Super Gene

Han Sen was taken aback. For now, it was lucky that the Disloyal Knight had not left the tree.

”You’re nowhere near done; there’s no way you’re coming down from there.” Han Sen looked at the Disloyal Knight and felt a little safer.

Han Sen, clutching the dagger in his hand, turned around and attacked one of the Loyal Knights that were advancing.

The Dragon-Blood Snakes took one knight each, and Little Wind engaged one, too.

The Loyal Knights were almost as strong as the Dragon-Blood Snakes, and only the one with three halos had a noticeable advantage in strength. Fortunately for all involved, it was the Dragon-Blood Snake with six active gene locks that chose to engage that knight. The skittering-slithering fiend was quick on its feet, and it leapt at the armored nemesis to scratch it and draw blood.

Little Wind fought against a knight that had only one gene lock open, and thus had only one halo. His fitness was pretty low, all things considered, but he had four gene locks open. The wind attacks the furry fighter employed ravaged the defenses of his enemy.

Han Sen used his sacred-blood armor and dagger to engage his target, and he was doing well in the fight. He suffered a few hits, but the armor was strong enough to keep him protected.

Katcha!

The Dragon-Blood Snake, with six open gene locks, found an opening to dig its teeth into the neck of the Loyal Knight it had engaged. The vicious teeth sunk into the neck with ease, and it tore the entire head off the knight’s shoulders in a gruesome display. Before the head could hit the ground, though, the snake spun around and swallowed it.

”Sacred-Blood Creature Loyal Knight killed. No beast soul gained. The flesh is inedible.”

”Wow, these things are pretty weak. It looks like the Disloyal Knight really has been hogging all the energy.” Han Sen was overjoyed, thinking he could still one day claim it.

And the fact that they were weak was good, as he wouldn’t have to exhaust himself in the battle, despite the lack of meat he would receive. With that being said, though, he wouldn’t mind getting one of the beast souls. A sacred-blood beast soul was, after all, a sacred-blood beast soul.

Roar! The Dragon-Blood Snake leapt towards another knight.

Against the Dragon-Blood Snake with six gene locks open, the other knights on the field didn’t stand a snowflake’s chance in h*ll.

The heads of four Loyal Knights were quickly severed and gobbled up by the snake. As impressive as this was, Han Sen was disheartened by the lack of beast souls he received.

The other two Loyal Knights were still doing combat. With the situation under control, Han Sen decided to turn around and look at the Disloyal Knight to see if anything had changed. Eerily, it was still there, staring back at him.

But with the Disloyal Knight being unable to move, Han Sen was not afraid. The snake finished off the other Loyal Knights, but still, he received no beast soul.

”Today’s luck is far too poor.” Han Sen commanded the snake to get back to work, excavating the tree for transport.

Three snakes dug the earth around the tree, while the strongest went to biting through the roots.

All of a sudden, the Disloyal Knight began to scream in agony with a shrill, inhuman voice. It was still connected to the tree, though, and Han Sen was confident that it couldn’t dislodge itself.

”Stop screaming, you big baby! I’m only moving the tree; I’m not killing you,” Han Sen said to the knight.

The Disloyal Knight seemed to hear what was spoken to him, and it looked down on Han Sen with murder in its eyes.

”Hurry up, snakey boys. Dig faster!” Han Sen rushed the snakes, just in-case something unfortunate was about to happen.

An unnerving feeling had managed to latch itself onto the back of Han Sen’s mind, and slowly the feelings of concern for ill happenings simmered. It brought him discomfort, and he thought something foul would soon happen. Moment Queen had told him that the knight would obey the first person it looked on. It had indeed seen Han Sen, but still, it looked rather hostile.

”Perhaps I should ask Moment Queen about this; she might be able to shed some light on the issue.” Much to her chagrin, Moment Queen was summoned back.

”Can’t you leave me alone for a minute? I’m trying to earn geno points! What do you want?” Moment Queen sounded a little moody.

”What you said was incorrect. You have some explaining to do.” Han Sen then proceeded to tell her what had occurred in her absence.

Moment Queen eyed the dead bodies that littered the site and said with genuine surprise, ”Wow, that is weird. It looks like what I hypothesized was reversed. The Disloyal Knight was not affected by the Loyal Knights, but it was the Loyal Knights that were affected by the overbearing force of the Disloyal Knight. I think it made them... disloyal.”

”Does that mean I won’t be able to tame it?” Han Sen asked, quickly gesturing for the snakes to stop digging.

”I suppose,” Moment Queen said.

”Are you positive? There is no other way I can get that knight to follow my commands? The emperor must have had a way, surely,” Han Sen said.

”Yes, but it doesn’t work for ordinary people,” Moment Queen said.

”How do you know that?” Han Sen asked, looking at the Disloyal Knight.

”Easy; it requires domination. If you could dominate the Disloyal Knight, prove to it that you are the alpha and that you are unequivocally superior to the Disloyal Knight in strength, it wouldn’t betray you. It would follow you. But do bear in mind that this thing, once matured, might actually end up being a super creature. Toppling a foe such as that would be no small feat,” Moment Queen explained.

”And there is no other way besides that?” Han Sen asked with a frown.

”If there is, I have not heard of it. This Disloyal Knight infected the entire tree, though; so don’t do anything reckless. Sometimes it’s best to just cut your losses and quit while you’re ahead.” Just as Moment Queen finished her speech, a roar sounded. Following that, the noise of breaking wood came from high up in the tree. The Disloyal Knight had broken its tie to the tree.

It looked as cold as ice, as the back of its copper armor was stained with blood. It looked broken there, also, as if it had not finished growing.