A Woman's Desperation

Alex grumbled inside his head as it would be better for Natalia to go first.

I need to be careful to not show too much strength compared to my physical attributes. Let's just use martial arts rather than relying on my physique to play it safe. How was it again...? The Hyperion Empire's martial art.

While he climbed the platform, he tried to remember the Hyperion Empire martial art.

A standard one that is used by all of the military personnel.

Upon standing at the center of the platform, Instructor Stone clicked on a button on the side of the platform before the machine above the platform rumbled to life, shooting a holographic light that morphed into a humanoid dummy.

Sound vibration was then shot from the platform, giving the dummy a physical body.

Looking at the dummy, he went into his battle stance.

Firmly positioning his center of gravity on the ground, he raised both fists in front of him and slightly bent his knees. It was not his usual battle stance, but he copied this from a Hyperion Empire captain that he fought in the past.

Gazing at Alex and the dummy, Instructor Stone then raised his hand, "Start!"

In that instant, the dummy engaged forward.

Dashing forward with one strong leap, it pulled back its arm to launch its first attack.

Alex, on the other hand, didn't move from his spot and remained motionless. But when the dummy reached his striking distance and threw a right hook, his body moved with precision which sparked surprise in Instructor Stone's eyes.

Bam!

Crash!

Parrying the right hook, Alex managed to slip a punch right to the dummy's throat.

Infused with enough force, the dummy shattered instantly.

'What's this? His path of attack is almost perfect, and his posture... So he trained rigorously in the art of Neurobladecraft, quite a diligent one I see' Instructor Stone praised inside his head, Alex has demonstrated almost a perfect form of Neurobladecraft attack.

Neurobladecraft is the regulated martial art of the Hyperion Empire's military.

It's a martial art that prioritizes efficiency more than anything, allowing practitioners to incapacitate or kill opponents swiftly with minimal effort. People who practice in Neurobladecraft are also an expert in utilizing power weapons and masters of adaptation.

Adudal Principality describes this martial art as the essence of ruthlessness.

Just the description from an enemy describes its chillingness.

Even Mech-Soldiers and even higher-ranking military personnel train in this martial art.

Most strong people of the Hyperion Empire develop their own unique fighting style, but the foundation will always be the Neurobladecraft. Seeing an aspirant, a new one to boast was able to utilize a textbook form of Neurobladecraft is quite surprising.

A refreshing sight to see.

Giving no time to catch a breath, Instructor Stone summoned more dummies.

"Again!" He shouted from the side.

Upon hearing this, Alex's eyes ignited with a fierce light as he scanned his surroundings, discovering three more dummies positioned around him. However, just as before, he adopted a defensive stance and executed a flawless counterattack to each strike heading towards him.

Every move was efficient, and streamlined to avoid waste of energy and time.

Moreover, all of his counterattacks were lethal, aiming at the vital spots of the human body.

With minimal effort, he managed to dispose of the three dummies.

Natalia was captivated by his fighting style, her expression was that of awe before it quickly turned into a frown, 'I've become more certain. Instead of using the Sitradus family's martial art, he used the standard Neurobladecraft of the military which is aimed at killing regular people or Mages'

'He's a killer, but what motivates him to do this as a son of a prestige family?' She pondered.

It was hard to guess the motivation of such a person.

But she could tell that his motivation was coming from his anger that lies dormant inside of him, and burst out occasionally when he was pushed to the limit, just like during the incident earlier before she and Alex aboard the spacecraft.

Contemplating for a moment, she remembered the moment when Alex snapped.

'If I remember correctly, he snapped when that damn bald guy who made Mira cries threaten to kill him. So is he simply defending himself? No, if that's the case, there's no need for him to kill them. Also, he killed those two too naturally for comfort'

No matter how much she thought about it, there was no clear answer.

Alex remains a mystery in her eyes.

Meanwhile, upon clearing the wave of dummies, Alex exhaled in a controlled manner.

Okay, that should do it. My physical points shouldn't be that much different than earlier.

Having restrained himself enough to not exert too much power, he was confident that his physical points would be around the same. However, he was wrong to expect this assessment to be over when another dummy appeared before him.

Compared to the ones from earlier, this one is not blue in color, but red instead.

Just the stark difference in color alone clearly indicates that this one is stronger, and Alex would need to be more careful. Proving to be true, the dummy moved even faster and landed a powerful uppercut that Alex managed to block by crossing his arms. 

Bam!

Alex was flung back, and his arms felt numb from blocking that punch.

Since it's a one-on-one, he decided to close the distance and get into the offensive.

Locking in an intense hand-to-hand combat against this red dummy, he frowned finding that he couldn't find a hole in its defense, and breaking through would be quite hard. It was the same as the dummy, it couldn't land a proper hit to Alex.

Upon witnessing this, Instructor Stone and Natalia were quite surprised.

"Sir, is that red dummy the level 2 dummy?" Natalia asked from the side, wanting affirmation.

Instructor Stone nodded his head, "Yes, indeed"

Gaining the affirmation from Instructor Stone, Natalia couldn't hide her shock, a level 2 dummy is only reserved for those above 1,300 physical points yet Alex managed to be on par despite clearly having a weaker physique.

This just shows that his understanding of Neurobladecraft is quite deep.

Moreover, the technique of the Neurobladecraft didn't wane when he went on the offensive.

Essentially, the initial version of the martial art focuses mostly on defending, and attacking wouldn't be introduced after the practitioner perfected their defense. To put it in comparison, most seasoned Mech-Soldiers were still trying to perfect the initial part.

Only when they reached flawless defense could they move on to the next step.

So Alex going on the offensive while still retaining his martial art should be quite impossible.

Contrary to what the onlookers were thinking, Alex only recounted the attack pattern of the enemy he fought in the past who already mastered the offense of Neurobladecraft. He only mimics it, nothing else.

~

Meanwhile, Planet Tannara, Sitrarian Country.

From a glance, the technological advancement of the country didn't lose out to Planet Dolotov. Instead, it seemed to be even more advanced as there were androids and all kinds of robotic assistants roaming about on the street.

Greeneries of floras were teeming in this country despite the thick technocratic society.

Additionally, there was a huge wall separating the country into two lands.

Locals called these two lands the inner and outer sections of SItrarian Country. The Inner section is reserved for high nobilities and fortunate people, while the outer section is reserved for those unfortunate ones, normally called, commoners.

In the outer section stands a single mansion that seemed out of place.

Compared to the local houses that were puny in comparison, this mansion is quite odd.

Some of the passersby have their eyes attracted to the empty mansion.

"Why don't we come back in the night and try to break in? I bet there's some valuable biotech inside that will free us from poverty" A man holds the fence with drooling eyes, the temptation of richness is too strong to resist.

However, his friend quickly pulled him away, "Stop it, don't even try or you'll be dead"

"You say that, but don't you think the mansion is abandoned? It's been years and I never saw a single person or android inside. We can take a risk and try our luck!" the man retorted, spewing his friend as a scared cat.

But this made his friend roll his eyes, "A group of people lived there now, I saw them"

"Also, that mansion belongs to the Exarch if you dare" he added.

Upon hearing this, the man's expression turned pale, and quickly walked away in silence.

Just the sheer mentioning of the Exarch, the leader of the entire planet, the head family of the esteemed Sitradus Family alone makes his entire being tremble. Such a figure is not someone he could mess with even if he has nine or even a hundred lives.

Knowing that fact, he now realized why such a mansion hadn't been broken in yet.

Oblivious to them, there was a commotion inside the mansion.

Prang!

A tea spout hits the wall and shatters, forcing a yelp from a woman who was wearing a maid uniform, cradling on the ground with tears streaming down her face. Before her is a man with rough features, wearing a crimson tuxedo and a calm expression.

However, his calm demeanor emanated a chilly air that made the woman sob out of fear.

"Can you repeat what you said to me again?" the man asked in a low tone.

It was more of an intimidation display rather than asking, and the woman knows that clearly.

But she is determined to plead for the man's kindness, if there's even some within him, "Please, I beg you kind, Sir. Bring me to Planet Dolotov, my brother should be coming back from the Trial soon..."

Upon hearing this, another man standing on the side laughed in hubris.

"Are you in your right mind, Rosalina?" the other man with a scarred face, an appearance befitting of a criminal chimed. He crouched beside the woman and grabbed her hair roughly, "Are you saying that we should take you there?"

"Just this once. I beg you, I haven't heard from him for a while" the woman kept on pleading.

But instead of listening, the scarred man poured water over her head.

Smiling wickedly at the woman's pitiful appearance, the scarred man then whispered, "Don't worry about your brother, he went to the Trial even though he's weak, I'm sure he's already dead by now"

"Don't say that, please!" the woman shouted, catching the scarred man off guard.

Gazing at her in surprise, the scarred man was baffled, "Ho ho... Look at you, it seems like you still need to be disciplined. Your manners still need some correction" he mused, raising his hand intending to hit the woman.

However, the man in a crimson tuxedo, sitting leisurely raised his hand.

In response, the scarred man let go of the woman's hair roughly and walked to the side.

Still sobbing profusely, the woman crawled on the ground and prostrated before the man wearing a crimson tuxedo, right beside his feet. "Please, I can't live without my brother. Just this once, and I'll do anything. I'll even persuade my brother to serve you with me"

Listening to this, the man remained silent for a moment.

"Okay..." He suddenly said, surprising the scarred man. "My men will bring you there"

"But remember..." the man leaned forward to raise her head, clutching her cheeks with his hand. "If you go through with this, then you owe me your life. Regardless if I'm kind enough to help your crippled mother or not, you will agree to become my slave"

"Do you understand?" the man asked, grinning devilishly.