My Hermes System

Chapter 403: Red

“!!!”

Red.

Ameera’s vision was completely blocked by a red curtain as blood trailed in front of her face. And if it was not for the Energy Shield that wrapped around her entire body, then she would have probably felt the almost endless amount of blood flowing through her skin.

Even as a soldier, she has not experienced the kind of scene she was seeing now; and the only way she would describe it is that it was… a fountain of blood.

And even though there were almost more than a hundred people in the vicinity, the puttering of the blood as they showered to the metallic floor was the only thing she could hear. Not even a whisper escaped from the mouths of the media, which was previously asking their numerous questions without a pause.

How could they make a sound, when several people were just killed in front of them… brutally.

And right now, only two remained kneeling– one from the Eisis and one from the Furion group.

It took a while for what happened to register in Ameera’s mind, but as soon as it did, she immediately placed her hand on the gun hanging on her waist. She did not draw it, however, as her breaths instantly became fettered. It was as if a thousand chains were wrapped around her hand as her body prevented her from even making any unnecessary movements, ‘less she wants to die.

“K… King Evans.” And so, instead, the only thing she could do was open her mouth, “T… there’s a due process of law that we… follow here. We.. we don’t just execute people.”

She was about to order her men to stand down as they might be thinking of also drawing their weapons; but it would seem she did not even need to, as none of them even dared to move from their position.

They weren’t stupid. They saw first hand that the creature in front of them could move at speeds that reached Mach 30– and that probably wasn’t even his limit. It was already downright bewildering that he could do something like that; what’s more is that he is able to do it with little or almost no acceleration.

If they were to somewhat make the mistake of angering or trying to battle it out with him, the only thing they would be doing is making a fool of themselves. Mach 30 may not seem much in the expanse of space…

…but here on the ground? Not only the hangar but to the whole city will be done for. There may be a way to stop him at Mach 30, but if he was truly indeed faster than that, then they might as well all just hide inside their bunkers– and that is exactly what Queen Vivati ordered her citizens to do.

She saw Van’s expression before he left the Queen’s Pyramid, and if that seething rage presented on his face was not enough to tell her that they were in danger, then she did not have any right to be the leader of an entire world.

“Due process?” The air around Van distorted into some sort of static as the blood that covered his entire body smoothly dropped to the ground,

“You’re forgetting something, Captain Ameera– I am not from around here.”

Diplomacy? It would seem that his had a very short limit. 

“But that’s–“

“These weird-looking human beasts, do you know where they came from?”

“T… they’re from the planet Mizhra.”

“…What are you doing here?” Van then calmly placed his hand on the furion’s shoulder, “If you don’t want to mix your guts with the rest of your friends, you will be answering my questions without even taking a breath of hesitation, do you understand?”

“Y… yes.”

The furion’s head could not help but tremble uncontrollably as he felt Van’s hand resting on his shoulder. The hand was not even pressing his shoulder, nor is it gripping it– but for some reason, it felt like his shoulder was about to come off from how heavy it was.

“What are you doing here?”

“I… I–“

“You hesitated.”

“No, wa–“

And before the furion could finish his words, he felt a sharp pain coming from the top of his head. It was just an uncomfortable feeling– even fleeting. But as soon as he heard a light plop in front of him, he finally realized what just happened.

How could he not, when his ear was now peacefully resting on the ground?

“Hgg!” The furion restrained himself from making a sound because he was afraid that if he did so, the alien in front of him would once again mutilate him.

“King… Evans, please stop this!” Captain Ameera then ordered her men to kick out all the people from the media that Van asked them to let inside; but before her men could move, Van stomped his foot on the ground– causing the entire hangar to slightly quake.

“No one leaves,” Van then whispered, his words enough to travel through everyone’s ears, “I want all of you to watch with your eyes wide open. Ameera, tell them what happened.”

“W… What?”

“Tell them why I am doing this,” Van then said as he looked towards the camera, “Tell them why this had to happen.”

“T… that’s…”

And as soon as Van’s words reached the ears of the people from the media, they all turned their drones towards Captain Ameera. Most of them were still afraid, of course– but their lives had always been in danger with the kind of job they have.

And so, Ameera’s eyes could only move erratically as she looked at the numerous cameras pointed at her. Her breaths were worse, as she even almost wanted to strip her uniform there and then to be able to breathe.

But after a few seconds of deliberating whether she should do it or not, she ended up telling everything. And if her superiors didn’t like what she was doing, then they should be the ones experiencing this kind of plaguing situation.

And as soon as she was done, Van once again placed his hand on the furion’s shoulder; causing the eisis to let out a breath of relief as he was not yet being interrogated by Van.

“Now tell me again, what are you doing here?” Van then once again asked, “This is the last time I am going to be polite.”

“For… for honor!” The Furion, however, violently gritted his teeth instead of answering Van, almost enough that it broke some parts of his teeth, “This secret… shall die with me!”

“…”

“…”

The furion remained staring at Van for a good couple of seconds before… nothing. Nothing happened. Realizing this, the furion’s eyes started to widen in shock; inserting his fingers inside his mouth as if he was trying to find something.

“Looking for this?”

“You!”

The furion’s eyes widened even further as he saw what seemed like a tooth in Van’s hand; and before he could even say another word, Van proceeded to grind it down with his fingers.

“Enough playing games,” Van then said as he looked the furion straight in the eyes; and this time, Van didn’t place his hand on the furion’s shoulder; but instead turned towards Ameera.

“Find out everything you know about these two,” Van breathed out, “And once you get information about their families, tell me so I can give them a little vis–“

“Governor S’thra!”

And before Van could even finish his words, the furion let out a roaring hiss, “Our orders directly came from Governor S’thra! They received information from his guild and immediately decided to take action!”

“W… what!? Why are you–“

The eisis thought that he would escape this situation without anything happening to him. But alas, before he could even finish his words, he felt a slight pain in his chest. He slowly turned his head down… only for him to fully drop on the ground; his blood oozing from the large cavity in the middle of his chest.

“What’s the name of their group?”

“T… the Scavengers.”

Van once again placed his hand on the furion’s shoulder; but this time, the blood wrapping around it quickly flowed down across the furion’s shoulder, causing him to stutter.

“The Scavengers?” Van breathed out as he looked at Captain Ameera, who quickly ordered her men to find out more about them.

“And you said Governor S’thra?”

“Y… yes,” the furion could only close his eyes as the drones were slowly getting nearer and nearer to them. By now, this news would have already reached his planet.

“You’re saying this Governor S’thra–“

“K… King Evans, please wait.”

Captain Ameera’s legs were as if jelly, but still, she did not let Van continue with what he was going to say,

“This… this situation could get worse if you don’t stop now,” she then whispered, “If… if a governor from Mizhra truly ordered this, then this will become a Galactic Issue… a war might happen.”

“War…” Van furrowed his eyebrows as soon as he heard Ameera’s whispers.

“Lots of people will die, King Evans,” Ameera breathed out, “Even if I lose my life, I can’t let you contin–“

Red.

A red curtain once again showered on Ameera’s energy shield as Van decapitated the last furion. Her lips wanted to move but feared that the blood will get inside her mouth even with the energy shield due to how violent the fountain of blood is.

“There’s no time for war, Ameera,” Van then said as he waved his hand, throwing all the blood wrapped around it towards the people from the media,

“Take me to this Mizhra planet…

…I am ending this before it starts.”