CHAPTER 80: LYRA

Tatehan tried his absolute best not to be too surprised by what he was hearing.

The surprise was definitely there, lurking beneath the surface, though not exactly in the way it normally should have been manifesting.

This was a revelation so huge that Tatehan should have been completely stunned, his jaw hanging down slightly in visible shock, his eyes wide with disbelief. But Tatehan did none of that.

Instead, he tried desperately to remain unfazed, keeping his gaze unshaken and steady.

Why hadn’t the commander bothered to tell him that the person he had mistakenly insulted back there was actually the most powerful member of the entire Red Crest Clan? The number one warrior?

It all made perfect sense now, clicking into place like puzzle pieces. No one could possibly be that overwhelmingly strong and be ranked anywhere lower than number one. Someone who literally shredded his enemies to bloody pieces with his mere claws, who killed with such brutality that his reputation alone made grown warriors flinch.

No wonder the commander had been soft and measured when talking to Mub earlier. And of all the guards who had been present back in the commander’s office, Mub had been the only one brave—or arrogant—enough to openly challenge the person who had killed the critically acclaimed Hexapod Mauler.

Even with all this disturbing information now swirling in his mind, Tatehan still tried his hardest to appear completely unfazed by it.

The guard who had been explaining everything noticed Tatehan’s lack of reaction and smirked knowingly.

"You’re not surprised by any of this," the guard observed. "Why is that?"

Tatehan grinned slightly, a calculated expression.

"Do you and the rest of the guards here actually know what my ability is?" Tatehan asked instead of answering directly.

The guard who had been so confident that he had surprised Tatehan was now surprised himself by the question. He exchanged confused glances with the other guards flanking them.

Tatehan shrugged casually, as if the answer should be obvious.

"Why exactly did you think I managed to slay the Hexapod Mauler in the first place?" Tatehan asked pointedly.

The guards standing around him couldn’t quite believe the sight in front of them. It wasn’t because they didn’t know what Tatehan’s ability actually was. It was instead because of how

confident Tatehan appeared to be, how utterly unshaken he seemed by the revelation of Mub’s terrifying power.

Tatehan himself was internally surprised by how calm he was managing to remain on the outside.

And that manufactured calmness was built entirely on the foundation of a single word, a single hope:

’Riven!’

____

Tatehan had already unsummoned the bio-neutral core back to his inventory before he had left the commander’s office earlier.

Now that he was entering into the medical room where Lyra was being treated, he summoned it back, holding it carefully in both hands. As usual, it glowed with a soft light, one that radiated a gentle, almost soothing hue.

’Wait a moment... why wasn’t the bio-neutral core listed as part of the items in my inventory?’

Tatehan thought about this strange inconsistency as he slowly closed the heavy door behind him with a soft click.

The only logical conclusion he could come up with after a moment’s consideration was:

’Eh... weird power system mechanics.’

He was noticing that the system was starting to behave inconsistently.

But then again, he was probably just making up baseless assumptions. He was reasonably sure there would be a perfectly normal, rational explanation for all of this eventually.

There surely should be some logical explanation available from the system if he bothered to ask about it directly.

As he finished closing the door and turned around fully, the first thing he saw was an older woman standing attentively by a medical bed where another, younger woman lay motionless upon white sheets.

The woman standing appeared to be in her mid-fifties, and she had a modest number of wrinkles etched on her weathered face. She was clothed in the standard nurse’s uniform he had usually seen back on Earth— practical, clean and professional. Her face naturally carried a calm, practiced expression, and she looked somewhat plump in shape, with a motherly build.

She also carried the general appearance of one of those typical nurses he used to watch in animated cartoons back on Earth, kind-looking and competent.

"Oh, thank the heavens," she said immediately the moment she saw him walk closer to where she was standing beside the bed. "Thank the heavens you are finally here with the bio-neutral core."

Tatehan shifted his attention and examined the girl lying on the bed more closely.

She lay on the bed, completely motionless, barely breathing. Her armor was a deep, rich red color, marked extensively with scratches and scars that caught the dim light in thin, uneven lines.

Blonde hair spilled across the white pillow beneath her head, tangled and scattered wildly, individual strands falling over a face that appeared far too pale against all that vibrant color surrounding her. A faint but noticeable scar cut diagonally across her left cheek, and another longer one ran along her jawline.

But then, as Tatehan’s gaze traveled lower and he looked more carefully at her exposed neck, he noticed something that made him freeze momentarily. Her neck wasn’t entirely natural, it was fused seamlessly with what appeared to be synthetic skin, with thin black lines of visible circuitry vanishing beneath the armored plating on her chest.

The integration was so smooth it was almost beautiful in its precision.

She looked utterly silent, still, like some powerful weapon that had been carefully left to rest after extensive use.

That visual made Tatehan wonder exactly what he was actually seeing here. How was this level of integration even possible? Was she some kind of cyborg? What exactly was going on with her neck and the technology embedded there?

But despite all the mechanical modifications, she was undeniably young and exceptionally beautiful. If he was forced to choose who was more naturally prettier between her and Riven, he’d have to say that Riven came out on top, but only by just a little, by the smallest of margins.

Lyra would rate at about 9.97 on his mental scale, while Riven would be at 9.99. Just a tiny, almost negligible difference.

That comparison alone was enough to show just how unnaturally, strikingly beautiful Riven actually was.

But Lyra’s beauty genuinely fascinated Tatehan on a level he hadn’t expected. And even as she lay there looking deathly pale and like someone on the very verge of dying, she was still somehow captivating to look at.

’How is someone this stunning even in a time of death.’

She was surely the most attractive nearly-dead being he had ever seen in his entire life. And that was a lot of praise.

How was someone on the verge of death still managing to be this visually stunning? Maybe with her fully recovered and healthy, she might actually end up being even more beautiful than Riven.

That was a startling thought.

Suddenly, words flashed across his retina in glowing text:

[Half machine, half human confirmed]

[Biological composition: 70 percent human]

[Mechanical composition: 30 percent machine]

[Cybernetic integration detected: Neural interface, cardiovascular enhancement, skeletal reinforcement]