"This never would have happened if Lord Emerson were here," Varis grumbled, his long ponytail whipping around as he flew above a broken highway outside the Sanctuary. Unlike in the city, there weren't corpses on the street or in cars; only dried blood remained from the bodies that animals from the Sanctuary had eaten.
However, it wasn't uninhabited. Large condors, eagles, and pelicans populated the area, flying below the cultivators under the clouds.
"Let it go, Varis." Elsa scoffed, "Few people can match Mary Emerson in battle, let alone people outside our faction. That means that there's a strong chance that she's a deserter or a--"
"Don't say it!" Varis roared, releasing some of the pressure. "Traitor, traitor, TRAITOR! Don't say that word. Major Ramble intentionally charged Private Ryas with treason so we could attack an unconfirmed enemy. It's an egregious set up."
"I'd be careful how you talk." A man with shoulder-length greying hair in a ponytail said. "While we know that you're following the rules, it's hearsay against the word of a major with hundreds following his leadership."
"Che. Whatever, Lieutenant Davis." Varis huffed, falling silent as they flew to their destination.
After ten minutes of flying, the group saw a person flying above the clouds, contrasting against the pure white surroundings. As they approached, they saw a brunette with a braided ponytail that brushed her shoulders and was tied with a blue ribbon.
"Where are they, Private Respie?" Varis asked, approaching.
"Sir!" Rena saluted, "They are walking at mortal speed along the highway just north of us."
The soldiers peeked through the crowd and saw five women. A pink-haired teen was sitting on a man's shoulders, surrounded by two brunettes, a redhead, and a blonde with a pink parasol. They were all giggling except for the pink-haired woman, who was huffing about something with her arms crossed.
They were no longer wearing bikinis, but their attire still went far beyond the moral standards of the Sky Plane. Each wore short shorts that stopped just at their thighs and tank tops. They seemed to be competing to enhance their appearance outside of the public eye.
As alleged, a strange Qi distortion surrounded the group, making it impossible to discern their breathing skill.
"Is there anything that we should know about them?" Varis asked, taking the situation far more seriously than his superior officer.
"Um... possibly," Rena gulped, looking down at the people below. "That man hasn't stopped smiling for three hours despite engaging in strenuous activity. At one point, he had all the women attack him with the pink-haired woman on his shoulders, and he dodged every attack without losing his breath."
The cultivators studied the man for the first time and felt chills when they saw this relaxed smile, seemingly unconcerned with anything as he moved toward the Sanctuary.
"He's also... attractive," Elsa said bluntly, triggering nods from Rena and a blonde on the ground. "The kid's got a harem; do you think he's their leader?"
"Don't be absurd!" Varis scoffed in disdain, "Are you implying that a teen like him could defeat, capture, or convert Lord Emerson?"
"God, you're so sensitive." A black-haired man scoffed, "She's talking about the leader of the mortals, you fool. Stop letting your crush on the on Lord Emerson cloud your judgment; it's getting obnoxious."
The long-haired man calmed down, ignoring the sneering brunette on his side.
"Thank you for the intel, Private Respie," Varis sighed. "In light of the warning, we should proceed cautiously despite their age and status. Regardless of our opinions, Major Ramble has given us orders to interrogate and eliminate the group, and we must follow them."
"Yes, sir!" The group responded in unison before flying below the clouds.
As they approached the group, the six targets stopped walking and looked at the sky with slight smiles. They stood on a road to the Twin Rocks Wildlife Reserve, surrounded by abandoned vehicles and broken glass. Large, empty fields of wild grass and invasive plants sprawled around them, eliminating any hope of cover or visibility.
Despite their poor position, the group was relatively relaxed as the cultivators flew down to them, making the group feel uneasy.
"Oh, good, you came!" the pink-haired woman announced. "We thought you were waiting for a formal invitation to parley. It was problematic, as we lacked baby skin for the letterhead to pay respects to your barbaric sacrifice culture, so I thought we'd be searching for baby goats forever."
A few giggled after her words, making the brunette cultivator heat up angrily.
"Watch your tongue, mortal!" Elsa snapped, "We don't have time to listen to your ignorant ramblings!"
"But you have time to complain about them?" The sexy brunette in the group mused, putting a hand on her hip.
"Who are you?" Varis snapped authoritatively, cutting off his red-faced subordinate. "I suggest you answer our questions."
"Or what?" The leader asked, gently helping the pink-haired teen off his shoulders. "Pray tell, what will you do to us if we refuse your queries?"
A full-face twitch temporarily masked the cultivator's vision, shutting his right eye. "You insolent insects."
Without warning, he released the full power of his cultivation base, causing his soldiers to gasp for breath. However, to their horror, the situation did not turn out as expected.
"How are you still standing?" Varis gasped in shock, noticing that only the blonde holding the parasol winced under his pressure. Far from being affected, the pink-haired woman yawned while the brunette with a wavy bob cut examined her professionally polished fingernails.
"That question and expression pair completes this scene perfectly." The wavy-haired brunette smirked, triggering smiles from the other women aside from the mysterious blonde, who was visibly sad and conflicted.
"Counter question." The pink-haired teen followed, "Why is it that you people could survive for centuries in the Sky Plane, accumulating knowledge and experience, only to act so stupidly on Earth?
I mean, I get it, weak mortals, finally the strongest for once, blah, blah, just like that, don't stop, ego-ego sploosh, but come on togey--your people are going missing in the Meridian Triangle, and you're still acting like a t-bone steak in a dog house."
"Kiera, how many times must I tell you?" The black-haired teen asked, "You cannot let your tongue slip until you're strong enough to defeat everyone in the group you're speaking to and their backers. Your habits today will reflect your future actions."
"But I'm not just running my mouth, Kazey," Kiera countered, with her cheeks puffed out, "We're about to initiate negotiations with the Skythenians. To do that, they need to drop that tacky [flying sky god] complex. It's the leading cause of cultivator deaths in the Mortal Realm."
Kaze opened and closed his mouth, thinking before speaking. While he would usually demonstrate overwhelming force before entering negotiations, his partners couldn't do that. "If you must satirize your enemies' actions, do so without parody or combative language."
The cultivators listened to the exchange in bewilderment. They were confused and didn't dare act rashly after seeing them have a conversation under a Heaven Realm cultivator's base pressure.
"Did you say you're here to negotiate?" Varis asked with narrowed eyes. "As in, make a deal?"
"Is there an alternate meaning of that phrase?" Kaze asked mockingly. "Or do you just seek to waste our time because you lack the confidence to proceed?"
His statement made the cultivator's body temperature rise to an uncomfortable level.
"We should teach these runts a lesson!" Elsa scoffed angrily, "While their strength is unknown, they cannot fly and lack battle experience. We're soldiers of the Killian Empire; we shouldn't allow anyone to trample on our reputation!"
"We're killing them anyway." The black-haired man said, "So we only need to leave one alive to--"
"GahHHHhHhHhhHh!"
CRaaaCK! Crash! Thud, crack, THUD!
All the cultivators felt a painful force assaulting their meridians, triggering their fight-or-flight responses and stopping them from flying to prevent harm, leading to them crashing into cars, shuttles, and trucks below.
"What did you say about flying?" Kiera smirked, her arm extended and holding an invisible dial cranked to seven o'clock.
"Kiera!" Kaze snapped, "We agreed; you're not to alter the flow of Qi in the general atmosphere, only to alter attacks. It could harm you and the others."
"It's only for a moment!" She argued. "If we didn't do something, they would've flown around attacking us, and then it'd be no dice on the negotiation front."
"Be that as it may, your antagonizing led to premature breakdown." He replied coldly, "You must learn to negotiate more tactfully when the situation calls for it."
"Sorry, Kazey...." Kiera said with a wry, downcast smile.
"W-What was that!?" Elsa screamed, standing and looking across the road at the group. "What did you just do!? Tell me before I kill you all!"
"Unbelievable," Kaze's cheek twitched, and he turned to her with a vicious gaze that froze her movements. "I just finished rebuking my partner for her dangerous lack of tact not a moment ago, yet you have the temerity to demand answers from the woman who sent you crashing to the earth?"
The brunette took a sharp breath, feeling an icy chill freeze her bones. "I only seek answers; if you seek to negotiate, attack the other party--"
"Kneel." The emperor ordered frigidly, holding his finger and thumb together.
SNAP!
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