Condition Evolution 3: A LitRPG / Gamelit Adventure by Kevin Sinclair (early readers .TXT) 📗

Heiliun levi-hurled objects at me while waiting angrily, sword raised and ready to attack as I came into range. His second in command stood by his side, doing her darndest to protect him from any distractions.

Havok was a blur, deflecting anything and everything in our path, until I landed like a boss right in front of Heiliun. “Impressive monkey…,” he began, but I lunged straight at him without pause. He deflected the blow, and our fight began in earnest, this time for everyone to see. I could feel Ember was in my Mindscape, watching out for attacks, so when I felt the pressure of a Fystr enter, I remained unconcerned. I knew it wouldn't be Heiliun.

He came at me enraged, trying desperately to end the fight quickly, but again Havok had no problems in dealing with his attacks. To give Heiliun his due, he hadn’t allowed us to get in any attacks either.

I felt a sudden pain in my head, which I instantly recognized as a mental attack. I quickly glanced to Heiliun’s second. I could see they were in some pain. I assumed from Ember protecting me.

While Heiliun was still holding his own extraordinarily well, I worried for Ember. “Havok, we're gonna take that bitch out. Are you ready to switch targets for a second?”

“Sure,” he said, though I could hear the strain in his voice. I jumped backwards and to the side, out of Heiliun’s range. He stopped his attack for a moment, clearly thinking I was trying to back out. He should have kept up his attack, as Havok swung in a wide arc to the right, and split Heiliun's second in half.

Heiliun’s eyes went wide with horror. “My wife!” he gasped. The fight fled from him entirely as he dropped to his knees next to the dissected woman to his side.

Havok raised himself up to finish the job on Heiliun. “No! Havok, don’t!” I shouted, but Havok was in the zone, and he took Heiliun’s head, shoulder and arm off in a wicked cut.

“Dude!” I shouted, “I told you no!”

“He needed to die. They all do, Shaun. Don't worry, I’ll keep you on the right path.”

I was speechless. This was the first time Havok had gone solo against my will, and it terrified me. I couldn't do much about it at the moment, though. I needed him to make sure our people survived, and I couldn't start an argument with him just yet. But afterwards, he was in deep shit with me.

I looked around to assess the situation. There were 11 Fystr left alive, desperately defending themselves against fireballs, laser fire and one incredibly angry human with a mass of flame-colored hair. I watched for a moment, impressed as he hacked through a gap in one Fystr’s armor with a pulsating hand axe, followed by a brutal punch to their face. They went down hard. He stomped on their head, crushing their skull with the force. It was an utterly brutal display, leaving only ten Fystr left.

“Stop!” I yelled. The barrage ceased instantly. I was almost embarrassed with how quickly my command had been followed. Even the head stomper backed off immediately. I’d have to find out who he was.

The change of noise level was almost deafening. Quietness punctuated occasionally by the whimpers of those badly injured. I made my way over to the remaining bloody and battered Fystr, while taking in the bodies of my own fallen crew. There were more than a few people down and not moving, killed on a distant rock almost a galaxy away from where they should have been. And I was furious about that. Ember fell in beside me as I walked, but stayed silent. Her presence both comforted me and enraged me, as images of her lying dead sprung into my mind. She was fine now, obviously, but what if she wasn’t the next time these fuckers showed up? I pulled away from my reverie as my eyes fell back on the Fystr in front of me.

“You,” I shouted, pointing a finger at them. “You could’ve left! Now look at what you've achieved. All of this death, for what?” I shouted at them, my anger on show. “So your race can continue to abuse the galaxy? For your pathetic worthless pride? All because we got one over on you. We're light-years away, and yet you still hunt us like dogs, for no good reason at all.”

“You are dogs,” one of them spat.

I threw Havok out of my hand and he knew what to do, flying to skewer the one who had spoken. I had no doubt they tried to stop the throw with their mental abilities, but that shit wouldn't work on Havok. He returned to my hand a heartbeat later.

“Listen to me. Nobody else needs to die here. Although I strongly advise that not one of you insults me or my people again. If you do, understand I will kill you instantly. You think you’re gods among men. You’re not. You rule with fear and lies. Now, which ship is Ogun on?”

As soon as I’d spoken, I gave a mental command to Elyek to make sure the next person to throw an insult died from an invisible knife. That would really freak these fuckers out.

None of the Fystr answered. They stood there like sullen children.

“Lead me to Ogun and you can live. I’ll let you take the other ship and crawl back to your people, tail between your legs.”

“We will be imprisoned and humiliated for this failure, you stupid fool,” one of them snarled, promptly followed by a gurgling sound as a knife from nowhere penetrated his throat. Blood jetted from his arteries across the eight remaining Fystr, whose expressions turned to horror as yet another of their number bled out on the floor.

“We won't insult you again,” said another voice, a dark-haired woman with a blood-smeared face. “But I want you to understand a couple of things. Our lives are over if we go back, and no matter