Jake stood at the entrance to the building. The man that once stood there had now gone deeper inside.
“Oh, Mr Punchy Man, where are you? You're not just going to leave now that your friends are gone, are you? I was really looking forward to meeting you again,” Jake shouted down the empty hallway as he slowly walked, waiting for the next trap or ambush to occur.
“What are you, some kind of cheesy movie villain?” Five asked.
“Nah, I'm just trying to get a response.”
“I don't think it worked. Shall we not just find your friend and forget about this man? I don't think he has any more ambushes for us. He's probably just trying to hide till we're gone.”
“Alright, do you know where she is, or do I have to search this entire building?”
Just as Jake said this, a scream of pain echoed throughout the building.
“That way,” Five said as the two walked down a hallway.
“Shut up, bitch, this is what you get for trying to stab me,” a man with a distinctly Chinese accent said as he stood over a blood-covered Kiki. Her arms were tied to a scorching hot fin heater, and her legs were broken in multiple places. She looked as if she had been tortured for days.
“If you had just given me the information I wanted, it would have been a lot easier on you. But you just had to be stubborn right to the end—a loyal pet,” Mr Punchy Man said from the corner of the room before he stepped over to one of the open windows. “OK, Mr Chi, I will leave the rest to you. Just don't take too long. I don't want to explain to your mum,” Mr Punchy Man said before jumping out the window and dashing off into the distance.
“Now let's get started. Should I start with cutting on yo—” were the last words Mr Chi said before his head exploded.
Jake ripped the heater out of the wall and threw the remains out of the window, away from the badly burnt arms of his friend. He then removed what was left of the bindings. The moment the bindings were removed, Kiki shrank down to the size of a domesticated cat. All the hair on her front legs was gone, and her back legs and face were cut up quite badly to the point that Jake didn't know if they could be recovered with potions alone. It's not like everyone had Jake's ability to just grow back body parts and heal extensive wounds alone just by waiting around. Normal people could still be disabled for life from wounds and the like.
Jake used his only healing skill, Demonic Hand, to calm her mind and seal her wounds, but this was only a stopgap, so Jake picked Kiki up in one arm as he ran out of the building and back into the roaring flames, only stopping quickly at the woman he had tied up earlier. Grabbing the ropes, he lifted her like a duffel bag and began teleporting.
At each teleport junction, Five would try to talk, but Jake just continued teleporting faster than he had ever done before. His only goal was to get his friend back to safety so she could begin her recovery process.
On the bridge of the Hecter Amir
“Sir, we have just had a report that the Orka was destroyed and over ninety per cent of the invasion forces for that sector have been killed or declared missing.”
“How is that possible? That sector is the weakest of them all. What was Kai doing?”
Another man ran onto the bridge at that moment and right up to Hecter.
“Sir, there's a new report. It seems the system bounty is from that little planet named Earth and that there are more than thirty billion heretical cultivation users in your sector alone. We need to contact the main branch elders.”
Hecter slowly walked over to the man, and as he got close enough, he put a hand on the man’s shoulder and, with one fluid movement, stabbed the man with a dagger under his rib cage before lifting the knife up into the man's heart.
“Does anyone else wish to go against my family? This sector is under the Amir family's name; we will not expect any outsiders from the main branches to take it. Ray, get the fleet ready; we're going back to that shithole system. I want that man alive,” Hecter said before a flash of light erupted from his body, only to settle down a moment later. “Thank you for your faith in me. But why do you restrict me with this power you have given me? I could wipe out that little solar system he is from,” Hecter said to the system.
Notification
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
The system has seen fit to increase your grade level to D grade, but you will not be allowed to step foot on the battlefield against the heretical cultivators; you must find an alternative path. You can use your powers for defence only.
“Ray, send a message back to the clan and request reinforcements.”
“Sir, they will want to know the reason for the request.”
“Just tell them it's a system quest and that it will benefit the clan greatly in the end.”
“Really?” one of the human diplomats from Earth said without realising he had. “Sorry, sir, it won't happen again.”
“You're damn right it won't. Ray, go take care of it.”
The human cried for forgiveness as he was dragged off the bridge by his long hair.
“First fleet, the time has come. Our preliminary recce fleet has discovered a large group of heretical cultivators in a backwater system, and our guiding light has sent forth a task of annihilation. I am sending you ahead to pave our way. Go forth and conquer.” As Hecter finished his speech, the fleet of one hundred ships, ranging from cruisers down to gunships he had built up, turned to face a small star in what was called the Milky Way galaxy and all at once jumped into FTL. It would take them some time to arrive at their destination, and in that time, every member of the fleet would be preparing for war.
But back on the Hecter Amir, the bridge was quiet as no one would even think of speaking while the commander was present.
Five minutes later, Ray returned to the eerily quiet bridge. “Sir, I've received word from the home world. They have sought to give command of this sector to your uncle and his children; they will arrive in one year and ten days. Sorry, sir.”
“That's okay, Ray. Did they say anything about reinforcements?”
“No, sir. This message was five days old at the time we received it. Our communication lines have been having issues lately; it seems a supernova wiped out a bunch of relay stations in the Amir region.”
“My home region?”
“Yes, sir. It was completely wiped out—no survivors.”
“What happened? Amir 1 wasn't big enough to go supernova.”
“It was her.”
“Her again? I thought we dealt with her.”
“So did the leading council, but it seems as though she was just laying low, waiting for a good time to strike your family.”
“These fucken heretical cultivators, this is why we must see every one of them dead.”
You just wait, Margo. I will have my revenge for what you have done, Hecter thought.
Lead engineer and commander of the new order of the planet Bec Alpha One.
Harry was sitting alone in his office when the door swung open and a tablet flew through the door, followed by Erica and her secretary holding a second tablet.
“Harry, it seems there is a planet in a system adjacent to this one that I would like you to take command of. It is currently vacant and would be a perfect place to set up a trading outpost. I chose you to do this because you and Jake are good friends, and we would like to have a way to bypass the system's restrictions.”
“Why do you need to bypass the restrictions? Aren't we doing just fine alone? I even heard there is a new trading partner in the Sol system.”
“I just got a report that those partners you just spoke of have started a civil war and are now slowly destroying each other. They will not make good trading partners for a long time, and we don't have that much time left. We need to find a way to survive the inevitable attacks from our enemies and former friends.”
“Are you saying Aaliyah and her people will attack us?”
“It is possible, but I don't think she will have much to say one way or the other, and as for the demon of death, I don't think she will help us any further than she already has. She has been pinned down in her own struggles. A large alliance has begun conducting raids on her territory.”
“Does Jake know about this?”
“No, and if all goes to plan, you will be established as a power in this sector with trading partners on all sides of the conflict, and as you're not technically one of Jake's inner circle, you should be able to slip under the radar.”
“I'm not a fan of this. By doing this, I won't be able to work with Jake on any more projects.”
“I wouldn't say that you should have heaps of time; after all, I'm not just sending you over there.”
“What do you mean by that? Isn't this operation mine to run?”
“Well, yes, but I didn't think you would want to take charge of the operation itself, so I plan on sending management staff and a security team with you. Once you're up and running, we might even send over equipment and personnel to build ships—that is, if you can get some designs that the system won't trace back to us. We can't have your cover blown by something like that. So will you accept?”
“Yes, but I want more than one security team, and I would like to know about this solar system. Are there any other people there?”
“Yes, there are. On the third planet and the fourth, there are facilities and cities with populations in the billions. The planet we found for you is on the very edge of the system; it's a rocky planet with a moon that is tidally locked. There are some beasts on the moon but not on the planet. The beasts' grades range from G to D grade; we didn't see any above D grade on the preliminary check. It will take you a week at FTL to get to the planet—that's with no breaks and running the impulse engines at full. Once you get to the planet, I would suggest dismantling the ships or hiding them so nobody can track you back to us.”
“But if we dismantle the ships, how are we supposed to get supplies and meet others from the solar system?”
“I'm sure you can figure that out. I have full faith in your skills, Harry.”
Erica ordered her secretary to work for Harry and left, only turning back to say that the ships would be leaving in forty-eight hours and that he would need to find people to go with him—other than the management staff and the security teams.
“So, what's your name?” Harry asked the young lady.
“Ilara, sir,” the small blond-haired human said.
“Please just call me Harry; I don't want to be known as lord or anything.”
“Do you have a last name, sir?”
“Yes, I do, but it's not worth mentioning.”
“Okay, Mr Harry Unknown it is,” the lady said with a smile.
“Oh, I think we will get along just fine,” Harry said as he got up from his desk and began packing up his office.