[A few moments later.]
The Humans, Three Blood Mutants, and a Gifted had just completed the second out of a ten-phase training series inside the Granian Mothership’s Simulation chamber. After killing their Ethisians, the Humans were allowed to rest for a moment to regain their lost strength.
Once that was complete, they were alerted by the ship’s automated system concerning the Third Phase. Just as they were about to start the Third Phase, Ace was pulled aside by his sister who had questions concerning the ’ranking up’ he promised.
"How soon are you going to rank me up?" Cherry asked, clearly excited about it but at the same time losing patience.
"As I said, ranking you up might cause you to lose your sanity. What if you’re faced with a challenge that’ll require you to think clearly?" Ace asked, clearly stating the obvious. "I don’t remember what happened when I was ranking up to the Blood Knight or Blood Bishop rank. All I know is you guys told me I lost my sanity. The same could happen to you, and perhaps it could be more aggressive since you are more aggressive than I am."
"Fine, I get your point," Cherry sighed.
Just as she was about to continue, Ace interrupted because he came up with a possible solution. "I could rank you up if we somehow end up in a situation that leaves you surrounded by small enemies," he responded with a smirk on his face. "When that happens, you’ll be able to turn your aggression towards them...."
{Phase Three: Commencing.}
{Target: Kill as many opponents as you possibly can. Blood Mutants will be required to kill above five hundred. Non-blood mutants will be required to kill one hundred.}
"Well, speak of the coincidences," Cherry cheered and immediately transformed. With a mighty roar, she stood next to her brother and waited for Ace to do what he said he’d do.
Ahead of them were the Xof creatures they had encountered hundreds of times. The Mutants had gotten so accustomed to facing the Xof that it almost became boring to them. Jim, upon seeing what he was going to have to kill, decided to fight them in his Human form with nothing but a blood sword. Thanks to Ace and training in secret, Jim was now able to conjure strong weapons out of blood, something that he wasn’t so confident about.
"I think I’ll do the same," Ace spoke to Jim. Even though he could exercise his Blood Bishop strength on the Xof, it would be a waste of his energy to do so. "It’ll be a perfect excuse for me to exercise my blood skills and normal Human strength."
"How tough are they?" Skyler asked. Of all of them, she was the only one who hadn’t faced the Xof as often. "They look dangerous to some extent."
"Don’t worry, they’re an easy snack," Cherry answered with a grin on her monstrous face. "It’s more like warding off energized fifth graders trying to get a piece of candy out of your hands. They may have explosive energy, but they’re too brainless to use it well."
"Alright Cherry," Ace sighed while taking a few steps away from his sisters. With the Xof running towards them, he decided to rank Cherry first and let her go on a wild rampage in the process before he and the others pitched in. "Here goes nothing." "Do it."
[Are you sure you want to use your automatic rank function? This action cannot be reversed.]
From Ace’s mouth and arms left a glowing red line of blood that slowly traveled to his sister. The blood spiraled around her body, creating a colorful presence around her. Suddenly, the blood spiraling around her stuck onto her body and began to boil. Bubbles and steam appeared on the sticky blood with a bit of warmth coming off of it.
Cherry started to grit her teeth tightly, forcing herself not to shout. Suddenly, the boiling blood developed acidic effects for it started eating its way into her body. Large wounds appeared with her blood dripping to the floor. In pain, Cherry fell to her knees and began to groan. The blood made its way into her muscles and finally, her bones, melting some of them in the process.
[Ranking Process is now at 5%]
’It hasn’t started yet?’
Ace gasped in shock. His plans now had to change from letting Cherry go first to protecting her until she was back on her feet. Again, the Mutant decided to do all of this without transforming to prove that he’d be able to fight just in case the Granians used Blood Mutant Blockers on him.
"What are you doing to her?" Skyler asked while forcing herself not to vomit the contents of her stomach.
"It’ll take long to explain. We need to protect Cherry at all costs. Help me keep these damn things away from her." He responded. "Skyler, use whatever skills you can to push back as many as you can. Jim and I will stick by Cherry and handle whatever makes its way to you."
"Alright!" she sighed while transforming into her groundhog form, the form she found most comfortable.
[Blood Weapon Skill: Activated.]
[Aspect BodyXWeapon: Activated.]
Creating a blood sword and later on, fusing it in his left arm, Ace turned his right into a Blood Claw to let him properly use his remaining Blood Skills. Jim stood a few feet ahead with his hands turned into claws with Blood barbs on either side of them, making it dangerous yet easy enough for him to be on the offensive and defensive side.
"HERE THEY COME!!" Skyler warned and went to work. Using her larger arms and muscular legs, she grabbed, stomped, and ripped apart the Xof beasts while Jim gathered their blood and turned them into long-range weapons he could throw. At first, the number of beasts was bearable and neither of the Humans was having a challenge.
However, the numbers started to double, and the Xof beast types changed from simple, skinny-bodied beasts to slightly more defined bipedal creatures with sense in their attacks.
Slowly but surely, the beasts started to overwhelm Skyler, with a good number getting past Skyler and onto Jim. Ace remained by Cherry’s side, constantly checking on her progress while also defending her from whatever Xof got past Jim.
"They’re getting too many to handle, Ace," Skyler shouted, her hands covered in blood with her energy starting to drain. "Could appreciate a hand."
[Blood Clone Skill: Activated.]
"There. Take Six." He responded and sent his clones to Skyler’s side.
[Ranking Process is now at 10%]
[It seems the number of your opponents isn’t going to reduce anytime soon. Kill as many as it takes while protecting your colleague.] The rıghtful source is 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩·𝔣𝔦𝔯𝔢·𝔫𝔢𝔱
[Rewards: System Upgrade as soon as you get to level 50]