It was like looking into the embodiment of uneasiness. Elenor and Commander had just returned from milking beasts and as soon as they landed, their higher-ups dumped information on them concerning the creation of a new creature type, one that had a name that was nowhere as weird as their looks. These horrendous, ominous-looking things were not easy to look at, and that most likely stemmed from the fact that one of those viewing them had seen uncanny things not too long ago. "High Ruler," Commander took a step back with his hand hovering over his blade, "what are these things?" "Why do they look like that?" Taking offense to the question, the Yrrejite ruler sneered and rolled his eyes while High Ruler Enor explained saying, "These are the Unblooded. They are..." "The tool that’ll help us beat the Granians’ Blood Mutants," the Yrrejite ruler quickly interrupted. "Those "things" lack the one thing you two have..." "...normal skin?" Commander interrupted and Elenor continued with; "More natural bodies?" "Enough. All three of you," the High Ruler snapped momentarily before calming himself. "As the Yrrejite was saying, these things lack the one thing you, I, and everyone else have and that is..." "Blood." The Yrrejite interrupted yet again. Before even letting High Ruler Enor continue speaking, he went ahead and began circling his creations while giving an extensive report, "These are the first bloodless, organic, intelligent species capable of having complex thought processes, analyzing their situations, and thinking for themselves freely. "They’re clones that do more than follow orders. They’re the superior versions of the mercenary clones we created. They are the revolutionary pioneers to complete cloning science and technology. They..." "Are melting!!" Elenor exclaimed in disgust with her face doing a good job of showing it. "Are they supposed to do that?" The Yrrejite turned back and looked in horror as his creations became too unstable and collapsed under their own pressure. Their tough, dry, scaly skin became nimble and started to liquefy. Their bones turned to goo, and their bodies deformed into a molten pool of goo. "Unfortunately..." High Ruler Enor sighed a deep, heavy, and long sigh of disappointment while the Yrrejite knelt over his "creations" angrily. As he mumbled curses and rhetoric words, Enor continued saying, "...we have yet to perfect their forms. So far, these prototypes have managed to spend a whole day [A whole week in Earth’s time] without destabilizing, losing control of themselves, or going on a rampage." "They were better than your first and only prototype!!" the Yrrejite cursed as he took his aggression out on the Ethisians and their failure at doing what he and his people had been doing for many years. "Your first prototype was killed by the Granians’ Blood Mutants very quickly." "And yet I heard it lived longer." Commander clapped back and slowly drew his weapon. Seeing this, the present Yrrejite guards surrounded their leader while drawing their weapons as well. "This is not a competition, comrades," Enor shouted once again while glaring at Commander. "We are allies here and we’re supposed to put our efforts together in order to get what we need. We all have a common enemy that wants nothing but our destruction. "Commander, apologize to the Yrrejite Ruler, now." Following orders, Commander approached the Yrrejite ruler, knelt, and said, "I take back my careless comments and words. I had no business mocking your efforts." As cheesy as it sounded, this was how High Grades were conditioned to behave when in wrong. Even though they weren’t the ones who began arguments, squabbles, or fights, it was their duty to stop them no matter what. "I accept." The Yrrejite grinned and watched as Commander returned to his position. "So, what’s the problem with these ones?" Elenor asked the obvious question and hoped to get a reasonable answer to steer away from the awkwardness in the atmosphere. "Why weren’t they able to last longer?" "We have yet to find a suitable energy alternative," High Ruler Enor replied, "our hearts pump blood in our body which gives us the ability to function properly. Since these clones do not possess blood, nor do they have hearts, we had to switch to an alternate power source." "So far, we have tried over two hundred power alternatives," the Yrrejite ruler answered defeatedly with his head hung, "the last we tried lasted longer. The rest barely lasted days. Even the energy alternative you Ethisians used didn’t do anything with the new batch. "Nonetheless. We’ll still keep looking for other alternatives. We’re getting closer to building an army that no Blood Mutant will be able to beat." ’I highly doubt that.’ The rest of the day progressed smoothly. The milked venom was stored with the top Ethisian, Yrrejite, Soxan, and Haisojan scientists working vigilantly to synthesize the venom into new forms. Meanwhile, the rest of the Ethisians and their allies prepped their weaponry, machines, Mechs, and other vehicles for war. Elsewhere, new recruits were under severe training and preparation, all orchestrated and watched over by the High Ruler’s mate Elenor. Due to Enor’s already tight and busy schedule, his mate took it upon herself to train the new recruits. Not many knew that the High Ruler’s mate was once a High-Grade warrior under Enor’s father’s dynasty. In fact, she was his sparring partner, one of his many guards, and an educator in terms of the lower Ethisian classes and their ways of life. Because of Elenor, Enor was able to become the well-educated Ethisian leader he was today who focused more on the less privileged of his people. "Empress Elenor," one of the many High Grades came running to the training grounds with terror written on its face, "You have been summoned by High Ruler. It is an urgent matter?" For origınal chapters go to 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡~𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚~𝙣𝙚𝙩 "Why? What is the matter?" as soon as she asked, sirens were sounded all throughout the Ethisian civilization. The Ethisians knew what these sirens signified and so they prepared accordingly. Meanwhile, the Empress returned to the Council Chambers where she was welcomed to the sight of her mate being bombarded with hundreds of questions and remarks from their allies. "Enor. Why were the sirens rung?" she questioned, hoping and praying inwardly that it was a false call. "It can’t be what I think it is, right? It’s too soon." "I wish it was a false alarm," Enor replied with fear darkening his spirit. "One of our colonies was silently attacked and swept clean of our soldiers. And three more major ones are currently under attack." "That isn’t all, High Ruler," another High Grade reported with even more grave news. "The Granians aren’t fighting alone. They have allies."