Last Man On Earth When There Is No Earth ?

Sector nineteen

"I have finally found you, my lord"

"…. Did I fray your brains or something"

"No, I'm in perfect condition, both mentally and physically my lord"

".... I don't remember you hitting him on the head. Did you do it while I was knocked out?"

'I… don't think so…'

The fight was done. Rather, if it went any further the ship wouldn't be able to hold.

When Hir, the Verta clan head went down on his knees Seven expected him to admit his defeat, but instead he said something outrageous.

'I have finally found you… Is he talking about…'

"nah… there is no way…"

Seven and Iris already understood what lord he was referring to, and they knew he wasn't exactly wrong. Lilia and Logan were in the dark on this one so they silently waited for Seven to get done.

"Anyways, this means you surrender right?" Seven said, crossing his arms and raising his chin.

"I had no chance of winning to begin with" Hir spoke, still lowering his head "I seek your forgiveness, I should have restrained my anger"

"anger, you say? You block our path and try to rob us then talk about anger?" Seven's irritation levels went up.

"I don't know which one of you is the bigger idiot" Iris offered her comment "you think you get to lecture him about unreasonable anger?"

'I'm angry, alright? Who wouldn't get angry after all of this?'

"Yeah yeah, instead of bitching about it how about you ask him to explain himself?"

"I couldn't accept it" Hir started to say "that someone else took her place, that someone else became the host"

"stop! I'm not in the mood to hear your sad backstory!" Seven yelled, then posed to think for a moment

"Her place? Host? Don't tell me he-" Iris looked at Seven with wide open eyes. Processing Hir's words for a few seconds Seven realized

"Furface, what are you talking about?" He asked, crouching before him then urging him to raise his head.

Hir looked at Seven with confusion "huh? Could it be…" his eyes slowly move to the upper left then stopped.

'What is he looking at?' Lilia thought for a second 'Wait… could it be…'

There was nothing there, that's what most people would think. But there is something, or rather, someone.

Iris's eyes met with Hir's

"…eh?"

'Eh?'

"Hm?"

Before Hir could say another word, Seven sent him half way to the other world with one slap.

...

Saying he had a few things to talk, Seven dragged the unconscious clan head somewhere else.

Now that he won the duel they could leave anytime, so he told Lilia and Logan to wait for him in the ship. The two guessed there were a few things he didn't want them to hear, but he was the leader in their group and having trust in him was something they decided on long ago.

Hir woke up pretty quickly. Understanding why Seven knocked him unconscious he offered to lead they way to a more private space where they could discuss the subject.

His idea of a private place is apparently his throne room which also functions as the main bridge if the ship. It was just a few meter squares bigger than the arena and from the view outside the glass walls -which are screens in fact- it was on the lowest floor.

Hir took the chance to send out an order to all sh.i.p.s and for all personals to stand by, emptying the room right after.

This was the first time seven got to meet female Herara other than Blue, all of them were a.d.u.l.ts too, but the way they glared at him while they took their leave said they were no fans of his.

Hir sat down in his usual seat at the edge of the room then stood up after a few seconds of awkward silence.

He apologizes for his rudeness saying it was a force of habit then stood up leaving the seat open. Seven took his place while Hir sat cross legged on the floor.

"let's get right into it…" Seven leaned on back. The seat adjusted itself automatically to match his size "you can see her don't you?"

Seven motioned with his jaw to the female ghost floating by his side.

Hir looked at Iris for a while before nodding

"Yes I can, my lord"

"Stop it with the lord for now" Seven sighed, getting a bit irritated each time he addressed him that way "you seem to know a few things about this, right? Start talking"

"Yes"

At first, Hir explained to them a few things they already figured out themselves. He already knew about Iris being Verta at some point, that she can only posses certain individuals and that his powers, at least those related to the blue thunder, came from her.

What followed was news to them though.

Hir knew the exact time Iris was reborn as the mythical beast. He told them his story with Vee, the previous Verta spirit. Hir was her last host, one among many that came before him. Usually the hosts would choose to live in isolation, hiding their powers, but because he was too young when Vee took residence inside him he went out of control and was discovered by the Verta clan.

Before that the clan was just a underground cult with no influence in Namira. They spread the word that he is a blessed child and used him to grow their numbers, but that was when he was still a child. When he was old enough he gained control over the clan, while doing so he ended up executing most of the old members who controlled him like a puppet then lead the remaining members out of their homeworld.

"Well, I intended on disbanding the organization , but it wasn't that simple"

Hir had something he wanted to do and intended on leaving the planet, but the clan had grown too much. Most members were from families who suffered under the corrupt system, their safety and livelihood depended on what's provided by the clan. That said, the governors controlling the planet weren't too happy about a new power threatening their rule, so they were making preparations for war.

Realizing how his actions may effect the innocents who relied on his name for survival he made up the story about Verta not being on Namira anymore and planned to move the clan to a new planet.

The story had some truth to it though. His real objective was to find Vee's body which she lost thousands of years ago, whoever the one he is doing it for didn't share his feelings.

Vee knew exactly where her body was, but she had no intentions of leading him to it. Their supposed god never cared much about the cult, she never wished to be worshipped and never thought off herself as someone worth worshipping. She wanted to live an easy life without having to deal with the trouble that came with being one of the twelve mythical beasts.

After a lot of crying and begging she finally gave in, but not enough to give him the exact location. Vee turned the whole thing into a game of hot and cold, giving him some clues and pointing him into a direction every now and then, but he had to find the way himself.

She gave him a time limit, and challenged him to find it before then.

After years of slow progress Hir found out that Vee didn't have much time left. The reason why she was still around was because her body, which is an acc.u.mulation of cosmic energy, was trapped. That prevented her from leaving this world as the energy can't cut her connection to it without finding a new successor. But she was only stalling the inevitable, sooner or later the next one in line would find it, and if they fail the next one would.

"Things became more complicated from that point…"

Hir was a candidate himself. Vee held back in helping him because if he were to find her body he would end up taking her place and she would be forced to face death.

Knowing someone out there might beat him to it Hir used everything he had to speed the searching, warping the clan's reputation even more and making an enemy out of the intergalactic union.

Vee never changed her mind up until the end. About eight months ago she said her farewells then disappeared, taking the secret of the location along with her. Even so he continued the search, refusing to give up.

Time passed by then one day he felt something emerging somewhere around these parts of space. News about a certain planet reached him so he sent one of his underlings to investigate, and what they found led the recent event.

"So basically…" sitting on the armrest beside Seven, Iris stated what she concluded from the story "you got jealous and took your frustration out on us?"

"I thought I could prove I was worthy, at least" Hir said, his head hanging down "I thought that even if I didn't inherit her powers, I might be able to convince you to make me your host instead"

"that's it? Just for that?" Iris snapped at the fur covered guy "YOU HAD US GO THROUGH ALL OF THIS JUST SO YOU COULD IMPRESS ME? DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT WOULD'VE HAPPENED IF LILIA GOT HURT? FORGET ABOUT PROVING YOURSELF! I WOULD'VE VAPORIZED YOU AND YOUR PEOPLE WITHOUGHT A SECOND THOUGHT!!"

Iris went on and on for quite a while until Seven stepped into stopped her. Seven was angry himself, but seeing her like that told him just how much she cared for her friend.

After Iris calmed down Seven began asking the questions he deemed important

"You can produce that thunder right? What would you need her powers for?"

"My ability is just a remnant of the time Vee was residing inside me. It's been getting weaker ever since she left and I don't think it would have lasted for too long"

"Is that so…" Seven stood up and walked over to Hir "State your goal" staring down on him, Seven unleashed his second form "hearing your story I'm starting to guess why you're l.i.c.k.i.n.g my boot all of a sudden, choose your words wisely"

Faced with such wrath Hir reconfirmed his powerlessness against Seven. He swallowed audibly, then with every ounce of courage he had left he spoke in weak voice

"I ask that you take us under your protection"

"Alright"