“We will be entering Mars’ atmosphere in an hour,” Kiki, the AI piloting the ship, said to Klaus and Queen Lunara.
They are still seated in the resting area since they don’t have any business flying the ship.
Klaus had been resting his head on Queen Lunara’s lap for the past few hours, talking about random things and, at times, shameless topics.
Not that the queen minded.
Well, she minded at first, considering resting his head on her lap wasn’t something she expected him to casually do. But she started to adapt.
Klaus was bolder than she thought, and given how she was feeling about him, she needed the closeness to see if the brat was serious about everything he said.
In the end, her hand was brushing his hair as they flew through space. One could say that was progress on both fronts.
“Kiki, do you have a read on the nature of Mars?” Klaus asked, knowing that the best option was to learn more about Mars before entering its atmosphere.
“I can’t sense that far since the distance I can operate is limited. However, the moment we enter its atmosphere, I can gather information,” Kiki responded, and Klaus nodded.
He turned his head on Queen Lunara’s lap and faced her.
“I know you would want to come to my aid many times during my tribulation; however, even if I am dying, don’t. I can’t easily be killed, and while I would want your help, you doing so would mean your death.
So stay away from me during my tribulation.”
The queen let out a deep sigh, knowing what Klaus said wasn’t something she could easily do. However, watching the seriousness in his eyes, she could only nod.
“Then what should I do in the first place, considering we are going to an empty planet?” she asked.
“We don’t know if it’s empty or not. We humans thought of the moon in the same way until we discovered otherwise. So we should expect the same, considering we are basically clueless about that place.”
Klaus didn’t want to jinx it, but he knew better than to think there wouldn’t be anything on the planet they were going to. In fact, he knew better because he trusted himself.
The reason being, Nyxthar, the Death Knight that came to him through Asha, mentioned there were five of them.
He said he was on Earth, while the others were spread across the other planets, possibly acting as guards for the planet their master was on.
So if that was the case, then shouldn’t that mean he knew of life on those planets before sending them there? First, Nyxthar mentioned his strength was at the Ascendant stage when he woke up.
This meant the others would be in the same situation.
But if that was the case, shouldn’t that mean they would need energy, and the best way to gain it would be to kill more? If there are no living beings to kill, how would they grow?
“But then again, there might not be a single life aside from my subordinate, so anything is possible. However, it would be fun to meet new people there,” Klaus said, trusting himself both ways.
He assumed there would be life mainly because of how abnormal his incarnations were. They didn’t seem to like peace, so he knew that the version of himself from the past wouldn’t travel to the future to leave his subordinates in a safe space.
‘Maybe I was different back then. Maybe the me that brought them is much more peaceful.’ Klaus could only speculate.
“Don’t worry, if there are living beings there, I will do my best to protect you,” Queen Lunara said, noticing the complicated look that appeared in Klaus’s eyes.
“I am not worried about myself. After all, I will be inside a tribulation, so unless they want to die, the last thing they will do is enter my tribulation.
This means instead of protecting my life, you will be protecting yours.”
“I can protect myself from them. Just focus and complete your tribulation,” Klaus said with a smile, feeling the confidence oozing from her body.
But of course, she had to feel that way. She practically captured some aspect of the law of death; as such, her strength was now on a new level.
Protecting herself, at least, that much she can do.
“If you can’t handle them, retreat back to the ship and move away. Don’t worry about me, I will be fine.”
Queen Lunara nodded and continued to brush Klaus’s hair as they sped toward the red planet. As they drew closer, Klaus decided to become battle-ready. He lifted his head and prepared himself.
Queen Lunara did the same. However, while they were at it, back on Earth, Anaki and Inaki were paying attention to the data coming from the ship.
“They are entering the Mars atmosphere,” Anaki said, staring at the graphical map on the screen. The smile on her face said it all; she was proud of their creation.
“Mars is the first stop. When they get back, we can improve the proposal system, and with Master Klaus’s help, we can go even faster.
This way, the other planets can be explored.” Inaki was also enthusiastic about the prospect of improving the ship so they could explore other planets.
Meanwhile, the Bullet Ship entered the Mars atmosphere 25 hours after it left Earth.
Klaus and Lady Lunara sat in the pilot’s seat as they gazed at the red planet, which came into view even from thousands of miles away. It looked like it did in the satellite images, but it was much more beautiful.
The color was not entirely red. It was more like a blend of red and orange, with touches of yellowish spots. Although it was significantly smaller than Earth, it didn’t pale in beauty compared to Earth.
“We are here,” Queen Lunara said, staring at the red planet excitedly and impressed.
“Indeed, we are,” Klaus said as the ship flew slowly toward the planet. They wouldn’t be landing the ship, considering anything could happen.
So, it will orbit the planet from a distance and take some images while they settle down. Slowly, they began approaching the planet.
However, in the world of Mars, a figure clad in metallic armor sat inside a raging lava flow. His head was covered by a helmet, with two angular-shaped horns extending from the sides.
Behind him was a bow, ablaze with flames, acting as a ring of energy. He sat calmly in the fire, cultivating as though this were a routine he had been following for years.
The aura emanating from him was that of a Void Stage being sitting at the 5th level. In fact, if one were to compare him to the Peak Void stage Spider Demon Klaus killed, this being was much more impressive.
His aura was scorching hot and overwhelmingly potent.
Suddenly, the dark shades in the helmet lit up in flames as he lifted his head upward.
“Finally, Master has arrived.” The space around him exploded as he shot into the sky, speeding toward outer space.