Playboy Cultivator in the Apocalypse

"This was all planned from the beginning?" Sage asked wryly.

"Yes." He replied coolly, "Major Grace has information on our enemy's larger forces and influences nearly three-fourths of the Sky Plane soldiers in a 300-mile radius. Persuading her into passivity could unravel the entire operation.

If she were a cultivation lord, we would have ambushed her. However, she wasn't--she posed no real threat to our forces, so attempting to pacify her was the rational option for long-term survival. Crux, General Michaels, and Veronica agree, so stop acting like you're rational."

Boom, boom, boom-boom-boom!

"I said they'd attack." The redhead growled, her eyebrow twitching to the cadence of the ironic backdrop, "And unless you're deaf--"

"Major Grace didn't place an attack order--she tried to prevent it." Jake scoffed. "That's a fact. I know because, while you were throwing a fit, I had operatives bug the bathroom and mine information from the cultivators. Her team must have come to rescue her ahead of schedule."

"Why didn't you tell me any of this!?" Sage seethed, feeling humiliated.

"For the same reason Emperor Lexicon didn't give you the new report on the enemy forces--you're dangerous." Jake declared chillingly, "Your 'massacre when the enemy is weak' mindset proves that."

"I'm a cabinet member--you people can't just withhold information from the leadership like this." She fumed, "Withholding information from those in power is irresponsible."

"Is that what you think?" Jake smiled sarcastically, "Emperor Lexicon agrees with Clausewitz that 'war is a continuation of politics by other means.' And he isn't irresponsible enough to give someone like you real power or let them affect war-related policy.

That power you think you have, your post, and your status as a Heaven Realm cultivator--are illusions. You are Emperor Lexicon's subject and my subordinate when he and General Skye are away. That's all you are.

If you don't shut up and follow my orders without question, I'll have Emperor Lexicon cripple your meridians forever. I have that authority, Sage--unlike you, I have real power."

Sage opened and closed her mouth, at a loss for words. However, the regent wasn't paying attention to her reaction; he had better things to do.

SLAM!

Without warning, he slammed the door and charged toward the battle site, praying that the situation was not irreparable.

He was in a foul mood. The concept of senseless massacring without communication made his blood run cold. It made his blood boil when cultivators did it; hearing a fellow college student suggest it without considering the strategic advantages of diplomacy made him feel ill.

To him, it was not just a matter of morality. It was unproductive, meaningless, insignificant, senseless, valueless, fruitless, barren, futile--and vain.

Jake breathed smoke as he ran through thousands of soldiers just north of the training grounds, releasing his cultivation base to force people out of his way. It created a domino effect of falling Immortals, breaking their uneasy stillness as they listened to an altercation.

"This is our problem, so stay the fuck out of it!" A vicious female snarled, "Wait until I kill this traitorous bitch, and I'll come quietly. If you don't, I'll kill a hundred or more of you before you kill me!"

He pushed to the front and saw Major Reed standing ten paces from Roxy, who had a hole in her stomach, bleeding profusely. The brutish blonde had blood on her hands, surrounded by soldiers and Immortals showing hostile intent. Some were bloody and injured; others were healthy and furious.

It was a volatile situation. However, he had already pushed his limits of tact and lacked the patience for diplomacy.

"No, it's my problem." Jake declared chillingly. "If you don't stop what you're doing and tell me what's happened so far, I'll publicly draw and quarter you to prove that there are more effective means of obtaining total control!"

Looking closely, one could see that Major Reed had spellbinding eyes. They looked like a master wood maker had milled them from aged mahogany and varnished them for a rich, glossy color. The color blended perfectly with her dirty blonde hair and light skin, making them stand out as a focal point.

Their potential for beauty helped express the murderous wrath and ire burning in her heart as she stared down Roxy Grace. It told a beautiful, destructive story.

However, when Jake declared he'd draw and quarter her publicly, her pupils shrunk to the size of pins, and the iris started shaking, giving her a horrifyingly crazed appearance. "Hah... haha... hahahaha!"

Major Reed turned to the regent with a feral grin befitting a zealot child after killing their first heathen. "And who the fuck might you be?"

"I'm someone that doesn't have the patience to wait for answers." He reiterated, looking at the bloody cultivators, a few dozen injured Immortals, and collapsed towers in the backdrop. "So tell me--has anyone died on either side?"

After hearing the concern for her side, her pupils dilated partially, and her head twitched, fighting against the insanity in her eyes. She examined him for the first time and chuckled ominously. "Oh, you... hahahaha...."

"What?" Jake asked coldly.

"You're strong, but you don't have the eyes of a killer." Major Reed grinned madly. "That tells me you're a smart, good-hearted kid who got lucky in life--and that you're bluffing. I admire that.

But here's the thing, kid--I was your antithesis by the time I learned to speak. So if you intervene with me killing this traitorous bitch, I'll likely rip out your throat to prove I'm irrational, evil, and not bluffing. Do you--"

The blonde abruptly stopped talking when Jake rushed her. As a peak Heaven Realm cultivator, she found him moving at a 'regular' pace, so she skillfully stepped out of the way and reflexively backhanded him with her fist, sending him flying into the northside wall.

At least, that's what should have happened.

Despite Jake's relatively slow speed, he ducked the back fist with eerily anticipatory movements and lurched forward with a right hook. His fighting was comically unprincipled and usually wasn't dangerous to someone like her; however, he caught her so off-guard that his fist flew through her defenses and crashed into her jaw.

BOOM! Boom, boom! Thud, thud, thud....

The woman crashed through a group of Heaven Realm cultivators like a bowling ball, hitting the ground and rolling.

"You fucking punk!" Major Reed seethed murderously, pulling her head up and preparing to charge at ghostly speed. She knew his speed; it wouldn't be a match--it'd be an execution.

However, her plans were cut short by a haunting chorus of shrieking wind, cutting through the atmosphere like a banshee, followed by savage gusts that forced her eyes shut. In the darkness, she could hear panic and disorder everywhere.

Major Reed knew the sound of [magnetism] anywhere--it was the sound of attracting and cycling unprocessed Qi to fuel an attack. It was the primary defining feature that separated heaven techniques from all others.

It was also what triggered the barrier to snuff out her attacks.

"Major attacks shouldn't be possible!" She growled, jumping up and thrusting her hand forward, "Please work--Heavenly Shield!"

The action warped the atmosphere around here, and a massive, crest-like shield materialized. She immediately dug it into the Earth, ripping apart the soil as the wind blew it backward.

Heavenly Shield was a fortification-type evocation technique that attracted elemental Qi from the environment, refining and shaping it into a solid object. Due to its raw energy and curvature, she could shape it into something that could survive a ballistic missile. However, she was barely trying to hold on.

Without pause, Major Reed swung out her hand and created a bolt of raw Qi that looked like a Guided Arrow but had a refined shape. Wind accumulated around it, adroitly rotating at a pace that wouldn't trigger the barrier. It was a brutal weapon compared to a guided arrow, something fit for Achilles at the battle of Troy.

The brutish blonde did everything in less than a second, showcasing her raw talent, experience, and skill as a peak Heaven Realm cultivator. She looked up to face her threat only once she had protection and a weapon.

When Major Reed saw it, she felt like someone had stabbed her intestines with a massive fork and twisted it. A chaotic vortex of wind with the diameter of a train tunnel was formed in front of Jake, making it impossible for her to see him. Around it, people had chained together to prevent getting sucked into the cyclone.

At that moment, she realized that the person she was dealing with wasn't normal, and her troops were in a grave situation.

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