Maxine watched Lanitherin go through some basic blade forms using a wooden blade on the lawn infront of her mansion. She had taught it to him nearly two weeks ago just after she brought him to her new home.

She had asked him to use different weapons before as an experiment to see if his strange energy formed along the edges of the weapons. It did, but it wasn't as potent as when he wielded a blade. Thus, he dubbed that strange engery as Blade energy. She knew that name was uninventive, but she lacked anything better.

"Mama, when is lunch going to be ready?" Silky said as she walked out of the mansion.

"Silky, you ate breakfast not two hours ago. Certainly you can wait for a little longer," Maxine admonished Silky.

"But, making clothes always makes me extra hungry," Silky complained. Well, that is my fault I suppose. I wanted a few more durable dresses and clothes for Lanitherin and his sisters. Although they look identical to what they wore, someone wtih a discerning eye might still be able to tell the difference, but the odds of that are rather low. Still, I won't have Silky make any more clothes for awhile. I can't risk anyone finding out she's an arachne. If anyone did, it would be very hard to keep someone from trying to enslave or take advantage of Silky.

"I know, sweetie. Maybe we can talk the cook into making an extra large lunch then," Maxine compromised.

"Okay," Silky sulked.

Maxine nodded and found it odd that Lanitherin had stopped performing his blade forms. She looked over to him and saw him staring at Silky with a love struck gaze. That reminds me. He has had this silly crush on Silky ever since he first saw her. Too bad for him, she doesn't like him in that way. 

"Lan, you have another half hour of practice to go," Maxine reminded Lanitherin, "And stop staring at my daughter like that. You know how much she hates that." Lanitherin jumped and resumed his practice with far more vigor than before. Poor boy. Showing off in front of Silky won't mean a thing to her. 

Maxine's attention was drawn to a communicator that Isabelle Traves, the Hero's Association director, gave her earlier. She pressed the recieve call button and put it to her ear before asking, "Are there more injured?" 

"No, nothing like that. I called you for a different reason. It seems that Dragon Snake sighting two weeks ago wasn't a coincidence. An elven delegation has arrived riding the beast not two minutes ago. The govenor was hoping that you could translate for us," Isabelle Traves said over the communicator.

"Which variety of elf are they?" Maxine asked and added, "Must I remind you that each group of elves speaks a different tongue and I only know of two. They may speak one I don't." I hope my lie won't be seen through. It doesn't matter though. The shadow world's primary language and Alliance common are not exactly spoken on this world anyways and I can pass them off as two obsure versions of elven.

"They are forest elves," Isebelle Traves answered.

"That's unfortunate. I don't know their language, but I can still come to the meeting if you want," Maxine said.

"It wouldn't hurt," Isabelle Traves, "Another elf at the meeting might make them more at ease. When can you be here?"

"I can come right now," Maxine answered, "I'll be there in a few."

"Thank you," Isebelle Traves said, "Meet us at the eastern gate."

"You're welcome," Maxine responded before she disconnected the call.

"I've been called away," Maxine announced to Silky and Lanitherin, "Silky, make sure he finishes up his training for today. He still has almost half an hour left to go. I'll try to be back quickly."

"'Kay mama," Silky said and she looked to Lanitherin, "You heard mama!" Lanitherin only nodded and continued his training enthusiastically. Maxine rolled her eyes at the boy's antics before she levitated a couple inches off the ground. With a thought she rocketed towards the meeting point.

It had taken her a few days to master flying using her energy and she had fallen out of the air multiple times in doing so. However no one laughed at her. Flying was an extremely advanced skill on this world and only a handful of heroes could do it. It had made her realize just how far behind this civilization was when it came to techniques. 

What would have taken her several minutes to navigate through the crowds took her less than thirty seconds while flying. It was really a swift means of travel in a city, but it drained her strength fifty times more rapidly than sprinting would. It only figures that there would have to be a cost to such a convenient technique. At least this new dress is durable enough to withstand high speed flight.  

As soon as she spotted Isebelle Traves, Maxine quickly descended to the ground and landed beside her. "Greetings, Director Traves," Maxine said politely as she got a good look at the elven delegation. There were three men and one woman with bronze colored skin and green hair. All of them wore blades at their hips and had a bows slung over their shoulders. She didn't see any arrows, but that hardly meant much. They could simply use their energies to form arrows.

"Hello, Maxine," Isebelle Traves said happily, "You got here far faster than I thought you would."

"The advantages of flight," Maxine commented, "So, shall we escort our respected guests to the govenor?"

"Certainly," Isebelle Traves said and turned to the delegation, "Please, follow me."

"I do not appreciate being made to wait while the two of you talked," a rather stern looking forest elf said. His comment annoyed Maxine, but she let it slide as Isebelle Traves lead the way. They were only words without any hostile intent behind them.

She could feel their eyes on her and glanced at them. Their expressions were ones of contempt. It was as if her very existence offended them. Her anger flared, but she quickly repressed it. I've been polite to them. Why the fuck are they being so rude? 

It didn't take them long to reach the govenor's mansion. It was twice as large as her own and far more lavishly declorated. She noticed that the forest elves expressions soured even further. Although she had no idea why. 

After navigating a couple hallways, they entered a conference room. Hero Alec Ard was there standing just behind the govenor. She noticed the striking resemblance between the govenor and Hero Alec Ard almost immediately. So, that's another reason for that prick's behavior. His daddy has been covering for him!

"Good afternoon, Govenor," Maxine said to the govenor, "I came as requested." She wanted to make it clear to the elves that it wasn't her idea to be here.

"Thank you and a good afternoon to you as well. I'm afraid I havn't been informed of your name just yet," the govenor said in an embarressment.

"Maxine Cinderson," Maxine answered calmly while ignoring Govenor Ard's behavior. She had chosen that last name for a very specific reason. She discovered the name of Guan's master, Cinder, hidden deep within his notes just before Guan faked her death. It was an odd name, but she figured the last name 'Cinderson' was fitting since Guan viewed himself as the man's son. Also she didn't believe many people would even care to find out who Guan's master was since he was dead and thus she thought it was a safe choice for a fake last name as well.

"Have a seat, Miss Cinderson," the govenor said politely, "I believe you already met my son."

"I have and it wasn't a pleasant experience," Maxine said while keeping her anger out of her tone. The leader of the elves seemed to catch on to Maxine's anger and smirked ever so slightly.

"It couldn't have been that bad," Govenor Ard said compromisingly.

"He tried to slam an explosive collar around my neck in the first minute we met," Maxine said coldly, "If I had known he would be here, I wouldn't have come at all." At this point, the elves, except for the lone female amongst them, seemed to be enjoying the show, not that Maxine cared.

"Please, we can talk about this later," Govenor Ard pleaded, "If you havn't forgotten, we have yet to attend to our elven guests." Maxine took a deep calming breath and stepped off to the side to let the elves to find a seat. But none of them took the offered seats and opted to stand instead.

"Let me make this perfectly clear. We are only here because we were asked by our guardian beast to make peace with you," the rather stern looking elf said, "Why it did so is beyond me."

"Regardless of the intent, I'm glad you approached us nonetheless," Govenor Ard replied, "Now, what would it take for you to leave this table with a peace treaty?"

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"For starters, you could release all elves that your race has unrightfully enslaved," the stern elf growled and Maxine felt her anger rising as he continued, "And to cede all of the territory that you have claimed from my people." 

"Those are reasonable requests, but I don't know if my leaders will accept those demands," Govenor Ard said diplomatically, "I may even be able to negotiate with them to get your people back, but I don't know about your territory."

"I wasn't finished," the stern elf said coldly, "We want the lives of every man and woman responsible for the murder of our children." By this point, Maxine was too stunned to even feel anger. They killed children?! WHY!? They weren't even a threat. Tears slowly streamed down her cheeks. She was so distraught that she almost didn't hear his last demand, "And last we want this half-breed to be treated with absolute care. For if she is harmed in any way, any peace treaty that we forge will end in the next breath." Both Hero Alec Ard and Govenor Ard froze at that statement while Maxine felt utter disbelief.

"What?!" Maxine exclaimed weakly.

"Our guardian beast was the one that forwarded this particular demand and I'm not one to deny him," the stern elf said, "Don't ask me why. I don't know the reason myself. If it were up to me, I would have her destroyed to erase the blemish of her impure bloodline." Maxine wasn't sure if she should feel insulted or not.

However before she could respond, Maxine's heart dropped into her feet when she sense that her Shadow Wolves within Emily's shadow had entered combat. By the time she spun around to face that direction, the ones in Silky's shadow had done the same thing. Her heart filled with panic and she rocketed off the ground. She didn't even waste time going through the door. Instead she plowed through several walls leaving debris in her wake as she rushed to defend Emily and Silky.

After exiting the govenor's mansion, she sped at top speed back to her mansion. She didn't care how much of her power she wasted. Emily and Silky needed her there now. By the time she arrived, they had been fighting for nearly fifteen seconds. She breathed out in relief after seeing that Emily, Silky, Howard and Lanitherin were still alive. Her Shadow Wolves were fighting fiercely to protect them. Two of the ten shadow wolves fighting were already incapable of fighting any more. But they hadn't gone down easy. Three attackers were on the ground. She didn't know if they were dead or unconscious while nine more pressed the attack. All of which were at the peak of iron stage. 

Without wasting a moment, she formed dozens of arrows made of her essence, ki and mana. She launched seven at each of the attackers, but made sure not to leave any fatal injuries. She wanted answers as to who sent these men and she would have them one way or another.

A couple of them noticed the attacks a mere moment before they were hit, but weren't able to avoid Maxine's attack. Maxine ordered her Shadow Wolves to return back to Emily's and Silky's shadows before they could pounce on the now defenseless attackers. 

Maxine floated down from the sky and landed right next to their groaning forms. She ignored them for now in favor of ensuring that Emily and Silky weren't injured.

"Are you guys alright?" Maxine asked as she walked towards them, but she finally noticed Howard was groaning in pain while craddling his ribs. Otherwise, everyone else seemed unharmd.

"Grandpa took a hit, but it doesn't look serious. He should be okay after I treat his wounds," Emily said shakily. Maxine was confused as to why Emily seemed so shaken up, but she quickly realized why. She hasn't been in the middle of a fight before. No wonder she is acting like this.

"Alright, take care of him while I find out who sent these pieces of filth," Maxine said to Emily before turning towards the nearest groaning man and picked him up by the neck. She wasn't worried that he would be able to attack her, even if he wanted to. A lot of his muscles had been cut almost all the way through. It would have been a small miracle if he could have even stood up on his own at this point, but he would still recover if given enough time.

"Who sent you and why?" Maxine asked coldly. However the idiot kept silent, so she added, "You can either answer me. Or I will rip what I want to know from your very soul and destroy your mind in the process. Choose." As she spoke, she created claws out of her spiritual sense and gently ran them along the man's consciousness. She knew he felt it by his rapidly paling face and after a couple seconds, his willpower folded.

"Please, don't take my soul. I don't know who sent us, but he wanted to use those two to control you. Whoever it was paid us well and completely hid their tracks," the man whimpered and Maxine was getting angrier by the second. The man noticed this and quickly added in desperation, "But I heard his voice and I would know it if I heard him again." 

"Good. Now relax your mind," Maxine commanded him.

"What?" the man asked in confusion.

"You heard me. Now lower your mental defenses and think about his voice very carefully. Do this and I will let you leave this place alive," Maxine said calmly. A moment later she felt his mental defenses drop and she gently looked into his mind. The memory that the man mentioned was on the forefront of his mind, so she didn't have to go looking for it. 'Perhaps that elven woman can get me what I need in exchange for the release of her companions,' was the only sentence that the man had heard, but it was enough. It wasn't Hero Alec Ard or even Govenor Ard, whom she originally suspected to be the masterminds of this attack. It was someone entirely different. However he had instantly earned Maxine's ire.

Before Maxine retracted her spiritual sense from his mind, she placed a spiritual mark within him so that she could hear and see everything he did for the next couple days. It would fade away after that. She knew whomever sent them would likely visit the man that talked personally either tonight or tomorrow. It was what she would do.

Maxine dropped him on the ground. A slight shuffling of feet caused her to turn around and face Hero Katarn with several other heroes just behind him. 

"You're late," Maxine said.

"We came as quickly as we could. Carl told us he heard what sounded like a large group of people fighting beasts," Hero Katarn explained.

"He isn't wrong. My wolves came out to protect my child and beloved," Maxine answered and saw them look around nervously, "Don't worry though. They are very timid creatures under normal circumstances, but when they feel threatened or feel that their pack's young are threatened, they are the fiercest creatures imagineable. They quite literately fight without a care for their injuries to eliminate a threat."

"I see," Hero Katarn replied and he glanced to the groaning forms at Maxine's feet, "We will take them out of here and find out who sent them."

"Go ahead," Maxine said with a wave of her hand.

"Wait! You said I could leave!" the man she held earlier objected.

"I said you could leave my home alive. I never said anything about how you would leave or in whose company," Maxine answered, "Next time, don't try to make a deal with a woman whose family you just tried to abduct." The man looked completely stunned at her answer and cursed at her several times while the heroes dragged him away.

Maxine was about to check on the others when her communicator started vibrating. She just now remembered where she had been when she charged back here and groaned in frustration as she answered it, "Yes?"

"What the hell happened to make you leave like that?! You left so suddenly and violently that we thought you had decided to attack us," Isebelle Traves yelled at her through the communicator.

"My family was attacked by several powerful B ranks. I care about them far more than the govenors political carreer or any peace treaty," Maxine answered angrily.  

"Oh, my god! Are they okay?" Isebelle Traves asked.

"Yes, they are. My pets kept them from harm long enough for me to subdue their attackers," Maxine answered.

"Pets? I don't recall you having any pets," Isebelle Traves commented.

"I doubt you would have. They are very special creatures that specialize in stealth," Maxine said, "Do you need me to come back?"

"Oh, heavens, no. Take care of your family. We can take care of everything over here. I'm sure even these elves can empathize with your reaction," Isebelle Traves said understandingly, "Before I go, how did you know they were being attacked?"

"That's my secret," Maxine answered.

"That's fine then," Isebelle Traves said, "I'll talk to you later."

"Until next time," Maxine said right before the communicator went silent.

"Maxine," Emily said from behind her. Maxine turned around and saw a look of worry on Emily's face.

"What's wrong?" Maxine asked.

"Would you have really torn that man's mind apart if he hadn't cooperated?" Emily asked fearfully. Shit, I really don't want to answer that, but I can't lie to her.

"I'm not proud to admit it, but I would have," Maxine answered guiltily.

"But why?" Emily asked, "It's not like they were trying to kill us!"

"That's the reason I gave him a choice to cooperate and why I didn't kill any of them," Maxine answered.

"I know you have killed people before and I've accepted that fact," Emily said and she quickly got closer to Maxine, "But what you just threatened to do to that man came real close to something that your father would and I don't want you to become like him. I love you too much to watch you become a monster. So please, don't do anything that again." Maxine was horrified with herself. I hated Guan for what he did to Earth. But... if it was to protect Emily's child, I would do the same damn thing and become what I hated. NO! I WON'T!

"I see your point," Maxine said very softly. 

"Good," Emily said, "Now what are you going to do about this person that wanted to control you?"

"I will find him and l will break his arms and legs before handing him over to the locals," Maxine answered, "I can't imagine they are any happier than I am that you were attacked."

"No, you won't. You can find him, but you need let the heroes deal with that bastard. You are supposed to be a healer, remember?" Emily reminded Maxine.

"I know but I'm fairly certain that I just proved that I can fight," Maxine explained.

"Maybe, but chances are they will believe that it was your wolves that used that attack," Emily countered, "You've only demonstrated that you have an acid breath attack and it can't be used for a long range attack. It would be a big stretch for them to believe that you can dish out that kind of damage. Afterall, the other healers, including myself, have almost no offensive abilities. So it would make sense for them to believe it was your wolves that did all of that damage."

"I see your point," Maxine finally agreed.

"Good," Emily said, "Now what will we do about this mess? It's not right to let the staff clean this up." Maxine looked at the blood scattered across the front lawn and porch.

"I think I have a solution," Maxine answered and used a motion of her essence to disintegrate all of the blood on the ground and porch, "There all clean."

"Thank you for cleaning that, mistress. I was beginning to think how we would ever get all of that cleaned up," Olga, the head maid said.

"Think nothing of it," Maxine said as she glanced at Silky and Lanitherin. 

Lanitherin seemed shaken up, but he was still scanning the area for threats while standing protectively infront of Silky, whom didn't seem bothered at all. I wonder how he would feel if he knew that she could defend herself quite admirably. It would probably give him a big hit to his ego. Lanitherin's sisters, Ilanna and Nala, were trembling while hugging Silky. 

Maxine walked over to them and comforted them all. She knew that it would be a few hours before Lanitherin and his sisters would calm down. Poor things. If I only I could get my hands on a cultivation technique from this world. Then, I wouldn't have to worry about Lanitherin's future as a blademaster. I wonder if the elves have one. It wouldn't hurt to ask. Although considering I'm a 'halfbreed,' they may just tell me to fuck off. Might as well ask them when I see them next.