Last Man On Earth When There Is No Earth ?

Sector nineteen

"I'm glad we get to talk but… do any of know how to properly treat your guests?"

"I apologize for the disappointment but… you are no guest of mine"

"You could at least prepare some tea… well, whatever, you seem to have something else prepared…"

It wasn't too hard, guessing what the Verta clan's head, Hir, had in mind when inviting Seven and his crew to his ship.

"Know your place! Human!"

"How dare it talk to the behead like that!!?"

"Human meat…"

"Die!!!!"

The booing began

…..

Right after landing, Seven was faced with a whole lot of fur covered anthropomorphic humanoid tigers guys with guns pointed at his face . By now it should be already known that those things don't work on him. But for those standing behind him on the other hand, Aley, Logan and Lilia, it might end badly if they faced those numbers, so on Seven's orders the group surrendered without much resistance.

They cuffed both their hands and legs using some kind of space sci-fi device, at first it looked like nothing actually bonded the two parts, but when if one were to move them away from each other an invisible fours would quickly pull them back together. That left them enough freedom to walk but breaking the cuffs was unavoidable when the fighting starts. Lilia told seven she would look for an opening to remove hers and asked if he needed help with his, she was so casual about it that Seven doubted those guys knew anything about Zesioniens when they put those on her.

All their weapons were confiscated, and Lilia wasn't too happy about her new spear being taken from her. Logan had already gave up on life a while ago, as for Aley the usual smile didn't leave his handsome face not even for a moment.

With them restrained and disarmed the legion of fur covered anthropomorphic tiger faced pirates let their guard down, and if Seven wasn't paying enough attention to her Lilia might have taken that as her chance.

'Seriously, even with both hands tied…' it's almost as if Lilia didn't miss any chance to remind him that thier numbers didn't scare her. He had to remind her once more that "negotiations first, killing second"

Under the watchful eyes of twenty armed guards the four were led down an alley into a wide waiting room, told to stand in a circle at qit's center.

'This is…' just when he began wondering where he saw rings of lights descended from the ceiling and the floor beneath their feet slowly ascended.

When their eyes adjusted to the blinding lights Seven realized that the elevator emerged in the center if what looks like an arena about the size of a football -the American one- stadium.

"ah, this is so…. Cliché!!!" Seven thought to himself.

It's a public execution like event where things would most likely end in the exact opposite of what the spectators expect.

"you okay?" asked Iris, manifesting out of thin air as usual.

Unknown to Seven, the ghost girl sharing his body was a bit worried about him being the center of attention. As it turns out he was just somewhat less angry than before. Making fun of him was out of question when he is like this.

"SILANCE!! THE CLAN HEAD HAS ARRIVED!!"

Blasting from speakers scattered around the arena, a creepy voice stooped the rowdy spectators with just a few words. All eyes turned from Seven to the far end of the room were a throne showed from atop a balcony . On it sat a hulk sized anthropomorphic tiger equipped with all the muscles his bones could hold under a cover of white and blue fur.

After a brief moment of silence the spectators exploded with cheers and applause.

"SILANCE!! SHOW SOME RESPECT YOU FILTHY…!!!"

"So… that's your former boss? You never said you two were related" Seven turned to Logan, bringing back the fur covered guy from the pits of depression

"Eh? Ah! No no, why would you think that?"

"Well, you have the same fur, straps and all" Seven took another forms look at the head "rather than related, he looks more like a larger version of you"

"Hmmm… this is the first time someone brought this up, I mean, this color isn't that rare between those from the north" Logan pointed at several groups between the spectators. There were those with white fur covered with blue stripes and some were the opposite having blue fur covered in white stripes. There were some others with a mix of white and grey too, what differs between all of them was which part of there bodies had the stripes on, as some hade fewer in one place and more on the other.

"Hey, wait a minute, something is wrong…" squinting his eyes, Seven gave the spectators a sharp look sending shills down their spines "there are no females…."

Cat-girls, Seven was hoping to see some cat-girls. Changing the topic like it never interested him he went and carefully surveyed the crowd once more, but there were no cat-girls in sight

"Don't tell me… they are all dudes?..."

"That's to be expected, our females don't like loud noises, they can't handle all the excitement filling this place" by now Logan had already learned that his new boss has something for female Herara, but given how badly Blue reacts whenever approached by this human, he doubts his captain's luck would be any better with older ones.

'ugh…. God f.u.c.k.i.n.g damn it!!!'

"wow, calm down, alright?" Iris backed away jokingly "get out of this first, keep your sick fantasies for a later date"

'easy to say!' he was hoping to meet someone the FBI wont have problems with, but all he got were a bunch of crazy screaming at him.

The crushing disappointment filled him with resentment, he glanced over at Iris, then let out a long sigh

'guess you will have to do for now'

Being able to read his mind and all Iris could fully understand the real meaning behind his words. But although nothing weird was involved it didn't stop that disgusted look from showing on her face

" welcome, human" a rough voice roared throughout the arena, forcing another moment of silence upon the crowd.

"I'm glad we get to talk but… don't any of know how to properly treat your guests?"

"I apologize for the disappointment but…" the clan head glared at Seven, his eyes shining with a faint blue light "you are no guest of mine"

"You could at least prepare some tea…" Seven shrugged his shoulders, letting out yet another sigh "well, whatever, you seem to have something else prepared…"

'let me guess, we will have to go through some mini tournament arc that would end with him challenging me at the end where some this isn't even my final form shit would happen'

"About that…" Iris smiled awkwardly "um… you see, you have been using a lot of the pure energy I gathered from Verta"

'So?'

"I don't think there is enough to last for both of us. I also rely on it to stay awake , remember?"

'Oooh… so that means if I use it all, I can say goodbye to you reading my mind?'

"Hey, you can at least pretend to be considerate. I already died once you know"

'sigh… you know, it's really, really uncomfortable having someone constantly going through my mind, so how about you at least pretend to be more considerate?'

"…. Okay, you left me no choice…" with that Iris slowly descended to the floor making sure her feet don't sink. It made the illusion that she was standing there but in reality she is still floating beside Seven. When like this , the fact that Iris has a rather petite body was more apparent than usual.

As seven looked at her wondering what the heck she was doing -while everyone else was looking at him and wondering where the heck was he looking?- Iris turned to the side, held her hands behind her back and slowly lowered down her ears.

'okay okay! I get it already! I will work something out so stop it already!'

Secret technique, sad little kitten. Super effective against most people, and Seven was no exception. As a side effect all the anger he had vanished for a few seconds, it's a powerful card Iris intended on using only in the most important occasions, and to troll Seven every now and then.

"If you understand, please try to end it as peacefully as possible" still keeping the act, she said in a low voice

'Fine, if push comes to shove I will have them shoot me, as much as I hate doing it… and don't worry about running out of power, I already worked something out' rather than angry, Seven was just tired at this point 'you play dirty, I hope you know that'

"Anyways, do you have a plan?"

'I think so, well, it's not much of a plan'

"Speaking of plans, telling Lilia to kill everyone on this ship, what were you thinking?"

'Well, I thought she could handle it so…'

"You are putting too much on her back, even if she could" with a hopping motion Iris effortlessly lifted herself back into the air "do you really think you are fine with your wife going through all of it?"

'Like I said, if things go bad I will have those guys shoot me, simple'

"That simplicity is what worries me"

Of course, seven wanted to end this as peacefully as possible, but those people probably plan on eating them. They were thrown out of their planet because they refused to stop eating other intelligent lifeforms, right now they are probably thinking about how a human male tastes like. Negotiations with space pirates who see you as nothing but food, it made him feel like nothing he says will get through. But he had to try at least, especially since he is significantly less angry than he was before.

"I already have an idea about what you want, but to be on the clear side, how about you tell us what you want?"

The crowd started booing, directing resentful glares at the human and the disrespectful way he spoke to their leader.

"if you already know why you are here, then it would be a waste of time to tell you" Hir revealed one of his claws then proceeded to remove something from between his fangs, like he couldn't care less.

"You realize you can't just take my things right?"

"Yeah yeah, the idea is that you give me what I want and I let you go, but you see…" switching to a more serious tone he continued "Giran, the guy I sent after you the first time, he was a good subordinate, he was promising and very loyal, right, Logan?"

"Eh?"

"Turning your back on your brothers, working for the one who took down your captain, aren't you ashamed of yourself?"

The pressure threatened to crush him. Logan was well aware this was coming, it was his first time being in the presence of the head, but just like the stories he heard all his instincts told him his death was near. However, even though he was shaking to the bones he found the courage to raise his head and looked directly at the monstrosity looking down at him

"I don't know what you are talking about-" Logan knew wholeheartedly that the decision he made, the decision to join Seven and work under his wing, he knew it was the right choice. Going back home, giving Blue a better life, those things would never get achieved if he stayed with a merciless group such as the Verta clan, so even when all his instincts told him to run he smiled in front of that living nightmare and said something he always planned to say "I never joined the clan you know? I worked for Giran, that's true, but I don't remember becoming one of your followers"

"Hmmm… then, guess you are choosing to die alongside your new employer?"

"Well, I would prefer to live a bit longer if possible…" laughing nervously, Logan scratched his left cheek.

"I understand you have to avenge your subordinate-" Seven took a few steps forward, the guards turned their guns at him all at once, lowering them at the head's signal for him to speak

"Giran, that's his name right? Your subordinate fired the first shot. Not only that, he emptied two whole magazines on me while I was unconscious. You could say he already killed me a few times, and now you're complaining after I returned the favor?"

"Doesn't matter now, you are here while he is not. That is enough of a reason. I already made up my mind, but please, try to change it"

"Oh, good. From what I understood you are after my property right? Do you think it's possible for a group of wanted criminals to own a planet without the intergalactic union having a say in it?"

"Certainly, that might be a little troublesome. but everyone out here knows, there is nothing money can't solve" Hir flashed his white fangs in a broad grin "judging from how you are handling your wealth, I can say you are not so oblivious in those matters. Building a wall right after turning off the first one, keeping your resources safe was a good first step, even for a human"

"You sure know a lot huh… then you must be aware who is that I'm working with right?"

"The Stonehearts, you got yourself quite the big backers there" the head's eyes turned to the golden haired maiden standing behind Seven "did I thank you for bringing such a valuable asset along with you? I will see that she is put to good use during my talk with the Zesioniens"

"So you know who Lilia is and still chose to do this? Can't say I'm surprised"

"She, at least, will get out of here at some point"

"unharmed?"

"Depends"

"On?"

"How well things go"

"So if I gave you Gorgola you would let her go unscathed"

"I don't min-"

The negotiations stopped at the sound of a violent impact. There was a brief moment of silence as all spectators, including Seven, Logan, Aley and even the clan head had their eyes fixated at the source.

There wasn't much of a dust cloud. The metallic wall looked like a wrinkled blanket with a dent pushing it further from Seven's group. The cause behind this strange phenomena was the bloody corps of one of the guards that were supposed to be surrounding them. That guy was dead, it happened so fast he probably didn't see his life flashing before his eyes.

Finally realizing what that sound was it wasn't too hard for everyone present to figure it out.

Once again all eyes turned to Seven's group, specifically the golden haired young female Zesionien standing behind him.

"… Lilia…" Seven muttered and Iris facepalmed herself.

Lilia, out of nowhere, just kicked the poor guy that was standing at her side. One kick, a few hundred times stronger than when Seven pissed her off the last time.

Three seconds later she seemed to come back to her senses, blinking repeatedly at the dumbfounded seven.

"What are you doing, Lilia?" he said with a smile, sweat gathering on his forehead.

The remaining guards broke out of the ice and put a distance between them and the unstable Zesionien female. It was somewhat late now, but at least they not restraining her legs was a stupid mistake.

"Eh? The negotiations broke just now, right?" whether it was just and act or she was completely honest, Seven couldn't tell. Being armless in an enemy zone was messing with her head. Without her spear, Lilia was incapable of keeping her calm, she tried her best but at the end her body moved before she could think, and one guy was splashed into the wall just like that

"what are you talking about" to Seven it sounded like Lilia wasn't listening to his conversation with the clan head at all. The negotiations weren't going their way from the start, and a fight was probably unavoidable, but he wished she had at least waited for a signal from him. She just ended up making it more difficult for them.

Trouble followed right after. The whole arena, the size of an American football stadium, began shaking. Hir, the Verta clan's head was taken over by furry, and the spectators sank in their seats uttering no sound at all.

"Hey, am I the only one seeing this?" Iris had her eyes wide open, slowly backing away behind Seven.

"Yeah" Seven was already at maximum high alert after what Lilia just did, but seeing that in front of him only did push him further to the edge.

The clan head was sitting in his throne just like before, his head leaned on his right fist. The uninterested expression he had vanished as his face deformed in pure wrath. His eyes glowed with blue light as electric like energy sparked all over his body.

The stripes he had before disappeared and all his turned to a snow white color, a scene Lilia and Iris had seen a few times before.

That's right, it was just like-

"Seven…"

Hearing Lilia's voice call for him Seven tore his eyes from the calm head, but his eyes were instinctively drawn toward something up near the ceiling, right above where Lilia stood.

A small sphere of blue energy.

"Lilia mo-"

A lightning spear masked the rest of his words.