0430 hours

Planet Meredith—Clarity—Command.

"Asides from little spikes in his heart rate, he’s doing fine...I don’t know how to explain it but his body is in perfect shape! We just need to wait for him to regain consciousness"

Thira set his glass pad next to an unconscious K before sealing the cryotube, looking up at lieutenant Finch. The man stared at, confusion drawn all over his face,

"Ah! S-sorry, K fine! Heart beat fast...K okay!"

He frantically pointing around trying to make sure his message got across,

"Look Doctor, I know you watch all of our battle feedback live. I know you saw whatever the fuck it was that I saw"

"...uh"

"K took several vital hits from that Vashki and kept getting back up like nothing happened"

"P-pellet! Reduce pain...emotion..."

"Fuck that, I’ve had a pellet in me years back but it ain’t ever made me stand right back up after taking a hit that could make my organs implode!"

Truth be told, Thira couldn’t understand talk less of explain what was going on. A few hours back, he was busy adjusting to his new body and running tests when he heard the Orbital Intrusion alarm blared through the whole facility. Another hour passed, he was escorted to Control to inspect live feedback and give details on the Vashkis he recognized, just anything useful for database. The whole place was quiet in anticipation so was the battlefield and then he heard it.

The low humming of rings.

Somehow everybody in the room with him didn’t hear it.

Before he had the chance to speak about what he just heard and alert the soldiers, the battlefield shifted and a large Vashki appeared.

Well, large to him.

"Found you, demon child"

Fear flooded his entire system, he wanted to scream for those soldiers to get out of there. For K to run but the words just couldn’t come out.

He knew who the Vashki was. The tigeress of Kun.

What was she doing here? Moreover why was her first target K?

His questions were answered quickly.

She had come to see who could inflict such damage to someone like her husband.

He grabbed unto Bak trying to warn him but all he could muster was a stuttering ring but still no words. Bak gave him a disgusted look and shrugged him off, focusing on the holoscreen.

Thira watched frozen in horror as the tigress of Kun swiftly killed one of his best Matyrs, Cobra, and declaring a duel before plummeting K.

She’s going to kill him!

Was what he thought.

And here lay K...in perfect condition like he didn’t just tank multiple hits from one of the elite beasts of Qashka. Only a few scratches here and there that were rapidly healing

"How is that even possible?"

A few broken bones, damaged organs at least but there was nothing.

"Khae’el...what have you gotten yourself into? Shall I administer a new pellet? Oh, I just want to protect you." He tapped his head against the glass, "what would you have me do?"

"Once you’re done with the pity party, hand me his medical report" Finch nodded at the glass pad,

"...no...only report to Bak"

"Just what are you two up to? The same thing happened the last time!"

"Questions...no answer—to tell"

"The kid’s gonna be so thrilled to know you’ve been keeping secrets from him"

"No! Not secrets! Keep K safe!"

The lieutenant scoffed before marching out of the lab. Lex stood up as soon as he came into her line of sight,

"How is he?"

Finch licked his teeth, "you know...broken bones and all that,"

"That’s bull and you know it...I saw him Sir...I saw everything! There’s something they’re not telling us"

"Tell me about it...anyways command affairs will temporarily be on hold. We have to go to the ring"

"...right, we need to pay our respects to those who fell"

"Yes"

———•———•———•———

...

FETCHING DETAILS

...

SIMULATION HAS ENDED

...

K groaned.

His hands tapped against cool gas as he felt around to get his bearings.

The white void and the lady were gone. All that was left was a floating screen in front of him with a blinking ’Simulation has ended’.

Several messages lined up collapsed beneath the notification,

"What is all these?" He leaned closer and the collapsed notifications expanded,

...

[SKILL] Bloodlust has been upgraded to Lv3!

25/100xp

...

!!!New achievements unlocked!!!

•Warm welcome!

-this achievement is unlocked when host is introduced to the system!

•First blood!

-this achievement is unlocked Ehen host kills a designated entity for the first time!

•Obtain [SKILL-Bloodlust] -completed!

•Tank it like a boss! -completed!

The messages ran on and on that it began to hurt his head reading them, he read around and selected a slot that read ’stats’.

...

STATS

...

Endurance(lv 5)——(12/125)

Strength(lv 5)——–(4/125)

Agility(lv 8)———(6/140)

Defense(3)——(18/125)

...

REACH LV 4 to unlock more stats!

Click ’profile’

...

He recognized some of the terms here from common knowledge and from seeing them during his battle frenzy with the Vashki he fought.

’Save Your People’ the Vashki had said before he began these seeing things;

"K?"

Thira tapped on the glass from outside, his head tilted to the side showing confusion. He was busy reprogramming K’s armor when he saw the man swiping and touching something in mid-air,

Was K suffering from hallucinations?

"I’m going to open the cryo now"

The device hissed as Thira let him out. Next to him sat a small ’info’ button. K tapped the button,

"K, are you alright?"

...

[INFO]

ENTITY PROFILE

NAME: Vae’Thira

AGE: —-

DESIGNATION: (male androgynous)MIWA

CLASSIFICATION: The Kept One

THREAT LEVEL: mild

RING COUNT: 1

ROLE: The Doctor

...

"K?"

"Hi"

"Hi, are you okay?"

"Just peachy"

K looked down to face him and for some reason the Miwa stepped back,

"Y-your right eye!"

"What?"

Thira turned him so he could see his reflection on the tube behind him. K froze, his once bright blue eye was now a swirling light tone of gold,

"What happened to my eye?"

"W-well several hits to the head and eyes can lead to this and that would pose a serious health risk but...you’re as healthy as a horse"

"...I see"

K looked around and back at Thira. The Kept One.

He had heard that somewhere. He just couldn’t remember where.

"Where’s the rest of the team?"

"Finch and Lex are headed to the ring in 0300 hours"

His nose scrunched up,"why?"

"To bury Cobra, Steel and Gusto"

"...oh"

"I wouldn’t recommend you go, everyone is still wrapping their head around how you survived. Seeing you walking around the next day isn’t something they’d want to see...they’re scared of you"

"So everyone is going to the ring except me?"

"I can’t go either but there will still be military personnels patrolling"

"I need clothes"

"Where are you going?"

"I’m not going anywhere, would you prefer I roam your office butt naked?"

Thira snickered, "I don’t think my girls would mind? I’ll have Kadita fetch you some clothes," he sauntered off, searching for one of his very few crew members. Not many people wanted to work with a species that took their everything from them.

K considered reaching Lex but their comms were linked back to Control meaning their conversation would be fed to the Admiral later on. Slipping into a lab coat hanging on a glass stand, he searched for Thira’s holo computer, the little screen popped up.

"Well hello there"

"Ah!"

A holo-humanoid girl sat on the top corner, legs swinging in the air,

"Who are you?" K narrowed his eyes at her.

"I’m Kagu, the doctor’s personal Ai assistant, and you are Meredith’s greatest war asset, K-0-0-1. The origin of Matyrs"

"What are you doing on Thira’s computer?"

"Is what I should be asking you"

"..."

"Hm?"

"Nothing, just checking the weather report"

"27 degree Celsius, mostly sunny"

"Thank you"

"You’re most welcome"

K growled lowly before shutting the system down, the screen disappeared alongside the girl,

"You know I could help you find whatever you’re looking for," she popped up on a table nearby startling K again.

"...stop doing that"

"Sorry" she twirled one feet into the space she stood on.

"How do I know you won’t report back to Thira?"

"I won’t"

"Yeah right"

"Trust me!"

"Mhm-hm"

"Oh come on!"

K walked out to another section of the lab that held operating tools,

"Do you plan on taking out your pellet again?"

"No...and what do you mean again?"

He rummaged through a drawer and pulled out sterilized scalpel,

"That’s definitely what you’re doing!"

He pushed the scalpel down his wrist, blood trickled down but there was no sign of what he was looking for. He was sure he had seen it. Those blue veins of light.

"If you plan on suicide please don’t do it in the doctor’s lab"

K shot the Ai a long glare before pulling out a surgical needle and stitching the open flesh close.

"Everyone I’ve interacted with is either crazy or beyond crazy," she shuddered, "there’s a patch in the left topside drawer, slap that on if you don’t want a tetanus infection! And clean the blood off the floor"

K grabbed the patch and walked out of the room, stepping into the blood, leaving bloody footprints everywhere. Kagu shrieked and activated the robotics designed for cleaning. Small disks lined and hovered and swiftly cleaned the prints following K until there were no prints left.

"Sir K," the lady Thira had sent to get clothes for him walked. Her face burning red and K took off the coat to change into what she had brought.

"Where is the doctor?"

"He’s in forensics section, studying the Vashki brought in from yesterday’s battle"

"Hm"

He maneuvered to the Forensics. Thira stood, glass pad in hand as he picked apart the remains of Luituka while Kagu hovered over his pad,

"I heard you nearly made Kagu pop a fuse. You two surely get along"

"Is that so? A certain someone told me she wouldn’t snitch"

Kagu gasped and pouted, K snorted. He moved closer looking at the thing that nearly killed him yesterday.

"Where are her rings?" Thira mulled,

"Don’t Vashki rings disintegrate once they are killed?" K replied.

"Yes, they do, it’s in fact believed that when their rings disintegrate, they return to the stars and join the cosmos" Kagu ranted,

"Is there a way to shut her up?"

"Hey!"

"Haha, she’s right. In Vashki religion, it’s commonly believed that at our deaths, our rings take our soul and rises to the cosmos but over here Luituka’s rings are missing"

"How?"

"Her bioluminescence remains, albeit weakly, but it still remains"

"Does that mean she’s still alive?"

"Body-wise? No. Soul-wise? Maybe"

"Huh"

"You see sometimes as punishment, a Vashki’s rings can be seized. It results in the Vashki being weak and extremely vulnerable. These rings are like catalyst, you see"

K nodded absentmindedly.

A message popped in the air.

...

Items obtained:

x17 U’Kan rings

Would you like to exchange for XP or send to inventory?

...

He dismissed it with a subtle wave of his hand.

"The only speculation I can give is that she gave up her rings to another Vashki but for that to be possible they would have to be in contact but from the video feedback I watched, her rings vanished before the Miwa from the ship descended"

"I thought you said Admiral Bak doesn’t let you watch battle feedbacks?"