Courting Death System-Chapter 68: A Threat

Armin lay in a curled up position, waiting for the birth of her first two guards. It had already been hours since the Facehuggers had laid eggs inside the two Mutant Beasts and the time for hatching would begin anytime now. Something squirmed inside both the half dead Mutant Beasts, whatever was inside kept pushing and pushing until they successfully made their way out of the Mutant Beasts.

The Mutant Beasts died right after as the small and disgusting creatures made their way out of the corpses. Two Chest busters came into the world, releasing high pitch sounds ,after that, they started gnawing on their hosts, devouring both meat and bones. While eating, the Chest busters were also evolving into stronger Xenomorphs.

Both Chest busters looked completely different from one another except for the elongated head without eyes, ears or nose. The Chestburster from the Steel Furred Bear looked like a bear cub but without the fur and had a not so long segmented blade tail, it had long and sharp canines, even roaring like the Steel Furred Bear. Its muscles were well defined and claws very long and sharp, like the portrait of a perfect killing machine.

The Chestburster from the Armoured Crocodile was also quadrupedal but unlike the muscular and bulky Bearmorph, it was thinner but longer and wider in body, long and sharp jaws filled with razor sharp teeth, the elongated head and back was covered by a strong leather with keels on it and a longer and thicker segmented blade tail. As the Bearmorph and Crocmorph evolved, their elongated heads took the shield-like shape and their bodies grew larger and larger.

After the two Mutant Beasts were completely devoured, which took a couple of hours, the two xenomorph variants had grown to astounding sizes. The Crocmorph was thirty five meters long from the head to the tip of the tail. It almost took up all the cave space while the Bearmorph was tall, about eight meters in height, even taller than Armin while standing on all fours. Armin had successfully created her first two Praetorian Xenomorphs with immense strength.

[I suppose I should give you names. You, with the crocodile mouth, your name will be Lurking and you with the bear structure, your name will be Hiber. Lurking, your first task is to hunt for more hosts for my eggs. Hiber, you will protect me while I evolve into my stage six form, the Queen form.] said Armin telepathically to the two Variants.

Lurking jumped into the hole and slowly forced its way out of the hole through it and Hiber stood in high alert. Behind it, Armin was slowly encapsulating herself inside a cocoon of mucus her body was secreting.

...

"Your Majesty, the Prophet requests an audience." said a knight fully clad in silver armour. In fact, inside this luxurious and spacious room with a red carpet and a golden throne, a man wearing expensive robes and a crown sat on the throne while a hundred knights wearing golden armour stood on the sides of the throne room like statues.

[Allow him inside.] said the man on the throne in a powerful voice. The silver knight rushed out and came back with a man approaching his sixties. Some of his hair and beard had turned grey in colour.

"Prophet James greets His Majesty the King."

[Mhm. You rarely come to just visit me, tell me, what have you seen?] asked the king.

"Your Majesty, this time things aren’t looking good. I didn’t receive a vision but directly got a Message from the World Spirit. In the Foggy Mountains, a great threat lies there. One that is more terrifying than the Zombie Horde, Mutant Beast Wave and Vampire Army. It’s a threat that poses danger on life itself and if not taken care of sooner, will plunge the world into extinction."

[A threat much greater than these three Catastrophes?! What exactly is this threat?] asked the king with a more serious attitude.

"It didn’t say... but it did tell me about its origins. It told me that Princess Ruby got impregnated by an alien flower while on the run and she gave birth to it more than a month ago. Now, this threat is slowly raising its army and will soon emerge from the Foggy Mountains."

[I see. The Foggy Mountains is a very dangerous place to live in but also the best place to hide and slowly grow an army. Ruby, even in death, you’re still causing problems for me. Soldiers...]

"Yes Sir!"

[Ten of you will lead an army of a hundred Silver Knights and one thousand Bronze Knights. It takes a month to reach that place, so I’m giving you three months, bring back the head of the threat that wants to destroy my kingdom!]

"Yes Sir!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for taking my words seriously. When I first received the message, I didn’t think you’d believe it, I didn’t believe it."

[If I don’t trust in your Visions and Prophecies, humanity wouldn’t be where it is today. I will always believe what you come to report.]

"Your words bring tears to my eyes, if a need ever arises, I won’t hesitate to give up my life for you and this kingdom."

[You are excused.]

’Just what kind of threat is this? Even more powerful than a Vampire Army!’ thought the king after James left.

...

"Could you spare me some change if you have any. I haven’t eaten for two days!"

"Could you spare me some change if you have any. I haven’t eaten for two days!"

"Could you spare me some change if you have any. I haven’t eaten for two days!"

An old man kept begging on the streets, he was skinny and malnourished, his clothes tattered and torn and he also stank from not bathing. While the old man begged on the streets, a group of people flying on swords descended in front of him. These people looked like immortals, aloof and distant from mortal affairs.

The old man acted like he didn’t notice them and continued to beg on the streets. Finally, someone gave him a few copper coins to buy himself something to eat.

"Li Chen, are you going to pretend like you don’t know me, your own father! And what’s this you’re doing, a Li family member begging on the streets is a disgrace to the family! Come, we’re returning to the Li Family this instant." said the leading man.

"Good morning to you too, father. As for going back to the Li Family, I won’t do that, there’s nothing there for me and I enjoy my current lifestyle."

"What’s there to enjoy when begging? Kneeling and kowtowing to anyone who throws you a few coins! Don’t you have a backbone?!"

"A backbone won’t ensure that I sleep on a full stomach. A backbone won’t help me receive sympathy from the people." answered the old man.

"Li Chen, let’s go home please. You still have us, you still have your grandpa and grandmother, you still have me and your mother, you still have your brothers and sisters and you still have the Li Family to support you." said Li Chen’s father.

"That’s not true."

"What do you mean it’s not true? Are we no longer your family? Have you cast us aside too?!"

"Let me finish speaking. It’s not me who has all of you, it’s all of you who have me. Between me and you, we all know who’s going to die first. It’s you who’s going to cherish memories of me, not the other way around. So never forget, YOU... have me."

"Fine, we have you so let’s go home please."

"Hahaha, father, the Li Family might be a home to you but it’s a house to me. There’s no warmth there. Everyone disdains and looks down on me..."

"That’s not true."

"You came with them, ask any one of them, when did they last come to visit me when I still lived in the Li Family. I don’t have kids or a wife so I’m sure I would remember if someone came to visit a lonely guy like me. We share the same mother and father or we have the same bloodline coursing through our veins but they know nothing about me apart from my birthday. I quite love being homeless, even though many people look down on me, some still show me kindness, reminding me that I’m also human. What has the Li Family done for me?"

"Lots of things. It’s just that..."

"Like what? Like having servants embarrass me in front of everyone? Like having guards disrespect me? Like having my own nieces and nephews beat me up? Like how the chefs cooked dog shit for me? Like how my own parents only care about saving face instead of their son who’s clearly going through a lot? Like how the Li Family neglected me when one of the family members threw me in a pile of shit? Tell me, which one is it?!"

"..."

"You don’t know how miserable my life was at the Li Family yet you have the gall to try and convince me to go back! I would rather beg on the streets than go back there."

"Son, I want us to bond, I want to understand what you’re going through so I can help you."

"Oh yeah, do you really want to understand how I feel?!"

"Yes."

"Great, then father, you can start by eating dog shit and tell me what it tastes like. Please leave me alone, I only have a few years to live and I’ll be out of your lives for good. Please grant me this one wish, just let me enjoy my final years in peace."