Chapter 474 - Power Has A Price...

(Hydra Star System- Outer Regions)

(Zrudread University Spacecraft)

A crimson red portal appeared in the middle of a corridor and a naked man stepped out of it with a confident grin on his face.

His body was covered in horrific pus-filled boils that oozed and blistered with every step that he took.

Kohli stretched out his arms and tiny holes began to appear on his palms. Bloods flowed out of these holes and floated in the air around him.

The leader of the Calypso Brotherhood looked around curiously as he carefully took note of his immediate surroundings.

Where had the portal sent him? 

Where was Duke Peterlor's daughter?

He was surrounded by metalloid walls, so the murderous pirate had no idea that he was currently on a starship.

While Kohli remained frozen in place, a green light burst out of a nearby scanner and quickly swept his body.

A piercing siren began to sound out as red flashing lights filled the corridor. 

The starship's AI unit had been monitoring the unusual energy readings and had found a mysterious intruder.

Ring! Ring! Ring!

[Intruder Detected! Intruder Detected! 

[Location… Second Floor… Second Floor… Corridor A-23]

[Deploying Security Forces…]

Kohli looked around in shock as the floor beneath his feet began to tremble. 

Hundreds of robotic androids appeared at the end of the corridor, and each held a plasma rifle in their hands.

They opened fire without hesitation. Instructor Barrett had placed the starship on high alert which meant that all intruders were to be eliminated.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Kohli placed one palm in front of his body and began to mutter incomprehensible words as a strange aura surrounded him.

The blood floating around his body morphed into the shape of a shield and the rounds of plasma fire could not penetrate its defenses.

Kohli was a cultivator at the peak of the qi tide stage so he could easily track and observe the trajectory of the plasma shots in the air.

He bent his knees and the qi inside his body violently flowed through his meridians. 

His figure blurred and then vanished from the spot.

He reappeared in the middle of the androids and the dark power coursing through his veins begged to be unleashed.

Blood sea!

Kohli screamed in agony as several blisters popped simultaneously and yellowish pus oozed out of the open wounds.

An illusory sea of blood surrounded his body and crashed into the nearby androids. The mechanical soldiers were instantly crushed under the weight of the fearsome attack.

Kohli leapt forward and used his monstrous strength to rip the heads off the remaining androids before they could deal with him.

The pirate stood in the middle of the carnage as his chest gently heaved up and down. His mind was a mess as the sweet allure of destruction sent shivers down his spine.

More… more… I need more…

Kohli could feel his bloodlust begin to grow but it could not be sated by mechanical lifeforms.

He needed to find the duke's daughter quickly before he suffered a backlash. 

No power in the universe was given for free and his patron's gift required the lifeforce of organic beings in order to be casted safely.

If Kohli did not find someone in time, then his own lifeforce and vitality would be drained away to pay the cost.

But there was one small issue.

Kohli could not sense the divinity anymore. It was only thanks to his dark patron that he knew that the duke's daughter had entered the asteroid field but now… 

"His holiness… please lend me your strength…" Kohli respectfully prayed. 

He clasped his hands together and waited for the mysterious entity to give him more power.

An eternity seemed to pass…

Kohli opened his eyes in confusion as he heard no response. What made matters even worse was that it appeared as though his connection to the entity had been temporarily weakened.

Wait a minute… had the fates discovered his master already?

Kohli furrowed his brows as sirens continued to blare out in the background. The ground rumbled once more, and the pirate knew that reinforcements were going to arrive soon.

Kohli ran away from them without a second glance. He could not let his master's hard work go to waste.

Once he attained a void stage cultivation level then it would be a simple matter to become the ruler of the Hydra Star System.

Duke Peterlor…

Madness gleamed in Kohli's eyes as he tore through an incoming squad of robotic androids and narrowed avoided the sudden traps that sprung up.

He glanced out a nearby window and saw the vast expanse of space with hundreds of stars blinking in and out of existence as if they were mocking him.

Kohli screamed in rage and the blood inside his body boiled in a frenzy.

There was a reason why most space battles ended with destruction rather than an attempt to capture the enemy spacecraft.

Spacecrafts were filled with traps and monitored by AI units which made them extremely difficult to successfully infiltrate.

Kohli's knew that his movements were most likely being broadcasted to the captain of the vessel.

The blood floating around his body darkened and the boils on his body seemed to throb with anger.

Where was she? Where was she? WHERE WAS SHE?

Eventually Kohli's confidence crumbled as he spent hours searching through the starship without coming in contact with a simple living person.

The pirate searched through an endless labyrinth of metalloid doors, corridors and rooms but without exception every single one was empty.

The starship was perfectly tracking his movements so even if there were people in his path then it would have most likely warned them to move to another section.

What Kohli didn't know was that there were only two people currently on the starship and they were both watching him from the command deck.

Instructor Barrett was a mech controller, so it was a simple matter for him to spread his consciousness into the bodies of multiple androids and pilot a large spacecraft on his own.

Otherwise, this medium sized vessel would usually require hundreds of people.

"Fuck… this can't go on like this…" Kohli muttered as the blood floating around him morphed into the shape of a sword.

He swung the blade forward and the wall in front of him split in two. Kohli's breath quickened as he felt his heart race.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

The pirate clutched his chest in pain as he felt the backlash slowly spread from his dantian. 

Wrinkles appeared on the young man's face and in a moment, it seemed as though he had aged twenty years.