Evolution's Essence (25 page)

Oliver excused himself to go do something for
extra entertainment.

“
Here’s the event you have
all been waiting for folks!” Marcus said now that word had spread
and many had come into The Pits when word spread of the tournament
and who came to participate. About three thousand more had come to
the private club in a frantic hurry. Bets were furiously going
around. “The final round of the tournament. Merril verses Whip!
Both competitors fought long and hard to reach the final stage.
Tonight’s winner will receive rights to next month’s championship
bout with our reigning champion for the title of The Pit’s Best,”
Marcus waited for the audience to quiet a little before snapping
his fingers and two Wind dressed models came out carrying a
bleached skull. “and as a bonus. The winner of this tournament wins
the
only
known
slain X-Rank Beast skull of a Cerathane slain by King Oliver Void
himself!” The crowd went deathly quiet as they gazed on the rarest
of all known Beasts. A myth of a myth brought to reality before a
live crowd. It was from a great bird which absorbs the light of any
light source and can focus it into a beam so hot it can burn
through near any object. Oliver lost a leg trying to kill it nine
years back. Since it absorbed light, it was invisible, even to his
eyesight. It didn’t use psionic energy and it was by far the second
hardest Beast to slay. The only harder one was the
Joint-Ape.

Renee looked at her man and
asked “So that’s why you stepped out for a half hour. Whip and
Merril both
really
want it.”

“
It’ll be more incentive for
them to put on a show then now won’t it?” She laughed fondly at him
before giving him a deep kiss with the promise for more.

“
Nice. This should be
sweet.” Breena said as the wispy dressed women walked around the
pit, showing off the pristine skull as long as a human is tall.
Even as a skull it’s long beak was barbed and razor
sharp.

“
Can’t believe that you’d
give up the trophy from the bird that nearly killed us nine years
back, Brother.” Stone said beside Oliver in a new type of malleable
armor. It was like a scaled down version of what the enormous
Solarian wore, was just as robust and was affected by will. Only it
was lighter and could be absorbed into a modified Valek designed
for the human anatomy. The human variety Valek couldn’t compare to
an original, but it did do many similar things like absorb the
armor, make repairs to broken objects and could transform matter at
the cost of energy. It would be like an original Valek was a heavy
broadsword able to chop anything, but the new model was a
pocketknife in terms of function.

A space fighter to a hoverboard.

“
It’ll make for a better
show.” He knew for a certainty.

“
Merril always fights better
when she has a real goal.” Natalie stood shoulder to shoulder with
her youthful grandmother.” But Grandpa, that’s the only skull you
got in your trophy room of a Cerathane. Aunt Isabella is going to
be mad she wasn’t given a chance to nab it.”

“
Izzy will be more than
overjoyed when I tell her my long range bio scanners finally picked
up an overrun Beast planet yesterday about ninety six thousand
light years away teeming with Cerathane. She can go have her
fill.”

“
Oh, well why didn’t you
tell her yesterday?” Renee asked wryly, already knowing and teasing
him.

“
She would have had Davan
calculate and send her to go have her fun when I need her help to
clear out the obelisk without overly damaging it. When it’s cleared
I’ll let her go make another addition to her own trophy room.” He
said regardless.

Merril and Whip came out at the same time to
reverently caress the pristine skull and shared a hard look that
needed no explanation. Both coveted the trophy and were not going
to hold back except in lethality. The match was going to be quick
and brutal. The prize was worth it.

As the grand prize was being carries out by
the two sensual women Merril said “Grandpa’s trophy will be
mine.”

“
Nothing in life is ever
certain, Young One. No hunter of Beasts would pass an opportunity
to win such a prize. I’m no different and I want it for my own
collection. Do not disappoint.”

“
Grandpa and Aunt Isabella
taught me how to fight. I hope you can keep up. I’m stronger than
my cousin. Fair warning.”

“
Warning heeded.” Whip
raised his fists and drew upon his power to cloak himself in a
protective barrier.

Merril did similar and they waited.

“
Let tonight’s final match…
Begin!” shouted the announcer.

Even as a half Solarian, Merril was faster
than any human modified with ligament enhancement, but Whip had
centuries of fighting experience. Physically they shared equal
height and sturdy bodies. Renee and everyone except Oliver were on
their feet cheering on Merril as she lunged and ducked under a
swift left jab thrown by Whip.

Merril drew the man in close and created a
marble sized kinetic sphere and stomped down on it while throwing a
right handed uppercut. The minor explosion caused in the stomp
increased the uppercut’s force dramatically, but Whip barely dodged
yet she still managed to connect her skintight Psionic barrier
against his and the force threw the man back. Had the blow been
more than a glance, Whip would have been launched into the stadium
ceiling.

Recovering quickly Whip threw a surprise kick
and used the arena sand to blind the opponent enough to gather
himself and threw an elbow fueled with a slight telekinetic blow
that made impact with Merril’s abdomen and she was thrown to the
other side of the pit, losing her wind from the blow.

Whip tried to capitalize, but Merril
increased the barrier coating her hand for safety concerns while
creating another sphere of blue-white plasma and punched the
ground. The resulting explosion sent tons of sand everywhere and
would have doused the whole room had Oliver not erected a cylinder
of energy to safeguard the crowd.

The sandstorm obscured everything for several
tense seconds till Whip used his power to drop the blinding and
smart use of the surroundings. Soon as it was clear he didn’t
realize till it was too late that Merril used the distraction and
managed to sneak up from behind and launched an almost deadly punch
to the back of the man’s head.

Stadium grounds shook from the force and Whip
collided with the barrier at nearly four hundred kilometers per
hour.

Renee gasped and teleported into the arena to
catch the man and began a scan. The room was tense for a moment and
so quiet even a naturalist’s unchanged hearing could have heard
someone breathing on the other side of the room. Renee sighed.
“He’s fine, just out cold.”

“
I won?” Merril couldn’t
believe it. Then she smiled. “I WON!” she yelled and pumped a fist.
The crowd went nuts cheering.

The prize as well as the proprietor Marcus
came out from the gate to announce “Winner by knockout is Merril
Void! As promised here is your prize and do not forget that on the
first of next month you have a shot at the championship. And as
champion of tonight’s bout you won four hundred and fifty thousand
credits. Congratulations and give Merril Void another great cheer
folks for that spectacular victory!” the stadium obliged with
gusto.

“
I won, Grandpa!” Merril
cheered as he arrived in the sandy pit and she threw her arms
around him.

He returned the hug and offered a sincere
smile. “You do your mom and grandmother proud. Enjoy your new
trophy.”

“
Great shot,
cousin.”

“
Thanks, Natalie! How is
your nose?”

“
Smarts. It’ll be good as
new by morning. I’ll need to try out that trick you used tomorrow
if I get overwhelmed. It made a nice smokescreen.”

Whip came around about a
minute later, sitting up to see a friendly face. Hello, My Brother.
Your grandchild is quite a surprise and packs a punch. Guess
I
shouldn’t have been the
overconfident one.”

A large black arm was offered, the one
entirely covered in a true Valek to help the man to his feet. “Be
thankful she only brought out enough strength to match yours or I
would have taken the trophy and given to you. As it stands, she
kept things fair. Had you had your weapons though, you would have
crushed her. She’s still sloppy in her swordsmanship, but likes
hand to hand.”

“
Man, I really wanted that
skull for study and put on my ship’s trophy wall.”

“
Perhaps you would prefer to
hunt one yourself? More meaningful I’d wager pitting yourself
against a live overgrown and invisible turkey.”

“
What I wouldn’t give to do
just that, but you alone are the only one to ever see the
Cerathane.”

“
Just so happens that
recently I discovered a world teeming with them.” Whip’s eyes grew
large and round. “I’ll flash your chip the coordinates, but you’ll
have to stay for the…”

“
Cleansing of King’s Tusk
Tower. I know. Queen Isabella contacted our entire kingdom to rout
the Beasts inside. The Water council I heard on the news in the
waiting rooms before facing young Merril is starting an evacuation
of the outlying area. Won’t surprise me that an announcement will
clear the buildings in fifteen miles by morning. And as for the
hunt, I’d be sorely grateful. Soon as I help my queen, I’m going to
go hunting. I’ll get my own Cerathane and cherish it more.” Oliver
merely sent a thought and delivered the file who mentally opened it
and was grinning at the prospect.

To celebrate Merril’s achievement she was
taken out to dinner for drinks and games. True to Whip’s word, a
citywide report as issued for evacuation came to make ready for the
event.

Chapter 7

Midmorning arrived cool on Verard around the
monolith tower and behind the giant pyramid of Galicom headquarters
in the Andromeda Galaxy. Galicom’s main building may have been
large, but it was nowhere near that of King’s Tusk Tower. Oliver
lounged by a crackling barrier that sealed off the only known
viable entrance into or out of the tower. Dotted holes here and
there all the way up allowed water and air to pass unhindered, but
none so large as to allow Beasts in or out. Speaking of, just
behind the sealed entrance was a salivating army of creatures. His
Pride and everyone else stared right back with mounting
anticipation. Fear didn’t register. Renee leaned back against his
chest with her eyes closed humming a soothing melody because she
needed to force herself not to strangle anyone, especially their
children. The only help was Angie and her Wind kingdom weren’t
around to antagonize matters.

Wind people were devoting every spare moment
and person to making battle ready ships.

At long last Isabella and their other
daughter Angie came over saying “Ma, Daddy, my forces are prepped
and ready.”

Angie, as Queen of Water, nodded. “So are my
people who will follow in from behind to harvest the meat and
collect any young for relocation to a different habitat. My medical
personnel are also ready in event of injury.”

Renee opened her eyes. “Girls, remember, the
tower is a maze and groups will split off. It is a maze so rely on
my moron’s schematics. No one goes it alone or paired. The recruits
stay in threes minimum. Make sure everyone stays close in event of
danger and escape by teleportation if cornered. Whatever you do, do
not damage the tower in any way. It may still be tough, but if one
of our clan goes overboard, neither I nor your father will be
happy.”

“
We need every obelisk in
pristine condition. Netul contacted me and one I told him to check
is destroyed. It’ll take five months to make another. Luckily most
of the ceramic was easily collected and can be reused.

“
Still, the tower has been
damaged by time’s ravages and my fixers will be busy for a month
correcting the wounds. If it breaks I’ll have to construct another
and it’ll take months more and additional resources.”

“
We know, Daddy.” Isabella
said, wearing her tribal style armor. “Davan also is at the ready
to pull anyone back if they get overzealous. All our people going
in will have a tracer he can use to teleport anyone out.” She
lifted an arm to show a bracelet on her left wrist rather than the
feminine Valek on her right. “My husband’s tracers have shown great
results so far. Last week on Zerika it saved one of my people
scouting the Salamander mountains around where I was born. Davan
jumped him safe and sound out of a cave and right to the med bay in
my castle. He and his team will monitor all six hundred fresh
groups. Each of my groups have five Water that will follow my
warriors and keep the scraps.” Isabella then fingered the pommel of
a long, ruby red katana glittering with the clear sign of a
Star-saber. “We’re ready whenever you are. Teams are ready and will
stick together when separating at any forks. Ligers need to stay
outside though. They’re too big and the corridors are often too
small.”

“
True. No time like the
present. Go tell the Water council to deactivate the door in three
minutes. Have the family close to slay the horde when the shield
drops.” Eyes flitted to the writhing mass behind the energy barrier
trying to get at them.

The chime of singing swords rang out across
the area and the roar of thousands of Ligers readied for a fight.
Isabella stood near her father along with practically everyone
else. Breena stuck close to Renee and Sparky while Steven, Stone
and Visor were by Oliver. Weapons crackled with funneled power,
ready.