Two Blood Acolytes ran for their dear lives, neither wanting to fall captive to the hands of the vicious High Grade pursuing them like a blood thirsty beast hunting bleeding, helpless prey.
Anya and Jim tried several attempts to slow Commander down with blood spikes and clones. Neither managed to slow the High Grade long enough to escape together. Instead, they chose to split up and disperse within the congested infrastructure of the settlements.
Jim went left and Anya went right, making the High Grade decide whom to go after.
Unknown to them, this "smart" tactic made Commander grow uneasy and impatient.
Two Blood Acolytes running in an allied species’ settlement in a desperate attempt to escape spelled one thing: death.
Commander knew very well that the two mutants would kill, shed, and spill innocent blood just to escape.
Something needed to be done, and fast.
But it was already too late.
As soon as he stepped into the settlement in pursuit of Anya – who, to him, was the deadliest of the two Acolytes – five bodies were lying on the floor. They all suffered large gushes on their midsections and were drained of all the blood in their bodies, deformed into empty husks.
There wasn’t time for Commander to cry over the dead. He needed to stop the Acolytes immediately, before any more innocent Rayans died at the hands of the humans.
Instead of chasing after Anya, the High Grade ran to the ship docks where the majority of his soldiers rested.
Quickly, the High Grade shouted commands at the top of his lungs, causing all the soldiers to jump into action immediately.
A large number were tasked with patrolling the ships and were instructed to shoot down any ship that took flight. That way, the humans wouldn’t be able to escape.
The rest dispersed into the settlement in pursuit of the mutants. The majority of Commander’s army consisted of Elite Ethisians, all strong enough to hold their own against the Acolytes for a few short minutes.
Knowing this, however, the High Grade commanded his soldiers not to engage with the humans, fearing that they might lose their lives in the process.
Instead, the soldiers were to follow the humans discreetly and expose their locations so that Commander would deal with them personally.
In a few short minutes, over five hundred thousand Elite Ethisians marched along the streets of the settlement.
Every lane, every junction, intersection, alley, corner, and turn within the settlement had Ethisians, and surrounding said settlement were Ethisian Mechs. The Mechs, unlike the soldiers, didn’t have to conform to Commander’s no engagement rule.
They were now programmed to shoot down the humans and their clones as soon as they caught sight of them. And because each mech was loaded with armor-piercing rounds of ammunition, the Ethisians were more than certain that the humans wouldn’t survive fighting them.
"Blood Mutants," Commander shouted, attempting to give the humans a chance to surrender, "stand down and spare yourselves the embarrassment of me beating you before my army. The whole settlement’s been surrounded, you have nowhere else to go, and we will extract you from where you’re hiding.
"Take the chance to surrender now, before it’s off the table."
There was never a chance for the humans to surrender. As soon as they showed themselves, Commander was going to batter them until they were barely alive and conscious, and then deprive them of blood.
"Sweep the settlement." He gave the order and all the soldiers on the streets swarmed every building and space that could be used as a hiding place. There was no chance for the Acolytes to escape, not like there was one that begin with in the first place.
’How am I going to escape now? This entire place’s swarming with ethisians.’ Read complete versıon only at 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡•𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚⚫𝙣𝙚𝙩
Hiding in a Rayan residential unit, Anya scanned her surroundings with one of the few clones she had conjured not too long ago.
Through her clones’ eyes, she saw thousands of Ethisians flock to the settlement in quick succession. At any moment, the Ethisians were going to close in on her location. She needed to act fast and escape immediately.
’Jim will have to find his own way out.’
The female Blood Acolyte slaughtered the Rayans whose residential unit she raided, replenished her blood reserve, and sped onto the darkest parts of the settlement streets.
With her clones scouting ahead, the Blood Acolyte evaded most of the Ethisians and nearly got to the other side of the settlement, the side closest to the Ethisian ship docks.
’Sh*t. What just happened?’
One of her scouting clones suddenly "ceased" to exist, making her completely unaware of what was waiting for her ahead.
Anya was stupid, though. Instead of advancing with her plan, she cut her losses and turned back to where she came.
To her dismay, the clone keeping watch for whomever was behind her "ceased" to exist as well. The mutant was now in the dark. Surrounded at all corners, she didn’t know who or what was waiting for her, but she had a faint idea who it was that caused her clones to "cease" existing.
"I surrender," Anya, having reverted to her human form, emerged from where she hid and presented herself to the Ethisians surrounding the settlement.
All the soldiers aimed their weapons at her, each one making sure to keep at a safe distance. She sighed, went down on her knees, and held her hands out, waiting for the Ethisians to place her in cuffs.
"I’ve taken the chance to surrender now," she continued while waiting for one person to show up. But he didn’t. "I know better than to fight you one-on-one. And I won’t run or try to escape.
"Good," he finally showed up, "but just for insurance."
The High Grade stomped on Anya’s feet, crushing her bones and rendering her temporarily immobile.
While she screamed, he kicked her body to the floor and threw Jim’s severely battered body next to her.
"Prepare my ship," he commanded, and then personally dragged Jim and Anya to his ship, "set course for Planet Edenia. I think I’ve milked this long enough. It’s high time I return home. Inform them I come with gifts."