Although the shock I felt wasn't small, it wasn't big either. I was prepared for worse, anyways. In the end, I just shrugged and watched Space Blitz together with the girls until I felt I had to go to the bathroom.

It has been a few hours since I got abruptly kidnapped, and I didn't go to the bathroom even once since then. The tension kept it inside, but now that I was relaxed, I couldn't hold it anymore.

"Hey, girls, I need to go to the bathroom..." - I could only awkwardly say, like a kid requesting permission from his teacher.

"Hm? Ah, alright. I'll go with you. Watch over my gun, Mirah." - Islea said and got up.

"Sure." - Mirah said while watching tv.

"Hey! Let me go with him!" - Kelya suddenly exclaimed.

"Rejected." - Islea said flatly.

"But why!?" - Kelya whined.

"Oh, by the throne, Kelya! Control your libido! I can smell your arousal even with my inhibitor on." - Islea said with annoyance.

"Oh, C'mon! Don't be so uptight!" - Kelya begged.

"No means no! If you want to do those things, at least wait until we get a private room on the main ship." - Islea reprimanded.

"Ugh, fine..." - Kelya conceded.

"..."

"Am I being cockblocked?" - My face turned weird.

"Eddy?" - Islea reminded.

"Ah, yeah." - I shook my head and got up.

We then left the room and walked together.

"Weren't you all supposed to protect me wherever I am? Why just you now?" - I asked as we walked.

"We are on a Vrax military craft, and only one of us needs to accompany you at a time." - Islea said without turning her head.

"So, one of you will always accompany me? Even to the bathroom, shower, and bed?" - I asked jokingly.

"When deemed necessary, like now. We are your bodyguards, if you haven't understood until now." - She said flatly.

"Fair enough." - I grumbled.

After walking for a bit longer, we soon arrived at a stall with a few other guards waiting outside.

"Follow me, Eddy." - She said and entered the bathroom.

"Hah? Why are you also entering?" - I said as I followed her.

"To show you how to operate our bathroom. It is slightly more complex than gravity-based ones."

"Ok..." - I said with a weird face while looking inside the bathroom.

The bathroom was a long stretch of stalls, easily numbering fifty small cubicles and twenty cleaning areas. There were also contestants and guards of both sexes walking in and out of the bathrooms or cleaning their hands with wet wipes.

"Unisex bathroom, hah? Well, it does kind of make sense on a spaceship. And there is likely no running water here, so wet wipes are the next best thing." - I reasoned while following Islea to an empty stall.

After we entered the stall, I could finally see why she wanted to guide me on how to use the bathroom. In a word, it was different.

There was a small seat with a small opening, a toilet seat, and a long tube connected to the wall with what looked like a suction cup.

It resembled the bathroom I saw once on youtube about astronauts, just more refined and appealing to the eye.

"Alright, Eddy, I will only explain this once, so listen carefully." - Islea said, gathering my attention.

"This is an automatic vacuum-based chemical toilet used for zero-gravity conditions. When you need to excrete, use the toilet seat here, and if you are in zero gravity, you can use the holder over there to keep you in place. If you need to urinate, use the suction cup over there. If the automatic function doesn't work for some reason, you can manually flick the switches here and here. When done, please clean your hand in the hygiene station."¹For those of you who are curious about how toilets work in space, see this

After saying that, she left, leaving me to my business.

 

 

Islea's POV:

After teaching Eddy how to use our bathroom, I exited the bathroom and waited outside, bored out of my mind.

"Hah... getting a paid vacation is nice and all, but it gets boring with nothing to do like this. What would I give for a good chemistry book right now?" - I lamented inside.

While bored, my thoughts slowly drifted to Eddy, the gentleman I am in charge of protecting now.

"Eddy is like a clueless baby, always asking common questions that most know by adulthood, not that I can blame him. I would also be as curious as he is in his given circumstances."

As I was thinking of him, I remembered something he said, and a smile tugged on my lips.

"Heh... he called me pretty, no one called me that before, even if it is from a guy who looks like one of my distant ancestors. Although I know it is because of his much lower standards, I still feel grateful for it. Just this is worth the boredom." - I thought while staring at the ceiling, my smile unconsciously widened.

While stuck in my reverie, I suddenly heard a group of five pure human guards talking on the side.

"Why were we assigned to guard these ugly savages in the first place? Even my grandmother looks better than them, and she is 73!" - One of the guards, a blond man, said with a disgusted look.

"Yeah, I get what you mean, and my contestant tried to seduce me into letting her leave! Blegh. I think I will get nightmares later." - Another black-skinned guard said with an equally revolted look.

"The guys are better-looking than the women on this planet, but they are still uglier than normal. I could probably become a beauty queen on this planet without wearing any makeup." - A brunette woman much prettier than I said with mockery.

"Don't lower yourself and compare to savages, it hurts our dignity as their superiors." - A brown-skinned guy said with a frown.

"Yeah! Don't compare yourself with those savages! Even that ugly mutant over there can become a beauty queen here with enough makeup." - A pale-yellow-skinned woman with silky black hair pointed at me in disdain.

Being suddenly pointed at and called ugly, I was naturally surprised.

"... Ha?"

"Hahaha! Yeah, even the hideous mutants look better than these savages." - The blond man said derisively.

"What did you just say?"

"Right! Even this unattractive pink-skinned Qharri girl would look good when paired with my witch of a contestant, Hahaha!" - The black-skinned man laughed raucously.

"Hahaha!!!" - The others joined him and laughed.

"... Endure it, Islea, endure... They are just idiotic puritans who deliberately want to lure you..." - I repeated in my mind while taking a deep breath, trying to calm my raging nerves.

"Hey, but they are helpful for something. At least we get paid leave and visit Holy Terra." - The brunette woman said with a smug look.

"Yeah, but too bad they will probably all be dead by the second round. Genetically inferior apes, why the holy emperor values them so much is beyond my comprehension." - The brown-skinned man said with contempt.

"Hey, don't say it so loud. The ugly bitch might have a crush on her contestant!" - The yellow-skinned woman deliberately said it in a loud voice.

"..."

"Only a savage like him might fall in love with a face like hers, hahaha!"

"..."

"Yeah, but too bad he is going to die! Maybe she should have sex with him a few times and see if it will bear fruit!"

"Ahahaha!"

"..."

"Hey, ugly bitch, did you hear that? You should shag that lover of yours before it is too late, hahaha!" - The yellow-skinned woman laughed while pointing at my face.

"... Duel." - I spat.

"Hahaha-- wah? What did you just say?" - The yellow-skinned woman asked in astonishment.

"I said, duel. You have besmirched my dignity, and I challenge you all to a duel of honor, with everyone else here present as witnesses and judges." - I said, my face stone cold.

"Hey, I think the pink-skin got offended by what we said." - The brown-skinned man said in derision.

"And she challenged ALL of us to a duel, no less." - The blond man added.

"The little bitch challenged us?" - The brunette woman snickered.

"Heh! We will be pathetic if we don't accept such favorable terms. What do you say?" - The black-skinned man asked.

"Fine by me! I wanted to rip off her pink little face the moment she stepped into this room without her helmet hiding her hideous face." - The yellow-skinned woman viciously grinned with her perfect, pearly shining set of teeth.

I ignored their provocations and glanced at a nearby first lieutenant, the highest-ranking in-charge in the immediate vicinity.

"Hey, officer. Can you please be our judge?" - I asked nicely, although my mood was simmering.

"Ah, sure. Get in positions! No weapons allowed!" - The officer agreed and instructed.

"Your so dead, bitch!" - The yellow-skinned woman evilly grinned at me.

I ignored her, instead reaching my hand to my neck, turning off the inhibitor.

"Hah! Removing your pheromone inhibitor? What good will that do? Make you horny?" - The blond man taunted.

"Ahahaha!" - The others laughed.

I ignored them as I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

"Tch*, the bitch is ignoring us. Hey! Surround her and beat her up, but don't kill her. She's mine!" - The yellow-skinned woman's voice sounded.

"Heh, fine by me." - The blond man's voice sounded.

I smelled it. I smelled the emotions around me and sensed the malice coming from five distinct figures surrounding me, like predators stalking their prey.

I opened my eyes once more, a red tinge suffused my vision, and my lips started twitching as they stretched themselves.

"What the heck is with that look?!" - The brunette exclaimed.

"Did she go crazy from the stress?" - The black man voiced.

"Who cares! Just kill the bitch!" - The yellow-skinned woman glowered.

"Get her!" - One brown-skinned man's voice sounded behind me as they all sprang into action in practiced unison.

They belittled me.

They thought I was easy prey.

Someone who they can bully as they please to increase their pathetic self-esteem as a superior race.

Little did they know that I wasn't the prey.

.

.

.

They were.

 

 

 

Eddy's POV:

The experience in the bathroom was slightly bizarre but acceptable and without any hiccups. I did hear a small commotion outside, but I didn't bother checking it out.

After I finished my business, I exited the stall, only to see a small crowd gathering outside. Seeing it was overcrowded, I did not hurry over and instead wiped my hands first before joining.²Hygene first, being a busybody later.

As I walked into the crowd, I saw a familiar back. It was the chubby middle-aged man in a business suit from the 7th line. I could still remember the composed aura he held, even when the others got executed. Now he wore a blue jumpsuit, just like I do.

Coincidence or not, I wanted to know what was going on outside, and the man was taller than me by half a head so he could see better.

"Excuse me, mister. Do you know what is going on outside?" - I walked up to him and asked.

"Hm?" - The man turned to face me, and I could finally see his face.

He was a caucasian man in his mid-thirties, having grey sideburns on his clean-cut black hair. His face was squarish, chubby, yet firm and stable, and there were signs of extended sun exposure on his face and neck, revealing that he was not just an office worker.

"Ah, yeah. Some pink-skinned Vraxian chick seems to be fighting some other Vraxians." - The chubby man pointed in front.

"Pink-skinned??? Does she perhaps have curly shoulder-length blue hair, emerald eyes, and is this tall?"

"... She is your guard, isn't she?" - The chubby man strangely looked at me and said, confirming my suspicion.

"Holy shit! Why is she fighting people all of a sudden?!"

"Thanks, and sorry to bother you, but can you help me get to the front?" - I thanked him and requested.

The crowd was thick, and it was hard to get to the front.

"Sure." - The man nodded at me and turned to the guy in front of him.

"Hey, can you please scoot over? The pink chick is his guard." - The middle-aged man pointed at me.

The guy made way for me, and I slowly advanced like that in the crowd until I reached the front. What I saw next made me slack-jawed.

Two men and two women sprawled on the ground, their limbs bent the wrong way and their perfect faces disfigured, one of the women, an Asian-looking woman, had broken teeth scattered all over the floor. The ones who were still conscious kept muttering something in Terran that I didn't understand.

As for Islea, she was pressing her knee against another soldier's neck, a crazed and sadistic Cheshire grin on her bloodied face, her eyes shimmering with murder.

The man desperately tried to scratch and claw her to little effect. She was choking the man to death, ebbing his life away.

For some reason, the other guards were not doing anything, just coldly and amusedly watching the scene unfurl itself.

"Islea, stop! You're killing him!" - On instinct, I ran over and tried to separate them, but was stopped by one of the officers.

Islea turned to me, her eyes still murderous, but there was an additional hint of hesitation in her eyes. She sighed, pressed the inhibitor on her neck, turned her head back to the man, and spat coldly as if her previous insanity wasn't there.

"Jij hebt geluk." - She said in terran and let go of his neck.

"Cough* Cough* Je zult hiervoor boeten, jij lelijke mutant!" - The man shouted in hatered between coughs.

"We zullen zien." - Islea replied as she walked to me and activated her earpiece.

"Let's go, Eddy." - She said to me with her expressionless face still covered in blood. Their blood.

"Y-Yeah, sure. But don't you want to wipe your face first?" - I pointed at her blood-covered face.

"... Good point." - Islea thought for a moment, nodded, and headed towards the bathroom.

The others didn't dare to block and immediately moved to the sides, allowing her access to the hygiene area where she took a few wet wipes and cleaned her face.

While she was cleaning herself, I heard a loud voice from outside.

"Who did this?! Step out, NOW!" - The voice commanded.

"Er... Islea, they're calling you..." - I said quietly to Islea, who was busy cleaning herself up.

"Just a second." - Islea said, finishing cleaning her face up while taking another wet wipe to wipe her hands.

"You! New Qharri girl! Are you the one who did this?!" - The man, the captain I saw earlier in the hallway, angrily accused Islea with a pointed finger.

"Yes, it was me." - Islea openly admitted it, throwing the used wet wipe on the Asian-looking girl's face.

"GOOD! At least you have the guts to admit it! I give you thirty seconds to make your case before I take disciplinary action." - The captain said while tracing the pistol on his lap.

"I was merely teaching them some manners. Something that they sorely lacked." - Islea stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Teaching manners?! You just crippled and disfigured five contestant bodyguards! I have the right to execute you on the spot for this." - The captain glowered and was about to pull his pistol.

"I was having a duel of honor." - Islea replied.

"Duel of Honor?! On what right--"

"Basic right number 11, all citizens of the Vrax Empire have the right for basic dignity and human honor, no matter shape, gender, or race. Basic right number 27, incessant racist and offensive remarks are an official besmirching and assault of my honor as a proud human being. Honor and Dignity law number 3, as a proud citizen whose honor is besmirched, I am allowed to challenge the offender or offenders to a duel of honor as long as both parties agree and there are proper witnesses and judges. Disciplinary article 306 section C to E, when in an honor duel, both sides may use excessive force, and even cripple or kill the opponent without consequences, even if the opponent is in a specialized or important position, as long as they are replaceable at the given moment, and they certainly are replaceable. I was acting within my allowed boundaries, captain. The cameras and everyone present can testify." - She cut him and stated, her face expressionless and somewhat bored as if telling why one plus two is three.

The captain narrowed his eyes at her as he probably felt his authority challenged. After some thinking, he turned to one of the officers and asked, "Does she speak true?"

"Yes, captain. They have been very unpleasant from the beginning and continuously dishonored her with racist and humiliating remarks. She then officially challenged them with all of us present as witnesses and judges, and they agreed, as tradition demands." - An officer stepped forward and said.

"... Fine, they were in the wrong. Bring your contestants to their rooms, and send someone to pick these idiots up to the med-bay." - The captain surprisingly gave in.

"Thank you for your understanding. Let's go, Eddy." - Islea stated flatly and then said to me.

"R-Right." - I meekly nodded and followed her while glancing at the wreckage left behind by Islea's handiwork.

"Holy shit, she is badass..." - Was all I could think.

I wondered how she took down so many of her fellow guards so easily. And I also learned another lesson. You can kill people in the name of honor if the reason is right.

It reminded me of legal duels back in the 18th and 19th centuries, just far more violent.

"So... What did they do to you?" - I couldn't help but ask.

"They called me ugly." - She replied with a cold face.

I looked at her beautiful face from the side and couldn't help but mutter.

"Blind idiots..."

I don't know if it was my imagination, but Islea's face lit up just a tiny bit.