"Hold your fire, Granians. That’s an order," a familiar voice interrupted Anya amid her thoughts, prompting her to look over and see who it was while still keeping Jim in check. "Stand down, soldier. Let the Blood Mutant come to me."
Looking back, Anya and the rest of the Granians paved the way as Lord Grania approached them dressed in a draconic armor set similar to Grim’s. Surprised to see their ruler joining them in war, the Granians immediately bowed in reverence and made way for him to pass. Anya, relieved for once to see a Granian stronger than her, stepped aside and let Jim go, knowing well what was about to unfold.
"Don’t kill him," she scoffed, refusing to make eye contact with Lord Grania. "He’s just moving up to the Blood Knight rank, nothing more and nothing less."
"I am fully aware of what’s happening here, Mutant," Grania smirked, taking off his armor and standing in front of Jim, who was still on a rampage, ripping apart the tendrils that once bound him.
Once the tendrils snapped, the Blood Mutant stood on its feet, eyes glaring at Grania with its tongue swaying from left to right repeatedly. Claws elongated, muscles tensed, blood tendrils ready, and eyes set on its target, the Golden Blood Mutant quickly dove at Grania, its claws ready to gouge his eyes out.
Seeing the sloppy movement ahead of time, Lord Grania stepped aside from Jim’s course of action and grabbed onto one of the many tendrils on his back. Using just one arm, he tugged on it as hard as he could, bringing Jim to the ground by force like a woman whose long braids were stepped on.
*ROOOOOAAR* Angered by this, the already rogue Mutant continued on its rampage, creating multiple Blood Spikes, which it used to penetrate Grania’s body. The Granian, completely immune to the attack, smirked as it latched onto two more tendrils and swung Jim around like a ragdoll.
All of this happened so fast and flawlessly that those watching already placed their bets on who they knew would win. In fact, even Anya knew that neither she, Ace, Cherry, Skyler, nor Jim would be able to keep up with Grania, that fact clearly playing out before her very eyes.
"What’s the matter, Mutant?" Grania taunted, his hands clasping onto two tendrils that he had ripped apart by force. "I thought you were the vicious bloodthirsty kind. You’re clearly no use when in this state."
Having retained a couple of his senses, Jim glared at the Granian and started to cackle. With its throat pressing tight on its vocals, the cackle sounded more like a choke for help, but that didn’t matter.
"Glad you’re retaining your senses," Grania congratulated, having sensed a portion of Jim’s senses slipping back in. "Now, let’s make this a real challenge, Mutant. Show me that I didn’t make a mistake sending you and your colleagues out into war."
’What is wrong with this guy?’ Anya questioned, wondering why the Granian ruler had decided to stop them in their tracks just so he could fight the Golden Blood Mutant.
The reason for this was due to Jim’s sudden burst of electric energy he had exhibited recently. This sudden revelation rather excited the Granian Emperor, making him itch to see just how long he and the Mutant would last against each other. Surprisingly, that moment arrived once he heard about the Mutant going rogue, arousing his lust to fight it and see just how powerful its electric blood component was. Official source ıs 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝~𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖~𝕟𝕖𝕥
"You haven’t landed a single blow on me, Mutant," He taunted, fishing for the right words he’d use just to get to Jim’s head. "I bet if your other male counterpart were to fight me, I would be bleeding by now. Just how weak are you compared to him?"
Anya, upon sensing what Grania was doing, comfortably sat down and watched as the Granian taunted Jim’s pride and ego, having known about the petty rivalry between him and Ace. Seeing that it worked sparked joy in Grania, leading him to dash at the Mutant.
Jim, with arms widespread, lunged his body into Grania’s and slowly penetrated his tendrils into the ground, making sure to keep his body in place. The two began pushing back and forth, eventually causing one to give out due to his less superior strength.
"HYAAH!!" Lifting Jim over his head, Grania slammed his body onto the ground and pinned him down using his thick elbow, placing it on his neck. "Come on, fight back. Show me that new skill of yours."
He pleaded anxiously, which eventually made him so desperate that he began choking the Mutant. Sadly, even though Jim had retained some of his senses, it still wasn’t enough for him to know what the Granian was attacking him for. Disappointed and frustrated, Grania grabbed Jim by his head and slammed it repeatedly on the ground, eventually knocking him out in the process.
"It’s no use letting this one continue with the fight," he spoke, clearly disappointed in the outcome. "The rest of you are moving onto the next planet. A horde of Warrior Class Ethisians had arrived not so long ago, and they’re laying waste to your comrades trying to defend the place. Leave now and assist them."
"As you command, Lord Grania," the Granians bowed and immediately returned to their ships, setting course for their next area of action.
Meanwhile, Lord Grania remained behind with Jim and Anya, remaining awkwardly silent for a moment.
"Well, I’m guessing that you have something else for us to do since you deployed the Granians and not us, right?" Anya questioned, curious about whether she was going to keep fighting or not.
"No, not really," Grania sighed as he placed Jim’s passed-out body on his shoulders. "You two, unfortunately, are not quite strong enough to continue with this war."
"Excuse you?" Anya sneered. "Wasn’t Jim the one who defeated an Ethisian on his own using that electric power of his? How could you say he’s weak?"
"By using my mouth to do so," Grania laughed. "He has just made it to the Blood Knight rank, and you haven’t even mastered how to control it and..."
"Wait, haven’t mastered how to control it?" Anya asked, confused, as always, at what Grania just uttered. "I haven’t gotten to the Blood Knight rank yet."
Grania looked at Anya and started to laugh, amused by how oblivious she was concerning her rank. His cackles turned into bellows, slowly pissing Anya off the longer he did so.
"That’s why I said you’re weak," his laughter turned into a stern and cold expression. "You fool, when that boy contributed to your transformation, he was already in the Blood Knight rank, making you automatically a Blood Mutant in the Blood Knight rank. It disturbs and angers me at how oblivious you are concerning your powers. You had the strength to take this one down and yet you didn’t do it. Now carry him and follow me; we’re heading back to Planet Grania at once."
’I’m at the Blood Knight rank?’ Anya mumbled, surprised that not even she knew of the strength she had. ’I mean, it’s starting to make sense about the strength difference between me and Jim but...how wasn’t I able to know that?’
Accepting what Grania said about her and Jim, Anya swallowed her pride, picked up the now Golden Blood Knight, and followed Lord Grania into his ship, which had set course for Planet Grania. Knowing the Granian, it was a possibility that he was going to put the two Blood Knights under intense training until he deemed them strong enough to participate in war.
[Ethisians Killed: 40]
[EXP for each Granian Killed: 50]
[Level 64: 2317/390/>>>>> Level 69: 267/440]
[All Stat Points have been moved up by five points.]
[+50 Blood Mana for each Ethisian Killed.]
[Hemo-Conjuring Skill: Activated.]
"Blood Essence, manifest."
Just like the first time, the fallen Ethisians killed by the Blood Bishop were surrounded by spiraling threads of Blood consuming and converting their bodies into Blood Warriors. Once the ’ritual’ was complete, the Blood Warriors bowed before Ace as a sign of their loyalty towards him, just like his system had told him.
[Total Conjured Warriors: 60]
"That’s the last of them," the leading Granian announced to Ace, Cherry, Skyler, and the rest of its comrades as they prepared to leave the Planet once they set their defense systems. "I’ll be more than sure to put in a good word for you with the higher-ups, Humans. You have done us a great service and even made sure that we suffered no casualties."
"You don’t have to do that," Skyler replied while stretching her blood-covered arms. Like Ace and Cherry, she too had grown in terms of strength after her experience with the Scaled Ones. "The ’higher-ups’ are the ones who made us into the abominable humans/bloodthirsty creatures you see standing before you."
Horrified by her sense of humor, the Granian turned away and returned to its troop, leaving the Humans to discuss amongst themselves.
"You’re getting really used to your Blood Bishop skills, aren’t you?" Cherry asked as she played around with a few Blood Clones as a way to forcefully increase her overall energy.
"It has its ups and downs," he said while looking at the slightly larger dot on his wrist. "This Hemo-Conjuring skill’s certainly going to do us more good than it will for the Granians."
Knowing what he meant, Skyler and Cherry nodded quietly, having no need of asking Ace what he planned to do with his Blood Warriors. Ever since their abduction, the Humans already agreed to kill the Granians and avenge their fallen comrades back on Earth. For now, they chose to be pawns in their games, getting stronger in the process whilst also learning of their enemy’s strengths and weaknesses.
"It most certainly will."