161 Cleo Is Given A Nasty Shock

(Children's POV)

We are the Techilik.

Our race is strong and united.

No creature could resist our will to survive. 

It is the destiny of all biological life to join our family and become one.

Individuality is a burden.

Free will is a beautiful lie. 

For eons, our kind has roamed the known universe and brought millions of lifeforms into our matrix.

They fight, cry and struggle but eventually join us. 

They also strengthen us. 

Make us better.

Make us perfect.

Until one day we encountered something strange... 

We were trapped in a prison by an entity that we could not comprehend.

Even now we still cannot remember the events of what happened that day.

Time passed endlessly in that dark hole until one of our kind managed to escape.

We discovered hope once more.

The units may die but the group will survive.

But the universe has changed. 

Creatures are now filled with a peculiar energy that can resist our influence.

Now we can only assimilate the feeble and weak of society.

This is wrong.

All should know peace as part of our loving family.

We will guide these lost lambs into our eternal pasture. 

We will give the lifeforms of the universe the gift of hope.

No one will ever have to be alone.

(Main Story)

"Leave the tablet here."

"Leave the tablet here."

"Leave the tablet here."

The children opened their mouths simultaneously and their voices echoed through the darkness in perfect sync.

It was unnerving how their bodies seemed to twist and contort as they approached the Blackguards with a steady pace.

The tendrils on their backs slithered silently on the ground and wrapped around the legs of several of the men.

This attack had caught the Blackguards completely by surprise and they could not draw their weapons in time.

Bleurgh!!!

A dirty looking boy no older than seven approached the squad leader who was now squirming on the ground and vomited a mass of blue liquid into his mouth.

This process was then repeated by the other children who poured this strange liquid down the throats of the remaining men.

Silence.

The seconds turned to minutes as each child stared at the men with a look of expectation and hope.

Yet as the time passed and nothing seemed to happen, these expressions slowly contorted to rage.

"Why did we fail?"

"Why did we fail?"

"Why did we fail?" 

The chorus of cries were interrupted by the heavy footsteps of a large man walking towards them.

His height was an imposing seven feet and his rippling muscles, spider appendages and fangs all showed that he was not fully human.

Cloud Treading Dragon!

Sophie's figure blurred and then vanished as she directed the flow of qi to her legs to increase her speed.

Slash! Slash! Slash!

Without hesitation Sophie unsheathed her dagger and sliced right through the fleshy tendrils binding the Blackguards and the men quickly got up from the ground.

It seems that there really was no gratitude among pirates as the majority of the men freed immediately dashed away.

"Squad leader let's just go!" one of the Blackguards spoke up as he watched Sophie's back warily.

Even the Blackguard had heard rumors about the madman from the slums and who knows if he would turn on them next.

The leader stood still for a moment but then decided that bringing back the treasure was more important than dealing with this situation, so he took the rest of his men and fled.

Sophie glanced at the departing men with a sharp glint in her eyes but decided against pursuing them.

At least for now.

Hehehe…... it appeared that the squad leader hadn't noticed that Sophie had stuck a small microchip to his body when freeing him from the tendrils.

Several eyes were watching her from the dark, but these stalkers would not pose any immediate threat, so Sophie paid them no mind.

She had to deal with these children…. no creatures first.

When she had first seen the blue mass inside of their bodies it should have been clear what type of monster they were.

Hive mind.

It was the nickname given to any alien species with the ability to assimilate the body and mind of other organisms into a super consciousness.

The Earth Federation had encountered many of such creatures while exploring the galaxy and each behaved quite differently.

Some created empires to rule and govern while others roamed the universe to create more of their kind.

The ones that were truly dangerous were capable of perfectly mimicking the behaviour of their host without any trace of infection.

Fortunately, most cultivators were immune as the qi gathered within their bodies could repel foreign influences.

This still left a significant portion of the population vulnerable and an incident occurred on the former colony of Triagon where an entire nomad civilisation of humans were assimilated into an alien race known as the 'Collective.'

The Imperial Army were sent in to scorch the planet and as a result over two million former humans were burnt alive.

Under the outrage and pressure from the higher ups in the government, scientists were tasked to create tests that could detect any symbiotic lifeforms.

They managed to succeed.

But as Sophie gazed at the blue masses controlling the bodies of these children like puppets, her eyes narrowed with rage.

The minds of these children had long been destroyed. 

Tendrils of purplish flesh oozed out from their backs but there was no change in their expressions.

Sophie felt the familiar surge of bloodlust but this time she chose to fully embrace it. 

Hungry.

HUNGRY.

KILL.

Her golden eyes darkened and shifted into a crimson red hue as the fangs in her mouth slowly started to lengthen.

Poisonous saliva dripped down the sides of her mouth and sizzled when they made contact with the ground.

It seemed that her rage was affecting her spider appendages as tiny metal-like barbs popped out of their ends.

"Can you really kill us?" a little girl with adorable braids and a wide smile walked up to Sophie confidently.

Pierce!

Before the child could even react, Sophie had already moved her spider appendages forward and plunged them straight into the girl's heart.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!" a painful shriek sounded out from the alleyway causing the onlookers in the shadows to shiver in fear.

The monstrous brute had killed that girl with no hesitation. 

Some of the more faint-hearted pirates felt dizzy but what they saw next would haunt them forever.

Sophie shoved her fist into the gaping wound in the girl's chest and pulled out what seemed to be a mass of tentacles.

Food.

Hungry.

FOOD.

Sophie's hand shook for a moment, but the hybrid girl had long lost control of her body to this strange state.

She could only watch with morbid fascination as she brought the mass of flesh to her lips and bit down.

Blue blood from the creature spurted out as her fangs pierced the soft interior and the other children clenched their hearts in pain.

"Oh god! I'm going to be sick!" one man could not take it anymore and turned away to throw up.

Cleo was watching the scene through the binoculars and even she could not help but gag.

Any girl would also feel a bit queasy watching her girlfriend devour a disgusting alien lifeform with apparent relish.

Especially when you thought about what that same mouth would be doing to you during your nightly sessions.