Maxine dug through the granite and managed to reach the tunnel in less than five hours. But she didn't leave the cavern. She only dug to the tunnel to increase her air supply to give herself more time to practice using mana. While she did that, another part of her mind had an epiphany. I've been too lenient with others. They feel like they can stab me in the back without any real consequences and they've grown brazen because of it. There mere fact that the Alchemist Association covering for one of their high ranking members and the Stardust Academy sending me to that to be captured is proof enough of that. So, I need to respond to this betrayal in kind, but I don't want to commit mass murder like daddy would. That would harm those that had nothing to do with what happened to me. Regardless, what I have in mind should be sufficiently vicious to discourage any scheming in the future. Afterall, there are far worse fates than death. I just have to come up with a couple.

It took her nearly twelve hourse before she was able to manipulate her energies sufficiently for her to safely create a portal back to the academy. However, she didn't open it right away. I need to prepare a few things before I show up at the academy. Now that I think about it, Horatio Quay doesn't know that I've escaped does he?

Maxine retrieved her communication disk from her dimensional ring and contacted Horatio Quay. Within moments, he answered, "Maxine, where are you? How did you escape?"

"They let me go once they realized they'd been tricked and as for where I am, I havn't the slightest idea," Maxine replied, "Are you at the academy right now?"

"Not at the moment," Horatio Quay answered, "But I can return there with a warp stone. Why?"

"First off, go to Colonel Price and tell him our contract is canceled. He should understand why without having to be told," Maxine explained, "After that, I would like it if you looked after my sister and brother-in-law. Don't worry about me. I will return to the academy in a couple hours."

"Very well," Horatio Quay replied and his holographic image studied Maxine's face before an excited smile spread across his face, "You're planning on doing something violent, arn't you?"

"Yes," Maxine replied simply.

"I was wondering when your patience would run out. Your overdeveloped sense of mercy has been a liability," Horatio Quay said. Maxine turned off her communication disk without replying to him.

Next, she reached out to her clone to see if her mom was nearby. Thankfully, she was and Maxine contacted her via spiritual sense, [Mom, can you look after a little boy for me?]

[Maxine? Of course, I can,] Hellen replied, [Is he your baby?]

[Sorry, but no,] Maxine answered, [But I think daddy will like to meet him.] He should anyways. That hydrakin boy is the first of his kind as far as I know.

[Alright, just send him on over,] Hellen answered, [And I wish you would spend your free time with me and your father. You know it's not that hard to control one of your clones remotely.] Shit, why didn't I think of that?

[I'm sorry, it never occured to me to do that,] Maxine replied.

[It's alright. We have literately centuries to spend time together,] Hellen replied, [And is everything alright? Your clones are radiating intense killing intent.] Oops. I must be doing that unconsciously.

[Several people have thoroughly pissed me off and I don't want the little boy I'm taking care of to get caught up in it,] Maxine replied.

[I understand. Just don't over do it,] Hellen cautioned Maxine.

[I know. I'm not going to massacre their families, mom,] Maxine replied.

[Good,] Hellen said, [Now send this little boy over. I'm standing next to your clone now.]

[Will do,] Maxine answered and she walked over to the napping hydrakin boy. She gently woke him and send a message into his mind to let him know that she's sending him somewhere safe. She wasn't sure he understood it, but she figured her mother was powerful enough to handle him regardless. So she created a portal to her clone and pushed him into it. Now, with his safety seen to, I can finally prepare a few things.

Maxine pulled out various poisonous ingredients, the venom in her claws and some acid from the glands in the back of her mouth and began to concoct two separate poisons. The acidic one she made specifically for Marcus Quinn. She no longer cared if he was being blackmailed since it was clear that someone in the Alchemist Association was covering for him. The other poison she crafted was in the form of a mist and placed into a glass sphere that was roughly the size of a grapefruit. It wouldn't kill anyone, but it would make them wish they had. It would make them feel as if their skin was melting for three days and would prevent them from loosing consciousness. These two should do nicely, but I should prepare for the eventuallity that a teacher with immortal stage cultivation will try to stop me.

She summoned four of her shadow wolf constructs and had them become part of her Shadow's Embrace armor. However, they were not active, so they wouldn't be boosting her strength. However she had them in place just in case. I think I'm all set. Now, I need to find out where Marcus Quinn is the moment I arrive at the academy and I believe I've given Horatio Quay enough time to get into position as well. And now to secure an escape route to a place no one knows about in case all else fails.

Maxine picked up a rock on the ground and placed a spiritual mark on it. As she tossed it back onto the cavern floor, she glanced up at the source of the blue light filling the room. There were dozens of walnut sized crystals giving off the blue light. On a whim, she plucked one of them and stashed it in her dimensional ring. Now, it's time to enact my plans.

With a thought, she contacted Ismena through the shadow wolf hiding in her shadow, [Ismena, I'm sorry about contacting you like this, but could you make your way to my cottage?]

[Certainly, is there something wrong?] Ismena asked, [You're not scheduled to be back for at least another month.]

[Certain events beyond my control forced me to return,] Maxine answered calmly, [And you might want to bring Reina along with you. It will be safer that way.] Safer for both of you and me.

[It won't take us very long to get there,] Ismena answered, [This is about teacher Marcus Quinn, isn't it?]

[In part,] Maxine answered and waited for Ismena and Reina to reach her cottage within the academy. Once they were there, Maxine created a portal and jumped into it.

"Do either of you know where Marcus Quinn is?" Maxine asked.

"He should be finishing up a class on hand to hand combat at the northern training court, since his turn as a displinary member ended recently," Reina answered.

"Good. Now both of you stay here until I get back," Maxine said as she moved to leave the cottage, "I have a few things to take care of. I should be back before too long."

"We will," Ismena said nervously.

As Maxine left her cottage, she saw Horatio Quay off to the side with Orianna beside him. Maxwell was in a formation array and Orianna was too engrossed in watching him to notice Maxine. Horatio Quay, on the other hand, noticed her immediately and simply nodded at her. She nodded back and immediately took flight as she headed towards the northern training courtyard.

However as she flew towards it, she made no effort to contain her killing intent and consciously released dragon fear. Those that she flew past scattered and looked towards her fearfully. It only took a few moments before she arrived at the northern training courtyard and Marcus Quinn had just finished his lesson. His gaze locked onto Maxine just as she slammed down into the ground infront of him. A cloud of dust was thrown up around the both of them as a result of her collision. He's an immortal cultivator, so I'm outclassed in every way. That's alright though. It just means I have to fight dirty.

Before the cloud could disperse, Maxine created a portal at her feet and another just above Marcus Quinn's head. At the same time, she retrieved a vial of her acidic poison and began pouring it into the portal at her feet. I'm glad that I kept the secret that I can create portals mid-air. It makes for a nasty sneak attack and I doubt he expected me to attack anyways. This is inside the academy afterall.

However, Marcus Quinn still dodged it, but only partially. The acidic poison coated his left arm and it began to give off steam as it ate into his flesh, even though it was clear he was trying to throw it off using his energies. As the dust cloud cleared, Marcus Quinn fell to his knees and he grit his teeth in obvious pain. She didn't blame him in the least for his reaction. The skin on his left arm was literately melting off to reveal his muscle, nerve endings, blood vessels and tendons of his arm. Shit, I missed. I was aiming for his head, but this works too.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"You foolish child! You've attacked a teacher! You know the rules regarding that!" Marcus Quinn roared. Loosing a couple limbs is the punishment for that I believe. But I thought he would be grateful that I didn't make a killing poison. He simply has no idea how hard it was to come up with that acidic poison so it would only destroy his skin and eat through his defensive energies without killing him. But I imagine he will hate me quite a bit when he tries to heal it. That will trigger its secondary effect of multiplying the sensitivity of his pain receptors to make him feel as if he is literately being burned alive for a day or so. And it will trigger each time he uses a healing potion or pill in the future. Eat shit and die asshole.

"They won't lay a hand on me," Maxine said firmly.

"And why do you think that?" a teacher said as a group of them landed to surround Maxine. She noticed that none of them were elven or possessed a snake-type bloodline.

"Because I either get to do whatever I want to him, or I make this entire planet a class four hazard zone," Maxine replied coldly as she retrieved the vial of plaguebringer out of her dimensional ring, "Choose."

"You won't do that. You'll die along with us," the teacher that spoke up earlier said as he approached Maxine.

"Think again, asshole," Maxine said as she used one of her claws to crack the outer layer of the vial and all of them froze, "The benefits of a hydra bloodline is that I don't get sick and I'm almost completely immune to poisons."

"Fine," the teacher growled reluctantly, "But he's the only one!"

"You don't get to dictate whom I will punish," Maxine said forcefully, "Only I get to do that. Or did you forget whose daughter I am? Did you honestly think that I would just let him get away with sending me off to get captured by my father's enemies? Be grateful that I don't turn this whole fucking academy into an example of why you shouldn't test my patience!" As she finished, she created a dozen tendrils in his shadow to rapidly wrap around Marcus Quinn's legs and charged at him. Surprisingly, none of the teachers moved to stop her.

She retrieved another vial of her acidic poison from her dimensional ring and flung the contents at Marcus Quinn once she was less than five feet away from him. He brought up his arms to shield his face, but that wasn't where she was aiming. She aimed most of the poison at his abdomen. More steam erupted off of him as his skin melted. He finally collapsed onto the ground screaming. However Maxine wasn't done yet.

She calmly retrieved couple more vials of acidic poison and poured one of them on his head. She poured the other one along the length of his legs. Although she found it a bit hard since he kicked his legs free of her shadow tendrils and was rolling all over the place to avoid her efforts. I've finished making an example out of him. Now it's time for the local branch of the Alchemist Association.

Maxine took flight and flew towards the Alchemist Association branch within the academy. But she stopped about half a mile away from her destination and hovered a few hundred feet off the ground. She glanced behind her and saw that the teachers had followed her.

With a thought, she retrieved three glass orbs filled with a gaseous poison. She opened a portal on her stomach, which was in shadow, to the interior of the Alchemist Association and shoved the orbs into it. Within a couple seconds, a purple and blue cloud blasted out of the windows and doors of the Alchemist Association branch.

A cruel smile appeared on her lips as she heard the screams of agony coming from within it. I feel bad for anyone that got caught in that poison cloud. It's a pain inducing poison that clings and feeds off of the trace amounts of medicinal ingredients within the bodies of whomever it effects. Those idiots have no idea how much of that stuff their bodies absorb it while they concoct potions and/or pills. The more of them that they've made, the longer their suffering will be and since their alchemists, they've probably avoided fighting. So, their pain tolerance won't be that high. I can't even imagine how much they will suffer and as an added fuck you, I made it so that it won't leave their bodies. That is unless they are willing to grovel at my feet with the head of that asshole alchemist that tried this scheming bullshit and present it to me on a silver fucking platter.

Maxine violently shook her head to dispell the sadistic thoughts plaguing her mind. No, I can't enjoy this. I won't enjoy this. They pushed me too far. I just wish that I knew who specifically within that place fucked me over. Otherwise I wouldn't have used this method. Still, she was satisfied that she hadn't killed anyone.

"What have you done?" Piras Long asked quietly in horror as she arrived.

"I've claimed my vengeance," Maxine replied coldly, "Don't get in my way or you're next."

"You're insane," Piras Long stated fearfully as she retreated dozens of feet away from Maxine.

"Perhaps," Maxine replied, "But this aspect of my personality only comes out when I've been pushed too far."

"They provoked you? How? And why?" Piras Long asked in shocked disbelief.

"You just need to know that they've thoroughly infuriated me," Maxine replied, "If you want details, ask my teacher."

"The Alchemist Association will retaliate," Piras Long said coldly.

"They're free to do so, but I wouldn't recommend it. I have enough of that poison to hit a few dozen of their branch offices or hit their headquarters directly," Maxine said calmly, "And if they're wondering why I'm so pissed, they should check on the tracking beacons that I know are inside of these badges they hand out. In particular, a person with a blue alchemist badge that came within a few thousand miles of me within the last twelve hours. Oh, and if they want the antidote, they should bring me that asshole's severed head."

"Why would they bother? They can make the antidote as well," Piras Long countered.

"Believe what you will, but they will come to me for it," Maxine replied, "And please remind them to leave my family alone. As you can see, I'm quite adept at infiltration when I put my mind to it." Maxine finished, she changed her external appearance a dozen different times using her energies without emitting any sign that she was wearing a disguise. Actually, I'm more concerned about what would happen if those idiots were to severely injure or kill Maxwell. I can't even imagine the horrors Orianna would unleash on them in that event. But to be fair, they should know better than to trigger a fucking yandere.

"How did you do that?" Piras Long asked, "I couldn't sense that you used your energies at all. Nor could I tell that it was fake."

"That's my secret and I only intend to teach it to either my children or my sister's children," Maxine said and sensed several people rapidly approaching, "And I think I've spent more than enough time chatting with you and please return this to the Alchemist Association. I don't need it anymore." As she finished speaking, she tossed Piras Long the gold alchemist's badge and flew towards the ground at top speed. Before she reached it though, she opened a portal just beneith her that led to a spot just outside of her cottage.

She launched out of the other end of her portal and contacted Ismena and Reina via spiritual sense, [It's safe to come out now. I suggest you two lay low for a while until things calm down. I would stay, but I doubt that they would tolerate my presence here at the academy any longer.]

[What did you do?] Ismena asked.

[You will find out shortly. Just let them the truth. You know what I was going to do before I acted. That should keep you safe from the reprecussions of my actions, but it might be a good idea to act as my sister's attendants. That way you can remain under Horatio Quay's protection,] Maxine told them and sensed that the people persuing her had located her via spiritual sense, [Well, I gotta go now. I hope to see you again.] I shouldn't have to say anything to Horatio Quay. He already knew I would probably be leaving after I caused some havoc.

Maxine created a new portal to the room that housed her clones and jumped into it. She closed it the instant that she was on the other side of it and was somewhat surprised at the scene that greeted her.

The hydrakin boy was napping with his head on Hellen's lap while she stroked his hair. She had expected many different things, but not this. How the hell did mom pull that off? I was half expecting her clothes to be shredded and her swatting his ass.

"Children are always the cutest when their sleeping," Hellen commented as she looked up at Maxine.

"That they are," Maxine said.

"Now, do you mind telling me his name?" Hellen asked.

"Uh, I don't think he has one," Maxine said and quickly explained further once she saw Hellen's glare, "I've literately known him less than a day and he was forced into being a beastkin. I don't think he even knows how to speak."

"That's unfortunate," Hellen lamented, "I guess I'll name him then. How does Lucas sound?"

"That sounds wonderful," Maxine said as she nodded her head in agreement. That's definitely better than anything that I can come up with.

"Maxine? What are you doing here? You're supposed to be at the Stardust Academy," Guan said as he walked in, but stopped in his tracks when his eyes locked onto her finger, "Who did that?" I can't tell if he's angry or not. But I have a feeling his anger is the calm and absolutely terrifying type.

"A woman named Alyssa," Maxine replied.

"Husband, let it go. You know as well as I do that she will regrow her finger within a week," Hellen reprimanded Guan, "And I have a feeling that Maxine came home so that we could protect her from something."

"Mom's right. That academy is full of scheming pricks," Maxine complained, "So, I lost my patience with them and did something excessive."

"Explain what happened and leave nothing out," Guan told Maxine and she quickly relayed what happened in detail. After she finished, Guan sighed in relief and said, "I know that man. He wouldn't have harmed you from fear that I placed a special array on your bones that would let me know if anyone severely injured you. And before you ask, yes, I did, but it only activates when you recieve a life threatening wound. And I know full well who this Alyssa is and I don't intend to act against her. That mid-tier immortal alchemist has likely dealt with her already. But more importantly, I'm relieved to know that I no longer need to watch over you. Your actions at the academy will no doubt resound within the Alliance. Very few people will be willing to cross you now that they know you're just as skilled of a poisoner as I am. And once they realize how much more vicious you are than I am, those few will be extremely reluctant to do so."

"But I let them live," Maxine countered.

"Yes, but you took away their ability to practice their trade," Guan explained, "To them, that's a fate far worse than death. For many alchemists, their craft is also their greatest passion."

"That's why I'm offering the antidote if they kill that prick that set this complicated scheme to kidnap me," Maxine replied, "I know they won't give him up though, but that doesn't mean one of those alchemists that I poisoned won't tell me where he's hiding."

"Very true," Guan said and he gazed at the sleeping hydrakin boy, "Now, what do you intend to do with this boy?"

"I was thinking of raising him," Maxine said, "He's quite intelligent."

"I don't have any problems with that," Guan said, "What about you, Hellen?"

"I don't mind having another adopted grandchild," Hellen said calmly, "But, I insist that you have a few babies of your own before you adopt another one and I'm not taking no for an answer."

"Alright, mom. I promise," Maxine said, "But I may have to wait until I breakthrough into gold stage first."

"That's fine," Hellen said, "Master Quay told me you'd be able to that within a few weeks. Now with that out of the way, don't you think you've made me wait for a hug long enough, young lady?"

Maxine smiled to herself as she walked over to Hellen and hugged her tightly while Hellen stroked Maxine's quills very carefully. Now this is nice. I wonder how things have changed on Earth since I've last been here. I will find out tomorrow when I go to visit Emily and the others. I wonder how she will react to my missing finger.