Back in action

*beep*

*beep*

A medical monitor slowly let's out muted noises.

Back in hell again.

My body creaks up, I tear the medical implants off my chest and legs and slip out of the bed, crouching down and trying not to make any noise.

I need to retrieve my armor and get out of this relay, the time for hiding has passed.

The thin medical veneer passes over my head as I solid snake around the other side of the room until I reach a small corpus style lockbox.

I jam my fist onto the lock wich bends in half and the box opens up slowly.

I stash my armor into my inventory and then quick equip it.

Now it's time to steal a ship, I know abandoning my team- no, my family may seem wrong but all I have done is put a target on their heads and get more psychopaths wanting to kill them, until I can make sure they are safe I have to strike out on my own for a bit and see what I can make of myself, I need money, power and anything that will give me more protection, being recognized by the Lotus is nothing but ceremony and does little to safeguard the perils of this world.

Fuck, this is not how I wanted things to go.

The door slides open and a doctor walks in and immediately makes eye contact with me, we both stand silently for a few seconds.

"You arent going to hurt me right?"

His hands shake, the cybernetic glasses vibrate on his nose.

"I'm sorry."

I charge forward and wrap my arm around his neck and with a sharp tug he is down for the count.

Slipping out of the door quickly my eyes dart around the surroundings, with a good memory of the layout of the relay I can easily navigate to the drydock.

100s of ships are lined up perfectly as crowds of corpus, tenno and independent soldiers funnel in and out to trade or rest.

The plan is simple, find a group that leaves their ship unattended and then just hijack it, boom easy. But it has to be an older ship so that it will be easier to take without being tracked.

I browse my options for a while, some nice cruisers and small 4 man vessels, but they are all too new

So that it quite unsatisfactory indeed.

----

After 15 minutes of casing the joint I found a perfect fit, a low class Mercantile cruiser that is unaffiliated with any large corporation, most likely a local trader who I could rob blind.

A short man wearing a blue painted corpus helmet exits the ship, sighing audibly as the breach door opens and a moa carrying some crates walks out, I lean causally against the wall nearby and observe discreetly, waiting for him to walk away aswell as those who witnessed him get out.

Now one must be asking. The ship is locked, surely it won't open. And they are right! But missing a detail. Ima rip that shit open.

After the coast is clear I causally walk up to the ship and walk up to the main side door wich leads to the main cab, and then from there I can get to the captains quarters.

I slip my hand onto a crease where the airlock hits the hinge and begin pulling, the ship starts beeping softly but I dont give up and soon enough the metal gives and I enter the ship.

"Lockdown initiated."

The door slams shut behind me, trying to prevent the intruder from getting in, keh. I'm already in you dumbass computer voice.

My legs slip into the comfortable chair and I flip the switch to give power to the ship, it lights up around me and the alarm quits. A blue tablet screen turns on with a bunch of controls.

I select take off and the engine begins purring and soon the ship floats upwards and sits in standby, I enter the navigation tab and ponder where I should go.

"Set course for Centauri B"

I heard about this place a long time ago,.a frontier planet where whatever land you claim is yours, many factions and warlords, but most have a code of ethics that respect each other as the planet it quite cruel to its inhabitants already, sure war is commonplace there but that's true for every other damned planet in this universe.

"Setting course, arrival slated for 16 hours from current time."

The British female sounding ai chimes and the ship shoots off the stars blurring into nothing but lines and white puffs.

Time to sit back and nap, when I wake up I guess I'll just sit and contemplate for a while longer.

---

---

"The little pup sleeps, how adorable."

What.

My eyes burst open but no light enters them, a pitch black room, silent only the echoing of a deep voice surrounding me in a choking grasp

"Whos-"

"Tch tch, did I allow you to speak!"

My throat tightens up and I grasp at the air, falling to my knees.

"Fleeing the system when the fun has just begun."

The shadow of a tall figure looms over a small glimmer of light shining upwards from an abyss

"You have already met me, vicariously of course. I offered an accord, a chance, squandered it be by thy name and now you flee destiny, foolish mortals tampering with things above them, as flame dictates."

The shadow stands silent for a minute straight, my breaths barely escaping the ethereal choke, my kakuja flails out and the grip loosens.

"There, show me the monster, atypical."

The purple tentacles pulsates and crack, my mouth foams uncontrollably as it always has.

"Whoever you are, I will kill you!"

"I am already dead."

The shadow slowly begins appearing all around me, I flail around and attack at it, stabbing, piercing, nothing seems to effect it.

"My watery grave has held me entranced to long, now my calling is for us, to unite, a monster and a God, a ruler and its subjects as all, a vessel and spirit together longing for the flame of ambition."

"LEAVE ME! JUST DIE!"

My kakuja pulsates and tugs on my skin, blood runs down my face, covering it in a crimson macabre.

"In time child, the Lotus cannot protect you from something she does not understand, motherly love cannot provide an aegis against those in the shadow."

The shadow reaches its hand out and the palm glides across my chest, my kagune instinctively shoots forward into its chest.

"A magnificent specimen, truly one of a kind."

It cackles and disappears leaving me alone in total darkness

We already met. Those words keepi rushing through my mind.

Who? What? Why?

With the next flutter of my eyes my body is back in the ship, laid back as if nothing happened.

It was all in my head.

I think it was just a bad nightmare like usual, probably nothing else. Just my brain worrying me for no apparent reason.

Heh.

HAHAHHAAHA

What a cruel joke, why cant I just have peace.

..

I'm already missing Myrrah and it's only been 4 hours.

Gyatt, I'm regretting it all.

I hate being alone. But it's better than my friends being brutally murdered. Gyehh.

Being alone is giving me too much time to think.

That shadow. It almost seemed real. Almost.

My brain playing cruel tricks as usual.

Maybe I should train to get the shit off my mind.

A terracotta soldier rises from behind me and bows. I sit up from the comfy chair.

"Wassup, let's do martial arts only."

Zhi bows once more.

"Zhi, master of northern kungfu."

Uh, do I actually have to do this part.

I bow my head in return.

"Sebastian, Orochi Kyokushin Karate."

Zhi stands up and gets into a low horse stance, remaining still.

Qi courses into my legs, I immediately launch a front kick at his chest, he slips it and strikes an uppercut into my leg, wich leaves a searing pain.

"Master, never open with a front kick, aim for the legs of your opponents and only use strikes that do not.

make you vulnerable!"

"K, I got it."

Something that wont make me vulnerable?

Zhi stands up and twirls his arms around strangely before letting out a large exhale.

He is winding some shit up! I got to stop him.

[10 renpatsu]

My fists flash forward but he slips them easily, crooking his neck and body in all twists and ways, if I was using my full strength he would already be dead but that's not the point of this session.

Zhi retaliates with a flurry of low kicks and sweeps, picking me up off my feet and slamming me to the floor.

"Widen your stance and raise your legs to block and dodge kicks."

He offers his stone hand, I grasp it and hop back up.

---

8 hours later

----

[Summon Terracotta Warrior LVL 2 --> 4]

Phew, Zhis body begins crumbling from all the sparring and my labored breaths are the only sound that can be heard. I didnt learn much, mostly just got my ass kicked but Zhi leveled up a bit, it seems I can only really be taught by master, but I only show up to his place in random dreams

--------

[AN]

Holy! My new fic made it in the top 100 on the monthly explore tab, gotta start grinding these uploads more.

Chapterly Song Suggestion: Plan Z - Boi