“That’s right!” Gabrielle nodded several times.

  MacArt clicked his tongue, and then he stood up with a languid nonchalance that put Alex on guard. “You might think me a fool, but I was rather hoping I wouldn’t have to resort to my more… effective methods of bringing Princess Gabrielle around. Toys are no fun to play with when they’re broken.”

  Alex clenched his teeth. It wasn’t just the words this man spoke that bothered him, but it was also the way in which he said them. That nonchalant tone, as if he was talking about what sort of dinner he wanted to eat that night, pissed Alex off.

  He could already tell that this man didn’t consider Gabrielle to be anything more than a tool and a toy. People like MacArt were the type who used others. Whether it was through blackmail, murder, or some other means, they always used people for their own purposes, draining others dry of everything they were, and then discarding them when they had outlived their usefulness. People like MacArt made Alex want to wretch.

  “I’m no one’s toy!” Gabrielle shouted. Alex smiled. “I don’t even have a remote control like a toy should.”

  Alex facepalmed. That wasn’t what he meant, Gabby…

  MacArt grinned. “I’m sure I can fix that. In fact, once I’ve disposed of the foolish boy you’re so fond of, I believe I’ll have my contacts make a Parasyte controller just for you.”

  “Like I’d let that happen!” Alex snapped.

  Laughing, MacArt gazed down at him with the expression of someone who was about to step on a bug. “Boy, you might think you have some modicum of power, but I believe you will find that in the end, you. Are. Powerless.”

  Alex hadn’t been sure of what to expect. He knew nothing of this man beyond what little Nyx had told him. Even so, he hadn’t been expecting nearly a dozen guns that were about the size of a fighter’s main cannon to drop from the ceiling.

  “Well,” Alex started, “that’s not good.”

  The guns opened fire.

  8

  Azazel stood on the bridge of the Dauntless, his flagship, watching as the battle played out.

  Both he and his foe had brought out their respective fighters. Angelisians were galaxy renowned for having fighter crafts that were both agile and full of powerful ordinance. They were designed more for taking out large targets like battleships, dreadnoughts, and fortresses. That said, they could hold their own in a dog fight just fine—normally.

  “Sir, we’ve lost ten fighters. The pilots were safely ejected. No casualties so far.”

  Azazel nodded as his controlman spoke, taking in the information and thinking it through carefully. They were at a disadvantage in this battle. King MacArt’s fighters were small and agile craft meant for high-speed dogfights. While his fighters were fast, that speed remained only if the fighters moved linearly. They couldn’t make quick turns.

  “Have our forces draw the enemy away from the floating palace. Turn us around ninety-six degrees. Aim Osiris at Alpha point 1102. Get ready to fire on my command.” Azazel waited and watched forces carried out his orders. The Dauntless turned about as his fighters taunted their enemy and made the other squadron chase after them. This was it. “Fire!”

  Light streaked from Osiris, the main cannon of his command ship. It looked like a brilliant beam several dozen meters in diameter. The beam tore through space and struck the enemy starfighters. Quite a few were blown apart, but a good deal of them also escaped in time to avoid destruction.

  Large battles were rarely fought and won on individual merit. More often than not, superior tactics and a skilled unit that could use teamwork and follow orders won the day. Azazel had fought in enough battles to understand the truth of those words, and he would show these people now that his knowledge was more than just theoretical.

  “Half of their fighters have been annihilated,” the controlman announced.

  “Good,” Azazel said. “Now, turn us back onto our original course. We’ll continue harrying the enemy until our boarding party has secured Princess Gabrielle and escaped.”

  9

  Alex would have probably become quite holey if Gabrielle hadn’t grabbed him and took flight. With her arms around his stomach, she flew through the air, avoiding a hailstorm of laser fire.

  “Thanks for the save,” Alex said.

  “You’re welcome, but we’re still in a bit of trouble,” Gabrielle replied.

  “I noticed.”

  Trouble was an understatement. The guns were tracking them. Laser fire nipped at their heels. Alex thought could feel the heat from them singeing his boots.

  “Take us down, Gabby!”

  “Okay!”

  Gabrielle must have already known what he wanted from her, because she dove down toward the control station. Alex hadn’t realized it at first, but this was the command chamber, the bridge. The ship was controlled from here—and they were going to mess it up.

  The lasers tracked them, aiming at the ground below. Gabrielle swerved and juked and jinked and even performed a few barrel rolls. She avoided the lasers like a pro-pilot.

  The people who were immediately below her, the ones who controlled the ship, were not so fortunate. Explosions rocked the floor as consoles were struck, detonating in a brilliant blaze of fire and smoke. All of the people who’d been working at their stations were running around, screaming in fear. It was pandemonium. A threnody of cries like tortured souls echoed from the depths of hell mixed with detonations.

  “We’re all gonna die!”

  “Save the women and children!”

  “Idiot! There are no children here!”

  “THE WORLD IS COMING TO AN END!”

  He and Gabrielle avoided the people. They weren’t looking to kill anyone. Gabrielle zoomed around all of the consoles, letting the guns tracking her destroy the consoles that controlled the ship for her. Up above, snarling and spitting, King MacArt seemed to have realized their intentions. The guns stopped.

  “You… how dare you two do this to me! You’ve ruined my ship!”

  “You ruined your own ship,” Alex said as he and Gabrielle set down. “It’s not our fault you’re an idiot.”

  The look on MacArt’s face, which had twisted in rage, suddenly cleared. The man smirked. “I’ll admit that I might have been impatient and used a method that did more harm than good. In that case, I shall kill you with a less destructive but even more effective method.”

  MacArt unveiled a device from within his cape. It was small, thin, and shaped like a U. The tyrannical king fiddled with it. Alex and Gabrielle only had a moment to ponder MacArt’s actions before, like a pair of speeding comets, two hooded figures leapt from behind the throne and tried to drop kick them.

  He and Gabrielle leapt back as the figures slammed into the walkway, denting the metal with their feet. Alex gawked. That sort of strength was insane! Had he been hit by that kick, it would have pulverized his head!

  MacArt laughed. “You might have gotten the drop on those girls I had guarding Gabrielle, but you only escaped because they were being controlled by basic programming. I’m the one controlling these two. Neither of you stand a chance!”

  Alex would’ve replied with a snappy comeback, something along the lines of how only foolish villains spewed out such clichéd lines. However, at that moment, the two figures stood up and pulled their hoods back. He and Gabrielle both gasped.

  The two people standing before them were familiar. One was a beautiful blonde girl with hair curled with numerous drill-like shapes, and the other was a cute girl with brown hair and eyes. Blank eyes stared at them with a deadness that was startling. It was like they had been turned into dolls. Their cloaks parted as they stood up to reveal a bodysuit similar to Alex’s Angelisian crisis suit, except it didn’t have the telltale circuits that Angelisian suits had.

  “Alice! Jasmine!” Alex glared at MacArt, who was laughing. “What have you done to them?!”

  “The same thing I did to all of your friends. These two are under my control now. I wonder, can you really harm your sister and her friend to get to me? Do you really have it in you to be so cold-blooded? Let’s find out.”

  Alice and Jasmine launched themselves at him and Gabrielle like coils, closing the distance faster than should have been humanly possible.

  Jasmine had been sent after him. Her feet slid across the floor as she threw a punch that caused the air to burst. The power behind her punch was undeniable. It was also worrying. Jasmine knew basic combat, which he should know, seeing as he’d been the one to give her lessons, but she wasn’t physically strong. She definitely wasn’t strong enough to cause powerful gusts of displaced air.

  Something is wrong here.

  Alex shuffled across the ground, bending and twisting his torso to avoid Jasmine’s punches and kicks. He leaned right just as a powerful straight sailed past his head. The power behind her punch caused his hair to be blown out of his face. As Jasmine spun around and tried to heel kick him, Alex leapt back. Despite dodging her attack, the strength behind it was such that a tear appeared on his crisis suit.

  S-she cut through my suit!

  Angelisian crisis suits were body enhancement suits that increased the wearer’s physical strength, protected them from elemental damage, and increased their reflexes by a factor of two. They were also durable, though they couldn’t withstand cutting damage and didn’t protect one against blunt force trauma. For her to cut his suit with wind pressure alone was astounding—no, it shouldn’t have even been possible!

  “Gya-ha-ha-ha!!” MacArt’s laughter rang in Alex’s ears as he swerved around Jasmine’s left straight. His cheek stung as a small cut appeared on his skin. “How do you like this?! Do you still think you have any hope of beating me?!”

  “Just you wait!” Alex snapped as he hopped backwards. A gust of wind was launched from Jasmine’s fist. It missed, but he could still feel the effects. “Once I rescue Alice and Jasmine, I’m going to kick your ass so hard you won’t be able to shit without using a bedpan!”

  “Gya-ha-ha-ha! If you think you can actually injure me, then go ahead and try!”

  “With pleasure!”

  Alex channeled his Aura of Creation into his feet and used it to launch himself into the air as though jet propelled. He soared over Jasmine, landed in front of MacArt, and threw a punch that would blow this man’s head off.

  A figure appeared in front of his target. It was Alice. Alex stopped his fist centimeters from her nose. Then he felt intense agony in his stomach as Alice kicked him. His intestines felt like they were being squashed as he was lifted off his feet and sent sailing backwards, landing on the floor and tumbling across the cold metal.

  “Alex!” Gabrielle screamed. She tried to run over to him, but Jasmine suddenly appeared in front of her, forcing Gabrielle to dodge her attacks.

  Scrambling to his feet, Alex held his stomach as he leapt backwards, avoiding the heel that threatened to crush his skull. It hit the floor instead. Alex grimaced when the floor dented under his sister’s heel. It wasn’t the dent that bothered him, however, but the way Alice’s ankle had become twisted like wrapping paper.

  “Alex!” Gabrielle said, leaning back to avoid Jasmine’s kick. “I know what’s wrong with these two! The limiters on their bodies have been unlocked!”

  There was an old theory about how humans had limiters inside of their brains. These limiters kept humans from being able to use their full strength. This was a natural defense to protect them from breaking their body.

  The human body supposedly only used ten percent of its strength, while the rest was locked away. If a human used more than ten percent, then their body would slowly start to decay as their muscles were torn apart.

  It was a theory that no one had been able to prove, even to this day. The human brain had been mapped numerous times. Scientists had gone over it over and over again in the past, but no one had been able to prove the theory of there being limiters.

  Alex wasn’t sure if he believed in limiters either, but whatever the case may have been, it was clear that Alice and Jasmine had more strength than a regular human. It was also clear that their bodies were damaging themselves.

  Alice moved in with a punch that seemed to split the air. Alex countered it with his crisis suit enhanced strength, knocking her fist away and leaping backwards. His back pressed against Gabrielle’s.

  “Do you know how we can defeat these two without injuring them?” Alex asked.

  Gabrielle hummed. “If we can disrupt the link between their brains and the Parasyte, then it should knock them out. You’ll have to use your Angelisian powers to send a pulse of energy directly into their bodies. I’d do it myself, but I’m afraid of injuring them.”

  Alice and Jasmine lunged at them. Gabrielle grabbed Alex’s hand and flew into the air. Her timing was good. The two just barely missed them. Alice and Jasmine passed beneath him. The gust of wind that followed their passage nearly knocked them off course, forcing Gabrielle to readjust her flight until she could land again.

  “How do I scramble the Parasyte?” Alex asked.

  “If you send your energy into their body as a pulse, it will scramble it. You might want to try touching their back. That’s where the parasyteparasite is located. It’ll probably be safer for them. I couldn’t do that to Selene and Ryoko, and I nearly hurt them.”

  “Got it. Hit their back. Scramble the Parasyte.” Alex paused. “Think you can distract them for me?”

  “I’ll do my best!”

  Gabrielle set Alex down and rushed at the pair. Without the gloves for her D-space, she didn’t have any weapons or devices to use. That didn’t stop her from charging at the two to serve as a distraction. She ran straight for Alice, engaging the girl in a clumsy attempt at hand to hand combat. Her movements were awkward as she blocked and avoided his sister’s attacks. She would stumble, then regain her footing, only to stumble once more as she tried to dodge a punch or kick.

  Jasmine came at him. Alex had no intention of fighting her. He ran away from Jasmine and toward the fight between Gabrielle and Alice. Channeling his power into his hands, he reached for Alice’s neck and released his power into her as a single pulse of energy. Alice’s body jolted as if zapped, her eyes rolled into the back of her head, and she slumped forward into Gabrielle’s waiting arms.

  “Alex, behind you!” Gabrielle warned him.

  Responding to her warning without a second thought, Alex spun around and found Jasmine nearly in his face. He leaned back. A gust of wind stung his eyes. However, he ignored the water appearing in his aqueducts and grabbed onto her wrist, shuffled forward, and then swerved around her so that he was behind her, her wrist held in a lock.

  Jasmine tried to break free. Alex wouldn’t let her. He gritted his teeth and kept a firm grip on her wrist with one hand and raised the other to her neck, sending a jolt of energy through her. Like Alice before her, Jasmine’s body spasmed as if shocked, her eyes rolled into the back of her head, and she collapsed. Alex scooped the girl into his arms.

  Mocking claps echoed around the command room. “Bravo. That was quite the show you put on… and you even beat my new dolls. That’s a bit disappointing, but I guess when you work with inferior quality goods, you receive an inferior end product.”

  Hearing this man call Alice and Jasmine “inferior” really pissed Alex off. “I’m going to kick your ass so hard now.”

  MacArt’s grin was oddly triumphant. “Are you sure that’s such a good idea? Are you sure you can? You and Princess Gabrielle are now bogged down by those two.”

  As MacArt spoke, the turrets that had been harassing them from before slid down from their place on the ceiling and locked on to him and Gabrielle. It seemed MacArt no longer cared if Gabrielle lived or died. Alex looked around. The guns were surrounding them on all sides. They wouldn’t be able to escape like this.

  “What will you do?” MacArt asked. “Will you sacrifice the two girls to save yourselves, or will you die alongside them? I certainly wouldn’t blame you if you decided to sacrifice them. Humans are a rather disgusting race. I can’t tell you the number of times a human has sold out their entire family to save themselves. Will you be the same? I wonder.”

  Alex couldn’t think of any way out of this. He wasn’t going to abandon Jasmine. Gabrielle should be able to fly off with his sister, but he was a sitting duck. Unlike her, he couldn’t fly.

  But I can make a shield…

  “Gabrielle!” Alex shouted. “Fly up!”

  It pleased Alex that Gabrielle trusted him enough to not ask questions. She shot into the air seconds before the turrets opened fire. He thought he could hear her screaming his name, but it was hard to hear over the roar of blaster fire.

  Dredging up whatever strength he had left, Alex poured it into creating a shield. Sweat dripped down his forehead as a silvery blue barrier sprang up around him. Laser fire hammered his shield relentlessly. Cracks appeared and were quickly repaired as Alex diverted more and more energy into keeping it intact.

  However, as more cracks started to appear faster than he could repair them, Alex realized that he might be screwed.

  10

  Michelle and Ariel eventually found the boarding shuttle that Alex had used. Nyx and Kazekiri were both there, standing in the middle of several large piles of moaning, groaning bodies. It didn’t look like they had killed anyone—at the very least, she couldn’t see any blood.

  “Nyx! Kazekiri!” Michelle called out.

  The two looked up. Kazekiri was the closest to them, and she was the one who responded. “You’re… Michelle and Ariel, right? What are you two doing here?”

  “We were kidnapped by Selene and Ryoko while they were under someone else’s control,” Michelle answered.

  “Speaking of, where I can put these two?” asked Ariel, hefting the pair of unconscious bodies in her arm.

  “Oh, um, just strap them into a seat within the boarding shuttle,” Kazekiri said. As Ariel headed off for the shuttle, Kazekiri addressed Michelle. “Where’s Alex and Gabrielle?”

  “I think they’re fighting the one who was responsible for this whole mess.”