[You’re losing too much blood very quickly.] [Emergency Healing cannot activate. Your blood mutant gene has been blocked.] Ace wasn’t the only one getting a beating that resulted in him losing blood. Cherry, his sister and a blood mutant as well, suffered more injuries than he did due to her reckless fighting style and temper tantrums she’d throw once in a while. The two siblings struggled to compete with the Granians, even though at this point they knew their fighting styles and had mastered their patterns. ’This doesn’t make any sense,’ Ace complained while he remained on his knees with his head down. Blood dripped from his mouth and nose, making everything he smelled and tasted feel like iron. ’How am I failing to land a single blow on them even though I know their next moves? How do they keep dodging my attacks that quickly and yet beat me down with the same moves over and over again?’ Unlike Cherry and Ace, Jim was faring perfectly fine against his Granian opponent. Back on Earth and in his younger days, the ex-militant was taught battling techniques, fighting styles, and self-defensive countermeasures. Having recalled all that knowledge, Jim exploited it and used it to make a comeback against his opponent. "Very good, Jim," One Horn congratulated as the golden blood mutant pushed the Granian back with a series of jabs and elbows to the soft sides of its body. "Learn your opponent. Study their weaknesses. Counteract and deliver the final blow." Google seaʀᴄh 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩⁂𝖿𝗂𝗋𝖾⁂𝔫𝔢𝔱 Focusing on his opponent rather than his instructor, Jim was finally able to draw some blood from the Granian which he immediately consumed. "So minty!!" he exclaimed as the taste of non-cloned Granian blood excited his taste buds. "This has to be some of the best stuff I’ve ever had. It’s so sad that I’m getting this excited over blood." As Jim continued his attacks, Ace and Cherry reluctantly got back up on their feet and surrendered. The siblings knew when they were beaten, and this was one of those moments of realization. Neither wanted to get their faces pounded anymore, so they just gave up altogether and hoped that One Horn would have pity on them, pardon their weaknesses, and allow them to recuperate. If only that had happened. "What do you two think you’re doing?" The Granian questioned with a stern tone in his voice. "You have yet to counteract. All you two are doing is taking hits." "We can’t do it," Ace muttered softly with his heavy head hanging over his back. The blows he had received caused his head to feel like a cinderblock, making it difficult to keep it upright anymore. "What? I did not hear what you said. Speak up." "I said we can’t do it..." Ace muttered once more, having already accepted his defeat. "We get what you are trying to teach us...we are overly dependent on our blood mutant forms.....please, allow us to rest and recuperate. I am begging you." "You’ve finally realized how overly dependent you two are on your blood skills," One Horn narrated dramatically with his head lowered. "I am disappointed that you two were not able to do anything productive in this exercise. It’s sad, really. Even after I told you that the Granians were using the same move over and over again, you still failed to do anything except get yourselves beat up." Letting out a deep and heavy sigh, One Horn clapped twice and commanded the Granians to leave. He then deactivated the blood mutant blocker, allowing Ace, Cherry, and Jim to heal from their injuries. "Against real opponents, you and your sister would not be useful without your blood mutant powers. It is important to know close-quarters combat as well as long-ranged attacks. Combining the two will make you excellent warriors and will complement how lethal you already are." While still narrating his disappointment towards Ace and Cherry, Grim walked into the Simulation Chamber and noticed Skyler’s unconscious body. He then saw Ace and Cherry standing with their injuries slowly healing while Jim looked more exhausted than ever before. Letting out a disappointed groan, Grim walked over to One Horn and glared at him for a very long time. The stare was so prolonged and cold that even the blood mutants felt sorry for One Horn. "Forgive me, Lord Grim." One Horn apologized while giving a gentle bow, showing his respect and apologies toward his superior leader. "I was just doing what seemed fit at the moment. We have made some progress so far, but it is not up to your expectations." "No need to apologize." Grim replied brusquely as he placed Anya’s body down. Upon seeing her, Ace breathed a sigh of relief as she seemed to be in one piece. "You and Huntress have done enough for today. Go and take care of other matters. Leave these ones to me unless I say otherwise. Do I make myself clear?" "Yes, Lord Grim." One Horn bowed before quickly leaving the simulation chamber. While leaving, he collected an unconscious Skyler and took her back to her cell where a meal was prepared for her to eat when she woke up. "You three seem exhausted," Grim spoke to the blood mutants before him while activating a blood mutant blocker that was ten times more powerful than the ordinary ones. Due to Anya’s powerful transformation, she was able to override the blood mutant blockers and transformed, so as a safety measure for himself and the others, One Horn used a stronger blocker to stop her from transforming any further. He then removed a small packet of what looked like smelling salts and opened it near Anya’s nose. The horrendous and foul, potent odor shocked the woman back into consciousness. *Cough* *cough* "What the hell was that?" Anya questioned as she pinched the bridge of her nose. Squinting her eyes for a few short seconds, she pushed back the distress caused by whatever it was Grim made her smell and calmed down. "Please stand." He said without batting an eye at her. "The four of you are taking quite some time to adapt and grow quicker. I understand that your species learns mostly on the job, so we’re going to do just that.’ "What are you going on about?" Anya angrily muttered as she stood up and joined the others. Ace tried offering his hand to help her, but the new female blood mutant ignored him and decided not to look at him for the time being. "We are arriving at the first solar system at the Gates of our galaxy, meaning we’re going to encounter hostile attacks from our previously colonized planets." Grim continued, completely ignoring Anya’s question. "You four are going to practice what you’ve learned so far by reclaiming these planets for us. You’ll spend a good amount of time down there while we remain in space, watching over you and making sure you don’t screw up." "We’re starting already?" Cherry asked, having caught what Grim was saying to them. "Are we going to face any Ethisians once we get down there?" "The Ethisians do not stay at the Gates of our galaxy," Grim answered, "You will be up against simple species that should be no problem for you to face. In the meantime, your bodies are going to be put to rest until we get there. You’ve been informed, so prepare yourselves mentally." After making his point clear, Grim activated the blood mutant blocker to instantly knock the blood mutants out before placing their bodies into individual cylinders filled with green liquid up to the brim. The four blood mutants were then transported to the center of the Granian mothership and displayed for those on board to see. With Anya and Jim on the sides and Ace and Cherry in the middle, all the Granians admired their biological walking weapons that were going to lead them to victory. "Sons and daughters of Grania," Grim, the great Granian warrior, conqueror of solar systems, and leader of the Elite Granian forces, stood in front of the cylinders with his right hand held high, "For centuries, we have been oppressed by the Ethisians, the treacherous beings that sought to wipe us off the face of the galaxy. We embarked on a journey not too long ago and managed to secure the atrocious Blood Mutants, only to have them stolen from us....." The gathering crowd of Granians cursed and muttered angrily at the sound of the name Ethisians. This uproar intensified their common hatred for their once-sister tribe. "...However, we have returned triumphantly with four more. We will reclaim the former glory that once belonged to us. We will strike fear back into the hearts of the Ethisians and take back what our forefathers fought to have....." "YEAH!!!!" Each Granian let out a mighty roar so loud that the ship vibrated. Grim’s speech, although terribly short, was enough to ignite the Granians who had spent too many years in space. To be more precise, the Granians had been in space for over eighty Earth years. All of that time was used to conquer, kill, and capture as many blood mutants as possible and head to Earth, as the first human-blood mutant hybrids came from there. Now that they had gotten what they wanted, it was time for the Granians to resume their conquests. In a few hours, they were about to arrive at the first Galaxy gate with a large number of solar systems containing habitable planets that once belonged to the Granians. Once they arrived, their plan was simple. "Let the Blood Mutants exercise their acquired gifts and show how fearsome the Granians are."