[Time: Hours of Dark] Days passed after the raids on the Bastions came to a successful end. It was a great victory for the Granians, one that they hadn’t stopped celebrating yet. As the days progressed, they, the Granians, traversed from one bastion to the other with ships transporting bodies, war vehicles, slaves, laborers, and large, bulky, chunks of what looked like smaller components meant to be welded together to create a large "ring-like" structure. Many Behemoth ships flew side-by-side of each other and in between them hanged these large pieces. Each Bastion Planet had multiple pieces dropped off and pieced together by the laborers and slaves. Serious work took place in all three Bastion Planets, so much so that not many had the time to sit back and be idle...except for one person, one Human; the Blood Bishop, Ace Underwood. [Your body has been corrupted] [A foreign energy has suppressed your own] [You cannot use any of your blood abilities effectively] [Your body cannot heal from this naturally] As though the system was taunting the man, he was bombarded with the same four messages repeatedly, his countenance draining with each passing moment. The Blood Bishop, once considered a formidable foe, was reduced to nothing but a mere useless human. The only difference between him and the layman was his enhanced strength, nerfed speed, and partially heightened senses. However, every attribute his body benefited from the Blood Gene was no more. He couldn’t control blood, he couldn’t heal as quickly as he used to, he couldn’t acidify, liquify, or harden blood, he couldn’t conjure his Blood Warriors, and he couldn’t manipulate aura within or around him. He was useless, the weakest among the five. "Get up, young man," the only Granian who didn’t treat Ace any less than what he once was, Glissk, stuck by his side while furiously training him in the way of Eneraflux, "the others have arrived and are waiting for you. The quicker we do this, the quicker you can return to draining Ethisian blood." She ended with an elderly giggle but the human wasn’t impressed at all. Downcast, Ace picked himself up and folded his fingers awkwardly. He squinted his eyes while desperately trying to activate something, anything for that matter. [Your Blood Abilities cannot be used] [Your Blood Skills cannot be activated] [You have been corrupted. Your energy has been sealed] ’Then unseal it, damn it.’ the man gritted through his teeth and bellowed angrily, his body shaking with rage as he began to curse himself for allowing the Ethisian to do what it did to him. ’Show me. Show me how I can remove this quickly.’ Useless as ever, in Ace’s opinion, the system didn’t do anything to help in any way. It didn’t give him any useful information, neither did it show him how he could recover from his unfortunate and pathetic state. "Arguing and complaining won’t bring your power back, Human," Glissk, who was a few feet away from Ace, rattled her staff and motioned for him to follow her, "Come quickly, we’ve already wasted enough time." [Outside the Bastion Chambers] Thɪs chapter is updated by 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝⁂𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚⁂𝔫𝔢𝔱 Stepping out for the first time in a few days, Ace’s eyes were greeted by the glimmering twinkles of the nebula of stars blanketed above him. With not that much sunlight, the Bastion was kissed by the calming yet chilling, dark void of space. It was calming to witness this sight, something that Ace hadn’t taken that much time to do. "Calming? Yes, I know. That’s one of the reasons your Granian Overlords wanted these planets. Now follow me, the others are waiting for you here." Within the walls of the Bastion, the Blood Mutant witnessed hundreds of thousands of Granians moving in and out doing various tasks and accomplishing various duties. Ships flew above and dropped of items while soldiers left and returned to the planet. New recruits, delivered from Planet Grania and her neighboring colonies, were conditioned to heavy training sessions in the wilderness of the Bastion Planet. Metal workers, weapons specialists, and armor crafters stationed themselves in and out of the Walls as they tirelessly slaved away at their stations making suits of armor for their fellow soldiers. "Ace..." a familiar voice snapped the Blood Bishop out of his daze and drew his attention towards it. Turning around, he witnessed his sister slowly walking towards him with her arms resting on her waist. She was drenched in sweat, her upper body covered in what looked like bandages wrapped around her chest. Her orange hair clung to her body, and a metallic odor escaped from her pores and hit her brother’s nose. "...we were told of what happened to you," she spoke, her words interrupted by her heavy breathing, "is it true? You can’t use any blood abilities anymore?" Ace shrugged, his eyes glaring at his sister with a saddened, gloomy, yet surprisingly nonchalant look on his face. "I see," she sighed, "One Horn’s waiting for you along with the others. Thanks to you, we’re now allowed to learn Eneraflux." At the far east corner of the walls were the other Humans, each made to "meditate" while standing on top of the walls with one foot raised and the other supporting their weight. Like Cherry, the other five were drenched in sweat with bandages wrapped around their chests...for some reason. Upon seeing Ace, One Horn approached while placing his hands on the Blood Mutant’s chest. Awkwardly, the Granian moved his hand up, down, left, and right on the man’s chest before looking at him saying, "You really have been corrupted. Incredible..." "Incredible?" Ace lifted his brow, his face showing his distaste for the Granian’s careless remark. "This is amusing to you?" "I’m not taking any pleasure in your calamity, Ace," One Horn apologized...or rather gave his idea of what an apology was, "but this thing that has happened to you is an incredible thing for us Eneraflux users. "With this, we can block anyone’s aura and hinder them from challenging us ever again..." with a wild look in his eye, the Granian smirked and said, "this’ll be an important skill for us and you, all of you. In case a High Grade tries corrupting you, you can counter and do it to them instead." "I’m guessing you don’t have a way of showing me how to get this energy out, do you?" Ace questioned and the Granian nodded in response. "I don’t," he sighed but then grinned, "But I can show you how to absorb it and make it your own."