BLOOD MUTANT SYSTEM.-Chapter 445: CH: GRANIAN MARVELS.

[A few minutes later]

The bodies of brutally slain Granian soldiers were dragged away from the site.

With heavy hearts filled with hatred and grief, those tasked with removing the corpses despised Ace. They hated how weak they were, they hated how strong he was, and they hated the fact that Lord Gravax and Lord Grania had done nothing to the human who just killed their comrades.

Above all, they hated that Gravax had given humans the Blood Mutant gene before granting the same advantage to fellow Granians.

They hated how a foreign species possessed the power to kill without moving a finger. They hated everything about Ace and the rest of his kind.

But no matter how much they hated him, they couldn’t do anything about it.

If they tried to kill him, they would suffer severe consequences worse than death itself.

If they attempted to sabotage him, or any of the other humans, they would be condemned to a fate where they would wish for death but never be granted it.

So what was their next best option?

Support the Granian clone who they witnessed singlehandedly put the human down.

Sure, he was a clone and the same Granians who hated the humans hated the clones. But seeing how easily it had subdued Ace made them choose a side.

If Granian Ace was that strong yet he had zero battle experience, how powerful could he become after being exposed to real war?

In the end, those who hated Ace began placing their hopes and expectations on the Blood Prince’s Granian counterpart.

They hoped that one day, in the not so distant future, Granian Ace would kill human Ace.

But until then, they had no choice but to keep their one-sided resentment to themselves.

****

Meanwhile...

"Blood Mutant," Lord Grania spoke to Ace while pointing toward the two sibling clones, "a testament of bioengineering or whatever it is Gravax calls it. Are they not spectacular?"

Quietly, the Blood Prince studied the sibling clones’ physiques to make it appear as though he was admiring their "spectacularness".

But he couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling gnawing at his chest that stemmed from how both human and inhuman the clones looked.

They were identical to him and his sister—if their bodies were covered in tricolored scales and given tails, claws, reptilian talons, and elongated snouts.

"They are." He lied. "So these are Jim and Anya’s replacements?"

Grania sighed.

"Unfortunately they are. Once the Ethisians get hold of any of you humans, they brainwash and pain a false narrative in your minds. They’ll make you believe they’re the victims and that we are the villains."

"Haven’t you killed millions, though?" Ace asked. The question created a brief moment of tension before Grania responded.

"We have. The Ethisians have killed more than we have though. In fact, they’ve managed to wipe out entire species on their home planets. That’s why they have more colonies than we do. We’re the only ones capable of stopping them. That is why they are so determined to eradicate us."

’Absolute lies.’

"That’s why we’re at war with them. If we don’t stop them and they win, they’ll not only spread throughout all of Akrina, but to every galaxy they can reach that possesses intelligent life forms...starting with yours."

He sighed.

"Enough of that, human. There’s something I want to show you. Gravax and every Granian like him—those with brains—have been working together to create one of the greatest scientific marvels imaginable."

As Grania boasted arrogantly, a colossal shadow suddenly stretched across the land, blocking out the natural sunlight.

Looking up, the Blood Prince and everyone around him laid eyes upon the largest three ships gliding overhead, heading toward the empty wilderness in the distance.

’Incredible.’

Ace marveled at the Granian testament of engineering prowess which was the manifestation of these three ships. The sheer size of the vessels—their immense length, width, and height—was almost hard for him to comprehend. Yet somehow these reptilian aliens had constructed them.

Even their speed was astonishing.

Despite their colossal size, the ships moved quickly as they descended. Ace could only imagine how fast they must travel at full velocity.

"Can you believe we built these in the short amount of time you spent unconscious?" Grania teased.

Meanwhile, Gravax began moving in the same direction as the ships, prompting Grania and Ace to follow.

"Are those for the war?" Ace asked, unable to take his eyes off the massive vessels.

Grania laughed and answered, "They are not for war. But what they’ve collected will be used for it. Follow us."

---------

In a smaller ship, Lord Grania, Gravax, Ace, and the Granian sibling clones flew toward the same destination as the colossal vessels.

Their smaller craft moved much faster, allowing them to arrive several minutes before the enormous ships. And there was good reason for that.

Below them stretched massive craters carved deep into the earth. Gigantic pits—large enough to house hundreds of thousands—spread across the landscape as far as the eye could see.

Along the edges of these craters stood small structures with ships constantly flying in and out. If someone counted carefully, they would notice eight major excavation pits. But in reality, there were far more—only visible from much higher altitudes.

At the center of everything stood a massive warehouse-like structure where ships traveled back and forth. Outside the structure, thousands of workers, laborers, and slaves toiled endlessly, constructing yet another colossal ship.

Staring down at the overwhelming scale of the operation, Ace found himself asking a single question.

’What was all of this for?’

What could have possibly transpired during his brief period of consciousness that forced the Granians to begin such massive construction and production?

"Behold, human..."

Grania spoke again as the ship hovered above one of the craters. At the bottom, hundreds of thousands of Granian and Cyclitharian ships being stripped and rebuilt.

"..the new phase of modern, alien warfare.’

He spread his arms proudly.

"Gaze upon marvels you could have never imagined of."