In a single second, everything changes within the Bloodbearer's hangar bay. The eyes of countless Kraktol, Mallali, and Avaru, previously locked onto Grundle during his theatrics, fail to perceive the invisible figure teleporting behind their ranks. Admiral Rodriguez condenses all of his Dermal Armor onto his fist in order to deliver a blow so violent that it completely knocks Loreen Kindris off her feet.

The sound, like a gong ringing in the dead of night, becomes even more punctuated by the Admiral's bloodthirsty roar.

"I'M RIGHT HERE!"

Immediately, half of the assembled troopers whirl around in confusion to see the leader of the Bloodbearer's invasion force fallen flat on her tail, while the son of the Alfras, Maximillian, jumps away from Loreen in surprise.

"It's the Terran!" He exclaims, stating the obvious more as a matter of reflex than for any other reason. "G-get him!"

Two hundred Kraktol react faster than their Mallali and Avaru cohorts. They swivel around to aim their guns in Loreen's general vicinity, only to immediately pause. Not one of them sees the attacker who struck their Thülvik, making them wonder where the heck the Terran went.

"He's invisible!" The Alfras's son adds, while drawing a shortsword from his belt. This weapon, crafted by some of the finest metallurgists of the Trellut Empire, sports a powerful energy current along its edge, granting it the ability to slice through many types of exotic armors, though he still hesitates to swing it at his unseen enemy.

As the Kraktol warriors pause and the Alfras's son hesitates, Loreen reacts, pushing off the ground with her tail to leap to her feet. She swipes her claws toward the direction she last perceived Admiral Rodriguez, but ends up only striking the empty air.

"Yellow-bellied Terran! Show yourself!" Loreen roars. She turns to look at Sapphire, just in time to hear a displacement of air next to the blue-scaled female Kraktol.

Foop.

A faint shimmer in the air is all Loreen sees before Admiral Rodriguez turns the sides of his hands into nano-steel. He sharpens them to a fine edge, then slashes his arms at both of Loreen's elite Kraktol guards. Before they can execute Sapphire, the Terran's blade-hands swipe through their necks, instantly severing their heads from their bodies.

All hell breaks loose. Loreen's other soldiers jump in fright when they see the heads of her two finest guards fly off their torsos. They aim their guns in the general direction of where the Admiral might be and pull the trigger, but their mass of bullets fly through the airspace, missing his invisible figure entirely. Even worse, those bullets and beams travel all the way to the other side of the hangar, where countless auxiliary personnel assigned to cleaning up bodies, cataloguing equipment, and other scavenging duties stand.

BLAM-BLAM-BLAM!

In an instant, fifty Kraktol and Mallali personnel perish due to accidental crossfire. Instead of sniping the Terran, Loreen's troopers kill their own comrades, making them pause in alarm as they recognize their blunder.

"W-we missed! Where did the Terran go?!"

"He's a ghost!"

Loreen's eyes turn bloodshot. She starts to rush toward Sapphire, only for a faint shimmer to appear in the air before her.

THUNK!

José kicks Loreen in the chest, using his incredible strength to send her flying backward! The Thülvik crashes into half a dozen metal crates stacked up against one of the hangar bay's support pillars, landing in a heap.

Then, José throws a small cube onto the floor next to Sapphire. In a single second, a powerful 50th-Era force-field engulfs the blue-scaled girl, protecting her from any stray or intentional shots.

"Don't worry!" José shouts. "I won't let you die here! I won't let ANYONE else die today!"

Sapphire raises her eyes. "Darling..."

At the same time as José tears through Loreen's backlines, an equally fearsome monster begins his rampage. Grundle, taking advantage of the confusion, leaps skyward. He pounces at the various bird-like Avaru perched on the catwalks, scaring all of them half to death.

"GRAUGH! Stupid bastards! You pissed off my Admiral, and that means you pissed off ME!"

He grabs onto the bottom of one catwalk, then yanks himself to the top. A hail of gunfire crashes against his gleaming 50th-Era armor, but its durability proves incredible as every shot merely glances off and ricochets into the distance.

"Pathetic pea-shooters! Weak little feather-dusters! You are nothing more than prey thinking themselves the hunters!"

Grundle storms toward several crow-like and eagle-looking Avaru. He grabs them by their necks, twists his wrists, and kills them with quick snapping motions. Systematically, like a machine meant for slaughtering the weak, he terrorizes the snipers, making them rue the days they were born.

At the same time, Admiral Rodriguez finds himself faced with a surprising adversary. Maximillian finally recovers from his surprise at the Terran's appearance. He sniffs the air, using his superior olfactory senses to perceive the Terran's location. When José teleports to the Dakkit's side, Maximillian instantly whirls around and slashes his sword at the Precursor's position, forcing the Admiral to take a step back.

"Do not underestimate me!" Maximillian howls. "I am no weakling! I am superior to my father!"

He lunges toward the Precursor, swinging his sword in short, choppy arcs. He minimizes any chances the Terran might have to strike his blind spots, all while keeping an eye out for José's teleportation.

After a few seconds of furious combat, José whips his head to the side. He spots Loreen charging at him, hatred in her eyes.

"Show yourself, Terran! Do not hide in the shadows like a coward!"

Loreen's heavily armored body appears ten times more intimidating than Maximillian's unarmored form. However, it is not fear José feels, but anger.

He teleports backward, allowing Loreen's claws to swipe at his afterimage.

"Now look at who slings accusations of cowardice!" José says. "What was it you said? Aren't you supposed to be a cunning predator, even more so than me? You're seven thousand years too young to deserve such a boast!"

The Alfras's son and Thülvik quickly work together to chase after the Terran. José teleports several times, dodging stray bullets as Loreen's soldiers, the Mallali and the Avaru struggle to decide whether they should shoot at the invisible monster and risk hitting their own people in the crossfire, or the goddamned unstoppable one rampaging above their heads.

Grundle rips bodies in half. Simply by virtue of being a tangible target, he draws a huge volume of fire away from his Admiral, though only the strongest armor-piercing rounds even manage to chip or dent his Enforcer garb beyond the superficial level.

Loreen narrows her eyes. "Clever words, Terran. But you're outnumbered and outmatched! I know all your tricks!"

José grins evilly, despite Loreen being unable to see his expression.

"All of them?"

At that moment, inside the Slipstream, Soren hunkers down next to the exit hatch, carefully keeping an eye on the chaos outside.

Synthmind 4131 speaks. "Officer Mudrose. The Admiral has transmitted the command to initiate Phase [TWO] of the Show No Mercy initiative."

Soren clutches five small orbs in her left hand. These devices, similar to the ones used to protect the Kessu when they escaped Yama's underground lair, possess a fearsome ability, one Soren unleashes by throwing them out of the Slipstream's entry-hatch and down its ramp.

With the Admiral and Grundle sowing so much chaos, none of the Mallali, Kraktol, or Avaru pays the slightest attention to the orbs as they roll to the bottom of the ramp and activate.

A moment later, the orbs levitate into the air, while five holographic Terrans appear, all of them sharing the same appearance as the Admiral.

Each of them speaks a confirmation code.

"Holographic Protectorate 001 activated."

"Holographic Protectorate 002 activated."

"Holographic Protectorate 003 activated."

"Holographic Protectorate 004 activated."

"Holographic Protectorate 005 activated."

Then, they speak in unison, having already obtained their pre-determined instructions.

"Mission parameters updated. Heretical threats to United Terran Coalition members detected. Allied coalition members added to whitelist. Enemies identified."

Two of the Protectorates shift their arms into metallic guns with three, long pointy barbs at the end. Another one summons a photonic sniper rifle. The last two summon pairs of vicious-looking serrated-blade swords meant more for ripping flesh apart than for cutting into it.

"Exterminate all heretics."

By the time the enemy forces recognize the danger in their midst, many of them act too late to save themselves. Powerful bolts of lightning fire from the weapons of the first two Protectorates, detonating the bodies of Mallali and Kraktol alike as if they were living bombs. They ignite a momentary nuclear force within their victims, condensing all of their caloric energy into a micro-singularity.

SPLAT!

Dozens of Mallali and Kraktol perish wordlessly, not getting even a millisecond to react before their bodies erupt, spraying blood and gore in all directions. The sudden and shocking change of battle intensity scares the survivors out of their wits. Never have any of them witnessed such a horrifying display of tyrannical power.

Then, the other three Protectorates attack.

One of them aims its sniper rifle with mechanical precision. Each second, it blows the heads off the most heavily-armored enemies, killing them before they can even attempt to dodge. Blinding white beams tear through the skulls and helmets of the mightiest defenders, splattering their brains effortlessly.

The other two stomp forward and begin slashing their blades from left to right, ripping into the lightest-armored enemies with expressions wavering between boredom and complete apathy.

Killing is their job. It is a task they must fulfill. There is no good or evil.

There are only heretics to slaughter.

As Grundle takes down the Avaru perched above and the five Protectorates wipe out the ground forces, José continues to face off against Loreen and Maximillian.

The Admiral finds that their combined teamwork isn't shabby at all, despite neither of them having ever fought together before. While paling in comparison to Ramaldian standards, Loreen acts as an effective tank, blocking any of the Admiral's deadliest attacks through her strange, black-colored Matriarch Armor, while Maximillian does his best to chop at the Terran and skewer him to death. The Dakkit's confounding ability to smell José no matter where he teleports continuously infuriates the Admiral.

However, their teamwork isn't the true reason the Admiral fails to land a killing blow.

"Loreen!" José roars, after managing a somewhat-weak kick to the Dakkit's side and knocking him back. "Do you even know what that armor is?! You goddamned heretic! How dare you bring that blaspheming idol back to the mortal realm!"

Loreen grins. "I may not know where this armor originates, but you've given me a pretty good idea thanks to all your recent escapades. It's demonic, perhaps belonging to one of those ancient Demon Emperors you fear so much. Isn't that right?"

"You know, and yet you still choose to wear it?!" José asks. "You've fallen further than I thought!"

Loreen flicks her eyes toward the force-field protecting Sapphire. José starts to teleport toward Maximillian, intending to finish him off, only to give up when he spots the Thülvik moving toward the hostage he's spent several minutes trying to protect. He teleports to Loreen's side and kicks her away from Sapphire, then pulls out a small grenade, waiting for the right opportunity to use it.

Despite once again failing to make it to her prisoner, and despite the Admiral's bag of tricks proving even deeper than she expected, Loreen doesn't lose even an ounce of confidence. She smiles devilishly, relishing the alarm in José's voice.

"Are you afraid of the big bad demon armor?" Loreen taunts him. "Here! Let me give you a reason to feel fear!"

Loreen raises her right hand. She aims her palm upward and curves her claws. Demonic energy condenses from the armor's interior, materializes in her grasp, and transforms into an energetic ball of lightning.

"This Matriarch Armor has won my family many wars!" Loreen laughs. "And now, it will slay its greatest foe yet! A living, breathing Precursor!"

Loreen stomps toward José and thrusts her palm forward. Though she doesn't know his exact position, she launches her attack in such a way that even if he avoids it, the ball of electricity will fly at Sapphire's force-field!

"Dodge if you want, human! But you'd better hope that shield can take a hit!"

Loreen's warning, somewhat nonsensical given the purpose of a force-field, doesn't strike the Admiral as idiotic.

That's no normal electrical attack! The Admiral thinks. It's mana-based! It might bypass the shield entirely! I can't take a chance with Sapphire's life!

Instead of leaping away and allowing the force-field to do its job, the Admiral takes a big risk. He stands in Loreen's way and grabs at her wrist, hoping to deflect her attack or throw her off-balance. Instead, he falls for her trap as she closes her palm and discharges the energy all across her body, sending it coursing into the Terran's arm.

"Aaaargh!"

José instantly releases his grip and jumps backward, but his gait appears unnatural. The stealth module keeping him invisible fizzles out, ruined by the Thülvik's quick thinking.

"There you are!" Loreen growls, as her eyes lock onto her now-visible prey. "Finally, I can look you in the eyes when I rip out your heart!"

Maximillian jumps to his feet. He and Loreen rush toward the Terran during his moment of weakness as the Admiral staggers backward, his nerves clenching up reflexively due to the hit he just suffered.

Right before they can close the distance, Loreen's eyes flick upward. She instantly reverses her movement and grabs Maximillian, yanking him backward, just in time to avoid a falling figure.

BOOM!

Grundle, having cleaned up the catwalks, crashes feet-first into the floor where his enemies stood only a split-second earlier. He growls in annoyance at failing to stomp their bodies into paste, but settles for the next best thing.

"Graugh! Loreen Kindris, your opponent is me! I am the mightiest Kraktol, and today I shall ruin your body in the eyes of our people!"

Loreen, finally seeing the former janitor up close and in person, takes a moment to marvel at the incredible changes to his physique.

"Kyargh! Defector! It seems the Terran juiced you up nicely! Too bad for you, while you needed Terran sorcery to reach your peak, my body was formed naturally due to my rich bloodline. You will never be my match!"

"We shall see." Grundle states.

He stands protectively in front of his Admiral and Sapphire, blocking them from Loreen and Maximillian's lines of sight.

"Watch out!" José exclaims. "Loreen is wearing armor which once belonged to the Demon Emperor, Ose. It can control lightning!"

"Do not worry about me, Admiral," Grundle says. "Save my sister. Save Sapphire!"

José drops the force-field protecting Sapphire. While Grundle initiates a brutal melee with his former Thülvik, his Admiral starts escorting Sapphire toward the Slipstream some hundred meters away. The stench of death lingers in the air as Admiral Rodriguez's five doppelgangers systematically blast and shred their enemies apart with robotic efficiency. Bolts of lightning, proton beams, and four bloodied sabers cut down and kill all of the Mallali and Kraktol warriors, with few of them presenting any threat to the Admiral's holographic clones.

While José's armor ended up destroyed by the Kolvaxian, Grundle's remains in pristine condition. He engages in a brutal melee with his former Thülvik, each of them battering each other from left to right, while Grundle half-ignores the Alfras's son's swordplay. Only a stab into the gaps of Grundle's armor might injure him, but otherwise, Maximillian's blade presents no danger to the giant crocodile.

"I will never forgive you!" Grundle roars at Loreen. "Graugh! You murdered my friends! You killed your own children! I will break your body so that your soul learns humility!"

His fists crash against Loreen's head and chest, knocking her back. She retaliates with tail-swipes, punches, and kicks of her own. Their feet leave shallow depressions in the Bloodbearer's floor-panels, evidence of their heavy armor and powerful bodies.

"You're nothing more than a deck-hand! A disgrace! Drall should have killed you when he had the chance!" Loreen retorts.

"Good thing I am a gentleman," Grundle replies. "I'll let you two reunite in the Forbidden Swamp!"

...

Outside the Bloodbearer, dozens of ships circle around like vultures looking for easy pickings. The Mallali and Kraktol don't remain blind or oblivious to the happenings inside.

A dozen troop-transports fly into the hangar, depositing several thousand fresh bodies to rush toward the Admiral. Elsewhere inside the Bloodbearer's countless halls, the troops on standby receive orders to regroup and meet up with their remaining comrades inside the hangar. Thousands of auxiliary troopers storm down the halls, their footsteps like the beating of drums. This combined pincer attack takes only minutes to fully activate after receiving word of the Terran's brutal onslaught.

On the bridge of the Dakkit's flagship, several Mallali leaders sit at a table filled with food as they watch video feeds detailing the battle inside the Bloodbearer's hangar bay. The videos typically come from distant or elevated positions, with auxiliary troopers transmitting their feeds to the military commanders remotely. However, the feeds don't show too many grisly details, as they would hate to spoil the Alfras's lunch.

The Alfras himself, Sir Benjiro, chomps onto a fat piece of meat, paying little attention to the brutal massacre of his troopers. Only occasionally does he lift his head to glance at the viewscreen.

"Grawf! Goodness, haven't they killed that Terran yet? Loreen sounded so confident, yet look at how she struggles!"

His advisor, the same secretary José once impersonated, Ferund Carrus, stands by his side, looking mildly displeased. The Dobermann-like Dakkit clears his throat.

"Hmm, yes, the big brute does know how to put up a fight. Our forces report that the Terran has unleashed several ingenious weapons upon us. Why, just look at those five holographic bodies. You wouldn't expect mere holograms to possess such terrifying killing potential, yet there you have it."

Leevoo the Observant, the Cheemu Merchant Queen, flips out her tongue toward a juicy piece of fruit, then yanks it back into her mouth, gulping it down in one bite.

"Mlerp! Think of all the uses for the Terran's technology! These weapons will keep us atop the galaxy's hierarchy for millennia to come! Once our people reverse-engineer those holo-droids, we'll never lose another infantry war ever again!"

Benjiro appears less impressed. "They are only tools. Grawf! Don't put too much stock into guns and robots. I still worry we won't catch this Terran. What if he survives? What if he slips through my paws? Ferund, boy! Put Commander Lester onscreen."

The Alfras's secretary hesitates.

"...Ah. Commander Lester is... dead, master."

"What? Dead?! Since when?"

Ferund winces. "Since three minutes ago, sir. The Terran's Kraktol minion tore him apart."

"Oh, god-blast it!" Benjiro growls. "Put Lieutenant Shelby onscreen, then."

Ferund does his best to avoid face-pawing. "...She's dead too, sir."

"You're kidding! Grawf! Then who's still alive?"

"Not many who were there when the Terran first attacked, my lord. He's quite vicious."

"Well, put someone onscreen, then!"

The Alfras barks in annoyance at his secretary. After a few moments, a nervous-looking Mallali appears onscreen, someone resembling a red-furred fox. She stands inside one of the landing ship's cabins, while dozens of troopers file past her to rush into the Bloodbearer's hangar.

"My lord!" Says the female officer.

"Who are you?" Benjiro asks. "You're not a Dakkit!"

"Forgive me, my lord," She replies, clearly nervous. "B-but I am the most senior Mallali available! The best Dakkit generals and lieutenants have... met their ends. I am Forward Division Officer, Scarlett."

"Fine! Whatever!" Benjiro yells, now too annoyed to finish his food. "Grawf! What's taking so long? Why haven't you beaten the Terran yet? Kill or capture him, I don't care which!"

"My apologies, sir!" She says. "We've just landed five thousand more troops to continue the assault! The strange holo-bots are difficult to take down, but we're doing our best!"

"I don't want your best!" Benjiro barks, slapping his paw against the table. "I want that Terran in pieces or in chains!"

She nods. "Yes, my lord. I'll-"

An instant later, the officer's body explodes.

A bolt of electricity lances into her seemingly protected position inside one of the landing shuttles, detonating her skin and bones like a bomb and blasting gory chunks in every direction, coating the interior of the shuttle in a horrifying blood-paste. The Alfras jerks back in shock, watching with wide eyes as an expressionless Protectorate marches into the camera's frame. It sweeps its head from side to side while firing nonstop electrical blasts. Horror-filled screams fill the room as the Mallali troopers cry out in fear, only to cease when the death machine slays them next.

A minute later, the Protectorate marches offscreen, silently murdering every biological entity in its vicinity. The distant cries of fear grow fainter and fainter, all while the Alfras and his fellow Mallali leaders hold their breath and tremble in fear.

"W-w-what..." Benjiro whispers. "What is that thing? What is it, truly?!"

"It's... it's the holo-bot, my lord..." Ferund says, lamely. "One of the five monsters responsible for killing most of our forces."

"Don't give me that garbage..." Benjiro says, his voice shaking. "That is the holo-bot? It looked just like the Terran! Is it a clone of his?! How is it so powerful?!"

"I don't know!" Ferund exclaims. "Nobody does! We've never encountered technology of this level before!"

The Alfras jerks his head toward the end of the table, where a figure with empty eyes sits silently, unmoving.

"You! You're a Kessu! You're good with technology!" The Alfras barks. "What is that mechanical monster! Don't tell me you don't know, either! You told us you were an expert!"

The small cat hangs his head even lower, yet remains silent.

"Answer the Alfras!" Ferund commands. "You are lucky to be sitting here, safe and sound, with us. You only escaped death because of those security codes you gave us! Don't think we won't throw you out the airlock anyway! You're only alive because we thought you might be useful!"

The fat cat shakes his head.

"...I dunno," he mumbles.

Ferund marches over to the Kessu. He grabs the cat's head and yanks it upward. "Listen here, Slappy! If you want to keep breathing, then you'd better talk. You know what those robots are! Tell us, or else!"

"...It's 'Skippy,'" The Kessu mumbles. "My name is Skippy."

"Your name is about to be 'fresh meat' if you don't start talking," Ferund warns. "What's it going to be? What's your answer?"

The Kessu shivers. His fat, floppy jowls shiver as he tries not to cry.

"O-okay. Don't hurt me! I'll tell you!"

Ferund releases his grip on the young cat's head. "Good! Now speak."

Skippy wets his lips.

"Th-they're called Protectorates, see..."