"How long do you plan to be out?"

James looked up from his scrambled eggs at the question, meeting his Uncle's eyes. He swallowed down the food and hummed. How long indeed?

"A day, maybe?" he offered reluctantly, scratching his chin. "But who really knows. I might stay longer if necessary."

Jason nodded, taking another bite of the meal he had prepared. James almost sighed in relief. For a moment there, he worried that maybe his Uncle would try to stop him from going out again. He really should have known better.

"Just don't forget what you promised the girls," the man reminded.

James grinned. "Never. Unlike you, I'm not old enough to have memory problems."

Jason arched an eyebrow. "Really now? Need I remind you about that time a yea—"

"No!" James cut him off, waving his hands. "You win. No need to bring that up. Gee, old man, I'm just joking, and you go straight for the throat. Relax a bit, eh?"

His Uncle snorted. "Somebody's gotta keep your idiocy in check. I really pity these friends of yours. A week on the road with you? Wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy."

"Now that's just unfair. I'm not that bad."

And just like that, the raised eyebrow was back.

"Kid, try lying to someone who hasn't known you your whole life," Jason said, clearly amused. "You might have the body of an adult, but your head is still stuck in your teens. You know it. I know it. Even your mother knew it."

James winced, the easy-going atmosphere vanishing at the mention of his mom. His Uncle obviously noticed that too, his eyes widening.

"Shit. I'm so sorry, I—"

Before the man could finish, James raised his hand and gave a weak smile. "It's fine… Really, it is."

Jason sighed. "Still, I shouldn't have," he muttered, standing up.

He then walked around the kitchen island and grabbed four plastic boxes from somewhere. They were filled with stuff wrapped in foil. All this was soon placed before James.

"A little something for you and your friends," his Uncle said, patting his shoulder. "And again, I apologize. Guess our family really is cursed with no filter."

Despite everything, James laughed. "It's not a curse. It's a blessing."

Jason chuckled too. "Whatever you say, kid. Whatever you say… Now finish up and get out of here. The girls should be waking up soon."

That was enough to make James double his efforts to finish the food. Even though his sisters knew his plans for today well, they would never let him leave early if they caught him.

And so, a minute later, his plate was empty. He stood up, stored the plastic boxes in the Brand he had bought yesterday, and shot his Uncle a grin.

"Be back soon. Don't burn down the house while I'm gone." Then, as a tiny payback for pretty much calling him stupid, James took a deep breath and shouted, "Sarah! Lisa! Breakfast is ready!"

Right away, Jason's eyes went wide. "Why you little sh—"

James never heard the rest. With a quick summon of the Support Nexus menu, he forced it to transport him to the Battleworld. He could only laugh as the familiar void consumed him.

A moment later, he was back on his feet, surrounded by rows of white houses. He breathed in the strange air of the Battleworld and smiled. It was good to be back.

For now, he ignored the border of the Safe Zone along with the territory of Broken Hopes to his left and turned to the house closest to him. It didn't look any different from the ones beside or behind it. Well, aside from the code on the small engraved plaque.

ZL-6931.

James stretched his arms above his head and strolled toward the building. The blue door slid open before him as if he owned this place. Which he did, alongside two other people, one of whom was already inside.

Elaine lay on one of the bunk beds, an arm draped over her face.

"Long night, princess?" He greeted her with a lazy salute.

The woman pulled her hand down and shot him a glare.

Make it double rough, then, James thought, clearing his throat awkwardly. "Any news at least?"

Elaine's face fell instantly, her glare vanishing. That told him more than any words could.

"Well shit," he muttered, grimacing.

It had been four days. Four long days since Isaac had left this Safe Zone and gone out in search of a Warp Portal that could take him to Reprizem. Now, they all knew it would take some time for their unofficial leader to return, but the lack of contact and information was definitely taking a toll on some members of their small circle of friends.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

James himself wasn't too worried, though.

Isaac wasn't like most of the Hosts out there—children still struggling to accept the new order. Hell, the guy wasn't even like him, Elaine, or the few other frontline fighters they had encountered. No, their friend was a monster in human skin, and James didn't mean that in a bad way. Quite the opposite, in fact.

He saw the way Isaac fought, how his new eyes shone with hidden glee and bloodlust when monsters fell around him. He had witnessed how the man ran straight into danger like he was born for this life.

And maybe he was.

James, Elaine, and Marie? They had all accepted and even somewhat successfully adapted to this new reality. But Isaac… he gave the impression that he had never even questioned it and just went with the flow. One only needed to spend a few minutes with him to realize that.

And this was exactly why James wasn't worried. If anyone could invade an alien planet, succeed in some outrageous Patron mission, and come back, it was Isaac.

Was it wrong to put his friends on such a pedestal?

Maybe. But if Earth were to win this losing battle, then Isaac and other monsters like him were humanity's only chance. Otherwise, Reprizem would bleed them dry over the next month. James didn't like it, but that was the truth, and yesterday's meeting with his new Patron only proved that.

"Then what can we do?" he had asked.

The faceless alien gave him an answer.

"You fight like you did before. Do your best to keep Reprizem's lead from growing too large. And in the meantime? You pray. You pray that those at the top will be enough to turn the tide of this war. That… or you become strong enough to join them. Become one of the invaders."

Now, James doubted he could become a monster like Isaac. Would it stop him from trying? No, which was why he was here, to go out and fight. To grow stronger and, one day, find the courage to search for a Warp Portal.

I won't let my—

"James? You okay?" Elaine asked, pulling him back to reality. She was looking at him with a frown, now sitting up on the bed. "If you have to take a shit, we have a bathroom here, you know that, right?"

James blinked. "What? The hell kind of question is that?"

She shrugged. "You have been standing in the middle of the room for five minutes making weird faces. Logical conclusion."

"I was thinking!" he protested.

Elaine rolled her eyes. "Sure you were. Marie might believe you got something in that head of yours. I'm not her."

Oh, come on. What's with everybody insulting my intelligence today? I haven't done anything dumb in at least three days.

He shook his head and gave the woman a bored look.

"You know what? Whatever. Stay here and be grumpy because your boyfriend hasn't returned yet," he said, savoring the way Elaine's eyes widened. "I'm going out. Bye!"

Before the woman could recover, he was already out of the house, heading toward the border. With a chuckle, he ignored the message prompt that popped up. In the end, he always got the last laugh.

And another one bites the dust! James whooped internally as he trampled one monster after another in his Legacy form. He didn't even stop when a fat mutant with five arms and three legs stood in his way. A cluster of massive steel spikes that erupted beneath the beast took care of it.

[Broken Host (LVL. 12) slain.]

[2 Fusion Points awarded.]

The list went on and on as James continued deeper into the territory of Broken Hopes. After another half hour, though, he stopped in the middle of what appeared to be some ruins of an ancient village. It was crawling with mutants of all kinds.

Should be enough. Getting close to the yellow zone anyway.

With a tug on his Legacy, he transformed back into a human. The monsters close to him growled, emboldened by the disappearance of the massive gray bull. James grinned.

"You thought that was bad, fellas?" he called out. "Watch this…"

Behemoth of Steel.

At the call, Viron erupted out of his body, taking the form of liquid steel. It climbed over his skin, leaving no spot untouched. Within seconds, it solidified, leaving him encased in thick, heavy power armor.

The monsters paused their approach.

"Nice one, eh?" James said, flexing his armored arm. It was easily twice as thick as it had been before. Most of the beasts were also no longer towering over him. He had grown quite a bit.

It's beautiful.

One of the Broken Hosts disagreed. The mass of flesh with four deformed legs and tentacles instead of arms rushed at him. Its screech made his ears hurt even with the protection of his armor.

Yet, that was all the damage the monster managed to cause.

Even when its tentacles slammed into him with enough force to take a human's head clean off, James didn't even flinch. Hell, he hadn't even felt anything.

Another laugh escaped him.

"My turn."

Many hours after his arrival close to the yellow zone, James had finished clearing out yet another ruined village. Fading monsters surrounded him from all sides. Some were cut in two by his new greatsword, others crushed to bits by the sheer power of his armor. It had been a productive day, even if everything he had killed today was at least five levels below him.

He swore to check out the yellow territory the next time he came here. Today, he would just stick to Broken Hopes.

Turning, he approached a group of four Japanese guys. They had joined him about an hour ago and stuck with him till now. Thankfully, one of them spoke English because there was no way in hell the few phrases he had learned from anime were going to help here.

After a quick exchange, they divided the loot—pretty much only Virality Gems—between each other and parted ways. The four were apparently meeting up with some friends of theirs soon.

I should head back too… After I clear that nest.

James nodded to himself, but before he could transform into his Legacy form, a new message appeared before him. To his surprise, it wasn't from any of his friends.

[Message from Jason Harmon: We just received a warning about an invader appearing over 100 miles north of LA. We're good inside the Safe Zone, but I thought you should maybe warn your group if they don't know already.]

So it finally happened. James grimaced. There goes my plan to take the girls to Silent Oasis sometime soon. Dammit.

Invader Points: 8649 Infamy Rank: E (Multiplier: 2.1x) Extraction in: <0h:15m:11s> | Location reveal in: <0h:15m:11s>

Isaac smiled.

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