Tatehan could see it immediately. This was a woman with, if not the most, one of the STERNEST looking faces he had ever seen.

He was surprised to be standing here, facing her without too many guards flanking him. The only guard present was the one who'd led him inside, and even he had a stern face, though nowhere near as severe as the woman before him.

The Commander had one of the most intimidating expressions Tatehan had ever witnessed. It made him wonder what this place truly was, because it felt more like a military installation than any clan.

"The reason I'm here..." Tatehan began.

He explained what happened. How he'd wanted to defeat the mauler. How he'd failed and nearly died. How the beast had him at its mercy. How Kael had appeared and saved his life. How they'd trained together. How they'd returned to face the mauler as partners.

But then, toward the end of his narration, he lied.

He'd wanted to tell the truth. Honestly, he would have if he'd come with a hundred soldiers flanking him— ones who could fly him out of here with jet packs the moment trouble brewed.

Alas, he came with none. He came alone and felt deeply unsafe.

If he told the Commander that he was the one who killed Kael, she wouldn't even bother shooting his head off. They'd behead him with a blade instead, and he didn't need to be told twice how painful that would be.

No matter what explanation he gave, they wouldn't want to hear it, simply because of one unavoidable fact: Kael was dead. And Tatehan had done the killing.

So as he narrated, when he arrived at the part where he should say he killed Kael, he lied instead.

"I was too weak, badly beaten by the mauler. While I endured my pain on the ground, Kael was already running toward the beast, his sword raised high. He was almost there, if he'd gone left, his sword would have sunk into the mauler's flesh."

Tatehan paused, trying to summon some tears to make it look more dramatic.

'Huh.'

Nothing came, so he eventually went with a sniff.

"But he went right instead. The mauler aimed for his chest and... he was gone."

The Commander, who had been calm and composed throughout the entire story, suddenly flipped the heavy table over. She did so with such violent force that Tatehan had to leap to the side to avoid being slammed by it.

The guard at the back of Tatehan moved aside slightly, clearly accustomed to such outbursts.

After the table crashed into the wall with a thunderous bang, the Commander said in a voice that shook the room:

"That is the SECOND most embarrassing way to die in the Red Crest Clan!"

Tatehan squinted his eyes in confusion.

"Huh?" he said out loud before he could stop himself.

"We have rules that all people of the Red Crest follow. Top Twenty Ways NOT to Die—and that death is NUMBER TWO!" The Commander fumed with anger, a rage that felt almost contagious. Tatehan almost felt himself growing angry too, just from proximity.

"The second rule states that warriors of the Red Crest Clan do NOT die to some monster. That if we are to die alongside one, the monster must be so broken and injured that we KNOW it will die as soon as we do!"

She paced around the place, her fury radiating like heat.

Tatehan wasn't sure if she was angry that Kael—someone so valuable—had died, or if she was angry about the WAY he died. It seemed to be the latter. She was more offended, pained, and outraged by HOW he died than by the simple fact that he was dead.

"Kael was the number two best warrior we have," she continued, voice still elevated. "Well, he was number one before, but due to his growing age, a much younger warrior around your age took his place..."

'Young warrior around my age?'

Man, Mars was such a sophisticated planet. Complex, even. A place where a clan leader cared more about the manner of her comrade's death than the death itself. A planet where she was basically losing her mind right now over the disgrace of it.

Tatehan watched her pace and fume. The guard who'd come with him was busy picking up and arranging the papers that had flown from the table to the ground.

Tatehan watched with quiet amusement. It would be a long time before that guard was done.

"How large was the monster?" she asked suddenly, stopping to look at Tatehan intently in the eyes.

"Ten times taller and about fifteen times larger than you." The words came out much faster than he'd intended.

Come to think of it, to someone as large and imposing as this Commander, wouldn't that be taken as an insult?

Tatehan looked at her nervously. This was the first time in his life he was genuinely afraid of another human being.

"Hell, it must have been HUGE," her rage suddenly calmed. It was a stark difference from how it had spiked moments before. "How large was the price to pay for Kael's daughter. How large it must have been!"

"It had six crab-like legs, all taller than me. A shark-like face with rows of serrated teeth..." Tatehan listed the mauler's features and abilities in detail.

The large woman standing in front of him now sat down on the chair that was usually facing the table which was still overturned, and on her face appeared something resembling CALM.

She too knew that perhaps she had doubted Kael too much and judged him too harshly.

"I knew Kael," she said quietly. "Not just because I'm the leader of the Red Crest Clan, but deeply. Personally. He was like a brother to me."

Tatehan's eyes flicked briefly to the guard still kneeling on the floor, picking up papers. He couldn't hide a small grin that smeared across his face for just a moment before vanishing as quickly as it had come.

He couldn't risk receiving a punch from that guard. It wasn't that he outright feared the guard, his fear was reserved for the woman in front of him.

The MAN of a woman.

"Before he left," the Commander continued, "I called him to my office and warned him. I advised him not to embark on the journey. I told him that the wastelands of Mars were unexplored for a reason. The place is hellish to survive in. Breathe wrong and some devilish monster is at your back. Move carelessly and it's the same."

She paused, her voice dropping.

"It's impossible to live there."

Tatehan almost grinned again but forced himself not to as the woman's eyes remained on him.

She was right. The wastelands was basically a death land, a place where the only source of food would be meat from the grosteque and nightmarish monsters roaming about.

Water was scarce and so was shelter. The place was mainly filled with boulders and pebbles.

He just couldn't imagine eating meat from a bruteneck.

'Eww'

His reason for wanting to grin was simple: she didn't know that HE lived there. Though admittedly in the comfort of a spaceship... but still. He'd lived there.

"I would be angered until I grow old and die if I heard that the so-called mauler was still alive," she said in a tone heavy with sadness. "But I'm afraid that's likely the truth. If the almighty Kael died trying to kill it, then who possibly can?"

Tatehan spoke then, and when he did, it was in a voice of charisma and precision.

"I killed the mauler."

He paused, and all he could hear were gasps that echoed through the Commander's office.

The guard picking up papers froze and looked up at his face, his gaze now carrying reverence.

The Commander did the same, her expression shifting to something almost worshipful.

Four random guards suddenly burst through the door and stared at him with the same reverence. Apparently, they'd been listening to the entire conversation secretly through the door. Tatehan knew why—in case he turned out to be dangerously powerful, they'd have rushed in to deal with him.

Now they were in, but not for the reason he'd expected. They were here just to show their shock and awe.

"How?" the Commander asked, not wanting to believe he was more powerful than Kael.

Tatehan had assured her earlier that he wouldn't play games, and he was going to keep his word.

He reached into his inventory mentally and summoned the bio-neural core. He held it visibly in his hands, it glowed brightly with unstable energy.

The Commander's jaw dropped. So did the jaws of all the guards, all the Red Crest Clan members present.

They only watched in reverence and astonishment.

"I killed the mauler," Tatehan said firmly, "and took its core."

As soon as the words left his mouth, he saw text flash across his retina:

[Congratulations host, you have farmed Aura]

[Reputation increased among Red Crest Clan members]

[New Status: Mauler Slayer]

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