Four

  The first of the rift beasts ripped itself free of the metal forest with a roar that rattled Kon’s bones as a toothy maw stared down at them. Nearly twelve feet tall and covered in scales of shifting colors, its conical teeth were yellow and an aroma of rotting meat and death rolled across Kon and Alice. Tears filled his eyes as he repressed his gag reflex and staggered behind the one-armed woman who faced down the monster without fear.

  Violet energy burst out and around Alice and she blurred away as she leapt away from snapping jaws. A foot connected with the beast’s jaw and the creature’s momentum was redirected as it was launched away from Kon and into the thick trunk of a particularly dense looking tree. Its broad skull hit the tree and with a crack it split the trunk and sent the heavy tree crashing to the ground.

  Kon finally got a good glimpse of the animal as it staggered to find its feet. It was two legged, but hunched over and its legs were thick pillars of muscles that rippled beneath the colorful scales. A pair of undersized arms emerged from its torso, four dexterous fingers ended in black claws the length of Kon’s forearm. Its head was flat on top with a ridge of bone encircling the perimeter like a crown. Scarlet eyes glared out at the world, filled with rage and hatred.

  Alice bounded in, her explosive step blowing a hole in the ground, and the axe split the air with a howl. The beast whirled with surprising speed, but it wasn’t fast enough. Alice cut through the bony and muscular neck with a blast of violet energy and the creature's head thumped into the ground, sending a geyser of water and mud upward. The torso stood frozen for a moment before slowly tilting over and landing opposite of its head.

  “Weak. D-Grade at best,” Alice kicked the corpse and tilted her head before the axe slashed open the chest of the monster in two wicked blows. Bone, muscle and the scaly flesh all split like they were paper.

  “There should be a rift beast core in there. Pull it out while I deal with the rest of them,” Alice was already turning back to look at the forest, drawing in deep breaths as her aura thickened. Kon looked towards the edge of the forest where the beast had emerged and saw glaring scarlet eyes looking at them.

  “Should we run? Try to head toward where the rest of the crews landed?” Kon asked. Not having a weapon was making his palms itch.

  “Run? Why? They’re weak and you need resources to build nodes. They’re weak and their cores won’t do anything for me, but for you they’ll be perfect. So, shove your head in there and start harvesting,” Alice said. She strutted forward and before she left Kon was certain he had caught a smile on her face.

  “You’re injured,” Kon whispered, shaking his head as he slowly walked over to the steaming corpse. He kept one eye on Alice as more of the giant predators burst out of the forest, before Alice turned into violet afterimages. Her current speed made it impossible for him to track, but monsters began to die as body parts flew across the crash site.

  Kon turned toward the dead monster just as he was certain he heard laughter emanating from the knight. She was a monster if she could be laughing hours after losing an arm and being stranded on a planet.

  White muscle fibers nearly glowed in the dim light of the storm-wracked planet and Kon groaned as he shoved his arm into the wound. Everyone knew that beast cores were built into monster’s hearts. The muscles grew around them and the pulsing blood of the monster constantly delivered fresh mana taken in from their lungs to the core.

  It was surprisingly similar to the circulatory system. Monsters would breathe in and use that to draw ambient mana inwards. There it was filtered into their blood and used to strengthen their bodies. Humans and other more advanced species used different methods to develop their abilities. Afterall, while a monster could become powerful, at the end of the day it was only a body amplification process.

  A Knight’s training could make them so much more than a body enhancer.

  If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

  The blood was still hot even if the pummeling rain was cold, a dichotomy as half of Kon’s body was forced into the beast, hand blindly searching about. He closed his eyes and stretched further and his fingers brushed something electric. A spark raced down his arm and through his body and his eyes flew open as he grasped the core.

  Fetid breath washed over him and he turned his gaze onto another of the stalking monsters. It was smaller, only eight feet long, and seemed younger. The thick bone and muscles of its larger brethren were missing, but the long claws on its arms and its ravenous mouth looked plentiful enough to leave him nothing but minced meat.

  “ALICE!” Kon screamed as he ripped his hand out of the monster, fingers clenched painfully around the core. Power flooded through him, electricity and fire scouring his veins as a beastly aura rolled out of his pores, bloodred and hungry. The monster leapt at him and Kon watched it as if in slow motion.

  Each drop of rain seemed to be moving through molasses, no longer a silver curtain but a million and a half individual beads. The juvenile monster was feet away, jaw still slowly widening, and Kon stood to his feet and ran to the side. Scarlet eyes tracked him, but the monster’s body didn’t change direction as it hit where he had just been, burying its snout into its dead packmate.

  Kon felt invincible, the world his plaything, as the monster’s energy flowed through him. The aura thickened and spread until enveloped everything around him, his breath hitched and his heart stuttered as blood began to pour out of his nose. He smiled, euphoria vanquishing any thoughts of self-preservation. His fist curled around the core and he burst forward and cocked his hand back as he drove every ounce of strength he had into punching the monster.

  All day he had been terrified. Scared of the invaders, scared during his descent in the escape pods, scared during his run through the woods, and finally, he had been scared of these beasts. All of that fear and feeling of helplessness, shame, and inferiority poured out of him as he screamed in defiance of the world and his place in it. He would no longer stand at the bottom looking up in fear.

  Knuckles hit the scaled hide of the beast and knuckles broke even as all of that aura that had blanketed him blasted through the beast and outward in a red tide. Flesh turned liquid and the creature was blown in half as Kon was thrown backward. The raging inferno that had been building in him was extinguished, smothered as he had poured it all in that single punch.

  “Not bad. I can work with that,” Alice said as Kon slowly turned to look at the Knight. She was covered in blood, from head to toe. The pounding rain was making it run, but there was viscera in her hair that made it thick and clumpy. Her claimed axe was propped over her shoulder as she cocked a hip out to balance herself and looked at the monster he had killed.

  “I mean, blew an entire D-grade core and probably destroyed the F-grade core in that one, but not bad. That was a nice war cry too. Lots of emotion and felt heartfelt,” Alice continued to ramble as Kon slowly blinked his eyes as a powerful wave of lethargy rolled over him.

  “I’m definitely going to pass out.”

  “Alright, there’s another pack headed this way and I've already collected the salvageable cores. On your feet, we need to find some type of shelter.” Alice kicked him gently in the ribs.

  “I’d offer you a hand, but I already gave you one to get off the ship,” Alice said, immediately snorting and chuckling to herself.

  “I’m going to have fun with this. Leo is never going to believe that I lost an arm. Will need to take a vid later,” Alice muttered to herself as Kon rose shakily to his feet. He felt hollowed out, as if a stray breeze would send him tumbling back to the ground.

  “Oh, that. Yeah the first time you channel that much energy sucks. Backlash. Once you have a core or two spinning along, you’ll be fine.” Alice’s information washed over Kon, one part of his mind grabbed it but he couldn’t fully process it. The first step was the hardest, bloody mud sucking at his boots as he made the first step. Alice was already entering the forest in the direction the pack had come from.

  The small clearing from the crash site was filled with corpses. Alice’s brutality had ensured that Kon couldn’t count the dead without at least a few hours and someone helping him, preferably someone who was good at puzzles. Body parts were strewn about in a disarray and every step left crimson on his legs.

  “She was collecting cores while I fought. She could have easily stepped in and saved me.”

  Kon thought about that as they walked into the forest. Becoming a Knight was strenuous and years long slog of intense training. Those who survived it and became Knights, and even more so those who were prestigious enough to become officers, weren’t the type to waste their time. The squires they chose to become Apprentices were generally the most distinguished in their class. A Knight of Alice Roose’s caliber could pick anyone she wanted to apprentice to her. And not just from the chapter houses, but from the actual Knightly Orders. The direct Scions of old Earth.

  Kon’s brain was tired and his thoughts were mush but he had single clear thought that rang though him like a gong.

  “She said I’m worthwhile. In her own way anyways.” That thought more than anything helped him pick up his steps and kept his head held high as he raced after the knight. This was a disaster of a day, but there was an opportunity here, if he was strong enough to claim it.