Red, was alive. The relief overwhelmed me as I sat in the transport en route to his location. Red and I hadn’t spent a ton of time together. He seemed like a good guy and had more than proven his value since joining the crew of the Bloodhound. He was a galactic brawler class, but I realized that I didn’t even know what level he was currently at. I had been away for a while, at least a while, for me, and I didn’t really know what the crew had been up to in that time since I had lost my ability to communicate with Tiff. It didn’t matter, though. Red was a member of my crew and I was going to make sure he was okay.

Koametes said that I would start to regain my abilities as I saved members of my crew. Once they were all free, I would regain the use of my armor in full. I was more than a little nervous as I sat in the large armored vehicle, surrounded by my new squad. If this came down to a fight, I would be in more than a little danger without my armor. I was confident that I would still be able to put up a good fight, though. I still had access to my inventory, and even though I didn’t have my daggers, I had plenty of other weapons to choose from.

Matthias had outfitted the entire squad with weapons and basic battle armor. We didn’t have anything even close to the Havok Hound drop suits that CJ and Elvis had used on the Red Moon of Alcara, but the battle armor we did have provided basic defenses and, more importantly, communications systems. My entire interface was offline, and the comms nodes Elvis had provided didn’t seem to work either. That was expected, though. The Bloodhound powered and transmitted the comms systems, and I was pretty sure the Bloodhound was nowhere close to Boutelerien at the moment.

“ETA, three minutes. Better clench your cheeks, boy,” Kindo said as he put on his helmet and checked his weapons. I quickly checked my own plasma rifle, ensuring the magazine was full and the capacitors were charged. Everything was good, so I moved on to my melee options. As we sat in the van, each of us preparing in our own ways I thought about the weapons in my inventory. I couldn’t see the inventory list on my interface but I could pull things out if I knew they were in there. In the absence of my daggers, I was going to have to use my swords. I had been cautious about using the blades to this point. I used them against the King Crawfish out of necessity, but It seemed I would have to get very comfortable with them until I gained the use of my daggers again. I thought about the swords and they appeared in my hands instantly, scaring Dan, who was sitting next to me.

“Holy shit, man! You gotta fucking warn us before you do something like that,” Dan said, nearly dropping his weapon in surprise. “You have a dimensional storage, huh? Kind of a rare ability. Most of us Chaff didn’t get access to anything like that. I thought you’re abilities were offline, how do you still have access to that?”

I shook my head as I inspected the crimson blades, “Honestly, I’m not sure. It’s true that the majority of my abilities are offline, but this one at least still works. I’m not going to go into detail, but my case is a little…unique. I appreciate what you guys are doing, and in time, I’m sure I will share more. Just better to keep some things to myself for now.”

Dan put his hands up defensively, “Hey, no problem. Not like I was asking for a blowjob, my man. We all have each other’s backs out there, that is the important thing. Matthias debriefed us on your situation already. He didn’t share any of your precious personal details, but he told us who you are,” Dan looked side to side and leaned in closer, “You are a fucking legend, man, you know that, right? You took out a third of the council and were the first motherfucker in a thousand years to win the reaping for your home planet. I mean, sure, you won on a technicality, but that technicality is that you wiped out every son of a bitch in the pocket dimension. We are all here for our own reasons, but working with you was the big draw,” Dan eyed the blades warily, “Holy shit, I just realized what those are!” Dan turned to the rest of the squad excitedly, “Guys, guys! those are the fucking blades, the ones that belonged to that enforcer general…what was his name? Atagor?”

“Anthragor,” I said, wincing as I said the name. “He nearly killed me, nearly killed my whole crew, more than once. I looted these after I killed him.”

“My man,” Dan said, scooting closer to me, “You realize that it shouldn’t have been possible for you to kill that thing, right? Not only because of the level disparity, I mean from what I hear you couldn’t have been higher than level 20 when you went up against that guy, but those are ethereal weapons. They gotta have some serious abilities.”

“Yeah, they are pretty serious,” I held up my left arm, “They are the reason my arms look like this.” As I held up my arm, it pulsed, and the mirage-like field pulsated around it. I cocked my head; I wasn’t sure what was going on with my arms. It seemed the entity was experiencing emotion or reacting to my own emotions.

“Any chance you can share the description?” Dan asked, “We don’t see a lot of Ethereal weapons, honestly those are the first ones I have ever seen.”

I thought back to the description of the weapons, and to my surprise, I could remember it perfectly—a benefit of my intelligence stat.

Blades of the Blood Nova –

These blades were forged in the heart of a red nova. Refined over millennia and infused with the blood of countless fallen foes. The blades will inflict bleed damage over time and will scale to the level of foes within 25 levels of the wielder.

Abilities – Blood Nova –

Blood can be infused into a target with successive strikes, allowing the wielder to track the target over time. Once the infusion is complete, the wielder can activate Blood Nova, causing the infused blood to explode from the target and return to the blades.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Genetically bound – these blades will be genetically bound upon equipping and can only be unbound upon the wielder’s death.

After telling them the description, Kindo spoke up. “You’ll be keepin that to yerself movin forward, boy. There’s more than a few shady characters in this city, and those swords would go for more credits than any of us will ever see. Genetically bound doesn’t mean they can’t take off yer head and take ownership. Now everyone shut the fuck up and get ready to crack some heads. When this rig stops I wanna see nothin but asses and elbows. Get out fast, form up on the entrance and Brock here is gonna knock on the front door. Everyone remember, swarm the building, secure the exits and the boy here is gonna find his friend. Once the target is secure, we exfil back to the rig and get back to HQ. Ready up, now.”

The vehicly suddenly came to a stop and the sliding slide door opened. We rushed out, boots clomping on the damp pavement. It was dark and foggy and visibility outside the club was low. If not for the glow of the giant sign above the building visibility would have been near zero. I looked up at the sign to read the description of the business.

It showed a humanoid female strutting back and forth, scantily clad. She stopped and smiled before reaching to the bottom of her white blouse and pulling it open, revealing her rather large breasts. She winked and said welcome to Big T.D’s. The screen went black and changed to text that read.

Whether it’s credits…

or bodily fluids…

Get ready to blow your load at Big T.D’s

I chuckled as I fell in beside Dan on my side of the entrance. Dan looked back at me “You okay in the head, man? What is so fuckin funny?”

“Just not much different from Earth, is all. You guys don’t seem so evolved all of a sudden,” I said before patting him on the shoulder to let him know I was on task.

Brock walked up, looking much larger than the door frame he was standing in front of. He lifted his leg and, with a grunt, kicked the door of the club in. It splintered and shattered inward, completely destroyed. Kindo was on the right side and filed in, followed by Dan on my side. We rushed into the building alternatingly, Brock being second to last, followed by Bokbok. We entered into a large open circular room, the size of a large banquet room. There were three poles in the center of the room in a triangular pattern with a lit catwalk connecting them. There were women dancing on all three, completely naked. Loud electronic music with a pounding beat filled my ears. The squad stood around me in a U-shaped pattern, plasma pistols raised. There were doors on the outer walls of the room that circled all the way around on both the first and second floors. There were several people in the room, dancing around the stages, enjoying the show.

Three people rushed our group. one Bouterien, a Lacertine, and surprisingly, one of the werewolf-like Lycoans. They were either holding plasma pistols or reaching into their holsters to pull one out. The aliens were all dressed the same in black outfits.

“Looks like security! Try to incapacitate them; we don’t need the law breathing down our backs for killing a few security guards, boys,” Kindo said as the squad switched their plasma rifles to a non-lethal setting. “Boy, we didn’t get to see what you can do. Why don’t you take the Lycoan?” Kindo said, nodding at the large Lycoan.

“You kicked in our fucking door!” the Bouterien said as the trio came to a stop, weapons raised and pointed in our direction, moving back and forth between different members of our squad. “Don’t know who you are or what you want, but we’re about to fucking end you!” the Lycoan growled.

“We’re here for a human named Red. Give us him, and we go quiet. Resist, and you better be ready to shoot those pistols,” Kindo replied.

“Our guests have an expectation of privacy,” the Bouterien said. “We can neither confirm nor deny that there is a human here. Now, despite what my friend here said, I am willing to let you all leave if…”

Dan appeared behind the man and, in a flash, raked his dagger across his throat, opening it up. Blood sprayed the floor in front of the man as he grasped at the wound, air hissing out as he tried in vain to breathe. He fell to his knees and then to his face, bleeding out.

“I don’t do non=lethal. Sorry, boss,” Dan said.

Seeing this, the patrons of the club lost their fucking minds. They started running and screaming, panic filling the club. four more security guards rushed out of a door opposite where we stood.

“Hah, now it’s a fair fight! Shoot to kill, boys!” Kindo shouted before rushing out toward the Lacertine, who was fiddling with the safety switch on his plasma pistol.

I raised the Blades of the Blood Nova and rushed the Lycoan. He roared, baring his glistening fangs before dropping his pistol and pulling a long, thin club from his back. He flicked it outward, and it doubled in length and lit up with electricity.

“We fight like champions! There is honor in this!” the Lycoan growled. He closed the distance in a flash, swinging his club down with both arms as he jumped toward me. I crossed my swords in the air in an X pattern, catching his blow.

“Uumph,” the blow nearly buckled my legs as I caught it. The difference in my strength without my armor was more than a little noticeable. Still, this Lycoan was huge, and I managed to defend his blow. The Lycoan rared back his head, howling before beginning to circle me, the club extended to his right side. All around me the rest of the squad was engaging other members of the security force. Kindo sliding and shooting at the lacertine at an impossible angle. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Brock bang his massive fists together before swinging at another Bouterien, only for the man to duck and swing a left hook into Brock’s ribs. Brock stepped back, laughed, then, with both fists, pummeled his own midsection. “That is how you punch. Now let me show you how it feels!” Brock yelled.

These people are psychos. I thought to myself as the Lycoan swung the club in a wide, sideways swing, making contact with my right shoulder. The electricity surged into my body, bypassing my meager defensive armor easily. I fell to a knee, catching myself with the hilt of the sword in my right hand. The Lycoan, trying to seize on the momentum, lifted his club with both hands again and swung down. I barely stopped the first two-handed blow, and after taking the shock, I wasn’t sure I could do it again. I raised my blades into an X-pattern above my head and braced for the impact.

I watched as a green glow began to outline my body, stretching up and completely engulfing my arms and the blades. I caught the blow once again, surprisingly not budging this time. I glanced back to see that Bokbok was not engaged with one of the security guards but was instead running around casting buffs on each squad member.

“Thanks Bokbok!” I shouted before standing up and addressing the Lycoan. “I think I’m warmed up now. Ready for round two?”