Shen left Alicia four hundred yards away from a big blue tent. She kept moving despite how conflicted she felt with the new arrival.
On the one hand, Sai was another partner in crime, so to say. He and Alicia were Shen's only faithful companions, and she wanted someone relatable to talk to.
Talking to other people was... a chore. She had never been very good at reading people, hence how she had been robbed of everything she had. However, everyone had so much emotion written on their faces when looking at her lately that even she was noticing it.
Greed, envy, hatred, fear; everyone had an opinion of her. It happened primarily because of who her friend was and her public statements in his favor. A guy had tried to spit on her face once.
So, yeah, Sai would be welcome on that front. Yet, Shen was also kind of...
Hers?
It felt ridiculous to even think about it, but she was the only one around him all the time. His best friend, as he had said repeatedly.
The truth was that she liked it and didn't want to share.
And yet her therapist repeatedly pointed out to her the ill nature of her feelings toward him.
Alicia trusted Shen more than herself, was willing to do anything just so he wouldn't leave her, and didn't even want to imagine a life without him. She depended on him. Really, she would rather die than lose him.
She knew that was bad—intellectually. Truly understanding and assimilating it was not as easy.
Alicia felt threatened by Sai as much as she felt relieved by his supposedly comforting presence—that remained to be confirmed. She wanted to welcome him as much as she wanted to tell him to leave. She wanted Shen just to herself as much as she wanted to share the burden of being hated by humankind.
She wanted to run away.
Instead, she denied herself, her thoughts, and her wishes and did as Shen asked her to.
She entered the blue tent and started looking for Sai.
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Espace Léopold was filled to the brim with bureaucrats, legislators, politicians, lawyers, and any Guardian too powerful to be stopped by anyone other than the four Pioneers behind Marzia, who still sat by the head table.
She was no longer the only one sitting by the table. The two self-proclaimed Presidents of the European Commission, who were currently at war, had put their differences aside to be there on such a momentous occasion.
Each sat to one of Marzia's sides, and the French old man didn't try to hide his disgust at having a teenager above him. The German was at least cordial, but Marzia could see the greed in his ever-present half-smile and the calculations in his eyes, no matter how well he thought he hid it. That one was the most politically dangerous of the two, yet Marzia couldn't discard the other, who had the stronger military—and was the only one who had sent troops to help with the Rift War.
Marzia focused back on the task at hand: double-checking the new Alliance-Enforced Race-Wide Set of Laws that would govern the entirety of the human race.
The Legal Planetary Modifications were left empty because humans only had one planet. Only after they settled on another would it allow them to change some laws to better adapt to a specific planet's culture or environment.
Everything was as she had discussed with the ever-growing number of "helpers" in the room—at least they painted themselves as such.
She disagreed with a few sections. She left a system window open at those sections for a quick toggle before the grand finale. She couldn't just opt-in on them now because everyone could see her choices even before they became official. Once she toggled them, she had no doubt people would try to kill her, not that they weren’t already planning to do that.
The audience room was filled with tension.
Marzia stood up, and the buzz died within a few minutes. Complete silence in a room with so many people was virtually impossible when so many interests were at odds, but they got close enough. Everyone was there to see her do it, after all.
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"That's it," she said to the mic, uncaring of making an actual speech. Her message would be quick. "We have much to learn from our past, yet many of you are prisoners of the old days. The time has come for humankind to adapt or die." She touched the system screen before her and toggled the options she had left open. "Submit selected laws," she commanded the system.
She got a prompt.
Alliance-Enforced Race-Wide Set of Laws
Are you sure you want to submit the selected laws for the Human race?
They will come into effect starting immediately.
You won't be able to change them for 11.7 Earth Years.
"Yes, I'm sure," she said.
Someone yelled, "How dare you?!" Simultaneously, many people started pointing guns, revealing magic weapons, and throwing spells at her.
Those attacks came too fast to be about what she had just done. The offenders wanted the Guardian System to take care of Earth; if they killed her, they might lose the chance to pick some laws. However, they also wanted a more suitable candidate to deal with things once the rules were in place.
They had just been waiting for her to enact the rules before killing her for a chance to elect a Maiden they liked.
It didn't surprise Marzia to see the German "President of the European Commission" beside her, who had shown no hostility towards her, move at E+ agility and try to stab her with a smile still on his face. The French one was utterly flabbergasted at the betrayal; the fool was too straightforward for this level of the political arena.
She didn't even move as the German Pioneer behind her put his shield between her and the attacker.
Schneider had been a great leader at the Pioneer Tutorial. After her return, he had pretended to be as stupid as a rock while following her. Not just any rock either, but a furious and resentful one. He had been approached by many people, approached others, and knew most ploys going on in the room. As far as Marzia was concerned, he was her spymaster.
Yet, so many conflicting interests were present that he missed a crucial betrayal.
Lightning enveloped the Brazilian Pioneer's fists as he threw them at Marzia's head, believing she would be none the wiser. To make things worse, Carlos Almeida's speed was even a bit beyond E+, probably because of whatever Concept related to lightning he used. The two other Pioneers protecting her were too surprised to react in time.
Yet, she had been training her mana sensibility and hearing like crazy in the past weeks precisely for such a moment.
It only took a simple twist of her will to fill her surroundings with her mana. Carlos was good and released his lightning spell before they could touch her mana and get locked into a battle of willpower.
Marzia wasn't done though. She twisted her body to avoid the blows while using a mana tread to release the four thin throwing knives hidden around each of her arms. Her movement gave the blades momentum while her mana surrounded the weapons. Her Concept of Swiftness made them even faster, and her Concept of Precision let her move them so accurately that no matter what Carlos tried, she would hit the bullseye.
Three blades went for his eyes, two others for his neck, and the remaining ones toward his center mass, just in case he could dodge somehow.
He didn't; just as the other Pioneers had been too surprised to react to him in time, he was also too surprised to respond to her.
She removed the mana from the blades right before they found purchase in the fool's body; that way, his soul defenses wouldn't stop the weapons' mana, and thus the weapons themselves.
Carlos' E+ scale armor did little to cover his head, which became a cushion and almost fell to the ground. Marzia's knives were moving so fast by then, and their angles were so intent on maximizing damage that they went cleanly to the other side, and blood flowed as the eighteen-year-old's head was left hanging by a few muscles and some skin.
Regardless of the outcome of her counterattack, Marzia was already crouching and pulling.
The thick metal plates she had left under the table surrounded her in a ball. Then, she filled the metal with her mana and the Concept of Security.
Mere instants later, bullets and spells hit it, their sound deafening inside the ball. Suddenly, something hit it so hard that it was thrown firmly against the wall.
In the chaos of being thrown around, she still managed to smile.
During the tutorial, Marzia quickly saw through the foolery of most people's chosen elements. Maybe far ahead, they would be able to create flames that would stop bullets, but until then, they would be vulnerable. As for dealing with gravity or more abstract Concepts, it was for geniuses—what did humanity even know about magic gravity?
Therefore, the best choice was to use a suitable material —something that existed and was around instead of being conjured—to minimize one's willpower expenditure and maximize their defensive and attacking potential.
By the time earth mages were halfway through building their shelters, she was already covered by her thick metal plates. When ice mages were halfway through making their ice spikes, she was already beheading them.
That meant she had to spend resources on purchasing material or tools, but it gave her a significant edge in the short run. As for the long run, she would worry about that after she survived the immediate dangers of a magic-filled world.
"Teleport me and the three Pioneers around me to the Human Rising Star," she ordered the system.
Teleporting other people through the system was only possible for those within a short range around her. Whoever she trusted and couldn't bring with her had long been warned to not be around when the time came.
| Purchased: Instant Teleportation — Same Planet
| No teleportation relays found near your or the target location. Costs increased.
| Teleportation started.
| Maiden Title detected. B-rank privilege engaged. No AP deducted.
White light surrounded her, and then she was gone with her people.