Braverte stands in silence in front of Bilicus’ corpse. He thinks to himself that at the end of the day, Bilicus was a pawn in someone else’s game. He was a victim of circumstance. There is someone pulling the strings who created an army of zombies. Based on everything that happened, these zombies will follow orders and be capable of regenerating lost limbs. No fear of pain or death. It would be an immortal army with super strength. If they were given proper armor and weapons, they would be unstoppable.

The sounds of Demo’s fighting snap Braverte out of it. Braverte hears a strange sound in the opposite direction down the hall. As he quickly turns his head to identify the source, he sees a scientist breathe out their last breath. He turns his head back and starts walking towards the fighting.

Around the corner of where the scientist dead, is Strils. He saw Bilicus lose his life and heard what he told Braverte. Strils can’t believe what he just heard. How could Bilicus hide this from him for so long. He knows that if he is found by Braverte or Pulmo he will die. He needs to get out of here and leave this planet. He runs away into the dark hallways to find his escape.

Pulmo finally reaches where Cleus, Ten, and Cyte are. She sees the three of them on the ground but can hear them laughing. She is relieved to see them still alive, but then her eyes open in shock to see that these 3 young ones were able to defeat 3 zombies. Impressed, she gently smiles.

The three of them hear and then see Pulmo approaching. Ten is the first one to welcome her.

“I got the proof.”

He raises the bag of MYOS he took from Strils.

“I’m not sure, but Strils had a bunch of it in the basement of that building. But I think he left by now and probably took it with him somehow.”

“Everyone ok?”

Cleus smiled as he sat up.

“A king is always fine. To be anything else would bring shame to his followers.”

Cyte chimes in.

“Indeed.”

Pulmo doesn’t answer. She takes a closer look at the bodies of the zombies and can see that their wounds are blood-based. Which means these kids really did take them down alone. She then looks at the building, and based on what Ten just told her, there might still be more hidden.

“Wait.”

She went into the building, and a few minutes later, she came back out with another bag filled with MYOS and some other documents. The three of them know that Pulmo is going to tell them to go with her, so they have already gotten up. Pulmo nods as a sign of appreciation.

“Let’s go.”

Pulmo, and the rest then go to where Demo and Braverte are.

Dewina took his time to get to where Demo was. Because he exerted a lot of energy to avenge his brethren. His steps were slow as he recovered some of his stamina and calmed his enraged mind. He knows that fighting in anger dulls his reaction speed and adaptability. When he reaches the fight he has calmed himself and takes a moment to assess the situation.

Sachem is fighting in a calm and systematic manner with extreme control and a highly tuned reaction speed. But his counters and reactions seem to follow a set pattern, as if someone drilled the proper reactions into his body. Diwena thinks to himself that Sachem must have gone through hell to get that kind of muscle memory. But Demo, on the other hand, is improving at an alarming rate.

Whenever he engages Sachem, he uses his body weight with heavy punches and rotates his body to enhance the speed of his combinations. And when he gets countered he calls My-Ty to take his place and then closes his eyes to review what went wrong. My-Ty is also learning how to control the flow of the fight. He is starting to treat the exchanges with Sachem as a game of chess instead of an exchange of strength and technique.

Whenever Sachem counters, it feels as if My-Ty was expecting it to a certain degree and prepared his own response. And whenever Demo steps in, My-Ty keeps his eyes focused on Sachem. He has also realized that Sachem is following certain patterns of attack and defense. It’s clear that My-Ty is focusing on being fluid in a fight and controlling the flow. Whereas Demo is learning how to use his body and powers in a proper way.

But both of them look exhausted. This new strategy, however effective, is draining them mentally and physically. They won’t last much longer if this continues, and Sachem looks like he still has an ace up his sleeve. Diwena decides that he has to step in to make sure that they can defeat Sachem. Diwena jumps up high and raises his sword up above his head so that the blade is on his back. Right as he is about to land he swings the blade down full force on Sachem.

Sachem saw him coming so he threw a left straight and turned his body to face an incoming Diwena and threw a right uppercut. His fist and Diwena’s blade collide.

“Seems I was too late to stop you.”

“Ovindor Zhaqris (You’re next).”

“Big words from a low-ranked warrior.”

These words shocked Diwena. Not only did Sachem understand him but he even knew that Diwena wasn’t a general or a royal guard. This shock was the opening that Sachem was waiting for. He threw a quick combination of punches that struck Diwena and sent him back flying. Diwena lands, immediately stands up, and brushes off the punches like they were nothing. But thinks to himself that this human is strong.

Demo and My-Ty both took that moment to recover. Sachem, in a zig zag pattern, rushes towards Diwena while weaving his body and head. Diwena slams his sword into the ground and then swings it like a lever. This throws debris and dust towards an approaching Sachem. But Sachem is deterred because he is able to sense where Diwena is. He rushes through the dust to where he senses Diwena. Once he is close up he throws a right straight with full force. The punch goes straight through Diwena. But that’s when Sachem realizes that what he hit wasn’t the Palindra. It was a shadow that took his form and had a bit of his energy. Sachem fell for the trap.

Diwena jumps with his swords from the shadows under Sachem. The timing was impeccable but Sachem’s was still able to dodge the vital attack. But his face was cut. Sachem jumps back and touches the cut on his face. He can’t believe he fell for such a basic trick. But this is the first time he has seen a Palindra do this move. But even so, he shouldn’t have been touched. Perhaps fatigue is building up after My-Ty and Demo. He is going to have to go full power.

Sachem takes a deep breath. The atmosphere around his body changes. The energy level in his body raises at a high rate. He then slams his fists together 3 times. An explosion of energy is released, and the spectators cover their faces to prevent the dust from messing up their sight. Then, from within the dust, a single word is heard.

“Three”

Chapter 74 fin