She had to give it to the bounty hunters. They knew better than to pull their punches. Especially with newcomers joining the fight.

Sasha dove to the ground only to zip away as acid came splashing towards her. Chattering echoed from all sides, the armored hunters coming at her with their deadly tails and mandibles. But before she could so much as throw her staff, a beam of light flashed by.

She halted, the chattering creatures all falling one by one. She barely managed to track it. But as the last chattering creature fell, the beam took form, flashing into position. The human Alexander was suddenly standing in front of her.

"'Sup, number four," he said with a wave.

Sasha floated to the ground.

"H-hello."

Alexander smiled, immediately becoming light again and flying straight into a nearby cluster of chattering creatures.

To such an encounter, Sasha was once again left at a total loss. She could only watch as the godkiller flew across the ridge, carving through the chatterers like they were made of straw. Was he real? The human. So-called human. She could sense he wasn't a graduate, but the way he moved. How he came and went like the wind. Even Iris couldn't keep up, the wolf reappearing in the time it took him to knock out four chatterers.

Only Madame Dyre and Cici seemed to ignore his presence, the fox too busy peeling away the ground to make sharpened spears and battering rams. All of which made Sasha acutely aware of her lack of power. Madame Dyre she'd expected to make short work of any enemy she faced, but Cici. Her Cici. Had she always been so strong? The fox's rings glowed, a wall of rock rising to smash into the chatterers. Her tail wagged behind her.

"Check it out!" she called. "They're retreating already!"

Sasha looked on as the creatures scuttled about, forgoing their fallen and running towards the second volcano. They didn't get very far.

Light shot through them all, the last of the crustaceans falling in unison moments before Alexander took form again. The human wiped his brow.

"Phew. Nothing like a little hunting to get the blood flowing, am I right?"

Sasha stared around at all the fallen creatures. The army that lay decimated all across the ridge, some more intact than others. Alexander was smiling at it all, taking a moment to stretch even. Was this really their key to taking out the Comet Man? She looked to Madame Dyre, whose head tilted.

"Something wrong, my child?" she asked.

Sasha glanced at her friends, Cici excitedly recounting everything to the barely listening Iris.

"N-nothing," she said.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Maybe it was just her. Humans were always full of surprises, according to Mr. Erin. And what she knew of Gabriella. She got rid of GT, following everyone as they went to meet Alexander. His brown eyes scanned over the four of them.

"Good to see you're still in top form, Madame," he said. "Was afraid you'd gotten rusty always letting that kid do your dirty work."

"I'll take that as a compliment." She looked down at the chatterers. "More time-wasting, I take it?"

Alexander shrugged. "Gotta entertain myself somehow. Bounty hunters make for good training. Speaking of which..."

His gaze landed on Cici, the fox tensing up.

"You, fox girl," he said. "You fight well. What's your name, anyway?"

Cici smiled. "Oh. It's, uh...Cecil."

Alexander nodded, which seemed to earn a tail wag from the fox. He outright ignored the other two, quickly changing the subject.

"I'm assuming you all are here about the war outside, right?" he asked. "White Legion and all that. So allow me to tell you the same thing I told the AIC and that comet scrub. Alexander does not get involved in galactic politics. Or wars. Or whatever cosmic crap everyone's whining about this time around."

Madame Dyre raised a hand. "I assure you, Alexander, we aren't here to recruit you. We simply require your expertise. For a modest price, of course."

She pulled out her commpad, the device projecting so many chet stacks that Sasha's jaw dropped. Holy cripes! We're giving him all that? Godkiller or not, she had to question how Dyre considered over a million chets to be modest. Just how loaded was she? Alexander smirked.

"Shrewd as always, Madame."

He scanned over the grads again.

"So these your new guns?"

"They should be adequate, yes."

Alexander rubbed his chin.

"Well the fox I can work with," he said. "She's got a nice power. Could be fun. The other two are pretty much garbage scrap."

Sasha frowned, Iris narrowing at the man. Dyre simply smiled.

"Please refrain from insulting my child, Alexander," she said.

The human sniffed. "Since when are you so touchy?"

"I won't tell you again."

He looked at her, the spider's smile as unwavering as her gaze. Sasha shifted. She didn't know why, but it made her feel a little better seeing Dyre's reaction. Even if she didn't like the idea of picking a fight with a godkiller. Alexander scratched his head, letting out a small groan.

"Fine," he said. "You wanna stretch my skills, be my guest. But the price is gonna be double."

"Granted."

Several more stacks appeared in the projection. Alexander sighed.

"Don't blame me if one 'em dies, Spider Queen."

Sasha winced, though Iris remained calm as usual.

He pointed further down the ridge, where they could see a structure made entirely out of formerly molten rock. A house surrounded on all sides by, much to Sasha's surprise, actual water. Of which seemed to billow with steam. Alexander tapped the ground with his foot.

"Welp," he said, "guess I can teach these kids how to kill gods. Assuming you three can keep up, that is."

As he said the words, his body flashed into light once again, darting in the direction of the lone house.

Sasha and the rest lingered, only moving when a nod from Madame Dyre confirmed it was okay to follow. The spider didn't come with them.