Maxine had just eaten dinner and Zabel Nodd still hadn't come to her room. He had appeared six more times outside of it and each time he was progressively further away from her. She was wondering if he was going to come at all. It wouldn't surprise her at this point if she had been completely wrong about him and he was just an insane idiot.

"I'm finally done with my patients for the day," Emily said as she walked in and Maxine was grateful for the distraction, "How are you feeling?"

"My whole body aches and my belly is still very tender," Maxine answered honestly and smiled as she added, "Although I barely notice it at all when you are here."

Emily chuckled lightly before she replied, "If you feel like flirting, you must be on the mend."

"Would you have me any other way?" Maxine asked.

"No, I wouldn't," Emily said as she leaned down and gave Maxine a kiss on the cheek, "But you should really avoid getting excited before your wounds are fully healed. I don't want you to hurt yourself."

"I know," Maxine agreed, "Still, I have good news. The limited war between my clan and the Divine Marks clan is over. Let's just say that the Divine Marks clan violated a big rule and they were deemed to have lost."

"That's great," Emily said with relief, but her expression quickly changed to suspicion, "Does that broken rule have anything to do with your injuries?"

"Yes, unfortunately," Maxine answered honestly, "That conflict had been restricted to iron and silver stage cultivators. A crazed gold stage cultivator called Nora Marks was the one that gave me a beatdown. She was under the mistaken impression that I killed her son."

"Why didn't you just use your teleporting trick to escape?" Emily asked angrily.

"It's called Shadow Warp and I would've if it were posssible. Every surface in that place was glowing and that made it nearly impossible to escape without preparation," Maxine answered honestly, "If she hadn't been toying with me, I wouldn't have gotten an opening to use my escape plan." I think it's best I don't tell Emily about Nora's attempt on my life. She is upset enough as it is.

"Well, did they at least punish that crazy bitch for breaking the rules?" Emily asked.

"No, they didn't," Maxine said and noticed Emily's outrage a moment before she added, "They didn't because Guan got his hands on her. They figured that whatever he did to her would be far worse than anything they could come up with and they weren't wrong. Whenever I checked for the past three days, she was screaming her head off."

"Jesus, what is he doing to her?" Emily asked.

"Do you really want to know?" Maxine asked in return, "Because I know and I wish I didn't."

"That bad?" Emily asked while wincing slightly.

"Worse than you can imagine," Maxine cautioned Emily, "He isn't known for his mercy."

Emily nodded her head in agreement before saying, "I know. From what you have told me, he takes things far further than he should. I think it's his way to discourage people from trying to mess with him."

"It definitely works," Maxine agreed, "By the way, how is Howard doing?"

"You mean grandpa? He is doing great. After he formed his essence core, he had the energy of a man half his age," Emily said happily, "It's really amazing."

"I bet," Maxine answered while smiling and was overcome by the urge to yawn, "It seems I need to get some shut eye."

"Then go to sleep. I need to go back home anyways. Grandpa still gets worried if I don't get home before it gets dark," Emily said, "See you tomorrow." I see former General Mckenzie still worries for Emily.

"See you then, Emily," Maxine said before Emily left her room.

A few moments after Emily left the room, Maxine shifted in her medical pod before trying to get some sleep, but before she could even close her eyes, the hospital room door opened. She looked to see who it was and every fiber of her being become instantly alert. Zabel Nodd had just walked into the room.

"I was wondering when you would show up," Maxine said indifferently, but on the inside, she was worried. While waiting for him to show up, she hadn't come up with any other reasons why he would want to come see her.

"I see you are just as smart as they say," Zabel Nodd complimented Maxine, "But have you figured out why I have come to see you?"

"Two possibilities came to mind. The first and most stupid reason is to assasinate me. I think you know why I doubt you are dumb enough to do that one. So I figured you just wanted to talk. About what, I don't know," Maxine answered.

"Bravo, you guessed correctly," Zabel Nodd said as he smiled and clapped his hands a couple times, "I do want to talk to you, and it's to answer a question that has probably been plaguing your mind. So, go ahead. Ask it." He's right. I do have a question that I want him to answer.

"Why did you kill Adam Marks and start that stupid war?" Maxine asked angrily.

"I wanted everyone in the Kavros clan to suffer, but I couldn't do it on my own. So that's why I killed that pest of a man," Zabel Nodd said with almost an amused tone and as his eyes flashed red, Maxine felt fear surge before Zabel Nodd seemed to get angry, "I can still see as all of my neighbors and friends watched silently while both of my parents were butchered. Their only crime being that they refused to become subordinates of Elder Ezekiel Keniph and while he slaughtered them, Buck Wilder chased after my sister. That cruel bastard destroyed her face. If she had at least retained her beauty, she could have been married into a good family. But after that day, no man would look at her. She dispaired and killed herself rather than be looked at as a freak." The more he spoke, the greater the feeling of fear she had for him. Her body was reflexively trembling in terror and her back was covered in sweat. Every fiber of her being wanted to run away, but her injuries prevented that. Forcing her to endure fear. This is bad. He's the shadow demon that Turan was looking for. I need to keep him from seeing me as an enemy. I don't care if he seems stable right now. I know from talking to Orianna that Shadow Demon's can change their attitudes about someone at the drop of a hat. He could just as easily kiss me as kill me if I say the wrong words.

"But I had no hand in that. So why did you make it look like I killed Adam Marks?" Maxine asked while trying to keep her fear from her voice and failing miserably. I hope I said the right thing. This fucking fear is making it hard to think clearly. 

"That part of it was unintentional. I never intended to implicate you in his death. For that, I apologize. Afterall, you publicly humiliated Elder Ezekiel by defeating Buck Wilder almost effortlessly during the tournament. If anything, I owed you a favor of gratitude," Zabel Nodd said after calming down and thus reducing the strength of his fear aura, "I thought you would've thanked me for getting rid of such a pest. Adam Marks was only trying to use you for his own political gains. The fool didn't even see your beauty or know of your kindness. He only saw a tool for his own ends and you wanted to avoid politics of any kind. I don't see any other reason why you would have kept the family name of your abusive Earth parents otherwise." Well, at least he views me in a favorable light.

"You arn't wrong. I hated that vile man, but not enough to kill him," Maxine paused for a moment before she continued, "And while I appreciate your apology, you still shouldn't have come here."

"And why is that? Is it because as soon as I'm done talking your six bodyguards will apprehend me?" Zabel Nodd said with a smile on his face. He knows they are there?! I can barely detect them and I know where they are. 

"I already told them not to try anything if you were only here to talk," Maxine said. 

"Then why shouldn't I have come?" Zabel Nodd asked.

"Because I know what you are even if you don't. By coming here, you revealed what you are not only to me, but also to the Shadow Lords. They will kill you for it," Maxine told him, "I suggest you run as far away as you can and find some isolated world to live on. Maybe then, they will leave you alone, but they could just as easily decide to kill you anyways."

"I'm aware of what I'm becoming and I don't intend on running anywhere," Zabel Nodd said confidently, "In fact, I rather enjoy the idea of becoming a shadow demon and doing battle with both Shadow Lords and the Kavros clan." I see. He is already too far gone to be helped. He knows that he needs to be stopped on some level and he is trying to get himself killed.   

"That is disappointing," Maxine said sadly, "Just do me this favor, do not get anyone not involved harmed or killed."

"I can't promise that," Zabel Nodd said apologetically.

"Then you leave me little choice," Maxine said firmly, "You need to be stopped."

"Please, your bodyguards are trembling in their boots just from being near me. I doubt they could gather up the courage to even take a step forward," Zabel Nodd laughed as his eye color turned to a fierce red and Maxine felt a nearly overwhelming fear, "And you can't even sit up, let alone fight me." Maxine felt helpless before him, but some dim part of her was furious. It was a savage and beastial rage deep within her. She could have sworn to hear the hissing roar of twelve huge snakes, but she knew for a fact that snakes that size didn't exist in North America. 

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"That isn't who will be dealing with you," Maxine said while fighting the blinding rage within her. She felt something in her break at that moment, but didn't have time to figure out what was going on. She wanted and needed to attack.

Maxine created a portal to the shadow world beneith is feet and had her male clone thrust his war scythe through it. The blade of hte war scythe was buried to the hilt between Zabel Nodd's legs. It didn't matter if Zabel Nodd got away at that point. He was a dead man walking with nearly a foot and a half of blade in his body. Or that was what she thought until his body burst into a cloud of rapidly dispersing grey smoke. WHAT?! That was a shadow clone?! But I couldn't tell it was! SHIT! His mastery of shadow essence must be higher than mine. And how the hell did his shadow clone give off that fear aura?!

[I don't take your attack personally. You were just trying to save the innocent from harm. I respect that, and I would be more than happy to accomodate you. But we both know that neither the Kavros clan or the Shadow Lords share such notions,] Zabel Nodd said via spiritual sense, [They would attack without the slightest hesitation even if I were inside a crowd of innocents. That is just how they are and I hope you understand that now.]

[Why are you telling me this?] Maxine asked.

[My motives are my own, but shouldn't you be paying more attention to your own body right now?] Zabel Nodd asked as he severed their spiritual sense connection. What is that supposed to mean?

Maxine checked her body and didn't see anything immediately wrong with it. However she quickly discovered that Ki was beginning to circulate in her body. What the ...? I've tried to cultivate Ki for the past two years and made zero progress. And now it's doing it on it's own? I wonder what changed.

[Maxine, what just happened?] Guan asked with obvious concern, [You need to tell me all the details no matter how insignificant it might seem. Both of the bloodlines within your male clone have begun to merge. I need to know what stimulus caused this so that I can provide something similar for your sister.]

[Say what?] Maxine asked incredulously before she answered Guan, [The only thing that I can think of is that Zabel Nodd visited me. We just talked, but during our chat, he was giving off the fear aura of a Shadow Demon. But that shouldn't have done it. I felt the same thing from Orianna and it didn't cause this reaction.]

[How extreme was the fear? And for how long?] Guan asked.

[I was horrible. I struggled to keep my voice calm for the two or three minutes we were talking,] Maxine answered honestly, [Do you think that had something to do with it?]

[Possibly,] Guan answered vaguely, [I have encountered only a couple situations where fear alone was able to incite multiple bloodlines to combine. More commonly, it requires several emotions working together along with very clear danger. But due to your wounded state, that might, and this is a very big might, have been enough to trigger this. Are you sure you didn't experience anything else?]

[Well, I ... I got angry at how helpless I was and that anger overwhelmed my fear,] Maxine answered after thinking for a moment.

[That could have done it, but we don't have time to confirm that. For now, you should focus on cultivating. No matter how boring or tediious it may be, do not stop until your bloodlines have completely merged. It will prevent your bloodlines from warring with each other for dominance,] Guan advised Maxine.

[Alright,] Maxine answered while feeling confused, but she did as she was told. 

Maxine felt something stange going on with her body as she began to cultivate the three energies within her body. Oddly, Ki was gathering far too quickly in her body considering that Earth had almost no Ki in the atomosphere. She extended out her spiritual sense and found that Ki was being pulled out of her portal leading to the Kavros clan. She just hoped that none of it leaked and polluted Earth with yet another form of energy.

Even after forming a Ki core, the strange feeling within her body persisted and for some reason, she had transformed into her battle form. She noticed something immediately concerning. Her battleform was smaller than before by half an inch and it was continually shrinking in size. But oddly, she wasn't loosing mass since her flesh and bones were increasing in density. 

In the back of her mind, she was expecting pain to be associated with this change, but there was not even a mild itch associated with her current transformation. She was worried that she would end up shorter than her base form, but thankfully she stopped shrinking at five foot nine inches. It was still taller than her base form, but not by much.

The strange feeling finally ceased and she assumed it was due to her bloodlines completely awakening and merging. She checked out to see if there were any other changes to her battleform, but as far as she could tell, there had been no major physical changes aside from her height. However her regenerative powers had, again, increased sharply. Her wounds had healed as much over the time she was meditating as they had in the past three days and she had a feeling that if she lost an arm that it would eventually regenerate. So this is the benefit of a hydra-type bloodline. I can completely see why Guan wanted it now. Well, that and an immunity to poisons. 

"Uhh, Maxine? While I do admit that you look cool, is there a reason why you decided to transform?" Maxine heard Emily ask.

"Huh? I thought you left for the day," Maxine asked in confusion. She had been under the impression that Emily had left for the day. However she had a strange feeling that she should look outside her window and saw that it was sunny out.

"I just got back and wanted to check on you before I headed to school," Emily said curiously and her face quickly shifted to one of extreme concern as she rushed to Maxine's side, "Oh my god! Please, don't let there be any brain damage." Maxine felt Emily's spiritual sense scan her brain before expanding to the rest of her body. 

Emily scanned Maxine from head to toe several times before she said to herself, "This doesn't make any sense. You don't have any brain damage and you seem to have lost a chunk of time. And your wounds look as if I already gave them a round of treatment. Did something happen last night?"

"My bloodlines awoke the rest of the way, I think," Maxine said.

"And how did that happen?" Emily asked, and Maxine relayed everything that happened last night. Emily's expression changed many times as Maxine spoke and finally settled on angry.

"Why didn't you call for help last night?!" Emily asked angrily, "That crazy bastard could have killed you."

"I had six bodyguards in this room at the time," Maxine answered, "Heck, I wasn't sure he would even show up here."

"You still could have told me about it before I left last night," Emily grumbled, "I'm going to get ahold of Patrick. You need more protection than what you have."

"I would prefer it if you didn't do that. Me and Patrick are not on the best of terms," Maxine admitted.

"Why is that? Don't tell me he is still sore about loosing against you in that sparring match," Emily said.

"I think he had issued with me before that and I'm not exactly sure what I did either," Maxine lied. She knew exactly why Patrick didn't like her. She bore the same face as the woman that tortured him in his past life and he couldn't get past that trauma.

"Should I get Meagan to talk to him about it?" Emily asked.

"It would be nice, but not sure how far she will get," Maxine said.

"She can at least try," Emily said and glanced at the time, "Well, I better head out, but before I do, I want to know why you havn't turned off your transformation. Doesn't it use up a lot of energy?"

"Normally, it does, but for some reason, I don't feel any drain on my stamina at all," Maxine answered and reverted back to her base form. The process took less than a tenth of a second and it surprised Maxine. Normally it took just under a second to transform or revert back to her base form. 

"That was faster than last time I saw you change," Emily commented and looked at the time once more, "Now I really do have to go. See you after school." 

"See you then," Maxine said as Emily walked out of her hospital room. Now what to do about my clothing problem? 

Maxine looked around for her dimensional pouch and didn't see it anywhere. It has a large number of potions, dozens of sets of clothes and her Twilight Iron Blades. But as of right now, all she wanted were the undergarments. After being covered from nearly head to toe for over two years, she had grown a strong desire to have something on to preserve her modesty.

She stretched out her spiritual sense to look for Nina Cervantes. Her reasoning was that since Nina had come with her that there was an good chance that she had Maxine's dimensional pouch. Maxine found her playing with the beastkin children in the Medical Center's cafeteria and Maxine's dimensional pouch was hanging off of Nina's waist. 

However before Maxine could contact Nina, Neesa phased into existence beside her and snatched Maxine's dimensional pouch. "This belongs to my young miss. How did you get your hands on it?" Neesa asked Nina aggressively.

"I was holding onto it for Maxine while she recovered," Nina answered defensively.

"Then you won't mind coming with us until I can confirm that," Neesa said as two of her clansmen appeared to either side of Nina before escorting her along with the beastkin children to Maxine's room. When did Neesa get here? I rememeber seeing her just before I sent my clone to the battlefield and at that time, she had said she was going to accomplish a task while I was gone. What was her task on Earth? Did she volunteer to protect mom, Silky and Emily? Or did she come here for another reason? 

[I wasn't aware that Nina had my dimensional pouch, but it's fine. I didn't exactly have any clothing to tie it to,] Maxine said to Neesa before she opened her hospital room door, [By the way, I was wondering what your assignment on Earth was.]

[I volunteered to protect Emily Hertz and I was given another assignment which I can't talk about, even with you,] Neesa answered. I can't say with certainty, but I think she may have been sent here to find and capture Zabel Nodd. Although there is a chance that she was sent here to snatch some cocoa beans, but the odds of that are pretty damn low. Nearly anyone could have been sent to do that.

[I understand,] Maxine answered as Neesa came into the room. 

"Young miss, your dimensional pouch," Neesa said as she carefully handed Maxine her dimensional pouch.

"Thank you," Maxine said as she took her dimensional pouch and used a special trick to place her undergarments directly on her body from the dimensional pouch, "Ahhh, much better. It's surprising how uncomfortable it feels to go without my panties and bra."

"I wouldn't know," Neesa said, "How are your injuries?"

"They're much better. Emily is an amazing healer," Maxine said, "I think I will be here for at least a week to recover enough before we head back to the Kavros Clan."

"Young miss, I believe no one would hold it against you for staying longer," Neesa advised, "Both your adopted daughter and birth mother, not to mention your beloved, live here and I can imagine they want to spend some time with you."

Maxine smiled as she answered, "Alright, I think I will. Oh and why didn't you let Nina in? I bet she is having a panic attack out there wondering what's going on."

"That's the idea," Neesa said with an evil smirk, "It's her punishment for not returning your property once you woke up."

"I get that, but don't leave her waiting too much longer. She's a friend," Maxine said.

"Understood," Neesa said with a nod, "Is there anything you need before I leave?"

"Yeah, tell someone I need breakfast," Maxine told Neesa, "I'm very hungry."

"I will see that they bring it up," Neesa said before she left Maxine's hospital room. I need to take care of a few things while I am here on Earth. First of which, is to check on my school. Well, technically, it would be Amanda and Chris' school now. I hope those two are not too pissed at me for vanishing like I did. Second I need to check on my bees. Hearing reports and seeing them for myself are two very different things. Last, but not least, I need to spend time with Emily, mom and Silky. Now am I forgetting anything? Because for some reason it feels like I am.