CH36:RED MEN.

*CRSH*

*CRISH*

*CRSH*

The sounds of breathing came from a slight distance as Murdock and Huntress walked through the Granian settlement that was being set up in front of Grim's ships. Since none of them were going to return home soon, they were all ordered to set up fortresses across the world so that they'd be able to find Ace and now Cherry much sooner.

Right now, the Granians had set up a very large fortress with highly sophisticated buildings that acted as houses, sleeping quarters and weapon storage units. Each one of them had to drink a special breathing fluid to avoid their lungs from burning under the Earth's mixture of various, strange gases.

As Murdock and Huntress walked past the bases, they were given many salutes by their comrades. They didn't bother responding, since they knew most of them were false salutes. The two eventually left the base and made their way through the cold, abandoned streets of ArkVille. As they walked through, they discussed over the architectural style the humans had.

"No wonder these species have taken us long to defeat." Huntress spoke in her soft, seductive voice.

"What makes you say that?" Murdock asked as he held his large blaster in his arms.

"For starters, look at the structural integrity of their buildings," She continued. "They're not the best and functional but they do look sound and safe."

"Not safe from this." Murdock said as he shot at a skyscraper with his blaster. The blast was so large and powerful that it took out the building's support pillars and caused it to collapse. "Not so functional now, are they?" He laughed.

"Not if you put it that way, dummy." They both laughed. However, Huntress's scanner started buzzing seriously as their suits changed from a dark, navy-blue color to a jet-black hue. She quickly opened it and saw that her and Murdock were surrounded by red dots on all sides.

"HOSTILES!!" She said and immediately they immediately stood back to back with their blasters drawn.

"What did you see?" Murdock asked. "How many of them are here?"

"I can't say for sure." She replied. "It's a very large number. Most likely those wretched humans planning an ambush on us."

"How pathetic. Do they really think that….OH MY…" Murdock and Huntress nearly froze as they saw red men running towards them at full speed. There were over two hundred of them running and each one trampled over the other as they wanted to get a shot at ripping their throats apart.

Huntress put her blaster away and held her circular blade in her hands. She smiled and licked her lips ad she raised her tail. In Granian culture, if anyone was to raise their tail, it meant they were going to kill without mercy, and this is exactly what she was going to do.

"Do you think it's necessary to waste your energy for this?" Murdock asked as he began executing perfect headshots with his blaster. However, Huntress already run at the red creatures and started slicing their bodies in half.

Her favorite move was throwing the blade at full force as she'd use her deadly claws to rip eyeballs out of her victims. Then, when she was done with that, she'd stretch out her arm and her disk would return back into her grasp.

Huntress smiled, laughed, and cackled as she shed a lot of blood from the red men. She'd use her blade like a hoop and danced with it while slicing heads off. "This is so much fun," She screamed with joy. "Oh, these humans are a riot."

"Just make sure they don't touch you." Murdock said as he noticed how sick and diseased they looked like. 'These things may be infectious.

"I don't give a dam," She replied as she ripped open one red man's head. She smiled as she saw its brains slip to the ground as it made another slip over. Tons of red men surrounded her from her left and right, making her smile even more.

"Come and get some, babies." Huntress spun with her blaster in one hand and her circular blade in the other. She shot and sliced the red men in seconds, and this made her feel slightly sad. "These things are fun but…*sniff*…they break too easily."

"Never mind about that, Huntress." Murdock barked. "Just use your damn blaster and help me finish these off." Huntress rolled her eyes and helped her college finish the last of the red men.

When it was all over, she used the scanner on her arm and scanned a carcass belonging to one of the red men she ripped apart.

[Scan Complete]

[Species: Human]

[Composure: Unknown]

[State: Evolved.]

[Highly Infectious: Do not make any contact with them.]

"Crap," She cursed. "Thank the gods I had this suit on."

"Indeed," Murdock sighed. "Your love for shedding blood will get you killed one day, Huntress. You have to take it easy."

"Awww it's not that easy." She said as she wrapped her arms around his waist. "I'm not like the other women. I love shedding blood. I love seeing lives drain out of the bodies of my victims. I just love the sweet chill of death and the look of fear on my victims."

Murdock removed her hands off his waist and snarled while saying, "Death does not love those who love it. One day your time will come."

"I know that." She smiled back, revealing her pearly, white but razor-sharp teeth. "Until then," She crushed one red man's head under her feet. "I'll kill to my heart's content."

"Well, just keep that urge down when we find the target." Murdock replied. "When we do, you're not allowed to kill him. Remember, Grand Master and Grim want him alive."

"Didn't you hear?" She asked. "The target's sister escaped too and I hear she's deadlier than the target himself. She even managed to trick Grim."

"Is that so?" Murdock grinned. "Well, we'll have to handle her with care. Leave that for when we meet her."

----------------------

The sun began to slowly set as Ace and Sky tried to find a place to rest for the night. The young blood mutant made a blood blade and cut a couple of branches which he used to make a small tent to house Sky as he went to look for food.

Right now, Sky's body was growing cold as her skin turned white. She desperately tried staying alive and she had the hunger pangs to keep her from going to the other side.

"Stay with me, Sky." Ace said. "I'll be back with something for you. Don't worry."

[Ping]

[Your damsel's in distress.]

[Provide your mate with sustenance before she mutated into a hungry, savage beast. Remember, if this happens, the system will do whatever it can to keep you alive.]

[10:00]

'Eww. First of all, system, Sky and I are not mates. Secondly, what do you mean by, she'll mutate into a hungry beast?' He asked but got no response in the end.

[9:57]

[Chop chop. Hurry up.]

Ace handed the blood blade over to Sky and said, "Hold this. I won't be far but in case of anything, use this to keep you safe."

Ace then went deeper into the forest and hoped to find something for his friend to eat. 'Geez. I guess that unexpected burst in energy took a toll on her energy.' He said to himself. 'I wonder what'll happen if I ever get so hungry if I don't get blood.'

[Playing Video of possible Outcome.]

The video showed a man with blonde, wet hair that was dyed red due to the blood it had stained itself with. His body was shaking violently as he curled himself up in a ball. His fingers dug deep into his skin as he drew out little amounts of blood. He started drinking his own blood but soon, his body partially transformed into his blood mutant form, making him go wild and attack anything that moved.

[Your body will turn into a pure, blood mutant and if you do not feed well, the effect could become permanent.]

[Warning: Once in that state, you will lose all train of thought and your humanity will disappear.]

'Yikes. Looks like I've got to drink as much as possible.'

[Warning: Consuming excessive amounts of blood will make you totally dependent on it. If this occurs, you will not be able to last minutes without it and your body will demand for different species.]

'So I can't take too much or too little, huh?' He asked himself. While he was in the middle of chatting with himself, he heard a couple of rustles coming from bushes in front of him. He quickly hid behind a tree and peeped, only to find a large, carnivorous beast feasting on a freshly killed carcass. The creature looked like a bear with moose antlers and a long tail. Its head and chest had bone armor plates with a few spikes protruding out to protect them.

[Side Quest.]

[Kill both beast and acquire their beast cores.]

"Beast Cores?"

*ROAR!!"