"Maxine, you need to take a break," Emily said from the entrance to Maxine's room, "Ever since last week, you've been making potions almost non-stop."

"I wish I could take a break," Maxine said in frustration as she adjusted her eyepatch, "But if I stop, that will mean my funds will be smaller and that will result in fewer defenses and mercenaries for Earth's defense."

"What about the governments of Earth?" Emily asked, "Certainly, they can chip in."

"The wealthier nations could probably hire a few hundred mercenaries apiece, but that won't be nearly enough. We need tens of thousands of mercenaries. And what about the ones that are poor?" Maxine asked, "Should I just leave the to fend for themselves?" I need to be ready in case the Alliance leaves us on our own.

"Of course not, but you still need a break," Emily pointed out, "Will it really hurt you if you get a full night's sleep and eat a decent meal?"

"Now that I think about it, it wouldn't hurt me too much. Especially since, I've been having trouble keeping my potions at 98% purity these last few hours," Maxine sighed as she finished up the potion that she was working on, "A drop of even a tenth of a percent in quality can reduce the price of my potions by quite a bit."

"I'm glad that you agree," Emily said with a smirk and physically dragged Maxine out of the room as she basically commanded Maxine, "Now, you are going to eat a large meal and then we will go for a walk in the park to get some fresh air. After that, you will sleep for no less than eight hours before you should even think about making any more potions. Am I understood?" Emily gave Maxine a look that demanded that she obey or else.

"Yes, ma'am," Maxine said helplessly as she let Emily drag her along, "So, what are we going to eat?"

"That," Emily said as she dragged Maxine into the dining room and pointed at a table covered in various cooked meats and vegetables. The mere sight of that freshly cooked food made her mouth water and her stomach growl in anticipation. That's definitely better than the jerky and nutritional potions that I've sustained myself with for the past week.

She swiftly sat down at the table and began devouring the presented food. For some weird reason, she didn't feel full even after eating half of the presented food and was beginning to get concerned until her hunger was alleviated as she finished off the last plate of food.

"Wow, I must've been much hungrier than I realized," Maxine commented out loud.

"Hellen told me that you might be," Emily said with a smirk, "That's why we made so much."

"Let's head out then," Maxine announced, "Oh! Is it okay if I drop my potions off to be sold while we are out?"

"I don't see why not," Emily said, "But we are going to relax today. So, that will be the only work related thing that you're allowed to do."

"Thanks, Emily," Maxine said as she created an arch towards her favorite park.

"It's really not that big of an issue," Emily said as they walked through the arch, "But something has been bothering me, though. Why don't you just ask Guan to pay for the mercenaries?"

"Well...," Maxine hesitated before she answered, "I don't like relying on him too much. He could one day decide that I'm strong enough that he no longer needs to come to my rescue. And we both know he will eventually do it."

"Just not any time soon," Turan said as he appeared three feet behind them.

"Why can't you greet us like a normal person?" Emily asked in an exasperated tone.

"It doesn't matter how much you complain to him, Emily," Maxine said, "He won't change his behavior."

"Seems quite rude, if you ask me," Zabel Nodd chimed in, but didn't reveal where he was.

"Is that Zabel Nodd?!" Turan asked in alarm as he looked around.

"Yes, it is," Maxine said as she pinched the bridge of her nose, "What do you want, Zabel?"

"I will let you know once Ms. Silva has arrived," Zabel Nodd answered, "What I want to say involves the situation your world is in."

"Okay," Maxine said with uncertainty as she tried to figure out what Zabel Nodd was up to. All demons are eliminated as soon as they are found. It's literately an Alliance law. The only way to get out of this death sentence is if he literately threw himself into the frontline of a calamitous event and survives through the whole thing. Oh... Oh, shit! That's what he had in mind! That fucker! He played me!

As soon as Silva landed beside them and began scanning the area, Zabel Nodd appeared infront of Maxine and kneeled as he said, "I pledge myself in the defense of this world during the void calamity."

"This is only a postponement of your death," Silva said coldly, "You will die fighting the void calamity."

"If that is my fate, so be it," Zabel Nodd replied and he finally looked Maxine in the eyes. His sclera were black, but his irises were red-orange. The fuck?! Demons are supposed to only have red eyes! This is something new!

"He's not a demon," Maxine said unconsciously, "At least, not entirely."

"What?!" Silva exclaimed and looked at Zabel Nodd's face, "You may be right. I need to consult the elders." Before Maxine could get another word in, Silva flew off.

"Uh, you do that," Maxine said out loud as Silva disappeared into the distance, "So, shall we head to the Kavros clan's compound?"

"We might as well," Emily said as she rolled her eyes and she swiftly pointed at Zabel Nodd, "And you should go back to being invisible."

"She's right. You really should go back to using your stealth technique," Maxine agreed, "At least, until word gets around that you're going to be defending Earth."

"As you wish," Zabel Nodd said as he faded out of view.

"I have a feeling my relaxing walk won't last long, so we might as well go to the Kavros clan's compound," Maxine said.

"I have to agree with you there," Emily said in a disappointed tone.

"We can always cuddle up and watch a movie at home," Maxine offered as she began walking towards the Kavros clan's compound.

"That sounds wonderful," Emily said as she took position beside Maxine, "So, when are the world governments going to make the announcement?"

"I'm not exactly sure. My guess is that they will announce it a couple days before those things get to Earth at the earliest," Maxine answered, "Otherwise, what's the point? I doubt anyone will believe that there is a swarm of world ending monsters coming right at them from the depths of space without actually seeing it for themselves."

"I see you're point," Emily agreed.

"I just hope that I can use my new form in the upcoming battles," Maxine said, "I still havn't been able to transform into it on my own just yet."

"That's unlike you," Emily said in surprise, "You normally know the ins and outs of all of your abilities within a week of discovering them."

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Well, I havn't figured this one out yet," Maxine complained, "And I have no idea why it's giving me so much trouble." That's a lie. I know how to trigger that transformation, but I don't like how much I loose control of myself when I'm in that form. I literately stomped several people to death for fucks sake. I would've still killed them, but not so brutally. Until I'm confident that I can completely control myself while using it, I won't use it in combat.

"You'll eventually figure it out," Emily said reassuringly.

"Yeah," Maxine said uncertainly, "Anyways, how are things at the hospital? Keeping busy?"

"Oh, yes, I'm staying very busy," Emily said, "I've got to pace myself every day to make sure that I don't run out of power before the end of the day. If that were to happen, I might not be able to save someone I would've normally been able to."

"That's good," Maxine said and spotted the Kavros clan's compound in the distance, "Good, we're almost there."

"It seems so," Emily agreed, "Oh, I was wondering. What are you stopping by there for?"

"I'm going there to trade for as many silver defense arrays for Earth as I can," Maxine answered, "I would buy the gold version of them, but they're fifty times more expensive. And if you have enough silver defense arrays, it's possible to kill gold stage cultivators. However, there isn't a big market for silver defense arrays, so I may end up buying all of the ones within range. The remainder of my funds will go to hiring mercenaries. If that still isn't enough for Earth's defense, I will grant sanctuary to any criminals that help fight off the void calamity." It would be pushing my rights at a planetary representative to the limit, but it would be within my rights to do that.

"You've thought about this quite a bit, havn't you?" Emily asked.

"Yes, I have," Maxine said, "I don't want to be forced to witness the people that I care about dying. I won't go through that again."

"Again?" Emily asked in confusion, before realization washed over her face, "Oh, I forgot about that. I still can't imagine experiencing someone else's life like that."

[You're a fused soul?!] Zabel Nodd asked in surprise via spiritual sense.

"Yes, she has a fused soul," Emily said, "She told me about that years ago."

"It's why my people consider her to be a potential shadow queen and not her sister," Turan said calmly.

"Isn't she already a shadow queen?" Emily asked.

"Technically, yes," Turan answered, "But she hasn't displayed the most important ability of the shadow queen that my people are looking for."

"And that is?" Emily asked. Maxine also wanted to hear his answer. While she had read the book that described the shadow queen, she hadn't figured out which ability was the most important to the shadow lords.

Turan looked straight at Maxine before he answered, "The true shadow queen will be the only shadow element user to take on an elemental state, but I have no idea what that state should look like. It could be indistinguishable from her natural state or she could simply turn into a humanoid shadow. It's impossible to know exactly what to look for since there are no examples to compare with in my people's recorded history."

"Sounds like a headache," Emily said.

"Well, if you think about it, my full hybrid form could be an elemental state, a life elemental to be precise," Maxine offered, "You know, since hydras heal so damn fast."

"That is something to consider," Turan admitted as he eyed Maxine's eye patch, "I'm sorry for staring, but I'm curious as to why you're still wearing that. Shouldn't your eye be fully regenerated by now?"

"It is," Maxine said while looking away from both Emily and Turan, "It's just that I got used to wearing this thing and that my eye looks weird."

"Weird, how?" Emily asked.

"It's easier to show you," Maxine said as she looked around to make sure no one was present before she slowly took off her eye patch and opened her eye. Her eye had a vertical slit instead of a normal round pupil and her eye color was a golden yellow with six small brown specks in it.

"That's a little creepy. I can see why you wear the eyepatch now," Emily said, "Do you have any idea if it will change back?"

"I don't think it will change back on it's own," Maxine answered, "But I have an idea on how to change it back. It'll just take a little practice with localized transformations. It's just a matter of practice, which I don't have a lot of time to do at the moment." After she finished speaking, she put her eyepatch back on. The only reason I thought of that is because I lost it while I was in my full-hybrid form. It might still be stuck in that state. If it isn't, I'll just have to learn how to live with mismatched eyes.

"Well, that's something," Emily said, "Still, it must be a pain in the ass to wear that eyepatch when you don't need it. Can't you just use your energies to make it look like it used to?"

"Yes, but it would require that I constantly focus on it," Maxine answered, "It's much easier to wear an eyepatch."

"She's right on that," Turan agreed, "You would be surprised how much focus it requires to alter the appearance of your eye. She has to constantly make sure the illusion is in the right place so that it follows her gaze and she has to constantly make sure that it's appearance remains consistent. My stealth technique is far easier to maintain in comparison." Uh, no. I don't have to use that much effort to do that. I just don't need the distraction while I'm making potions and I'm too tired to bother with creating a believable illusion for my eye afterwards.

"I see," Emily said.

"Anyways, lets go inside," Maxine announced as they reached the front entrance of the Kavros clan's compound, "I still need to trade these potions." I know they would give me those defensive emplacements for Earth, but I rather trade for them fairly. And it will save me from owing them a favor.

"Alright, let's go," Emily announced and Turan vanished from sight.

They walked inside the compound and almost immediately Zephyr came out to greet them. "Maxine! It's been awhile since I've last seen you," Zephyr said cheerfully and he looked at her eyepatch, "Your eye still hasn't regenerated?"

"It has regenerated, but it looks weird," Maxine admitted, "It's not something I want to be seen at the moment."

"Ahh, say no more," Zephyr said, "So, how many healing potions did your bring me?"

"Seven hundred thirty two silver healing potions and twenty eight recovery pills," Maxine answered as she handed him a pouch, "How many defense arrays can I get with that?" Hopefully, I can get a large number of silver defense arrays. They're literately designed to simultaneously engage multiple silver-stage entities and a dozen of them can fend off a gold stage entity for a period of time.

"I would have to scour the local markets, but don't expect me to find more than five hundred silver defense arrays," Zephyr answered, "I might be able to find one or two gold ones. If I had even another month to get them, I could easily double that number, but with these time constraints that's the limit of what I can do. Anyways, what do you want me to do with what's left?"

"Use it to hire mercenaries," Maxine said, "I know it will have to be a high risk contract, but to attract more of them, you can include in the contract that the group or person with the highest kill count will be given a extra reward, but be as vague about what it is as possible. It will let their imaginations run wild."

"That will only work on some of the dumber mercenaries," Zephyr pointed out.

"I know, but it should still be enough to tempt even the smarter ones," Maxine said, "Afterall, I'm still an unmarried maiden and I grew up on a planet that quite liberal in regards to sex."

"I'm aware," Zephyr said uncomfortably, "What other culture would write a book about sexual positions with visual illustrations included?"

"Ah, I see you finally found the Kama Sutra?" Maxine asked with a teasing smile. I'm surprised he isn't showing more discomfort. The pictures in that book are rather explicit.

"Is that what that book is called?!" Zephyr asked with a look of disgust plastered across his face, "And no, I didn't find it. One of our clan's deviants did and decided to share their discovery. I still can't believe Meilanna suggested that I try some of those positions with her. She knows that I'm married!"

"That won't stop some people," Emily pointed out and Zephyr gave her a disbelieving look.

"She's right," Maxine said, "There are some men and women on Earth that don't care if the target of their desire is married or not."

"Earthlings are crazy," Zephyr said as he shook his head.

"Tell me something I don't know," Maxine replied.

"The rift that Guan was watching over began letting void beasts through roughly one hour ago," Zephyr said.

"What?! Why wasn't I told about this?" Maxine asked in surprise.

"Because the Alliance didn't see a need to," Zephyr answered, "You knew they would be breaching through the rift sometime today and they didn't want to distract you from making your preparations. And you should be happy to hear that the Amazonians have send a few thousand of their warriors to aid in the Earth's defense. The Arachne Sisterhood is sending fifteen of their elders, which are peak gold stage cultivators, and the Guardian Mothers are coming in droves to help protect Earth."

"The Guardian Mothers?" Maxine asked, "Why are they coming? They're nothing more than a group young women that love and protect children."

"They also have a large number of fighters amongst them," Zephyr pointed out, "Sadly, none of them are gold stage, but they are more than enough to attack the void beasts from within Earth's atmosphere. Oh, and one more thing, there is a hive matriarch coming."

"What?" Maxine asked in surprise, "That's amazing!"

"They said that the situation with Earth is exactly the kind of thing they were willing to help fend off," Zephyr said, "Although, the Alliance didn't like a hive matriarch leaving the containment area so soon and insisted that only their weakest member would be allowed to come here. The hive matriarch that's coming is known as Me'Lantra is the one that's coming and she's barely gold stage. She'll make it here a few days before the void beasts reach Earth."

"I don't care how weak she is. Her warriors will be numerous enough to take the pressure off of the rest of us," Maxine said, "Do you know what her base species is?"

"I have no idea," Zephyr answered.

"Well, I guess we will find out when she gets here," Maxine said. And I REALLY hope that she isn't some nightmare given form. That's the last thing the people of Earth need to see when they find out that void beasts are coming. Hell, they may mistake our hive ally as the void beasts. Ugh, I really need to find out what that hive matriarch's warriors look like.