Interstellar Age

181  Sweet Victory!

It had been nearly a year since Erich first returned home from his time with Lunaria, and during this time he had not been given a single moment to rest. His entire body felt sore, and his mind was exhausted. Yet he had finally completed all the tasks required for him to become a W-6. All that was left now was the impossible scenario, the objective that few men who attempted would ever complete.

He and a group of trainees would be dropped onto an asteroid in the middle of space, and with no nav data. His objective was to survive as long as possible. The last soldier to run out of oxygen was the winner. Of course, this was more than just a test of survival. It was a test of everything he had learned throughout the course of his training to become a proper WRAITH.

Everyone was given the same amount of oxygen, and because of this, there was really only one way to survive the longest, and that was to hunt down your comrades and steal their oxygen. Thus, after being dropped into an asteroid field, along with countless other prospective W-7s, the games had officially begun.

If there was one constant in Erich's life that kept him sane of this past year, it was his little artificial intelligence companion. Tia acted not only as an assistant, but as a cheerleader, and was an emotional support companion for her master.

Tia was worried about Erich's chances of success. Particularly because he had just completed three years' worth of training in one third the time. He was exhausted and was on the brink of a mental breakdown. Tia naturally worked coordinated the trillions of nanites in Erich's body, to ensure that his body and mind were in the peak of condition. But there were only so many things these nano-machines could do after a year of wear and tear.

Thus, Tia warned Erich about the fact that he had been pushing his body well beyond its superhuman limits.

"Master, Tia calculates that you have a five percent chance of completing this mission while meeting all of the requirements to graduate. Perhaps master should sit this one out and get some rest so that he will be fresh and capable during the next exercise?"

However, Erich was undeterred. He may be on the brink of collapse, but he would keep going until that happened. And if that meant fighting for his survival against a thousand or more of his peers. So be it. The winner takes all, and he would be thrilled if he could get just one more kill.

Thus, at the moment, he was jumping through the cosmos, from asteroid to asteroid, in a zero gravity environment, as he searched for the first man whose oxygen tank he could claim. He was only given enough oxygen for three hours, and he had already been searching for half of that.

It was at this moment that Erich triggered his foresight, and found that not far ahead a battle would soon be taking place, which he could swoop in and take the spoils. Thus, he skillfully made his way through the vacuum of space until he reached the alotted area. Where he then hid in a crater, and waited for the two parties to fight one another.

Because Erich was in the vacuum of space, there was not a noise that could be heard. Instead, he had to rely on his foresight, his sensors, and his own to eyes to track the enemy. Which sure enough, just as he had envisioned appeared before him. Two men engaged in a gunfight, which did not last long to determine a victor.

After gunning down his rival, the man walked over to his victim's corpse and checked to see if his oxygen pens remained intact. Which surely enough, they were. Just when he was about to insert the oxygen pen into his power armor, to convert its air supply into his own reserves. Erich jumped out from behind him and gunned the man's dad. Seizing both him and the other fallen soldiers' oxygen pens.

Unlike the man he had just killed. Erich was not concerned at all about immediately resupplying, and instead snatched up the resources, and added them to his backpack, before running off and jumping to another nearby asteroid.

As he soared through space, someone shot at him from another asteroid, which caused Erich to do a three-sixty barrel roll while returning fire. The plasma bolts that the enemy had fired at him had narrowly missed Erich, but Erich projectiles had indeed found their mark. Causing him to bounce off a nearby, smaller asteroid which was just enough to get a foothold on, and propel himself to where his newest kill was located.

Tia was actually surprised that Erich was performing so well, despite the fact that his body and mind were already being pushed well beyond their limits. If not for Erich's foresight, and his ability to seemingly slow down time. He would have been taken out during the first engagement. She could not help but recalculate the odds based upon his performance.

"Master, though Tia does not suggest it in your current state. If you were to take an adrenal pen, you might be able to increase your odds of success from my previous five percent projection to twenty-five percent.

However, if you do that, Tia will have to focus most of her energy on ensuring the stimulants don't cause any damage to your body. And thus, Tia will not be able to be relied upon for matters regarding tactical assistance. The choice is yours..."

Having scavenged the oxygen pens, the med pens, and the adrenal pens from his latest kill. Erich ultimately decided to tempt fate, and immediately pulled out an Adrenal Pen, which he had not used since the Dvrakian War. And jammed it into the socket in his power armor, which was designed to accept the device. Where the stimulant was then injected into his bloodstream.

Erich did this repeatedly until he had run completely out of adrenals. And the result was terrifying. Immediately Erich felt as if he had just consumed a whole kilo of cocaine. His mind was cleared, and his energy levels were increased to such a state that both his mind and reflexes were reacting faster than time could keep up with.

Naturally, with his super enhanced reflexes that were now pushed beyond their limits, along with his foresight. This practically allowed Erich to stop time within his perception. Allowing him to expertly out maneuver enemy fire. While blasting all hostiles to bits.

Erich screamed out in excitement as he jumped above a target, and shot him in midair, before landing with a flying kick to the face of another one. Which broke the man's neck upon impact.

"I am a fucking god!"

Meanwhile, Tia did everything she could to prevent an overdose from occurring. Erich had consumed an incredibly lethal dose of the Stimulants, so much so that even a mammoth would die on the spot.

Luckily for her, the nanites in Erich's bloodstream were designed to purify toxins which entered the body, and because she had complete control of them, she could make sure that the nanites were devoting as much energy as possible to preventing an overdose.

Erich would use this boost of power to sweep through the asteroid field and eliminate all remaining targets. For the first time in the History of the Empire. A W-7 had emerged victorious not by surviving longer than his rivals, but by killing them all.

It was a complete and total slaughter, one that would draw the attention of those Generals, and

admirals within the High Command of the Germanic Military, including Supreme Leader Alaric au Emrys himself.