"Is it me or does this all seem too easy?" Cherry asked Skyler and Ace before pointing out the reasons why she asked such a question. "If you really wanted to take over a planet and keep your enemies from getting it back, wouldn’t you set up more defensive measures other than simple fortresses?" "You might be onto something." Skyler agreed, giving Cherry’s question more thought. "This all doesn’t make much sense. The last planets we were on had mediocre numbers of Ethisians allegedly trying to ’take over’ Granian colonies. This all seems like a trick...more like a scheme to gauge how much the Ethisians will react to us. I bet the real war’s being kept from us until...." Read full story at 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝✶𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮✶𝓷𝓮𝓽 "Until we’re strong enough?" Cherry wondered and then did some thinking of her own. As the two women discussed with each other, Ace’s body remained still and quiet with no movements whatsoever. Not bothered to look his way, the women continued their chatter as he experienced far greater things in his mind. [Congratulations: You have acquired Ascendance.] [Your Blood Mutant DNA has been permanently infused with Vorathrax’s.] [A Pact has been made. If you keep to your resolve, the Blood God’s Power will fully be granted to you the stronger you grow. However, if your resolve wavers for even a second, your body will slowly slip into Vorathrax’s malevolent will.] [Your body will begin to undergo a Metamorphosis] The deed was done. Ace had struck a deal with Vorathrax, the alleged god of Blood Mutants. At first, there weren’t any notable changes he could notice, apart from his vision becoming slightly better. The Blood Bishop found it quite redundant that the god of Blood Mutants had been killed by the Granians, an irony that made him question whether he struck a legitimate deal or not. Nonetheless, he couldn’t back down from it. "A-are you okay?" the two women noticed Ace’s odd silence and tried approaching him. However, they could feel an uneasy presence emanating from him, one that was as sinister as it was cold. "Wow," Cherry and Skyler took a few steps away from Ace, noticing the ’changes’ his system told him about. To begin with, his hair changed from a bright curly orange to a straight, crimson color. His appearance changed to a notably younger version of himself, even though he wasn’t old. His wide orange eyes shrunk a little bit and turned blood red with a light red glow. To the two women, he appeared slightly taller and more lean, his body shape almost as equal as Jim’s who was ahead of him by a few years. "I feel....Alive." Ace responded, but the two women heard two voices coming from one person. "I feel much different than before." "Looks to me like you’ve gone through another evolution," Cherry smirked. Unlike Skyler who was slightly terrified and flustered by Ace’s sudden appearance, Cherry was drawn to the power seeping from his body. Like him, she too had the urge to grow stronger. "You have to personally show me how you’re leaving all of us behind, brother. I need it too." "You’ll get it, alright," he grinned with a malevolent shimmer in his eyes. Cherry grinned back with excitement while Skyler gulped in worry. ’He keeps getting stronger each day, but I feel like he’s losing his humanity with his new strength.’ A few days went by and the raging war that had begun came to a ceasefire. Momentarily, the Ethisians had regathered their cloned troops in order to make a few biological changes to the way they fought, thought, and handled themselves. The Granians, on the other hand, focused more on increasing their troops and battalions while also protecting the planets within their possession. With the way the War started, the Granians didn’t expect to see their enemies attack their colonies. They thought that the Ethisians would go straight for Planet Grania, however their attack patterns were enough to warrant them to create and enforce new battle tactics. Meanwhile back on Planet Grania, the five walking weapons were given a few days to recuperate and rethink their fighting styles. Jim and Anya got it the hardest since they were classified as the weakest, even weaker than Skyler who was a few leagues ahead of them. The two were taken under Lord Grania’s iron hand which he used to shape them into blood thirsty warriors. While the others rested, the Granian subjected Jim and Anya to harsh conditions, life-ending situations, and painful situations which would leave them immobile for a few hours. Skyler, on the other hand, decided to get lost in a forest with the help of One Horn whose job was to describe the level of danger each beast they encountered was. Her goal was to fight as many dangerous beasts she could using the DNA she had while also collecting new ones she’d use in battle. The last two, Ace and Cherry, spent their free times exercising their Blood Manipulation skills, aspects, and techniques. Having the power of a Blood God waiting to grow and cause chaos, Ace opted to learn some of it while teaching his sister what he knew. [Coagulant Daggers: Activated] "These daggers directly influence your Blood Coagulation abilities and makes it harder for your opponent to heal once cut," Ace tutored Cherry as they stood before one of the many Ethisian prisoners captured strictly for the purpose of letting the Blood Mutants use them as practice dummies. "If you go for the heart using one dagger, it’ll make your victim’s blood thicken and eventually burst throughout their body, killing them slowly and painfully. Behold." [Blood Drain] Level 2 [Strength Boost] +30 points. [Speed Boost] +30 Points. [Agility Boost] +30 Points. Moving as quick as a blur, Ace used the aspects granted by the daggers to boost his stats, giving him a huge advantage over his enemy. The Ethisian gripped its weapon tightly, the only thing it had to protect itself from the Blood Bishop. Swinging down quickly, it attempted to break the human’s body in an instant and then go for the other one. However, the Human moved much faster than the Ethisian could swing, and before it knew it, the back of its neck was met with two daggers piercing into its flesh. "Your scales are weak," Ace taunted. "Either you’re weak, or I’ve gotten so strong that it’s not so difficult breaking through them." "NEITHER!!" The behemoth screamed and attempted to grab the Blood Bishop. Quickly, Ace threw the daggers to his sister who approached the Ethisian with great speed. Taking one mighty leap, the young woman thrusted the blades into the Ethisian’s chest while her brother effortlessly held its head in place and turned it clockwise. "There’s no need to struggle," Ace grinned, his eyes shinning violently at this point while he glared at the dying Ethisian. Fear succumbed its body into a state of paralysis while the Blood Bishop dug his fingers into the sides of its head. "You’re going to be my first subject. I have a special skill I want to use on you." [Blood Rust Skill: Activated]