Chapter 8: Ursus' Finest

"Don't mess with us!? There's no cure to oripathy! You're lying!" A Reunion soldier shouted out.

Patriot just watched the commotion for now and would decide what to do later.

"Are you deaf? I said we'll dial it down, not cure it stupid." Ash glared at the Reunion soldier and he shut up.

"Now, we need someone that has severe oripathy. Let's start with them, they're gonna die anyways right? Don't you want to see how this will affect them?" Ash had a stim in his hand.

Reunion was still suspicious and vigilant towards them though. They were strangers, and Reunion has been fighting against Ursus for months on end.

They've been getting casualties and the harsh tundra in the north saps their strength every waking second.

Nobody walked up, so Patriot did so. "I am the one with the worst oripathy." His red eyes behind his skull's eye sockets glowed.

"You, old man? But you're very strong..." Ash couldn't quite believe it and Patriot showed him his arm that had tons of originium on it.

"I see, let's start then." Ash explained the stim to Patriot and he injected it into him, the stim emitting a satisfying gust of pressurized air.

Patriot clenched his hands and his beady eyes widened from the amazing feeling he had.

A relief that he has never felt after he got infected with oripathy in one of their missions back in Ursus.

"Feels nice right? Can I check up on you further? You're in pretty bad shape old man." Ash smiled at him and Patriot nodded at him, grateful for the relief he felt.

The wendigo Sarkaz was always in constant pain due to the oripathy flare ups. And Ash would be able to see it later.

"You're crazy sir, you picked a fight against Patriot!" Degenbrecher chided him and he winced at her yell.

"Sorry, it was an accident I swear." He smiled wryly at her and thought that he really did need to have a limiter against his bloodline.

When he feels someone that is strong, he couldn't help it and his brain gets flooded with dopamine like he just snorted a fat line of coke.

Patriot led him to a log house and the huge man started to take off his armor. He sensed no malice among them.

"Margaret, Degenbrecher, I'm gonna need some privacy for my patient." He made the two go out and the caprinae left with a nod.

Margaret was apprehensive in leaving him with Patriot, but she saw his eyes that were firm and the knight followed her senior.

"You can continue to show me the extent of it." Ash ordered and Patriot took his rusty and damaged armor.

Ash frowned and breathed in a sharp mouthful of air. "That's easily more than 20% how are you alive right now?"

Patriot shrugged. "Wendigo Sarkaz have regenerative properties." He thought that was the case and his natural regeneration is fighting against the oripathy.

"I see, that can be the case huh. Not a lot of races have regeneration and huge vitality. So they have no records of people surviving through 20% assimilation." Ash concluded and he analyzed Patriot's body.

"Well, I've seen enough. Let's give you something nice to prevent it from increasing further." Ash smacked an AOS on him and began to siphon the originium energy with his arts.

Patriot breathed in deeply like he had a plug in his trachea and his body that was always tense for years now started to relax.

"What... Is that? I have thought that I'm already a dead man walking with my oripathy." Patriot didn't understand, he thought that the infection is simply unbeatable.

"That's a trade secret old man, we're not allies you know? This just charity." Ash smiled at him and Patriot snorted.

"How you feeling?" Ash was walking around him, checking his assimilation percentage.

"Like a brand new man..." Patriot flexed his muscles and he felt good. Like he didn't have oripathy at all.

If he didn't already believe him from earlier. Then he had total trust for his abilities now.

"The stim from earlier is the real suppressor, this is my personal treatment that only I can use. Drink lots of water and you'll get rid of originium particulates in your blood." Ash explained the post treatment like a good doctor.

"Thank you dokutah." Patriot had a smile on his face and he had hope, that the infected has someone on their side.

"Doctor? I have PhD's but I'm no medical doctor you know?" Ash sighed and Patriot patted him on the shoulder with his huge hand.

Patriot was easily one meter taller than him. And the old man looked at him seriously. "Please help the others... Then I, Buldrokkas'tee will assist you as best as I can. Even to the ends of the earth."

"Damn, that's heavy old man... And what's your name? Bul. Bulldrome, Bullocks. Whatever, I'm doing this just because." Ash shrugged and went outside.

Patriot gave a rare laugh and the whole camp heard it of course. And they have never heard him laugh.

Patriot quickly donned his armor once again and went outside too. "Gather." With one word, everyone put themselves in a file like trained soldiers.

"Patriot... Is it okay? What did they do?" Talulah was still pretty scared of him, she hasn't been that helpless before. Not even against Patriot when they would train.

Her proud arts were like wisps of flame against him. It honestly made her unnerved on how he analyzed her like a soulless robot.

"He didn't cure my oripathy... But it sure feels like I don't have it anymore." Patriot nodded at her and the Reunion soldiers were all surprised.

"Yeah, you were in bad shape. Your crystallization was at the late 20% already. That should be fatal in almost all cases." Ash sighed at his medical condition.

"I feel like I could fight for another century." Patriot took his glaive and it was so light in his hand.

"Your arts sure are amazing sir, it's like a beacon of light for the infected." Margaret nodded at him with her amazement.

"Is it? It's like a stopgap at best, though a pretty good one." He still didn't have an idea how to remove it thoroughly.

"Come, he has promised to heal up the infected." Patriot announced and some even started to cry.

"Did you hear that Talulah? They're gonna heal people, even Patriot that has the worst oripathy felt like he's better now." Alina was happy, but Talulah felt helpless.

"I... I'm happy for that Alina, but it's just vexing... Strangers are the ones that made the morale so high, the ones who will help." Talulah looked around the camp.

The people looked so relieved, so hopeful. Something that she hasn't inspired in them.

"Don't be so melancholic, hotheaded lady." Ash patted her on the back and Talulah raised her arms in fright.

"Easy, easy, I'm not gonna hurt you. In fact, you tried to kill me earlier." Ash snorted and Talulah looked on the ground in shame.

"We... We were being hunted down by the Ursus patrol that kills infected here in the north." Talulah explained their circumstances.

"It's fine, I already knew that. Ursus has gone this far huh? I guess we should go here first once our mobile city is complete." Ash squinted his eyes as he mumbled.

Talulah then suddenly felt that her originium arts were much more stable. "There, I made it better for you. I don't have spare AOS' here to give and Patriot is already using it. But we can send you some."

Ash took out his phone and tried to get a signal, but they were too far up north.

"I guess it'd have to wait." Ash sighed and Talulah stared at him. "Why?" She frowned.

"Hmm? Why what, talk girl. I'm not an esper, at least not yet." Ash raised a brow at her.

"Why are you helping us? You don't know us at all." Talulah furrowed her brows and all kinds of situations popped up into her mind.

Like they were going to use them. And that they would be discarded once they were done.

"That's a good question... As my radiant knight over there said, it's the right thing to do. But personally, it's because you'll be useful." Ash bluntly said and Talulah hissed.

"So that's your true intentions!" Talulah glared daggers at him, her draco and lung blood flaring as her arts started to heat up the surroundings.

"Calm down, geez. It's like you're a firecracker that has a short fuse. I just want eyes on Ursus because you're already here. A partnership you can say." Ash explained.

Talulah just stared at him with anger still. "What? You think all of this is free? I'm not a charity girl, if you receive payment, you should work."

Talulah got angrier, but her friend patted her on the back. "Talulah, he's right you know? This is already so much better than how the others treat us."

Alina made her remember and Talulah realized that he was being extremely reasonable actually.

"Finally okay? You need some therapy Talulah, keep that anger issues in check." Ash shrugged and kept on siphoning originium energy from people while instructing them to not use their oripathy as arts units.

"Alina, sorry. I was a bit too quick to anger." Talulah closed her eyes and thought something was wrong with her.

"Apologize to Asmodeus, he helped us immensely and you disrespected him Talulah." Alina chided her with steel in her eyes.

"Y-you're right." She looked at Ash that was going around, using his arts like he was Jesus. Curing their ailments left and right.

Talulah went up to him and pulled his sleeve. He looked at her and she still couldn't meet his eyes for long.

"Forgive me for earlier Asmodeus... I was too unreasonable." Talulah bowed to him and he was pleasantly surprised.

"Wow, a woman admitting she's wrong. I accept your apology." He smiled at her and Talulah thought he didn't look that scary anymore.

"Can I do something to make up for it?" Talulah wanted to make reparations and he thought about it.

"Can I touch your tail and horns?" He wanted to compare a Draco's to a Lung later.

"M-my tail and horns?" She was shocked and he nodded. "If that's what you want..." Talulah leaned her head forwards.

Ash started to touch every inch of her horns and analyzed it. Talulah closed her eyes tightly, horns have nerve endings after all.

And as royalty, Talulah has never thought that a man she just met would be caressing it like he owned it.

"Hmm, interesting. It's much harder than keratin based horn. Umu, humu." He then tried to sense where the nerve endings were to locate the live tissue below.

"Ah~" Talulah squeaked when he touched near the base. He stopped for a moment, but he ignored it and Talulah was blushing in embarrassment.

"Now your tail." He turned her around and he crouched, sliding his hand on her tail.

"Hmm, smooth scales like in a snake's. But it's weirdly hard, need more research on the material it's made of." Ash checked her tail and noticed that she twitched when he squeezed the tip and base of it.

"Okay, I'm satisfied for now. I would like to know more about your anatomy, but we don't have equipment here." He sighed and thought it was a missed opportunity.

"O-okay." Talulah thought she was violated and Alina whispered to her. "Is that okay Talulah? You let him touch your horns and tail... Isn't that a point of pride for the dracos?"

"It's... Fine." Talulah thought she can't get married anymore.

After fixing them up, Ash, Patriot, and Talulah started talking about their deal.

"We'll be sending you some supplies, weapons, and medicine. What I want from you is to make reports about Ursus if they're having suspicious movement." Ash squinted his eyes and thought they were the most dangerous ones right now.

"We're a nomadic group, how will you find us?" Patriot was concerned about that and they really needed supplies.

"Have this, we'll contact you when we're in the area." He gave them phones that can connect with their portable radio towers.

"Is that really the only thing you want?" Talulah was worried that they might try to cash in on this debt.

"Hmm, how about I come here from time to time and fight with Patriot? I'll go and fix his armor too. Ahh, I did put a dent on his shield." Ash smiled sheepishly.

Patriot agreed to his request and wanted to fight someone physically at his level too. Battles with equal strength were not the same as ones with equal skills.

And the wendigo thought that leaving someone that strong after training them would be a good thing as a deterrent.

In his long life, might always make people follow. And coupled with their ideals that would inevitably have many followers, they'd be a force to be reckoned with.

Margaret was already on their side too, an honorable knight like her would never follow someone who isn't good. Margaret would rather die than serve corruption.

"We have a deal then?" Ash gestured for a shake and the two leaders of Reunion accepted.

Ash and the others left and they would quickly come back a bit later to mine the radioactive materials to stockpile it and oil so they could make plastic that is extremely important.

Plastic paved the way to the modern world. With it, they'll be able to create far more electronics. He wasn't sure how they made plastic, but it was definitely worse than the ones he knew.

__

Back at Kjerag, there was a congregation of people that were armed to the teeth. "Boss Ash! Uwaah! Thank you very much! I love you!"

One Sankta was clinging to him like a leech, because he gave Exusiai a Steyr Aug bullpup. Now she had a higher effective range at 300 meters.

She was basically a sniper in Terra with it. And it's also equipped with a variable scope that can be thermal and have night vision.

Texas got a new sword and her old energy sword got upgraded to a weaker version of a plasma sword.

Ash and Gnosis worked on Originite prime as the power source and Ash compressed it into a critical state. Then he stabilized its molecular make up so it won't explode with his arts.

And when she turns it on, the thick plasma exits out of the handle and Texas uses her arts to shape it into a sword.

Only Texas could use it because she was taught how to use it as an arts unit by Gnosis and Ash. Anyone else who tried would get fucked by it or the thing would just be waving around hot plasma that is considerably less effective.

"Thanks for this Ash." Texas turned her sword on and off like an excited kid that received her present at Christmas eve.

"I see that you like it, kill tons of people with it okay?" He smiled at her and Texas chuckled.

Croissant got a kite shield made of graphene, making it as light as a feather, but the thing was virtually indestructible.

Liskarm and Franka who were part of the operation didn't have gifts though and Franka was pouting and complaining to him.

"Sir~ why don't we have any cool things like them?" She pointed at the penguin logistics operators.

"Quit blacksteel then we'll talk." Ash pushed on her face and Liskarm snickered at her brutal rejection. "Kuuu! Liskarm, you think he's gay? He didn't react to my breasts pressing on him at all!"

Franka whined and Liskarm deadpanned at her. "Serves you right."

"Okay, no more words. I'll be the leader of this operation, codename Dark Knight. Everyone follow my command. Second will be codename Nearl, we will go to the icy tundras in the north to mine minerals and resources." Degenbrecher debriefed one more time.

There were a group of Chinooks carrying tons of equipment and they would be having a pretty large operation.

"Let's get on with it, time's wasting." Ash ordered and they rode the choppers to the northern borders of Ursus.

After a few hours, they arrived and he started to set up the equipment because it was a pretty spontaneous mission. The engineers and operators just got taught how to use the tools.

"Whew, oil rigs are online. Miners go to the designated areas here and use these to check if the rocks are good." He gave the mining team Geiger counters.

"Degenbrecher, Margaret, I'll leave them to you. Lead the mining team and oil team, divide into two groups. Margaret, go with the other and be with blacksteel, Degenbrecher with PL. Understood?" He ordered and they saluted.

"Dismissed." He turned around and did his thing, setting up the cargo for a Chinook because he'll be going to find Reunion himself.

"Sir has such a presence to him huh?" Degenbrecher smiled. "He was so young back then, I never expected him to be like he is now."

Texas had a half smile. "Ehhh, you planning on robbing the cradle Texas?" Exusiai wiggled her eyebrows and the Lupo flicked her on the forehead.

"Enough prattle, sir Ash has given orders." Margaret reigned them in and the operators started to guard the teams.

Ash drove the chopper and he called Talulah. "I'm coming in hot, tell Patriot to not throw his glaive at me."

"Coming?" Talulah didn't see anything in sight and they started to hear a hum in the air.

"He's arriving huh?" Patriot looked above and Ash arrived with his chopper, a cargo container being hooked to it.

He landed nearby the Reunion camp they have now and greeted them. "As promised, take a look at this." He opened the container.

"F-fresh vegetables." One of the soldiers saw it and almost cried. "We've got tons of rice for ease of cooking and feeding, vegetables high in protein and calories, spices and salt for flavor, weapons, medicine, etc." Ash smiled at them.

"This will be a big help Mr. Ash, thank you very much." Alina bowed at him and she called for the Reunion members to sort the supplies.

"Mister? I'm 15 you know?" Ash thought it was weird that Alina called him mister.

Talulah and Patriot craned their neck towards him so fast, Ash thought it would crack. "You're lying." Talulah was in disbelief.

"Well don't sweat the small stuff." He waved his hand nonchalantly and Alina gathered the cooks to help them cook a lot of food to feed everyone until they're full.

"Patriot, we've had a deal. You ready, old man?" Ash went to his chopper and took his sword.

"As ready as you are." Patriot took his shield and Ash remembered that he thrashed his old one.

"Alina, can you give Patriot the black thing at the back of the container?" He requested Alina and the Efalia thought it was going to be heavy, but it was light.

"Your new shield Patriot, made of solid and condensed graphene. Super durable, basically heat proof and unmeltable by normal means, and is an arts unit." He gave him a new shield and it was a pretty considerable upgrade.

"You didn't have to." Patriot got sheepish. "Take it old man, you're gonna need it." Ash grinned and Patriot saw his desire to fight.

"Come on then, let's go somewhere deserted." Patriot started to run, his body wasn't being held down by the oripathy like looming death anymore.

"You've gotten faster old man! That's good news." Ash followed him and they quickly arrived at a plain of thick ice and snow.

"You ready?" Ash smiled and he started to stretch his tendons and ligaments.

"Ready." Patriot tested his new shield and arts units. His unique Sarkaz arts coated the shield with a reddish black magic.

"Interesting arts." Ash heard the air scream from his arts activating and he was covered by an aura that was corrosive.

"My turn I guess?" Without needing an arts units, Ash used his magic and decided to use the arts he put in Texas' new blade.

His sword glowed a brilliant red and Patriot heard a buzz from it.

They got into a standoff. Ash's grip on his sword tightened and Patriot prepared to use his glaive.

The two saw a snowflake start to fall between them. And when it hit the ground, their tense muscles exploded with power.

Roaring, the two clashed with their weapons and the snow around them were blown away. The ice cracking beneath their titanic might.

"Strong." Patriot put more strength on his weapon arm and made Ash fly. "Ugh, that was with just one hand. You're a monster, old man."

He didn't use his kinetic arts though, so Patriot knew he was holding back.

"Incinerate." Ash raised his hand and a stream of flames that made the skies dark due to the intense light, blazed.

Patriot planted his shield and Ash grinned at the sight of fire. His inner pyromaniac was delighted.

Though Patriot started to charge towards him while blocking the stream of fire.

"It won't work huh?" He charged kinetic energy to his sword and parried Patriot's swing.

Their weapons bounced and Patriot's shield crashed at him suddenly. Not expecting the speed on the giant man.

Ash rolled in the air and he stabbed his sword in the ice. "Fuuu, I guess we should step it up a notch?"

He turned invisible as he bent light around him. Patriot went wide eyed at that and thought he would be one hell of an assassin.

Ash flew into the air and rushed at Patriot with huge bursts of propulsion.

The wendigo quickly checked disturbances in the air and raised his shield at the direction he sensed.

What hit him was a shockwave that he made, but the real one was at the opposite side.

Ash's fist hit him on the side. And an explosive shockwave rocked him.

Patriot flew away and he rolled on the ground a bit. "Such destructive force." Patriot's arts got infused to his glaive and a reddish black energy coated it.

The air screaming from his arts. Ash nodded at him and put both of his hands on his sword.

They ran at each other and went to a close quarters battle. And the one who would see it will think it's mortal combat.

Using his superior height, Patriot swung his glaive from above. Ash parried it to the side and the weapon crashed right at his side. The ice cracking for dozens of meters.

Ash pried the shield to the side and raised his hand to Patriot's face. His hand glowed brightly and the next second, an explosion hit Patriot on the face.

Before he could retreat though, Patriot's large hands grabbed him on the waist and he was slammed on the ice. Creating a crater on the ice.

Ash breathed in deeply and roared. Manipulating sound, Patriot could feel the vibrations in his bones and he got thrown away like a sack of potatoes.

"Ahh, fuck. That hurts my throat." Ash massaged his throat.

Patriot started healing with his regeneration and his bleeding ears were repaired. "That's very dangerous, boy."

"You can take it, right?" He smirked at him and Patriot felt amused.

He threw away his shield and Ash thought he'd be going on full offense.

"What a scary old man." He formed a gauntlet of energy on his offhand and they started to run once again.

Patriot threw a punch and Ash met it with his own. When their fists met, kinetic arts and Sarkaz one exploded.

The ice behind Ash cracking and turning into dust, while Patriot's side got consumed by his horrible arts.

They wielded their weapons with arts and the collateral damage was immense.

It was like two titans fighting and standing their ground.

Patriot swung his glaive sideways and Ash bent himself backwards. He catched his wrists when it passed and twisted it, disarming him and kicking the glaive away.

Though the wendigo didn't flinch and put a film of his arts on his hand. Grasping the blade of his plasma sword, yanking it away and throwing it.

Ash leaped through the air and gripped his horns. Delivering a devastating knee on his chin, Patriot's brain shook and he blacked out for a split second.

His red eyes glowed brightly and he grabbed Ash while he was midair.

Patriot slammed him to the ground and stomped on him. Ash got sent in deep to the ice.

Patriot's foot got launched upwards and he lost his balance. Ash grabbed his leg and swung him like a club towards the ground.

He continued that for a moment until he got hit on the back of the head by Patriot's free leg.

His large hands grabbed him on the head and Ash's face got buried on the ice. Patriot ran and while dragging him and threw him away.

"Hah, hah, what a wonderful battle." Patriot panted and he has never had this much exercise since he left Ursus with his shieldguard.

"You said it old man." Ash started to walk towards him and he felt that his energy reserves were tanking. Patriot's Sarkaz arts consumed a lot of his reserves when he cancelled it.

"I look forward to another one of this." Patriot picked up his equipment and Ash nodded.

"You're amazing old man." He was in awe at the wendigo's strength. Ash also knew he was out of shape.

They returned back to the camp and he saw Alina serve the infected some nice hot food.

Talulah was just watching them so he walked up to him. "Hmm, what are you doing? Just watching, shouldn't you go with them?"

"Ahh, I was just in deep thought. And you guys should fight further away. We could feel it and hear it from here." Talulah warned him and he scratched his head sheepishly.

"Yeah, that'd be a good idea." Ursus would most likely investigate it after all. And that won't be a good thing at all.

"So, what's got you thinking?" Ash was curious. "Look at them Ash, they're human too right?" Talulah had a meaningful look in her eyes.

"Yet they are persecuted by other humans too, cruel acts being mandated against them. When all they want is to live." Talulah frowned.

"And look at what makes them so happy, just some delicious food and warm clothes. A place to live, is it so much to ask for?" She had a pained expression.

"Apparently, it is." Ash reminded her that all nations treat infected badly, Ursus is just the worst one of them.

"So we have to change it. And thank you for being one of the ones that's making steps to do so." Talulah faced him and bowed deeply.

"Chin up Talulah, I hope you continue your fight for liberation." He smiled and patted her head.

"Talulah, is he?" A white haired girl arrived and was curious about him.

"Ahhh, Yelena. Yes, he's Asmodeus. He's the one who brought the supplies. Ash, this is Yelena. Patriot's daughter." Talulah smiled, introducing the girl. (pic)

"Nice to meet you." Ash shook her hand and siphoned her originium energy.

"What did he just do?" The girl blinked and Talulah smiled. "He lessened the danger of your oripathy. You already took a stim?" Talulah asked her and she nodded.

"I don't know why, but everybody got handed one when we returned." Yelena thought it was medicine that they got their hands on.

"It's a suppressant, drink a lot of water and originium in your blood will be taken care of in your urinary system." Ash explained plainly and Talulah nodded at her.

"It's that incredible? Thank you Ash." Yelena bowed at him and he patted her head. "Hmm, bunny ears are nice too."

"Fueh?" Yelena froze and Talulah's eyes twitched. "You can't just touch someone's ears like that Ash." She chided him and he touched her horns too.

"Why not? It's pretty entertaining too, especially with Yelena's fluffy ears and your convoluted, but smooth horns." Ash kept on rubbing them.

He found their nerve endings quickly and the two melted into his hands. But they gasped, moving away from him quickly.

"That's dangerous..." Yelena looked at him vigilantly. "Yeah, that is pretty dangerous. I almost let him do it forever." Talulah wiped some sweat on her brow.

__

After a week, Ash has been returning from their mining op and to Reunion in order to rehabilitate Patriot as well as train with a strong individual.

Patriot also wanted to train the others, so he implored Ash to spar with Talulah and Yelena.

The two were opposite in their arts, but their arts are certainly devastating.

Talulah went in with her sword and fire arts. Trying to burn him to a crisp.

Yelena formed crystals of ice in the air and launched it at him like a machine gun.

Talulah backed off and they watched him tank the crystals just like how Patriot would do it.

Though he was using a force field of energy because it would definitely pierce his skin. He wasn't armored like Patriot after all.

"That's why he could fight Patriot... This guy's a monster." Talulah frowned and she knew that he wasn't even using his arts.

She was able to see his fire arts last week and it was fire that she aspires to be able to use as well.

"This isn't working Talulah, I'll be using something stronger." Yelena concentrated and Talulah kept him busy by showering him with fire.

The area they were fighting on were starting to turn into a puddle because of the intense heat and Yelena suddenly called out. "Talulah! Protect yourself!"

Talulah quickly used her arts as a form of defense, a red barrier on her.

And with a sudden release of arts, the whole battlefield turned white. Ash freezing into a statue completely.

Talulah charged up and concentrated her arts, but Yelena stopped her. "What are you doing Talulah? Are you planning on killing Ash?"

"No! That won't work on him at all!" Talulah got distracted and she was unable to concentrate on her arts, making it dissipate.

Ice sculpture Ash then began breaking out of the frost, starting with his arm. Then he walked and all of the ice on him crumbled.

"Wooh, that was refreshing innit?" He smiled and Talulah thought it was too late.

Ash raised his arm and they suddenly felt their legs wobble. "Enough, he was able to use his arts on you because you were distracted."

Patriot who was watching the fight earlier stopped them.

"W-what is that?" Yelena started panting and Ash returned their bioenergy to them, revitalizing them completely.

"I can steal energy." He smirked at them, not telling what kind though. They might be friendly, but it was foolish to let them know what he could do.

After they discussed what to do a bit, Ash said his goodbyes to them and started to look for another oil well.

The previous one got drained quickly because it was smaller than he thought.

And because the mining team were still going strong, he would get more oil while there.

But while roaming around and trying to feel for oil reserves, an unnatural mist began to form around the surroundings.

Ash craned his neck behind him and he could feel an energy source that was unlike arts at all. It was otherworldly.

"You're not normal..." Ash squinted his eyes and looked towards a tall person that had a tube on his gas mask like helmet. (pic?)

"Who are you?" Ash started to charge his arts on his blade.

"Enemy of Ursus, beware..." The man drew a sword and Ash furrowed his brow.

"The Emperor's blades have never known defeat." He suddenly run at him as the red light on the helmet pulsed.

__

Thanks for reading everyone, ciao.