Kaze chuckled in amusement at the black-haired woman's strange attire. "I thought I had seen everything, but a divine beast in a frog hoodie is a first."
The woman's face turned bright red.
"Hold your tongue, mortal!" She snapped in embarrassment, "Don't judge me for wearing the cultural garments of these uncouth creatures when I have no alternative."
He looked down at his high-class fashion and then at her green, knee-length frog hoodie and dad shoes with a mocking smile. "You treat it as if it were all equal."
The woman growled in disdain and looked at him from top to bottom in confusion.
"Who are you?" She asked pensively, "You're not who I thought you were, but you're not a normal human either."
"Hoh? Who did you think me to be?" Kaze mused, "I didn't think there to be people of value on Earth."
Her eyes narrowed in confusion.
"I asked you a question first." She said coldly, "Are you not civilized enough to refrain from answering questions with questions of your own?"
"I neither lack courtesy nor intelligence." Kaze smiled, "The latter takes precedent; surely you do not believe I'd disclose my identity to a Sky Plane royal freely, do you?"
Her amethyst eyes narrowed. "You speak confidently for someone who knows what I am."
"It's normally a sign that the person is both capable and dangerous." Kaze smiled, "Would you like to test me?"
"No. I only want your name, nothing more." She replied dryly, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, "Give me that, and I will leave, as I do not seek hostility."
"Do you take me for a fool?" He scoff-laughed in disdain, "Cultivators are triggering this apocalypse, seeking to farm us for an unknown purpose, yet you're claiming that you do not seek hostility?"
He shook his head quickly in disbelief. "Are you mad?"
The woman's face heated up. She couldn't figure out why she was so flustered around him, but it annoyed her.
"I'm here searching for someone, not for you or to do recruitment." She said, "If I were, I would have killed you for your sketchy degree of knowledge and power on Earth.
I only seek your name so that I can continue my search."
"Hoh? You do not know the appearance of the person you seek?" He asked seriously.
Her eyes trembled for a moment, and she turned away. "It's complicated."
Kaze narrowed his eyes in interest. While he complained, his name had no value yet, so he fed his curiosity.
"Alright, I'll humor you." He smiled, "My name is Kaze Lexicon."
Her eyes flashed with a bloodthirsty gaze. "Where is he, mortal!?"
"Do you believe me a melodramatic kidnapper boasting of his crimes without an ask for ransom?" Kaze asked in perplexion.
The woman's eyes briefly glowed before she disappeared from her location.
"Speak!" She yelled, appearing before him with her hand moving for his throat.
Before she connected, he dodged at ghostly speed, and she felt his hand grabbing the nape of her neck. Her eyes trembled in primal panic and confusion.
"My name is Kaze Lexicon, you fool!" Kaze snapped, "I doubt there is another, so do not attempt to kill he whom you seek."
She slid her arms into the green hoodie, releasing his hand and dropping to the ground naked, save her shoes. It revealed her fluffy black cat ears and matching colored tail.
"How troublesome." He scoffed, throwing the green hoodie into a warp gate, sending it flying into the distance, "I'll make this woman wear this damn hoodie as penance."
The moment her feet touched down, her body transformed into a massive black panther, fifteen feet tall and thirty feet across.
Her vibrant amethyst eyes glowed slightly before the light bent like a glowstick in the night, leaving after-trails in its wake.
CRAAAAASSH!
The building's lower windows exploded when the shadow cat jumped on them to gain leverage to attack Kaze.
BOOOOOM!
To her confusion, her attack, which took a fraction of a second, didn't connect. Instead, she crashed to the ground at high force.
Kaze casually created a horizontal warp gate and sent a simple raw Qi attack into it. The other warp gate opened above her head and smashed her down to the earth.
Those in the distance watched in shock as the ground buckled. The barricades to soldiers set up were crushed on contact, and an abandoned humvee got flattened.
Both indicated her size and the power behind Kaze's savage attack.
The panther's eyes trembled for a moment before she jumped to her feet and ran to a nearby building.
Agent Ryker watched the scene in shock. Only moments before, Kaze spoke to a short woman in a green hoodie in a strange language.
Then she defied the laws of physics to transform into his target, attacked the emperor, and smashed into the ground.
However, what shocked him the most was what happened when she reached the building.
It was around 3 pm, and the shadows were dark. The minute the panther touched one, her physical body melted into it.
A second later, multiple panthers shot out of it at Kaze simultaneously.
"Loathsome." Kaze said, clicking his tongue before—
CRAAAAASSH!
He dodged a panther, which flew into the building.
CRAASSH!
Another hopped onto a building and attacked from the side.
A third shot front below him as the two crashed into the building and rebounded.
During the three-pronged attack, her main form moved from the original building to strike.
It was a powerful deception that was ruthlessly effective at killing those ignorant of her powers. However—
BOOOOOOM!
The second her body materialized from the shadow, it crashed into the ground just as before, leaving her dazed. She couldn't believe it—she was 300 feet away!
"Neither of us wishes to hurt each other, Crux!" Kaze yelled, "I am the person which you seek.
So calm down or attack to kill because your passivity is an insult!"
"You're not the person I seek!" Crux yelled, "The person I see is older and doesn't use your strange spatial and blood cultivation techniques!"
"Unbelievable." He scoffed, "Do you think I'd use Exodus Blaze or Harrowing Winds in a place like this? Are you mad, you foolish woman?"
Crux's eyes trembled briefly before glaring at him with icy intent. "I have no idea what those techniques you speak of are!"
Kaze's eyes fixed with vexed bewilderment. "You don't know what my techniques are?
Then why the hell are you declaring my techniques false?"
Her eyes narrowed in anger, frustration, and confusion. "I…."
"The better question is how you know of me." He asked coldly, "I'm an Earthian who has never entered the Sky Plane, yet you seek me here with semi-amnesiac lucidity.
I assure you, Crux. Your knowledge of me is far more arcane than my knowledge of you."
It was perplexing; the emperor had transmigrated into his past body. That was unbelievable.
However, Crux had a dead person's memories from the future.
"You're lying to me." Crux growled in panther form, "The person… from my dreams… was a kind idiot unless provoked, a jokester, pervert, and fool.
He wasn't an arrogant ass spewing pretentious language and making enemies of strangers.
The man fought with raw force because he lacked the finesse you're demonstrating."
"Ah, yes. Now I understand." Kaze smiled mockingly, "I traveled to the Mortal Plane the minute it opened to kidnap the man of your dreams to slight you. Did I catch that correctly?"
Crux's panther eyes glowed bright purple. She opened and closed her mouth multiple times, trying to voice her discontent but falling short of words to stay.
"And this kind, powerful man is supposed to be an Earthian on the Mortal Plane." He chuckled before bursting into laughter.
Her panther face cringed in shame at his ridicule.
"Naturally, I, a man trying to slight you, came here to find such a fantastical being before you could get to him." Kaze laughed, wiping slight tears from his eyes.
"Then I found the man lacking finesse, stole his name, and now I stand before you, tormenting you for no reason. Am I following so far?"
If shadow cats could blush, she would be bright red.
"Oh, yes, I forgot." He laughed heartily, "This person from your dreams doesn't meet you for another 68 years, but you're searching for them and expecting them to look older."
"I-If what you say is true, then why do you know of me?" Crux asked hesitantly, "Why do you know about this history?"
"Because I'm the man of your dreams, Crux." Kaze declared, flashing her a charming smile, "Deny it if you wish, but your heart does not deceive you."
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