"Finally… it's here."
Watching the flashing lights on the Predator's wrist computer, Aedric knew the explosion was inevitable. Without hesitation, he ordered the last two Aliens to cease attacking, then pulled out from his storage space a man-sized Valyrian steel cabinet. Without a second thought, he climbed inside and slammed the door shut.
He had long expected this. These Predators loved to self-destruct; how could Aedric possibly come unprepared?
Besides, the only way to make the Predator ship above completely give up was to let one of their warriors trigger a self-detonation, wiping out everything underground. The mothership would then assume the trial had failed and depart.
Honestly, if Aedric actually knew how to use that wrist-bomb, he would have done it himself.
As for why he didn't do this back when fighting the "No-Honor Duo"? Come on — the Alien Queen was still alive back then! Had he forgotten how she survived a blast in the movie?
If she somehow endured another explosion and made it to the surface, everything would be ruined.
This move could only be used after confirming the Queen's death. Aedric couldn't afford to take chances — not with how strict the heroine's mission requirements were.
So now, all he could do was pray that his Valyrian steel cabinet was strong enough to withstand the blast.
Moments later, a thunderous roar and violent tremors engulfed everything. Aedric felt the cabinet being hurled into the air by a colossal force, his body rattled so hard that his vision blurred. Then — nothing.
He didn't know how much time had passed when he finally awoke, every inch of him aching. The System's cold voice echoed in his mind — mission complete.
All the Aliens had been annihilated underground. Not a single one had escaped that cataclysmic explosion.
The only survivor was Aedric — protected by his indestructible Valyrian steel box.
Damn, he thought weakly, that was pure luck. A real coin toss with death.
Still, compared to facing the Predator battleship above, this gamble was preferable.
Don't assume that just because the heroine survived, anyone could. Ever heard of plot armor? That blessing was hers alone — everyone else was doomed by the script.
That was the power of the protagonist's halo — a world's concentrated luck, the ultimate fortune Aedric risked his life to earn.
Truth be told, the only thing in this entire movie world that truly worried him was the Predator ship. If not for that, he'd never have acted so cautiously.
But with that sword of Damocles hanging overhead, what choice did he have?
Can't fight it? Fine — hide.
Now that the self-destruct had gone off, the ship should finally be satisfied and leave.
Activating his inner alchemy energy, Aedric guided it through his body, easing his dull aches. Then he triggered his Shapeshifter ability, planning to find a nearby animal — maybe a penguin — to scout the situation.
Assuming one was within range — no more than 300 meters.
A moment later, he found one — just 200 meters away.
Through the penguin's eyes, he gauged the distance and realized something shocking: he was only about twenty meters below the surface now. Before the blast, he'd been six hundred meters underground. The explosion had blasted him five to six hundred meters upward.
No wonder it could wipe out an entire ancient civilization — that wrist bomb was terrifying.
And yet, the fact that he'd survived proved the incredible resilience of Valyrian steel.
Two monsters of endurance — the bomb and the box.
The only downside was that Valyrian steel didn't absorb shock like vibranium. Inside, Aedric had been shaken half to death.
If he weren't so deeply cultivated, even the cabinet wouldn't have saved him. The shockwave alone would've turned an ordinary man to paste.
After sweeping the surroundings through the penguin's eyes and confirming no life signs remained on the surface, Aedric forced open the snow-jammed door, retrieved the slightly dented steel cabinet into his storage, and stashed away every trace of unearthly tech.
Then he released the unconscious heroine from his storage space, detoxified the sedative in her body, and waited for her to wake.
When she groggily opened her eyes, Aedric feigned confusion as well, acting like he too had just regained consciousness. Together, they began to piece together what had happened.
The heroine's last memory was of the stone sarcophagus opening — she assumed it had released some ancient toxin that knocked everyone out. As for the devastation around them, she was completely baffled.
Still, relying on her sharp survival instincts and experience, she and Aedric spent over three hours digging through twenty meters of packed snow before finally reaching the surface.
By that time, the ship's crew had already started searching for them.
A blast of nuclear magnitude wasn't something they could've missed — though, since there was no radiation, they all assumed it was a geological event.
After rescuing the two, the crew continued searching for the rest of the expedition for a full day and night before admitting the obvious — everyone else was gone.
As for how Aedric and the heroine had miraculously survived? No one could explain it. Divine luck, they said.
And indeed — that "luck" had a name: Aedric.
Weyland's death, as in the film, shook the world's financial markets briefly, but the chaos soon faded. The world, after all, moves on without anyone.
Having shared life and death, Aedric and the heroine grew close — true friends now, somewhere between companions and lovers.
Well… not quite lovers. The heroine's dark skin simply wasn't his type; for thousands of years, Chinese men had admired fair beauty.
Still, while he wasn't fond of her looks, Aedric genuinely respected her character. Knowing she'd lost her protagonist's halo and would face far greater risks if she continued her rescue work, he decided to teach her the Postnatal Inner Core Technique, disguised as an advanced form of yoga.
A "special" kind of yoga, he joked — one that improved bedroom harmony, though he warned her not to come test it on him.
Her intuition was excellent, but her martial aptitude was only average, and her age didn't help. In the end, she managed to reach only the second level, but that was more than enough to protect herself in most situations.
A small gift from him — a way to return her selflessness with kindness.
Good people, after all, deserved good treatment.
And so, after wandering the modern world for about three more years and finding nothing else of value, Aedric patted the dust from his hands…
and left that world behind.
~~--------------------------
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