Chapter 138: Endure the beating

On the second day following his full physical recovery, Cyrus convened a brief tactical briefing inside the primary operations hub.

The objective was straightforward: during their violent clash in the subterranean ruins, Cyrus had successfully planted a micro-tracker deep within the creature’s muscle tissue.

Having sustained severe internal trauma, the entity would inevitably retreat into a secondary nest to mend its wounds.

This represented their very first encounter with an intelligent non-matriarch organism capable of directing lesser Aberration swarms to execute strategic ambushes. Instinct warned them that this creature’s origins were anything but ordinary.

They required a living specimen for lab synthesis.

Xander leaned back with his arms crossed over his chest, his expression laced with subtle reservation. "Should an engagement of this magnitude be formally logged with Military Command?"

After all, a tactical anomaly of this scale was an unprecedented discovery.

Rain, ever meticulous and analytical, offered a measured perspective.

"It would be prudent to contact the command relays of neighboring towers first. We should verify if other sectors have logged similar operational anomalies."

The High Command had long demonstrated near-total apathy regarding the mortality rates of Sentinels, focusing their attention strictly on whether primary energy substations were facing existential threats.

Cyrus shifted his gaze toward Arden. "Arden, establish a secure link with the other Sentinel Towers across the Sector. Remind them to keep a sharp eye out for any traces of this creature’s activity."

Arden gave a curt nod and departed immediately. Xander swept his gaze across the conference room, noticing two notable absences.

"Where are Astin and Liam?"

Brandon, seated at the far end of the table, chimed in promptly. "They went off to beat each other half to death."

Xander furrowed his brow. "They’re fighting?"

While Liam was notorious for being a rebellious thorn in the squad’s side—always itching to pick a fight with anyone he felt superior to—he and Astin hadn’t shared any apparent friction.

How on earth had a brawl broken out between them?

At that very moment, Liam and Astin were locked in a fierce duel inside Training Arena No. 9.

The conflict ignited when Liam arrived at daybreak, brimming with enthusiasm to treat his "wife" to breakfast, only to discover this smug crocodile slinking around Bunny’s quarters under suspicious circumstances.

In reality, Astin was merely tidying up Bunny’s room and hauling away her pile of laundry, given her terminal aversion to doing chores.

Liam immediately blocked Astin from touching her belongings. "These are my wife’s things—by what right are you handling them?"

Astin dropped all pretense. He had long despised Liam’s obnoxious, self-satisfied swagger. Just because he managed to climb into her bed first, the kid acted like he owned the world.

He was simply lucky—nothing more than an opportunist who had managed to bind with Bunny prematurely.

"Your wife? She’s my wife now, too."

Liam stared at him in utter disbelief. "What did you just say?"

Astin offered a chilling, mirthless smirk. "Forgot to mention—I’ve already formed a spiritual bond with Bunny. She merely kept it a secret because she feared you couldn’t handle the truth."

"What’s the matter? Are you such an incompetent husband that, despite your own inadequacy, you refuse to let your wife bind with another Sentinel?"

Every single word spilling from Astin’s lips acted like a poisoned barb, plunging deep into young Liam’s chest and twisting mercilessly.

In a matter of days, his wife had already taken a new lover. Liam had previously viewed those two cunning, deep-water veterans, Cyrus and Xander, as his primary threats—never imagining that this green-haired menace would turn out to be the most treacherous, backstabbing home-wrecker of them all!

Consumed by fury, Liam lunged, and the two naturally escalated into a full-scale brawl.

Naturally, Astin was no match for Liam in raw combat. After trading heavy blows, a crushing right hook from Liam caught Astin square on the jaw, nearly fracturing the bone.

Sticking out his tip of his tongue to taste the blood welling from his canines, Astin didn’t flare up in rage; instead, a twisted laugh escaped him. "Weren’t you always boasting about your status? Why aren’t you bragging now?"

Liam stared down at Astin with an utterly expressionless face, his voice plunging to a sub-zero temperature.

"As expected of a mistress’s child—like father, like son. When it comes to seduction and sneaking into beds, you certainly inherited the family trade."

Astin’s smirk vanished instantly. He would never tolerate anyone dragging his father’s memory through the dirt.

The two tore into each other across the training mat with feral intensity, trading blows so viciously it felt as though they intended to punch straight through the reinforced floorboards—until Xander arrived with the rest of the squad to forcefully break up the madness.

Even as he was yanked back, Liam thrashed wildly, his fury too great for the others to easily restrain.

It wasn’t until Xander stepped forward, grabbing Liam by the collar and demanding in a chilling rasp:

"Do you realize you were about to beat Astin to death?"

The sheer suppression of a superior rank forced Liam to quiet down slightly. Spitting a mouthful of blood onto the deck, he cast a venomous look at Astin and sneered right in front of the entire assembly:

"He forced Bunny to risk her life plunging into his mental landscape to save him and forge a forced bond! A piece of trash like him—doesn’t he deserve to be beaten into a pulp?!"

Had anything gone wrong, Bunny would have ended up in a permanent vegetative state!

The moment those words dropped, the expressions of virtually every Sentinel in the room shifted dramatically through a spectrum of colors.

What...?!

Astin had already formed a bond with Bunny?!

He was the second? And Bunny had risked her life to secure it?!

Arden and Rain, who had been supporting Astin’s weight, instinctively dropped him straight onto the hard floor, entirely unconcerned with whether he was conscious or not.

Not just the two of them—the faces of every single remaining Sentinel twisted into expressions of profound shock and simmering fury.

Xander’s breathing hitched erratically for a fraction of a second. He stared down at Liam’s battered, bruised face; Liam was notoriously incapable of deception, possessing a stubborn honesty thicker than structural steel.

Kai offered a silent prayer for his squad brother’s soul. There was no helping it—surpassing rivals was an unavoidable rite of passage.

You just had to endure the beating.

Xander inhaled a slow, deep breath, his knuckles slowly relaxing their grip on Liam’s collar.

Two seconds later, a cold, merciless decree echoed through the dead silence of the training arena:

"Leave him with a single breath, then toss him into the medical pod."

Meaning: Resume the beating.