Yalen didn't know how to answer that question. They both arrived at the scene at the same time, meaning the race was a tie.
"It's a tie." Yalem shrugged and didn't think much of it.
Akriel's eyebrows ceased. She had a hand under her chin. "I see, so that would mean you would have to fight me."
Actually, I don't need to fight anyone, Yalen thought, but he was tempted to fight someone who could actually go toe to toe with him, he had been feeling a strange itch in the back of his head ever since he became a Monarch. "No, not really, and if you're really as strong as me, I don't think this planet could ever support our 'fight'."
Akriel frowned...he was right, her hands dropped a little, and she sighed. "Very well, why not find a suitable battlefield after we form an Alliance, we should both head back to our respective galaxies and planets and meet back here in ten days with some major members of our race."
"Sure, but aren't a few of your subordinates angered about getting beaten by Darya, Holland, and Ad—, wait, where is Adam?" Yalen looked around. Where did that fool go at this moment?.
He heard a sigh, and Adam walked out from Akriel's back as if it were the most natural thing in the world. His hands were wrapped in bandages, and he was holding two curved daggers. His face was half covered, and only his eyes could be seen. Other than that, he was wearing a sleeveless assassin's gear.
He lazily waved his hands at Yalen. "Hey boss, is that your girlfriend?"
Akriel looked at Adam strangely. It was a first for her not to notice someone in her proximity. She was not concerned about him ambushing her as that would mark the human race as their enemy almost instantly.
Yalen's lips twitched. He wondered if he should get new teammates, and he turned to Akriel. "Sorry about Adam, his ability makes him...forgettable and undetectable, but he means well."
Akriel nodded in understanding. "Very well since my subordinates do not want to fight, we are leaving. We shall meet in ten days, Yalen."
She smiled at Yalen before glaring at the three Star race members and also the ten others who were going back...
Once the star race left, Darya stared at Yalen with a raised eyebrow. "Captain, are you interested in the alien girl, I mean, they look the same as us, so I think it could work."
Yalen's face darkened. Why is his extraction squad, aka teammates shipping him with an alien girl, Yalen just thought the alien was alriand it wouldn't be bad to make connections with her, and also, he was curious about there being other races than humans meaning he can go find strong people and fight with them.
Just thinking of that made him want to throw his ship into the sky in excitement.
Now, back to where he left up. "Why are you guys shipping me with Akriel?"
Adam chuckled, his voice muffled. "You two looked quite good together, and the girl spiral spiral-shaped pupils were mesmerising, I would have gauged them out if you weren't there."
Holland laughed loudly and tipped his sunglasses down. "Would Yalen allow you to hurt his girlfriend?"
Yalen blankly looked at them before flipping them all off and leaving them to go hunt for beast Cores.
A day later, back on Earth.
Seth came back from another day of school, and he had to say Tuesdays were less stressful than the other days of the week, and today was the day his mom and dad were coming back so he was a little excited to go back home.
Thally was also excited for them to come back home, but it was for the sole purpose of obtaining Beast Crystals.
Seth knew that and he chose to ignore her strange thoughts and went straight home, when he arrived, the front door of the house was normal but the door was not locked so Seth opened the door immediately.
As he did that, his mother was the first to witness him while she was sitting on the couch, her emerald green eyes lit up.
Seth with a smile went towards her. "Welcome back, Mom."
Hellen pursed her lips and pulled Seth down next to her. She fixed a few strands of hair near his forehead and smiled with satisfaction. "How have you been, Sethie?"
Seth rolled his eyes. "Mom, don't call me that name."
"My little pea, I haven't seen you in months of course I would call you by your nickname, sorry we came late, your father had some things to do and I had to go meet your cousins, aunts and uncles. They want me to take you to see the planet...you can of course, reject it."
Seth frowned. Why would his relatives want him to come to their main planet, as far as he knows, they loathe him and his father for different reasons. For his father was marrying his mother and for him was being born without abilities.
Seth stayed quiet for a moment, his mind running in circles. Why now of all times? He couldn't shake off the heavy feeling that his relatives had a hidden agenda, especially since they had never once shown interest in him before.
"Mom," Seth finally said, narrowing his eyes, "why do they want me to come? You know they never cared before."
Hellen awkwardly chuckled and ruffled his hair. "...you know what, I'll tell you next month."
Seth pouted but did not ask about it anymore, so he asked another question. "So...did dad tell you about Thally?"
Hellen frowned, her irresponsible husband did tell her about their son's new 'friend' and she was furious enough to tie him to the bed for an entire day watching videos of the Illuminai Faction recruitment trailer but she calmed down and later released him after four hours.
She let out a sigh and looked at Seth warmly. "Sethie, as long as your friend isn't dangerous or harmful to you. I don't mind you being with them."
Hearing that as a chance to come out, Thally sprouted from Seth's shoulder and waved at Hellen. "Hey, Mom."
When Seth heard that, he looked at Thally, who was in her human appearance, waving at his mom with a smile on her face, and his eyes twitched.
Hellen stared at Thally with a judging look, her eyes seemingly looking through her. Thally tensed, and her smile slowly became awkward.
After a few moments of silence, Hellen sighed and rubbed her head, a tiny parasite in her precious bean's body called her mom, she was not upset that it called her mom...it's just that she looks like Seth. "You're Thally right."
Thally quickly nodded.
Hellen thought for a moment, then smiled. Well, her son was happy, so she had no reason to complain, and the parasite seemed harmless too. "Well, it's nice to meet you dear, you can call me mom too so it would mean you are now a part of our family, huh, you're Seth's miniature twin sister..."
"Actually, I can become the size of him, but that consumes too much energy." Thally quickly corrected her.
Hellen chuckled. "Ok, well, Seth, you should go meet your father. He is in his lab as usual."
Seth nodded and stood up from the couch. She went straight to his father's lab, where William was experimenting with small corpses of beasts.
Hearing someone entering his lab, William left what he was doing to check, and when he saw Seth, he smiled. "You look taller than the last time I saw you. At least you can now catch up to Emily in height."
Seth was speechless, and Emily wasn't even that much taller than him. Why was his dad suddenly teasing him from out of nowhere? "Come on, Dad Emily isn't that tall."
William shrugged, his eyes flashed towards Thallywho was on Seth's shoulder. "She looks more strange than on the screen, hey there Thally I'm Seth's dad as you know, how are you?"
Thally smiled and excitedly said. "I'm fine, Dad."
Seth once again twitched at her words. Why was she calling everyone his parents? He wanted to bury his face in his hands, but William chuckled instead, shaking his head with amusement.
"Well, at least she's polite," William said, wiping his hands on a towel. "Better than some of your cousins."
Seth frowned again, that word cousins reminding him of what his mom mentioned earlier. He didn't like where this was going.
Thally, however, hopped off his shoulder and curiously wandered around the lab, peeking at glowing vials and dissected beast organs in jars. "Whoa… so this is where the magic happens."
William raised a brow. "Careful, little one. Some of those are toxic. A parasite like you may resist it, but Seth would collapse before I could reach him."
"Noted!" Thally gave a mock salute before retreating to Seth's side.
Seth sighed and rubbed his temples. "Dad… about what Mom said. Do you know why my relatives want me to come to their planet? She said she'd tell me later but…"
William's smile faded. He quietly walked to his desk, tapped a few keys on his terminal, and a projection appeared in the air—a map of a star system. Seth recognises all too well.
"The Chanes family, also known as the 'Seals', are holding a succession war between the three children of the three major branches of the family," William explained, his tone flat, but his eyes betrayed a certain sharpness. "And somehow, you've been placed on the candidate list."
Seth's eyes widened. "Me?!" His voice cracked in disbelief. "Dad, that doesn't even make sense—I don't even have abilities."
William shrugged. "It doesn't, actually. Your mom is the only child of the third branch, so of course you would be dragged in and don't say you don't have powers, I'm pretty sure you can do a lot of things with Thally, though it may be insignificant at the moment but you can grow."
For some reason, Seth felt his dad didn't even care about the Chanes family, Seth calmed down and asked. "Dad, what's the succession war?"
William took a seat in front of Seth and began explaining. "Calling it a war is insulting, it's more of a competition to gain merit for a branch family and also resources to help increase the candidate's strength or their desire to wanting to create a faction, it's honestly stupid but it saves up a spot for the Competition against the thirteen families' top elite ability user's., thoughit aint as bloody as a faction declaring war at another on, it'still brutal."
Seth looked at his dad incredulously. What does he mean? Competition, there were probably candidates who were going to scheme against one another. He actually doesn't want anything to do with it... But he also did not want to disappoint his mom even though she probably wouldn't care about her family's matters. It's more like she is worried that she would accept the calling. "...well, since it's just a little competition... I don't think it'll be bad to participate."
William smiled and stood up to ruffle Seth's hair. "That's my son, and also, please don't tell your mom that I'm convinced you to participate, I already HATE watching videos about the Illuminai faction."
Seth tilted his head in confusion, but you didn't convince me to join. It was of my own accord? But Seth didn't voice out and just nodded.
Seeing his confirmation, William chuckled and took a fist-sized pouch and gave it to Seth. "Since Thally is a plant parasite, my team went out to hunt plant-type beasts on Vector—Alpha, there are forty beasts Crystal's gotten from four different plant-type Mortal Class beasts who have impressive abilities, they should be able to strengthen some of your abilities and develop new plant-based ones."