While floating roughly three hundred feet above ground, Maxine growled in frustration for the umpteenth time at the locale of her duel. She had suggested to the UN that they set up her duel in an desert to minimize the damage to the landscape, which they listened to. However, a city was no less than three miles away, and was well within the danger zone if either of them decided to use some kind of ranged attack. I'll try to lure him further away from that city. Hopefully, Tang Zhiqiang obliges me. If not, I'll just have to end the fight quickly before he does anything stupid. Hmm, that gives me an idea.
She glanced at the camera crews a mile away and smirked as they set up high speed cameras as well as special listening devices that could hear a conversation between a pair of fleas two miles away, if they were so disposed. Still, she didn't think they would see much considering how fast she'll most likely be moving.. If they got their equipment from the Technological Union, they wouldn't have to worry about that though. Although, it would make me wonder where they got the money to afford such a thing.
Maxine glanced at the position of the sun and started to get annoyed. Her adversary was late. If he can't even show up for a fucking duel on time, how can he be expected to show up at an important Alliance assembly? Those things are held within a minute or so of the prescribed time and even then, only last about ten minutes due to how fast our minds work while in that virtual space.
Maxine spotted Tang Zhiqiang flying towards her at a leisurely pace in the distance. She felt her eye twitch in annoyance and knew that he was trying to piss her off. And the closer he got, the angrier she became. He had this smug look on his face and his clothes were disheveled. As soon as he got close enough, she could tell from his scent alone that he had been having sex not that long ago.
"You're late," Maxine said to Tang Zhiqiang in a cold tone in cantonese.
"I had to entertain a few of my fans before coming here," Tang Zhiqiang replied as a spear with a red tassel hanging off the spearhead appeared in his hand.
"That didn't sound like an apology or an excuse," Maxine said while repressing the urge to punch him.
"It wasn't meant to be," Tang Zhiqiang said while showing a lustful smile, "And I intend to 'entertain' you after I defeat you." That fucker intends to rape me if I lose?! That's it. No mercy.
"I was just going to kill you without making you suffer much, but you just couldn't keep your mouth shut," Maxine said while unleashing her killing intent, "Now, you'll die screaming." In an instant, she withdrew both of her blades from her dimensional ring and simultaneously, summoned a hundred of her shadow wolves out of the shadow beneath her hair.
"WHAT?! You can't have any outside help! You're violating the rules of the duel!" Tang Zhiqiang roared.
"No, I'm not. I created each of these lupine constructs myself. Hence, they're a part of my combat strength and do not violate any rule on duels in accordance with Alliance law," Maxine stated with a cruel smile, "You should REALLY have read up on those before challenging me. Now, my pets attack!" However, only four of her wolves attacked. She wanted to probe his strength before going all out.
Her shadow wolves rushed at Tang Zhiqiang and pounced at him almost at the same time. She expected him to fend them off, but that isn't what happened. He unleashed a flurry of spear thrusts and wounded only a couple of her wolves before he began to get overwhelmed. He was even getting wounded from their glancing bites and scratches. Is this guy for real? My wolves are just amped up versions of copper stage wolves. They don't have any special moves and attack primarily on instinct from it's base design. He should be able to handle a couple dozen of them easily, but he can't handle the four that are jumping around him. He's either faking his skill level or he really is this inexperienced. But that begs the question: How the hell did he survive his tribulation?
With a burst of speed, he lashed out with ferociously and threw off the shadow wolves around him before charging at her. He roared like a lunatic as he unleashed another flurry of thrusts at her. She contemptuously dodged his attempt at ending the fight with minimal effort before slipping past his defenses and kicking him in the balls. "Pathetic," Maxine said coldly as he recoiled away from her while gritting his teeth in pain, "It's almost like you've never been in a serious fight in your entire life and you've had someone hold your hand while you advanced to this stage. Hell, I bet your country purchased a fairly potent formation array to help you breakthrough to gold. How else could you be this unskilled at your level?"
"Shut up!" Tang Zhiqiang roared at her and tried to rush her once more. It seems I guessed right.
"You seem to be forgetting something," Maxine said a moment before her shadow wolves bit down on his arms and legs, "Always have your guard up in a battle. It's something experience teaches you, but I suppose you won't live long enough for you to appreciate my advice. Any last words?"
"I'll fuck you to death as soon as I get free, you bitch!" Tang Zhiqiang cursed.
"Do you really want those to be your last coherent words?" Maxine asked, "Nothing for me to pass along to your relatives or loved ones?"
However, he remained silent as he glared at her angrily while struggling to free himself. "I feel bad for your family," Maxine said in a sad tone, "They're going to loose a relative due to his overly inflated ego. And it could've been avoided if you had just heeded my warnings. I know that it doesn't matter much at this stage, but I wish things could've been different. Just know that I will return your remains to your homeland to ensure a proper burial and I'll leave your head relatively undamaged for your family's sake." After she finished, she signaled her wolves to start slowly chewing his hands and feet off. Almost instantly his screams filled the air. By the time, his hands and feet fell to the ground he had lost consciousness due to the excessive pain. She didn't see any further point in making an example out of him and promptly cut off his head.
With a thought, her shadow wolves return to the shadow world. He's unskilled and had a lower than average pain tolerance for a cultivator, especially for someone at his level. He's definitely been brought up like a fucking flower in a greenhouse. Then, someone over inflated his ego into thinking he could defeat a battle tested warrior in single combat. Whoever they are, they're just as responsible as this idiot is for this farce.
Maxine slowly floated to the ground and tossed a simple coffin on the ground before placing Tang Zhiqiang's body inside of it. She saw the reporters approaching her out of the corner of her eye. She closed the coffin before they arrived and turned to face them.
Before they could ask her any questions, she spoke up, "He brought this on himself. I made it perfectly clear that this would be a fight to the death and he suffered for his arrogance and lack of skill."
"Why did you torture him before killing him?" a reporter asked, "Are you not worried about the political backlash?"
"He threatened to rape me. I have no doubt that with your recording devices that you heard it just as clearly as I did," Maxine said bluntly, "Now, if you don't mind, I need to return his remains to his homeland to be buried. Regardless of what he said or did, his family still deserves that curtesy. Farewell."
Maxine swiftly placed the coffin into her dimensional ring and flew towards Beijing at top speed. It only took her a few hours to reach the city and a few additional minutes to locate their politicians. They were having an emergency meeting.
She landed infront of the building that housed their central government and began walking towards the main entrance. A couple guards tried to stop her, but she didn't understand a single word that they were saying nor did she care what they were saying as she walked right past them. A few of the guards tried to tackle her to the ground, but she kept walking with them latched onto her. When she came up to the main assembly hall, she could hear several men arguing inside and used her energies to force open the door. Next, she gently pushed the guards off of her before walking inside.
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The entire assembly hall silenced as she walked towards the center of the room. She could feel their eyes follow her as she advanced and without any warning, she withdrew the coffin containing Tang Zhiqiang's body from her dimensional ring before gently placing it on the ground.
[Be sure that this man's remains are returned to his family so that they may bury him,] Maxine said calmly via spiritual sense to every man and woman in the room, [I do not want to find out that you disobeyed me in this. Oh, and if I find out which one of you goaded him into challenging me, I will make sure that your remaining time on this world is as unpleasant as possible.] She waited five full seconds for any sign that one of them was responsible, but didn't detect anything. I should've expected this much from seasoned politicians. They've most likely trained themselves to have minimal reactions since they realized that cultivators can read surface thoughts. No matter. Someone here will probably figure it out eventually and contact me about it in return for a favor.
She turned around and walked out of the assembly hall. Once outside, she created an arch to take her to a park near Emily's home. She had taken a moment to think about going to the hospital to heal some children, but after her recent brutal display, she doubted anyone would let her get anywhere near them. Or at the very least, they would feel very uncomfortable just being in her presence for the next couple weeks at a bare minimum. I wouldn't have to avoid the hospital for the next couple weeks, if that idiot had been a decent enough person for me to pass on my responsibilities to. I really hope that the next one will be good enough. I'm getting tired of all this random bullshit that only I can seem to deal with and it doesn't help that I don't have the mentality to pull of long term schemes. I prefer to keep things simple, such as beating the ever living shit out of my enemies to the point of death, but not enough for them to actually die from their injuries, if I leave them afterwards. Those sort of tactics just don't work in politics.
While Maxine walked through a park, she heard a couple young men chatting in Alliance common nearby. "Are you certain that she likes to walk through this particular park?" one of them asked, "We've been wandering around this place for three days and havn't seen a single sign of her."
"I already told you that she's an infrequent visitor to this park, but after she finishes her fight with that Tang fellow, she's most likely going to go for a walk to 'unwind,'" the other one said, "So, you'll just have to be patient, Zell."
"So, another hour, then?" 'Zell' said. This caught Maxine's attention and she looked right at the pair of young men. Zell was blonde, quite tall and had rather bulky muscles. The other one was more athletic, but shorter.
With a thought, she shadow-stepped behind them and spotted a strange book in Zell's hands. "It's your fault that we're even here," the other young man said, "You just had to meet the daughter of poison emperor Guan."
"She's the most easily approachable of the girls in this book," Zell said, "And least likely to kill us, if we anger her."
"That's true, but her standards are ridiculous," the other guy said.
"Are either of you going to tell me what this 'book' is all about?" Maxine asked and smiled teasingly as both of them went rigid before turning around to face her.
"It's-" Zell started to say, but Maxine cut him off, "Oh? Is this it?" And she swiftly swiped it out of his hands. Maxine nearly facepalmed when she saw the title: 'The 100 most desirable unmarried women in the Alliance.'
"I can explain," Zell's companion said swiftly.
"No, I get it," Maxine said with a blank stare, "You just want to ogle at the pretty girl and see if what they say in this book is accurate."
"I sincerely apologize," Zell said while bowing deeply towards Maxine.
"Don't worry about it. I've gotten used to the leering gazes," Maxine said offhandedly, "Just so long as you know that if you try to touch, I will kick your manhood hard enough to bring it to your chin. Understood?" Both of them nodded swiftly.
"Good," Maxine said as she started to walk away and stopped when she realized she was still holding the book, "By the way, I'm keeping this as punishment." Not to mention that on some level I want to know what my ranking is. Hmm, I wonder if Emily is listed in the top 100 as well.
After walking a certain distance, she opened up the book and flipped through it. She didn't find Emily in it, but she found herself. She was ranked 73rd. She thought it was odd that she wasn't ranked higher considering who her father was. To find out why, she began reading to figure out their reasoning.
It started off with describing her appearance and build to a disturbing level of detail. They could literately order a skin tight full body suit with these measurements. It only got worse from there. It described her habits when in public and stated that she enjoyed healing children, walking in parks and singing. Which she did, but it still creeped her out. She wasn't even aware herself that she typically wore a certain style of clothes whenever she was working at the hospital. To get this level of detail, someone had to have been stalking her for a long time.
At this point, she decided to put the book into her dimensional ring and tried not to be freaked out. Who the fuck is watching me that closely? Turan? No, he wouldn't give anyone that kind of information. If not him, then who could've given out that level of information? As Maxine thought, she spotted a young woman with silvery hair like her own and a realization struck her like a lightning bolt. Fuck! Why didn't I realize it sooner?! God damn fan clubs! Their collective information gathering puts even the most devout stalker to shame. I never thought that becoming a role model would have this kind of side-effect.
Maxine immediately created an arch to go home. As soon as she did, Hellen spotted her and asked, "What's wrong?" Maxine didn't bother answering.
"Just read my bio. I'm ranked 73rd," Maxine said as she tossed the book to Hellen. Hellen gave her a strange look and began reading.
"Oh, my," Hellen said in amusement, "It seems you have quite the following for them to gather this much information."
"It's creepy," Maxine stated.
"Oh, yes. It is that," Hellen agreed, "But you have to expect this level of attention considering who you are. In fact, I'm rather surprised they havn't surmised who Emily's child is. So far, they believe it to be some unknown male."
"Seriously?" Maxine asked incredulously.
"Oh, yes," Hellen said calmly, "Your father's gender inversion potion isn't exactly well known outside of certain circles. Which in this case is a benefit. They can't target your and Emily's baby, if they don't know that it's yours."
"There is that," Maxine agreed. That's more of a relief than I realized. Still, they're unlikely to target Emily while she's pregnant. Their pride as cultivators would prevent it. Although, it didn't stop those assholes that attacked Hellen when she was pregnant with me. Although, they might not have been aware of it at the time.
"You're mistaken," Guan said as he walked into the room, "Anyone that wants either to hurt me or to get their hands on my alchemical knowledge will be able to figure it out rather easily. So, the chances that our grandchild will be targeted isn't zero."
"Then, I suggest that after the little one is born Emily should live with us," Hellen offered and she looked at Emily, "Afterall, who would be insane enough to attack this place?"
"I agree. It's a good idea," Guan agreed.
"Hold on a second!" Maxine said angrily, "Are you guys even going to bother asking me and Emily what our opinions are?"
"Even if you say no, I'll still bring her here," Guan said bluntly, "You may be powerful for your level, Maxine, but if even a weak immortal decided it was necessary to capture you, you'd have to use every trump card that you have just to match up against them and there would be no chance that you could kill one."
"I thought you said that I would be ready to stand up on my own when I reached gold stage," Maxine said as she glared at Guan.
"That was before an immortal-stage alchemist lowered himself to personally capture you," Guan pointed out.
"And I still escaped before he could get his hands on me," Maxine retorted.
"That's only because he was careless and wanted you capture you alive," Guan answered calmly, "If he truely wished to harm you, we wouldn't be having this conversation."
"What about my position as Earth's representative?" Maxine asked, "Won't harming me have some sort of repercussions?"
"Yes, but they're not enough to deter the most determined and wealthy," Guan said calmly, "You know this." He's right. If you have a certain level of wealth, you can just pay the fines associated with harming a planetary representative. Ugh, I never realized how skewed the laws of the Alliance were to the overly wealthy.
"Fine, I'll talk to Emily and try to convince her that it's in her best interest to move in," Maxine said in defeat, "I still don't understand why you can't protect her from here. You can almost instantly arrive anywhere on Earth with your speed, daddy."
"True, but even I'm not faster than a teleportation trap," Guan said calmly. He's got a good point. Once a teleportation trap is activated, it holds you in place and teleports you in less than half a second. It's nearly impossible for him to save anyone from it. He has to be literately standing next to Emily if he wanted to save her from it before it activates.
"Fine, you win," Maxine said as she walked away towards her room and tried to think of a way that would best convince Emily to move in with her and her parents. It shouldn't be too hard as long as I also invite Howard along. She doesn't like being separated from her grandfather for very long ever since his health has started to show signs of declining a few days ago and having Daddy nearby should ease her worries somewhat. Still, Howard probably has a few years left in him, even if nothing is done.