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Chapter 660 Two Weeks

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Within the bog, for the first time, Fenrir's excellent stealth abilities failed the duo. That was because as much as his abilities could hide them from being sensed, if the pup ran across a beast's nose, then it would not need to rely on spiritual sense to find them. The problem was that this example did not carry any exaggeration at all, and was exactly what the duo faced.

At times, the bog was so completely empty that they would not come across a single living thing. Other times, the place was so packed that let alone run from in front of a beast, Fenrir directly used a beast's head as a platform to jump over.

Yet what was fortunate was that none of the creatures chasing them held any considerable threat. In fact, the reason they were chasing was because Lex and Fenrir couldn't be bothered to deal with them, as it would be too tedious. Besides, after chasing them for a while, the beasts would either get tired, or return to their respective territories.

Of course, once or twice they encountered some beasts that they could not afford to ignore. Most of the time, in such scenarios, they would choose to circle around them. If that was not possible only then would they fight. Moreover, they attacked with full force right from the get go, so they usually overwhelmed their targets.

Many times, while on their journey, they crossed by some places where Lex would feel incredible opportunities waiting for them. He felt his instincts tell him that he would benefit greatly by diverting to a certain direction, or the lenses identified some incredibly rare treasures. For example, once while running, Lex spotted what looked like a decaying tree, only for the lenses to identify them as a certain incredibly valuable herb. Moreover, the age of the herb was already several hundred years old. Among many of its other uses, the one that his lens listed that appealed most to Lex was that it could be used by Body cultivators to temper their bodies even if they were in the Nascent realm.

Such a herb was genuinely extremely valuable, and Lex even considered having it sent to the greenhouse at the Inn. But, for better or for worse, Lex had decided not to take any detours during this journey. No matter how attractive an opportunity seemed, he ignored it.

It may have seemed like a waste at first, but the longer they kept running, the more appropriate it seemed. After a day of running through the bog, Lex still felt some reluctance. Three days later, he had more or less become used to the feeling of ignoring opportunities. A week later, he was completely numb to it.

It was taking so long to travel to their destination, if he were to take small stops at every opportunity, their journey would only become that much longer. Still, he mentally marked the bog as an area where he could potentially come back if he ever needed to gather some treasures.

The tedium and monotony of their travel changed on the eighth day, when the flock of Sol birds in the region suddenly flew away. Their departure was extremely sudden and left them no room for preparation.

The darkness that followed was all encompassing, and carried a weight with it that the entire bog felt, not just the duo. All the creatures that had been chasing them so far suddenly stopped, and in fact did something that surprised Lex. They left their territories, and participated in a mass migration where no one creature harmed another. Despite their usual animosity, they traveled together in harmony.

Where they were heading was a mystery to Lex, for it was not in the same direction as him. An hour later, the bog had become the most silent he had seen since he arrived. The sound of Fenrir's running was muted due to the pups own abilities, so the only sound for them to hear was of the bog itself.

Each bubble of noxious gas that escaped a nearby puddle, the rustling of the grass in the wind, the eerie wailing and croaking of old dead trees all seemed to form an orchestra that could be heard for miles.

For a short while, they enjoyed, or suffered through, the symphony of nature that the bog orchestrated before soft, distant sound disturbed it. It was the sound of a footstep in the mushy, squishy ground of the bog. Then, a few moments later, there was another.

Slowly and steadily, bit by bit, the monsters of the darkness started to appear. But these monsters, who were born from the fresh darkness, would be the weakest, and were not worth Lex's attention. In fact, it would take weeks or even months before any monsters capable of attracting their attention could even be born.

None the less Lex remained careful, for he did not know how the creatures of the bog would react. Since they had lived in such circumstances for countless years, they clearly had a way to deal with monsters, and Lex didn't want to get swept in with them when that happened.

Through the pitch darkness, the duo continued their journey for several more days. The vast size of the Crystal realm was finally coming into perspective, for they had gone running nonstop for days without crossing through it, and this was only supposed to be a small territory.

Finally, after running continuously for two weeks, Lex decided to take a break. Even if he could continue to stay awake for longer, he thought it was best to refresh themselves so they stayed in peak condition. He was also especially concerned for Fenrir. The pup displayed no agitation or exhaustion, but this was the longest the pup had ever gone without resting or playing at the Inn, so he wanted him to get some rest as well.

The duo teleported back, and both of them went to their own abodes to clean and freshen up. Although they had already become numb to it, that did not mean that others could ignore the stench of the bog that they were reeking.

After a nice, refreshing bath, Lex came to the conclusion that the Inn needed to focus more on spa facilities.

New Notification: The Midnight Inn is not liable for the hosts' bad hygiene.

Lex froze. That was the first time the system had directly responded to one of his random thoughts with a notification. Was this a result of the system's functionality improving? He tried to test it out by thinking of a few other random but derisive thoughts, but the system provided no other notifications.

Lex took note of the occurrence but did nothing else about it. He went straight to bed to get his first sleep in over two weeks.

He was out the moment his head hit the pillow, a miracle on its own, and enjoyed a deep, restful sleep that lasted only six hours. Even that was a result of Lex refusing to wake up stubbornly. He was quite upset about his body's decreased dependance on sleep. It was one of his favorite hobbies.

Fortunately, Mary appeared to provide him with a distraction from his woeful sleep situation.

"Alexander has come back to the Inn, and has requested to meet Lex."

"Is Fenrir awake?" Lex asked, hoping the pup shared in his misfortune.

"No, he's asleep." Unfortunately, it was not to be.

With a defeated sigh, he picked himself up and teleported over to Alexander, who was once again waiting for Lex in a remote location of the Inn. After ordering an unnecessarily large amount of food, Lex approached the teenager.

"I heard you're looking for me," Lex said with a pleasant smile as he sat across from him.

"Yes. Although, I didn't think you'd arrive so quickly."

"It just so happened that I was free and available. If you had arrived a few hours later, it was unlikely you'd be able to get in touch with me."

"It appears I am quite lucky. You once offered to spar with me, saying that it would be a good experience for the both of us. Is that offer still available?"

"Yes, of course. But I just ordered some food. Why don't we eat something first before we get down to business."

Alexander looked reluctant, but eventually sat down across Lex. Lex, in the meanwhile, was reminded of something by Alexander's mention of sparring. John, who had been challenged to a fight in the Murder grounds, had still not returned. The challenger had not returned either, so there was no chance that he was dead - at least, he was not dead yet anyway. But the exceedingly long fight began to worry Lex. Was it normal for fights to last so long?

The truth was, fights between immortals really could stretch out for days, or sometimes even weeks. But in this case, the fighting was taking long, because John was slowly and steadily wearing his enemy out. Since the fight had turned out to be harder than expected, he had to take drastic measures.

Chapter 661 Cringe

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John was aiming for a long, drawn out fight to maximize his advantages so let alone a few weeks, even a few months was acceptable. The hard part was not waiting, it was staying hidden as his opponent was truly, genuinely skilled. This was perhaps the most difficult fight he had ever experienced, which is why the reward would no doubt be so much sweeter.

But John wasn't the only one locked in a tough battle. Down on earth, Marlo's domain was under attack. Although, as of yet, the attack had not reached the level that Rafael had predicted, things were moving in the direction he predicted. He suspected that the enemy wanted to exhaust all their energy and resources before they came in for the finish, to prevent the use of any unexpected, hidden trump cards.

But none of that had anything to do with Lex, at least for now. He had his hands full with his own endeavors, and could not afford to be distracted. Even meeting Alexander was a luxury he would not have availed if Fenrir were not still asleep.

"So how come you suddenly thought of sparring?" Lex asked. "From what I recall, you were extremely busy with your mission. Taking time off to fight a few rounds does not exactly sound like the best course of action when chasing terrorists. Not to mention, you don't look too great either."

Alexander gave Lex an exhausted look, before letting out a long sigh.

"Things are not going well," Alexander confided. "There are too many unusual aspects about my current mission. You know, I used to think that I was thoroughly disadvantaged as someone who was raised on earth. If I had received the nurturing of the empire from birth, I would have been much stronger."

The teenager paused for a moment, as a waiter arrived and began laying food at the table, but then figured he wasn't saying anything confidential so he just continued.

"But, lately, I've finally come to realize a significant advantage I have based on my upbringing."

"Oh, what is that?" Lex asked as he began having fries.

"I've avoided the lifelong conditioning and propaganda that comes with living in such an environment. When I see things, I can retain an objective view, which allows me to see patterns and trends others are blind to.

"The empire is supposed to be this unstoppable behemoth, which has managed to gain control of over 20 galaxies and retained full control of each one. Can you even imagine 20 galaxies? Each one filled with vast, endless space. Each one populated with hundreds of trillions of different races. Each and every one of them harboring their own intricate and delicate internal systems of trade, competition, enmities, intrigue, politics, wars and more. Yet despite all of that, in its history, the control of the empire has never supposedly waver.

"That's the history that I was taught, or an overview of it. This control has been maintained through the use of excellent and ingenious administration, but moreover, a very advanced and powerful military, which is divided into various categories. One of the more important branches is the Cross Regional Interstellar Neutralizing Godfiend Experts (CRINGE). They are one of the most elite units, who scout talented recruits from each and every galaxy and train them to be loyal only to the empire, as they can be deployed absolutely anywhere to ensure safety and stability of the empire.

"The entire specific purpose of CRINGE is to ensure that no major force within the empire ever harbors rebellious thoughts. After all, there are quite a few forces in the galaxies who could make life incredibly difficult for the empire."

Lex was listening very seriously to Alexander, doing his best to not distract the kid as he continued to eat during his speech. But after the pause he took extended a little too long, Lex had to quickly swallow to ask a question.

"I take it that something happened to them?"

As if woken from a reverie, Alexander was momentarily startled, before he refocused again.

"No, no nothing happened to them. It's just that such a force already exists. Yet more and more often, across the empire, there are reports of small forces trying to gain independence from the empire. Such a trend is not limited to just one galaxy, but is occurring in many of them. Even the large forces don't dare to cross the empire, so why are so many of the small ones taking that step?

"But, for now, the trend is completely insignificant. Based on the size and strength of the empire, such a thing will never destabilize it. Yet the fact that the trend even exists is concerning me. Moreover, instead of reducing, the terrorist attacks across the empire are increasing. As if that's not enough… as if that's not enough, I've heard rumors that the Fiery Mammoths are showing signs of aggression. That is not an adversary the empire can just shrug off.

"The timing of it all… it just doesn't seem right. I don't know if I'm imagining things, but I keep seeing all these signs as precursors… precursors to something absolutely devastating. And if something happens which can be described as devastating to the empire… I don't even know what we can do to survive."

Looking at the teenager, Lex could not help but pause. It was easy to always see him as Alexander, the incredibly talented and driven young man who had taken it upon himself to venture out into space alone to build a place for himself in the vast universe. Yet as a result of that, it was also easy to forget that, at the end of the day, he was a teenager.

To be clear, he did not look depressed, or even demotivated. If anything, he actually felt stronger than when Lex saw him last. It was highly likely that Alexander would be able to regulate his own mood himself soon enough. In fact, if Lex hadn't made him sit to chat, and instead directly consented to the spar, it was unlikely he would have mentioned anything at all.

Still, Lex felt like giving him a little motivation couldn't hurt.

"Do you know about the Henali?" Lex asked, taking a bite from his burrito between words.

"I've heard about and studied the Henali convention, if that's what you're talking about."

"No, not that. Well, it doesn't really matter. All you need to know is that, even the all mighty empire has to abide by the rules set forth by the Henali, or the Henali convention. So, atop the seemingly insurmountable force of the empire there is a bigger force. Yet even they, the Henali, cannot blatantly do as they please, and have to show due respect to a small, certain group of people. So that means that there are bigger fish than even them out there. Who knows how far along that chain goes.

"The point is, the universe is a big place, and as hard as it is, you have to accept that you're only a small part of it. Instead of focusing on far off and distant things, it's a lot more useful to focus on growing your own strength. That way, when you face any problems, you can do your best to resolve them. And if you can't, you can always run back to the Inn."

Although his last words were not the most pleasant to hear, Alexander seemed somewhat relieved to hear them. But the effect was only limited, as Alexander was only somewhat exhausted, he had not succumbed to the pressures he faced.

The two continued to chat for a while longer as Lex ate. As absurd as it seemed, he really did need to consume such large amounts of food to keep his body running effectively. Although his dependance on food had dropped drastically, it was not eliminated. Besides, he liked it.

But once the meal was coming close to ending, Lex could not help but bring the topic to their upcoming spar.

"You never really answered my question about why you wanted to spar," he said, before grabbing some sushi with his spirit sense.

"Like I said, the situation is bad. I need to improve my strength. Raising my cultivation realm would be the best solution, but it will take a considerable amount of time, especially since I have no time to cultivate at all these days. The next best thing is increasing my repertoire and getting my hands on new techniques. But while I have learnt the techniques, I'm not sure how effectively I can deploy them amidst battle yet. That's where you come in.

"If we spar, I don't really need to worry about hurting you, so I can go all out without any reservation. It's the closest thing to a live combat test I can get."

"What, the empire doesn't have sparring bots?"

Alexander winced as he heard that.

"They do… and I can't afford to keep breaking those."

Chapter 662 Spar

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"Oh?" Lex asked intrigued. "Seems like you've been putting in a lot of practice."

"I had to practice the technique somewhere… how was I supposed to know that if I break a training bot, I have to pay for it." Alexander said bitterly. For the first time, he felt the bitter pinch of poverty, as he didn't want to use his family's resources during this time where they were preparing to shift from Mars to Vegus Minima.

"Now you're making me curious. Let's head to a training hall. But, just a heads up, I don't have a lot of time so this can only be a short sparring session."

Alexander accepted, and the two made their way to the nearest training hall. Although Lex was looking forward to having a proper spar with Alexander, he knew that his current purpose was to allow the latter to become more accustomed to his latest techniques.

"We can get right into it and start the fight," Lex offered, "or you can first test out your techniques on me to practice. You don't need to be worried about holding back, I've improved considerably since we've last met. In fact, if you manage to actually hurt me I'd be extremely impressed."

"No, treat this as a normal fight. The whole point is to see if I can deploy the techniques under the pressure of combat. Moreover, some of the techniques rely on the element of surprise. Knowing about them beforehand can severely reduce the impact."

With the decision made, Lex no longer hesitated. Without forewarning, Lex launched himself at Alexander. Due to Lex's current abnormal strength, his speed was devastating and not easy to cope with, especially in the range that they were in.

Holding nothing back Lex threw a punch towards Alexander's face, completely expecting to make contact. But, surprisingly, Alexander had already started to evade even before Lex began to throw the punch.

Instantly a couple of thoughts ran through Lex's mind. First, he was fighting against someone who had some semblance of instincts similar to his own. Second, since attacks with a limited area of impact, such as punches, could be easily avoided by making small movements under the guidance of instincts, he should aim for harder to dodge attacks.

Instead of punching, Lex decided to tackle Alexander with his body instead. Surely Alexander would have tried to dodge this as well, but Lex was moving too fast and they were too close.

Lex came in like a wrecking ball and smashed the teenager across the room, leaving destruction in his wake. The training room they were in was supposed to be able to accommodate Golden core experts, but Alexander's body broke several of the floor tiles and cracked several of the pillars in the room as he hit them. To be honest, Lex suddenly felt a little guilty about hitting him so hard.

In fact, his guilt slowly started to eat at him, and Lex began to wonder if his own sheer awesomeness had left behind a permanent scar in Alexander's psyche. Lex fell to his knees, on the verge of wailing about the absolute tragedy that was destroying the future of such a promising young lad, when he realized that his emotions were abnormal.

It was when he had that realization that he also realized that his instincts were warning him of something, but he had been too focused on his guilt to focus on it.

A golden laser as thin as about a golf ball suddenly hit Lex on the forehead. Lex had been too slow to dodge, as even he could not keep up with the speed of light, but the laser barely harmed him. Besides making him feel slightly warm, it brought a slight red color to his skin where he was hit, and a single tendril of smoke escaped.

Lex suddenly woke up from his abnormal state and realized that at some point, Alexander must have attacked his spirit! The fact that it had worked, however briefly, was absolutely startling!

For a moment, both Lex and Alexander looked at each other as if they were looking at monsters. Lex could not believe his mind was affected, for that would require influencing his 'spirit'. But since his spirit was fused with his body and soul, they had the same level of defense.

Theoretically speaking, since Lex had survived a physical attack from an immortal, then his spirit should also be able to do the same - albeit he had only 'survived' that attack, and came out of it heavily injured. Still, the comparison was enough to explain how difficult it was to sway Lex's mind.

Alexander, on the other hand, looked at Lex like some kind of freak out of a fiction novel, for being able to survive such an attack completely unharmed had to be fictional! The spirit attack Alexander had launched on Lex was an incredibly powerful one which required him to make many preparations before battle ever even began. That meant if he used the attack once, he could not use it again unless he went back and prepared again.

But it was worth it, for against a single powerful opponent, let alone freeze them, it could even completely destroy their psyche. Yet Lex had only suffered some mild guilt! Moreover, he recovered in less than a second!

Then there was the laser! He had actually killed many Golden core cultivators using that technique with a single hit, yet it could not even singe Lex's hair.

For a moment, both of them admired each other's skills, labeling the other as a freak. Then combat continued.

Lex popped in his Fancy lenses and, supported by his instincts, became impossible to hit. Moreover, since this was a spar, began testing out some theories that he always had.

His favorite technique these days, Impervious Hands, had a lot more potential than he initially assumed. Not only did it have a monumentally stronger defense, he could fuse his soul and spirit sense into it to be able to interact with souls and energy respectively. Moreover, once the technique was active, if he augmented it with more spirit energy, he could directly touch whatever affinity Lex had.

𝑙𝑖𝘣𝓇𝑒𝒶𝘥.𝑐ℴ𝑚

While previously his affinity was a vague and abstract concept, he had since developed an affinity to space. He wanted to see how his technique would be affected by that. Moreover, he wanted to see how well he could consciously control the energy in his opponents' attacks.

The triad that followed wrought untold destruction across the training room. It looked like a tornado had been trapped in the room rather than two people sparring.

Lex's absurd physical strength was alone in taking credit for the damage. Alexander had learnt a number of new techniques that relied on the golden colored laser he shot Lex with earlier.

Lex's strength and Alexander's lasers jointly became so destructive, they actually had to pause the sparring because it compromised the integrity of the training room. But since Lex still had more time, they just shifted to a new room and continued to fight.

Lex had to give Alexander genuine recognition. Although it could not be said that Lex was going all out, he had not held his physical strength back at all. Despite taking a few hits head on, Alexander seemed to be doing fine.

In fact, Lex could subtly detect the means Alexander was using to negate the strength of his attacks, but that did not reduce how impressive the task was. After all, who said one needed to take on all attacks? Not everyone was built as tough as Lex, so it was completely unfair to expect them to do so.

In the end, after a few hours of fighting, Mary finally informed Lex that Fenrir had woken up. As much as he enjoyed the fight, that was his cue to depart, so he informed Alexander. But, instead of ending it, Alexander asked Lex to withstand one last attack from him.

Unlike his previous techniques, which he was proficient enough in to use in battle, this one would take some time to prepare, so he needed to ask Lex to stand still.

Once Lex agreed, Alexander quickly sat on the floor cross legged as if he was meditating. But he was clearly not. The six blades that were by now Alexander's signature weapons, were summoned and arranged themselves in a circle, pointing towards his palms.

Beads of golden light began dripping across the lengths of the blades, falling from the tip into his hands as if they were liquid light. At first, Lex only watched silently and observed, but as time went on, the energy accumulating in Alexander's hands began pressuring him.

Although Lex was far from threatened, his eyes widened as he realized just how incredible Alexander was progressing. In fact, considering that the other was doing so well without a system made Lex feel a little ashamed. He decided to lend Alexander some help.

Chapter 663 Battlefields

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It took Alexander quite a few minutes to completely gather enough liquid light in his hands to complete his attack. Once he opened his eyes and looked at Lex, the light in his hands began to effervesce and began to toss about as if bubbling with untamable energy.

Time seemed to slow down as Lex focused on the seated teenager. Maintaining eye contact, Alexander opened his mouth and ushered a single word, but Lex never heard it. There was an explosion of bright light, completely blinding not only him but the contact lenses as well. Moreover, a prickling sensation covered Lex's entire body, as if an army of ants was walking all over his skin. He tried opening his eyes to determine what had happened, but discovered that his movements were extremely slow and disoriented.

When he finally managed to open his eyes, Lex discovered, to his astonishment, that he felt dizzy. Moreover, he seemed to be looking at the ceiling. An involuntary grunt escaped his mouth as he eventually tried to move. As incredible as it may sound, Lex's body was incredibly sore and stiff, which made it uncomfortable for him to move.

When he finally recovered from whatever attack he had just suffered, Lex discovered that he was, once again, completely naked. Although his body was not too hurt, the fact that his body had turned completely red, as if sunburnt, was already a testament to the strength of Alexander's attack. Whatever this attack was, it had still not managed to break his skin, but internally, he felt like his bones had been thoroughly rattled.

"That was a good one," Lex said out loud as he picked himself up.

The pale-looking Alexander, who had overexerted himself for that attack, had his mouth hung open as he tried to imagine what exactly it would take to hurt Lex.

"Thanks," he managed to mumble as Lex helped him stand.

"I have something for you," Lex said, as he summoned the crystal crown he got so long ago from the Crystal realm. This was an extremely useful tool that Lex had once termed as his thinking cap. It allowed Lex to artificially enter a 'Flow' like state, and it was much stronger than Lex's own ability - or at least it was back then. Now, after multiple breakthroughs, Lex no longer needed it.

"This thing is called Issle'Garb, although I just usually refer to it as my thinking cap. It can only be used by people who follow the True path. Try it out."

Lex tossed the crown to Alexander as if it was a toy instead of a precious tool, which greatly startled Alexander, especially since he was still disoriented. But then he remembered he had spirit sense, so he directly grabbed the crown out of the air and put it on his head.

𝒍𝙞𝙗𝒓𝒆𝙖𝓭.𝙘𝒐𝒎

After channeling his spirit energy through the crown, Alexander experienced the wonderful feeling of the heightened 'Flow' state, and immediately understood its value.

"Are you sure you don't need this?" he asked, taking the crown off. Currently, he did not have the energy to spare to continue using it.

"Yes, it's not that useful for me anymore, so you might as well get some use out of it. The next few months I'll be slightly busy, so if you need me, try to leave a message in advance."

Then, without waiting for Alexander to reply, Lex teleported away. It was a bad habit he developed while acting as the Innkeeper.

Even though Lex had left, Alexander still had some more free time, so he decided to stay at the Inn and recover from his exhaustion for a bit. He exited the training room and was heading towards the lazy river when he saw a familiar face - one he hadn't seen in a while.

RussianPrincess77 was standing there, seemingly waiting for him. Why was she always so creepy like that? But then again, she was always extremely helpful.

Back when he was still on earth, she seemed to maintain some sort of advantage over him in cultivation. He thought that after everything he went through, he would finally overtake her, but no, his instincts were clearly warning him that she still had formidable strength.

"Long time no see," he said, as he walked to her.

"Yeah, it has been a while. I wish we could catch up, but you have no time. You really need to return to work."

"Huh?" Alexander didn't immediately understand what she was saying, so she clarified.

"Trust me, you want to go back to work as quickly as possible. When you get free again next time, look for me. I have a favor to ask of you."

Alexander was supposed to have a lot of free time, otherwise he would not have come to the Inn. But he already had some experience with RussianPrincess77's prophetic advice, so he decided to listen to her, and returned.

The moment he reappeared in his room back on Polebitvy, the sound of someone banging on his door welcomed him. Alarmed, he quickly opened the door to find his immediate superior, Immortal Valkyrie, standing there.

For some reason, probably due to his exhaustion from overexerting his energy, he had the deranged thought that Valkyrie looked somewhat similar to Lex. He immediately erased that thought, as he didn't want to curse his friend out like that.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked bluntly, clearly staring at his disheveled state.

"I was training. I had some free time while my latest report was being processed."

"Well, free time is over. I have no proof, but I feel like I know what Jeffery and his organization are after on this planet. In a few months, an incredibly important VIP will pass through here.I believe he is their target. Your new task… is to find proof of that."

*****

While Lex returned to the Crystal realm, to once again journey through the bog, and Alexander was being ordered around by 'Immortal Valkyrie', things on earth were extremely chaotic.

The invasion of New York had been going on for many days, but it suddenly took a turn for the worse. It was as if the A.I. had stopped focusing everywhere on earth, and instead were only attacking there.

Rafael was in the command center, organizing four different battles being held in different parts of the state, and yet it seemed like more invaders were coming from everywhere. Even if he wanted to defend, there were no more soldiers for him to muster.

"Anakin, what's the status on your side? You think you'll be done soon?"

"Nearly there," was the only response he got.

On Anakin's side, he was standing over the defeated body of one of the A.I. While many of them had organic bodies, he finally encountered one which had a body made from machines - or at least machines as identified on earth.

When the war started, young Anakin Indiana McClane was actually slightly scared. But once he got over that initial bout of fear, he discovered how liberating war really was. He had strength, and he had Rafael's guidance keeping him from messing up. All that was left was to have lots of fun.

"You know," Anakin said, as he brought his face near the robotic body lying on the ground, "I've heard the world's first computer virus was in Lahore, Pakistan. I know a Pakistani guy who lives in Queens, I wonder if I can get him to make a virus for you."

The A.I. did not respond, but only kept looking up at Anakin. In truth, the battle was already over, but Anakin had been looking for prisoners he could take. He finally found one that would fill his needs.

"I also have a Russian friend who is holed up near Brooklyn. I wonder if 30 terabytes of kinky grandma videos will slow down your processing or not."

The robot had no idea what Anakin was saying, but it got the feeling that it should be afraid. But Anakin was not paying attention to the robot's reaction, anyway. He had thrown his head back and was laughing maniacally, and the shadows in the surrounding area were trembling, as if laughing along with him.

Inside Anakin's soul, an old evil grandpa was watching everything, feeling the satisfaction of watching the younger generation grow up.

On another battlefield Rafael was controlling, Larry was fighting like a madman. Influenced heavily by Marlo, Larry had a deceivingly sly battle style, relying on his inescapable control over metal.

Unlike Anakin's battles, where he occasionally took prisoners to study more about their enemies, Larry left no survivors. Most of the time, he left no corpses either.

The third battlefield was the most unusual. All the soldiers did not rush forward, and only held defensive positions while Souta alone fought all the enemies. After the death of his previous master, Souta had received a number of quests which involved gathering special materials which could be found in the invading aliens' bodies.

Once he completed the quests, and gathered the supplies, his system absorbed them and underwent an evolution, turning from a Samurai system to a Ronin system. The system had become much stronger, and thus, so had Souta.

The final battlefield… was Marlo's. Unlike the others, he had no soldiers backing him up. He was a lone soldier, facing the bulk of the invasion on his own.