The Aitherians are a very proud race. They viewed themselves as a dominant species, spreading such beliefs across galaxies, laying ruin to any who'd oppose their ideals.
Their rampage across galaxies didn't always end in complete and utter domination, however. There were plenty that had survived their assaults, albeit heavily weakened.
This left a trail of loose ends for the Aitherians, and throughout the decades of chaos they caused wherever they went, their cruelty finally came back to bite them not long after they made arrangements to take Earth.
If it hadn't been for that, they'd have simply supercharged the planet's core after humanity tried to fight back.
But such actions would no doubt set off the divine beings that kept their eyes on them.
'Why aren't the Gods turning a blind eye like they usually do…?' An Aitherian General lamented.
Up until they made their arrival on planet Earth, the Gods had never intervened. Granted, the Gods almost never intervened in anythin, even in times of genocide or wars in their name.
But whatever had held them back, seemed to not count when it came to Earth. The weirdest thing was the fact that the Aitherians had subjugated plenty of Earths across many galaxies.
The planet wasn't exclusive, it was pretty common among galaxies, actually.
But this particular one, in this particular galaxy, seemed to have something that the Gods didn't want the Aitherian's interfering with.
The even more confusing thing was that the gods hadn't stopped them from killing and capturing humans. It seemed their interest went deeper than humanity as a whole…
The Aitherian General, General Nadalthik, stood from his lavish seat, checking the time.
"Dammit." He let out with a sigh. He didn't like having to do anything, he was the laid-back type, but he had a city run…
Every General was tasked with supervising a small city within the home ship. The ship in itself was what made the Aitherians so dangerous across galaxies.
It was utterly massive, about as large as a continent. It even had its own artificial sun, not that they needed it themselves, no, it was because the humans needed it.
They usually wouldn't bother with making sure the planets they were taking over were able to survive, with just the ship alone blotting out the sun's light. But they were simply being cautious, as the Gods may have very well descended if they deprived the humans of such an essential thing.
Stepping out onto his balcony, General Nadalthik peered across the expanse of his city.
With a population of roughly 200,000. Around 3% of that was standard level sentries.
True blooded noble Aitherians would never stoop so low as to commit a crime, "But those damn dirty blooded freaks are the real problem." Nadalthik spoke, disgust evident in his scowl.
In a society such as the Aitherian's, procreation between a noble and a lowborn was nearly a crime sentenceable by death. Most citizens that walked the streets were nobles, so they wouldn't bat an eyelash at the slaughter of a lowborn.
On the off chance that a mixed blooded child was allowed to live, they were almost guaranteed to be put into the slums, and likely put to work for the rest of their lives.
Very few earned the right to work regular jobs, and the only ones they could work were ones that had high risks.
As the General went over his schedule, he was oblivious to what was happening to the neighboring abandoned city.
The lowborn Aitherian mercenary hadn't wasted time the moment they got the audio recording from the killed sentry.
It had immediately brought it to its superior, getting a directive a few days later that they'd be the one to take care of this possible threat that now resided near the western city.
As the lowborn left the office of their superior with their new directive, they couldn't help but look at the information provided on actual paper once more.
Apparently, a human male test subject was to blame. The human had been captured by a returning Aitherian soldier on Earth, and was given to the lab city to test experimental devices.
According to the sentries that were in charge of conducting a test with a newly developed method of ability injection, the human male had shown no signs of life the moment after they went through with the test.
Not too long after they left, the operator in charge of monitoring the life signs and security of the sentries reported a life sign going off.
That was all the information they had. Or at least what they were willing to share with the lowborn mercenary. Being a mercenary already came with not being respected, but being a lowborn at that definitely isn't ideal.
Lowborns didn't even have the right to a gender.
Folding the paper and storing it in their jacket, the Aitherian now understood how serious the higher ups among the law enforcement were taking this.
They only ever used paper if they wanted something to remain confidential.
Using a public teleporter once again, they appeared before the lab city once more. The reason it was abandoned was because noble Aitherians refused to live there.
Something about how it was unsightly for a noble to live in such a ragged place. So, it had been repurposed into a city where only sentries resided, and likely other lowborns that couldn't afford to live in the western city.
It didn't take long before the mercenary had found their way back to where they had been previously.
Using the short range teleporter technology provided by the city's sentries, the mercenary teleported a great distance down the expansive hall in mere seconds.
There were plenty of doors lining the walls of the hall. As a mercenary, the lowborn was allowed access to a low rank mana detecting skill that came with their service weapon.
Activating the skill, the mercenary felt faint traces of mana in the air. Following the trail, it wasn't long before they came upon a particular door.
The trail continued further down the hall, but the suspect clearly had to have stopped in the room behind the door for the mana to have gathered up so much.
Opening the door and walking inside, the lowborn was thrown for a brief loop.
What was with the destroyed remains of a sealing cube on the floor…?
"What did that human do here?' With their skill, the lowborn could see that there were traces of something with large amounts of mana that had been in the room.
It wasn't the same as the suspects- no, it was definitely something far stronger. It felt ancient, even.
Deciding they wouldn't get much more information standing around, the mercenary left the room, seeing the mana traces flow down the hallway.
"What…?" Why were the gaps between the traces of mana so far apart?
The lowborn was having a bad feeling about this human…
Something was definitely off about him. The mercenary couldn't help but wonder if the human had actually gotten an ability from the sentries experiments.
The General that had been in charge of the now abandoned city had given the sentries free reign to do whatever they wanted before they were stationed somewhere else.
Not much was known about the things that happened in the Lab City. Of course there were rumours, but nothing concrete.
The lowborn couldn't help the shiver that went down their spine as they followed along the trail of mana. Something was off…
At first, the traces were a noticeable distance apart, but seemingly not too long after, they grew even further apart, nearly full meters of distance between them.
The fact that there were traces of mana at all suggested that the human wasn't experienced with flowing mana with a skill or ability.
…
"I'm kinda glad this isn't worth my time anymore." Soren spoke aloud.
Although he enjoyed getting some free levels by killing these monsters, it didn't really give him the same excitement as when he killed the Aitherian.
The thought was weird to have, he was aware of that, but the risk of fighting something that was definitely stronger than himself just made him feel alive in a way he hadn't experienced before.
It was hard to describe, so he simply decided not to put a definition to it. While he wasn't very keen on risking his life looking for fights, he was more than aware that he wouldn't forget that feeling anytime soon.
Standing up, Soren checked his now fully replenished mana. It was definitely faster now that he had added points to his constitution. He was half convinced to max out constitution right away, but having more mana available was definitely better than being able to recover it faster.
Dexterity would have to be abandoned for now, at least until either his intelligence or constitution were at their max for his rank.
Stretching a bit, Soren prepared to finally leave this room after so much time spent farming experience.
He was curious what would be beyond that door he had seen when he had first entered the room.
Before he could even take a step, however, there was a tingling sensation on the back of his neck.
Something in him was trying to tell him something. The feeling was uncanny, it was like he could feel every mote of dust on his skin.
'Someone's coming…' He didn't recognize the voice within himself, but he instinctively knew it was his own.
Turning towards the door that he had come in from, it was almost like he could feel the mana the person was giving off.
"Strong…", was the only word he could think of. Whatever was behind that door was undoubtedly several times stronger than him. Definitely stronger than the Aitherian he had barely managed to kill.
It wasn't like he was as defenseless as he had been back then, but Soren couldn't help but think it wasn't worth much against whatever was approaching.
There was nowhere to hide, and even if there was, there was no time to either.
He'd just have to try his best. He felt a faint excitement behind all of his instinctive fear.
He pushed the feeling away as the door opened with a sonorous creak. As if hailing their arrival.
They were definitely an Aitherian. Soren could tell at first sight. They had a feminine air about them, but their clothing was unmistakably masculine.
The Aitherian barely looked around the room before… She? Spotted Soren.
Soren would just stick to them being a female.
"Well, hello there. Nice day we're having, huh?" He was nervous. He said stupid things when he was nervous. He could feel her strength radiating through the air.
He contained his urge to instantly call his halberd from the void. He wanted to see if he could talk his way out of a fight.
The Aitherian spoke in a low tone, animosity clear in her voice, "Human, you've committed the crime of destruction of property. The sentry you destroyed was under the jurisdiction of General Nexus. You've been sentenced to death by my superior, and it shall be by my hand. Prepare yourself."
She was short and concise with her words, like his life wasn't worth wasting an extra breath for.
"Hold on," He spoke up, not liking the way she unlatched what he would assume was a weapon on her belt, "That 'sentry' tried to kill me. Don't you people have anything for self defense? And it isn't like I volunteered to be on this damn ship, I was kidnapped, for God's sake!"
That last part could've definitely been toned down a bit, but he didn't bother thinking about it.
"Listen, how about you show me a way off this ship, and you can just tell whoever sent you here that you killed me? That's a win-win situation in my book. You seem like a pleasant enough lady-"
"Lady? Do not mock me, human." That definitely seemed to piss... him? off.
"Oh, shit, sorry dude. My bad man, I guess you do look a little androgynous." Soren couldn't help but scratch the back of his head, a forced chuckle leaving his throat.
"I will end you quickly. Your mocking has earned you a coward's death." Said the… person?, seemingly even angrier now.
"Neither? Then what the hell are yo-" He could barely finish his sentence before a blade came slicing through the air, mere inches from separating his head from his body.
Allowing his instincts to take over, Soren had no idea when it had happened, but his halberd was in his grip, the cold steel already set to block the strike.
Soren felt a dull pain run through his arm, and down his body, as he was sent flying back, his head still attached to his shoulders.
That was definitely a positive.