Page 117 of Alien Prince's Fake Bride
I clench my knife. No wonder my shot didn’t do anything — that thing must be bulletproof.
“Vermin,” it says as it slashes one long, clawed arm through the air, narrowly missing Mareliux because he pulls back fast. “Vermin of the galaxy! We shall exterminate you, and the Syntrix will be ours! We will make it quiet again!” The voice is now very different from the Empress’s, deep but with a screechy undertone like that of a blown loudspeaker.
“Umbra, stay here if you can.” Mareliux attacks the alien and pushes it back with several hard slashes with Bellatriz. The alien has to defend itself with its long, scythe-like claws that tip its arms. It’s a ferocious fight, and sparks fly. Leaves and twigs too, because these two are like hedge-cutters gone wild.
I duck down and grab onto the roots of a bush to not drift away.
The terrifying alien the Empress has become suddenly kicks off and zooms up towards the sun panels in the ceiling.
Mareliux makes his way over to me, careful to not drift up. “Do you need me to patch you up?”
“Not yet,” I tell him as I stare past him up at the alien. “We have to win this. What is that thing?”
“It’s a Phrexz,” Mareliux says tightly. “The most dangerous of their type: a shapeshifter. A master of the Forbidden Arts. It must have killed my mother years ago and taken her place.”
I put my hand on his forearm. “I’m sorry to hear that, Mareliux.” It’s one of the first phrases Vera taught me.
“That is likely correct,”Bellatriz says. “Phrexz are extremely rarely seen, and the shapeshifter variety has only been recorded by the Empire four times before. According to the lore, they send single agents into places they want to take over. Usually on a smaller scale, though. I’ve never heard of them trying to take over a whole Empire in that way. But why not? The Khavgren Empire is extremely centralized. Everything grows from that Tentacle Throne. This one probably killed your father back then and tried to killyou. Be aware that the Phrexz in their base form are immensely strong and feared for their speed.”
“Mareliux,” I say and stare up at the alien. “It’s almost at the ceiling. Do you think it will?—”
I immediately sense a strange tug on the Syntrix, a nasty feeling that someone is using it for evil.
The huge Phrexz crouches at the ceiling, then kicks off so hard it breaks the sun panel with a hardcrack. I swear I can hear the sonic boom from the alien breaking the speed of sound as it dives straight down towards us, scythe-like claws stretched out in front.
It all happens in a flash, but it’s as if time slows down and I see everything ultra clearly. We don’t have time to get out of the way. That alien is now a jagged-edged missile coming towards us so fast it sounds like a jet fighter ripping through the air. Andthere’s nothing I can do. Those claws are going to absolutely skewer Mareliux.
In a flash my Syntrix is white hot with fury and fear, wanting the Phrexzgonewith an intensity that makes me gasp. My Syntrix ring flashes, and so does Mareliux’s.
For the first time I feel the bond between us, our minds melding in a blissful feeling of togetherness and sheer power. It’s like an embrace and a kiss at the same time, of joining and becoming one. My body feels translucent and warm, filled with his light as mine fills him.
Through our combined Syntrix, we push at the Phrexz.
It’s total overkill. The alien immediately starts to spin, its aim off as it slams into the ground between Mareliux and me, making the ground shake and throwing up a thick cloud of greenery and dirt that blinds me for a split second.
I’m closer, so I calmly reach into the cloud of dirt and grab a clawed, jagged, three-fingered hand, ignoring the sharp edges. Then I whirl the alien around in a circle and throw it like I did with Vector back in the Cube. But the Phrexz has greater mass than even a burly Space Force sergeant, and despite my fury, I simply don’t have the strength to toss it as far as I wanted. Still, I don’t think I have to toss it far, just in the right direction, straight towards Mareliux.
“Good work, my love.” Mareliux is still down, and his position is far too awkward to swing the sword. Instead he stabs Bellatriz up and out, and I swear the crystal blade flicks out of existence for a split second before it emerges in the middle of the Phrexz’s chest, exploding the thick armor in shards thatzingpast myhead. The alien is cut in half lengthwise by its own speed as Bellatriz passes through it.
At the same moment the gravity comes back, and I drop to my butt in surprise.
The Phrexz lands with a dry sound like a huge heap of sticks, spraying a green fluid. But it’s still moving, and one clawed hand shoots out towards Mareliux, grabbing the arm that holds Bellatriz. He groans in pain and dark blood starts to flow from the arm.
But I’ve had enough of this. Lifting a hand that now feels unreasonably heavy, I aim the knife gun at the center of the Phrexz’s face, right above the slitted, green eyes. I’m not supposed to do this inside a spaceship, but if it fails, nothing matters anyway.
“Stay away from my love,” I snarl as I push the button.
It’s the last shot in the gun, the armor-piercing one. And while it only makes a neat little hole in the Phrexz’s face, it blows the back of its head away in a dense, green spray. The hand goes limp, and Mareliux shakes it off him.
“Stand back, Umbra.” He kicks the Phrexz away, still spraying bright, green fluid as it spins before it hits the ground thirty yards away.
Its shattered body still moves, crawling its way back towards us.
Mareliux goes over and stabs Bellatriz into the center of the Phrexz. It shudders once more, then goes limp.
“Don’t touch that blood,”Bellatriz says urgently. “And clean me right away, Prince.”
Mareliux rips big wads of leaves off the plants nearby and cleans the blade with them, making them smoke.
