My Hermes System (Web Novel)

"Is… this a joke?"

"We got what you wanted, we expect you to pay up."

"We asked for a battery enough to fuel an entire planet, not some lump of blood."

"We risked our lives to get this, pay up!"

Inside what seemed to be a moderately sized ship, a group of people was currently arguing; right in the middle of them was some kind of glass container-- the tool that was used to extract Queen Vivati's growing blastocyst.

One side of the group was a race that looked similar to humans, except their ears were that of a beast and on top of their heads; and the outer layer that protected their flesh was not skin, but scale-- a species called Furion.

But even then, they looked more similar to humans than the group of Eisis they were arguing with-- the Eisis that pretended to be physicians and were responsible for taking away the growing embryo inside Queen Vivati's womb.

"Why would we even pay for this garbage!?"

"This is your plan!" One of the Eisis violently slammed his palm on the glass container, "Now pay up before they notice what we've done! I want to be as far away from Osiris as possible before the Queen and that alien finds out about anything!"

"That doesn't change the fact that this is only a lump of blood!" The leader of the group of Furions kicked the glass container away, causing it to bounce on the wall and its cap to open up; spilling the very little pint of blood contained inside on the floor.

"We should just kill you here now for not delivering the goods properly!"

And as soon as the Furion said that, his men quickly raised their guns and pointed them towards the Eisis; in which the Eisis responded with the same action.

"Try it! Do you think our guild will just let you go if you kill 4 of their most prized agents!?" The leader of the Eisis group did not back down as he even took a step forward,

"Give us half now, then we will settle this peacefully next time we get the remaining half after I report this situation to our master," The Eisis said-- if Van was here, then he would quickly recognize him as the one that tricked him into agreeing to abort the baby.

"It doesn't work that way, Scavenger," the leader of the group of Furion also took a step forward as he looked the Eisis straight in the eyes, "If we leave here empty-handed, we're as good as dead if we return to our planet. Our client comes from way up, and since you failed to deliver, we will be the ones in trouble…

...My group will be taking this money to run away."

"Then we will just kill you here and take away your problems! Shoot--"

"We have you surrounded, you will not be able to leave the hangar!"

And before the two groups could start shooting at each other, they all could not help but slightly stumble as the ship they were in started to tremble. It was followed by a loud siren; piercing their ears and causing them to slightly panic.

"We have deactivated your ship! Please step out slowly or we will be forced to take lethal action!"

"S… shit! Is… isn't that the Space Force!?" The Furion exclaimed as he looked at one of the monitors; which all soon died down, "They… they found us!"

Although the group was just arguing a few moments ago, they all dived to the ship's floor and hid; making sure their weapons were all ready to fire at a moment's notice.

"This… this is your fault, you fucking lizard! If you just gave me the payment, we wouldn't be in this situation!"

"Fuck you! I should just--"

"Step out slowly, or we will be forced to take lethal action!"

And before the group could argue again, another round of the piercing siren entered their ears.

"F… fuck, we can't get caught here!" The Furion bellowed, "Do something! Isn't escaping from the police one of your group's fortes!? Take half of our money, just get us out of here!"

"That should be ours in--"

"This is our last warning. If you do not step out of the ship, we will start shoo-- W… wait, King Evans! Please stop!"

And with the siren once again reverberating through their ears like the call of death, they felt the ship once again tremble.

"What's happ--"

And before the leader of the Eisis group could even say a word, his body suddenly erupted into pieces; it was then followed by what seemed to be parts and debris falling from above. All of the perpetrators inside the ship could not help but look up, only to see a part of the roof completely torn.

"Y… you…" One of the Eisis then stuttered as he pointed at his fallen comrade's blood and guts, or rather, to the person that was completely covered with them.

That's… the alien?-- were the Furions' thoughts as they saw the blood-covered-human in front of them slowly stand up. They have seen the alien from all the videos and photos that were being reported in the news almost every hour, so they were more than familiar with what he looked like.

And so, without any doubts in their mind, they were sure this was him… the alien from beyond the Barrier; the one they call King Evans.

"S… shoot him!" And as soon as the leader of the Furion roared, not only his men but also the group of Eisis started shooting at Van without any hesitation. A yellow glow instantly filled the interior of the ship as the light from their guns all beamed towards Van; almost to the point that they could no longer see his silhouette.

"Is… is it dead?" The Furion muttered as the smoke created from their endless barrage started to simmer down. His breaths, however, completely tightened as soon as the sound of a single step whispered throughout the entire ship.

All of them once again aimed their guns towards Van, but as soon as they saw his skin healing at an almost abnormal rate, the only thing they could do was watch as he made his way towards a corner of the ship.

The group looked at each other as Van seemed to completely ignore them and instead headed to the glass container that the Furion kicked away earlier, before proceeding to fall on his knees.

It was just a lump of blood.

Van was only staring at a lump of blood on the floor. It had… a very slimy texture-- almost jelly-like compared to normal.

To think…

...that this lump of blood would have one day become his child. Maybe it would have even become close to Vanya in the future.

Van initially thought that he wouldn't have any attachment to Vivati's child; but imagining what could have been made him… human.

He could have watched the child grow; something that he could not do with Vanya. The World Eaters were coming, yes. That was something that would never change… but if Van just continued with his goal of sending messages to the different worlds that littered his universe and forgot his family…

...then what was he fighting for in the first place?

This lump of blood may not have been something he wished for-- but it still could have been his family.

"..." Van then placed his palm on the minute puddle of blood, and without even saying a word, summoned a small tree that completely absorbed all of it.

"...Maybe in another life," Van then whispered as he finally stood up and faced the group, who were completely silent as they watched his every action.

"We--"

And without even letting anyone talk, another huge hole opened itself up on the ship. And one by one, the group disappeared.

The members of the Police Force, who were standing by and surrounding the ship from the outside, could not help but let out small whispers and gasps as people suddenly started appearing one by one; with only a golden blur of light trailing behind them before they appeared so.

"K… King Evans," Captain Ameera quickly ordered her men to stand down as she jumped out of her ship,

"We… we could have handled this," Ameera then said as she approached Van, who was standing behind the group of criminals now kneeling on the ground.

"We're handling this my way," Van quickly replied as he pointed in a certain direction, "Is that floating thing… a camera?"

"Hm? What the, who let the media in the vicinity! Get them out of--"

"It's alright," Van patted Ameera's shoulder before she could finish her words, "Let them inside."

"W… what was that?"

"Let the media people inside, I want the world to see what is going to happen next."

"What… is going to happen next?" Captain Ameera took in a small gulp as he looked at Van. But since Van did not seem to have any interest in answering her, the only thing she could do was follow his orders.

And as expected of naysayers and the media; as soon as they were allowed to go inside, they circled the scene in no time at all.

"Is this all of them, Captain Ameera?" Van asked.

"Y… Yes?"

"Can you point me to where the other cameras are? The one I know from my world is… bulky."

"O… Oh," hearing Van's words, Ameera quickly pointed towards all the cameras in the perimeter. Van scanned them one by one, before slightly moving his body to the side…

...and proceeding to pull one of the criminals' heads.

"!!!"