The boy makes his way through the dim gray passage toward the central control chamber. As he’s about to enter, he misses a step and stumbles inside unsteadily.

The earlier fight had exhausted him. It wasn’t just because of his fast movements and heavy sword waving. Summoning and channeling the colored energies through his body was taxing in itself.

The colored aura boosted his abilities but it required just as much effort as physical movement and swinging, if not more.

Detecting his presence in the room, Arya materializes at the same spot, in the middle of the circular table.

“Excellently done lord Alfzaar, only 8 remaining. Also, I see that your stratus level has gone up quite a bit.”

The boy takes a seat on one of the floating white chairs beside the table, resting his head back against the soft contour of the seat.

The seat’s cushion felt as soft as a cloud against his worn-out body.

Putting his feet up on the table, he closes his eyes, letting his body rest.

He would need all the rest he could get before continuing on to get the rest of the rats.

“…Now if I ask….what exactly is a stratus……you’re just going to say it’s classified. Aren’t you?” The boy asks while trying to catch his breath.

“I’m sorry but since the security measures are still in place, that will precisely be my answer.” She answers with her calm and gentle voice.

“Yeah, I thought so.” The boy answers without opening his eyes.

“However, at the rate you’re going the security measures are going to be taken off in no time at all lord alfzaar.”

“Easier said than done.”

“Hmmm really? With the current readings I’m getting off your stratus, the mutated verminox should no longer be a match for you. Your Atayk and Defward aether is much higher than most of them. Well, except for one, but with the amount of Atayk aether in your sword, it shouldn’t be too difficult.”

“….I feel like you just made those words up on the spot but yeah, I’m not going to bother asking you for an explanation.”

He felt that Arya was purposefully bringing up half-baked information to try to get him to ask questions.

“Is saying ‘that’s classified’ really that enjoyable.”

He peers through a half-open eyelid to observe Arya’s face. It had the same soft and gentle expression as before, staring at him intently.

“Just so you know, if after exterminating those rats I come here and you say that’s classified one more time, I’ll unplug you.”

“If the security measures are no longer in place, then I will have no reason to.” She answers with a smile. His threat had no effect on her calm and smiling expression.

The boy felt himself getting drowsy so he immediately opened his eyes.

He had to get rid of the security measures over Arya. If he rested now without food or water then he would be too weak to continue fighting. His fight was also against time just as much as the rats.

Feeling his breathing return to normal, the boy stands up. His sword in hand had turned back into a ring without him noticing.

He summons the holographic map in front of his eyes by waving a palm and intently observes it.

The door on the right was connected to the living chamber, a large cafeteria, and a recreational area for the facility’s personnel. There was a door in the living chamber’s atrium that connected to a long passageway which diverged at the end into a left and right path. At the end of the left was the recreational area while the right led to the cafeteria.

The fighting had only taken place in the Living chamber’s wide atrium.

The left door in the central control chamber similarly led to a number of rooms and passages. According to the map, there was a long passageway immediately through the door but unlike the one on the right, this one had three splits.

Approximately halfway down its length the passageway split into three diverging paths. The one to the right led into a large space titled processing chamber on the map, and the one going straight down led to the purification chamber which was the rats’ hideout.

The path veering to the left, however, led into a relatively smaller chamber that had even smaller rooms inside. Of course, the rooms were only small in relation to the other giant chambers on the map, judging from their size they appeared to be as big as a luxury apartment.

The problem was that this section of the map was not titled, there was nothing to describe what these rooms were.

He gets the urge to ask Arya about them but bites his tongue.

“You already know what her answer is going to be.” He thinks to himself somberly.

“Let’s get back to this after solving the immediate rat problem.”

Putting all distractions out of his mind he focuses on the purification chamber. It had a rectangular space that was even larger than the living chamber’s atrium.

“So, space is not going to be any issue in there.”

The rats, or the eight red dots were littered across the purification chamber on the map. They were buzzing with activity inside the space. Two of them were zipping around the entrance into the chamber while two others were standing still within a few paces.

“Taking positions around the entrance for an ambush I see. The smart buggers know I’m using doors to move around instead of vents like them but they probably have no idea I can see their movements in real-time.”

No matter how smart an animal was it couldn’t match the intellect of man. Hell, he wasn’t even sure if this advanced tech was exclusively human-made.

The rest of the four dots were huddled in the upper right corner of the rectangular space. From the way the dots were arranged, it seemed like one dot was a little ahead of the others as if it were protecting the ones behind.

“Hiding from fear perhaps? Or maybe it’s a last-ditch group effort. Well, ultimately it doesn’t matter anyway.”

Waving the map away, he stands up and walks toward the left door.

It opens automatically to make way for him and he steps inside the long passageway.

“I’ll be waiting for your success lord alfzaar.”

Arya chimes behind him as the door closes.

----------------------------------------

The boy walks along the dim gray corridor.

Once he arrives at the three-way split, he looks down the left pathway. The unmarked destination at the end was piquing his curiosity.

In his past life, he had gone on plenty of infiltration missions. Sometimes he would have to infiltrate a government building to get to secret documents, other times it was navigating city-wide fortifications protecting tyrants, and one time he even had to navigate through a jungle on an island in the middle of the pacific.

In all of these scenarios, there was one thing that was common in all of them. The most sensitive locations were always left unmarked on the maps inside these strongholds. These unmarked spots almost always housed the most well-kept secrets that were not meant for anyone’s eyes.

And seeing the untitled blank space on the digital map was tingling his covert infiltration senses. Something important was inside the room at the end of this path.

“There’s definitely secrets down there. Secrets that Mr. Alfzaar did not want anyone snooping around. I’ll have to come back here after solving the rat problem.”

He hesitantly tears his gaze off the left path and continues onward.

After walking for a couple of minutes, he spots the door leading to the purification chamber at the end of the corridor.

As the boy draws near to the automatic door, he channels his energy.

The red and gold auras ignite throughout his body, mixing together into a golden maroon color. The aura covers his body from head to toe, boosting his strength and speed.

He feels power vibrate through his muscles and his body grows light. The ring on his right hand shines a white light before morphing into a black sword.

Absorbing the energy from his hands, the emblem at the hilt gives out a vortex of red flaming energy that covers the black blade. As the aura climbs the length of the blade its color changes to a dark scarlet.

“I’ll never get tired of looking at that.”

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

With his fiery sword in hand, the boy steps close to the door but just far enough that it doesn’t open automatically.

He summons the map, carefully learning the position of each and every rat inside.

“Two at the immediate sides waiting for an ambush. Two a little further away, probably in position for a rushing sprint. Then four toward the upper right corner.”

Etching their positions in his mind, he takes a deep breath and exhales slowly before taking another step toward the door.

The door opens silently and he stands still at the entrance, warily looking out for any sign of spiking energy.

Inside the door, the space was dark. Only faintly illuminated by soft green lights coming from giant cylindrical tubes on the front and left sides of the chamber.

The tubes were huge, starting from the base floor and reaching the ceiling of the spacious chamber. They were divided into two parts; the top part was completely black while the lower part contained glowing green liquid.

“The top part looks like it contains that black goo I’ve seen around outside.” The boy notes to himself, keeping his guard up.

The green light from the tubes reflected off the dull gray floor, giving the chamber a dull green sheen that felt sinister.

The boy spots two rats lying a bit further away from the entrance. They were crouched close to the floor and were completely still. Their furless grey skin blended flawlessly with the surrounding grey floor.

He had only noticed them because of the shine of their golden aura enveloping their bodies. Their energies were spiking through their bodies, ready to burst into momentum any second.

“They’re waiting for me to step closer.”

He knew there were two rats hiding on the immediate sides of the door as well from the map.

“So, the plan is a one single high-speed ambush to eliminate the threat, not a bad plan at all.”

He was impressed with their smart tactics. The rats were versatile if nothing else.

Readying his sword for a quick slash, the boy concentrates his body’s aura around his legs.

“But it's not smart enough.”

Whispering these words the boy unleashes a burst of speed, charging into the room in a bold dash.

Colors erupt around him from all directions, as all four rats spike their energies for a burst of their own.

The boy’s enhanced senses capture everything in slow motion while his brain processes all the information immediately.

“Two rushing in from immediate east and west, two coming in from the front. Get them all on one side first.”

Taking a note from the rats’ own playbook he immediately plants his feet into the floor and pushes in the opposite direction with his explosive strength.

His sprinting rush cuts immediately as he reverses gear and bolts backward toward the entrance door.

Since his speed was now faster than the rats, they struggled to match his movements.

The two rats rushing in from his sides extend their claws out at him as he zips between them back to the door.

All four rats change their trajectories and chase after him, their golden auras flaring out from their body as they boost their speed to the limit.

“Alright got them all together.”

The boy had baited them into charging at him so they would all be within his line of sight while the rats believed they had him on the run.

Just as he is about to make contact with the door, he adjusts his trajectory and jumps.

Instead of charging into the open door, the boy somersaults into the presiding wall.

Planting both feet on the wall, he pushes off against it and, again, starts another high-speed dash back into the room toward the rats.

The rats see him turn around acrobatically and rush into them but they do not change trajectory.

This was their territory, there was no backing down.

All four rats scamper toward him without slowing down while he sprints into them.

Just as they are about to collide, the rat at the front leaps, targeting his face with its glowing scarlet fangs.

The two rats beside it each pick out a leg to attack while the last rat at the end envelops itself in a red glow, going in for a full-body tackle.

Time slowed down by his fast perception, he observed the motion of all four rats before striking.

Choosing the leaping rat as his target, he concentrates his aura on his legs before springing off the floor.

As he flies through the air, he lowers his upper body while raising up his legs, maneuvering into a slow somersault.

He passes over the group in the air, just barely above the leaping rat. This light-arching jump was only possible through precise control and careful management of the energies flowing inside.

The leaping rat turns around in the air and extends its claws above to catch him gliding over it but meets the flaming edge of his black blade which cuts through its abdomen cleanly, igniting a brief flicker of blue. The slash severs its spine and separates the upper and lower body parts.

Cleaving the flying rat in two, the boy completes his low arching flight and somersaults onto his feet behind the rats. The dead rat’s white wisp floats into his body as his feet touch the floor.

The sliced body parts fall down on one of the attacking rats, stumbling it in its tracks as the other two rats whirl around and rush toward him.

The boy sensed no fear or hesitation in their movements as the two rats advanced in for the attack.

“They’re not backing down at all. Is it because we’re in their hideout?”

Both rats concentrate their energies in their legs, turning the aura bright red around them.

“Here come the kicks.”

The rat at the front leaps in the air, coiling its legs and filling them with tension for a powerful strike. Red aura pulsates around its muscular hind limbs.

The other rat chooses to go for his legs, the aura around its limbs spikes with increased energy as it sprints on all four.

The boy follows their movements and predicts their trajectory with his enhanced senses. He stands still, letting the attack come to him.

He avoids the first rat’s flying kick with a sudden sidestep. It extends a claw from its side in an attempt to slash his face as it passes by, but he has moved just enough to be out of its range.

Following close behind the flying rat, the 2nd rat shifts its direction toward him as it charges its hind limb with energy, targeting his leg for a low kick. With a quick burst of power and speed, it dives feet-first for a charged kick at his knee.

Seeing the predictable attack coming, the boy slightly pushes off the floor and leaps into the air, just as the 2nd rat is about to make contact. In the air, he charges his leg with the power of his red energy and kicks the seething rodent in its rat face while it slides below him.

The flaming kick easily bursts through the blue barrier around its head and connects with its snout. The blow shatters the rat’s fangs and rattles its skull. Its eyes almost pop out of their sockets with the sudden change in inertia.

The impact sends it rolling and tumbling back toward the third member of the rat group standing a bit further away.

“I can do heavy damage even without the sword now.”

Suddenly he senses a fast motion behind his back and quickly ducks. The first rat’s flashing red kick swings over his head, its air pressure twirling his hair.

Seeing that its attack had missed, the rat quickly maneuvers in the air to grab onto his crouching body.

Using its front limbs and claws, it latches onto the boy’s shoulders and lands on his back, pushing him downward.

“There they go with the tackling again!”

The rat had caught him in a bad position. His body was crouched on the floor, and with it landing on his back, its weight was forcing him down.

He places one hand on the floor to avoid tumbling down while the rat on his back tries to tear into him. He feels a flurry of claws and fangs scrape against the suit’s barrier on his back as he tries to stand to his feet.

Seeing the blood pouring out of the kicked rat’s broken jaw while it thrashed on the floor with pain had spooked the third rat into inaction, but the current opportunity presented by the first rat had aroused its courage.

Igniting the aura around its body it bolts toward the boy who was under siege from the rat on his back.

The boy watches the third rat dash toward him and knows he has to do something quickly. The rat on his back was pushing him down with all of its strength and although he could withstand the pressure, it was taking considerable effort to do so from this position.

He was propping himself up with his legs and left arm while holding his sword in his free right hand.

His mind churned furiously to find a way out of this sticky situation.

“I can’t slash at it with my sword using one hand. It will be too slow and the rat will easily avoid it. The momentum might even tip me over and then I’ll have to wrestle with two rats on the floor. It’s a bit risky but there is a better way.”

Just as the sprinting rat is about to tackle him, he throws his sword at its face catching it off guard.

However, the rat quickly evades the flying death stick by tilting its upper body to the right. It stumbles momentarily in its sprint because of the sudden dodge but regains its footing and dives at the crouching boy.

With both arms now free, the boy pushes off the floor with a burst of red aura engulfing his body. Using both hands he grabs the annoying rat attacking his back by its front forelimb.

In the few seconds that pass, he musters every bit of his red energy to give his strength as much of a boost as possible and then swings the rat over his back onto the sprinting rat in front of him.

The rats' bony bodies collide together in a blaze of blue shimmer, slamming the one below down to the floor with a loud thud, knocking the wind out of it.

Not wasting any time, the boy jumps above them while channeling energy into his legs, attempting to crush both rats with a powerful blow.

The top rat quickly rolls out of the way of his plunge but the rat below isn’t so lucky. Using both charged legs he stomps on the back of the rat that’s still lying down.

The crushing blow shatters through its barrier and he hears several cracking sounds. Using its body as a launching pad, the boy bounces toward his sword lying a couple of feet away.

He successfully grabs it from the floor while still in the air, lands down, and rolls over to his feet before turning around to face any attacking rats.

There was just one sprinting toward him, the rat he had chucked off his back. The other rat was struggling to its feet, there was no doubt the blow had broken some ribs. The kicked rat had fallen unconscious at some point, blood was pooling on the floor around its broken jaws.

The advancing rat rushes into him with its front claws blazing red. It swipes at his face with its right forepaw but the boy easily avoids it by tilting his head back, having seen the spike in its energy.

The rat doesn’t stop and unleashes a flurry of slashes with its front claws while standing on its hind legs but the boy dodges all of them by slightly tilting his body out of the way of each strike.

He knows its attacks can’t break through his suit’s barrier but it was good practice for learning to dodge by reading the pattern of energy before each strike.

Infuriated at slashing empty air, the rat’s energy concentrates around its mouth and it lunges with its jaws wide open, exposing its fiery curved fangs.

The boy sidesteps out of the way of the bite with a speed that easily surpasses the rat’s while bringing his sword up in a rising side slash.

The rat’s jaws snap shut at empty space, missing him entirely as his sword slices through its extended neck. After a licker of blue, its head plops down with a thud and rolls away while its body crumples to the floor. Blood and mist flow out of the open wound on the headless corpse.

Its white wisp flows into his body but he barely feels anything.

“Am I maxed out on the wisps?”

He looks over at the remaining rodents. The one with the broken jaws and fangs was still passed out but the other rat with the broken ribs was slowly limping away from him.

It was heavily hunched over on one side, trying to alleviate the pain of its broken ribs.

The injured rat gave out faint squeaks as it hobbled toward the upper right corner of the wide chamber.

The corner was in the blind spot of the tube’s dull green lights so it was covered in darkness.

“Running back to safety of the last remaining group. They’re not going ..!”

His thought was suddenly interrupted by a searing flash of golden maroon lighting up over a bulking figure in the dark corner. It was far brighter and denser than any of the rats’ auras he had seen.

The glowing figure zips out of the corner toward the limping rat, becoming visible in the dull green light. It was another rat but about twice as big as the others and with a pitch-black skin color.

Unlike the other bony and emancipated-looking gray rats this one had thick muscles rippling under its sleek black skin.

The limping rat stops and frantically squeaks at the towering black rat while it stares down at it. The scene looked as if the injured rat was pleading for mercy from the bigger rat.

The boy saw the spike in the black rat’s aura but still could barely make out the blurring swipe of its right forepaw. The injured rat’s head tears off its body and smacks against the glowing tube several feet away.

White mist rises out of the dead body and a tiny part floats into the black rat which is now glaring at him with dark blood-red eyes.

The boy raises his sword up, pointing the blade at the black rat boss.

“It must be the alpha of the pack.”

This was going to be his final obstacle to ridding the facility of these rats and he was not backing away after coming so close.

The black rat’s aura spikes high as he steadies his sword in preparation for its strike.