Almana and I continued through the tunnel until we made it to the next junction, no collapses or blockades in sight. We radioed ahead the way was clear, then we decided to double-back with the team to meet them halfway.

  Once I made it back in line, Eve promptly wrapped her arms around my neck and gave me a deep kiss, using way more tongue than was necessary. Almana clearly looked away while trying to make it appear like she wasn’t specifically looking away. Kianna on the other hand watched it all with great interest—little pervert.

  I pushed Eve off me, setting her back on the ground, “Eve, enough.” I said sternly.

  Eve seemed surprised I resisted her, but same as always she just found it amusing—like I was a cute puppy who was trying to act vicious.

  “Whatever you say, darling.” She said in that sweetly seductive tone.

  I had to admit, Almana did have a point; I was totally in love with Eve, but I didn’t want to be controlled by her—didn’t want to lose myself in her. There was no future where I wasn’t going to stay with Eve, but I did need to learn how to resist her better.

  Honestly? I think I needed to start working on controlling her, to actually be her handler.

  Our company continued down the line towards the next junction together. Gryme found a dead-end from his tunnel, while Vinnago and Lobae’s tunnel would take us too far out of the way. Once we were back on track, Ferro told everyone we were three quarters of the way to the capital.

  “So, what did you talk about?” Eve asked innocently.

  I just sighed, “I just wanted to make sure everything was cool between us, and that she wouldn’t tell anyone about…” I looked around to see there were vyrane soldiers quite close to us.

  ~The Predazoans~ I finished my sentence through the humming vibrations.

  Eve trilled a cute little giggle and grabbed my arm and held onto it, “You’re sure that was all? She didn’t try to seduce you again, did she?”

  I sighed again, this time it was much more frustrated, “No Eve, everything’s fine.”

  “Whoa wait, Almana tried to seduce you?” Kianna asked in a heated whisper, leaning forward to get in on the conversation.

  I turned to glare at Kianna, “No, and shut the fuck up about it, alright? Just drop it.”

  Kianna looked properly scolded and just nodded and backed away, but Eve only laughed.

  “Just ask her if you’re so curious.” She said tauntingly.

  I grabbed Eve’s arm and forced her to look at me, “Eve, enough; you need to behave right now and focus on the mission, alright? Quit fucking around.”

  I wasn’t sure what to expect, maybe Eve would get mad or jealous or possessive. Instead, a pale blush rose on her cheeks, and I could see she was obviously aroused with the way she looked at me then.

  She nodded once, “Yes Adam, I’m sorry, I’ll behave.” She said meekly, sounding like a church mouse.

  I just shook my head and let go of her arm, then continued the march. I had no idea if Eve was sincere or just manipulating me; it was starting to get harder to tell the difference.

  Another thing I would have to deal with later.

  We kept on marching through the sewer tunnels, and I was glad to say the mood had improved somewhat; everyone was finally relaxed now that we seemed safe down here, so people were able to have casual conversations once again. There was also apprehensive tension that was building the farther we went down those tunnels, everyone getting psyched up for the final confrontation once we made it back to the surface.

  After another hour or so, Ferro stopped the line before a large metal stairway that led to some maintenance shaft.

  “Alright everyone, we finally made it to the end. From here, we can head up to the surface, inside the capital within the siege shielding.” Ferro announced.

  “Keep it tight people, we don’t know what we’ll find on the other side.” Seash warned.

  Everyone continued up the stairs, and Ferro and his men opened the large metal gate, flooding the maintenance shaft with sunlight.

  I was blinded momentarily when I made it to the surface, but once my eyes finally adjusted, I saw we were met with an absolute nightmare.

  “Oh, shit…” I barely whispered.

  As far as I could see, there was black biomass netting all over the ground, over the trees, and over all the buildings. We came out of a parking lot that was beside some small filtration plant that was covered in pulsating biomass.

  “What the fuck is all this?” Ferro asked.

  Apparently, despite the fact they guarded the way into the capital, they hadn’t been here in a long time.

  “You’ve never seen this before?” Seash asked.

  Ferro shook his head, “No, anyone we sent to the capital never returned, so we stopped trying over 20 cycles back.”

  Kotlokk and Bryx exchanged a look, then Seash turned back to Ferro, “I think it’s best if you let us handle things from here; you should return through the sewers, head out on the other side of the siege barrier.”

  Ferro and his men looked confused, “What the hell are you talking about? We can’t go back, we collapsed the tunnels; we’d have to find a completely different exit, no telling if it would be secure.” Ferro shook his head, “Besides, we need to escort you to wherever the separatist headquarters are.”

  Almana stepped forward, “Captain Ferro is right; our job was to escort you to the heart of enemy territory, so we won’t abandon you until we get you right in the center of where you need to go.” She quickly glanced towards me, then turned back to Seash.

  I wasn’t sure if Almana was being defiant or if she was just curious what the other Predazoan was like—hell, maybe she wanted to see the two Predazoans fight. Either way, it seemed like she was digging in with Ferro, refusing to budge.

  Of course, I knew what that meant; it would be obvious they’d learned the secret of the Predazoans and there was no guaranteeing their safety from there.

  I was about to say something, but Eve stepped forward, “Whatever you decide, do it quickly; by now she’ll be aware of our presence in her nest.”

  Ferro looked back and forth between Eve and Seash, “‘She’? ‘Nest’? What the hell is she talking about?”

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  Eve grabbed my arm and started moving forward, “Come on Adam, let’s go.”

  I had no choice but to comply, Eve was getting focused now, “You know where she is?”

  Eve nodded, “Up ahead, that kingly structure—looks like a palace.” She scoffed, “Of course she’d make her home there, arrogant little bitch.”

  “You know Beta-09 specifically?” I asked.

  Eve looked back at me and smiled, “Darling, I know all my sisters.”

  I looked back to see our company marching after us, with Seash jogging out to catch up with Eve.

  “Eve, what would you have us do, how can we help?” He inquired.

  Eve trilled a derisive laugh, “Help? You? There’s nothing you can do to assist me at this point; you escorted me to the capital, your job is finished, well done.” Eve’s smile fell, “Stay out of my way.” She said harshly.

  Looking around at all the biomass netting, I could see there were thousands of strange red sacs, all the size of a person. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say there would be assimilated soldiers inside those, that or drones—both of which would be way too numerous for the regular soldiers to deal with.

  I planted my feet and stopped Eve from dragging me forward.

  “Okay, seriously, you guys are absolutely out of your depth here. At this point, it really is up to the two of us.” I confirmed.

  Seash looked doubtful, “The two of you?”

  I smirked, “I’m Eve’s handler, let me handle it.” I gestured towards the rest of the company we were leaving behind, “Best thing you guys can do is hunker down and protect yourselves—maybe get ready to call The Radiance for a quick pick up once the fighting is done, how about that?”

  Seash turned back to Eve, “You’re sure?”

  Eve’s glare turned harsh, “Get the fuck away from us!” She snapped.

  Seash was done arguing and ready to be done with Eve, but before he could make his escape I grabbed up the proton blade off his belt so I would have two.

  I held it up before him, “Gonna borrow this.”

  Seash’s face remained neutral, and he gave us an awkward salute before turning back towards the rest of the company and motioning for them to all retreat from the area.

  Of course, one person snuck through; Almana came rushing over next.

  Eve rolled her eyes, “It never ends.”

  Almana was still avoiding looking at Eve, instead she kept her focus on me.

  “I just wanted to thank you for everything you’ve done and let you know I truly believe you can end this here and now.” Almana bowed respectfully, “And if there’s anything I can do to help—”

  “Leave!” Eve growled.

  Almana flinched when Eve spoke, but she just looked over at me.

  I offered her a kind smile, “Thanks, but we’re fine—and thank you for getting us this far.” I nodded over to the rest of the company, “Honestly, best thing you can do now is smooth things over with everyone about the whole Predazoan thing; if Ferro and your people start asking the big questions, try to intercede and offer any excuse you can—for all your sakes.”

  Almana returned my smile, “Thank you Adam.”

  Before I could say anything else, Eve snarled in a clearly inhuman, otherworldly kind of way, “Alright, great, can we go now?”

  Almana bowed once more, then returned to the rest of our company.

  The moment we were clear, Eve snatched up my hand once more.

  “Holy shit Eve, why are you being so vicious?” I asked.

  Eve turned to glare at me, her blue celicapoz eyes burning away to be replaced by her yellow Predazoan ones, “Why? Because I’m hungry; I can’t wait to sink my teeth into my sister’s core, to consume it and absorb her void energy. I feel like I’ve been starving for centuries as my energy burns away without being replenished, and now I have the chance to finally refill it.” She started jogging towards the palace, “I’d say you don’t fully understand my desperation.”

  That made me feel a little shitty; I had no idea what Eve was feeling contained as she was, and there was no telling how it affected her mood. Wasn’t an excuse for how she treated Almana, and honestly being contained in the inhibitor field might have actually saved Almana, but I couldn’t even begin to imagine how Eve was suffering.

  “Right, how do you want to play this?” I asked.

  “You stay well and far out of the way; I don’t want you to get involved unless it’s absolutely necessary.” Eve insisted.

  “You mean like if you need the distraction in case you’re having a little trouble?” I pressed.

  Eve turned a harsh glare towards me, “I will not have trouble against a fucking Beta Predazoan!”

  I knew that was Eve’s pride talking, but we honestly had no idea how much she would be limited now while fighting against another Predazoan, and while we knew I wouldn’t be able to do much of anything, if I could do something to help Eve if she started to struggle, it was better for me to be there.

  We broke out into a full run then, and I even activated my superspeed to keep up with Eve. The palace was a couple miles away, beyond long stretches of those massive black tentacles that were as thick as tree trunks, with giant hives of red sac nests looking like honeycombs all over.

  As we got closer, the sacs started exploding in flashes of black ooze, and people dropped out of them—vyrane and random Imperials alike. Before they could even right themselves, I activated my two proton blades (fucking dual-wielding) and started cutting them down with enhanced speed and strength, able to eviscerate them as though they were made of wet paper.

  Eve was done playing around with the camouflage now, no reason to use weapons either. She transformed before me into another battle-form, her body going low and looking almost feline, and she covered herself in layers of spikey black chitin. Long scythe blades manifested on her arms, each over six feet long, and her head tentacles lengthened several times over and tipped with those silver spikes, and same as always she manifested that super long tail with the hooked blade on the end.

  I might’ve been fast to the point I could cut down assimilated soldiers like it was nothing, but Eve was leagues beyond that; she straight-up disappeared from my sight at one point—even with my enhanced perception, and a moment later a hundred soldiers and sacs exploded all around us, cut apart in a dozen places.

  “Hey, leave some for me sweet-thing!” I called out.

  Eve suddenly reappeared before me, her face a plain black mask with burning yellow slits for eyes, her mouth a maw of razor-sharp fangs that smiled at me, “You snooze you lose, darling.”

  I waved my proton blades around me, “You know I could take care of this rabble while you focus on Beta-09.”

  Eve rolled her eyes, “Adam, these soldiers are nothing before me; imagine concerning yourself over flies while hunting a bull elephant.”

  I shrugged, “A fly gets in your eye might make you miss your shot against the elephant.”

  Eve giggled at that, “Such a clever boy.” Her smile fell and she turned serious, “But they really aren’t a concern, and once Beta-09 dies they’ll all be destroyed anyways.”

  I nodded along, “Whatever you think is best, I follow your lead.”

  Eve smiled again, “I like the sound of that.” She said, then turned and started back after the palace, and together we cut down any assimilated soldiers in our path, but didn’t go out of our way to do it.

  I wasn’t hiding my powers at this point, didn’t even care what the Imperials saw anymore. Using my powers to their fullest, I was stronger than a hundred men, able to move faster than the speed of sound; I could rip through the assimilated soldiers like they were nothing—they were nothing before me.

  I know Eve said they weren’t any concern, but this was the first time in my life I felt powerful—and I was having fun with it.

  Honestly, ever since I met Eve, my life felt like a fantastical story, like none of it was real. Here and now it really felt like a game, like I was cutting down random NPCs. It felt like I was back in one of those simulations—a fun one at that.

  My proton swords cut through the soldiers and their armor without even slowing down, turning them all into useless meat. There was no risk with how fast I moved, no danger as I danced around them.

  But all good times must come to an end, and we finally made it all the way to the Vyrane stately palace.

  Whatever it looked like before, it had been completely overtaken with Predazoan biomass; thousands of pulsating tentacles were draped over it, with spires and spikes making it look like some abominable cathedral. All the tentacles in the entire capital stemmed from here, hundreds of black flesh trees branching off for miles in every direction, and yet the palace looked alive—it pulsed and beat as though blood was pumping through it.

  We stood before a doorway structure that appeared to be covered in chitin, an opening large enough for a dozen people to get through.

  Eve turned to me, shifting me so I was safely behind her.

  “If I tell you to, I need to you flee—join up with the others on the far side of the district.” Eve told me.

  I nodded, “Got it.”

  Eve glared at me, “I’m serious Adam; your safety is my number one priority, and there’s absolutely no way the risk would be worth—”

  “Evie, I got it. Just break the damn door down.” I pressed.

  Eve continued to glare at me, then grabbed me by the collar of my armor and pulled me in for a deep kiss—which was strange since her mouth was all transformed with all those fangs.

  “I love you, my silly, stubborn, stupid, stupid stupid boy.” Eve said sweetly.

  I rolled my eyes, “Yeah yeah, love you too, bitch.”

  Eve smiled wildly at that, then released me and turned her attention to the door.

  Moving faster than I could blink, Eve rushed forward and kicked the door in with such force, whatever it was made of exploded into a thousand pieces.

  Inside the palace was all dark, with a hallway of black and red organs I couldn’t begin to make sense of, oozing and beating with a rhythm that was almost hypnotic.

  Eve turned back to me, a vicious smile on her face, “Ready darling?”

  I nodded, and together we took a step into the heart of Beta-09’s biomass nest.

  One moment he’s dying in a warzone — next, he’s naked on a moon full of real cultivators.

  Jake Sullivan just woke up in the wrong body, on a moon called Verdis, inside a cultivation academy where failure means getting culled back to Earth to live as a powerless mortal—and probably die uselessly in the upcoming alien invasion.

  His memories are mostly gone, but his spirit’s intact. His classmates? Rich kids with qi crystals and family techniques. The school? Doesn’t give a damn. Let the strong survive. With enemy agents already on campus, Jake will need to out-cultivate, outfight, and outsmart everyone around him. He has only one year to become a real cultivator.

  No dying this time!

  Dark humor. Sharp dialogue. Flower picking, teeth flying. A fresh blend of sci-fi, xianxia, and LitRPG.