“Isn’t anyone going to say hello?” Serrix said, his raspy voice was more upbeat than Leo expected.

The pressure this creature was giving off still had people trembling in fear, and Leo couldn’t risk flaring his aura right now. That would be akin to spitting in its face. Leo had no doubt that any threat or assault on it would be met with swift and lethal violence. His resources weren’t full yet, either, so each second they spent chatting would be more to use for the inevitable.

Although, what use they would be…was yet to be seen.

“I know you,” Serrix said, pointing directly at Ashley. “I’ve seen you through the eyes of my most loyal servant,” he clicked a few times, almost like a laugh or maybe tutting. “You shouldn’t treat people like that, you know. Might get yourself pushed through a portal.”

Ashley scowled a little. “How did you…” she said, stopping herself as her question came out before she could stop it.

Serrix smiled. “How did I know? It was my idea, of course.”

Rage flared in Leo’s stomach before he could stop it. A small pulse of his storm leaked out, and Serrix spun his head to his direction like he suddenly had a beacon above him.

“There he is.”

Serrix walked over, taking long strides that got him to Leo in an instant. Standing his ground, he stared up at the hulking creature. It was menacing to say the least.

“I’ve been feeling your aura for this whole tutorial, which can be considered quite rude, you know? Oh how it’s grown.” He smiled. “It’s so unique, like nothing I’ve ever felt before. Even now I can feel it leaking out of you. So much potential. So much rage.”

He placed one of his hands on Leo’s shoulder, appearing before Leo could even react. He tried to suppress his urge to react. “Where do you draw your power from? I’d like a taste for myself.”

“I don’t really know where it comes from,” Leo said truthfully. “I just kinda got it.”

Serrix scoffed. “Humans,” he said, shaking his head. Then he inhaled, followed by a smirk. “Or perhaps not.”

Serrix shook his head. “No matter. When this tutorial ends and I establish a rule on this planet you call “Earth” we can do all kinds of experiments on you.” He patted Leo on the shoulder, turning to the crowd.

“All you humans can still live under my rule,” he announced. “As slaves of course, but still, you get to live and thrive under my will. You will find I am a generous Lord.”

He walked into the center again, drawing all attention. “If you wish to join my service, and thus save your own life, then kneel and devote yourself to me. Otherwise…” His aura flared and the pressure in the courtyard increased to stifling levels.

A few people passed out, while others started to kneel in complete fear of what this thing was. They didn’t have a choice. It was overwhelming.

Only a few people remained standing. All those who were of higher level and had been in the fight against the Queen, along with a few others with stronger wills.

“Some strong wills among you, I like that,” he said. “Would have been a bit dull otherwise.

Cecelia took this moment to step forward, drawing the eyes of all. Leo could see her hands trembling slightly. He couldn’t blame her.

Serrix looked amused as he watched her approach. “I am Cecelia. I—”

“Hello Cecelia,” he said, interrupting her.

“Yes. Hello,” she said, continuing. “These people have been through hell over these last weeks and just want to survive. We would be open to cooperating with you, however, perhaps to help rule Earth together. With our joint power we—”

Serrix burst into laughter. The sound was grating on the ears. Like he’d known laughter once when he could have been human, but now…

“Rule together?” he questioned. “Why would I ever want to rule beside a lowly, inferior, un-evolved species such as yourself? What possible merit could that bring for me?”

She started explaining with a frown, holding her nerve. “We could—”

He was flourishing, arms spread wide before receding. “I’m stronger. I’m smarter. I’m faster. You are all weak sacs of flesh that have not known the blessing that is conversion. Don’t you see?”

He crouched, getting eye to eye with Cecelia.

“I am your evolution.”

Leo got a bad feeling about where this was going. Even more than before as Cecelia’s aura started to leak out. Serrix’s smile didn’t leave his smug face.

“I am not inferior,” Cecelia stated sternly.

Oh fuck. He pushed the button.

“Oh? Why don’t you show me then,” Serrix taunted.

“Go time Ellie, fists.”

In a burst of motion, Leo’s Draconic Equip appeared over his arms, coating them in metallic brilliance.

Lightning.

Lightning overtook his body, enhancing him under the power of his Elemental Stance. He dashed forward in rapid motion.

His fist, in a twist of motion, corkscrewed towards the side of Serrix’s head. Leo watched in almost slow motion as his glowing fist was about to hit. With impossible speed, Serrix spun towards him and grabbed his incoming fist.

The creature’s face lit up as Leo’s dropped. The power of his Spiral break, combined with his Draconic Equip was completely stopped.

His legs kicked out, suddenly coated in the power of the greaves, but Serrix caught that too with another arm before the kick could get started.

“That actually stung a little,” he said, grinning widely. “My turn.”

Leo felt his Nerveflash try to trigger as he was launched towards a building in blinding speed. He’d barely felt the creature move. Barely had time to blink. One moment he was held, the next he was tossed. Hard.

A glowing white shield enveloped him as he was about to impact the building. It didn’t stop him from demolishing the building, but it sure did stop his bones from shattering into a million pieces along with it.

Leo sat in the rubble, staring at the sky. He took those hits like I was nothing more than entertainment. This is bad.

While Leo hadn’t gone all out in the attack, he’d given it at least seventy-five percent. Fuel the Fire had been active, but its maximum output was quite limited. He’d gotten the skill at level 4 after all, yet had been unable to upgrade it since.

Leo stood up, still coated in the full Draconic Equip. He rolled his shoulders, staring out at the creature who was just waiting patiently.

As Leo emerged, completely unscathed, Serrix’s smile dropped for a brief moment.

“I was sure you’d at least have something broken,” he said, tilting his head in thought. The head spun towards a blonde woman who was trying to make herself small.

“How could I forget? The barrier mage…”

Lightning Drive lit up Leo’s body like he’d plugged himself into a transformer. If Serrix was this fast. He’d just need to be faster. He pushed it harder, feeling the storm within him writhe as he gave up some control in exchange for power.

His aura leaked, stopping Serrix from approaching Ashley.

“This could be—” Serrix cut himself off as Leo Wyrmstepped, combined with his Lightning Drive at full blast to make him the fastest he’d been in this entire tutorial.

Air made way for the oncoming fist, crackling with blue lightning. Serrix hardened his stance, launching out his own attack at a speed that matched his own, even after all his buffs.

Spark Dash enveloped him, completely changing his direction as Serrix’s fist tore through the air beside him.

Leo’s fist crashed into the creature, knocking its head sideways and staggering it with lightning that made his body tremble. He followed it up immediately. Both of his fists coated themselves, not in stone, but weight itself.

His heavy fists tore into the creature’s armoured body in a barrage of power. Leo roared as his fists crashed into him over and over. Each hit of Titan Barrage was forcing Serrix backwards, taking more stamina with each one.

The fighters took this moment, when Leo had him pinned, to launch attacks of their own. Those brave enough shot arrows, spells—any ranged attacks they could. No one wanted to approach. No one really could.

Booms reverberated out as Leo pounded the chest of the converted monster. All of it happening in precious seconds.

“Enough!” Serrix roared, a pulse of energy blowing Leo back and interrupting his Barrage.

Nerveflash told him to move as a fist, layered with bright white light shot towards his torso like a homing rocket. Spark Dash wasn’t quick enough, and his emergency movement triggered.

Leo was suddenly prone on the ground, completely beneath Serrix’s foot. Nerveflash had helped him dodge the sudden retaliatory blow, but not the follow up.

The wind left him as his body was crushed under the weight of the blow. Ashley’s shield had absorbed the damage, but the ground was less moveable than a building.

Serrix rested his foot on Leo’s chest after the shield left. “Stop.”

All the attacks had stopped the moment Serrix had called out, bar a few arrows that Ron continued to fire. He stopped when Serrix gave him a look, catching a glowing hot arrow out of the air, and crushing it in his palm.

Serrix exhaled slowly, a hand reaching up to touch his chest. There were dents in his armour. The places Leo had hit him with the equivalent of a battering ram over fifteen times.

Leo struggled under his foot, still reeling from the aftereffects of Nerveflash triggering and being stomped like a bug. The pressure increased as he moved, so he decided to remain still while he recovered.

“You really pack quite a punch for an E-grade,” Serrix said. “Hard to believe you’ve become this strong so quickly, so many Essences too.”

His words sounded like admiration, but the tone he delivered them in promised violence.

“You, I can almost tolerate,” he said to Leo. “But the rest of you filthy humans…”

His aura started pulsing out of him, glowing white light forming into blades of light above his head.

“You should Know. Your. Place.”

“No!” Leo tried to call, but the blades shot out so fast he couldn’t track what little he could see of them.

Defensive skills of every nature started forming over the fighters. Bjorn’s shield came up, deflecting all he could for those around him. Ashley did the same, blocking for whoever she could. The blades exploded as they landed, bright white light detonating with a loud echoing bang.

The power behind each attack was enough to shake his whole body. Each detonation filled him with dread, anxiety… and rage.

He struggled underfoot, pushing up from the ground with all his might as his teeth ground into each other. Fuel the Fire ignited his muscles as they consumed some of the stamina he had left.

“You want to stand? Fine.”

Nerveflash sparked a warning, forcing him to Spark Dash as a foot came swinging for him. It changed direction as he dashed, hitting him as he landed. He tumbled across the ground, Stoneskin absorbing the blow best it could.

He felt himself hit something soft and hard at the same time before he could arrest his own movement. He saw Nolan smiling down at him, blood streaming down his face from a cut above his eye. “Gotcha.”

Leo wheezed as his focus came back. His head was spinning. His health was down at least forty percent, but it felt like more.

Holy fuck that hurt.

It was like being kicked by a freight train.

Ellie suddenly appeared, dragging him up to one knee. Leo didn’t even register it until he was upright, then was suddenly afraid. “Ellie, get back in. It’s not safe,” he stammered out.

“I don’t think it’s going to matter,” Nolan said next to him.

He looked around at the sheer devastation that one attack had caused. People were groaning, screaming, and pleading for help. Some were dead. Others were hopefully just unconscious.

His lip trembled as his breath quickened. In the aftermath, he spotted Bjorn, still upright but injured, and Ashley, who was next to some of his other friends, having shielded them with her barrier.

Cecelia was down on one knee, breathing heavily.

Potions appeared in people’s hands, drinking them down quickly as Serrix stood still. It was like he was waiting for what would happen next.

He clicked his mandibles like clicking his tongue. “I may have gone a little overboard. Even though I keep saying it, it still surprises me how weak you all are. The system will likely punish me for that outburst.” He was talking to himself really, no one in much of a condition to retort.

The system would punish him?

Why the system would do that was a question Leo desperately wanted the answer to. One he wracked his brain for. It could be something they could utilise somehow.

It didn’t help much. Leo’s brain was on fire and frozen over at the same time. His storm was going wild through his chest as the dread of the situation mounted. He had no way out. None other than capitulation. And even that seemed impossible without casualties now.

“Why would it punish you?” Leo asked in a croak.

“Hm?” Serrix asked, suddenly no longer distracted. He smiled broadly at Leo. “I was wondering when you and I would have a real chat. Suppose now is as good as ever.” The creature was unphased. Almost like the last few minutes hadn’t happened.

He started talking, clearly enjoying the sound of his own voice. “I was given this tutorial, same as you by the system. Only, while you all were forced here, I was given a choice—a…chance. I guarantee that pathetic excuse for a Queen was offered one similar. The system, you see, does not just create us from nothing. It grants those of us that stagnate on our paths, or require some kind of immediate, life altering attention, a way out.”

“I was in the former. I was the strongest on my planet, but abandoned by the hive. The system gave me a chance to form a new hive on a new planet. A newly integrated system, rife with power and opportunities. How could I resist?”

Healing light started filling Leo’s body, but Serrix didn’t pay much attention. He’d not even really paid much attention to the growling Ellie, to Leo’s relief.

He continued monologuing. “You could have gone through the entire tutorial without letting me out of my prison. If not for my little follower, Jasper, the tutorial would have ended with me being trapped. At least for a while.” He looked directly at Leo.

“As much as it pains me to admit, if I’d been released after you had hit D-grade, this fight might have actually been a bit closer. But alas, I’m veering off topic.” Serrix shook his head. “You asked why I’d be punished. I suppose I’ll give you that much before I end this.”

“It might seem unfair for you all to have to face such a creature as myself when in a tutorial and newly integrated, and you’d be correct. When I return to Earth, I will be penalised for each life I take within here. But what’s a little penalty in the long run?” He grinned. It made Leo’s blood turn cold. So much for an advantage.

“Now, since I’ve graciously answered your question after you so ruthlessly attacked me. It’s my turn…”

He began pointing his finger like trying to decide who got the prize. “Which one of you has the Territory Orb?”