A distraction, a diversion, a way of reaching the Humans without the intervention of their Scarlet Army. The Ethisians—twenty Elite ranked and one Upper Legendary ranked—charged into battle intending to scope and gauge the strengths of the Humans. Their duty was to find out how strong they were and what they were capable of doing or not doing to their enemies. The twenty Elites dispersed into groups: one group distracting Lord Grim, another distracting Gravax, and another assisting the Upper Legendary by looking for weaknesses in the defenses of the Scarlet Army. The Upper Legendary, using its words and strength, distracted the strongest Blood Warrior in the Scarlet Army, a former Ethisian who was once in the High-Grade rank. He was certain of his own strength, confident that he could go toe-to-toe with the Blood Warrior without needing to fear for his own life. That confidence soon came to an abrupt end when he learned of how resilient she was. The Blood Warrior, possessing a blood-based body reinforced with iron, was tougher to cut through than the strongest steel in the known Akrina Galaxy. Each hit she took was ineffective, and the Ethisian attacking her soon learned that the hard way. "Stay down!" Enoris the Blood Warrior placed her sword on the chin of her opponent, who she had knocked down. The two were a good distance away from the rest of the Scarlet Army, a trap set by the Ethisian to lure her away from the Humans. "Stay down and I’ll end your life quickly." The Ethisian laughed, a gleeful smile appearing on his face. It was smug and irritating, almost as if he were trying to relay a message with his expression alone. "No one’s here to save you, Blood Warrior," the Ethisian grinned and glared. It dawned on Enoris that she was a great distance away from the Blood Commander, a mistake that she began dreading. "You’re surrounded with none of your allies ready to help you. Now that I’ve gotten you away from your master, I’ll keep you here for a while." With a snap of his fingers, hordes of mercenary clones jumped on Enoris, the weight of their bodies slowly overwhelming and overpowering her. The Blood Warrior struggled to set herself free, her body forcing itself to overcome the numbers jumping on her. Sadly, her movements were stunted, and her strength started to fail her with the number of clones surrounding her increasing by the second. Soon, Enoris found herself under a pile of clones pinning her to the ground. She couldn’t move her body, let alone her appendages. Her arms were immobile as well, stopping her from grabbing her sword. Now, the Upper Legendary Ethisian was free to do as he wished. Before he left, he took a good look at Enoris’ sword. Its size, texture, and power were so intense that he couldn’t control himself from touching it. The Ethisian laid his hands on the Blood Warrior’s weapon, and all of a sudden, his body was filled with the same energy Enoris and Ace shared, the energy that allowed her to use Blood Abilities. Unfortunately, the Ethisian wasn’t able to use said energy for Blood Ability attacks, but his body benefited from its ’energy’ aspect. "I feel like a new warrior with this weapon," he glared, his eyes slowly turning red. The immense power in the sword slowly started to overpower the Ethisian, making him act out on his deepest and darkest desires. "I can kill with this sword... anyone I want." His attention turned to the Humans, more specifically the source of the energy his body was benefiting from. "Speak all you want, Blood Warrior," the Ethisian grinned with malicious intent overtaking his senses. "It won’t save you now. By the time you get out, your master’s head will be on the tip of this sword." The Ethisian had stupidly dug himself a pit and started to fall in it. His objective was to study the Humans and see what they were capable of, not attack them. Now, however, his senses were driven by his innermost desires, desires luring and driving him to kill the source of the power. With great strength and determination, the Ethisian ran through the battlefield, his sword gripped tightly in his hands. The rest of his companions had found a way through the Scarlet Army’s defenses and soon, they alerted the Upper Legendary, who joined them. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝⟡𝕗𝗂𝗋𝖾⟡𝕟𝕖𝕥 Together, six Ethisians in total ran past the Scarlet Army and stood face-to-face with the Humans, one holding a sword that didn’t belong to him. "The Humans are before us," one Elite declared the obvious. "Begin assessment now." "Enough of that," the Upper Legendary frowned, the malicious power in his body pushing him to act on his most perverse intentions. "I’m going for him." All the while in battle, the Upper Legendary Ethisian had been holding back, using barely a fraction of his power. Against Enoris, he used a bit more but was careful not to show off too much in fear of becoming cocky and proud while also letting the enemy learn his moves. Now, however, he stood before the Blood Mutants and Gifted Human, his senses no longer caring about ’holding back’ or gauging their strengths. He came with the urge to kill and exploited all of his strength to do so. Like a ram, the Ethisian slammed his body against Skyler’s large beastly form, tipping her slightly. The five Elites intervened, offering assistance where they saw fit. Together, they all attacked Skyler’s legs and brought her down, leaving those on top of her vulnerable to the Ethisians. The Elites kept Skyler busy, who got distracted and started dropping the Humans one at a time. Jim was the first to fall off and found himself standing before the Upper Legendary, but he wasn’t the Ethisian’s target, so he was ignored. Jim, on the other hand, wasn’t keen on ignoring an opponent. He saw an Ethisian carrying what looked like a sword he was capable of making. Seeing that it wasn’t bothered by him, the Golden Blood Mutant figured it could have been going for Anya since she was the easiest to beat. "Human!!" the Ethisian raised his sword, the tip towering over its target’s head. Just before he swung down, his body was overwhelmed with another force keeping him in place. The force made him stand still, almost as if an invisible person of sorts held him there. The Ethisian looked back and beheld the human he ignored transforming into a Blood Mutant with skin made of Red and Golden blood, with his hand stretched towards him. "Ignoring an enemy with the ability to kill you in many different ways. How brave of you, Ethisian."