[It did. It did get worse.] After walking past many settlements, the Granians were cursed and booed away by the inhabitants who were greatly angered by the reckless behavior shown by those who were allegedly ’going to liberate them’ from Ethisian control. It was already bad enough that the Granians owned them, their homes, and their planet then it got worse when the Ethisians took over, and now it was completely downhill with the way the Granians left nothing behind but destruction, death, and dead bodies which polluted the crystal blue waters. To make matters worse, there was the fear that came with the name Blood Mutants. The Golden Blood Mutant and the Screaming white and black Mutant used that fear to their advantage. Scaring the Ethisians before they arrived gave them the upper hand that brought with it weakness, terrible thinking, and reckless behavior, all affecting the Ethisians. Even though they were causing damage, they were managing to complete their duties splendidly. "Finally, a patch of land," the Granians sighed in relief, happy that they could fight for as long as they could without worrying about destroying the buildings built over the water. The patch of land was desolate, having only one command post as the farthest corner. Around the command post were hundreds of Ethisian ships and war vehicles that were dormant. Strangely, the Granians didn’t find any Ethisian troops, battle lines, nor vehicles ready to shoot at them. It was all very quiet, no signs of activity nor any sounds of movement coming from the enemy. "Even better," one Granian cheered, "these Mutants have scared the Ethisians that they don’t want to fight us anymore." Not fully convinced, Jim quietly advanced, urging the others not to follow. With a little bit of Military experience, he applied that knowledge to the current situation they were in at the moment. In cases , there could only be two things. Either the enemy abandoned their command post or it was a trap. It couldn’t be the former since the ships and vehicles were still present so it most definitely had to be the latter. There was no logical reason other than it being an obvious trap. "It’s a trap!!" he declared, hoping to make sense with the Granian troops. "There’s no reason the Ethisians would leave their vehicles behind, meaning they possibly couldn’t have escaped, right?" "If that’s so," arrogant questions started flowing in with some rebellious Granians refusing to listen. "why aren’t they attacking us with their vehicles? I mean, we have three times more numbers than they do. What trap could be waiting for us?" Like sheep following sheep, most of the other Granians followed the arrogant one’s claims, failing to see the obvious trap awaiting them. Most of those who agreed were the younger generation and as Lily said the day before, they were impressionable and easily impressed...she just didn’t expect such behavior from her own kind, let alone trained soldiers. The older generation, however, were skeptical about the situation, all in agreement with Jim. They surveyed the area, studying the situation they were in while making logical thoughts and explanations of what could be going on. Eventually, they too sensed it. The most obvious of traps awaiting them. "The Mutant is right," one of the commanding elders replied. "It is an obvious trap. We Granians have used such tactics in battle before. It is obviously a trap waiting to unfold." "No, it isn’t," another commanding Granian replied, it being one of the younger soldiers. "The enemy is cornered and has accepted their defeat. Otherwise, why else would they be hiding from us instead of fighting? We all know the integrity Ethisians possess, yes? They are a proud and stubborn people who wouldn’t back down from a battle that easily unless when they know they’re cornered. We’ve seen them run from us before due to our superiority. This is a perfect example of it." With this discord came an internal battle amongst the Granian troops. Some obviously knew it was a trap while others refused to believe. To solve the issue, Jim brought an idea that would differentiate the weak, arrogant, and stupid from the wise, cautious, and wise. "Instead of fighting," he spoke, reverting to his human form to seem more ’friendly’, "why shouldn’t we have those that think it isn’t a trap go forward? If you defeat the Ethisians, I will personally ask that Lord Grim and Lord Grania award each one of you with great gifts and we who refuted your ideas will be under your leadership. Does that sound fair?" Specifically targeting their pride and egos, Jim managed to manipulate the Granians who refuted the trap with his words. Now that they separated themselves into groups, he had the arrogant soldiers lead themselves further onto the island while the wiser ones remained behind, waiting to see the chaos that was yet to unfold. "You have a keen eye for such things, human," one of the commanding elders praised Jim, indirectly thanking him for what he had done. "Did your kind show signs of combat such as we do?" "We do," he replied. "I would say that we have the same amount of intelligence as Granians have in terms of battle but the only reason you lot were able to defeat us were your numbers and technological superiority. However, having an eye for things is a personal skill. It takes great skill to see that this is a trap." "Something’s happening!!" Anya alerted the others, having felt a sudden change in the land’s behavior. As the arrogant troops walked to their deaths, the ground beneath their feet broke apart, swallowing all of them in one round. The ground shifted apart, one part drifting from the other while water came in and filled the great canyons forming beneath. Just as Jim said, it was a trap. The ground they were on was a glacier. It explained how the others were oblivious of the trap since it was rumored that ice wasn’t able to form on the planet, despite it being mostly water and possessing humid temperatures. However, it still didn’t explain the occurrence of ice, let alone a large glacier. As for the trap bit, it was a simple and well-hidden snare that was guaranteed to work...and it did. Rigged to explode upon contact were explosions great enough to shift bits of the glacier apart. After the explosions occurred, what was supposed to follow was a great gush of water overwhelming those that fell into the canyon beneath, drowning them in cold water. Further, at the bottom of the canyon were large metallic spikes that punctured their victims as soon as they fell on them, killing most of the arrogant soldiers immediately. Those lucky enough not to get punctured unfortunately drowned to their deaths for it was already mentioned that Granian bodies were dependent on their environment for warmth...partially. With the sudden and overwhelming volumes of cold water came stiffened limbs, body weakness, and eventually death by drowning. In the end, all the arrogant Granian soldiers were killed, none surviving in the end. "It was an obvious trap." Anya laughed, feeling no compassion for the Granians. In fact, the Blood Knight collected and consumed most of their blood, the rest turned into Blood Clones. Like Cherry, she and Jim had focused on increasing the amount of Blood Clones they could create at once, enabling her and her comrade to have a small army of their own. This exercise also enhanced their Blood Manipulation, Blood Control, and Blood Strength aspects altogether. "And here comes phase two of that trap," an elder Granian pointed at the Ethisian vehicles moving toward them. At the moment, only the land vehicles were mobile, giving the Granians a small advantage in that they had air support following them the entire time. "Let the Air support strike first. We’ll move in afterward." Shots fired, weapons charged; ready to blast anything set in their target. The Granians, under the protection of the Blood Knights, were sparred from the energy blast attacks coming from the Ethisians while their air support teams destroyed their air vehicles first and then their land vehicles afterwards. As soon as the air support completed their duties, they circled the giant glacier while the ground troops advanced into the last command post. A battle that had nearly consumed their entire day was about to come to an end, thanks to the careful planning and thinking of the Granians combined with the wild and reckless behavior of the Blood Knights. Consuming a great volume of blood, Anya released all of it in the form of medium-sized spikes, coupled with her powerful eardrum-shuttering screams which weakened those unfortunate enough to be in her range. Jim and his clones followed with attacks of their own, finishing off whatever Ethisian Anya wasn’t able to complete. All this happened while the Granians targeted the other Ethisians, making sure that their Blood Knights were injured. "They’re falling back!!" the declaration was made, prompting the Granians to push forward one last time. With air support returning for another round, the Granians quickly eradicated the Ethisians, leaving nothing behind but destruction and pools of blood with mangled bodies. At last, the Granians and Blood Knights made it to the gates of the Ethisian command post. With no vehicles available, the Ethisians were completely at the mercies of the Granians and they all knew how much little mercy they’d receive. After all, they were enemies for many years so hoping for mercy was out of question. In as much as the Granians celebrated and enjoyed their soon-to-come arrival, a sudden twist of events crushed their hopes of victory. All of a sudden, the Granians watched the bodies of the fallen Ethisians rise up again, only this time they had orange glows on their bodies. Instantly, the risen bodies splattered, scattering chunks of flesh in every direction. Confusion and worry got to the Granians as they tried making sense with whatever was going on and who was causing it. Jim and Anya’s hearts ached, their eyes widened with fear, their bodies shivering at the sound of roars. Not just any roars, but the roars of another Blood Mutant. A much more powerful one. "AAAHHHHHHH!!" Instantly, the remaining Granian troops were engulfed in orange flames, flames that were ignited by the splattered Ethisian body parts. Jim and Anya stood closer, their senses failing them. One moment, they felt unstoppable and invincible but now, they felt helpless and defenseless. They were in the presence of true strength and fear...decorated with a ring of blazing orange flames consuming every last Granian, apart from those providing air support. "My goodness," Chapters fırst released on 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡~𝔣𝔦𝔯𝔢~𝙣𝙚𝙩 "Human speech?" Anya and Jim remained frozen. Their bodies refused to respond to their commands, rather staying in place in wait of the person that spoke. "So the rumors were true," the voice spoke again and from the flames emerged another Blood Mutant. "The Granians got more Blood Mutants. Well let’s see how strong you are."