Harem Assassins : King Sekton's Harem Planet, Book 2: A Space Opera Harem Adventure by Baron Sord (mobi ebook reader .TXT) 📕

of intense combat, a second platoon of white Aughts rushed in from the Naughts’ rear and fired a volley of shoulder-mounted rockets that slaughtered the Naughts within seconds.

“What did I tell you?” Nemisys chuckled and wrapped his arm more tightly around Synnestra’s trim waist.

Hade snarled.

“It’s still early,” Boltus said quietly. “Black may still carry the day.”

“May?” Hade barked. “No. Will. They will carry the day.”

While Hade argued his point, Nemisys openly fondled Synnestra with his data dongle. None of Nemisys’ guests noticed the carnal display because they were busy indulging in their own.

But Hade sure noticed.

As for Boltus, he was on the edge of his treads, too worried about losing his empire to take his eyes off the battle action. Lucky for him, it was nonstop cybernetic barbarism from beginning to end.

There were two ways for either team to win.

The slow way and the fast way.

1. Slow: kill every last opponent in direct combat — preferred by the fans.

2. Fast: find the opponent’s hidden Cube Core and destroy it before they destroyed yours.

Some epic and memorable matches had lasted for hours or even days of dogged combat. Others ended within minutes of starting. Like war, Kill CUBE death matches were full of surprises.

Destroying your enemy’s Cube Core — a 1-meter cubic doomsday device very similar in appearance to a 1-meter Battle Cube — would trigger the immediate destruction of your enemy’s every remaining cybernoid warrior. Consequently, both the Aught and Naught Cube Cores were heavily guarded and generally hidden somewhere on the largest Battle Cube on either side of the arena, but not always. Both teams were free to hide their Cube Core wherever they pleased. Some teams hid theirs on or inside one of the smaller, less obvious Battle Cubes, or secreted theirs around during the heat of battle as necessary.

At the start of every death match, only the two largest Battle Cubes were occupied. One white Aught Fortress Cube and one black Naught Fortress Cube. All other cubes were initially unoccupied and colored metallic gray.

Once a Pandemonian Magistrate set the floating Battle Cubes in motion and signaled the official start of combat, both armies fanned out immediately. Any unoccupied Battle Cube that became occupied by one or more cybernoid warriors from the same team would turn the cube either solid metallic white or solid metallic black to match the occupiers. If all warriors left the cube, it would revert back to metallic gray.

If a Battle Cube was occupied by both Aughts and Naughts simultaneously, the cube would take on the color of whichever team had more warriors occupying it, but the cube would periodically flash the other team’s color. Flashing frequency was directly proportional to the ratio of each team.

For example, a Battle Cube occupied by 8 black Naught warriors and 2 white Aught warriors meant the cube remained black for 8 seconds then switched to white for 2 seconds before going back to black for 8 more, and so on. Once any given death match was well underway, this created a strobing effect of Battle Cubes careening and crashing constantly throughout the Kill CUBE.

The smallest Battle Cubes — those only 1 cubic meter in size — were solid metal. Their surfaces were etched with parallel lines that resembled circuitry. Larger cubes had the same design details, but were not solid, and had maze-like passages and compartments that turned them into cubic dungeons filled with rigid 90 degree turns, corners, steps, and stairs. And sometimes, you might find either team’s Cube Core stacked surreptitiously amongst the cubic interior architecture of such a Battle Cube.

An observer from Earth like Tim Pittwell might comment on the 8-bit Minecraft vibe of these Battle Cube dungeons, except for the fact that every dungeon cube was white, black, or gray and everything was coldly mechanized.

At this moment in the match, 26% of all Battle Cubes were solid white, occupied and fortified only by Aughts. The percentage of occupation was shown on several giant holographic scoreboards floating around the enclosure. Another 37% of Battle Cubes were solid black and occupied solely by Naughts. The remaining cubes were in a constant state of flux, either gray and unoccupied, or switching frequently from white to black and back again as Aught and Naught cybernoid gladiators battled over ownership.

“We’re winning,” Hade growled.

“it seems that way,” Boltus said uncertainly.

“NO! IT IS THAT WAY!” Hade roared. “WE WILL WIN THE DAY!”

Boltus belched a small cloud of nervous black smoke from his exhaust pipes. It rolled out as oily as his insides felt. His entire empire was on the chopping block. “I hope you’re right, creation,” he muttered quietly.

“WHAT?!” Hade bellowed.

“We’ll win,” Boltus said with barely a single bit of conviction.

Nemisys called out from his extravagant Hover Cube, “Did you say something, Hade?”

“NO!” Hade barked. When he saw Nemisys glide his hand down Synnestra’s liquid metal backside and squeeze her alloyed ass, Hade boomed at him, “WATCH THE MATCH!”

“Why watch the match when I can hold the prize instead?” Nemisys mused snootily before leaning down to boldly kiss Synnestra’s liquid lips.

Whether Synnestra resisted Nemisys’ overt advances or welcomed them, Hade couldn’t say. Not knowing made him that much more furious.

Not knowing who would win today’s death match made Boltus Maximus that much more nauseous. His insides had turned to grease. This rich mixture caused his old engine to backfire several times. “Excuse me,” Boltus coughed, trying to cover it up, embarrassed by his own lack of intestinal fortitude. “It’s the machine oil I drank earlier with Hade,” he said to Vok Nyfe. “When we were discussing upgrades. I had a bit too much, I’m afraid. BLORCH!” he belched. “FRAP!” his engine farted, sending up a greasy brown cloud from his unmuffled exhaust pipes.

Vok Nyfe merely tipped a disinterested nod.

For several more stressful hours, Hade and Boltus Maximus watched the death match drag on. The ricocheting of the Battle Cubes had reached a fever pitch. Combat raged in the air, on the Battle Cubes, and inside the larger cube dungeons.

Warriors jetted