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Horizon Chapter 4: Letting off Steam

After the agitated awakening I had thanks to Arc-Turus' screams. He started to yell at me. Asking me how I could have done that. If it was just to hurt him. After a quarter of an hour of being screamed at without being able to answer or even speak, the irritation took hold and I did the only thing I found rational to put an end to all this.

“Silence!” I shouted, as an order.

Arc-Turus wanted to continue yelling at me but no more sound came out of his mouth, then he started touching his throat while panicking slightly.

“I'm the one who shut you up, no need to panic.” He then looked at me with evil eyes. “Oh, stop it, you didn't give me a choice! You wake me up by screaming at me, then you throw a jealous fit by yelling at me for over a quarter of an hour without letting me speak. Okay, I'll give you back the floor but I don't want to hear you scream.”

“How could you do this to me?” He said, almost angrily shouting. “I'm not your thing!”

“You're my slave!” I gave him a mean look. “You may have forgotten it from the way I treat you, but that's what you are! You're not my boyfriend, my husband, or my father. You're my slave who must obey my orders. So behave like one!”

Arc said he had to monitor the recovery of my new slaves and that he had to check the security of the house. He stormed out without waiting for my answer, which annoyed me even more to see his little crisis of adolescent rebellion.

I laid down on the bed, and Sphinx wrapped his arms around me before starting to nibble on my shoulders. But I quickly cut off his attempts saying that I wasn't in the mood and that I needed my breakfast.

He got up and left me all alone while I lay on the bed completely exhausted by this situation. After a while, a domestic robot arrived with a breakfast tray, I thanked Claire for this attention and ate my meal without waiting.

After that, I headed to my personal bathroom letting the domestic robots clean everything, a bath was ready and hot according to my tastes. Claire knew how to manage when I was not in good shape which put me in a better mood.

*********

I was definitely in a better mood after resting all morning following the argument which allowed me to think better. Having a clearer mind had also allowed me to ask myself a question, why had Reduson made advances towards me? And why had he been in bed with me? As a Verulian, even if he was my slave, he would never have let himself go with an inferior being especially as a member of the royal family.

So I took the lead, having a meal prepared for two and bringing it into the office so we could eat together. Sphinx was happy to see me arrive with the meal and quickly moved to join me at the table, he settled in front of me starting to eat while caressing me with his leg.

“What are you playing at?” I asked.

“I'm trying to please my master.” He replied charmingly.

“I'm not talking about that, and you already know it. I'm talking about your abnormal behavior for a Verulian. Especially one related to the royal family. And don't say that it's the normal behavior of a slave because we both know very well that it's not the case in your culture.”

He stopped stroking my leg, clearly disturbed by what I had told him, then he straightened up and looked at me seriously before answering me.

“Yes it's true, a Verulian would never behave like that. We only respect strength and power, even as a slave. On the other hand I understood something by working with you, you are more intelligent than the common mortals and you are a power in the making.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“What I mean is that today you may be just a star with an innovative and brilliant product, but tomorrow you will be one of the most powerful people in the galaxy. You have everything to obtain a power worthy of being a weight in the decisions that everyone will make in the galaxy.”

“And that's why you're all honey with me?”

“Exactly, you are a powerful master, as such I respect it and submit to you voluntarily. Even if I would say that you are more the one who submits.” He told me while winking at me. “So master? Reassured?”

“Yes, for now, but you don't have my absolute trust, know that.”

He just smiled at me before continuing his meal in silence.

***********

“Fuck! How could he do this to me! Especially with Reduson!” I shouted in the regeneration room.

“Arc-Turus, I would ask you to calm down, otherwise I will have to do it for you.” The AI threatened me.

I was forced to sit down to calm down even though I was totally furious, I only wanted one thing, to go back to that room and kill that Verulian before showing who owned Jordan's body!

After an unknown amount of time, my anger had faded a little, but not completely every time I thought about Jordan with that scumbag in his bed. I didn't understand what was happening, I thought what Jordan and I were living was unique and love, but I was probably wrong given the way he took another in his bed, especially this Verulian.

“Arc-Turus, do I really have to sedate you to calm down?” Claire asked.

“No, it'll be fine. But understand me a little... It's normal that I'm angry. He slept with that Verulian!”

“Arc-Turus, I think we're going to have to do something about your human sperm problem.”

I then saw a regenerator descend from the ceiling and a robot enter the room.

“Whoa, calm down, I don't need you to solve this problem.”

“Arc-Turus, why wouldn't Jordan have the right to do something with someone else?”

“Because he belongs to me!” I answered a little too quickly.

“Arc-Turus, you belong to him. Not the other way around, I think the effects of his sperm are too powerful for you, I'm sorry, but you're going to have to take a nap.”

After which I felt a strange sensation before everything went black……

My awakening had not been gentle, an immense pain went through my brain, which made me get up and I almost fell to the ground because I was on an examination table. Once I regained consciousness of where I was, an anger began to explode towards Jordan's AI but it quickly calmed down following my violent headaches.

“My head, what did that crazy AI do to me?” I grumbled out loud.

“This crazy AI has found the source of the problem of your addiction and abnormal behavior towards Jordan.”

“What? What abnormal behavior?”

Then suddenly I remembered our fight at Alpha Centauri and my tantrum when I saw him in bed with Reduson, as well as my inappropriate words and my behavior. Then I remembered that Jordan had clearly told me that I was his slave and not the other way around even though I strongly believed that it was indeed the case.

“What did I do to Jordan? I have to go apologize right now.” I said, as I went to the door

“No! You're still too unstable to see him.”

“What happened?” I asked Claire.

“Do you want the long version, or the short version?”

I stared into space wondering what she meant by short or long.

“Well, let's say a short version to start. You had an argument with Jordan when you found him in bed with Sphinx, that's Réduson's first name. Well, let's move on, your anger was such that I thought about injecting you with a low level sedative. However, you acted even weirder by saying that Jordan was yours. So I put you to sleep to examine you and see where the problem of addiction and position that you had towards Jordan came from. What I found was rather complicated, it wasn't Jordan's sperm that put you in this state and I was able to confirm it, so I carried my analysis back to your brain and I discovered that its chemistry had completely changed after your last trip in the regenerator. After further analysis, I found your body itself produced an enzyme that triggered all of this. Following the recordings of the nanobots, you began secreting this enzyme after your first night with Jordan, but at minimal levels. It was during your second night that the levels exploded through the roof and you continued to produce quite a bit of it after that.”

“And what does that mean?” I asked worriedly.

“To tell you the truth, I don't know. The biology of your species has been studied, but cases like yours have never been documented. If I had to give a theory, it's either an unknown genetic anomaly, or it's an Orc biological characteristic that has never been recorded.”

“So what do I do?”

“Nothing for now. I made a treatment that cancels the effects of the enzyme in your body, but its brain chemistry, it can be risky, so you have to stay away from Jordan for a while. At least until you are stabilized.”

“How long?” I asked.

“Forty Eight hours would be good.”

After this revelation I was dejected, I would have no way of resolving the situation with Jordan for at least two days leaving him angry at me all this time with the possibility that he would continue with the other. I really felt bad, but I could not allow myself to hurt Jordan.

************

A day had passed since Arc had come to wake me up in my room screaming, he still hadn't come back, absent from his duties. I had asked Claire what he was doing, she had just told me that he was watching the regeneration tank and that he wanted to be there when the mercenaries woke up so they wouldn't feel lost.

I had accepted it, but it was clear it was just an excuse to stay as far away from me as possible. I had asked Sphinx not to come to my room with me, saying that we would not have sex that day in view of what had happened with Arc-Turus.

On the other hand, I was surprised to come across Sphinx in the kitchen preparing breakfast, given what he was preparing, it looked like a typical Verulian dish, but what surprised me was that he knew how to cook. He served me my breakfast plate with a kind of bowl containing a creamy liquid with a slightly sweet taste. He, on the other hand, made himself a roasted coffee with my personal machine before sitting down in front of me and starting to eat.

“What?” He asked as I stared at him.

“Just, I didn't imagine you as the type to cook but more to be served.” I answered him.

“It is true that was the case after my childhood, but before that I lived with my mother who was a cook of the castle. It was she who taught me to cook.”

He stared blankly for a moment before regaining his composure and sipping his coffee. I could tell things with his mother hadn't gone well given his reaction, but I wasn't about to open Pandora's box.

“If you like roasted coffee so much, you can order your favorites as you want, you'll have to see to that with the AI of the house.”

“Thank you. By the way, speaking of your extraordinary AI, she told me that I could benefit from physical modification.”

“My ‘extraordinary’ AI?” I was lost as to how he knew Claire wasn't a standard AI.

“It would be stupid to think that you use a normal AI when you have a more advanced technology than the norm. Besides, it's not the first one I’ve met, many of them exist.”

“I see, and you are not like everyone else.”

“Indeed, speaking of physical modifications, I would like to make some.”

“Really?” I said, puzzled. “Haven't you already improved your body like you wanted? You had plenty of time to do so when you were vice-principal.”

“That's true, but your modifiers are more advanced than the normal ones, plus I've always had to abide by the royal family's standards and never leave them. Since I'm your slave, I don't have to respect them anymore.”

“Do yourself a favor, look at it with Claire, it will probably take the day depending on the changes you want to make.”

“Thanks, I'll take care of it after breakfast.”

That's how I found myself completely alone again after breakfast, not knowing what to do anymore. Indeed, several of my experiments were being processed and I didn't have the motivation to start something new. The documents of my case had been processed by Sphynx and I really didn't have the mind to try to process them.

The only thing I wanted was to do something that would relax me, either by going to bed and watching movies and series, or doing an activity where I could let off steam. It was the letting off steam activity that I wanted the most, even though I knew I wasn't allowed to go out especially without telling my security chief, but I really wanted some time to myself, so that's how I decided to do something stupid.

Stupidity was a big word, in reality, one could have said madness! I had decided to go to a fighting arena in order to let off steam properly, something I hadn’t done in a long time. The last time I had knocked out a good dozen brutes before leaving without any real injuries, not to mention that I had knocked down their new rising star quite easily.

For my fights I wore a full body suit with a motorcycle type helmet, all in black with some dark red stripes, my name was still the little human, even if now the fighters respected me more.

As for fighting, weapons were forbidden, however innate abilities such as growing spikes, blades or any psionic abilities were allowed. It could get pretty violent especially with everyone's abilities being able to be astonishing.

To fight, I first presented myself at the counter that accepted the fighters, providing my registration card from the last fights. Reading it, the counter manager informed me that I was waiting for an appointment with Mr. Hérisse, the owner of the arena.

So I was led to his office under heavy guard, two armed cyborgs leading me to this Mr. Hérisse a Tetramand and veteran fighter. It was obvious that he was getting old, his arms were no longer as swollen as in his youth and his bright red skin had become dull.

“So Mr. Little Human, have you come to mess up in my arena again?” The director asked me in a very serious tone.

“I came to let off steam. Like last time.”

“Last time you came, I had to send a dozen of my fighters to get treatment and my rising star ended up bedridden for several days.” He sounded angry as he said it.

“That's right”, I replied and his henchmen started to move, but I continued my sentence, “But you probably won a lot more thanks to the bet made against me. Am I wrong?”

He then started laughing and his cyborgs backed away leaving us both alone.

“That's right, it was one of the best days of that month. That's why I'm not mad, plus you just came to fight and nothing more, which I respect. So I'll let you fight, but not against just anyone, you'll fight five guys that I've already selected for you.”

“I bet they're well-placed fighters and you're hoping they get a good beating.”

“I never said that, if the bets make me win more money than I lose, let's say that it would be good. Come on little human, go get ready for your first fight!”

So I left the arena manager's office leaving him with his henchmen while he laughed heartily at the situation. He clearly expected me to make him some easy money.

My first fight was against a reptilian type alien, its skin being entirely covered with a thick layer of very solid and rough scales. A real hell to hi. Especially since our dear reptilian friend had an acid spit, which made the thing more dangerous with its claws sharp as razor blades and its tail that could strike at any moment.

In reality, he wasn't that dangerous because his spitting ability was very limited, so by keeping at a high speed attack and hitting with precise blows on cracked areas, I could start to shake several of his scales. Seeing the fight not turning to his advantage, he made the only choice he knew was sure to his victory, blocking me completely by holding me while spitting acid on me.

Unfortunately for him, that was exactly what I expected him to do, so when he grabbed me and started preparing to spit acid, I freed myself from his hold before pinning him to the ground forcing him to semi-spit on himself. He then began screaming about the chemical burn and the dissolution of his scales as the acid began to eat away at his flesh.

Once that was done he was completely defeated, screaming that he needed healing as he ran out of the arena leaving me alone with the crowd cheering for me and the oiler for him.

The second fight wasn't very complicated either, the opponent being a sort of centaur half spider, half lion. His lower body was the body of a spider with eight golden legs from which emerged the torso of an anthro lion with wheat fur. His only strength was his agility and his sticky webs that he used to trap his opponent.

However, one major weakness existed, the joints of his spider legs. I only had to break them one by one to render him completely immobile before positioning myself behind his lion torso to knock him out with a few well-placed blows to the head.

The third fight pitted me against a much tougher alien, a pyronite, a magmatic creature that manipulates fire and can increase heat. Without my little trump card, it would have been totally impossible for me to defeat him, in fact, I had kept my telekinesis to defense, using it to protect myself from the fireballs he was throwing at me while he was flying around me.

Being more and more tired by the situation and affected by the heat that dehydrated me at high speed, I had to think of a way to stop it. I came up with the idea of creating a wall during its flight for whenever he hit it he would fall, this so that I can take the time to regain my senses.

But as he hit the telekinetic wall full force and started to fall, I saw him make a fireball appear from his hand fired towards me. So in a survival reflex, instead of making a protective wall, I pushed him faster to the ground, making him miss his target and causing a more violent fall that knocked him out instantly.

After the announcement of my victory, I was able to go and recharge my batteries in my locker room waiting for the next fight, not knowing if I was not going to stop there. I was slightly tired and I was tired of hitting guys, especially since the next ones now knew my little asset which could make the fight harder and more exhausting, which I did not want.

But as I was lounging and cooling off, the door to my locker room groaned as someone banged on it. I barely had time to put my helmet back on before they broke down the door and entered my locker room.

The person who entered was a minotaur, not the ones from Greek mythology but a minotaur from the planet Earthreya. He looked a lot like the minotaur of the myth, but much bigger, at least three meters tall and having a kind of mineral growth on certain parts of their body. The lower legs, elbows and their horns which were actually stone.

Seeing that my guest had glowing fur and black growths, I easily recognized him as the great champion of the arena, the great Minos. On the other hand, I did not know why he had entered my locker room in such a rude and unrestrained way knowing that we had no history or future fight planned.

“And you! The tiny human.” He panted at me. “Come right into the arena so I can beat you up.”

“I don't remember having a fight scheduled against the champion, plus it's my break, so go look elsewhere.”

His response was quick and short, his fist ramming into the wall.

“Come right away!” He ordered me.

“I don't know what you have against me, but I need a rest. Or do you just want an easy fight against an underdog?”

“An outsider, I don't know, but a pain in the ass, yes!” he growled. “The last time you came, you tore Vosterfera, the new rising star, to pieces.”

“So, was he a friend of yours? If so, I'm sorry, but that was the game especially when you try to take it out on a new guy after he's had eleven fights.”

He huffed loudly while grunting before answering. “Because of you, he went from rising star to buffoon.”

“That's the game!” I answered him curtly to which he grabbed me by the collar.

“Beautiful horn! Because of you, my fight against him didn't earn me any credits in addition to having to be postponed for several weeks. So you're going to move your ass to the arena so that I get my credits! Congratulations, you're the new rising star that I'm going to crush!”

“Calm down, calm down, my dear Minos.” The director said, as he appeared at the frame of what was the door to my locker room.

“Damn! Don't tell me to calm down when he screwed everything up! He has to fix it!” the minotaur roared.

“And I tell you to drop it.” His voice was strict and angry which made Minos stop. “Now listen to me. What that kid said is true, it was Vosterfera who challenged him and who was just trying to get more shine. But he got burned and I'm not going to start rigging my fights just to please a big muscle mountain like you!”

“Then I have no right to want to destroy him just for that!” Minos replied, still angry.

“In any case, he already has two more fights scheduled for today. And it's clear that his last fight affected him more than he lets on.” He then looked at me with piercing eyes.

“So when will it be? Tomorrow!”

“Hey, don't put me out of the discussion.” I got angry then. “I'm not a regular fighter of the arena, and I don't fight for money or glory! Just to let off steam.”

“Wait. That means I won't have my fight!” the minotaur got angry again.

“Yes, at least if he doesn't want to.” The director replied, Minos then looked at me with eyes aflame with anger. “It's up to you to try to convince him without violence.”

“Fight me tomorrow!”

“Sorry, but I don't plan on coming back for a while. Normally, I'm a pretty busy person.”

He groaned at my answer. “When then!”

“Next time I come, if that's still okay with you at that time.”

“But if you come back in several months like last time, there's no point in fighting you! Let's do it today!”

“As Mr. Hérisse said so well, I still have two fights waiting for me and indeed I am a little tired, so I am not likely to have enough energy to fight you afterwards.”

“Then cancel your other two fights and make it ours!”

He was clearly stubborn even though the director had calmed him down a bit, so I looked at the director to handle the situation since he was the one who had given me the fights to do. But his answer didn't please me.

“I'm willing to cancel the last two fights if our friend wants.”

“So we can fight!” Minos rejoiced.

“I didn't say yes as far as I know!”

“Are you afraid to face me?” He asked, with a mischievous smile.

The situation was giving me a headache and the indecent behavior of this minotaur even more, especially since he was doing everything to annoy and provoke me, which worked and annoyed me even more. I really wanted to fight him to make him come down from his pedestal but I had nothing to gain by making so much effort, but an idea came to me.

“Ok for the fight if we bet!” I told him then.

“No worries, how much do you want to bet?”

“No money, winner gets the other for the night, no restrictions.”

Minos and the headmaster then looked at me with wide surprised eyes before the minotaur burst out laughing in front of me, accepting the proposition saying that I shouldn't regret it afterwards.

The fight began two hours later, Minos and I joined each other in the arena under the cries of the spectators and especially the fans of the minotaur who showed their affection.

The beginning of the fight was quite simple, some exchange of blows and especially dodging for me who could not allow myself to take a direct hit from this idiot. Then after having gauged my strength, the real fight began.

The peculiarity of the minotaurs of his species to have mineral growths on their bodies actually demonstrated their ability to control stone and some of its variants. This is how Minos' bombardment of huge blocks of stone began.

I didn't know if his goal was to bury me under rubble, or if it was simply a crude attack or more deliberate. In any case, as the only solution to counter this large-scale attack, was to break through the debris in order to escape.

But our friend had planned for it, he was waiting for me with floating rocks the size of a melon and a stone mace. He then hit the rocks which were heading straight for me forcing me to create a barrier in front of me. I could then notice his smile on the corner as he sent me a second slam with as much force possible. As I blocked, he had planned the blow making a rock spike grow toward my back.

Luckily for me, I had sensed the movement behind me and was able to dodge while counterattacking with some hand movements that sent blades of air at him. Unfortunately for me, they barely hurt him except for his cheek which began to bleed slightly. He wiped himself off before dropping his mace to the ground and planting both legs firmly in it.

“I think it's time to go for it, my little one!” He said, while his growths increased greatly covering him with a layer of black mineral. Then, he made a scythe, made of this same black mineral appear, and charged at me. It forced me to flee from him.

With every step he took, sharp spikes of rock came out of the ground in front of me, greatly blocking my ability to retreat, until I used them, leaning on one of them, I turned around surprising Minos who tried to slice me with his scythe, but I narrowly dodged it while I used the spikes behind him to rush at him.

He was very surprised and thanks to this strategy, I was able to hit his stomach with force, but especially with a piercing fist using my telekinesis to cross the mineral layer to harm him. The blow made him back down and he kept his smile and brought down his scythe on me which cut all the spikes like paper.

But everything was already in place and it was too late, I had gradually collected earth that I had shaped into a fine and ultra-pointed needles that could enter the gaps of his protection. So just with a movement of the hand, I made the needles enter his arms short circuiting the nerves and paralyzing them.

When he realized it, he did the only thing he could, charge me, but I continued to make other needles, this time planting them in his spine, his legs being too well protected. He then fell face down, unable to move, and the audience held their breath until the referee announced him unable to continue the fight.

The crowd was going wild at my win and a camera drone approached me asking how I was feeling. I then gave a mischievous nod thinking about my answer so that it would make sense to my new friend.

“Pretty tired. A little more and I might have lost. Luckily for me, I won and I will be able to celebrate with my winnings tonight.”

After which, I left, leaving the others to manage the crowd, the journalists and especially the minotaur who was grumbling on the ground.