Meera's first response was to fly out of there, but she thought she could play this out differently. Maybe she could play dumb and call the other girl an idiot and deflect the blame, and if that didn't work, she could always fight her way out of there. She quickly scanned all the nearby guards, and not a single one was over level 300.

She failed the urge not to smile. Her lips curled up slightly. Oh, I could take this entire platoon by myself.

If there was one thing she was thankful for from her time in Gethys, it was the constant fighting. There wasn't a single day that she didn't have to fight for her life or practice her skills in one way or another. That whole world was nothing but a power-up simulation for her.

But hey, just because I can kill the lot of them doesn't mean I should go on a killing spree.

She yanked her hand down. "These are just shiny bangles," she hissed.

But the guards had taken notice of her and were pushing their way to her. The people parted ways, stepping on each other's toes to let them through.

"You girl," A gruff, green uniformed guard, whose turban was tied immaculately, pointed at her. "Stay where you are if you know what is good for you."

She almost laughed. If she hadn't hidden her aura and levels thanks to Misidentify, they would have been running in the opposite direction from her. They had only a third of her levels. It was funny that, for the first time, she wasn't overwhelmed and on the back foot. She could make these guards flee just by unleashing her aura, but where would be the fun in that?

The guards finally reached her. They were all big and buff. It was likely that the empire only employed bodybuilders for guards, or maybe they had them run through a training program to build up their Strength and give them intimidating physiques. She did a quick sweep of the crowd and found that most men were rather tall, and even the women had an inch or two over Meera.

[Willow Guardsman – Level 189]

She had expected the guard to grab Meera by the collar and drag her out of the crowd, but he didn't even touch her.

"Show me your wrists, girl," he commanded.

Meera held up her wrists. He squinted at them, and then a female guard walked through the crowd, and she did indeed touch Meera. The female guard had more than a couple of inches on Meera, and it would have been intimidating if the whole ordeal wasn't just plain amusing.

"Looks quite similar," the male guard said.

"Only one way to confirm," the female guard replied.

She grabbed Meera by the collar, pulled her along, and Meera let her.

She tried to protest. "Please, it must be some mistake. These are just made of mirrors. I thought they looked pretty. I would never try to do anything to go against His Highness' commands."

They didn't listen and kept pulling her along as people stared at her. Some had plain vitriol in their eyes, while others looked on with sadness as if Meera was being marched to her death.

They exited the crowd shortly after and deposited Meera before the white-robed priest, or their leader. She quickly scanned him.

[Imperial Priest – Level 257]

Meera raised an eyebrow at his level. What kind of a priest needed that many levels?

He had darker brown skin, which was probably tanned from standing in the sun for too long. He stared at her with such hate that she thought she was going to self-combust. He gripped Meera's chakram in his hand. He motioned to the female guard, who raised Meera's hand.

Meera even forgot to protest as she was more intrigued by the grand necklace the priest was wearing. It was made of many studded rubies of considerable size. The centerpiece was made of many links that held the rubies in place. The links made a circular design with a locket in the middle, which had a fat ruby in an intricately carved gold piece.

"So, it was you," the Priest drawled.

"Huh?" Meera looked away from his necklace and realized that the man had matched the chakram in his hand to the ones on Meera's arms. Of course, it would be a match.

Meera saw no point in arguing. She opened her hand, and the chakram ripped out of his hand and flew into hers.

She shrugged. "Yes, it was."

His eyes blazed. "Why? Who are you to defy my Lord's will?" His eyes squinted at her. "Are you another Cervosi spy?"

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

"If I were, would I have killed them in such a brazen manner?" she replied. "I just didn't like seeing them burned alive. So, I ended their suffering a little faster. You wanted them dead, and now they are."

"You obstructed justice as ordained by the prince," the Priest fumed. "So, by law, you will share their fate. You, too, will be burned at the stake, just like they would've been. Strip her of her weapons and effects."

The female guard moved for her chakrams, but Meera pulled her arm away.

"I'll only say this once," Meera said. "These chakrams cannot stand to be parted from me. If you take them away from me, they might rip through your hand to come back to me."

The guard paused for only a moment. Then she touched her chakrams and pulled on them, but they didn't move. She tried harder. Her face scrunched up as she tried with all her might. It still didn't work. Her chakrams would move slightly but then pull back to rest in their exact position.

Meera couldn't help but snicker. She was using the chakram's ability to pull them back while the guard was trying to take them off. It turned out her chakrams were stronger.

"Oh, what happened? They're not coming off?" Meera provoked. "Try harder."

The female guard gritted her teeth and backhanded Meera across the face. "Shut up, bitch."

She should not have done that.

Meera's hand flashed to her throat. She activated Druvis Might and effortlessly lifted the woman into the air. Then, she chucked her away into the crowd.

"Death!" The Priest roared. "Attacking a guard bears the penalty of death."

"And I will do the same to you if you don't shut up about death and burning." Meera turned to the other guards. "Now, I'm going to fly out of here. Please don't try to stop me."

Meera shot into the air. The flowing long shirt and loose pants made everything too breezy for her taste. She even considered changing her armor back to its original shape, but decided against it, as she was sure more guards would be coming her way.

There was a sound of whiplash. A moment later, something hard constricted around her ankle. It was one of the male guards. Their wooden spear had elongated to form a wooden whip.

Not bad. Meera thought.

She moved her hand to take a chakram off, but another guard threw another whip, and it tightened around her wrist. Two more guards turned their weapons into wooden whips and encircled Meera's free hand and leg.

All four tried to pull her down together, but she decided to take them for a spin instead. She poured Mana into Mirror Bolt and flew off in the direction she had come from, taking the guards with her.

The crowd gasped and pointed at her like she was an acrobat performing the most amazing feat. The guards yelled for her to stop. They shortened the leash on their weapons to get some semblance of control. They didn't have any.

Meera was toying with them. Before she reached the end of the town square. More whips tightened around her arms, legs, and stomach. It was like she had grown roots. If she wanted, she could have tried to take them all for a spin, but she didn't. She let them bring her down to the ground.

Well, she flew down herself, mostly. She landed close to the smoking masts with the half-burnt bodies of the stag-men. She acted too late. She let them suffer for too long. She should've acted sooner, ending their suffering faster. After seeing what Kalrina had to go through at Aksha's hands, Meera was done with torture.

This time, the male guards didn't hesitate to fall upon her. Four of them held her down as she landed. Meera activated Druvis Might and simply shrugged them off. They didn't go flying per se, but they did trip and take a hard fall.

"I liked it better when you weren't touching me," she stated.

They all paused and looked around at each other, most likely wondering who should make the first move.

"What are you all waiting for?" snapped the Priest. "Subdue her and tie her to the mast, or kill her where she stands."

"Come on, boys," Meera teased. "Can't you just subdue one little girl?"

But none of them moved; they simply stared wide-eyed at her. Their look made her frown. It wasn't much different from the look the first guard had given her when she'd stepped out of the Gateway Mirror.

Finally, the Priest must have tired of the guard's insolence. He turned to a relatively normal-looking man, meaning he wasn't a bodybuilder but just looked rather normal in size. He looked to be in his early twenties, maybe even younger. His plate mail was more decorated and emblazoned with a dragon—or perhaps it wasn't a dragon. She had seen dragons of all shapes and sizes, and it didn't look like any dragon she had seen.

The young man stepped forward with a disdainful look and pointed at his men. He strolled towards Meera and drew his sword, which, not-so-surprisingly, was not made of steel but wood.

[Oakblade Sentinel – Level 221]

"You all should be ashamed of yourselves," the Sentinel seethed. "After this, be ready to hand in your uniform."

"Captain, if you would please use—"

"This is no place for explanations," the Captain barked as he stopped before Meera.

"Do what you want with us, sir, but please just look at her."

Meera frowned. What did he mean by that?

"This is your last chance—"

Before he could finish, an old man stepped out of the crowd. The tap of his cane was the only sound in the town square. He had tears in his eyes. He looked at Meera almost reverently. He stopped before Meera and just stared. The man was still taller than her, even bent forward on the cane.

"Y-You've come…"

He smiled as a tear dripped from his eye.

Even the captain's jaw had dropped, and everyone in the crowd was staring at her. She figured all this staring would stop now that she was among 'her people.' But it was like back in Azeria when everyone stared wherever she walked. This was worse.

The crowd murmured a variety of things.

"At long last, she's here."

"I cannot believe it."

"She's finally come."

Then, the old man gently took Meera's hand. She flinched and pulled back, but he held on. His grip wasn't strong, but he held on firmly. He lowered his head as he brought her hand to her lips and planted a gentle kiss. Then, with much difficulty, he lowered himself to a knee before Meera.

Meera's brow furrowed. She was about to help him up to his feet, but the guards around her did the same, followed by the captain. Then, one by one, everyone in the crowd was down on one knee.

Meera looked around at their bowed heads in bewilderment.

What the hell is going on...

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