Playboy Cultivator in the Apocalypse

Marilyn walked into Kaze's bedroom with a cute smile, watching Kiera fix Moe's burnt face like an artist. "You're not supposed to improve it."

Everyone's eyes widened, analyzing the curly-haired woman's face, trying to find the improvements.

"Does it look like a time for jokes?" Kiera sneered viciously, "Your insensitive and grossly misleading words might give this tragic creature hope. That's cruel."

Moe's face seized, and her eyes welled with tears.

"This is just how Kiera is." Marilyn giggled brightly, waving her hand and relaxing everyone with Calming Heart.

The curly-haired brunette's eyes moved left and right, trying to figure out what was happening.

"Perhaps I should introduce myself." The sexy brunette said, wearing a skin-tight low-thigh skirt, "My name is Marilyn Rhodes, Chief of Staff of Immortal Skye.

You're currently in the Central Mansion at Immortal Skye, getting healed by [Second Wifey] of the honorable Emperor Kaze Lexicon."

Kiera's face flushed bright red to the tip of her ears, and she turned, yanking the poor brunette's face with Qi stitches. "I... Sorry, I mean, GAH! Marilyn, stop the intro and just do your job!"

"Ah~" Marilyn chimed, "Sorry~princess, I'm afraid I can't do that. We can't just have random guests in the Emperor's chambers if we don't know who they are, yes?"

The group froze in fear when they realized where they were. When the pink-haired teen threw a fit about people being on the bed, they thought she was being a psychopath. Now, they wish they died on the street!

"Relax." The sexy brunette giggled, "You're honored guests of the princess, and this is her room, too. So you're okay."

"No, they're not." Kiera corrected, cheeks puffed out.

"If they~weren't, why haven't you moved them?" Marilyn giggled, "It's not like any of them are at risk of death right now. Two aren't even injured."

"Just. Do. Your. Job." The firey teen grumbled in dissatisfaction.

"I suppose I should." The Chief of Staff smiled, panning their faces, "Now that you know who we are, can I assume you're soldiers under Evalyn's care?"

All the soldiers nodded timidly, remembering that Evalyn was a leader of Immortal Skye.

"Ex~cellent." Marilyn clapped merrily with her eyes closed, "I just have one question--did any of you touch an Immortal Skye family member? If you did, voluntarily or otherwise, and I find out you lied, you'll wish you died by Evalyn's hand.

Personal guests of the Emperor cannot be scum, no matter how pitiable they may be."

Kiera smirked in pleasant surprise when the entire room froze, looking at the terrifying brunette. They could feel the grim reaper's scythe looming over them.

"Hell no." Chen swallowed nervously, "I heard that the Emperor's people were around, and I kept the fuck away from them. I didn't even look at them wrong."

"Smart man." Marilyn smiled, turning to Eric.

"I protected them in the warehouse before Ice General Skye showed up." The bald Hispanic man said.

She nodded and looked at each in turn.

"I'm friends with one...?" Layla said nervously, getting a smile.

"I've only fought with them during training...." Moe said, "Wait! As part of training, training! It's voluntary training that Evalyn leads... training!"

She panicked when she saw a gruesome expression develop on the brunette's face. However, it relaxed after clarification. "I see, and you two?"

"I don't have anything to do with you people." Renton said, turning away hesitantly. He was terrified and trembling.

"Why you tremblin', scruff mutt?" Kiera snapped murderously.

"If you see a soldier, they've been cleared as innocent by General Skye." Eric jumped in quickly, "He just doesn't like Evalyn's treatment of the soldiers."

Marilyn frowned and put her hand up to request calm from the pink-haired woman, looking like she'd murder the man at any second. "Evalyn's the definition of tough love."

"Apocalypse edition." Kiera added.

"Indeed, disliking her is natural, and she's okay with that." The sexy brunette smiled ominously, "However, I highly recommend you keep your perceptions to yourself.

Our people already want to kill you after your people shot a couple of dozen ballistic missiles at us, dropped bombs on us, and took military families hostage.

Once they find out what your ex-general did, our people will rip you to shreds when we're not watching."

A horrifying revelation clicked in Moe and Renton's mind, making their heads twitch.

"You're joking me...." Kiera said, looking back and forth in disbelief, "So that's why we're babysitting your egos? You seriously don't get this?"

They turned to her with horror, not wanting to hear her next words.

"Look, noob twizzlers." She said seriously, "Everyone here is an immature child who doesn't have perspective on the strength. As much as I hate to say this, you just watched that, right?

Let's give'em a little demo, wave a hand, and then KABOOOOOOOOOOM!"

Everyone winced with light PTSD symptoms when she yelled the words.

She scoffed and waved her hand, hitting them all with Calming Heart again. The results were instantaneous, making them all sigh in relief.

"Yeah, so it's like that." Kiera said, looking away bitterly, "Someone's gonna get into a fistfight with you and accidentally snap your neck like a fuckin' gram cracker.

Then, standing before a political firing squad of Immortals and you fuckers, we'll throw you to the curb. Kazey's trying to avoid this place turning into the historic deep south. You feel?

So unless you want to become a second-class untouchable in the new world order, I suggest you wipe that fucking resentment off your face and start helping blondie tie the knot with ya'll."

"Please allow me to clarify." Marilyn smiled sweetly, "Choosing between you and us, we'll choose us. So you should do everything you can to join [us] so we can protect you.

Now please heal up while I get this place in order."

She immediately stripped the sheets off Kaze's bed and pulled out a steam cleaner.

To everyone's shock, the blood and skin on the ground were sucked into the machine, leaving the carpet pristine and new-looking.

Kaze wrapped the entire room in Soul Qi techniques to keep the room as clean and protected as possible. Techniques of that variety were common in the Heaven Plane onward, as the number of people available for labor decreased significantly.

Within five minutes, the floor was completely clean of blood, and she had disappeared with the sheets and reappeared with new ones.

Everyone watched in a daze as Immortal Skye's Chief of Staff personally attended the room, which they found absurd, even with a low population.

Marilyn had the Chief of Staff role for a while but tended to Kaze personally before and after she became his partner. It was something she enjoyed.

Just as Kiera was putting the final stitches into Chen a spatial rift opened up, and she panicked, turning around. "K-Kazey...."

Kaze materialized out of dead space, terrifying the Lainwright soldiers. The emperor looked at the guilty-looking teen, who hid Chen's body with her own, holding the last wisp of green Qi in her hand.

He smirked mockingly, panned his gaze to the other people in the room, and then back to the pink-haired teen, flushing bright pink and kicking the ground lightly in embarrassment and shame.

"Judging by everyone's terrified faces, I presume you know Immortal Skye isn't a safe place for you to be?" Kaze asked with a hypnotic tone.

Everyone's stomachs dropped when they heard his words, nodding hesitantly.

"Excellent." He said, turning to Eric, "And you're Eric, yes?"

The bald Hispanic man's eyes widened in frightened confusion, wondering how the man knew who he was. However, he swallowed nervously and nodded. "That's correct... Emperor Lexicon?"

"Correct." The emperor smiled, "I hear you're a rather charismatic person when you're heated."

"I...." Eric grimaced, hearing him get called out for getting into arguments.

"Lucky for you, that's what Immortal Skye needs." Kaze announced, surprising him, "Denzel, Moe... and Renton, you three are the same, each leading a small group of dissidents.

Evalyn put you on this team, hoping you'll come to your senses and spread common sense to others. It seems two of you have seen reason, although you still look conflicted."

Denzel's eyes widened in shock, hearing the positive appraisal. Moe felt anxiety rip through her, understanding his undertone.

"As for you, are you deaf, blind, and dumb, or do you simply lack the desire to live?" Kaze asked Renton straightly, nearly giving the man a heart attack.

The scruffy man cranked his head to the emperor with the fluidity of a rusted cog and froze when he saw the man's piercing green gaze. "I-I...."

"Or perhaps have you done something you shouldn't have with a family member?" The emperor mused viciously, "Gotten in a fight with one, argued with them, suggested that you take them hostage for political leverage...?"

Renton trembled in fear, barely enduring the cold, calculating gaze dissecting him. He felt he couldn't hide anything from the shrewd man, so he opened and closed his mouth.

"Yes." Kaze smiled, narrowing his eyes derisively, "That's the look of someone who seeks disorder to hide their sins. Do you wish to repent?"

"W-What!?" The man eeked out, "I-Ice General Skye found me innocent."

"Wonderful observation." The emperor smiled sarcastically, raising his hands grandly, "And I have exposed your deceit, and found you guilty.

The difference between General Skye and myself is that she'll lift dregs out of rabies-festered sewers and reform them into hardened criminals, fighting on the side of justice--and I will not.

I will never accept a treasonous machinate who is deceptive enough to escape the watchful eyes of Evalyn Skye. So I suggest you listen carefully, for I shall repeat myself once and only once.

Now that I have exposed the conspiracies of your petty cabal, do you wish to repent your transgressions?"

Renton swallowed nervously and turned, seeing Denzel and Moe's shocked and disgusted gazes.

There was an unspoken rule at Lainwright military base--don't mention the family members. Messing with them could get everyone executed, so everyone took it very seriously. However, this man dared to go there.

Renton gulped with tears welling in his eyes. "I-I'm sorr--"

"That's enough of that." Kaze waved his hand, creating a spatial rift, and grabbed the man, throwing him through it, "You can reflect here until we can find a punishment suitable for you."

Once the man was through the rift, the emperor closed it nonchalantly as if nothing had happened. "Now then, let's talk about what's to come."

His action had the same mannerisms as throwing someone into a prison cell, so no one questioned it as he continued. They just stared blankly at the man, listening carefully.

"Since you're the charismatic group, I've thought it best to give you a tour of Immortal Skye, feed you, and show you the benefits of earning our trust tomorrow." Kaze smiled, "Before I do, we'll start with interaction, or more precisely, [non-interaction] with Immortals.

Let's go over the specifics so that you do not cause us irreparable problems."

â•’â"€â"ˆâ"€â•’

SPLASH!

A few miles from Immortal Skye, a scruffy Lainwright soldier fell out of a spatial rift thirty feet in the air, splashing into liquid after he fell.

"GUuuHhhHh!" Renton gasped for air, trying to stay afloat in the strange, thick liquid, "What is this!?"

When he swam to shore, he finally got a good look at the noxious fluid he was swimming in. "I-Is this blood!?"