Crux's pather eye twitched in vexation after hearing the emperor brazenly declare that he was the man of her dreams with a charming smile. Pun or not, it left her vexed and annoyed.
"Now that you've thoroughly mocked me, can you explain this situation?" The shadow cat growled.
"Nothing about you and the person imprinted on my mind aligns, yet you claim to be one and the same with bold confidence. Will you explain that?"
"Oh, yes." Kaze smiled, "I transmigrated into the past into my old body. Thus, here I am."
"You not only expect me to believe that you returned to the past but also that you returned as a completely different person?" Crux asked in annoyance.
The emperor's laughter ceased, and a sad glint flashed across his eyes.
"I transmigrated four and a half millennia after our last meeting, Crux." He explained calmly, "Naturally, I wouldn't be the same person I was during the Killian War.
Can you explain why you have my friend's memories imprinted on your mind when she died in that war? That's far more absurd than what I've undergone."
Crux's eyes trembled in shock, and her mind waved with mixed signals that sent sharp pains shooting through her brain.
She used her two paws to grab the top of her head.
"Exactly." Kaze said calmly, "We can both agree that our meeting here is unnatural. The question is what you plan to do about it."
Crux lifted her pained head to meet his gaze, studying his facial expressions. "What do you mean, plan to do about it?"
"You came on fool's errand without a plan of what to do once you found me?" Kaze laugh-scoffed in disbelief, "Are you serious?"
"I didn't come here for you." The shadow cat countered, turning away in shame.
"I was summoned to identify unique body types and teach compatible techniques to the administrators.
Teaching Frosted Blades to the administrators triggered a violent wave of deja vu and these memories. So I went looking for you and a woman named Evalyn before returning."
"I see…. Well, if you're searching for Evalyn, she's with me, and you're free to join us." Kaze smiled, "We're partying in the apocalypse, actively avoiding the pointless war that killed both of you."
Crux's eyes widened when she heard that Evalyn was with him. However, his statement caught up to her a moment later.
"You'd ask me to abandon my post, clan, and nobility to party in the Mortal Plane apocalypse?" She laugh-scoffed, looking at him in disbelief, "And casually, too?"
"Why not?" He asked mockingly, "The war ended in a Pyrrhic victory that didn't change anything.
Everything ended up as it was before, albeit with famine, fewer people, and significantly more suffering.
Then the Killian dynasty collapsed when Evalyn seized control and stabilized the Sky Plane.
It was nothing short of pointless. Have enough of your freaky dreams, and you'll come to that conclusion yourself."
Crux's eyes widened in shock and anxiety, and she fell quiet. After a moment of awkward silence, he clapped to get her attention.
"Well, I have my war-free life to enjoy." Kaze smiled, "So, if you're not joining me can we wrap this up?
There's a military unit up there expecting me to kill or negotiate with you, and you have a military unit expecting your return.
If I spend too much time with you, Earthian and Sky Plane militaries will send people to capture or kill me. I'd like to avoid that."
Crux's brain triggered primal panic in her brain. "W-Wait! That's it?"
"What do you mean, [that's it]?" He laugh-scoffed, "I invited you to join me [forever]. If you don't, we have to go our separate ways, yes?
I can't invite this military's enemy and an emissary of my enemy into my home for tea."
Her eyes widened when he said the word [forever] casually. Something about the offer felt extremely attractive, but she didn't even know the guy!
He wasn't even the same person in her dreams; it was absurd!
Crux's panther mouth developed a wry smile after she didn't reject the offer. "You make it sound so simple."
"It is when you're joining the winning side." Kaze smiled. "If you stay, we'll prevent your clan's destruction and fix your reputation once we're forced to ascend."
"Did you just say winning side? As in, you will be the ruler of the Sky Plane?" Crux asked with narrowed eyes.
"Evalyn and I, but yes, that will happen again." Kaze smiled, but his eyes glided to the left, "Oh yes, you weren't alive when Evalyn seized control of the Sky Plane, but that did happen.
So rejoice, knowing that your sacrifice wasn't in vain. You'll have to trust me on that."
Her eyes widened, and her mouth fell open as memories flooded her mind.
"Hoh? Do you remember that you were loyal to Evalyn?" He said gently, "If you look at things from that perspective, going back would be a betrayal, not the other way around."
"I…." Crux whispered in confusion.
"Need to make a decision." Kaze said seriously, "My body and soul will decay if I don't do something, and my way of life will spurn bloodshed if you stick around here aimlessly.
If you want more time deciding, help me clear Manrock Bridge so I can spin it into a blessing for the government. They'll find you a hero."
"Spin it into a blessing?" Crux laughed awkwardly, "You want me to commit mass murder, and you'll make me a hero for it?"
"Of course." Kaze smiled, "Your army brought madness and economic devastation to this world.
Now we're putting the mad out of their misery and bringing economic liberation to Meridian City."
"You're a horrible human being." Crux scoff-laughed in disbelief.
"I prefer the term [benevolent opportunist]." Kaze replied with a charming smile.
"You're not supposed to be proud of that." She laughed in bewilderment.
"If you're discontented, can you kindly attempt to kill me in…." He smiled, pointing to the north, "That direction?
Making you out a villain is equally convenient, as it gives me an excuse to kill cultivators."
The shadow cat's eyes narrowed in partially charmed disgust. "How bad is your soul corruption?"
"Well, if I didn't have five-thousand years of experience, a healing technique, and a spatial technique, I'd have died days ago." Kaze replied with a charming smile.
"Tends to happen when you reap thousands of souls without a soul core."
Crux's eyes widened in shock. "You can't be serious! Are you an idiot!?"
"I prefer the term [highly skilled]." He smiled.
"You're insufferable." The shadow cat scoffed.
"Charming." Kaze smiled.
"Prick." She scoffed.
"Selectively kind." He countered.
"Annoying."
"Consistently right."
"Narcassistic."
"Justifiably confident."
"Reckless."
"Power driven."
"Jester."
"Comically amazing."
"Picking a fight."
"Hoping you'll pretend to fight me."
"I'll kill you."
"Let's see you try. But first...."
Kaze grinned, opened a warp gate, and pulled out a familiar green frog hoodie. Then he threw it into another warp gate, landing on the panther's head.
"If you're not playing the spikey toothed villain, can you play the cute and harmless hero?" He asked with a beaming smile, "The look suits you, regardless."
The shadow cat's amethyst eyes twitched in frustration, but she turned away, shook the hoodie off her head onto the ground, and sighed.
She didn't have a choice if she wanted extra time to decide.
Without her consent, he created a dome barrier around her body, blocking out the world.
"That insufferable man!" Crux cried, indignant that he chose her approach for her.
Regardless, she transformed into her human form again, compressing soul Qi to contain her body in a human form.
While she was 5'2", shorter than average but not tiny, her body was perfectly proportionate and symmetrical. Her lower c-cup breasts were perfectly sized and accentuated her curves.
She stood up barefoot and picked up the green frog hoodie.
It wasn't childish, with small ears on the hood or similar features. However, it had a full textile image imprinted with large eyes on the breasts and a huge smile moving to the seam.
The hood was large, which was necessary to hide her silky, soft black ears with white fluff inside.
Likewise, the body was baggy and low, allowing her to hide her tail. It truly way practical.
Crux looked at it with a wry smile. "I'm glad he saved you."
While Kaze was making fun of her for wearing it, she shamelessly stole it off someone's body in broad daylight because she thought it was cute.
She'd go to hell before she admitted that, however. So she put it on, letting it pass over her curves and drop to her lower thighs.
When it was on, the barrier released instantly. It proved that Kaze was listening in, watching her, or both.
Her face turned bright red, and she glared daggers at him. However, it only made things funnier for Kaze, whose face was scrunched up, attempting not to burst into laughter.
"You fucking asshole!" Crux yelled, running at him at blinding speed.
"Scary." Kaze laughed, "Make sure to catch me so you can beat me up, kay?"
In a fraction of a second, she reached his past location. However, he was already gone, running on a rooftop that he had jumped to at a blinding speed.
"I'm going to kill that man!" The shadow cat screamed, jumping onto the roof and activating a movement technique to speed up.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel