Luna was astonished to find her master suddenly wielding her elements. She couldn't help quickly checking to see if she could still use them herself, but her shock only grew when she realized that she could.
"I know," Kane grinned confidently, with a hint of smugness. "That's the other use of the Mark of Love. I can copy some of your insights into elements."
Then, he clenched his fists, making the elemental orbs disappear, and shrugged, "It's not that useful yet, though. Since I only copy some of your insights, these are still weaker than yours, and far weaker than my own."
His lips curled up into a greedy grin, "But as you increase your understanding, and I get more Marks of Love out there, the number of elements I have access to will steadily grow. I'm sure I'll find a use for it eventually. Not to mention my Elemental Blade Combat Art actually works with any element."
Surprisingly, Luna pouted a little with a hint of jealousy, causing Kane to chuckle. He kissed her pouting lips, "Don't pout, Luna. You're the one who said you'd be okay with a harem; did you really think I wouldn't develop love for any of them?"
Luna grumbled a little to herself, then narrowed her eyes, "Fine! But you can't love them more than me!"
Kane grinned widely, "I promise," while suddenly standing up with Luna still in his arms. "But now it really is time to get moving." He turned a devious gaze towards the closed blast door to their right, which sounded like it had a lot of people behind it trying to get in.
He quickly put Luna on the ground. The catling snorted and didn't look entirely placated, but still used her ring to instantly dress herself.
She wore the outfit she'd brought from Riftshade, which was a synth-leader, bolero jacket that left her stomach exposed, some one-legged pants, finished with a pair of combat boots, and the sheath of short swords on her lower back.
"Fine, Master. So what's the plan?" she asked, after being instantly combat ready.
Kane chuckled at her speed, as he still needed to learn how to dress and undress using that ring.
While he started doing so, he explained the next steps to his Valkyrie, "Ella has cut off any communication and closed all the doors to the outside world, whatever that outside world is, so we're going to rampage through this place, and kill any man we encounter."
At the same time, he asked Ella about her progress, "Ella? How much control do you have over this place by now? Do you have cameras?"
Ella smiled victoriously, "I have almost full control, including cameras. There's someone working against me, but I can handle them. They are more experienced at hacking and clearly know far more about this system than me, but I have an overwhelming advantage in computing power. They stand no chance."
Kane grinned, "That's what I like to hear. Good girl."
Ella chuckled proudly, "Hehehe," and Kane probed her emotions to find out she really was happy and proud, but that these were only surface emotions. Despair and loneliness still lurked underneath.
'I really, really need to talk to her,' he sighed inwardly. 'Having a depressed woman control the thing in my head seems like a bad idea.' His expression changed to one of frowning determinately, 'But later…'
With their mental communication being quite a bit faster compared to talking normally, Luna was only just responding to his plans. "Wait, why only the men?" she asked, a little confused.
But then she suddenly widened her eyes, and grinned knowingly, "Oh, I see… Perhaps my plan of fucking some power and loyalty into an army of women had some merit after all?"
Kane laughed mysteriously, "Sort off, but I certainly won't be having sex with all of them. That said, this shard of lust does gives me some advantage over women, and I plan on using that. So make sure you only kill the men and knock the women unconscious."
Luna smiled viciously, "You got it, Master!" Then she seemed to think of something, "You know, that shard of lust seems a little sexist, doesn't it? Why wouldn't it work on men?"
Kane nearly fell over when he heard his catling's thoughts on the matter. His eyelids twitched as intrusive thoughts tried to pry their way into his mind.
He shook his head to rid himself of any disturbing thoughts, before quickly explaining the matter to Luna, "The shard of lust works on whatever I'm attracted to. Since I'm only interested in women, it only works on them."
Luna grinned mischievously, "Hmmmm, are you sure, Master? Perhaps you should test it?"
But when Kane shot her a look that could kill, she quickly covered her mouth with her hands and giggled softly, her eyes shining playfully. Fortunately for her master, she did decide to drop the matter.
After a few more moments, Kane finally managed to put his clothes on and off using the storage ring.
Once again, he stood fully clothed in the same open synth-jacket, simple t-shirt, baggy cargo pants, and casual combat boots he wore in Riftshade. Everything in some shade of black, of course, simply because that fit well with his shadow element.
With that done, he grinned, and bend down to pick up his kriegsmesser, before swinging it around a little. In his human form, the handle on this weapon was large enough for him to hold it in two hands, but he was planning to wield with one instead.
Back in Riftshade, he'd often used two hands, but now he intended to train himself to using the same style in both beast, and human form.
It wasn't like he couldn't, after all.
For a human dreg, this sword was far too long, unwieldy, and heavy to be used in a single hand, but Kane wasn't a dreg. He was a Mystic.
Using two hands would allow him to use more power, of course, but he could still use the Elemental Blade Combat Art in human form, and it was better to train himself in a single style he could use in both forms, rather than different styles for each form.
As for why he wasn't using his beast form right now, it was because he wanted to save it. He could only spend an hour a day in that form currently, and he'd already used it for about twenty minutes, so he decided to save the rest in case he needed it.
He swung his weapon over his shoulder, and grinned at Luna, "Ready?"
The catling nodded excitedly as she drew both her short swords.
It was time to start the culling.