Last Man On Earth When There Is No Earth ?

Sector twenty one, Gorgola's orbit

After it was decided that the Verta clan would be taken in by Seven they set course for Gorgola.

The strain of the fight against Hir forces Seven to stay in bed for the entire sixty five hour trip, and with a lot of explanation yet to be a heavy atmosphere spread through the whole clan.

Seven ordered Hir not to tell anyone anything, especially when it came to Iris. They had no idea how she would react so it's better to keep Lilia from finding out for the time being.

As expected, with such a giant battle happening right above their heads the clan members had quite few questions to ask. Most of them watched their leader lose to the human prisoner so they were worried, but their heads were cooled down temporarily when Hir sent out the news about their prime goal being in sight.

Lilia and Logan were given told to rest, they had to wait until Seven was up before they heard about the deal he had with the clan head, or rather, the former clan head.

Lilia was a little indifferent about how things concluded, saying Gorgola belonged to Seven and what he did with it was for him to decide.

Aley had vanished at some point. No one noticed he was gone until everything calmed down. Then there is Lisa, during the confusion she freed herself and fled using one of the crafts the clan had sitting around.

Blue was safe too. she still kept her distance from Seven though, the talk she had with Lilia did little to diminish her fear of Iris.

As they approached their destination a number of sh.i.p.s joined them one after the other. Those were the crews sent away on separate missions, and they came back for a gathering ordered by their leader.

If things went well there would be no need for the clan to go on with its illegal activities. In a sense the end was near for the clan, the people who would refuse to live under Seven's rule will have to leave, then there are those who find it more comfortable to live elsewhere. Either way, cutting ties with the head requires them to be physically present to show respect and gratitude for their savior, not doing so brought nothing but shame.

When the mothership reached Gorgola's orbit Seven had to register it so the defense system he installed recently wouldn't blow it up. The time for him to be declared as the clan's new leader was approaching, but before that there was one thing he had to do.

…..

"So this is it… certainly, it's presence is much stronger"

"Probably because there is a Glassume vein or something underneath. They used a cave covered in it to trap the beast"

Seven and Hir stood at the edge of a gigantic hole in the ground. The fur covered humanoid tiger couldn't help but shake in his boots, while the human beside him felt a sort of nostalgia as he looked down into it.

Instead of the darkness that should be typical for such locations that daylight could never hope to reach, the bottom of this hole released a faint glow.

This place was once the laboratory Lilia met Seven in. Now it was just a giant pit six hundred meters deep with a diameter of fifty.

Most of the trees around it were removed to install some kind of equipment Seven had Hank -Lilia's older brother- install. The only use they provide is keeping animals away and registering any entry the premise.

"So this is where her body was trapped huh…" as he followed Seven down a series of stairs built into the inner side of the pit Hir asked a question "I wonder what led to that happening"

"Well, I don't know the details but…" Seven stooped to refresh his memory "I think someone caught it at some point"

"Huh? W-what do you mean?"

"I had already moved into him when he and Lilia found it" Iris answered as she floated above them "apparently there was a collar around it's neck that restrained most its power, and what was left got absorbed into the glass"

"A technology that could restrain Verta's power…" Hir swallowed audibly "hard to believe, for something that could overpower a mythical beast to exist…."

"we can't say for sure. You said that Vee lost her body thousands of years ago, right?" Seven asked.

"she didn't say when exactly but yes"

"The lab that was here was built by humans, that I'm sure of…" if humans could come this far, then sealing a mythical creature wasn't that unimaginable "I speculate they used the energy they drew from her body to fuel the devices that generated the gravitational field which prevented sh.i.p.s that fell into the planet from leaving"

"now that I think about it, they were doing human exploration here right? Was it such a big deal that they had to go so far in hiding it?"

Hir looked up at Iris as he answered her question

"All three of the human occupied planets are closed right? Most species that follow such system tend to criminalize outside travel for the sole purpose of preserving their genetics, not to mention genetic experimentation is prohibited by the union"

"I think what she meant is, why would they go this far to hide it?"

"well, you were kept in this laboratory right" Hir looked at Seven, a bit confused "if they were creating bioweapons of your level, I think it's only reasonable for them to want to keep it hidden"

Referring to him as a bioweapon earned Hir one sharp glare from Seven. But what he said couldn't be any closer to the truth.

Whatever they did to him here it basically turned him to a one man army. Mass production of such high level soldiers then feeding them enough mythical beast juice would only lead to one possible event, and no one wanted a second great war.

"We're here"

"when I released the monster by accident"

"Hey, that's my body you are talking about"

"When I accidentally released the monster, it unleashed a tremendous amount of thunder before disappearing" ignoring Iris's remark Seven went on "the glass cave it was in melted and the structure above it evaporated, but according to Hank's report the damage would have spread to a much wider range if not for the Glassume vein that was underneath"

Seven crouched down. Beneath the surface they stood on was the source on the light. It looked like a frozen lake, shining in a sky blue color that reflected beautifully on the rocky surface surrounding it edge.

"a huge portion of the energy released spread for miles underground making it impossible to mine. That thing should be capable of forcefully extracting it's power from the stone, so I never understood why it left it here" Seven extended his arm toward the glowing surface "but now I can put it to use, so I think we should be thankful"

"So this was your backup plan in case we ran out huh" Iris said as she went around taking a closer look at the edges of the surface.

"I thought it may come in handy at some point so I told hank to leave it alone"

Seven mindless touched the surface, and the next thing he noticed he was buried into the wall in full white hair mode.

The pit went dark for a moment but the surface regained its glow gradually.

"… this much from a single touch?"

The moment his hand made contact with the thunder charged a small shockwave blasted him away. There shouldn't be a limit to how much he can absorb, but with how it rushed inside him all at once he felt it would be better to not push himself too much.

"The concentration is nothing like we've seen before, if this thing wasn't here half the forest would've been erased" and id you exclude the mountains, the forest would be the size

"I think this will last you for quite a while" Seven asked his ghost friend.

"You say it like we came here for my sake"

The plan Iris, Seven and Hir came up with to convince the clan members to drop their hostility and accept living under a new ruler was to have Seven pretend he is their lord, Verta himself.

Technically that wasn't too far from the truth, since he has the current Verta living inside him. Whoever only those who are candidate to inherit beast's power can apparently see her, which means they can't rely on Iris playing her part, and it would be pointless to try convincing them that a ghost they can't see is there.

Just by entering their second form Seven and Hir are able to release a distinct aura that triggers the survival instincts in the Herara, by showing them one of much higher level than that of their leader, they may be able to convince them.

This, too, came with it's own complications. Seven is unable to generate his own thunder, and for unknown reason Iris doesn't seen capable of it too. That meant Seven had to keep absorbing the energy from Hir until the had enough to do the trick.

However, Seven decided not to take from Hir who has a limited supply that would eventually dry out and instead decided to go down to Gorgola to drink from the lake.

"Okay, time to go back"

…..

When they arrived back to the ship Hir summoned all the captains and the high ranked individuals to make the announcement, but he was surprised to find the conference room already full.

Their patience ran. First thing they hear the clan head was defeated, then that their goal was within reach. Three days passed and all they got were those two vague information, and while still in the dark they were led to a place they never went to before.

The higher ranked clan members were the ones who rallied the crowd to demand an answer from the head. The respect and fear they felt toward him was gone now that they know he lost to someone in a one on one, and the longer they had to wait the more destabilized their loyalty became.

Hir got on stage and gave a few words to introduce their new leader and as expected, he got quite the backlash.

Of course, it's the first time they hear about such thing so it's perfectly normal for them to react this way. There were those who watched the duel between Seven and Hir, but the image they had in their mind was that of some crazy alien beating the shit out of their boss, then they hear that same alien is the lord they worshipped for years. Their confusion reached its peak.

When the situation seemed about to get out of control the crowd was silenced by a heavy presence ascending to the stage. Their ears and tails dropped and some were in the verge of soiling their pants. Those were the ones that managed to stay conscious, others fell to their knees struggling for air before blacking out.

Hir had gathered captains and higher ranked members knowing they had some resistance, the rest of the soldiers and noncombat personnel who rarely face death could never hope to stand in him.

Once Seven was looking down on them he felt a bit sorry for all those cat-girls he knocked down so he reverted back to normal. But in doing that he also dropped the character he prepared to play in front of them and got swallowed by stage fright.

After Iris gave him the push he needed Seven cleared his throat and started roleplaying again

"I hear I'm somewhat of a God to you people, but let's make one thing clear" taking a deep breath Seven went on "I didn't hear anything about it until recently, I don't know what the previous Verta promised you, but I have no obligation to help you with anything"

The crowd listened in silence, and with each word that reached their ears their despair grew.

He is the real thing, that was a reality they accepted without thinking about it too much. They feared him, more than they feared their clan head. He struck fear into them with a simple look, it felt like he could snatch their lives without moving a finger, they could barely breath a moment ago but now, no one dared to open their mouth.

"What is he doing…" Hir seemed overtaken by stress. The three of them -Iris included- decided that Seven should try convincing them he was their lord, yet he went and told them the clan had nothing to do with him, that he never heard their prayers.

"Well, Seven has his own way of doing things, I guess…"

Lilia, Hir, Logan and Blue watched from the backstage.

"Well, I hope he has something in mind, this might be the only chance I get to give them a proper life" Hir said, staring nervously at Seven's back.

"You Really do care about your people huh?" Logan spoke calmly "I always had this idea that you were just another ruthless tyrant who only thought about himself"

"If I was that kind of leader I would've left them back in Namira"

"Well, I guess you're right" Logan smiled weakly, scratching his left cheek a little.

Lilia didn't know much about the Herara and their homeworld, but from what she heard it wasn't that pleasant a place to live. Living there requires constant adaptation and only a few could afford peace. The strong and wealthy ruled mercilessly and the poor kept their voice down and lived in fear.

Each closed planet had its reasons for refusing visitors, and Namira's was one of the worst.

"However, I'm willing to give you what you need" Seven went on " I'm not someone generous by nature, and to say the truth all of this is going to be a lot of trouble. Helping you means I would have to deal with all the problems you brought upon yourselves, but I'm willing to do it because I have only one reason to " he turned around to the group in the backstage and called "Blue!"

Seven extended his arm in her direction, and the little girl froze in place. No one knew what his intentions were, but those who were aware that the girl feared him understood that the plan would fail if they didn't get her up in stage.

Logan was in panic mode as he went to convince her to go for his sake, but Lilia was calm

"Blue, remember what I told you before" she spoke in a gentle voice while patting the little cat-girl's head "there is no reason to be afraid, even if that ghost is bad, I'm sure Seven will protect you"

Looking at Lilia with sparkling eyes Blue nodded once and went up to the stage

"Ghost? What ghost?" Logan asked Lilia, still feeling uneasy about the whole thing.

"Apparently Blue thinks there is a ghost hunting Seven or something like that"

"Wait…" for a while now Hir was looking quite disturbed, but after Lilia said those few words he entered a state of panic as well "you said a ghost? Did she tell you she saw a ghost?"

"Yes" Lilia was oblivious to the reason behind his awful state "something about a female Herara or something, do you know anything about it?"

"… n-no, nothing, it's probably just her imagination"

"You think so?"

Lilia didn't have that high of an opinion about Hir, considering he was ready to murder them just a few days ago, yet she couldn't help but believe the answer he gave her. Blue was a still a child, a wild imagination isn't a bad thing to have.

Seven took a huge gamble when he called for Blue to come on stage, there was a huge chance she would run away and he would be left to live with the shame, but like the angel she is Blue saved him from that dark future and Lilia was the one to be thankful for that.

"This child…" Seven had to stop for a few seconds to suppress the smile that started to form in his lips "this child was the first Herara I ever met in my life. Those that came after her did not give the best impression about your race" Seven went down on one knee, and while praying in his heart she wouldn't run away this time, he put his hand on her head "but that didn't do much to damage the fondness I grew to have toward this child"

Seven was well aware this wasn't the time to celebrate achieving humanity's long awaited dream of head patting a cat-girl, so before his body melted from happiness he stood up and faced spectators

"if it is to bring forth a future where this child and those who share her blood could live in peace, have a home they could call their own" taking a deep breath Seven yelled at the top of his lungs "I'M WILLING TO DO WHATEVER IT TAKES!!"

"Tsk, using a child to play on their hearts" Logan shook his head "captain sure does know his politics"

"Would it really have an affect on those people?" Lilia didn't believe that a rough looking pirates such as those cared enough to get swayed by this, but Hir who was watching in amazement reassured her immediately

"No, this is the best card he could ever play" he said as his fangs peered out "playing on their emotions could do more than intimidating them into submission"

Won't somebody please think of the children!

Seven hated politics, and he hated politicians who used that reasoning even more. Whenever someone brought it up back on his world it was always about censoring this or banning that, and his games suffered a lot because of that.

He knew how effective it was. Even if they were a bunch of fur covered tiger faced space pirates they're still men, and all men had one weakness in common

Cuteness!

'That's right, the ultimate weapon. Cuteness moves the world! It's the reason why we struggle! why we fight!' Seven thought to himself, remembering the words of a certain legendary gamer 'Hir told me about the families living on this ship and their struggles, how could they resist the chance to give their kids a better life?'

"For someone who hates politicians you sure do resemble them a lot" Iris said, heaving a long sigh.

'I, at least, am not using it for my own selfish ends'

"maid nekos"

'Ok, you got me'

Deciding it was about time he ended his speech Seven extended his right hand to the spectators

"for the sake of this child, for the sake of your own children" he finally let himself smile as he spoke the final words "join me! Let's build a better future for them, together!"

There was a brief moment of silence. When he stopped speaking the spectators looked at one another, confused as to what to do. Uneasiness started to crawl on Seven and the others, but after what seemed like an eternity one of the guys standing at the front started clapping his hands, and in the next second the whole room was filled with applause.