(Your chapter, my liege)

"Y/n! Are you even hearing a word I'm saying?!"

No. No she wasn't.

The young woman didn't turn to look at her mother as she picked up the little white lion plush, giving it a long stare as the woman behind her shouted something.

She didn't hear a word of it. It'd felt like it'd been getting harder and harder to hear ever since her brother had passed... was she that ill?

She'd been instructed to rest, but she didn't want to.
Rest would bring back more painful memories.

'Don't think of that.' she sternly reminded herself as she picked up the sword she used to use for training, tucking it safely in her closet where it would remain until she'd returned from this mission.

"You promised you'd take a break!" the young woman's mother protested frantically, "At this rate, you'll either get yourself killed or... or...!"

"Become stricken with mara? No, I'll be fine." y/n hummed before turning and striding past her mother, the older woman giving her a look of despair as she began to head to the lower level.

"Y/n!" her mother called, "You don't have to go this time! They could send someone else, couldn't they?"

"The little 💩s are my responsibility, I need to go out there and make sure they don't get killed." y/n replied simply with a shrug, "That's that."

She approached the wall where a little memorial had been built for her brother, and the constant feeling of the broken sword burning into her side only seemed to intensify.

Her mother didn't speak, neither of them ever did when they took a moment to say whatever they needed to say to their late family member.

As soon as y/n headed for the door, the woman gazed at her oldest's memorial before hurrying after y/n. Right as she opened the door and began to step out, the woman's mother grabbed her by the hand.

"Please don't go..." she whispered, her voice trembling as y/n kept her eyes ahead, "I can't lose you too!"

Crying. She was crying, wasn't she?
Y/n didn't want to see her cry.

She turned around quickly, pulling her mother closer and into a hug, "I'll come back, I promise. All I'm doing is retrieving a few dumb rookies, and I'll be back." she sighed as her mother began to weep, clinging to her, "Sheesh, not even Jing Yuan is this worried. I'll be fine, I promise!"

"You'd better..." the older woman murmured before looking up to meet y/n's gaze, it hurt to see her eyes full of tears, "You'd better come back, alright?"

Y/n chuckled, wiping her mother's tears away, "You prepping me to join the Divination Commission years ago came in handy. My instincts are telling me I'll be just fine! So don't worry about it, alright?"

The woman nodded carefully as y/n gently moved from her grasp and turned away. When her face was out of her mother's sight, her smile faded as a heavy weight seemed to settle on her shoulders once more.

She didn't know if she was going to be alright.

Her gut... her gut was never wrong.

She'd been told that a group of Cloud Knights, around 200, had never returned from a training exercise with fighter jets. Y/n offered to go after them, she was good at tracking anyways, but even she didn't expect this 🐂💩.

Borisin. Teaming up with typically peaceful Denizens of Abundance. How odd, y/n didn't think that would happen, but still. Abominations of Abundance. They'd gang up on some unsuspecting Cloud Knights eventually.

"Miss Y/n..."

"I know, shut up."

The Cloud Knights behind her were clearly frightened, lupitoxin would do that to you, and they'd been beaten quite badly as well...

'How to fix this...' y/n thought irritably as her and the others were forced to walk along with the Borisin who had them surrounded. They were allowed to keep their weapons, only because their enemy knew they'd be too frightened to do anything with it.

One of them had shuffled closer to y/n, wanting to see just what kind of expression she wore. She hadn't taken any pellets to fend off the pheromones, just like the rest of them, so surely it'd taken effect...

Her expression? It was almost as scary as the Borisin if you asked the younger Cloud Knight. The woman seemed more angry than she was frightened, but he could tell from her eyes that she was thinking, planning.

There was a sob from another Cloud Knight, and y/n took in a slow and deep breath. Their fighter jets were bound to be around here somewhere if they hadn't already been used as extra parts for weapons and such.

If y/n could locate them, that'd be great.

"Alright, stop!" the Borisin in the lead snapped and the Cloud Knights all halted, shuffling closer to y/n.

Her and the Borisin locked eyes, and the latter bared his teeth at her while she simply maintained eye contact.

"You. You'll see the Brood Leader."

Ugh, seriously?

Y/n glanced back at the others whose eyes seemed to plead for her not to go, but she gave them a nod.

She was beginning to believe she'd lost the ability to feel fear as she stood before the Brood Leader, practically breathing nothing but lupitoxin.

It'd been a while since she'd last felt much of anything, actually. She was always so caught up in her own head, nothing ever really got through to her.

Sure, there were small displays of emotions when she would smile and laugh at the General for things or get ticked off over the stupid nickname people called her, but nothing any stronger than just a basic reaction.

The last time she'd felt something strong enough to shake her to her core had been years before, after her brother passed. The pain of it all never really settled in until she sat on that roof, clutching that broken sword of his.

The Brood Leader paused when y/n let out a sigh.

"Am I boring you, Cloud Knight?" he demanded, anger creeping into his tone as y/n rolled her shoulder, "Would you rather we just kill you and your soldiers?"

"No, no, I'm not bored or anything." y/n murmured, her gaze growing colder than before as disgust became evident in her expression, "I just hate the smell of dog."

"Ignorant fool!" the Brood Leader spat, "You dare insult me when the lives of you and your comrades are in the palm of my hand?!"

"So what? Should I be scared?" y/n demanded, "You reek, simple as that! Say what you have to say so I can kill you and have a report ready for the General!"

There would be no report.

She hadn't been listening to a word that Borisin said.

"You little...! The lupitoxin has made her lose her mind, she's of no use. You know what, just kill her!" the Brood Leader spat and one Borisin began to approach her.

The moment he was close enough to touch her, he began to say something only for her fist to connect with his chin and send his head flying off.

The others in the room gawked at the borisin's headless body as it teetered, the poor guy feeling for his missing head. His healing ability wouldn't fix that.

All eyes turned to the culprit as she shook blood from her hand with an unbothered look. Such an apathetic expression for a person who had just punched someone's head off.

"Now that that's taken care of," y/n turned her gaze on the Brood Leader next, "Can we skip the chatting and head right to the part where I kill you all?"

Outside the room, the Cloud Knights were fidgeting awkwardly as a commotion within the room had them and the Borisin around them on edge.

One of the Cloud Knights further to the front fidgeted, wondering what exactly was happening within the room with all that noise. Eventually, one of the Borisin got curious and headed for the giant doors to open them with another close behind, only for both to be crushed after the doors fell.

The Cloud Knights, the Borisin, and the Borisin's unlikely allies all gasped at the sight before them.

The room had gotten a bit of a paint job, all in red, with some interesting decor choice of headless Borisin.

In the middle of it all was y/n, giving one head a frown as she held it by the ears before glancing out into the hall with a blank look.

The crowd stared back.

She simply blinked, "Don't move."

The other enemies weren't given a chance to move, flashes of light slicing their way through the room before all but the Cloud Knights fell.

As usual, y/n hardly batted an eye as she walked past the group she was tasked with rescuing, "Come along now, we've gotta get going. The Borisin are mostly taken care of, but I just killed some of their allies. The rest of the beings who live on this planet won't be too happy about that.".

A Foxian among the group was the first to move with a frantic, "Come on, we should stay close to Miss Y/n!"

They all herded after the young woman while she stayed just far ahead enough to keep her expression hidden.

Ahh, it was getting harder to hear again.

She hated when stuff like this happened.

All she could see was gold as she led her comrades to a location where a vessel big enough to hold them all was located, herding them all on it and shooing them away when they tried to ask questions.

Somewhere within that haze of gold, she saw her brother. Smiling, laughing, happy. Not dead, not a cloud of dust floating through the void of space.

'I wonder... will I end up like that too?'

A jolt coursed through her body, the kind she got when danger was near, and she looked just in time to see a Cloud Knight fall as he was shot in the knee.

Well 💩.

Her ability to hear all came rushing back in an instant. First the screaming from the injured Cloud Knight, then the shouts of the perpetrators rushing towards them armed with ranged weapons, then the frantic shouting of the other Cloud Knights.

They hauled their injured comrade onto the ship as the enemy closed in, and y/n was in a bit of a daze.

One of the Cloud Knights spotted her and ran back to her, grabbing her shoulder with a, "Miss Y/n, we have to leave!"

"Get back on the ship."

"Huh?"

She gave the Cloud Knight a glare, "Do I have to say it twice? Get your 🍑 back on the ship and get it out of here, idiot!"

"But...-! You aren't trying to stay, are you?"

"I'll handle them so you can get off the ground, don't worry about me." y/n sighed before giving the Cloud Knight a rough shove, "The longer you hesitate, the more regenerating roaches I've gotta fight! Go!"

The Cloud Knight took off into the ship, the hatch closing behind him as y/n sighed and rolled her shoulders. In moments like these, it was easier to space out and let her instincts do the working.

She remembered holding a bow, her older brother helping her aim and adjust her hold on it with a kind smile as he instructed her on what to do.

Her eyes would glimmer with excitement when he stepped back to let her aim on her own, focused on the target ahead of her.

She'd released the arrow and it landed slightly off course. Her smile had fallen and the older boy chuckled.

"Wow... what horrible aim. You intend to become a Cloud Knight along with Jing Yuan when you have aiming skills that bad?" the older boy had snickered, "If you want to be around him that badly, you may as well just marry him."

"THAT'S NOT WHAT—!" the tiny y/n had let out an angry groan as she stormed over to the target to retrieve the arrow, "Hmph! I'll hit the target this time! Just you watch!"

"Very well, y/n, take another shot." her brother had sighed, "But, just so you know, I wouldn't mind having a brother-in-law."

"Stop! I'm trying to focus!"

"Yes, yes, just don't forget to breathe."

She had been very intent on hitting the center of the target that time, brows furrowed in concentration and a little determined look on her face as she aimed once more.

Silence, nothing but the wind and chirping of birds.

A slow, deep inhale.

A long, drawn out exhale.

Y/n was ripped from the safety of her happier memories as she was shot through her side, horrible heat tearing through her body and destroying everything in its path as it came out the other side and hit the ship.

She was surprised, only for a moment, before she drew her broken sword which began to glow with shifting tones of bright light.

"Now you've done it..." she forced out through gritted teeth, "You fools picked the wrong Cloud Knights to 🚚 with."

From within the ship, a Foxian Cloud Knight had just managed to get the ship active and was beginning to lift it off the ground while his comrades peered out to see what had happened to y/n.

They couldn't see her, only flashes of light tearing through the enemies which only seemed to increase in number as the seconds passed.

Just her against all of them.

They needed to go back!

"Hey, open the hatch again! Miss Y/n is still down there!" one protested and the others remained quiet, "What are you waiting for? Do it!"

More silence, the other Cloud Knights keeping their eyes to the ground with solemn looks. One began to cry.

The one who had demanded they wait for y/n paused.

That wasn't right... it wasn't right at all!

"Miss Y/n said she'd catch up. She'd fine another ship to use, and she'd come right after us." the Foxian Cloud Knight was the one to speak, his voice shaky as he began to shed tears, "We've gotta trust her on this one, okay? She'd be pissed off if we didn't listen."

"Really pissed..." another murmured.

"She'll be fine!" yet another exclaimed, "Definitely!"

They all murmured their agreement, but the air was still heavy as they peered out the window to keep their eyes on their beloved comrade for just a little longer.

As the ship lifted higher and higher into the sky, y/n took notice of some sort of cannon being prepared to shoot it down. She looked around for something, anything, and spotted a tank with a symbol on it that resembled fire.

...she was willing to take a chance.

She cut a path through her adversaries, gritting her teeth when they fired something that cut into her shoulder like a hot knife before ducking for cover behind the container with the fire-like sign.

They shouted something, she understood the "stop, you idiots" part, and her suspicions were confirmed.

Now, for the risky part.

"A kick shouldn't set it off." she told herself without really believing it, before slamming her foot into the container.

There was a scream from the few soldiers who failed to get out the way in time and were crushed by the rolling container, but it flew all the way over to the cannon where it crashed against it.

Huh. It didn't blow up.

Y/n picked up a fallen firearm and shot it, just once, and it exploded with a force that sent her flying and tumbling away, down a hill.

She rolled and rolled and rolled until she hit a rock, biting her lip to hold back a cry of pain when she smack into a rock hard enough to break something.

She'd definitely broken something...

Her ears were ringing again.

Her body hurt.

But she was still breathing.

'I'll retreat for now. Give myself a moment to breathe.' she thought as she staggered to her feet, wincing as she clutched her arm which hung limply at her side, '...and I should take care of this too.'

The chaos caused by the explosion allowed her to get away and find a suitable location to take a rest within a nice little cove.

The sound of the ocean was calming as she tended to her injuries. It would've helped silence her screams of pain while resetting her dislocated shoulder, but she'd developed a pain tolerance high enough to not scream at all.

What a relaxing spot... Jing Yuan would like it. If it wasn't infested with Abominations of Abundance who intended to kill them.

"I suppose it's my own fault." she mumbled, "If I'd only killed the Borisin, maybe negotiation with these guys would've been an option."

She was able to rest for a few days, feed herself and keep her body nourished, but they'd found her again.

When they did, she met them with just as much ferocity as the first time. She'd had no clue that the time she'd spent at the cove would be the only rest she'd get during her time on the planet.

The minutes, hours, days, and weeks all blurred together as she spent time fighting with only small intervals of rest in between to keep her well enough to continue. But they just kept coming...!

'I guess it's to be expected. I'm not fighting an army with comrades on neutral territory, I'm fighting an entire world on their homeland on my own.' she reminded herself as her body finally gave in to the exhaustion, causing her to stumble and fall.

Her enemy didn't taunt her or start monologuing, only killed her swiftly and without hesitation. Y/n was sure she'd died, it hurt as she felt her body fighting to just hang on a little longer, but the numbness of death was quickly replaced by a burning sensation coursing through her veins.

Forcing her heart to beat again, her lungs to take in air, her body working faster and stronger to repair injuries that would've taken months to heal normally.

"The Cloud Knight is dead!" the one who had killed her shouted to the others who cheered in response, "It took longer than expected, but it's over! Let's go home and—"

The creature cut off, a look of confusion on their face before they split in two, sliced in half by the blazing sword y/n held in her grasp.

The other creatures watched on in disbelief as the woman who they'd thought to be dead slowly rose, taking slow and deep breaths.

She felt stronger, lighter.
But she felt incredibly horrible about it.
How had this happened? Why was she... no.
She knew the answer.

'Dan Shu, my friend.' her expression was almost sad as she lunged back into battle, fighting as though she'd never died in the first place, 'What have you done to me?'

She wondered, pondered, and internally sought out an answer to that question as her fight against the enemy continued for many more months.

More and more armies were sent after her, each of them being cut down almost effortlessly. This strength, it was indeed hers, just... tampered with. She didn't like it.

Months of combat with the enemy allowed her to learn more about them, and them to learn more about her. They could regenerate incredibly fast, but only if their brains were still intact. As long as y/n