It took all morning for Nick to calm Luna down, and even when he walked her to school, she was still quite an emotional wreck.
Nick had to constantly reassure her over and over again that he wouldn't die, and that he was strong now, not weak like before.
But even then, this only calmed her down enough to stop her crying, she was still quite emotional inside. However, this was only something that time could help her with.
Losing both of their parents had left quite the trauma on her mind, so even considering the possibility of losing her last living relative — her brother who she loved more than anything in the world — scared her to her core.
She didn't know what she would do if he died, and so she was sent into a spiralling wreck hearing the kind of beasts he was up against.
'Hopefully school will help take her mind off of things…'
Nick could only sigh internally.
***
After dropping Luna off at school, Nick immediately made his way back towards the teleporter.
Normally he would take the maglev train over, but his new apartment was closer, so he switched to getting the bus as it was quicker and more convenient.
The idea of getting his own personal car wasn't even entertained in Nick's mind, as not only were they extremely expensive, more than even a Mutant Beast Armament, but there were strict rules and regulations of who could and couldn't drive on the roads on Planet Terminus.
However, the main reason he wasn't even going to bother, was that by the time he could afford one, his strength would have increased to the point where he could just run faster than if he drove.
At that point, spending money on a car would be meaningless.
Plus, if he one day obtained a Mount type Beast Armament, then he could get around even faster both in the outside universe and the Beast Domain!
Beep!
Crash!
Out of nowhere, Nick was pulled out of his thoughts by the sudden sounding of a horn from the bus driver.
"What fucking idiot brake checks a bus!" The driver suddenly shouted out of nowhere.
'Did we just get into a crash?' Nick thought to himself.
If this were still back in 21st century Earth, then the passengers on board would have been reduced to mush by the crash that had just occurred.
They were travelling at speeds well over 200 kmh, after all…
But thanks to advancements in shock absorbing technology over the centuries, the impact felt by the driver and the passengers was reduced to a minimum.
In fact, Altered like Nick didn't even feel anything at all, hence why he'd barely noticed anything.
'Tsk, just my luck.'
Nick scowled inwardly, but didn't make his displeasure known. It clearly wasn't the bus driver's fault, and there was nothing he could do about it anyway.
He was a little displeased that his trip to the teleporter would take longer than expected, but once again, he was helpless.
Most of the journey was already covered anyway, so he decided to just screw it and get off the bus there, as most, if not all, of the other passengers were likely to do as well.
Walking the rest of the way would only add an extra 5 minutes onto his trip.
"You fucking moron, look what you've done to my car!"
Nick heard shouting coming from the car in front of the bus, which he ignored at first.
'Wait a minute…'
However, he did a double take in shock as he recognised a familiar tone and anger in those words.
With his attention now fully focused, he turned to look at the culprit behind both the accident and the voice, and was shocked to his core by what he saw.
'Is… Is that fucking Beast Slayer!??'
He was so shocked he almost blurted his thoughts aloud, but thankfully stopped himself before it was too late.
'Thankfully, it seems he hasn't noticed me.'
A sigh of relief involuntarily left his lips when he realised this.
Nick didn't expect to find out that Beast Slayer was from the same planet as him, and it was no surprise to him that he was driving his own personal car either.
'How many planets are there in the Federation? It must be in the millions? Yet what are the fucking chances of this scornful bastard being from the same one as me!? Why god, why??'
"Hey, bastard driver! Get out here now!"
Beast Slayer shouted and scowled at the top of his lungs toward the bus driver, whose face was quickly draining of its colour as the seconds ticked by.
Normally, he would be fine in a situation like this since he wasn't the one who caused the accident.
But the car in front of him…
It was one of the most expensive cars that not even the top echelon of Planet Terminus could purchase without special permissions and connections…
It didn't matter who was at fault at this point.
He was screwed regardless.
All it would take was one word from the owner of the vehicle to his boss and he would be out of the job, and likely unable to find another one on Planet Terminus again.
And judging from the tone of the man shouting at him, this was very likely something he was willing to do.
Meanwhile, Nick had his own worries.
'Whyyyyy!? Judging by our location, he's clearly headed to the same teleporter as me. It's not like I can switch to a different one either, as it's basically half way across the entire fucking planet! God, you must truly hate me…'
For the time being, Nick hurried down the sidewalk, doing his best to hide his face from Beast Slayer, who seemed too distracted to bother looking at him anyway, and quickly made his way towards the teleporter.
Beast Slayer would be too preoccupied with this entire debacle, so he would at least not have to see him for the next few hours or so in War Beast Sanctuary either.
However, he needed to come up with some sort of plan to hide his presence on Planet Terminus from Beast Slayer…