The Dawn of the New World

Hao Xuan let out a breath of relief seeing the silhouettes of the Hall's warriors slowly vanish from his sight into the darkness.

"That guy seems different somehow..." Hao Xuan mumbled with a frown a moment later.

The Stasa from before was an emotional and headstrong guy that didn't really have full control over his own actions. But the 'him' now was much more reserved.

Hao Xuan was sure he would have to fight Stasa but he just left without making a scene.

He patted Grey gently on the back, "Be careful from now on, don't attack people unless I say so, understand? Otherwise, I will send you back to that mortal king," he ended with a threat.

"Neigh~" Grey responded, whatever that meant.

It was already night time and the sky was covered with strange dark green clouds.

Although the creatures in the center of the crater were dead, the atmosphere still hadn't changed.

Hao Xuan tried to undo the Qi barrier made from Nidhora's power but as soon as it came off he felt a stinging sensation throughout his body.

It was a strange feeling, like the inside of the skin was being pricked by needles, but not the outside.

Even though it felt a little suffocating, it was still better than being in constant pain so Hao Xuan turned the Qi barrier back on.

He urged Grey to move towards the center where all the dead alien creatures were.

Stopping a dozen meters away, Hao Xuan jumped off and walked closer to it on foot. His Glaive was still out.

With a few steps, he reached the first carcass. It looked like a humanoid ant, something out of a horror book for children.

Its body was riddled with holes through which green liquid flowed out. The inside seemed to have been melted because the carapace was hollow.

It was Hao Xuan's first time seeing such a creature in real life but as he inspected it in detail, some info surfaced in his mind.

Hao Xuan closed his eyes and digested the information, "A formarch warrior huh," he mumbled.

"Baracus, what can you tell me about these things?"

*Beep*

With his usual beep, Baracus was activated.

"Formarchs, a type of insect beast found most commonly in the void. They can reproduce at alarming rates and have extremely frightening combat abilities. Lower forms cannot think for themselves but experiments suggest they have high EQ for higher graded and more powerful creatures."

"Frightening combat abilities? Are you sure?" Hao Xuan asked skeptically.

When fighting with the Hall's warriors they didn't look very threatening. Not to mention how easily they got killed.

But instead of answering his query, Baracus instead gave an order.

"Place your hand above the carcass."

"...I don't like that tone but I'll do it since I'm curious," Hao Xuan grumbled while doing exactly he was told to do.

Underneath his palm's skin an array of blue lights formed from which a light fell on the creature's carcass.

A second later Baracus's voice came again.

"Analysis complete. Lowest level Formarchian warrior, 25 hours old at most."

Hao Xuan's brow knitted in confusion, "25 hours old? What do you mean?"

"It was hatched no more than 25 hours ago, perhaps less. That would explain why it was so weak."

"....."

Hao Xuan didn't know what to say. He was at a complete loss for words.

"Please scan the others," Baracus spoke up again when he didn't get an answer.

Hao Xuan didn't argue this time and quickly moved between the various bodies, scanning them one by one.

*Beep*

"The oldest of these creatures is 40 hours old," Baracus concluded.

"But...why? Why would they send....newborns, for the lack of a better term, here?" Hao Xuan thought out loud.

"Too many variables, cannot make an accurate prediction."

"Yeah yeah, I wasn't actually asking you," Hao Xuan replied absentmindedly.

*Ruuumble*

The dark green clouds rumbled loudly in the night sky, interrupting Hao Xuan's train of thought.

"Meh, whatever, doesn't matter anymore anyway since they're all dead," he concluded and got back on Grey.

Since the creatures here were taken care of, the next thing on the agenda was the prison deep beneath the planet's surface.

Baracus had already completed the bomb (no thanks to Hao Xuan) and all he had to do was place it in the center of the prison where the infection was at its worst, although that was easier said than done.

"Even if it doesn't kill the thing, a least it will cripple it," or so Hao Xuan thought when he came up with the plan.

Whether or not that was achievable was a whole different topic.

"But before that, gotta make a quick stop on the way."

Hao Xuan tapped on the Spirit band and a rough, foggy map appeared. It showed four glowing dots.

The biggest one was him, while the other three were the Severs he had sent out. And today, he was finally going to meet all of them one by one.

The closest dot was only 300 kilometers away.

"Alright, lets g-" Hao Xuan was about to tap on Grey's back once again but paused. He closed his eyes and listened.

There was a scratching sound coming from one of the Formachian corpses.