The cultivators turned to the blonde under the parasol. Her disguise was flawless; her oval face was round, her hair was blonde, and her skin was pale. Combined with Earthling clothing and a frilly purple dress, she looked like a princess instead of a cultivator.
However, her voice, teary eyes, and plea did not betray the private that they had come to know.
"Yes...." Amy hesitantly said after Kaze nodded, "I'm Private Ryas. While investigating the birds' disappearance, Emperor--"
"Did you just call him emperor?" Varis chuckled ominously, looking at the ground with madness swirling in his eyes.
"Y-Yes." Amy replied painfully, "I--"
"SHUT UP, PRIVATE!" Varis roared, "I defended you! Not just this week but for years, constantly praising your never-ending loyalty despite your frail timidity and low performance.
Then you disappear for two days, and return leading enemies to our base in a fucking dress!? Must you flaunt your bribed betrayal!?"
"C-Captain, you're considering the same offer." Amy argued.
"There's a difference between being forced into submission and gladly joining!" Varis snapped viciously, "Even if I accept, I refuse to sing the enemy's praises in flashy clothing as I lead them to slaughter my comrades!"
The woman turned red with shame, and she looked at the ground.
"I had no choice at first." Amy explained quietly, "However, seeing how Emperor Lexicon treats his people made me realize how horrible the Killian Faction treats us.
Under Emperor Lexicon's authority, every subject has a peak sky-grade technique. He teaches free classes for all and paid classes for the talented.
A-And he's kind! His people are all happy! No one called me weak or berated me for being poor and lacking resources; they're giving me a genuine shot!"
Varis, Rena, Brandon, and Zoe were stunned. She sounded like a rambling lunatic.
"How do we know your words aren't a just a ruse?" Brandon asked calmly.
Snap!
Kaze snapped his fingers, and the visual distortion around the group disappeared, removing the barriers to seeing their breathing patterns. "See for yourself."
Understanding the meaning behind his statement, they activated vision techniques.
"H-How did you...." Varis stammered, looking at the private in disbelief, "Heaven... how?"
Not only was it a heaven-grade technique, but they could also tell it rivaled Major Ramble's technique just from the circulation alone!
"Emperor Lexicon gave me a heaven-grade technique to help me do my job better!" Amy announced with vitality, "He didn't give me a weak technique and then spend half a century berating me for low performance!"
Varis realized how twisted his thinking was in retrospect. If he truly wanted to defend her, he could have given her one of his many sky-grade techniques--but he didn't.
"C-Captain, Ryas isn't important," Zoe stuttered. "Look around you."
Varis's eyes widened in shock when he saw the emperor breathing. "H-How is your body breathing like that passively?"
Kaze appeared to be showering at first glance, with Qi descending on top of his head and washing over his face and neck fluidly. However, once the Qi rolled over his shoulders, it created a complex network between the 319 acupuncture points on his arms, legs, back, and abdomen. It was so fluid and refined that he looked like he had veins outside his body!
Cultivators spent centuries learning to connect all 361 points in closed cultivation. However, Kaze did it with ultimate precision while casually conversing! It was the most absurd thing he--
"What the fuck!?" Varis yelled impulsively. A single look at Kiera shattered the hypnotic spell, making him feel physically ill. "What the hell are you!?"
"Rude much?" Kiera huffed, "I get that your meridians would suffer a train wreck if they did this, but come on, you look like you saw a camel spider fucking a potato. If this were a fight, I'd be practicing slip-knots on your femoral artery with all the extra time you're giving me."
"How can you criticize him?" Zoe laughed, "You're absorbing Qi against your body's energy flow! It's difficult to concentrate when you're expecting someone to rupture any second from now!"
Kiera had two meridian channels moving to her dantians, one rotating clockwise and the other counterclockwise. Since her meridians could accept from both sides, she rotated Qi in a three-dimensional figure-eight called a [lemniscate], fluidly switching between the two rotations. On the clockwise rotation, she accepted Qi from the top of her limbs; on the counterclockwise, from the bottom.
It was spellbinding and mesmerizing to watch, like an intricate dance of energy that flowed effortlessly through her body.
However, a normal cultivator's meridian channels would explode if they accepted Qi counterclockwise. So it was unnerving to watch, similar to seeing someone driving on the wrong side of a highway!
"Just watching it is making me queasy," Zoe remarked, her insides twisting.
Snap!
The pink-haired teen snapped her fingers, and a tiny oxygen bubble exploded in front of the woman's eye.
"AGH!" Zoe cried, gripping her eye and falling back.
"If you can't handle the sight, don't look, Lazy Tits." Kiera huffed, "You, too."
Snap! Snap! Snap!
"AGhhHHhHHhHHhhHHhH!"
Varis, Brandon, and Rena tried to react, but the same thing happened. Worse, before they could counterstrike or run, a mixture between gravity and an invisible force gripped their bodies.
"I should let my partner blind you for insulting her so brazenly." Kaze declared chillingly, "However, I will spare you from that fate if you stop wasting our time. Now let's continue; are you satisfied with the proof behind Ms. Ryas' claims?"
"I think I speak for all of us when I say it was sufficient." Brandon swallowed nervously, "If I may ask, what are your motivations?"
"We wish to live a peaceful life for forty years." The emperor claimed brazenly, releasing the pressure on them, "After which time, we will ascend to the Sky Plane, seize Killian's Empire and dissolve the Reto Alliance."
While the cultivators were stunned by the emperor's arrogant words, it was hard to find his words baseless.
"Will you spare our families even if they oppose you?" Brandon asked discerningly. "Surely, you understand that you cannot waltz into the Sky Plane without mass resistance."
"You needn't worry." Kaze smiled. "We will do so while limiting bloodshed, as they stand no hope of victory."
"Will you also give us techniques if we join?" Rena asked bluntly. "Or was that bait?"
"Do you think I'm here to attract talent?" The emperor scoffed mockingly, "Join us or die by my partners' hands: those are your two options. The benefits of joining a perks not compensation, and I refuse to reward people for having common sense."
The brunette took a sharp breath when she remembered that the benefits were just chasers to help them swallow the bitter pill. "Understood."
"I don't want to die." Zoe swallowed nervously. "So I'll join you. I can do that without them, right?"
"Correct." Kaze smiled, motioning for the blonde to walk to his side.
"I'll join you, too." Rena said boldly, stunning Varis. "I won't waste anyone's time by agonizing over an ultimatum. I'll kill myself later if I regret my decision."
"That's logical." Brandon said, turning to his captain, "Captain Hood, please consider it. If he speaks the truth, he's asking for desertion not betrayal. If he breaks his word, you can kill yourself then rather than die needlessly now."
Varis' eyes trembled, considering his position. He was a loyalist to the core, putting his country first. However, if the emperor was telling the truth, he was running to his death for very little.
Wait! He wasn't a loyalist out of duty, and he didn't care about Andrew Killian, the war, or the empire.
His motivation for fighting...
His reason for staying...
His drive to fight...
His loyalty...
All of it...
Mary.
That's right! Varis had nearly forgotten why he joined the military: to be near Mary Emerson! Cultivation Lord Emerson, the tenth strongest of the Killian Army: his idol.
He was on the Mortal Plane to find her--how did he forget!? What if he had chosen to join, and then Mary turned up later to oppose him? An icy chill crawled down his spine just thinking about it!
Or, maybe she had joined Kaze! That would be a boon if it were true! Car is could start near her rank since the army was small! Just the thought of it felt intoxicating. He had to verify!
"Your offer is enticing, and I'm willing to consider it." The captain announced. "However, I have one question."
"And that is?" Kaze asked dryly.
"A blonde cultivator came to the Mortal Plane with a group of high-level cultivators a few weeks back," Varis explained. "Her name is Mary Emerson. Where is she right now?"
The emperor's eyes sharpened and his face became stern alongside his partners, all visibly disgusted by the woman's mention. Their reaction multiplied the atmospheric pressure, and an uncomfortable breeze of anxious emotions brushed past the cultivators' skin, giving them goosebumps.
"Mary Emerson attempted to massacre my people without reason or provocation." Kaze replied callously, "So I killed her and all of her soldiers."
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