and so on so forth. I believe it was now time to change my questions to the current events instead.


    "So, you said you knew why they are gathering humans to one spot?" I asked the old man.


    He then pointed to a corner with a few dead bodies stacked together. Observing them more closely, I noticed that the lifeless bodies had pitch black holes in their head. It didn¡¯t look like that something pierced right through them to the other side, but rather only a hole so that it would be easier to drink out if like a coconut.


    Don''t tell me....


    "Brain suckers?" I answered as if it was expected.


    "Yes, sooner or later a few large mosquitos will fly to this place and suck our brain out, that is also when the creatures I can hear will start to feast on that hill of dead bodies. Which also means that their security will thin down."


    If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    "I don¡¯t know why they are sucking the brain out. But I miraculously survived by laying at the bottom of those corpses though, which is also why I have tons of blood on my clothes" He added with a shrug so that I wouldn¡¯t ask the obvious question. Well that would also explain the stench...


    "Besides, how did these ugly creatures get past our defenses unnoticed anyway? The turrets and cannons is one of the best, even against a few Corsairs..." He said angerly while clenching his fist harder to the air.


    ¡°Ashinova is like a fortress¡­¡± he silently added.


    As I watched the old man rant at front me, I too could only wonder how the creatures actually did it. Our intercom system barely had any time to warn us, not only that, so far I haven''t seen one soldier nor have I heard any other sources of gunshots that wasn''t from my group.


    Decided that it was about time to ask another question, he quickly interrupted me with a quiet signal and started to pretend that he had fainted.


    Knowing that this old dude knew his stuff, I too did just like him.


    ¡­


    ¡°Wriggle...Wriggle¡­¡±


    The sound of the movement like the snake that dragged me here could be heard moving somewhere closer to me. Soon after the wriggling was so close that I am so sure that it is at front of me and the old man.


    ¡°Grrrrrr¡± ¡°Gyaaa¡­.¡±


    ¡°huh?¡± ¡°eeek!¡±


    ¡°KYAAAA!¡± ¡°STAB! STAB! STAB!¡±


    ¡°Splatter¡±


    ¡°AAAAAHHH¡­..¡±


    ¡°Nom, nom, crunch, crunch, nom, nom¡­.¡± ¡°gulp¡±


    ¡°Wriggle...Wriggle¡­¡±


    ¡­


    Amen, someone who just woke up next to me got brutally stabbed, which made the person splatter blood everywhere near him including on me, afterwards he also got eaten...


    ¡°All clear¡­¡± The old man said after a while with a sad expression.


    Opening my eyes slowly to see if that creature is nearby I then gave out a heavy sigh of relief and cleaned my cheek from the blood. Taking a look to the left of me soon after, I saw a pool of blood left by the person who died being drained into the infested area. As if the weird slimy purple threads needed nutrients to survive.


    ¡°So, what was it you were going to ask before that¡­ thing, disturbed us¡±


    ¡°Ah, have you seen any of our soldiers anywhere?¡±


    ¡°No¡­ But considering how the soldiers just got warned out of nowhere and that it looked like the command center was under attack. They probably went immediately to the Weapon Storages to arm themselves with stronger weapons than pistols and batons, but instead found themselves stuck in them¡±


    ¡°Why is that?¡± I asked since I had never been to the weapon storages before.


    ¡°The doors are run by electricity and since the main power cell is down, so is the doors¡±


    ¡°Keeping unused batteries in a flowing current, isn¡¯t a good idea afterall¡±


    ¡°Meaning we will never be able to get them out to help us defend against the attackers. Also those soldiers at the command center is probably having a nightmare right now¡± he added.


    ¡°Ah¡­¡± I answered.


    He then looked at me with a grin ¡°That is unless you somehow get a power cell and inject it to the doors manually¡±


    ¡°It will take a miracle, but this is also the reason why I want you to survive¡­ No, it is a miracle that you are here in the first place with those bags of yours¡± He said as if he knew what they could do.


    ¡°Inside the maintenance room there is a crate filled with emergency power cells, if you get to them, just put as many as you can hold onto those bags¡± he said with a smile.


    ¡°I designed those bags, but I never knew that Vayne would be able to make them, hehe... This make me proud of him¡± He said while blushing. The old man must have really cared for his apprentice even though he told me a few minutes ago how brutally his engineering training was.


    ¡°Shhh!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s time¡­¡±


    Hearing a buzzing sound closing in, I could see large and black mosquitos coming out of the vents, hallways and the wall.


    They started to hover above the head of some unconscious people to the utmost left of me. Looking at them I could see that they had large translucent needle. They looked exactly like any normal mosquito but larger. After hovering for a while, they quickly accelerated and penetrated the skull of the person at front of each of them. The person started to spasm everywhere with his arms and legs, twitching as the mosquito sucked their brain goo, blood and the brain itself out, through the translucent needle¡­ It was a disgusting scene and a heavy atmosphere could be felt because I was not the only one watching them, the wounded people quickly started to panic and shiver.


    Some who still had their conscious even started to limp away with their only leg since they were close to the mosquitos. But was quickly stopped by the spider like creatures who cut their legs off. The screams could be heard echoing everywhere, some even tried to crawl away before it was their turn, even banging their head on the floor if they had to. After all¡­ No one wants to die with their brain being sucked alive consciously¡­


    Not only that¡­ It included the children who wet their pants because of fear and started to shiver heavily or follow those that tried to escape. Those young ones who tried to escape were treated the same as the older ones, like ragdolls in the air.


    After a while the mosquitos turned a bit larger from each time they drank, they kept hovered to the next bunch and kept going closer to us¡­ The brainless ones got piled up at the stack nearby of dead people, spider like creatures started to pour out of nowhere and slowly feast on the huge pile of dead people.


    Looking at them, I could do nothing¡­ I want to help them¡­ But I cannot, those power cells will decide the future of Ashinova. Each time a human, even children with their school uniforms got pierced by the mosquito on the head helplessly and placed on top of that hill, I depressingly cried inside me.


    This went on for a while and soon after it was only me, the old man and a few others left alive in this the train station.


    ¡­


    ¡°Get ready boy, I¡¯ll distract as many as I could. The moment I run, they will they chase me, that is when you must run to the maintenance room¡±


    I nodded and readied myself with the key at hand.


    The three mosquitoes now hovering at the next bunch next to me, slowly pierced the head of those who was now dead from blood loss while passing out like the group before them. As they were sucking, the old man quickly stood up and ran the opposite direction from the maintenance room while shouting for attention.


    Quickly tons of spider like creatures with 2 eyes and 6 legs stopped feasting on the pile of dead humans and ran after the old man as he ran for his life to the outside of the train station. When they closed in on him, I took my chance to pass the hovering mosquitos that tried to suck the brain out of those next to me, to the maintenance door. While I did, I could feel pain. Even though on the outside I had somehow healed my wounds, I could still feel pain with the each step I took towards the door.


    ¡°AARRGH!¡± could be heard behind me as I unlocked the door without looking back.


    ¡°Good bye old man and everyone¡± I whispered to myself and went inside with an uneasy feeling of leaving everyone behind as they honourable sacrificed themselves.


    ¡­


    As I entered the dark maintenance room, which looked like to be uninfested since it had a barely lit light from the emergency lights. I took a rest to think about what had happened before until today. But soon after I searched for anything that would be of use for my quest. It was really dark though, so I did have a few problems like stumbling onto a few devices as I walked around because I couldn¡¯t really make out what was at front of me.


    I let out a heavy sight after hitting my head on some kind of shelf and said ¡°I really need to find a flashlight¡­¡±


    ¡­


    Sigh¡­ After searching for a while, I couldn¡¯t find anything other than the orange glowing power cells that had a tube like appearance. Putting around 40 of them into my pockets while emptying every tool I knew I wont need for what I was about to do, I then noticed that I still had the present from my father wrapped in paper.


    I sat down on a table nearby and took my last present out with tears pouring out of me eyes¡­ Staring at the box for a while I then brushed my eyes off and unwrapped it, which revealed a glowing like cube object with weird markings that illuminated the surroundings with a strong light.


    ¡°Looks like I solved the problems with light at least¡­ But I still need something to protect myself though, something that I can use with one hand...¡±


    Jumping down from the table, I then suddenly realised that I didn¡¯t know where the weapon storages were...


    ¡°Ah shit¡­¡±


    Since the elevators are didn¡¯t work, going down the stairs and up to search for a door I had no idea where it was will take a while. I believe it should be near the soldier¡¯s quarters¡­ But, I don¡¯t even know where that is!


    ¡­


    Walking around and looting after a few minutes with the cube at hand as a light source. I found a welding torch attached to a large power cell tube with the diameter of 15 cm and the length of 30 cm.


    With a grin I knew what I had to do with this. Attaching the tube to the back of my belt.


    I soon after went to a bench with tools and modded the welding torch so that it became a flame thrower powered by the power cell.


    Testing it out a few times with a satisfied smile, now I had something to defend myself at least. But before I head out, I needed to plan a few scenarios in my mind, what I should do if I get to a slump and use the flamethrower to my advantage, etc.


    After a while of planning, I checked my SMB for the last time with the ¡°Loading¡± screen, I then decided to head out of the maintenance room through another door that wasn¡¯t to the train station.


    ¡­

 Chapter 2:2 Alice

    Chapter.2:2 Alice


    ¡°Pant.. Pant¡­ Pant¡­¡±


    ¡­


    For a while now I have been running with the cube as a torch, searching for the Weapon Storage to no avail¡­ Although once in a while, a creature or two would appear before my burning wrath.


    Of course when they do, they would turn into a crispy bacon with a few shrieks that called for more¡­ Not only that, if a lot of them came charging at me, I would cheat by camping behind a door in a apartment, forcing them to come to me and not the other way around.


    ¡°Hah¡­.¡± I heavily sighed in one of the empty apartments, while borrowing some food as I relaxed for a few minutes¡­


    At least I am not stealing right?


    But damn¡­ I really need a map for this place.


    Even though I have lived here for 15 years, I didn¡¯t really venture out a lot unless it was to the mall, school or workshop. Hell, you could do everything at home at this space station. Not only that, with the infestation everywhere it was really hard to tell the difference between the hallways if you didn¡¯t create a mind map or unless you knew it within the heart.


    As I take one bite after another, I could only ponder about my friends if they have survived or not. And about the soldiers being stuck in those room without food, since they must be as hungry as I am. Right?


    I stood up from the couch and brighten myself up by boxing the air¡­


    ¡°I can do it¡­ Believe in yourself¡±


    ¡°But first¡­ Another bite on the hard bread.¡±


    ¡°Crunch, crunch,crunch¡±


    ¡°Crack.. crack.. crack..¡±


    Hm? I didn¡¯t know that my bread were made out of glass¡­


    ¡°Grrrrrrr¡±


    Huh? My bread can growl?


    Wait.. that¡¯s not my bread¡­


    Quickly I turned around to the source of the cracking sound, which was near the front door to the left of me. What I saw wasn¡¯t the front door but the ugly deformed brownish human like faced creature at front of me.


    ¡°KYAAAAA!!!¡± the creature roared as the creature¡¯s head split in 4 and drool flew onto my face and bread.


    Yuck¡­


    Immediately I dropped the remaining bread and aimed my flame thrower at the creature while saying ¡°Say hello to my little friend!¡±


    ¡°FUUUUUU OOSH!!!!¡±


    As I used the modified welder, the creature quickly wriggled away with a shriek and its tail behind its back. Knowing that I couldn¡¯t miss this chance, I tried to follow it with my flame thrower, but my human and untrained legs couldn¡¯t catch up to the creature, especially with the heavy load of power cells and the power cell tube itself. Even though I have shrinked them, the mass were still the same, which was a let down.


    ¡°Crap!¡± I said and stomped the ground and gave out a heavy sigh of failure¡­


    That bitch did it again¡­


    I could count up to over 16 times now and still it just keep spitting drool on my face every time it sees me. What is the real intent of the creature? Just to annoy me or play with me?


    Well with most of my power cells gone because of the modified welder that consumed more energy than needed. I went back to the apartment and stocked up my remaining bags, just in case.


    ...


    As I walk through another hallway or rather maze in another floor at sector 16 with the cube, I noticed that the infested tumors have grown back on the way here, even though I had burned nearly all of them down with the welding torch a few minutes ago. Their regrowth capabilities to recover was really strong, I couldn¡¯t help but think that it might be impossible to recover the Ashinova if this kept going and if there was a source to this madness.


    Anyways as I move along the hallway trying to find a map, I finally found something else that was worth much more around a dead end corner. A infested gate that looked like no other in a dead end with no handle. Quickly burning of the infested area with a glowing tumour a shriek could be heard from it as it revealed the hidden part behind the purple threads.


    I cheered with delight as I could read ¡±Weapon Storage 2 of sector 16".


    "Finally...." I said after trying to find this place for hours.


    Trying to find the manual lock somewhere on the door or on the wall, I suddenly heard a few groans and steps getting louder from around the corner of the cross hallway.


    Did the tumour call for backup?


    Quickly I hid the glowing cube inside my shirt and hid myself in the shadows near a corner, so that whatever was on the way wouldn''t notice me. Especially when it sounded like a human who walked through the slimy floor towards me.


    ...


    "Aaaah urg urg" It moaned while making funny noises in a eerie tone.


    "Step... Step..."


    Human or not it walked really slowly across the infested hallway from the corner.


    "Step... Step..."


    Suddenly I couldn¡¯t hear any steps anymore, but the moan was still nearby, which what I believe is somewhere at front of me. Poking my head out to inspect what it was without light, all I could see were a twitching silhouette of a child, twitching heavily as it moaned without any sign of stopping.


    Staring at it with curiosity for a while, it just kept standing there¡­ Waiting eagerly for something to come out.


    A few minutes had passed and yet it still stood there while I watched over it. Thinking that it might be about time to burn whatever was standing there, since all the hints hinted that it wasn¡¯t not something normal. I quietly took out the cube to illuminate the creature together with my welder ready for battle.


    "Aaaaah"


    With the light illuminating the hallway, I could immediately see what the unknown creature was...


    But I regretted ever wanting to see it, because what I saw was a human girl with pitch black holes in the eyes that indicated that there was none in them. Deformed face and tattered clothing that barely covered the decayed body. The zombie like creature kept moaning and started to heavily twitch a lot more than the amount it did before it noticed me without eyes.


    "AEERRAAAOOOOUURRR!!!!" It screamed weirdly while crouching a bit.


    Suddenly a uneasy and uncomfortable noise of bones breaking, tissues ripping and skin splitting could be heard from the girl¡¯s body that split a few tissues of the skin apart.


    "Crack, crack, crunch, squirt"


    "Mother of god..." I pleaded.


    The girl started to grow an extra pair of arms at the back with claws attached on the hand and her stomach split open which removed the remaining clothings, which also revealed a mouth with disgustingly sharp teeth and intestines hanging out. The head split in two and her real hands also grew a pair of bone claws...


    It was an abomination, something that shouldn''t exist, something that should have never been born, it must be exterminated I believed firmly.


    Right after the creature had made its transformation, it immediately charged towards me while cutting the air with its new limbs and old. It looked funny actually, if it didn¡¯t try to kill me.


    "Oh no you don''t!"


    Quickly I retaliated by firing the modified welder at the monster, which created a large flame that extended to at least 10 meters until it hit the running monster that charged at me.


    "AaaaaUUuuuHaaoh" the creature screamed as it got toasted and fell onto the floor with a "Thud!".


    Walking toward the deformed human to satisfy my curiosity of it being dead or not. I turned the toasted creature around with my feet and saw that it looked lifeless with its eyelids closed. Not that it had any eyes to begin with. About to give it a last kick for being so ugly, the eyelids suddenly opened and quickly it tried to devour me with the mouth at its stomach, which in reflex I tried to immediately stop at once by breaking my posture that made me fall backwards instead.


    ¡°Crap¡± I said and tried to crawl backwards as fast as possible so that I could create some distance to burn the creature without burning myself.


    As I did the creature crawled after me with the help of its extra limbs like a spider. As it got close by the second because my speed wasn¡¯t enough, I retaliated with a few kicks that did nothing but anger it more.


    ¡°Screw this!¡± I ranted and used my welder against the creature, while hoping that my pants would be strong enough to protect me from burning myself.


    ¡°AaaaaUUuuuHaaoh" the creature screamed once again as it got toasted and fell onto the floor with face first.


    Quickly rolling around to cover my flames with the slime of the infested area so that I could extinguish it. I then stood up and backed off a bit so that I could once again burn the creature that nearly took my life.


    ¡°Take this bitch¡­¡±


    ¡°FUUUUUU OOSH!!!!¡±


    After a while of emptying one power cell, I then noticed that the body of the girl disintegrated and vanished into nothingness¡­


    ¡°Damn, If I meet more of these I might need to cripple them and run instead, unless I want to waste my ammo¡­¡±


    Now that I have taken care of that with a few brushes on my legs from the slimy goo of the infestation, I then resume to trying to open the door, but then heard a voice instead.


    ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡± Said someone.


    ¡°Your savior¡± I said sarcastically.


    ¡°Oh, I bet you can open it manually?¡± He asked me.


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    ¡°Yeah¡­ Let me search for the lid¡±


    ¡°It should be around the left side of the door¡± He hinted to me.


    ¡°Ah found it!¡±


    As I was about to open the lid for the manual injection of the power cell I could then hear a creature cheer with happiness near me, it was the mantis arms like hybrid snake creature with a large head next to me.


    ¡°Kyaa!.. Kyaa!.. Kyaaa!¡±


    ¡°Sorry it looks like you guys will be stuck for a while¡±


    ¡°What?! Wait!¡±


    Staring at the creature who was amusingly laughing with me as I had my conversation with the unknown man behind the door, I quickly aimed the welder at the creature. But as soon as I did, the creature retaliated with a quick slash with the arm of theirs that made me duck for my life and roll away from the dead end so that I landed behind the snaky creature near the hallway.


    But instead of shooting right away, I backed of a few meters with a jump that made me roll on the slimy floor, and then aimed the welder. Why? I questioned myself. That¡¯s because the deformed human from before nearly trapped me in that trap, hence from experience, this creature might do the same. And just like I thought, the Snake whipped the tail that made a sonic boom like sound in the air.


    ¡°FUUUUUU OOSH!!!!¡± I soon after fired the welder at the creature.


    But no shriek could be heard, just a laugh¡­ ¡°Kyaa!.. Kyaa!.. Kyaaa!¡±


    With a confused face and still standing ground with my flame thrower as the creature wriggled slowly to me. I then knew that the creature had somehow developed some kind of resistance to fire¡­ Was it because of the constant hit and run tactic it did?


    No it doesn¡¯t matter¡­ Now I need to run!


    Quickly I turned tail as soon as possible to an apartment nearby with a plan I had cooked up before hand in case anything like this happened. Trying to open every door I could, I finally got inside one that was unlocked and went inside while locking the door. Soon after loud bangs on the door could be heard as the creature tried to bash the door open.


    ¡°DUN! DUN! DUN!¡±


    Having no time to rest I looked around for something soft, whereas I found a couch that I pushed to place near the second floor rails. As I was pushing, the door suddenly bursted open with a ¡°DUUUN!¡±, making the door glide on the floor with a metallic sound of a shriek like it always do.


    Knowing that I didn¡¯t have a lot of time, I kicked the couch so that it covered the distance I had wanted it to be and right after I ran to the second floor. One of the reason why I knew that this would work was because every apartment in Ashinova barely had any differences unless it was the amount of rooms in them.


    ¡°Pant.. pant¡± I took a few breaths at a dead end as the creature had cornered me at the second floor.


    ¡°Kyaa!.. Kyaa!.. Kyaaa!¡± It laughed as if it had won the battle while wriggling closer and closer to me.


    But I just stood there with a big grin of delight, as creature then responded by confusingly tilting its head as if it were thinking along the lines of ¡°What is wrong with this dude?¡±


    I fired the flamethrower at the creature¡¯s head even though I knew it wouldn¡¯t hurt it, but the real reason was to blind the creature, because the flames created by the welder was rather large. Quickly I afterwards climbed the railing and jumped to the couch I had planted on the first floor. I landed with a gentle ¡°thud..¡± as I quickly continued to fire the flame thrower that could reach at least 10 meters onto the creature¡¯s head.


    Blinded by my flame thrower it violently tried to slash everything at front of it, even though I were on the first floor chuckling. As I got closer to the door I sprinted as fast as possible away while the creature were confused of what had really happened, as if it was magic..


    ¡°KYAAAAA!¡± It screamed because of the humiliation I caused as I ran to some random place far away.


    ¡­


    ¡°Phew¡­¡± I sighed inside a locker far away from the incident while resting to regain my energy. Knowing that the creature knew I was fiddling around the big door at front of the weapon storage 2 of sector 16, the first thing it would probably do was to check over there.


    ¡°Eheh!¡± A cute chuckle could be heard as I stood there silently.


    Trying to move around to check where it came from in the tight locker, I could then hear someone burst out laughing. ¡°hahahahahahahahahaha!¡±


    ¡°What a stupid creature, hahahaha! slam, slam!¡± Presumably who I believe to be Alice could be heard rolling around inside the SMB while laughing heavily and hitting... The floor I guess?¡­


    ¡°Alice?¡± I asked to gain her attention after raising my watch to the front of my face.


    As I gazed upon my watch in the dark locker, I noticed that the once red and pulsating marks was now blank of nothingness. Other than that, I could see a cute image of a schoolgirl in a room made out of 3d lights from the SMB. Though what really surprised me more than normal was the astonishing details of different shaders made by one colour. Every little and single detail was made out of the orange colour that is either lighter than the other, or darker.


    Looking at the petite girl with a checkered skirt, a shirt with long sleeves and a vest with the ¡°USEE¡± logo on the right chest. The details were so immense that even lifting the skirt you could sense the mass and the feel of it.


    ¡°HEY!¡± the long haired girl with glasses yelled at me while trying to cover her crotch by pushing her skirt down with her hands.


    ¡°Oh.. sorry¡­¡±


    ¡°You are a rude one aren¡¯t ya?¡±


    ¡°Sorry¡­¡± I apologized and poked her with my finger to try if I could, which made her fall backwards down onto the floor and show her cute teddy bear panties¡­


    ¡°Hey!¡± She yelled and then noticed that she once again showed her panties helplessly, which made her blush or so it seems¡­


    As she stood up, She let out a weird sound like ¡°Uuuuh!¡± as she pouted indicating that she would hit me or something. With a grin of a delight as if I had found a new toy, I then poked at her once again because it looked like that she couldn¡¯t retaliate against me.


    ¡°Hey! Grrr! Take this!¡± she said while showing her teddy bear panties on the floor and pointing at me.


    And just like that my grin quickly turned to a painful expression as I could feel a needle prick my skin under the SMB, which made me bite my lips until I bled as I tried to hold my scream in so that I wouldn¡¯t attract attention. Just like the first time I obtained the Watch my hand once again started to go numb although with less pain than before but still I fell out of the locker onto my knees as I looked at my watch. Looking closely at it while holding in my pain, I could see that the marks once again started to fill up one by one, but this time only until 4 out of 20 was filled with a red pulsating colour.


    ¡°I yield¡± I muttered.


    ¡°Hah. It¡¯s good that you now know that I have the power!¡± She said and retracted the needles.


    ¡°Yeah, sorry, besides¡­ The teddy bear is cute¡­¡±


    Suddenly a strong electric jolt electrocuted me instead of the needles, which made my body twitch heavily around out of reflex.


    ¡°Sorry!!¡± I pleaded to her.


    ¡­


    ¡°Hahahahaha¡± I laughed with tears on a bench in the locker room.


    ¡°So how old are you?¡± I asked her.


    ¡°15¡­¡±


    ¡°Ah, the same age as me¡±


    ¡°Well yeah, I was born from your blood¡±


    ¡°Oh? We are siblings then?¡±


    ¡°Kinda, but yeah¡­¡±


    ¡°Call me Onii-chan?¡±


    ¡°No¡­ rather call me Nee-chan¡±


    ¡°Ah, nevermind I¡¯ll call you Alice-chan¡± I said while pinching her cute cheek.


    "...."


    ¡°ARRGH! I yield!¡±


    ¡­


    ¡°Alice, my father told me that you held immense knowledge, did you not?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I do Vincent¡± She said with a image of a floating book hovering above her palm.


    ¡°Can you show me the map of Ashinova or just show me the way to the weapon storage room 1 of sector 16¡±


    ¡°Sure¡± she answered and made a globe with both of her palms. The globe showed the whole architecture of the Ashinova, leaving none left alone. But because of that, I had to zoom in a few times or rather she did it for me.


    I let out a ¡°Whoa¡± in awe because it was so cool.


    ¡°Here, let me draw a line from where you are to your destination¡± She said with a smile after my compliment.


    And just like that a line appeared from where I was on the map to where I was suppose to go. Surprisingly it was kinda closer than I thought, I must have wandered around like a maze without checking where I had been¡­


    ¡°Also, I will only appear when you need me, but I can talk, see, hear and sense, depending on the situation even though you can¡¯t see me¡±


    ¡°Good girl¡± I said while patting her hair gently, which made her blush.


    ¡°An.. anyways, if you get lost, just put your hand at front of you and I¡¯ll create a arrow to where you should go¡­¡±


    ¡°Okay, but first the toilet!¡± I said like a child with a new toy and proceeded to the toilet in the locker room.


    ¡°Wait, Vincent! Don¡¯t! NUEEEE!!!¡± she screamed for some reason...


    ¡­

 Chapter 2:3 The Meeting

    Chapter.2:3 The Meeting


    ¡°Vincent, I notice that the temperature is dropping slowly¡±


    ¡°Really? Ah, must be because we are so far away from the sun and that our main power cell connected to the heat generator is also down¡­.¡±


    ¡°Vincent, don¡¯t you have a power suit?¡±


    ¡°Ah, no¡­ I am a civilian and I didn¡¯t bother to purchase one either because they are so expensive, not only that, never in my life would I have thought that I would need one either¡± I said with a sulk.


    ¡°Oh really, that¡¯s good in a way, your father have left you a schematic of a combat power suit. You¡¯ll like it, I know it.¡±


    ¡°Ah, I¡¯d better check it out later then after we get out of here¡± I said while walking through the hallway which was the soldier¡¯s quarters or so Alice said with my modified welder ready.


    ¡°And Vincent¡­ Where is the human corpses? I thought you explained to me that the creatures have been running around killing humans everywhere?¡±


    I quickly looked around confused with my SMB as the flashlight instead of the cube. Just like what she had just said, the dead corpses of human beings could not be seen anywhere on these infested hallways, not only that. Ever since I left the maintenance room, I did not notice one corpse unless it was that those walking deformed human that I crippled instead of killed.


    Why didn¡¯t I think of how strange it was?


    Did they all turn into those things?


    Argh, what¡¯s going on? I thought while scrubbing my messy hair.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know Alice¡­¡± I said right after and kept walking while pondering about the weird events.


    ¡­


    ¡°We are here¡± she said and hid herself inside the SMB while I stood at front of a infested door. I then aimed the flamethrower, burned the tumour and opened the lid for the manual lock, which was placed at the same spot like the other door. But before I put the power cell in, I let out a heavy sigh¡­ ¡°Hah¡­ 1 out of 40 in at least 3 hours¡­ Better late than never I guess...¡±


    As the door raised to the ceiling after I put the power cell inside the hole, I could hear a few firearms being readied with a ¡°kachik¡± aimed towards me from behind.


    ¡°Whao! Easy there¡± I said before the door slowly raised upwards and with my hands in the air.


    What was revealed were boxes near the door with explosives in them and soldiers with white suits behind the boxes aiming their rifles at me in a row. It looked like they were about to set some explosives as a last resort for the door. Not like it would work though, since unlike the doors to the apartments the door to a weapon storage was always built with one of the strongest materials so that no one would be able to break in.


    ¡°Who are you?¡± said a feminine voice from behind the row of soldiers that had no helmets on, which were being pushed away so that certain someone could get through.


    ¡°Just a normal civilian with the task of opening the doors¡± I said with a shrug as they removed their hostile aim towards me.


    ¡°Oh really, why don¡¯t you come inside and we¡¯ll talk?¡± The feminine voice with a helmet that covered her whole face said.


    Looking at her, I could only wonder why she was the only one with the helmet on, unlike the other soldiers.


    With a nod I then walked past the boxes with explosives and soon after she pushed a lever to close the door that was now usable because it had electricity powering it.


    ...


    A minute later I was now strangely bound to a chair with soldiers with cool looking white suits surrounding me with a few meters distance and a unique black and red striped light suit interrogated me as she circled around me. Looking at her suit, I could only drool at how awesome it looked with the thin sleek high grade fabrics that air tightly surrounded her delicate body, combined with type 9 metal plates that were attached to the parts which the vitals were and everywhere that had no joints for the best maneuverability. On her right upper arm there was also a metal plate strapped around with the help of some kind of fabric and a text that said ¡°rank 37 Maverick suit Ashinova¡± on it. Last and not least a rig behind her spine that held the air for the suit and the other extra functions like temperature control and so on so forth.


    Maverick Suit... the one my father made specifically for the soldiers on the Ashinova and for space. It¡¯s a elite combat suit that had the capacity of 2 hours of air and could renew itself by just standing somewhere with oxygen. Metal that could deflect and protect from most of the advanced kinetic bullets, a suit that could move around space with the help of thrusters on different parts of the suit like the hands, shoulders, legs and feet, powered by power cells that needed around a hour recharging depending on how much you use it. And if the suit get punctured or damaged somewhere that would unseal the vacuum and expose the user to the deep space, the suit would then quickly reseal itself. Last and not least¡­ It can increased the senses of the user by 10 fold but was highly not recommended as it took a big toll on the brain. So mostly, the user of the Maverick suit would set it at around 3, which had been proven to be the safe zone.


    It is the elite suit for the best combat army in space, unless there existed a classified out there.


    Luckily, only those that worked for the security of Ashinova got one, but only the rankers had customized colours on them because they were placed within the top 100 out of all soldiers. It¡¯s probably to encourage the soldiers to work hard. Hence also the reason why the other soldiers but the one circling around me had a white digital coloured suit.


    But even so, the other space stations or factions have probably created their own suits to fit their needs and security. Funny though, the citizens of Ashinova that counted up to over 100000 which followed the neutral faction, wanted nothing to do with the ongoing war unless it was to research or create a new technology. But for some reason, we were also the state of the art of all tech that included health, combat and daily needs which everyone in the Ashinova made a living by selling the schematics to outsiders. The war classed ships was our weakside though, unless it was transportation classed ships since we didn¡¯t like ¡°war¡±.


    Even if some faction tried to attack us with their fleet of corsairs that had the length of 1000 meters, they would still face the fortress called Ashinova that could blast them to pieces with its planetary canon. You could say that we was actually the biggest threat in the universe¡­


    This was also the reason why we had barely any soldiers protecting the inside, because we firmly believed that anything that tried to get inside, would be stopped outside. Today it was proved wrong and cost us greatly.


    But enough about that. A few seconds later she then stopped right at front of me and looked at me with her helmet that covered her whole face with a visor that glowed in orange but hid her eyes.


    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    "So... Why do you have this weapon of mass destruction that could burn anyone in its path?" She questioned me.


    "To do like what you described?"


    "Nah... I am just kidding, remove the rope privates"


    As the soldiers untied me from the rope, I noticed a bunch of civilians from children to olds ones around the corner, calmly watching the scene and tried to listen to what was happening around me.


    "Now tell me, what is happening out there?"


    I nodded and so I told them the circumstances of the outside and what the consequences were from the soldiers being locked in and a few part from my story.


    "Holy shit" She said while the other whispered among themselves about the events that had unfolded.


    "Yeah... It''s ugly out there and we need to rescue as many as possible"


    "We''d better hurry, they are probably in danger right now."


    "No... Tell me more about the monsters first, it will increase the chances of our survival" she said while ordering everyone to stop with their whispering and listen closely instead.


    I then stretched my arm out which made them confused for a second but then realised that I were going to use the SMB. ¡°Alice, show them the images of what we have seen¡±


    ¡°Okay¡±


    ¡°Ladies and gentlemen, This is the first specimen that we had encountered¡± She said with a 3d image of a spider like creature but with one body instead of two and a thorn like carapace look. It had 6 legs where the front acted like claws and the creature were the size of a half adult, probably even taller if it could stretch its leg up. A scary looking monster which could split its head in half and had a lot of sharp teeth with triple the size of human teeth. And last but not least, a tail with dragon like thorns on its spine. A hybrid between a reptile, mantis and spider...


    ¡°It is fast and only good at frontal combat¡± Alice said which made the soldiers discuss and chat about what they had heard and some even talked about how they could kill it with their new made plans.


    ¡­


    After a while, Alice then noticed that they were done with the first specimen and waited for the next one.


    ¡°This is the second specimen¡± She said with a 3d image of a bat like creature. It had 2 legs with large and sharp claws, 2 hands stuck with its wings and surprisingly the hands were smaller than the claws on the legs and a body with the same size like the spiderling. It looked nearly identical to the spiderling, only that it had 2 horns also.


    ¡°It can shoot projectiles but is weak before taking flight¡±


    Just like before, more soldiers started to discuss about how they could deal with this threat.


    ¡­


    Suddenly Alice was quiet after the soldiers were done discussing about the second specimen.


    ¡°Alice, what¡¯s wrong?¡± I asked her.


    ¡°Nothing¡­¡±


    Then the one I just fought appeared at front of me in 3d¡­ The deformed human like monster.


    Looking around I could quickly notice that everyone started to discuss to each other of how this could be possible.


    ¡°Did you make some kind of mistake?¡± Someone with a white suit asked while the civilians and the others gaped in shock of seeing a human but deformed.


    ¡°It can¡¯t be real right?¡± Someone added.


    ¡°No¡­ It¡¯s a mutated human¡­¡± I said with a disgusted look.


    ¡°Alice, show them the animation¡±


    ¡°Are you sure, I can understand if it¡¯s only you but...?¡± she hesitantly asked.


    ¡°Show it we need everyone to see it now, or they will watch in fear later.¡±


    ¡°Affirmative¡± she said and activated the animation of the transformation of the deformed human.


    The animation looked so real and a few even puked in a trash bin nearby¡­ It was a disgusting scene of a twitching human growing new limbs from different part of the body while deforming the human skeleton as if they were trying to make the body itself handicapped just to look scary but still useable and charge at its opponents. Hell the body even decayed to the point of not even looking like a human anymore, but because the clothings hid the strongly decayed part, you could still make it out.


    After a while a few even started to cry, the second last animation even showed a boy turning his head 180 degrees while cracking the spine connected to the head of his with pitch black holes where the eyes should be just to split it in half and show its large sabertooth like teeth in the end. Not only that, the boy¡¯s intestines was hanging out from the big hole at the stomach and drools could be seen leaking heavily from the split mouth.


    ¡°Enough we get it¡± The red one angrily said, which made Alice quickly stop the animation.


    ¡°It has a really high endurance and will only die when it disintegrate, don¡¯t let it get close to you¡± Alice continued.


    ¡°To think we have to kill our own kin..¡± The red one said with a sulk behind the helmet.


    ...


    It went on until we got the last one¡­ The snake like creature.


    ¡°This is the latest specimen we have encountered so far¡± She said and showed a 3d image of the large snake like creature that had a body exactly like a Z, where the top of the Z was a big and large shield like head with the face at the end which could split in 4 parts. The middle part to the end was a human like torso but with the ribs inside out, with a snakey tail attached to the underside. The tissue like torso had two mantis like arms that stuck out with large and sharp claws that could cut anything in its path. The creature had a spine that looked like it held everything together from the head to the tail with thorns sticking out of it. The body also had a strong looking carapace.


    ¡°Strength, bulletproof, a bit fireproof, fast, agile, strong and can adapt. No weakness discovered so far¡±


    ¡­ Everyone was dead quiet after they had heard that it was bullet proof, their only weapon so far was rifles, grenades, rocket launchers and my flame thrower.


    They quickly started to discuss about how they should win against this creature, while some proved it to be futile and discussed about how they should create escape routes and plans to how to distract the creature instead, which went on for a while.


    ¡­


    ¡°I think it is clear that we have to avoid this creature until we get enough firepower¡± one of the white suited soldiers said among the others.


    ¡°No, we¡¯re gonna hunt the hunter¡± the red suited one interrupted.


    ¡°You and you, follow me¡± she said, which they responded with a salute and followed her into the deeper part of the weapon storage.


    ...

 Chapter 2:4 Ashinova

    Chapter.2:4 Ashinova


    After a while of chatting with the other soldiers and civilians about how they got here or what they knew about the incident, the red suited one and the other two finally came back from the deep part of the weapon storage.


    Looking at them I could see that the two white suited soldiers held a large container for some sort of massive weapon while following the red suited one at front of them. The soldiers held the container with both of their hands on each side of the container that had a handle. Not only that, as they moved with the container you could see that they struggled a bit, which indicated that the container or what was in the container was really heavy.


    As soon as they got to a few meters at front of the group, which now looked curiously together with excitement of what it could be inside that container that could be so deadly against the creature.


    The container was placed on the floor with a strong ¡°Thud!¡±.


    ¡°Open the container private¡± The red suited one commanded them while looking at one of the soldiers who brought the container here.


    ¡°Yes Madam!¡±


    ¡°Click, click, click¡­.¡± ¡°Kachink¡±


    ¡°Psshhuuu¡± A cold fog was let out of the lid out of the large container as it opened.


    ¡°This is the RG Type 74 X¡± The red suited one said proudly to the spectators.


    ¡°Holy shit¡± Someone said within the crowd of soldiers, while everyone else stared with awe since they all knew what the weapon was.


    Yeah, holy shit¡­


    The Railgun type 74X was the latest and the most badass weapon of the entire universe. Right now it held the record of being the only infantry weapon to be able to bring down a 100 meter length spaceship, of course with the help of auto aim and auto correction or you would never be able to hit one...


    This made it the most expensive infantry weapon and also got it classified for the top class dogs of the Republic Federation which Ashinova had no part of. This only meant that she somehow obtained the weapon through the black market¡­


    Staring at the sleek weapon with the length of 1,5 meters that could accelerate a projectile through 23000 Miles per hour, I could only drool with ecstasy¡­


    Wait¡­ Why didn¡¯t she use this to open the door I wonder? I¡¯ll ask her later I thought.


    Everyone now raised their head from the container and stared at the red suited one with a question mark above their head, waiting for answers of how she could have obtained the weapon of mass destruction


    ¡°Don¡¯t ask me how I got this babe¡­ But I am sure happy that I have it right now¡± she said while picking the massive weapon up without struggling as if the weapon were weightless and the two other soldiers was weak.


    ¡°Now, lets discuss the plans¡± she said and put the weapon down while motioning that everyone should gather around to create a circle.


    ¡­


    After a few minutes of explaining the plans to the civilians and the soldiers, the red suited one then asked if anyone had any questions. That was when I raised my hand just to confirm what I had heard.


    ¡°Yes?¡± The red suited one asked me.


    ¡°So¡­ The plan is to save the soldiers of sector 15, 14, 13, then take a break with food and thereafter discuss the new plans and  if we do encounter the creature, those engaged with the creature will distract it until we will use our secret weapon to destroy the thing?¡± I said while glancing at every soldiers standing around a circle.


    ¡°That¡¯s right¡± the red suited one said while the others nodded.


    ¡°Meanwhile the civilians and volunteers will be gathered at the middle of the formation, where the safest spot is for them?¡± I said while looking at the old and young children sitting near a wall while playing with their guardian or so I believe.


    ¡°Yeah¡± she said with a nod.


    ¡°Should I also be at the middle?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yes, it would be for the best¡± she said while tilting her head as if I should have known something.


    ¡°Unless you want to blow us up with those power cells¡± She added with a shrug right after.


    ¡°Uh.. Right¡± I said while scratching my head because I felt a bit dumb there.


    ¡°Oh and lastly, why didn¡¯t you use it to break open the door?¡± I asked her for the last time.


    ¡°Ah, that¡¯s because I only have 1 ammo and it is enough to penetrate a tiny hole, but not enough to blast the door open.¡±


    ¡°Oh, this means that if I miss the creature later¡­ Well we are in deep shit then¡± She calmly added, which made everyone tense up because of the big responsibility of this working.


    ¡°Okay everyone, I want every volunteer civilian above the age of 15 to stand in a row with 5 each to the left side, while the soldiers will do the same to the right side!¡± She yelled so that everyone could hear.


    Quickly the people formed rows at front of her and I could count up to 75 soldiers and around 23 civilians.


    ¡°Okay! Soldiers, we will use the phalanx formation with 5 groups which consist of 5 at the front and the same amount at the rear¡± The red suited one said while patting the shoulder of the first soldier and gave them the orders of where they should be. In return they proudly saluted to her with their right hand at front of the forehead and simultaneously stomping the ground once with their left feet.


    ¡°The rest of the soldiers will help the side which need backup!¡± She said while walking to the civilians at the left side, which have waited patiently for orders.


    ¡°I want the civilians to hold the container filled with weapons, magazines and grenades¡± She said while looking at the civilians with a salute to thank them of their volunteers and just like the soldiers they smiled to themselves and then tried to salute back just like the soldiers, which they failed since it was hard if you hadn¡¯t practiced. Although they did brighten the mood with a few laughs right after.


    She then walked back to the front of the row, quickly turned around facing us and said ¡°Oh, I forgot to introduce myself¡­¡±


    The red suited one clicked the collar of the suit that protected the neck, which made the helmet that covered her whole face fold itself into the suit and revealed a total beauty¡­


    Looking at her pale and smooth face, you could see that she had blue eyes and short brown chestnut coloured hair. She then gave a smile while resting her dominant hand at her chest so that she could bow elegantly to everyone.


    ¡°I am Kathy Redwing, Rank 37 of Ashinova, at your service¡± She said to everyone at front of her and then straighten her back once again so that she could look around.


    But soon after the crowd somehow got boosted with a energy out of nowhere and cheerfully cheered in delight as if they were fanboys & fangirls to her.


    Didn¡¯t she fold her helmet before I got here?


    ¡°I guess we shall commence mission then?¡± she said with a smile that made nearly every men in this room nosebleed.


    ¡°Yes Madam!¡± Everyone shouted and quickly went to their stations to fill the containers with weapons while the soldiers went into formations.


    After 20 minutes...


    ¡°TATATATATATA!!!¡±


    Tons of gunshots could be heard as the trained soldiers annihilated everything whenever we walked through a hallway in one floor or another. Just looking at them made me wonder why we didn¡¯t let loose these real monsters at the first place. They completely obliterated the incoming creatures.


    Not only that, as we passed the hallways with the remaining people, while yelling for survivors in hiding, we met a few new creatures that didn¡¯t even have time to display their capabilities. The boost by the suit made them react before the creature even noticed that someone was around the corner...


    Dear father and mother¡­ Please nerf those senses boost of the Maverik suit...


    As we passed by one infested hallway by another, our group grew as civilians that had hidden quietly in their locked apartments came out from their hiding spot. Not only that, volunteers even picked up a rifle and joined the combat force, although they weren¡¯t allowed to be in the front row or the rear, since they might obstruct the formation that the soldiers had trained in, but nevertheless it increased our forces and everyone was happy to volunteer.


    A few minutes later, we were now at front of the door of the second weapon storage of sector 16.


    As I stared at the door I noticed that the infestation had regrown back to its normal condition after I had burned it away before I left. Raising my welder I then burned away the infestation and raised the door with the help of the power cell.


    ¡°Duuuuun¡± The door sounded as it raised to the ceiling.¡¯


    As it did I could hear a few cheers from behind the door and a badass masculine voice that said ¡°Took you some time¡±.


    As the door raised it revealed more civilians and soldiers behind the door. But at front of them was a few unique coloured suits that said 31 and 75 who stood there with a salute.


    ¡°I am Klarke, Rank 31 of Ashinova, at your service¡± Said the badass afrikan man with a salute. Looking at him you could see that he had a scar on the face and a large body packed with muscles that could probably burst out of that delicate suit within any seconds.


    ¡°David, Rank 75 of Ashinova, at your service¡± Said another guy with a salute, he was tall and had a balanced body compared to Klarke next to him.


    After they had finished introducing themselves the soldiers behind gave a salute, as did ours who didn¡¯t cover the rear.


    ¡°Kathy, Rank 37 of Ashinova, at your service¡± She introduced herself with a salute while looking for something or someone within the other group.


    ¡°Where is Rank 1 and the others?¡± She then asked.


    ¡°Dario and the others? No idea¡­ Our communications doesn¡¯t work which you have probably noticed and hopefully they are only MIA¡± Karke answered with a shrug.


    ¡°By the way¡± Karke said while scratching his chin, ¡°Do you know who it was who tried to open the door like 2 hours ago?¡±


    Soon after he asked, everyone nearby then looked at me with a questionmark, which surprised me a little but afterwards I stepped forward and calmly said ¡°That would be me.¡±


    Klarke then frowned which made me a bit confused since I knew that I haven''t done anything to him.


    ¡°Oooh it was you¡­¡± He said while slowly walking closer to me with his huge body and made everyone dead quiet as they themselves didn¡¯t know what was going on.


    Staring at him with confusion as he stood at front of me a heavy and tense atmosphere could be felt surrounding him.


    What did I do? I thought for myself.


    As he glared fiercely into my soul with his burning eyes I could then see a few tears as he opened his mouth and yelled...


    ¡°What took you so long!!!! Godsake I patiently waited for at least 2 hours with everyone else, because I heard the noises of someone trying to open the door through the manual locks! ARRGH! You¡­ Damn! Couldn''t you just have come back right after?!... I trusted you! I even gambled my beloved Fiona!!!!!.¡± He kept ranting while motioning with his hand to express his feelings¡­


    ¡­


    ¡°hah..hah...hah..¡± He panted heavily and then regained his normal stance.


    ¡°Sorry¡­¡± I said after he was done ranting¡­


    ¡°No, I am one who should be sorry. At least you tried....¡±


    David who now stood behind him after he had watched the whole scene unfold, then patted Klarke and said ¡°Uh.. Klarke¡­ You can have your MKA-83 back¡­ I wasn¡¯t really serious you know¡­¡±.


    ¡°FIOOONAAA!¡± Klarke shouted happily with tears flying out of his eyes while he grabbed the beloved rifle held by David.


    ...


    After discussing with the new team of soldiers and civilians, we soon after marched our ways to the next sectors while also saving more civilians on the way. After an hour we had now passed 8 sectors and counting how many we were right now with the help of Alice, we exceeded over 2500 people, whereas the total amount of soldiers was 1214 and over 40 soldiers were ranked ones. Luckily as we easily marched through the sectors we had yet to encounter the creature.


    Hopefully, we would never meet it¡­


    But right now, we took a break as a few soldiers split off from the main group and searched for rations somewhere in the sector 9.


    Although even with our success I couldn''t help but only hope that Catherine, Dario and Silvia were still alive out there somewhere. But deep inside of me I knew that Dario my brother that I made a blood pact years ago would somehow get them out from danger safely without a scratch. Afterall he wasn¡¯t the rank 1 for no reason at all and by now, he probably had his suit that has been in maintenance until today.


    As I stared into the slowly infesting ceiling of an apartment, while waiting for the soldiers to come back, Alice then said ¡°Vincent¡­ I can see one of my creators¡±


    I turned my head away from the ceiling and looked upon Alice on my SMB, who were now brushing her hair with a comb at front of a mirror¡­


    I couldn¡¯t help but think, Father¡­ How the hell did you make this¡­. And soon after I asked her ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Yes, he is at front of you¡± she said while she kept brushing her long and silky hair.


    Now looking at front of me I could see a broad man with tattered and ruined fine clothings stand at front of me with a smile.


    ¡°Varric?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah, your father¡¯s right hand man is here¡± the man with european features said with the length of 1,8 meters.


    Quickly I stood up and hugged him in relief, which somehow also caused an earthquake in Alice¡¯s room.


    "Ah! Vincent and Alice, it is good to see that you guys are okay" He said while searching around the vicinity.


    "Where is your friends?" He added after I distanced myself a bit and apologized to Alice.


    "Long story short, we got separated"


    "Ah, I see, but knowing them they will probably survive" he said with a smile which soon after turned sad as if he had just remembered something.


    "Vincent... I am sorry, everyone but me died there... And it was suppose to be a happy day too..." he said with tears.


    "It''s okay..."


    He then quickly brushed off his tears and held both of my hands together.


    "Hey, Vincent did you at least get your other gift from your father?" He asked worriedly.


    Ah, how could I have forgotten about that. I hurriedly took out the cube from my belt and showed it to Varric. To see his reaction I looked at him who who smiled with delight, as if he was happy that I received another memento of my parents before they passed away.


    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s not glowing anymore¡± I said while trying to get it to glow again by shaking it around.


    As I were trying to shake it around to get the same effects again, I noticed that Varric got closer as if he himself wanted to inspect it.


    ¡°Here!¡± I said and threw the cube at him, since it wouldn¡¯t hurt for him to check it out.


    Varric caught it and stood there dumbfounded while looking at me as if he didn''t expect that I would lend it to him. He hesitantly gave it back to me as if he tried to consider my feelings since it was the last present I had gotten from my parents, but I just gave him the shrug which made him immediately start inspecting it instead.


    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    While he did his inspection, I started to get bored as I sat down near a corner and tried to find something to do while waiting for our soldiers next course of action.


    Glancing everywhere I noticed that Alice tried to clean up her room with the help of some kind of telekinesis. As she did, she had her back towards me, which made me grin with delight since I had found something fun.


    Quickly I slowly moved my fingers towards her back¡­ And gently poked her, which made her fall over onto her knees and let out a ¡°Eeek!¡± sound. Looking at her struggling to stand up again I then whispered next to her ¡°I love bears afterall¡±.


    And immediately I felt an electric jolt run through my veins and body, which made me jump and hit the wall behind my back with my head¡­ ¡°Ouch¡­¡± I moaned and turned my head back so that I could see what Alice were up to¡­ Looking at her I could see that she was pouted angrily at me while stomping the floor or rather the SMB.


    ¡°VIncent! Staph! I will get mad you know¡­¡± She said angrily but turned out really cute instead.


    ¡°Eeeh, but you are so cute Alice¡­¡± I said with a sulk which made her look away embarrassed.


    Thinking that it might be a good time to stop, I looked elsewhere to see if I could find anything else I could do. In the large apartment which was half full with civilians I noticed that a young girl far away from me, was playing with a doll. Trying not to be creepy I stared at her doll, which she held tightly and waved around in the air as if the doll was a super hero. As she did, my bored smile turned once again to a grin with malicious intent that Alice somehow noticed and asked ¡°Vincent?¡±.


    Somehow I knew that if I could touch and feel Alice¡­ Then it should work...


    Slowly turning my head onto Alice, I noticed she started to get scared and backed away a few steps as if I was a rapist.


    ¡°Alice¡± I said creepily with a big smile.


    ¡°Vincent¡­ Please¡­¡± She pleaded.


    Slowly I tried to gently grab her as she backed away and fell down in the room onto the floor with fear. Surprisingly she didn¡¯t use her electric jolt as I did, maybe she had to have a condition for her to be able to use it.


    Quickly she ran into a wardrobe and hid herself in there to no avail as I slowly opened the door and thereafter got closer and closer to her by the second.


    ¡°Vincent¡­ Not my first¡­ Please...¡± Alice said while she was shivering in the corner of her wardrobe¡­


    Maybe I went a bit too far¡­ I thought and quickly dropped my act and gently grabbed her which made her confused as I raised her to the air and gently placed her on top of my shoulder. To my surprise having her outside the room of the SMB really worked. But somehow it started to slowly get hot on my shoulder.


    ¡°Alice, did you know about this?¡± I asked her as I gently patted the smooth cheek of the cute petite girl who sat on my shoulder to calm her shivering.


    ¡°No¡­ I didn¡¯t¡± She muttered to me.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to scare you Alice, but know this. You are my last family member because you are made out of my blood, I will never hurt you and I will always protect you even when I face danger myself¡± I said while looking down at the floor as if I had been rejected.


    ¡°Really?¡± She asked me.


    After a few seconds I then looked at Alice straight in they eye with my puppy face, which made her jump a bit and back down into a corner with guilt.


    ¡°Pinky promise¡± I said with my pinky finger at front of her.


    ¡°Vincent¡­¡± She said slowly as she tried to reach my finger with her small hands.


    After she was now touching my pinky finger with her own instead, I then calmly said ¡°Alice, I promise to always be beside you and protect you¡±


    ¡°Eeeeh Vincent...¡± She said and tried to hug my head right after but was only able to hug my left cheek. The energy that Alice was made out of was really warm and felt really soothing as it touched my skin, but I wasn¡¯t done yet...


    ¡°And you beloved bear¡­¡±


    ¡°Vincent!¡± she pouted and sent an electric jolt through me¡­


    ...


    A while after, she sat down on my shoulder and started to play with her legs and her long hair. Looking at her I wondered how she was really powered and how my SMB really worked. Hence I asked ¡°Alice, where do you get your life source from?¡±


    ¡°From you Vincent¡± She answered and looked at me with a tilted head as if I should have known.


    ¡°Eh, then what about how I could feel your mass and touch you?¡±


    She then looked upon the ceiling while leaning on her palm and said ¡°Now that I think about it¡­ I have no idea¡­¡±


    ¡°Oh¡± I said surprised, considering how my father bragged about the knowledge she had.


    ¡°Maybe it¡¯s time to get the cube back?¡± She interrupted after I had forgotten all about it once again


    I stood up and brushed my pants of and answered ¡°Yeah¡±.


    ¡­


    After a while of searching for Varric who somehow disappeared from my sight. I found him later in the kitchen fiddling around with the Cube alone with weird faces.


    "Fascinating, how could such an object have been made..." he said in an eerie tone...


    "Varric?" I said while looked at him confusingly near the door out from the kitchen.


    "Ah, I can feel it...." He kept talking to himself while ignoring me as I moved closer to him.


    ¡°Yes¡­¡± he whispered to himself suddenly as if he knew a presence was nearby.


    ¡°Varric!¡± I yelled out once more which snapped him out of it. "Oh sorry, your father and I used this cube to design your SMB and everytime I look at it, I can''t help but get the urge of finding out how it had been made."


    ¡°Oh, Is that Alice I see there?¡± He said while quickly moving closer to me to inspect her.


    As he did, he put the cube back inside my belt for me, afterwards patted Alice¡¯s head and soon after he left the kitchen without saying a word.


    ¡°What''s up with him?¡± I asked Alice confused with a shrug.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, but I can¡¯t talk or move when he is nearby for some reason¡­¡± She said worriedly to me.


    ¡°Really? Maybe it¡¯s some kind of glitch¡± I told her but was then interrupted by the soldiers who told everyone by the front door that it was time to move to our next destination.


    ...


    A few hours later we had now rescued every survivor in the sectors, although luckily we had yet to encounter the creature. We were now around 7000 people that consisted of around 3000 soldiers, whereas 68 of them was ranked ones. So far we had no casualties unless it was those who died before, which was a good sign in a way but it was time to discuss the further plans of the infested Ashinova, since the infestation didn¡¯t even budge or give a sign of stopping even though we burned most of them away¡­


    I couldn¡¯t help but think that we needed to destroy the source, if there even was one...


    Looking at the top dogs or rather ranked ones of Ashinova surrounding a large table at front of me. I was questioning myself if I should listen in to their discussion or keep sitting still in a corner while hugging my body because of the cold. Luckily with the help of the flames from the welder at front of me and Alice herself, I didn¡¯t start to shiver like most civilians sitting in groups like penguins without suits nearby.  They did have extra clothing though which they borrowed from the apartments.


    As each time I took a breath out, I could see a fog being born. But after seeing it a few times I soon after decided that it was time for me to join the conversation with Alice on my shoulder. Hence I put away the welder that was my source of warmth before I did.


    As I walked closer to the table with the 68 unique suited soldiers and unfolded helmets, I could hear that they were talking about my best friend Dario.


    ¡°It looks like we didn¡¯t find the black dragon suit in the repair room for suits.¡± One of them said which made most of them laugh.


    ¡°Well, it looks like our worry was to no avail then¡­ He is probably karate chopping every monster out there with that suit of his¡± One of them said with a shrug, which made everyone smile including me, although with relief also as I walked closer to them.


    After all the suits is only equippable with the right SMB, the right DNA, passcode and all sorts of countermeasures. Meaning if it was gone from the repair room, it meant that Dario who was already strong without it, get stronger by at least 10 fold, mentally though, not physically.


    ¡°Sadly¡­ The other rankers is MIA and we have no idea what the status is in the command center¡± Someone said with a sulk that tensed the atmosphere.


    ¡°Anyways¡­ Time for the serious matter. What are we suppose to do with the Ashinova?¡± One of them asked everyone seriously with a serious face.


    ¡°I want everyone to think for a minute before we discuss about it again¡± the person added who I noticed was a man of around the age of 40 because of his facial hair and aura of a veteran. Totally not because it said, 40 years old and proud on a plate at front of his chest


    A minute after everyone now stood at front of the table including me while waiting for the old man to start the conversation. As the old man glance at everyone to see if everyone was present, he then started by saying ¡°Okay, I want everyone who have any ideas to...¡±


    ¡°Wait, who is that kid over there?¡± Someone bluntly asked and pointed at me while interrupting the old man who was the rank 2 of Ashinova.


    ¡°I¡¯ve noticed that he have been in nearly every discussion we have had, I thought only soldiers was allowed to be here?¡±


    ¡°He is an exception¡± Someone said who I noticed was Kathy.


    ¡°We all would all starved inside those weapon storages if it wasn¡¯t for him¡± she added.


    ¡°My apologies, I was just curious to know why a civilian was here, that¡¯s all¡± that someone straightforwardly said while bowing.


    But soon after everyone started to stare at me one by one with confusion as if their minds was playing tricks with them. Although right afterwards I then found out that it was not me they were looking at, but rather Alice who was on my shoulder.


    ¡°Am I the only one seeing a little orange fairy on that kid?¡± Someone said while scrubbing their eyes from the other side of the table.


    ¡°No¡­I thought that I was the only one ever since sector 7¡± Another one said.


    ¡°What?! Me too¡± Another one added.


    ¡°Me three!¡± And they kept going...


    ¡°Oh her?¡± I said to everyone with a smile while a few nearby tried to gently poke at her, which she quickly retaliated by escaping to my SMB and disappeared.


    ¡°Lets just say that she is my SMB and move on with the plans of the further of the Ashinova¡± I added.


    ¡°Right¡­¡± they said with a sigh, as if they wasn¡¯t satisfied with that answer.


    ¡°Okay, lets make it quick by voting if we should save Ashinova or not. Raise your hand if you are for saving Ashinova¡± The old man said while glancing at everyone for attention.


    A few seconds later, a few hesitated but it was now about 24 who voted for saving Ashinova, while the rest was against.


    ¡°Raise your hand if you want to state your argument of why we should not save Ashinova¡±


    A few raised their hand and stated their arguments which went for a while. To summarize it, they said that the whole space seem to be infested by something that we have no idea of how to remove, which a lot of ranked ones agreed with. Not only that, so far we have seen a lot of mutated humans, dead or alive with the mutation and yet we have no idea of what is causing it. A few suggested that it might be some kind of bacteria, parasite, virus you name it.


    Most of the ranked ones also believe that the sacrifice of Ashinova is for the best of humanity if this contagion could spread this easily on a tube like space station with the diameter of 25 km in one day. Not only that it looked like someone had talked with a biologist and they said that specimens usually mark their territory in one way or another and a infestation could be just that. This means that our home territory is not ours anymore.


    And lastly the biggest question, where do these creatures come from?


    ¡°I believe that everyone agrees then?¡± The old man said, which everyone soon after answered with a nod of agreement.


    ¡°This also means that we cannot leave Ashinova and seek aid to destroy her since we don¡¯t know if the infestation could spread through space and if it could, how long would it take? The aid could take longer than what we want it to be¡± he added.


    ¡°Not only that, since we are with the neutral faction and those with the best weapon at that¡­ The others will probably only help us if we join their faction...¡±


    ¡°Which means that we have to destroy Ashinova before we leave¡­ But how?¡± he then asked everyone to speak up if anyone knew a way to self destruct the Ashinova without the help of the Power generators.


    Suddenly a cute voice could be heard from my SMB which made everyone turn around to see who it was.


    ¡°Attention! Everyone¡± Alice yelled while only sticking her head out from the SMB.


    ¡°Just explode the power supply for the gravity generator and it will make the rotator crash into the hull of the space station and a collateral damage will occur. Don¡¯t blame me on the debris left over by the space station though¡± She said with a smile and then disappeared back into the SMB.


    ¡°Genius¡­.¡± The old man said while also ignoring the last part. Probably because the debris collectors would remove it to keep the space near the solar system clean.


    ¡°We will split of the group. The civilians and 1000 soldiers and 10 ranked should go to the evacuations pods. After you have evacuated all the civilians, you guys will standby for further orders or do what the situations call for it.¡± He quickly said and pointed at 10 random ranked soldiers, who quickly saluted and left the table.


    Soon after they had left, the old man opened a map of the Ashinova with his SMB and pointed at what looked like a tunnel.


    ¡°First, the remaining soldiers will pass by the train tunnels to the mall which lies near the center.¡± He said while moving his finger from one location to the other.


    ¡°Because the main power cell has exploded the hull must have also been damaged, which means that an emergency lockdown might be on the doors near the command center, hence from here at the mall, we will split up and try to find a way to the command center.¡±


    ¡°Whichever group gets there will go down to the gravity generator, right below and set the explosives¡±


    ¡°If you find any remaining soldiers or civilians overthere. Decide by yourself if bringing them with you is the best, or split up and send them to the mall where we will have a few soldiers stationed¡±


    ¡°And since our communications doesn¡¯t work, we will use a limited time of 2 hours after we split up¡±


    ¡°After the 2 hours, everyone must regroup at the mall and if we have good news, we go back to the evacuation pods, bad news we will re discuss our plans¡±


    ¡°Do everyone understand?¡± the old man asked with a eyebrow raised.


    ¡°Yes sir!¡± Everyone including me answered with the soldier¡¯s salute, that I had practiced in secret.


    ¡°We decide our groups over there!¡±


    ¡°Commence mission and move out!¡±


    ...

 Chapter 3:1 The worm

    Chapter.3:1 The worm


    Hah.... At times likes this I would only wish that I had taken one of those warm clothings from one of the apartment. Instead I stupidly decided to walk around with my tattered shirt and jeans.... Looking at the other people with warm and comfortable suits, I couldn''t help but envy them behind their back.


    Just like before, each time I took a breath, I could see a fog being born as I were moving next to Kathy to the mall through the dark and infested tunnels illuminated by the lights of the SMB¡¯s. I didn''t start to shiver yet, but I could feel that my whole body was cold as we move through the tunnels.


    What¡¯s funny though is that I were suppose to evacuate with the soldiers to the pods. But they decided that they needed the knowledge that Alice had, if a problem would arise. I told them that they should have just downloaded the data from Alice, but it seems that she herself said that it is impossible unless it is another SAI because the data was not in the same format as the usual one, that¡¯s why we scratched that idea.


    So here I am, forced to march together in this cold tunnels with the soldiers as they annihilate all the resistance that stood at front of them.


    As we walked for a while a few messengers ran back and forth to report to every ranked soldier of the status of the vanguard. The report was always the good news, as we had still no casualties. Although the good news only lasted until we had found something enormous and terrible past yet another door.


    There it was at the first floor of the heavily infested shopping mall behind the exit from the train tunnels¡­ A giant creature that wasn¡¯t the snake, but rather a worm.


    ...


    "Mother of god..."


    "Wha... what is that?!"


    ¡°The question is not what it is, but how the fuck did it get in here?¡±


    ¡°Shhh.. Turn off those flashlights¡±


    Staring at it I could see a gigantic worm at the middle of the donut like structured mall. The mall had over 40 floors, each with tons of stores next to each other and restaurants or stalls. But the worm easily reached the 15th floor with ease as it tried to burrow to no avail through the floor. However this wasn¡¯t just any ordinary worm that could stretch out and had teeth. Rather it had a skin made out of limbs and body parts of a human stuck onto its flesh. That wasn¡¯t the end of it though, the limbs like the arm, feet or legs still moved as they tried to do their body functions while twitching endlessly as the worm tried to burrow. Looking at it you could also see a few intestines hanging around and all sort of bloody organs together with deformed human heads that kept saying ¡°Help, save me, mom, dad¡± or all sort of sentences that ended with a scream as if it was their last sentence they said when they died


    I guess this explains why we couldn¡¯t find any human bodies at all. One was the morphing zombie like creature, the other was this that looked like it collected bodies as its trophies and lastly probably the other creatures that ate the bodies but left no bones somehow.


    As the vanguard whispered to each other, they decided to quietly get inside to the upper floors so that they could get the upper hand while the worm busily tried to burrow into the floor.


    But the unthinkable happened instead¡­


    ...


    ¡°Hu.. Humans!¡± One of the chopped off head on the worm called out in a eerie tone.


    ¡°Humans?!¡± Another asked, which kept going until all the deformed and pitch black eyed heads on our side of the worm started to glare at us.


    Soon after they started to chant ¡°Human¡± in repeat that alerted the worm of our presence and a lot more. As broken glasses and tons of high pitched shrieks could be heard from above as the morphing zombie like creatures poured out of every room searching for us.


    "QUICKLY THE ABOVE FLOORS!!" someone shouted and reactivated their flashlight.


    Following orders our forces immediately tried to pour inside together with those already were to the stairs that lead to the above floors to gain the advantage. Before the worm stops with what it is currently doing and find the source that started the annoying chanting.


    Tons of gunfire could be heard as they make their way to the top, while a few stayed behind to defend against the creatures at the first floor.


    But the outcome of our offensive attack was bad as the creatures started to overwhelm our forces, that one by one of our soldiers fell to their death by their claws.


    Watching over the battle from the train tunnels, I saw that one soldier fell to the floor as those deformed humans swarmed over him, although only one made it out of 5. The last creature then stabbed the soldier who let out a scream of pain who then probably died. But it didn¡¯t end there, the creature gently cut open the helmet, which revealed a man with his mouth open.


    A disgusting scene then took place as the creature heavily drooled or rather puked into the mouth, that instantly turned the sudden twitching soldier into one of them¡­


    ¡°EXPLOSIVES AT WILL!¡± Someone shouted after they noticed that they swarmed us like a zombie apocalypse from a movie and spread the infection while the worm whipped its tail against our forces that crushed a few and blew the rest away so that they got knocked out.


    But quickly the battle turned around to our side, as the explosives killed most of the creatures that ran in clusters to our forces while we threw tons of grenade one after another from over 600 soldiers.


    It is a wonder how the hull of the Ashinova could still hold even with all these explosives.


    After a while, the only thing that was left was the dead bodies of the soldiers and the gigantic worm that was unaffected by our weapons. As the only thing that seemed to affect the worm was that the explosives removed the skin of human body parts, which revealed instead a strong carapace.


    While the worm tried to climb to the upper floors to no avail because of its massive body, the soldiers who lay in wait in the entrance to the train tunnels waited patiently for their time to shine. Since the other soldiers was now at the floors above 20th that seemed to be enough to get out of reach from the worm.


    Looking at the ineffective grenades, the soldiers then switched to rocket launchers to bully the helpless worm that couldn¡¯t do anything but watch and scream at them and whip its tail onto the wall at the first floor to shake them out of the balcony of the mall.


    Although even the rocket launchers that left trails of smoke proved to be useless against the carapace of the worm, which made the soldiers stop with their attack and re discuss their tactics inside the stores instead as the creature made earthshakes without noticing the soldiers that dragged the nearby surviving soldiers with deadly wounds from the battlefield to the train tunnels.


    ¡­


    After a few minutes it seemed that the soldiers were out of ideas since everything they did didn¡¯t affect the creature at all. Not only that, the creature probably knew that and quietly started to watch us instead without showing its only weakness¡­ The inside of its mouth.


    I then patted Kathy¡¯s shoulder who were crouching next to me, signaling her that I wanted to discuss something, because she were staring intently at the battlefield with the other soldiers.


    They probably wanted to join their comrades in the battle but if they blew their cover, the worm would probably try to kill us instead.


    ¡°Kathy, I think we should use the railgun instead¡±


    She glanced at me and soon after observed the quiet battlefield once more for a few seconds and then said, ¡°But what about the other creature?¡±


    ¡°Heh, you don¡¯t have to worry about that. I have another plan in mind for that.¡± I said with a grin.


    ¡°But I only have one single bullet¡­¡± She stated.


    ¡°But think about it. If we keep waiting here, nothing will be done and new creatures would probably arrive from the deeper parts of the Ashinova¡± I added.


    ¡°Everyone have probably guessed it by now, all we need is for the creature to open it mouth once¡±


    ¡°And what could do the job better than pain?¡± I sarcastically asked her.


    ¡°Yeah you are right¡± She said while standing up and unmounted the gigantic railgun from her back, which she then aimed it towards the worm.


    ¡°Soldiers, use the morse code to those above to get attention of the creature and tell them to ready their rocket launchers for my mark¡±


    ¡°Yes madam!¡±


    ¡­


    Another set of a minute passed and the soldiers above then threw another batch of grenades onto the creature, which caught its attention. Soon after they aimed their rocket launchers and waited for Kathy¡¯s single bullet.


    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    ¡°Well¡­ Where should I shoot?¡± She asked me with her helmet off as she aimed with the glasses that came together with the RG.


    ¡°Uh¡­ Alice, any ideas?¡± I asked her who then stuck her head out of the SMB to check around.


    ¡°Well, it looks like an earthworm but with a panzer armor, which means that the whole skin of it behind the armor should be the nerve system itself. Unless of course this creature function like a whole another being¡±


    ¡°Just shoot¡­¡± She then said.


    ¡°Roger¡± Kathy answered and clicked the confirm button to the weapon, which started to spew out blue lightning everywhere to the nearby surroundings as it powered up the railgun. Luckily, everyone knew that it would do that, so they stood a few meters away as the railgun powered itself.


    ¡°Bzzzzz Mmmmmmmmmm!¡± A loud sonic boom could be heard that pierced the sound barrier, but no bullet could be seen¡­ Well it¡¯s no wonder, the bullet is so fast that you can¡¯t see it with the human eye.


    ¡°KYAAAAAA!¡± The creature soon after shrieked with a big hole through its body with blood squirting out. Quickly the soldiers barraged the swinging head that swung everywhere in pain with its mouth open as it shrieked.


    The sound of exploding rockets could be heard as the worm then fell onto the floor lifeless with a ¡°DUUUN!¡± while burning smoke left the mouth and from the 2 big holes on the side.


    A few seconds later the worm started to curl up to a ball lifelessly.


    ¡°Nice¡± I said with a thumbs up towards her together with Alice.


    ¡°Hah, it¡¯s me afterall¡± She bagged...


    ¡°VICTORY!!!¡± could be heard from the soldiers and cheers as they lifted their weapons above their head chanting the word ¡°victory¡± as the soldiers at the first floor quickly went outside to help the few remaining surviving soldiers that couldn¡¯t be reached because of the worm before.


    Some even kicked the dead body of the worm and flexed their arms in a pose that made everyone cheer happily.


    Now regrouping with the other soldiers at the first floor after a while, the old man who was the 2nd ranker of the Ashinova asked ¡°So, what¡¯s the status?


    ¡°Sir, we have 272 critically wounded, 181 lightly wounded and 379 have died¡± said the soldier  bitterly in white suit.


    ¡°Damn¡­ ¡° He answered depressingly with his helmet folded.


    ¡°Everyone who is not tending the wounded ! Salute for your dead comrades¡± The old man shouted to everyone, who then lined up in a perfect row without their helmets and saluted.


    Soon after the old man told everyone that they were allowed to take a break to ease our mind after the hard battle, as long as it was inside the mall while a few soldiers stood guard at the entrances while taking turns.


    Well not like there was a lot to do in the brutally infested mall¡­


    ¡­


    As I were walking around the upper floors carefreely with my hands in my pocket next to kathy. We tried to search for a uninfested clothing store so that I could change to something warmer because of the cold. After a while we then found a clothing store that said ¡°Vera¡± on the notice board and went inside the newly broken window. It probably broke after the earthshake I guessed.


    ¡°Crack, crack¡±... Could be heard from the broken glasses as Kathy stepped inside first to check if any creatures was left alive hiding inside. After a while she then signaled me that it was safe by waving her hand after checking every room inside.


    ¡°Crack, crack¡±... More crushing sounds of broken glass pieces was heard as I stepped inside.


    I slowly looked around and then stretched my hand as I said ¡°Well, lets look for some clothings then shall we, Alice?¡±


    Since my clothings was ripped in a few spots I took my chance to find clothings that could replace everything I had one me, while also searching for a winter jacket.


    After a while I found a few sets that would fit each other and was then about to ask Kathy if they looked good, but it seems she was immersed of looking for new clothings herself. As she stood at front of the bras & panties section.


    ¡°Well, looks like I would have to rely on Alice then¡­¡± I said with a sulk.


    ¡°Hey! What¡¯s that suppose to mean!¡± She replied.


    ...


    Walking around for a few seconds looking for a mirror, I then ended up in one of the dressing rooms of the store. I put the set of clothings onto a stool and picked the one at top of the rest.


    ¡°Hey, Alice! What do you think about these?¡± I asked whilst holding one of the chosen jeans near my legs whilst one of the chosen shirt near my chest.


    ¡°I think you should still go with the current black and red checkered shirt, together with a black jeans¡± she answered.


    ¡°Oh, the current one eh¡­¡±


    I picked up the new set of clothings which was the exact same model as my current ripped set.


    As I were changing my clothing, I also took the chance to change my boxers but then suddenly a cute ¡°Eeeek!!¡± could be heard from Alice.


    ¡°Wha..what¡¯s wrong?!¡± I said in panic and readying myself for battle.


    ¡°How dare you change with a girl looking! We¡¯re not even married!¡± she yelled as if she were embarrassed.


    ¡°....¡± I stood there amazed as silence took over the dressing room.


    Soon after I facepalmed myself cursing father of how he could have missed that or rather me to¡­


    If she can think like a human and act like a human, how could I do my private stuff!?


    I gave out a heavy sigh and said ¡°Can¡¯t you just like¡­ not look?¡±


    ¡°No....¡±


    ¡°Deal with it then!¡± I said and started to change my boxers¡­


    Suddenly a light shone into my eyes from the exit which interrupted my changing. In reflex I tried to block the light with my hands and of course I also dropped my boxer onto my pair of feet...


    ¡°Eeeeek!¡± someone screamed which sounded like Alice.


    ¡°Urgh, what now Alice?!¡± I asked.


    ¡°Wasn¡¯t me¡­¡±


    ¡°My.. my maiden heart has been tainted!¡± who I thought was Alice but were Kathy who said that with a cute tone and closed the door with a ¡°Thud!¡±


    Soon after the door had closed, I noticed that my private part was proudly presented to her¡­


    I gave out another heavy sigh and quickly put on my new boxers and clothings, so that I could go out and apologize to her.


    How could I forget that even the automatic door wouldn¡¯t work without electricity¡­


    After I were done changing into my new set of clothing and the winter jacket I opened the door and went outside to look for Kathy, who I couldn¡¯t find outside the dressing room.


    Looking around I noticed a light come out from the one next to mine, which made me believe that she must be there. Thinking that she had hid herself inside the room next to mine and cried, I opened it so that I could go and apologize to her¡­


    ¡°WAIT!¡± Alice screamed after me as I did...


    But it was too late. I instead added more fuel to the fire¡­


    As I stood there while savouring the sight of the half naked beauty or rather Kathy with her petite pale body as she tried to change into a new pair of black panties. I couldn¡¯t help but see the rest of her private parts...


    ¡°Vincent¡­¡± She angrily said while picking up the rifle on the floor next to her suit and also happily showing the rest of her body.


    ¡°WaaaaiT!¡± I pleaded and quickly closed the door and hid myself.


    ¡°Yo.. YOU! JUST DIEEE TRASH!!¡± She screamed and started spraying her bullets that penetrated the door until it was finally forced open. Luckily me and Kathy was the only one here on this floor.


    ¡­


    Waiting outside the room for at least 2 minutes with Alice taunting me of my failure I could then hear a sniffing sound behind the door or rather the doorless room with Kathy in it.


    Looks like I had done it now¡­


    Knocking the wall next to the doorless room that was totally dark for some reason I then went inside to apologize once again. But as soon as I stepped inside the dark room a uppercut came out of nowhere that nearly knocked me out as I flew up to the air and landed on the floor. As I laid there on the floor moaning, I could feel that she soon after grabbed my feet and dragged me into the dark room of hell.


    ¡°Wa..wait!¡±


    ¡°THUD!¡± ¡°SMACK!¡± ¡°SMACK!¡± ¡°SMACK!¡± ¡°BANG!¡± ¡°SMACK!¡± ¡°THUD!¡± ¡°THUD!¡± ¡°THUD!¡± ¡°SMACK!¡±


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