Neville kicked a pirate off balance. The man stumbled, and he was already driving his blade into another attacker’s exposed armpit joint. Then he heard another sharp inhale behind him and turned just in time to see Grayson grabbing his neck again, face contorted in barely suppressed agony.

It was getting worse.

Neville’s eyes darted across the battlefield, frantically calculating angles and distances. Grayson needed help. Bryan needed protection. And the star pirates were circling like sharks who smelled blood in the water.

One group was moving toward Bryan’s unconscious body. Another was converging on Grayson, whose movements had grown increasingly erratic.

Realization hit him in a bitter note.

He couldn’t save them both.

But Bryan was closer and defenseless. He could die in the next thirty seconds if no one protects him.

And Grayson knew it too.

Their eyes met across the chaos, and something wordless passed between them.

Grayson deliberately lowered his guard.

The pulse bolt shot him in the thigh, burning through armor and flesh. He went down hard, a strangled grunt escaping his lips. Blood began to pool beneath him almost immediately.

"No!"

The scream tore from Neville’s throat before he could stop it.

What was he doing? He was supposed to save Grayson and finish this goddamn mission!

He was supposed to be—

Something inside Neville snapped.

He dropped his knife and his gun. He wasn’t feeling particularly human anymore.

The next thing he knew, his nails grew into claws that were capable of tearing these people in one slash.

Scales grew from his hands up to his arms and formed armor all over his body. Some of it even appeared along his cheekbones and temples. His glasses broke, and he showed his beautiful ocean blue eyes reddened with murderous intent.

His coral crown grew on his forehead, asserting its dominance and regal rights to those who saw it.

His pheromones burst from him like a tidal wave. It was an overwhelming experience for anyone who could smell it.

Every alpha and omega in the room came crashing to the ground, leaving the frozen betas standing, unable to move.

With Neville’s insidious control of pheromones, the alphas began to regain their footing. Their instincts were screaming at them to protect, to possess, to claim. They unhesitatingly abandoned everything and ran towards Neville, the source of the pheromones.

Neville met them with violence.

His claws found the first alpha’s throat before the man could even raise his guard, tearing through flesh with pure strength. The second came at him in a pheromone-drunk haze, and Neville raked his claws across the man’s face, painting the deck with blood.

It was brutal. Savage even.

Just like back when he was fighting randomly on his rough days back on Earth.

The pheromone-muddled alphas never stood a chance.

"Neville!" Grayson ordered while in pain. "Take Bryan! Get him out of here!"

His voice made Neville freeze mid-strike, claws still dripping with blood, and he turned to find Grayson propped against the wall. Grayson was pale as death; his wound was still gushing out blood, with his hand clamped against his neck.

"I don’t—"

"That’s an order." Grayson’s silver eyes were unnervingly calm even as he smelled Neville’s potent dominant pheromones. "If you don’t move Bryan, he will die."

It was logical.

But Neville didn’t want to do that.

He hated this.

But he couldn’t refuse Grayson. Not when all of their lives were on the line. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Neville ultimately grabbed Bryan’s unconscious body and ran. As he moved out in the corridor, he could sense the star pirates going after him, but he easily evaded them.

As soon as Neville found a safe room, he immediately shoved Bryan inside, sealed the door, and turned back to save Grayson.

He killed everyone who got in his way.

He had to come back.

He needed to get back to Grayson.

The sounds of combat had changed when he returned. Instead of multiple star pirates going after him, they stayed in the room.

They were taking Grayson with them.

Neville sprinted faster as he utilized his inherent mermaid abilities.

He needed to make it in time.

Run!

Faster!

The door opened, and Neville met with an empty executive room littered with dead bodies. Neville could see the last of the star pirates retreating to their starship.

They were carrying someone, clothes stained with blood

"No." The word came out small and broken

Neville lunged forward, but the breach seal was already cycling shut. He wanted to confirm if it was really Grayson that they were taking. He slammed against the reinforced barrier, claws screeching against metal, and screamed his frustration into the uncaring void between ships.

The Star Pirate’s starship began to disengage. He watched as they pulled their ship away.

With the broken reinforced glass, this place would instantly become a space vacuum. If he stayed here for long, he could be pushed out of the ship without oxygen and die in space. So, all Neville could do was make sure that this room was sealed shut so that the starship wouldn’t disintegrate in the process.

"DAMN IT!"

Neville cried against the sealed door.

[Host! Focus! Your target isn’t dead yet. There’s still time to catch up!]

"Bombs." Neville murmured in a quiet voice, "I heard that they were going to bomb this place after getting Grayson. With Julius still on the way, there’s no way to prevent that."

Shelly reported, [Host, there’s a huge reactor that supplies this starship with endless energy. I already scanned that the bomb installed was manually operated. Although I couldn’t diffuse it, I can still let you know that without a certain range away from the Aurelius, there was no way that the star pirates would activate the bombs. After all, this much energy could create a mini black hole that they could potentially suck into.]

Neville slowly regained light in his eyes, formulating a plan.

"Got it."

Neville hurriedly ran and took Bryan out of his hiding place.

[Where are you going, host?] Shelly asked.

"To the mecha bay."