The deck of the Ravager dreadnought erupted in blinding light.
A hundred plasma rifles fired in deafening unison.
Ernst didn't flinch. He smiled.
He moved. Not running, but flowing.
He bent backward, twisting his torso with terrifying, mathematical precision.
Superheated plasma burned the air millimeters from his face.
He dodged the barrage effortlessly. It was a calculated display of absolute supremacy.
He had brushed against Stakar Ogord's mind moments before the fight. He found something unexpected.
Stakar was a pirate, but he possessed a rigid, archaic code of honor. He robbed, but he offered genuine protection in return.
Ernst's new Vibranium ship was a beacon in the dark. Every syndicate in the sector would soon be hunting him.
He needed a guide. He needed a local who understood the complicated, brutal politics of the void.
Stakar had value.
"I will teach them a lesson," Ernst decided.
"But I will let them live."
The Ravagers emptied their thermal clips. The firing ceased.
Thick, acrid smoke drifted across the landing deck.
They waited, expecting to find charred remains.
Ernst stood perfectly still. His coat wasn't even singed. He wore a serene, chilling smile.
The mercenaries froze. Panic set in.
"My turn," Ernst whispered.
His figure blurred.
He bypassed the space between them, materializing directly beside a towering, reptilian Ravager.
Before the alien could blink, Ernst disarmed him. He stripped the heavy laser rifle from the alien's grip.
Ernst didn't pull the trigger. He spun the heavy rifle like a bo staff.
He drove the stock into the reptile's temple, crushing bone. The alien collapsed.
Ernst moved through the ranks like a tiger among sheep.
He swung the rifle. Kneecaps shattered. Ribs cracked. He left a trail of groaning bodies in his wake.
"Fire! Fire at will!" a lieutenant screamed.
Panic took over. The Ravagers fired wildly into the melee. Friendly fire dropped three of their own men.
Ernst stopped dodging.
He stepped directly into the path of a heavy plasma bolt.
The energy struck his chest. It didn't burn. It sank into his cells like water into dry earth.
He absorbed it effortlessly.
Ernst looked at the confiscated rifle in his hands. He channeled his telekinesis.
The weapon dismantled itself. Dozens of heavy metal components floated in the air around him.
With a sharp thrust of his hand, Ernst fired the shrapnel.
The metal parts tore through the air like bullets. They struck with surgical precision.
Thighs. Shoulders. Calves.
Dozens of Ravagers dropped to the deck, screaming in pain. Ernst had crippled them all without striking a single lethal blow.
He walked slowly through the groaning, writhing bodies.
"You are much better than Moro's street trash," Ernst noted calmly.
The casual compliment was infinitely more terrifying than a threat.
The surviving Ravagers backed away, shivering in cold sweat.
From the rear of the formation, Stakar Ogord couldn't watch his crew be dismantled any longer.
The Ravager King stepped forward.
He unleashed a blinding, pure white beam of concentrated light from his hands.
Ernst sensed the massive energy spike. He spun around.
The beam struck him squarely in the chest.
The kinetic force was staggering. Ernst was pushed backward. His boots dug deep, smoking trenches into the metal deck.
He stabilized. He opened his cellular pathways and drank the light energy.
The Ravagers watched in absolute horror. Their captain's ultimate attack was being swallowed whole.
Stakar gritted his teeth. He couldn't show weakness in front of his crew.
Blinding, ethereal wings of solid light erupted from Stakar's back.
He launched himself into the air, diving at Ernst with glowing, clawed hands.
Ernst stomped his foot.
A localized, telekinetic shockwave exploded outward, throwing the remaining standing Ravagers into the bulkheads.
Ernst opened his mouth.
He expelled the absorbed light energy, firing the white beam directly back at Stakar's chest.
Stakar's survival instincts flared. He flapped his light-wings hard, violently twisting his body in mid-air to evade the beam.
He accelerated, diving under the blast. He reached out, aiming to crush Ernst's throat.
Ernst was faster.
His hands shot up like striking vipers. He caught Stakar by the wrists in mid-air.
Their momentum halted instantly.
It became a brutal, static contest of raw strength.
Stakar was a spacer legend. But Ernst had the dense, hyper-evolved physiology of a mutant god, fueled by the energy he had just absorbed.
Ernst squeezed. He slowly, forcefully bent Stakar's arms outward, separating the Ravager's grip.
Ernst twisted violently. Bones groaned. He nearly snapped Stakar's wrists in half.
Stakar's veins bulged. Sweat poured down his face. But the warlord didn't utter a single cry of pain.
Ernst smiled. The fight was over.
He underestimated the veteran.
Despite his broken grip, Stakar threw his upper body forward.
He delivered a brutal, untelegraphed headbutt directly into Ernst's face.
Cartilage crunched.
Ernst stumbled back. His nose throbbed. His eyes watered instantly.
He cursed inwardly. It was a dirty, brilliant street move.
Ernst recovered his balance. His vision cleared.
His polite amusement was gone.
Ernst grabbed Stakar by the armored collar.
He lifted the massive Ravager King off his feet.
He slammed Stakar face-first into the metal deck.
He lifted him again. He slammed him down harder. He battered the warlord against the hull like a ragdoll.
"Save the Captain!" a voice screamed.
A crystalline alien, Martinex, rushed forward. He rallied the few conscious Ravagers to provide covering fire.
It was a suicide mission, but their loyalty was absolute.
Ernst ignored the plasma fire bouncing off his aura. He dropped Stakar's battered form.
Martinex grabbed his captain's hand. He dragged Stakar away from the monster.
A strange resonance occurred. Raw, blinding light flowed from Stakar into Martinex.
The crystal alien glowed with borrowed, apocalyptic power.
Ernst turned around.
Martinex stood up. He manifested a massive, ten-foot-long spear of concentrated, burning starlight.
"Go to hell!" Martinex screamed.
He hurled the spear with all his remaining strength.
Ernst didn't dodge. He focused his mind.
He raised his hands and clamped them shut around the burning shaft of light.
The kinetic impact was like a meteor strike.
Ernst was driven backward. His boots tore through the dreadnought's heavy armor plating, leaving twin scars thirty feet long.
But he stopped. He held the searing light spear in his bare hands.
He initiated the absorption sequence. The spear began to hum, its energy draining into Ernst's palms.
Martinex watched in indescribable horror. Their combined, ultimate attack was failing.
Desperate, the crystal alien drew two physical, jagged daggers from his belt.
He threw them perfectly.
Ernst didn't move.
One dagger struck Ernst squarely in the back. The blade shattered against his dense muscle fiber.
The second dagger flew directly at his eye.
Ernst simply closed his eyelid.
The tip of the dagger pricked his skin, failing to penetrate the incredibly dense cellular structure. It fell harmlessly to the deck.
The Ravagers were stunned.
But they saw Ernst standing completely still, his hands locked onto the fading light spear.
They assumed he was paralyzed by the energy transfer.
Stakar spat blood onto the floor. He drew a sidearm.
The remaining crew began to crawl toward Ernst. They intended to execute him while he was vulnerable.
It was a comical, desperate tableau.
Ernst finished draining the spear. The light vanished.
He opened his eyes.
He locked his cold gaze onto Martinex.
The Ravagers froze in place. Absolute, paralyzing terror rooted them to the floor.
"That move you just pulled off," Ernst said smoothly, dusting off his coat.
"It was quite impressive."
Ernst extended his right hand into the empty air.
"What is it called?"
A massive ball of pure, blinding white light manifested in Ernst's palm.
With a sharp twist of his wrist, the sphere fractured.
It split into dozens of miniature, perfectly formed light spears.
They hovered in the air, humming with lethal, stolen energy.
They pointed directly at every surviving Ravager on the deck.