Maxine complained to herself mentally as she flew as fast as she could. Which was a lot slower than normal due to her damaged energy pathways. She had already donned her Shadow's Embrace armor to maintain her modesty and thankfully, once it was out like this, it wouldn't retreat back into her body unless it took a lot of damage.

She had also reverted back to her base form to conserve energy and so her armor wouldn't have to stretch itself thin to cover her frame. But she was more concerned about her air supply than her state of dress. She could create a portal to allow her to breathe, but due to her injuries, it would also lower her maximum speed even further. Thankfully, she didn't have to worry about that for more than an hour before Horatio Quay caught up to her and rapidly dragged her back to Earth.

"You couldn't mentioned that my clothes had been destroyed when you told me to run," Maxine snapped at Horatio Quay as soon as they returned to Earth's atmosphere.

"So, you're blaming me for the fact that you didn't notice that?" Horatio Quay asked in obvious amusement.

"Yes, I am," Maxine said firmly and was dumbfounded when he laughed.

When he finally calmed down enough to speak, he commented, "Only a woman can blame a man for something he had no hand in."

"You're a sexist prick," Maxine growled at him.

"But I'm not wrong," Horatio Quay stated with a smile.

"Shut up," Maxine said sourly and winced in pain when her left leg twitched. Damn it. This pain is messing with me more than I thought.

Finally, Maxine could see the camp and saw everyone was cheering. She was confused for a moment until she realized someone must've been observing the fight. God, I hope they were far enough away that they didn't see anything. The last thing that I need is someone spreading a rumor that I fight naked. However, when they got closer to the ground, Maxine saw grandma Victoria and Hellen giving her angry glares. I knew this was coming, but I still don't look forward to being yelled at. Oh, well. I might as well get it over with.

Just as her feet touched down, though, she collapsed. She didn't even know why she collapsed and tried to get back up immediately after. But no matter what she did, her limbs just didn't have enough strength to lift her off the ground. It was at that moment that Hellen, literately, scooped Maxine up before running towards the medical tents.

"Emily!" Hellen shouted just before she reached the medical tents, "Maxine's hurt!" Emily was beside them as soon as they got into the medical tent and began examining Maxine before she was even laid down on a bed. Hellen meanwhile was explaining what had just happened.

"She's covered in cuts, but none of them are deep enough to make her loose her strength like that," Emily said out loud, "Ah, I found what the issue is. Her energy pathways are badly damaged, more so than they were earlier. Care to explain, Maxine?"

"I was forced to use a limit-breaking technique to escape from a spatial attack that nearly killed me," Maxine said calmly, "My teacher can explain why. Because, honestly, I have no idea why that prick was trying to kill me."

"Ah, yes, that guy," Horatio Quay said as he scratched the back of his head, "He's an assassin, plain and simple. Although, I am curious why he would take a contract on you while knowing who your father is. I don't know of anyone that would willingly make an enemy out of Guan like that." So, it's likely that the idiot didn't realize who my daddy is. Which wouldn't be the surprising. The Alliance covers multiple galaxies and not everyone would have access to the latest news.

"Do you have any idea who hired him?" grandma Victoria asked.

"No, he didn't reveal who his employer was," Horatio Quay replied with a flat stare.

"You talked to him?" grandma Victoria asked, "Assassins are not known for being talkative."

"I'm not sure if 'get out of my way' counts as conversation," Horatio Quay answered.

"Why are you guys still talking about this?" Maxine asked, "He was obviously hired by one of dad's old enemies and to ensure that he wouldn't be hunted, he tried to make it look like I tried and failed to use a singularity arrow. The Alchemist Association wouldn't have me killed like that since they want daddy's notes intact."

"That doesn't narrow it down much," Hellen commented.

"Not in the least," Horatio Quay agreed, "But it's something to go on. Now, let's give these two young lovers some alone time." After he said that, he began walking out of the medical tent.

"Mom, let's give them some privacy like Horatio suggested. It's not like they can do anything more than talk," Hellen said as she left.

"I'll leave you two alone then, and Emily, please, tell Hellen that you're pregnant in the next few days. Or at the very least, before you start to show," grandma Victoria said happily as she winked at Emily before walking away.

"Why did you tell her?" Emily demanded.

"I thought you did," Maxine replied reflexively.

"Then, how did she know?" Emily asked in confused tone.

"Don't under estimate the wisdom of a three hundred plus year old woman," Maxine said after thinking for a moment, "You probably have one of those almost imperceptible signs of a pregnant woman that grandma picked up on."

"Either that or she spies on us more than your 'daddy' does," Emily pointed out.

"I ... didn't consider that, but that's also a possibility," Maxine reluctantly agreed and tried to unsuccessfully feed herself another nutritional pill, "I could use a little help." Emily rolled her eyes and snatched the nutritional pill from Maxine's hand and fed it to her.

"You're practically paralyzed and now that I think about it, this has happened before, hasn't it?" Emily asked, but didn't give Maxine a chance to answer, "It happened right after you fought those tempest weasels. At least this time, you don't have a compound fracture in your upper arm."

"There is that," Maxine said.

"I wonder if the cause of these similar injuries is the same," Emily said out loud and looked at Maxine in askance.

"I felt a surge of strength in both instances when my life was on the line," Maxine admitted. But the first time that it happened, I didn't know the battle god technique, so the cause isn't exactly the same. However, the surge of strength felt almost identical, except that the first time it was more wild and untamed.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

"It may have saved you, but it clearly has some drawbacks," Emily pointed out, "How long do you think it will take for you to be able to move?"

"I'm not exactly sure," Maxine answered honestly, "But I know that I need a fucking vacation after this shit."

"A vacation is a good idea and it gives us time to get things ready for the baby," Emily pointed out, "Although, we won't really be able to pick out the clothes until we know what it's gender is."

"That is a problem," Maxine agreed, "But we have plenty of time until then."

"I demand to see your planetary representative at once!" a woman said very loudly in dialect of elven that Maxine was unfamiliar with.

"I'm sorry, but she is recovering from her injuries at the moment," Turan answered.

"I didn't ask to see her. I'm telling you to bring me to her. NOW!" the same woman said, "Now, get to it." At the point, Maxine sighed mentally at what she hoped wasn't an elven 'Karen' just outside and sent her spiritual sense outside to get a good look at this elf. Not surprisingly, it was a blonde high elf that was demanding to see her. Her extra long ears were a dead give away as to which subspecies she belonged to and the way she moved suggested that she was between two and three hundred years old. It figures they would show up after the fighting is over. Although, it's best for everyone that they did. Their superior attitude gets them into trouble more often than not.

"Let her in," Maxine said loud enough to be heard and sent a message to Emily via spiritual sense, [Record our encounter. I have a feeling that high elf is here for some reason other than helping us.]

"Are you sure?" Turan asked from just outside the medical tent.

"Yes, I'm sure," Maxine said. It's better to get this over with.

Turan grunted as he was shoved out of the way as a very angry looking blonde elf walked in. She practically looked down on Maxine as if she were a bug that she was forced to be in the same room with. "I'm here to deliver this to you," the high elf woman said in a snobbish tone and held out a knowledge stone, "For the life of me, I can't see why the elders deigned to send me to this wretched mudball of a planet. So, if you don't mind, I would appreciate if you took this off of my hands at once." No introduction? That's considered extremely rude by even the most liberal elven tribe, and high elves are known for their strict sense of protocol. That is unless she's trying to throw me off intentionally by behaving so rudely.

"I can't physically take it from you at the moment. I'm quite immobile from overexerting my energy pathways. If you don't believe me, just ask my physician," Maxine answered in elven as she glanced at Emily for a moment, "So, you're just going to have to set it down on my stomach if you want me to have it. Unless that is, you had very specific instructions that stated specifically that I had to quite literately take if from your hand."

"As you wish," the high elf woman said as she set the knowledge stone on Maxine's stomach and made a comment which pissed Maxine off, "I really can't believe you are so unskilled that you would need to harm yourself in battle just to survive. I've never encountered such a problem."

"For you to make such a childish statement, I doubt you've fought anything anywhere near your level or if you had, they were either drunk, drugged or injured before they fought you," Maxine said in a casual manner and noticed the lack of a marriage bangle on her wrist, "Oh, I see you're not married yet. Nor do I see any trinket to show that you're engaged. That's odd for a high elf of your age. Is this due to some mental or physical defect? Although, with the manner in which you've behaved thus far, I would say guess the former."

"How dare you!" the elven woman roared.

"If you can't handle getting insulted, you shouldn't be so swift to insult others, bitch," Maxine said with a smile and when she saw the high elven woman was about to attack her, she added, "Oh, I wouldn't do that if I were you. We wouldn't want you to be labeled as a dishonorable coward that attacks the injured, would we?"

The elven woman's face twisted into rage and Maxine was certain she was going to attack her regardless of how it looked. However, she didn't. Instead, she calmed down almost instantly as a smile spread across her lips and she simply said, "Look inside the knowledge stone. I await your response." Now, I'm wondering what's in this thing for her to calm down like that. Clearly, she thinks that whatever is worthy of using as blackmail against me.

Maxine sent her spiritual sense into the knowledge stone and was rather confused. Inside was a depiction of what looked like a male hydrakin causing all sorts of destruction in his rage and several scenes of several elven clans working together to fight him off. They kept this up until he ascended to the deity plane. At the end of these series of images was a question directed at her, 'Shall we reveal these images to the rest of the Alliance? Just keep in mind youngling that we have more than just these murals to provide evidence to the brutality and savagery of your kind.' So, there was a true hydrakin before Lucas. Still, I don't see why they wanted me to see this. Are they threatening Lucas? Or me?

"Blackmail? Really?" Maxine asked in a deadpan voice.

"Blackmail is such a vulgar term," the elven woman said with a wicked grin. She must not be from the high elven government. They wouldn't send someone to blackmail me or daddy. Instead, they would destroy it to avoid pissing him off. So that means she was sent by a family that is looking for a means to rise quickly.

"Go ahead and tell the Alliance," Maxine replied calmly, "I have thought of a dozen different arguments that will render most, if not all, of your so called evidence useless. One of which is that I only possess the bloodline of a hydra and if you're thinking about using it against my little brother, you should remember who our father is. Because, clearly, your people have forgotten just how terrifying my father can be. So, I suggest you go back to your people and tell them leave me and my family alone."

"Typical thuggish behavior," the high elven woman said in contempt.

"How is stating facts thuggish?" Maxine asked.

"Enough," the high elven woman growled, "I will not stoop to your level. Farewell."

"Please, don't come back," Maxine shouted at her back as she walked out of the medical tent and turned to Emily as she spoke in english, "Could you hold onto that knowledge stone?"

"Sure," Emily said calmly as she picked it up and stashed it into her dimensional pouch, "Still, I can't believe you asked me to record her."

"It was a precaution and it seems it was necessary," Maxine said calmly, "She more or less admitted that she was trying to blackmail me. Hence if she tries to make that information public, I'll just hand out the recording of her to the Alliance."

"Perhaps, but I saw what was in that knowledge stone," Emily said, "Their threats are empty and hollow without anything concrete. Those murals looked ancient and we also have no idea about the upbringing of that man that went on a rampage."

"Those are two of the same arguments that I thought of," Maxine pointed out.

"Well, that's good," Emily said and a small commotion started outside, "Now what?"

"Now, I try to get some rest before my girlfriend yells at me," Maxine said with a small smile.

"Good idea," Emily said while smiling, but her gaze diverted to just behind Maxine. She didn't have any time to even process why Emily shifted her gaze before a voice sounded out behind her.

"I'm Cindy Celtain with channel twelve news and I would like to ask you a few questions," a woman said calmly from just out of Maxine's line of sight. Maxine spotted the Cindy's cameraman out of the corner of her eye. I really should've expected that a journalist would be able to sneak past the guards. But how in the hell did she sneak her camera man in as well? I'm guessing that she must've bribed the guards somehow.

"She won't be answering any of your questions," Emily said angrily as she got inbetween Maxine and the cameraman.

"But...," Cindy Celtain said, but was cut off by Emily, "I don't care what your excuses are. Unless you have a special pass to be back here, leave." The woman seemed genuinely surprised at Emily's firm stance. She's clearly never seen Emily when she has put her foot down. I'm lucky to get a word in when she's like this.

"I'll be back with that pass," Cindy Celtain said firmly as she begrudgingly left.

Once they were out of ear shot, Maxine asked, "Is there really a pass to let them get back here?"

"No, but she doesn't need to know that," Emily said with an evil smirk.

"I wonder how long it will take her to figure that out," Maxine asked while returning Emily's smirk.

"Who knows, but you should get back to resting," Emily said, "I'll bring you something to eat in a little bit."

"Just make sure you bring me a lot of meat," Maxine said as Emily left her sight. Well, today definitely sucked. And now I have to worry about that high elven bitch doing something stupid to get back at me for telling her to fuck off.