Harem Assassins : King Sekton's Harem Planet, Book 2: A Space Opera Harem Adventure Baron Sord (good books to read for adults .txt) 📖

thrusters that allowed flight. Combat took place in the air between floating Battle Cubes, or on the cubes themselves, or inside the larger cubes. Combat inside the cubes was streamed via video to the spectators and projected on high-definition 3D holographic screens, or fed directly to their cybernetic minds for the most immersive experience imaginable. Viewers could switch to their unliving heart’s content between the Point-Of-View of any Aught or Naught warrior they chose.

Ka-KRASH!

Hade and Boltus both laughed metallically when two medium-sized cubes 20 meters on a side crashed together, catching several battling Aught and Naught warriors off guard, crunching them in the deadly collision.

“Skrucking fools,” Hade chortled a vicious but appreciative snort. He didn’t care who was winning as long as somebody was dying. Their maximum sacrifice was his minimum delight.

“Off to the scrap heap with them!” Boltus agreed gratingly.

“Melt them down,” Hade chuckled. Trash talking the gladiators was as much a part of the entertainment as watching the action.

“Repurpose them into data cables,” Boltus snorted smokily, emitting small black puffs from his helm’s knightly grill. “That’s all they’re good for.”

“Not even that,” Hade grumbled grinningly. “Primitive wire fasteners, non-galvanized.”

“Rusty wires?” Boltus leered cheerfully. “You’re going that low?”

“I couldn’t think of anything lower,” Hade admitted with a grunting laugh.

“Plumbing solder,” Boltus said with finality.

“Plumbing solder,” Hade reiterated and chortled appreciatively. “On a Chuggutch hog farm.”

“Yes!” Boltus wheezed a clanking laugh. “The main sewage line running through an automated Chuggutch hog farm! Endless acres of organic filth! There is no lower job than sewage solder on a factory farm planet!”

“None in this universe,” Hade chuckled.

Creator and creation exchanged amused grins.

For the moment, both of them were perfectly content.

These death matches were a celebration of Unlife, an extremely popular and regular sporting event on Pandemon. Every match was officially presented by the Pandemon Protectorate, the planet’s primary governing body. Serving as referees were the attending Protectorate Magistrates.

Ka-KOOM!

Somewhere in the battle space, an Aught missile rocketed into a small cube occupied by two Naughts and blew it and them to bits.

Shrapnel flew.

Cybernoid body parts windmilled away in every direction.

Boltus and Hade cheered again.

Beside them, Vok Nyfe stood on his levitating disc and watched the battle quietly, hunched and leaning against his ever-changing Technomantic staff.

The three of them and a small contingent of Boltus’ cyberquad guards were gathered atop one of many privately owned and luxuriously appointed Hover Cubes floating around the edges of the cubic battle space. The Hover Cubes were protected from the action by a surrounding cube of Kinesthetic Shields that boxed in the destruction. Hover Cubes were allowed to float around outside the shield box and follow the action however their pilots and owners pleased. Only the richest citizens of Pandemon could afford a private Hover Cube. Boltus Maximus was one of them. The rest of Pandemon watched from the surrounding and floating square rows of stationary stadium seating, or from elsewhere on the planet via live 3D holographic or POV signal feed.

“Move our cube over there!” Hade barked at his Hover Cube pilot. “How many times do I have to tell you to follow the skrucking action!”

When their Hover Cube started to move, so did several others nearby, crowding toward the same viewing location and jockeying for the best position. One very large and overly extravagant Hover Cube floated up next to Boltus’ impressive cube. As impressive as Boltus’ cube was, this extravagant Hover Cube was more impressive. It did its best to rudely shove its way forward, forcing Boltus’ cyberquad pilot to fight the controls to avoid a collision. In response, Boltus’ cube lurched and tipped violently before the pilot righted it.

“Careful!” boomed an annoyed Boltus at his pilot.

“Idiots,” Hade grumbled, aiming his insult at everyone involved.

Vok Nyfe took it all in stride, merely zipping upward a few meters on his levitating disc to hover safely above the tilting deck until calm was restored.

On the top face of the extravagant Hover Cube, a decadent Pandemonian party was in full swing. It was a gluttonous orgy of over-indulgence. Every cybernoid reveler in the crowd was fucking or feasting. Some did both at the same time while generally ignoring the Aughts and Naughts fighting for their cybernoid lives inside Kill CUBE.

“Fleshers,” Boltus grumbled disgustedly, referring to the revelers on the extravagant cube. “More interested in overclocking their carnal circuitry than watching an honest battle.”

“Skin scum,” Hade snorted derisively, even though he envied them their unbridled cybernetic festival of sex.

Suddenly, a crackle of plasma engines sent the bigger extravagant Hover Cube levitating and lurching drunkenly sideways in an attempt to follow the ever-shifting action. In the process, the extravagant cube bumped Boltus’ cube aside with a resoundingly metallic BOOM! that sent it into a drifting spin and put it on a collision course with a third smaller luxury Hover Cube nearby.

“Fix that!” Boltus roared at his pilot. “Our cube is listing! We’re going to hit that little cube!”

The cyberquad pilot at the helm frantically steered Boltus’ Hover Cube back under control just in time to prevent a crashing disaster with the third cube, the occupants of which watched wide-eyed and horrified as the two cubes nearly slammed together. Once the imminent danger was averted by inches, Boltus’ pilot righted their Hover Cube to best face the action in the arena. Meanwhile, the occupants of the third cube sniveled their disgust and drank their drinks, trying to forget the embarrassing episode.

Boltus seethed, “I can’t stand those idiotic 4-bit inbreds.” He flicked a hateful glare at the bigger and overly extravagant Hover Cube that had first bumped them and started them listing.

“Nobody can,” Hade scowled, also glaring at the extravagant cube.

Boltus Maximus may have been one of Pandemon’s richest citizens, but there was always someone richer and more powerful. The inconsiderate owners of the extravagant Hover Cube were a case in point.

“Hade Maximus!” called out one of the cybernoids atop the extravagant cube. “In the mechanized flesh! I never thought I’d see the day! What are you doing back on Pandemon?”

Hade’s knightly