Mike basked in the pulsating light entering from the rift only a short distance away–a habit he had grown accustomed to over the past few weeks. It wasn’t quite the same as lounging on a nice beach or hammocking in a verdant, green forest, but it was as close to cozy as he had found on this barren asteroid.

Each afternoon, after a hours spent challenging his way up the line, he would sit down a couple of craters away from the rift, consolidate his gains, reflect on how he could have fought better, and watch as earth was successfully defended against his fellow queues-man, a term he had derived for the creatures who were so patient in waiting to have their chance at destroying his home planet.

His core had officially reached pumpkin stage the night prior, making him firmly in the middle of the next stage. Unfortunately, he was down to only having about a third of his total water supply left. It took significantly less energy to grow a single stage compared to the jump from coconut to watermelon, but it was still eating through his stock fast. He hoped he would be able to make large pumpkin with what he had remaining, but he would need at least a few weeks to make that happen, time he wasn’t sure he still had.

Though he was able to pass more and more of the line each day, he found that his position relative to the rift had remained more or less the same, the reason for this being that the line was growing as more and more greater-pumpkin stage beasts arrived.

His thoughts were interrupted as a fight broke out right at the front of the rift. A large fishlike creature with thousands of long antennas had decided to cut to the very front of the rift. Using energy sense, he saw with alarm that the creature had a core that was around double the size of a large pumpkin, meaning that this creature was a tier up from everything else that was currently gathered to enter earth.

The beast standing in line behind the newly-arrived behemoth kept its gaze firmly down as it was replaced as head of the line, a clear indication that it wasn’t about to voice any complaints it may have had. With the line leader subdued, the fish continued to break protocol, because rather than wait its turn to enter the rift, its antennas reached out and wrapped around the 50 meter tall titan that was currently trying to break through.

A distorted roar emanated from the other side of the spatial tear as the creature felt the interruption, which quickly became a whine of pain as it was split apart like an overripe melon. Then the fish began to pass through.

⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫

Strike Leader dodged the claw of the invading beast with ease, trying hard not to whoop in delight as that would be heard by the rest of the strike force in addition to those watching from the viewing chamber, talk about embarrassing.

Time had seemed to fly by since Strike Leader had been sent down to guard the rift, an assignment which they were now grateful for. Sure, it had been intended as a death sentence, and maybe still would be, but their own cultivation had increased dramatically since the constant engagements had started, even going so far as to reach the midpoint of the second tier. And they weren’t the only ones who had been able to advance.

With a constant stream of enemies who seemed happy to enter the debilitating choke point one at a time, everyone involved in the fighting was able to get some of the cosmic energy left behind when a creature died, and that was even including the System taking the majority of it for maintenance.

A decent amount of the energy the System gained went towards keeping the rift stabilized, but Strike Leader had heard through the chain that some of it was being stockpiled, turning a near disastrous Integration into one that was profitable even outside of the fractals that would be harvested from the natives upon full Assimilation.

They had only lost a total of two more fighters since being sent down, both had been rookies who were overconfident. The truth was, as long as a Tier 3 didn’t come through the rift, Strike Leader felt confident they could hold this position indefinitely.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Directing their vessel upwards with a command, they went to dodge another strike from the beast, but stopped short when a purplish mass of tentacles wrapped themselves around the creature, before it was torn apart.

“Attention all deployed units: Tier 3 signature detected. For the Hive and Glory, use any means at your disposal necessary to eliminate the threat.” The voice of Sector Assimilator came over the intercom.

Strike Leader cursed under their breath at the information, even as they reflexively moved to avoid the Tier 3 beast’s attack. Others on the strike force weren’t so lucky, and three ships were blown out of the sky in the few seconds following the announcement.

The fighters who were off duty moved to assist, swelling their attack force to the hundreds as they sought to destroy the creature, but the only result was giving the creature more targets to easily knock from the sky.

“Requesting Cannon Support” Strike Leader said through the intercom, asking for the ship’s massive laser to intercede on their behalf. It was the only weapon that could take down a Tier 3, but with an exorbitant resource cost, it was held in reserve as a fail-safe.

“Negative, strike force deemed sufficient.” Sector Assimilator’s voice said, followed by a separate message sent only to Strike Leader’s vessel, “ I think you know what it will take to get Cannon Support. So the question is, do you care more about yourself, or the crew?”

“Where in the abyss did they drag this spawn from?” Strike Leader cursed, already knowing what their decision was. They were loyal to the hive through and through, and giving their life to the hive had always been a possibility. If they were going to die, they wanted to do so bravely.

Directing their message through the private channel, they replied, “You’ll burn for this.” Before turning to the main communication channel and bellowing, “Laud, the Queen!”

Their message delivered, Strike Leader dive bombed the enemy, knowing that only with them dead would Sector Assimilator be willing to save the rest of the crew. When they were 10 meters away from the creature's body, it reacted, its tentacles wrapping around the ship and tossing it through the tear like a worthless piece of garbage.

⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫

Mike watched the powerful beast decimate the defenders forces, and for the first time in many weeks, his concern for earth was sufficient for him to consider trying to break through. But even as the thought crossed his mind, he saw a ship enter the rift, its body crunching under the denseness of space, causing it to smoke. Tracing its trajectory, he activated Footsteps of the Wind and began to sprint, arriving at the site of impact only a few moments after its uncontrolled landing.

Knowing that the human in the ship would likely attack him didn’t dissuade him from immediately rushing to the pilot’s aid, saving someone from a shipwreck was a no brainer, especially for someone who had been in the Navy. The ship's structure was solid, and he had a hard time moving it, even with Unyielding Juggernaut active and all of his prodigious strength bent towards the task. Eventually, he found purchase on the bottom side and was able to create an opening large enough to drag the pilot's body through.

One leg came out, followed by a second, and then a third? The surprise appendage caused him to drop the leg in shock, only then noticing how irregular the body felt, like a slightly springy piece of spaghetti.

A groan caused him to regain his focus: human or not, he wasn’t one to simply leave a creature suffering, regardless of how irregular it was. He tugged, twisted, and pulled on the body, excavating it bit by bit, confident in his ability to heal it, even if some of the damage was caused by him trying to save it.

Finally, the head came free and he viewed the pilot's face for the first time. Its 4 eyes were all centered in its face, which was made of blue, spongy skin. A protrusion reminiscent of a nose sat between the four eyes. Tentacles coated the top of the head like hair, and even traced a pattern along the bottom of the jaw, much like a beard.

“What in tarnation.” he breathed in wonder.

At the sound of his voice, the eyes fluttered open, “Anomaly… System Administrator was right” the creature was clearly dying, but Mike grasped onto the English that was coming out of its mouth.

“You know about the System? Tell me more.”

No response was forthcoming as the creature once again fell into unconsciousness.

“Nothing Hands of Healing can’t fix.” he said while rubbing them together.