(Reminiscing)
In his state of unconsciousness, Don found his mind drifting into the past—his life before he became so powerful and infamous.
His thoughts drifted to a time when he had been so weak. A time when he had no purpose.
He used to be a bartender in a small-town bar that paid him peanuts, and most of the time he had to beg the bar owner to let him crash at the bar, as he had nowhere else to go.
Looking back to that time period, life had been so simple. He might not have had much money or purpose, but it was definitely better than the life that would soon replace what he used to have.
The world had been so normal; the rich kept getting richer, and the poor—well—became poorer.
That was up until the Aura Shower took place.
Oblivious to the human race, there had been a much greater power at play in the world.
The Sentients.
They were a group of interdimensional and extraterrestrial beings who possessed immense amounts of power—power that could reshape worlds and destroy entire galaxies.
They called it the Aura.
However, this power had one limitation.
They needed other organisms through which they could channel the power.
They needed anchors.
To find beings capable of withstanding and channeling their Aura, they ravaged around the galaxy, laying waste to planet after planet, one galaxy at a time.
When such beings were finally found, the Sentients turned them into intergalactic warriors.
Into Slaves.
(Present)
"Master, wake up," Don could hear the familiar feminine voice from deep in his unconscious state.
Don finally jerked back to life to the warm embrace of a familiar face.
Lilith's face.
"What is going on?" Don asked, trying to shrug the daze from his eyes.
Looking around, it all started to come back to him—the time he had spent with Lilith.
The fun he had had.
And the sudden explosion that had turned his once elegant room into something unrecognizable.
"We are under attack. It is a mutant slave," Lilith reported as she helped Don get back on his feet.
Her gaze shifted toward the person who was responsible for the assault—the figure he had seen before passing out. His gaze automatically followed hers.
Standing a few paces away from them was a man with an easily noticeable smile on his face.
He had a mischievous smile, one that radiated confidence.
Whatever his mutation was, his composure and expression made it obvious that he was quite full of himself.
Don didn't know whether to be glad or concerned about that fact.
"I can take him on easily, Master," Lilith said.
"He isn't as tough as he seems—an E or D rank at best."
These words seemed to instantly calm Don down. It appeared he had nothing to worry about after all.
Slaves had a way of easily telling each other's ranks; he still found it really impressive.
"I will, however, need your Aura, Master," she added.
"Oh, your rank won't matter considering what I am about to do to you," the man finally spoke, still keeping that smile that Don had now grown to hate on his face.
Cupping his right hand, the man began to summon a type of radiating energy ball.
Taking a quick glance around, Don reassessed the amount of damage that had been done to the room and immediately realized that such power could only have come from a slave.
This man's power was very explosive, and he wasn't bluffing when he had said that his rank wouldn't affect the outcome of the fight.
The man began to raise his hand, ready to unleash the energy ball, which now looked fully matured.
Lilith immediately stepped in front of her master and generated a shield-like barrier just as the mutant unleashed his energy ball.
What followed was a ground-shaking explosion that sent the room into another upheaval.
At this point, the ceiling began to cave in.
However, Don and Lilith were safe due to the protective shield she had put up.
As the dust began to settle once again, Don could see that the mutant was already planning another round of assault, a small ball already forming in his hands.
Without much thought, Don closed his eyes and began to generate a blue aura from all over his body.
This aura began to twist into folds of light energy that immediately flowed into Lilith.
Lilith's expression straightened as it felt like she had just received a surge of energy.
In her tight hand, the same form of energy she had earlier used to generate the shield was now being used to conjure what looked like a spear—except it was completely made of light energy.
Without hesitation, Lilith threw the spear at the mutant, who was only able to dodge by a hair's breadth.
Lilith didn't relax, as she immediately generated a sword similar to the spear and attacked her opponent with it.
She did all of this while still making sure she was standing between her master and the enemy.
After all, he was the priority. His safety was her greatest responsibility.
As she attacked the mutant, he continued to dodge the strokes of her blade.
He, however, also lost the concentration he needed to keep summoning his energy balls, as the previous one had now disappeared.
Lilith noticed this and began to press him even more, increasing the frequency of her strokes and giving him no time to breathe.
Suddenly, she used her other hand to summon another blade, now using both hands to attack her enemy.
Seconds later, she had already driven both of her blades into the side of the enemy, finishing him off by cutting him down completely.
His body fell to the ground in fragments.
She then turned to Don, whose expression depicted satisfaction in her delivery.
"Master, are you injured?" Lilith said as she walked over to him and quickly began to examine his body.
"I'm fine," Don answered, shrugging her off, irritated.
"Where is Jamil?" he asked, his eyes searching the vicinity curiously.
Don hurriedly made his way to the doorway, which had now been partially blocked by debris.
Lying unconscious in a corner of the doorway, buried under debris, was Jamil.
"Jamil!!" Don called out. "Lilith, get over here!"
Lilith immediately rushed after Don, who was now kneeling, trying to remove the fallen debris from his slave.
The concern he showed over the young man was more out of fear than actual empathy.
These two slaves were his life. He couldn't begin to imagine the horrors he would go through without them.
They were the only things keeping him alive, so having one of them die was currently his greatest nightmare.
Lilith immediately removed Jamil's body from beneath the rubble and proceeded to check if he was still breathing.
She gave Don a nod indicating he was still breathing, and he immediately let out a sigh of relief.
Minutes later, Jamil was fully awake.
"You were supposed to guard the door," Don yelled at his now fully conscious slave.
"It… it was a surprise attack. I couldn't even see who it was," Jamil managed to mumble between deep breaths.
Don looked around. The hallway was deserted.
An explosion of such magnitude should have had occupants of the other rooms running in panic.
"We should find the hotel security. They need to know there has been a breach," Lilith suggested, obviously still clueless about what had happened.
"No, this was a planned assault," Don stated.
"And the hotel was in on it."
Don's gaze shifted toward Jamil, who was now on his feet.
"We need to leave this place as soon as possible," he said, speaking to Jamil in particular.
"Are you strong enough?"
Jamil responded with a slight nod.
"Where to, sir?"
"Anywhere but here," Don replied, taking a final look around, disgust and slight fear evident in his expression.
Moments later, all that was left where they once stood was a faint green spark residue.