Without warning, Chris and Lilly both attacked Ace and Cherry at once, unleashing a series of speedy kicks, whacks, and punches. The Blood Mutant sibling duo failed to transform in time, and their human bodies were battered intensely by the Granian duo. "As Blood Mutants," Chris explained while using his tail to whack Ace’s legs, "you must be able to transform as fast as possible without having to think about it. You two take exactly thirty seconds to fully transform." "There are millions of species you’ll encounter that are able to move much faster than you can transform." Lilly continued. "Your first exercise is to transform faster than we can attack." "Then give us room to do so, then." Cherry complained as her forearms were battered by Lilly’s claws. Her arms bled, and she grew sore with every sense of feeling slowly fading away. Every attempt she made to use her blood to transform ended in failure, for Lilly would tear off the blood Cherry tried to use to coat herself. The same thing happened to Ace, but he remembered a never-used-before skill in his arsenal. [Skill: Explosive Blood Technique.] [Description: During close-ranged attacks, convert the properties of your own blood to explode at your command. This can be used when you’re surrounded and need something with bloody firepower. However, this skill can only be activated when you use your own blood. Discretion is advised.] Given that the blood Chris had drawn from Ace’s body was a great amount, Ace activated the skill and watched it take action. The blood on his arms started to glow from dark red to hot pink. The blood eventually exploded in his and Chris’ face. The blast burned off most of the skin on Ace’s forearm and tore off the tips of Chris’ scales. [Transformation in Progress.] While Chris got up on his feet, the blood flowing out of Ace’s hands wrapped around his arms, then went down to his elbows, shoulders, and covered his head and upper body. "YOU’RE STILL TOO SLOW!!" Chris sprung towards Ace with his fist folded and punched Ace’s face. The blood mutant quickly lifted his transformed forearms and used them to absorb Chris’ blows. Meanwhile, his body was seventy percent complete with the transformation, making him three times stronger than he already was. "IS THIS FAST ENOUGH FOR YOU?" With three tendrils forming at his back, Ace grabbed Chris by his hands and one leg, lifted him above his head, and threw him at Lilly, who was currently beating Cherry to a pulp. Chris quickly got up to his feet, only to get headbutted by Ace. A small amount of blood dripped from Chris’ forehead as he struggled in his dazed state. Chapters fırst released on 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝·𝘧𝙞𝙧𝙚·𝔫𝔢𝔱 "How’s that for slow?" Ace bragged as his battered sister walked over to him. "Can you transform?" "Does it look like I’m in the state to do so?" Cherry asked back sarcastically. "That was a good practice exercise." Chris laughed while drawing out a blood mutant blocker from the deep scales of his tail. Activating it, he rendered Ace and Cherry powerless, preventing them from suddenly draining their blood. "That skill you used was unlike anything we’ve ever seen before, Ace. You’re picking up well." "Your exercise is complete." Lilly continued. "You seem hurt. Let us put you to rest." "Wait, I still have que...." Cherry and Ace were stunned with the same blood mutant blocker Chris used, rendering them unconscious...again. Waking up from his knocked-out state, Ace expected to find himself floating inside another cylindrical tube. To his surprise, the young man was currently being held by four robotic arms, which spread his legs and hands apart. The room he was in was completely pitch black, and there was no one else present with him... or so he thought. *CLANG* All at once, bright lights came on, each shining brightly into the boy’s eyes. On his left, Ace saw his sister being held by the same mechanism as he was. On his right, Jim was also in the same mechanism, though he was unconscious. "What’s going on, Ace?" Cherry asked with her head spinning uncontrollably. "I don’t feel so good." "Be still, humans." Granians dressed in lab coats stepped forward, each carrying a clipboard. Next to them were Grim, Chris, and Lilly, who were there to observe what would happen next. "You’re going through the second out of fifty intense steps of your complete transformations." "Transformation?" Ace wondered. "What exactly are you talking about?" "According to more research we’ve done, your system was eventually going to kill you with a deadly disease your people are yet to discover." One of the lab-coat-dressed Granians answered. "Of course, that would take almost nine centuries to fully complete, but we do not wish that upon you." "To combat that," another continued, "we are going to introduce your body to a series of symbiotic tests. Meaning, we’re going to add another symbiote to your body that will fuse with your current blood mutant gene, infiltrate it, and then consume the genetic compound responsible for creating such a disease." "On the bright side," the first one interrupted while approaching Ace, "this will make you three times stronger than you currently are without having to train for it. You will take much longer to grow weary, your body shall heal faster, and your overall senses will increase." "On the downside, you will need to go through this procedure after every training session so that your body won’t consume itself. The symbiote will not only eat the bad genetic compound in your blood mutant gene, but will also consume your cells if we do not do this daily and if you do not put that body to use." "So... you’re putting something in me that will make me stronger but kill me at the same time?" Ace asked, feeling the irony of the situation he was in. "Precisely." Chris answered. "Do not worry. We’ll monitor your body and make sure nothing wrong happens. During training sessions, you’ll go up against stronger opponents, allowing you to increase your strength." "Now," Grim spoke, and everyone around him went silent, "you have the system with you, so this will become much easier for you than for your comrades. However, much more will be expected of you, so don’t fail us. If you also think that this newfound strength will be used against us," Grim pulled out a blocker and placed it on Ace’s head, making the boy feel extremely weak, "I will not hesitate to kill you myself." "Begin the procedure." "Time for me to get knocked out...again." Ace muttered to himself angrily. [!!SEDATIVES DETECTED!!]