Maxine watched on from the starship''s porthole as Horatio Quay was setting up a very specific formation array on Pluto. He had been working on it for the past few hours and was nearing completion. It still surprised her how quickly he assembled such a complicated formation array.


    She pulled her gaze off of Pluto and glanced up to see the small speck across from her that was Rigel Draken''s ship. Both Rigel and Alistair Draken were on that ship. It''s a good thing that Rigel Draken asked his cousin to leave Earth before he did anything stupid. He was quite literately ten miles away from the Levings household with clear malicious intentions when he was told to leave Earth. Although, I would''ve stopped him before he could do anything and it would''ve given me an excellent guinea pig for my poison.


    [What do you believe your chances are?] Guan asked via spiritual sense.


    [Good enough,] Maxine answered.


    [Just be careful,] Guan said, [He''s wearing the very best armor available and has the best weapons for a gold stage cultivator. He''s even wearing several life-saving treasures as well as a few offensive treasures.]


    [He probably purchased all of that with his own wealth. Otherwise, the governing AI wouldn''t have allowed it,] Maxine pointed out, [If he doesn''t want to face me in a fair contest of skill, I''ll just avoid close combat. It''s too bad that they won''t allow me to use anymore than four of my pre-made constructs.] Which suits me just fine if I''m being honest with myself. I''ve wanted to test out a few new battle tactics and Rigel Draken is just the unfortunate soul that is my unknowing guinea pig. I doubt that I will get to test all of them though. The recordings of his combat prowess from a few decades ago leave much to be desired. He shouldn''t last very long even if his skill level jumped dramatically. The problem is that he relies too much on the strength of his body and less on his skill. The biggest issue that I''ll have to face is the reach of his preferred weapon, a spear, but I''m not going to fight up close like I usually do anyways. So, that shouldn''t be that big of a problem.


    [That it is,] Guan agreed as he suddenly appeared next to Maxine, [Now, let me see this poison of yours.]


    [Sure, here you go,] Maxine said as she retrieved a single vial of her poison and handed it to Guan, [What do you think?]


    Guan examined the vial for a few seconds before he answered, [I see you took into consideration his poison resistant physiology by using your venom as a base. In turn, that makes it extremely difficult to formulate an antidote and I see you''ve also added several of Earth''s unique flora to the mix. That will make it even harder for any alchemist to make an antidote for it. I imagine that it would take my peers a handful of years to figure out how to even partially remove this from his system. And if I''m not mistaken, the effect is to completely paralyze his body, spiritual sense and energy. He''d be lucky if he could move his eyes. Might I ask why you chose that particular effect?]


    [Dragonkin are so very proud of their powerful bodies, so imagine how horrifying it would be for that very body to be rendered useless,] Maxine explained, [The indignity of it all to need to be bathed, clothed and tended to around the clock by beings you see as inferior. He will become a living example of why anyone shouldn''t commit any slaughter of nearly extinct sapient beings ever again while I''m still around.]


    [Indeed,] Guan said in an approving tone, [I''ll leave you to prepare for the battle and if you want any advice, simply ask.]


    [Thanks, daddy, but I''ve already have a few tactics prepared in advance,] Maxine said confidently.


    [Good to hear, but you should still be careful,] Guan said calmly, [I''ll leave you to your preparations.]


    Maxine didn''t reply as she went over several tactics that she could use as Horatio Quay applied the finishing touches to the formation array covering Pluto. When it looked like he was nearly finished, she stood up and made her way to the airlock. Just as she reached it, she received a message on her communication disc to make her way to the battleground. They don''t waste time. I best get out there. OH! I nearly forgot! She swiftly put on a breathing mask before stepping into the airlock and letting herself into space.


    Maxine allowed herself to float for a moment and proceeded to head towards Pluto. She spotted Rigel Draken wearing all sorts of armor. I see daddy wasn''t kidding when he said the creep was wearing a bunch of life-saving treasures.


    [Well, look at you. You''re wearing enough defensive equipment for three people,] Maxine stated to Rigel Draken via spiritual sense, [Meanwhile, I''m practically naked in comparison. If I didn''t know any better, I would think that you''re afraid of me.]


    [I do not fear you,] Rigel Draken replied simply.


    [The five life-saving treasures that you''re wearing say otherwise,] Maxine pointed out as the both of them landed on Pluto roughly two hundred meters from each other, [Although, those are just the ones that I can see. There are probably others that I can''t.] With a thought, Maxine began expanding her shadow outwards. I wonder if he realizes that I''m just messing with him to buy enough time to set up my assault. I''m actually surprised he didn''t attack me right off the bat. Did he not notice? Or perhaps he noticed and is letting me prepare?


    [Just because you can''t afford such things doesn''t mean that you can call me a coward,] Rigel Draken said calmly. She knew he was trying to mock her, but she really didn''t care.


    [It''s not that I can''t afford it. It''s that I''m fast enough to avoid most attacks that you could throw at me,] Maxine replied calmly while lifting up her upper right arm to show off a bracelet, [But I do understand that I can''t dodge everything. That''s why I have a life-saving treasure of my own.] Not that I''ll need it if he intends to keep talking.


    [Enough!] Rigel Draken shouts, [Let''s get this over with.]


    [Very well,] Maxine said as she fell backwards into her shadow and created dozens of her ''manic kamikazi'' fairy constructs to rush him. They were only a foot tall, but appeared to have two bandoliers of dynomite strapped in an X shaped pattern across their chest with a deranged expression on their faces.


    Rigel Draken was stunned for only a moment before retreating a few steps and stabbing out with his spear when one came into range. Unfortunately, for him, that''s what she wanted him to do as the first one detonated with enough explosive force throw him off balance long enough for the remaining kamikazi faeries to hug tackle him. One of them gave him a quick peck on his armored cheek before all of them exploded. From within the shadow, she could see a small mushroom cloud rising up from where he had been standing, but she could sense that he took almost no damage from that attack. No surprise there. Although, if he were not armored, I imagine he would be in quite a bit of pain.


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    A pulse of energy cleared the smoke cloud from around Rigel Draken as he looked around wildly for Maxine. He froze when eleven of Maxine''s shadow clones seemed to form out of the shadows surrounding him and all of them were wielding two blades each. As one, they charged at him and nimbly evaded his spear as he stabbed and swiped at them. Within moments, her shadow clones got close enough to hit him, but since he was so heavily armored, none of the strikes injured him.


    While he was distracted by her clones, she created a single essence shard and dipped it into a vial of poison before getting positioning herself within the shadows covering the ground. She waited for a few moments for an opening before throwing her essence dart at a weak point of his armor in the armpit. It was one of the hardest parts of the human body to effectively armor. Unfortunately, he moved at the last second and it deflected harmlessly off of his armor. There goes my chance for an easy win. And I can''t use any more sneak attacks like that since he''ll be on guard for them. No matter. It gives me a chance to try something else.


    Rigel Draken retaliated ferociously with a barrage of spear energy aimed at each of her shadow clones. Three of them popped out of existence when they took a lethal wound while the remaining ones evaded his counter attack. With a thought, Maxine replaced her destroyed shadow clones and sent them out to continue to harass him. While she could use this method to wear him down, she had other plans. So, did Rigel Draken for that matter. He was constantly on the move and shifting his stance to avoid being locked down like he had before. Unfortunately for him, it held no bearing on her next tactic since she designed it for a more mobile adversary.


    She waited for a few moments to see if there was any pattern to his movements. Sadly, there was no pattern. It was a sign that he had seen a lot of combat against many opponents or had a lot of training to fight against groups. He doesn''t want to get surrounded by my shadow clones. Smart. And those random movements ensure that no one can predict where he''ll be to perform a sneak attack against him. It makes me wonder how he''ll handle what comes next.


    Maxine smiled as hundreds of shadow tendrils erupted out of the ground and tried to latch onto Rigel Draken while he was fending off her shadow clones. This new variable in their fight made him surprised him for a single moment and that was all she needed to wrap his arms and legs with many shadow tendrils.


    He swiftly used another barrage of spear energy projected in every direction in an attempt to free himself. Sadly, his efforts were barely more than a mild hindrance. Her shadow tendrils were thin enough that his strikes either missed or only lightly damaged them. It only took a thought to repair them. Matters became worse for him when her shadow clones tackled him to the ground so more of her shadow tendrils could latch onto him. Within a handful of seconds, he was immobilized. Still, she was reluctant to approach him. She had seen him unleash his spear energy in every direction like a nova without any kind of movement. While such an attack was relatively weak, it could still give her some nasty wounds if she was close enough.


    [Maxine Cinderson, you''ve clearly defeated my cousin. Release him,] Alistair Draken demanded.


    [No,] Maxine answered simply and created a tiny spider construct roughly the same size as a black widow. Next, she opened up the poison vial and had the spider dip it''s fangs in the substance before it skittered off towards Rigel Draken. It climbed into a tiny gape in his armor and found an exposed part of his skin near his neck and bit down. Within seconds, his struggling within her shadow tendrils weakened. After a full minute, he had stopped moving entirely and she released him as she rose out of the shadows near his feet.


    [What did you do to me?] Rigel Draken asked weakly.


    [I poisoned you,] Maxine simply stated, [A poison of the non-lethal variety to be specific, but believe me when I tell you that you would''ve preferred a slow agonizing death. In fact, I''m surprised you can even use your spiritual sense at all. That poison was supposed to completely paralyze it along with the rest of your body. And before you call me a cheater, I made sure that non-lethal poisons were allowed for this duel, but they made the mistake of not specifying that the effects had to be short term. The effect on mine is permanent.]


    [Coward,] Rigel Draken growled at Maxine.


    [Call me what you want, but I still win,] Maxine said smugly and she took on a more sinister tone, [And you''re going to live a nice ''long'' life, even if I have to pay a fortune for it to happen.] Oddly, he didn''t reply, but she could sense his anger and fear. Oh, it seems my poison has finally taken full effect. Thankfully, he did acted exactly as I expected him to and relied on brute force rather than skill to face me. Although, he did put a pretty good fight against my shadow clones and they were only able to inflict shallow strikes against him.


    [Please, show mercy!] Alistair Draken begged Maxine, [Let my cousin live.]


    [I never intended to kill him,] Maxine replied, [However, I think he would prefer death in a few months.]


    [Thank you,] Alistair Draken said as he landed next to Rigel Draken, [What''s wrong with him? Why doesn''t he answer when I talk to him?]


    [He can''t so long as he''s under the effect of my poison. You need to probe more deeply into his mind to hear his answers,] Maxine replied, [As for what the poison does specifically, you''ll have to ask him yourself. I hate explaining things twice. Also, I''ve already prepared a medical team on my homeworld for him. They''ll attend to his every need while you look for suitable caretakers for your cousin. If there is nothing else, I have other duties that I need to attend to. Farewell.] Maxine didn''t give him a chance to reply as she opened up a portal and walked through it to return to her ship. I don''t actually have anything else to do today, but I just didn''t want to stay there while he begged me for an antidote that doesn''t exist.


    She quickly made her way to where Reena was waiting. She had insisted that the young hydrakin be able to see the unfolding events. She needed to seem me punish that asshole. Now, I just hope that she listens to what I have to say before she gets angry with me.


    As soon as Maxine walked into the room that Reena was in, she received an angry glare from Reena. "Why did you let him live?" Reena asked angrily. Lucas was sitting nearby and Guan was hanging out in a corner just out of Maxine''s line of sight.


    "Because it wouldn''t balance the scales of your pain or the harm that he has caused," Maxine answered, "If you hadn''t noticed, he didn''t leave under his own power. In fact, I''ll be amazed if he''ll ever move again without assistance."


    Reena looked confused, but still angry, before she asked, "What do you mean?"


    "I poisoned him with a unique and very potent paralytic," Maxine replied, "He can feel every sensation on his body while his ability to move is gone. He can''t use his spiritual sense or energy either. His body is now his prison and he shall remain that way unless he can find an alchemist near daddy''s level willing to spend a few years, most likely decades, to formulate a cure for him." Or until someone does the merciful thing by killing him.


    "And it would be ruinously expensive to do so," Guan chimed in, "A cost that I doubt his clan is willing to pay I might add. It would be far cheaper to hire some caretakers for him until he dies of old age and that''s if they don''t kill him outright. Although, that is highly unlikely since Maxine has made it clear she wants him to live a long life."


    "Wait, how did she do that?" Reena asked in less anger and more confusion.


    "By preparing a medical team for Rigel Draken," Guan answered, "While it is a subtle approach, the message is still clear."


    "Oh," Reena said, "Is making him like that really that bad?"


    "Yes," Maxine said firmly, "Yes, it is. It would be a living nightmare for anyone. In fact, I''m hard pressed to think of a crueler punishment for someone like him." Being unable to move, soiling myself on a daily basis, and the general inability to socialize would start to drive me crazy after a few days. As for Rigel Draken, I imagine he''ll be a raving lunatic after a month of that. At which point, it would be considered a mercy to kill him and his family will be reluctant to perform such a deed.


    "Fine," Reena huffed as she crossed her arms.


    "Now, let''s go home," Maxine said as she held out her hand towards Reena, "If I recall correctly, mom is making an extra large lasagna tonight." Reena seemed to perk up slightly at that and grabbed Maxine''s hand.


    Maxine straightened while holding onto Reena''s hand and opened a portal to home. Lucas and Guan walked through first before Maxine walked through it with Reena. I wonder how long it will take for them to ask for an antidote. I can''t wait to see their reaction when I tell them there isn''t one.