mystery box

In a dimly lit cargo bay, a handful of shabby-looking people stood surrounding a giant black box. Soon, a burly man with a prosthetic eye walked in, along with a tall and lean man who would've been mistaken for a skeleton if he didn't have skin.

The burly man was none other than Captain Blancher, who followed the scout ship and captured Cillian's containment box. He asked in an annoyed tone,

"Why isn't that box open yet?"

One of the pirate goons holding a plasma cutter replied, "Captain, we don't know what's going on either. This box is made of some sort of weird stealth alloy which even our scanners have struggled reading at such close range. But the more surprising fact is when we tried to open it with a plasma cutter, the heat on the box cools down just seconds after the cutter is removed! That's why, even after cutting for such a long time, we are only able to barely melt two layers."

"You are a bunch of useless monkeys. Simon, go and melt that box open," Captain Blancher said in an irritated tone.

Simon, the lean guy standing beside Blancher, asked, "You sure, boss? That box is made of some expensive metals, so it's worth a lot. If I use my resonance, I can't guarantee that the box will be salvageable."

"Don't worry about the box. If someone is willing to go far to hide something so much, it must be really important. Just be careful not to damage the contents of the box," said Blancher.

With the captain's approval, Simon moved next to the box while others cleared the area around it. Simon pressed both his hands on top of the box and started activating his resonance. Simon's resonance was a simple but effective one; he could heat his hands to very high temperatures, able to melt through most metal vaults and doors, making him ideal for robbing. However, he was just a D-grade and had limited fighting ability because his resonance only extended to his hands. As Simon increased the temperature gradually in order not to melt through the box and its contents together, he felt something strange. As he applied temperature to the metal surface, the heat seemed to disappear immediately. This continued until a certain point, after which the temperature gradually started to build up. This raised Simon's curiosity, but he ignored it as one of the properties of the metal.

After 10 minutes of continuous heating, the box finally started to melt, and after 15 more minutes, the box was finally breached. But before the pirates could celebrate, Simon screamed as his hands, which had melted through the box, were suddenly pulled inside. Instinctively, Simon released his resonance at full power, forgetting that he was not supposed to destroy the contents of the box. But no matter how much heat he released, the grip that held him didn't loosen a bit. Simon practically screamed, "Don't stand around, you fools, help me!" His screams pulled them out of their stupor. They all rushed forward. Some used plasma cutters to cut open the box, while others gathered around Simon to pull him out. But nothing worked. "Move out of the way, you monkeys!" With a roar, Blancher jumped into the air as his right arm bulked up to two times its regular size. With a loud thump, his enlarged fist landed on the box, the shockwave blasting everyone outward like dolls, including Simon. Blancher also backed out with a swift jump back, his hand returning to normal. Every pirate who recovered from the shockwave looked in the direction of the box.

"You guys are so annoying. I was thinking of sparing your lives because you saved mine," a black, human-shaped shadow emerged among the dust and smoke surrounding the wreck of the box. When the smoke cleared, even the most hardened pirates, including Blancher, couldn't help but be frightened by the scene in front of them.

Among the wreckage stood something that looked more like an abomination than a human. The figure had no skin; its organs and bone were exposed in many places. It's skull was half missing, exposing the brain. There was only one eye, and the other half of the face was mostly only bone, aside from sparse muscle fibers here and there. It was missing his entire right arm, except for a half-formed shoulder.

The pirates broke out into a cold sweat after seeing what they freed. They were now regretting saving this monstrosity from being thrown into the sun. Both parties stared at each other without moving a muscle.

The pirates were the first to break the silence when one weak-willed pirate screamed and ran for his life. The others were thinking of following when their captain's words sobered them up. "Where are you monkeys running to? We are in the middle of space! Hold your ground and capture that thing. It may look scary, but it isn't that strong. It's only barely an E-grade according to the resonance I am getting from it;Also, I bet it's gonna be worth a fortune if we sell it on the black market."

Convinced by their boss's words and blinded by money, they realized that the threat before them wasn't as big as they thought.

"Yeah, the boss is right. It only looks scary."

"It's not even moving."

"We have two Grade Ds with us. What's a single Grade E monster going to do?"

The only one who was still showing fear was Simon, who firsthand witnessed the monstrosity's power. "No way that abomination is a mere Grade E! When it gripped me, it felt like the reaper himself was holding me!" he thought. But before he could warn the others, the pirates charged Cillian all together, but he just stood there unmoving.

The pirates had laser guns but decided against using them because if they missed and hit the ship's hull, they would be in a lot of trouble. So they switched to their melee weapons like alloy knives, swords, and even the plasma cutters. As the first pirate approached Cillian, he thrust his knife straight onto Cillian's back, but Cillian didn't even move a muscle and just took it without any resistance. This spurred the pirates on more as they charged faster towards him. But what happened next snuffed out their whole spirit. As the guy was pulling back his knife from Cillian's back, Cillian turned around suddenly, held his hand, snapping it in the process, following which he lifted up the screaming pirate by his broken hand. As the pirates watched, Cillian brought the pirate to his face level and asked,

"Why can't you guys just leave me in peace? I was going to spare you, but looking at your outfits, you guys must be pirates, so you shouldn't have any problems with me killing you, right?"