Chereads / The Cat of Speed / Chapter 56 - Waste Runs Crimson

Chapter 56 - Waste Runs Crimson

*1 Week Later*

Dash gained 734 [Miles from Thaymor] * 900 [EXP/m * 3 [Artemis] ] = 660,600 EXP!

Dash leveled up! LV 572 --> 577!

CON +2 for reaching 575

You have gained 200 * 7 = 1400 EXP!

Strategy gained 30 * 0.5 * 4.16 [R ] * 60 * 24 * 7 = 628,992 EXP!

Strategy leveled up! LV 137 --> 177!

INT +8, WIS +4

Programming has gained 25 * 0.6 * 4.16 [R ] * 8.8 [Teaching reduced from 9 8 part way] * 60 * 24 * 3 [Not full week] = 2,372,198 EXP!

Programming leveled up! LV 89 --> 199!

INT +11

Quest[The Lorde's Shadow] updated!

For reaching LV 100 with Programming, 1 trait point awarded!

Reading has gained 50 [base EXP] * 0.5 [5 Clones] * 60 [minutes] * 24 [Hours] * 7 [days] = 252,000 EXP!

Reading leveled up! LV 191 --> 215

INT +5

Writing has gained 50 [base EXP] * 0.6 * 60 * 24 * 7 = 302,400 EXP!

Writing leveled up! LV 225 --> 250!

DEX +3, +WIS 5

Crack gained 40 [MP/m] * 8 [Prodigy and Cryomaniac] * 1.1 [11 clones] * 60 * 24 = 506,880 EXP!

Crack mastered!

[Crack LV MAX - Adept Ice Spell. You create cracks in ice that, if forced, can crack into 5 ice shards. MP: 10/m. Shard: INT * 10 * 1.25 [Brilliant: 7975]

Due to mastery, WIS +5 and Magic Control +5%

R&W has been increased: 4.33 --> 4.65

Total Rewards: INT +24, WIS +14, CON +2, DEX +3, 1 Trait Point, 1400 EXP, +5% Magic Control

CON: 1051 --> 1056

INT: 734 --> 770

WIS: 642 --> 660

DEX: 1399 --> 1407

Tigra | 19

Level 83 (11555/24900) 46.41%

New Spells Developed:

[Lightning Shield LV 1 (0/250) - Create a lightning variant of Fire Shield using electricity. Prevents INT*5*(11/100). Prevents 3889 damage. MP: 50/m]

[Lightning Breath LV 1 (0/200) - Spew lightning from your lungs and out your mouth. This attack can be focused on one target or a range of targets close to you. Damage is INT * 2.7 *5.68 [Mag_Bonus] * 1.25 [Electricity_Bonus] * (11/100). Damage: 14,909. MP: 50/s]

[Lightning Stab LV 1 (0/300) - Lightning crackles around your hands, allowing your hand to deal intense piercing damage. MP: 100/s. Damage: (INT*3.5DEX*2.2) * 1.25 [Electricity_Bonus] * (11/100). Damage: 7310 at base]

Tigra made sure to tighten the straps on Shadow Piercers and made sure her tablet was secured.

She was wearing her reliable black outfit with the golden belt as she didn't need to wear anything different as she goes into the desert, seeing as the heat wouldn't be able to hurt her and, even if it could, she still had access to Chill.

"Adora messaged us." Catra told, sitting on their bed and looking over the secured tablet. "Wants to know when we can meet up like that again. She rambles on a bit but essentially says that she knows we are going to be insanely busy for the next month or two getting a system in place."

Tigra hummed.

"3 months?" Tigra asked. "Or would that not be enough time? I know that wouldn't be enough time to take care of everything, but would it be enough time that at least one of us would be able to leave and meet up with Adora?"

Catra thought about it.

"2 months to have our feelers find as many deserters as possible while also setting up the council. We'll have to call an emergency meeting right after to get an official determination of the war. While most of us want to end the war, we still need to at least have a plan set up for those that have been taught mostly only about conflict. We'll likely play it by ear, but the latest should maybe be 4 months."

Tigra nodded.

"Speaking of timelines," Tigra started, popping her shoulders by rolling them. "I don't know exactly how long I'll be in the Waste, but I'll be back here no later than 4 days. That way we can iron out any sudden situations and I can prepare to face him."

Catra nodded at that, looking at her tablet for one reason or another.

"I need to have a meeting with the Generals of the Navy and Army." Catra told. "We need a few more inputs into what's going to happen after next week."

Catra did look up at her for a moment.

"Hope you're going to be ready to focus on the Horde for the next few months."

Tigra rolled her eyes before grinning with a hand on her hip.

"You mean what I've done for the last 2 years? Nothing that I can't keep doing."

"A bit different." Catra reminded. "You largely focused on missions and dealing with ungrateful bosses. Now, we're going to be running the Horde. We'll have no one above us, but we will have some checks in power to ensure our decisions are best for the Kingdom and not for personal gain."

Catra stood up before walking over to Tigra and wrapping both arms around her neck.

"Now go show those gangs why they should understand what happens when they mess with what's yours."

Remind everyone what happens when they mess with what yours.

Tigra wore a smile before closing the gap between them for a few moments.

She leaned back afterwards, her tail slowly swishing side to side.

"Make sure Entrapta doesn't burn the Zone down while I'm gone."

"Only if you make sure the Crimson Waste doesn't become the Crimson Glass." Catra smiled back.

Catra released her and Tigra left the room.

If she had a pep in her step, that was only for her and Catra to comment on.

-------------

Tigra reached the edge of the Zone before stretching out her legs a little bit.

"General Tigra?"

She looked in the direction of the voice and found Scarlet.

"Hey Scarlet. What's up?"

"Are…Are you still creating that Squadron Delta?"

"Yep. I've already sent out the invitations through the system. Everyone should be getting their invitations by tomorrow."

"Oh. Okay."

Tigra lightly rolled her eyes, easily hearing what sounded like disappointment.

"I expect to see you at the introduction in 5 days." Tigra told before hearing a sudden inhale.

"You mean?"

"Congrats Scarlet. You are one of the top three in my magic class alongside my physical class. You'll be receiving an invitation into Squadron Delta."

"Yes!" She cheered and seemed to jump in place.

"It's only going to get harder from here." Tigra warned. "As my Squadron, I won't take any half-assing for even a second. I will be pushing everyone's minds and bodies as far as they can go. But under me? You six may be the most dangerous Squadron to come out of the Horde yet."

Scarlet turned serious, but she couldn't keep her smile off of her face.

"Understood, General."

Yellow lightning erupted from Tigra as an orange light started coming off of her.

"No classes this week or next. Don't slack off."

Tigra vanished without a single sound.

The only indication that Tigra had once been there would be camera footage, Scarlet's words…

And a heavy foot indention on the ground.

Except…

A tablet flickered to life.

"She's left the Fright Zone alone. From the snippets I've gathered, she's heading out to deal with your little distraction in the Waste. This will likely be the only time you'll get to have her alone for the next few months without complications."

The tablet stayed motionless for a few moments.

'Understood Stillwater. Payment will be sent to the regular account. Keep up the work and stay hidden. -N'

The hidden figure chuckled lowly.

"You're running out of time, kitty cats. Your target is about to create one hell of a tsunami-like wave. Nothing will be the same after this wave." Stillwater chuckled.

"Hey!" A soldier called out. "Lunch is over in 5!"

"You don't need to remind me Kyle." Stillwater shook their head, putting the tablet up.

"I've finished what I was doing just now."

----------------

Speed

195.4 [Base] * 26.14 [Dash] * 2.42 [Haste] * 7.5 [Lightning Armor] * 1.5 [Fire Charge] = Mach 181.3 2,318 miles per minute 0.02% SoL

Time until reaching Destination: 4:29

Tigra zoomed across the wasteland without hearing a single thing.

'Moving at this speed is always a little jarring. When I move this fast, sound is usually dampened up to Mach 3. After that, I can barely hear anything as any kind of sound happens instantly.' She thought.

'At this speed, I almost can't hear anything if I'm moving like this. I doubt that I could hear anything if it wasn't for Lightning Armor increasing the speed of the neurons and signals from my body. If I had to guess, it would take something moving almost as fast as I move for me to hear it clearly.'

She zipped over a chasm about half a mile wide in about one step and would be way too far away to notice that the ledge she stepped on before flying over the chasm had crumpled and fallen.

After about 2 minutes, Tigra reached that strange part of the continent where snow and desert could be seen within a mile of each other before blowing through the land and into the sand.

Not noticing the giant cloud of snow kicking upwards that could be seen for about a mile.

Another 2 minutes of weaving through the sand, around pillars of stone and bones, and avoiding the quicksand patches that Double had taught her to see at a glance.

She only stopped dashing when she arrived at the location that Double sent.

It was the bar she had found Double, Bleka, and Bau in.

Dash gained 11,000 [miles traveled] * 300 [base EXP] * 3 [Artemis] = 9,900,000 EXP!

Dash leveled up! LV 577 --> 600!

Dash has reached level 600! Prestige? [Y/N]

[Y]

Converting excess EXP…

Dash increased from LV 577 --> 667!

[Dash LV (6)67 (155074/192424) - Increases DEX by 50% 67*26. DEX * 44.38. SP: 36/m]

Due to reaching LV 600, EXP increased from 100*1.75^5 to 100*1.75^6. Receive 16 DEX every 10 levels.

DEX +60, CON +36

DEX: 1407 --> 1565

CON: 1056 --> 1138

'That's leveling up quickly.' She noticed. 'Why did it level up 5 times from something only about 15x less from Thaymor to the Zone compared to nearly 100 levels from now?'

Remember, after reaching Prestige, the EXP returns to 100*1.75^6 for the first level.

From there, EXP will increase drastically per level. This much EXP wouldn't get you 1 level past 1640.

'Horde damn. At this rate, I'd have to run around the planet to get a level.'

That won't be enough later on.

Tigra pushed that conversation to the side as she headed into the place.

Tigra moved the flap out of the way and saw a couple people she remembers.

"Boss!" Bleka announced, drawing attention to Bleka before following her line of sight and seeing Tigra.

"Hello Bleka, Bau." She nodded to them. "Where's Double? They're supposed to have some information I need to deal with some irritants out here."

"They're out at the moment. However, they did tell me some information about the situation in the case you were in and they weren't."

Tigra walked over before sitting at the bar and holding a card out to Melissa, the bartender.

"I'll take 2 things of water, Melissa."

Melissa nodded before taking it and putting it in a device that transfers credits over and through a program that would turn it into the appropriate currency.

Tigra turned back to Bleka after receiving her first mug and drank a little from it.

"What do you know about what Double and I were talking about?"

"About how you were going to get back at Buuka's Band after attacking two of our territories and taking one of them. That DT was asked to look into the locations of their bases and you would take care of them, one way or the other."

Tigra nodded, taking another drink. Someone sat on the other side of her, but Instincts weren't going off, so she ignored them.

"Correct. There's talks about the Coalition and Venue potentially making an alliance to try and take a player off the board. The one they think is dying a slow death."

"Your Pride?" Bau hissed out. "That would seem foolish."

"It would." Tigra agreed. "But nobody but the Pride here really knows about what I can do when pressed."

Tigra's ears twitched at hearing a sound and looked beside her.

She only saw the figure - which was a tan human with a few scars on his neck - drinking their drink.

Only this time, Perfected Instincts were lightly triggered from the figure. When she had been around her most recent enemies, they practically screamed that the foe was dangerous and to be careful.

This person? They felt like they may take a swing at her, but it wouldn't hit her in a year. Even Lasher felt more of a threat when she met him.

Tigra tapped the bar with her claws, making clinking noises.

"To them at the moment, Lasher's Gang has been taken over by a no one and doesn't seem to understand how the gangs operate. So they are trying to see how much they can get away with."

Tigra drank her drink.

"They saw the Band attack and so far, nothing's happened to them. Not a single scuffle. However, they've yet to…"

-3000 HP per minute! [03:00]

New Resistance discovered!

[Poison Resistance LV 1 (0/350) - You have been poisoned at least once in your life. With this, it will decrease the amount of damage a poison can do to you. Current: 1%. Total Reduction: 1- (100% - 1) * 0.2 [Carbon Body] = 80.2% damage reduction]

3000 * 0.18 = 540 damage per minute!

Tigra raised an eyebrow at that and looked at her sheet.

'I have an HPR of 10,242 per minute. The Poison is doing 540 HP per minute.' She noted. 'I'm not really getting hurt but-'

Poison Resistance gained 200 [4 seconds] EXP!

'I'm still technically being hurt.' She finished her thought before doing what someone likely shouldn't.

She continued drinking it.

'After all, I don't get poisoned too often. May as well get as much EXP for this as I can.'

She noticed the figure freeze in what seemed shock before continuing to drink their drink.

"Sorry. Something suddenly came to my mind." Tigra gave a false excuse for why she stopped talking. "Anyways, they've yet to see my actual response. After all, I did ask for the group to not start conflict. Because that will be my job in the early days."

"But anyways, do you have the locations that I need to pay a visit to? I'm going to need to do all of this in about 3 days. I'm needed back in the Zone then."

"Yeah." Bleka confirmed before pulling out a tablet and handing it over.

Tigra opened it up and found a geographical map of the Crimson Waste with 13 spots placed around.

"It's probably best if you go left to right. The ones on the left tend to believe in the 'might makes right' attitude the most."

Tigra raised an eyebrow at how uncomfortable Bleka seemed about that.

"Peace talks or extermination?" She asked, taking Bleka and Bau back. "You don't like those ones specifically. I've read several examples of 'might makes right' throughout history and they are rarely ever looked fondly upon in the future."

"Preferably…extermination. They won't care for your approach. How you want order in the Waste. DT mentioned something about how you plan on ruling the entirety of the Waste. For that, you'll run into resistance with them."

"Guessing that most would want me to rule with an iron fist? Beat down on anyone just for causing the slightest bit of trouble? Without giving any kind of leeway?"

Bau nodded. "Likely want to beat someone up for being a minute late."

Tigra sighed.

Poison Resistance gained 3000 [Damage] * 2 [Minutes] = 6000 EXP!

Poison Resistance leveled up! LV 1 --> 6

Poison Resistance reduces damage by 81.2%

She went to take a drink, only to find it empty. She heard another noise before looking at her other drink.

And the small ripples going across the surface.

Tigra moved her arms as quickly as she could and swapped her drink with the strangers before anyone could notice.

Tends to happen when something moves 6 feet at 217.4 - 'It increased by 20 mph?' - mph. From the beginning to end, it only took 0.019 seconds.

Instead of anyone thinking anything seemed out of place as some may have noticed a blur, Tigra knocked her newly acquired drink over and kept her hand in the air.

"Shit." Tigra muttered. "I'll order another one, Melissa. Just throw a rag over."

Tigra easily caught the rag and started cleaning the mess up.

"So what I'm hearing is that a lot of them will resort to violence at the drop of a hat? Not even I resort to violence that quickly most of the time."

"Really? Your reputation says that you'll destroy anyone who gets in your way." Bleka commented.

Tigra could hear the stranger taking a drink and smirked.

"My reputation is that because I get what I need done, done. Not because I go out of my way to start fights. I'm in the military, so I'm often sent into conflict or to deal with something before it leads to conflict."

She heard coughing and a stool scraping the ground.

"One second."

Tigra turned around to see the man holding his throat and looking surprised.

"Not so welcoming when you realize you're drinking poison, is it?" Tigra commented, making the room go still.

The man looked at her in surprise and fear.

"You see, you may be wondering why the poison didn't work. Simple: I have a healing factor. The poison can't hurt me faster than I can heal. But you?"

He fell to his knees and was gasping.

Tigra knelt down and had her claws out. She tilted their head up with her index claw and made him look her in the eyes.

His green eyes were wide open with his pupils extremely dilated.

Her eyes were calm and calculating.

"If you tell me who hired you, I'm willing to provide enough healing magic to outdo your poison."

It was ridiculous too. Ever since her INT and WIS skyrocketed after getting the spell, Heal had reached its maximum of 5000 HP/m.

"Pl..Please." The assassin pleaded.

Tigra smirked as her sudden plan went well.

clone appeared next to her as her left hand glowed and a blue circle appeared under the assassin. They seemed to be getting better.

"Know this. This blue circle prevents lies. You can not tell a lie. You don't answer a question, my clone will injure you where I will heal it. You won't have the injury but you'll experience all of the pain. You don't answer 2 questions, I will stop healing you."

Tigra's claw almost pierced their chin.

"You don't answer 3? You're not worth keeping alive. You try to run, you'll be a splatter on the ground before you so much as twitch. After all,"

Tigra grabbed his chin and lifted them up with ease.

"My clone is capable of moving over Mach 90 with ease, up to Mach 400."

She saw terror and acceptance in the assassin's eyes.

"3 questions and I won't have my clone kill you for poisoning me." She told. "Question 1: Who contracted you?"

"S-Someone named LS!" He exclaimed. "They refuse to give any other way of inferring to them. The only other thing known about them is that they are either rich or are being backed by someone as rich as a Princess."

Tigra frowned at that.

A Princess being behind a contracted killer is troublesome. They have enough wealth and power behind them to get high valued assassins to risk attacking someone even as powerful as her. The worse thing is that they could easily keep doing so as they would only need to pay the one who got the job done.

"Question 2: On a scale of 1-10, how strong is the poison you used and what was it?"

"A 6." He grunted out. "The poison comes from a plant known as belladonna. The dose I gave you in your first drink should have killed 5 people in 3 minutes."

Tigra nodded, filing that poison away.

'Most civilians don't have over 1200 HP and it can do 1800 to each person between them.'

"Question 3: How many more assassins can I be expecting after my head?"

"Anywhere from none to 40." He admitted. "You'll likely be targeted another 3 times before the week ends."

Tigra's frown returned.

"Y-You'll let me go now, right?" He asked/pleaded.

Tigra released him and threw him towards the door.

"Get out of the bar."

He scampered out of the bar.

"Boss?" Bleka asked, confused and shocked. "You're really letting your assassin escape?"

Tigra snapped her fingers before three fire arrows appeared.

"I said my clone wouldn't kill him."

With another snap, the three arrows shot out of the bar.

A second later, a cry of pain being cut off was heard.

Assassin (Harry) killed!

1500 EXP earned.

Truth gained 300 [300/m] * 8 [Prodigy & Unimaniac] * 1 [People] = 2400 EXP!

Tigra turned back to Bleka and noticed a few people looking at her in worry.

"What? Did you think I'd let someone who tried to kill me live? I'm all for giving second chances, but not to those that genuinely try to kill me." She rolled her eyes.

"Now then," Tigra looked at the map again. "I'm going hunting. Tell Double to keep up the good work."

Tigra was surrounded in lightning before vanishing, a singular broken floorboard left behind.

Quest Discovered!

Dog's Day

Double/Bleka has given you 13 places to take over. Do so while showing your power to spread the news of just who Tigra really is to the Waste

Objective: Take control of all 13 locations [0/13]

Reward: 10,000 EXP and 1 Trait Point

Failure: [Crimson Waste] Rep - 60

---------------

Tigra zoomed across the desert before stopping at an encampment and kicking open a door.

She walked into the encampment and looked around.

'About 70 here. Double's notes on this place is that these ones won't be able to be reasoned with and will cause trouble in the future. As much as I don't want to just callously end lives, I'm doing this because they attacked those under my command and the others are threatening to do the same.'

She watched as many of them raised weapons at her and a few were even snarling and growling at her.

'Average level…is about 43. HP is 2700. Danger level…extremely low.' She thought, humming to herself.

"One chance." She still tried. "One chance to lay down your weapons, serve under me, and survive to see tomorrow."

Notably, no one did.

"Very well."

Lightning Stab surrounded her hands before she dashed.

One hand went through a skull with ease and the other through their chest.

She moved.

The targets were all lethal.

Skull. Lungs. Heart. Neck. Spinal Cord. Stomach. Multiple limbs. On and on and, more times than not, a combination of them.

She continued to do this for 40 of them before stopping and returning to where she was, not even 1 second later.

Lightning Stab gained 2700 [HP] * 40 [Enemies] * 8 [Prodigy and Electromaniac] = 864,000 EXP!

Lightning Stab leveled up! LV 1 --> 76

H2H gained 2700 * 40 = 108,000 EXP!

H2H leveled up! LV 456 --> 458

Tigra stood there as several bodies fell to the ground, most not recognizable as the person they were 2 seconds ago.

"Now see, I was informed of something special about this group and the next two I'm visiting." She monologues. "The three main ones that attacked two of my territories did so with such aggression, that my informant straight up told one of my underlings that Extermination is more liked than diplomacy with these three."

Everyone left took a few steps back.

"I agree with them, considering you killed over 60 of my soldiers and that's the most lives I've lost under me in one situation."

Tigra narrowed her eyes.

"Goodbye."

Tigra opened her mouth and could feel electricity surging through her lungs and out her air pathways and finally shooting out of her mouth.

30 arcs of lightning shot out of her mouth and connected with each person left. They all screamed in pain as the lightning surged through their bodies and became louder as they became a 'network' as the lightning started jumping from each person, intensifying the damage done to them until the area turned quiet as 30 bodies were smoking.

Lightning Breath gained 2700 * 30 * 8 = 648,000 EXP!

Lightning Breath leveled up! LV 1 --> 81!

[Lightning Breath LV 81 (0/16200) - Damage is INT * 2.7 *5.68 [Mag_Bonus] * 1.25 [Electricity_Bonus] * (1 + 81/100). Damage: 26,717. MP: 50/s]

EXP: 100 * 70 = 7000 EXP

Tigra stood there and looked over her work.

"Destroyed bodies and charred bodies. Shows ruthlessness and could show power." She muttered. "However, I've got a better method."

She channeled Nova Flare into her right hand and transformed into Fire Form and Azure Flames.

She used Fire Step to fly into the air before pointing it at the encampment.

And fired.

--------------

Liker was on guard duty and found it beneath him.

"Seriously, who's going to attack us? Venue is too cowardly to attack us without someone else doing so, Coalition is more focused on order, Hunters are running scared from some weak ass snakes, and that Pride gang has lost their fangs under their new leader."

His dog ears twitched and looked over in a direction before seeing…

"What's with the giant sand cloud?" He muttered.

It looked as if a building may as well been thrown into the ground.

"Isn't that where Gary's encampment is?"

"It was."

Liker's fur froze before a hand was all he saw in his vision and a flash of pain before darkness was all he saw.

----------------

Tigra made quick work of the next one in a similar path.

Lightning Stab gained 2500 * 40 * 8 = 800,000 EXP!

Lightning Stab mastered!

[Lightning Stab LV MAX - By covering your hands in lightning, they become incredibly focused and can pierce through nearly anything. Damage: (INT*3.5DEX*2.2) * 1.25 [Electricity_Bonus] * 2 [mastery]. Damage: 15,406 at base]

Due to mastery, INT +5, Magic Control +5%

Lightning Breath gained 2500 * 30 * 8 = 600,000 EXP!

Lightning Breath mastered!

[Lightning Breath LV MAX - Damage is INT * 2.7 *5.78 [Mag_Bonus] * 1.25 [Electricity_Bonus] * 2 [mastery]. Damage: 30,627. MP: 50/s]

Due to mastery, INT +5, Magic Control +5%

H2H gained 2500 * 40 = 100,000 EXP!

H2H leveled up! LV 458 --> 459

EXP: 100 * 70 = 7000 EXP!

Leveled up! LV 83 --> 84

20 Attribute points and 4 skill points awarded!

10 skill points into 2 trait points [17 --> 4]

Traits [Strong] and [Sage] chosen!

[Strong - Multiplies final STR by 1.15]

[Sage - Multiplies final WIS to 1.5 (1.3 previously)]

Confirm?

[Y]

Processing.

..

STR: 226 --> 260

WIS: 660 --> 762

New Milestone reached!

[Hercules - 250 STR - Doubles the amount of weight you can carry.]

Carry Weight:

Normal - STR * 1.5 * 1.25 * 2: STR * 3.75 = 975 lbs

Speed reduction [-75% DEX] - STR * 2 * 1.25 * 2: STR *5 = 1300 lbs

20 points placed in DEX

DEX: 1565 --> 1617

Tigra looked at all that she gained from taking just one more encampment.

"That's 14 lightning spells. Shield would be useful for the next time I can spar with Adora, but it won't do me much here." She muttered. "I could buy another combat spell. Double did mention that 3 of these camps needed to be eradicated. The rest, I simply go to Buuka, beat him down, force him to work under me, and take him to the rest of his camps to inform them of the new management."

'Or you could gain so much EXP by getting rid of them? Level up Nova Flare?' A small voice whispered to her.

Tigra frowned.

Not at the thought, but because of how tempting it is.

"I got 14,000 EXP just from clearing out 2 encampments. There's 11 left and, assuming they each have the same amount, I could get 77,000 more EXP."

The idea was getting more and more tempting before...

Something slammed into her mind.

"I want to live life like a game. Not play life like a game."

"What? Where did…"

Tigra shook her head.

"One spell." She determined. "I don't want my forces spread too thin to not be able to accurately defend my territories."

She could feel that small voice almost disappear, a hint of annoyance with it.

"Spell Shop - Lightning Combat Spell or spells that would be useful."

Spell Shop - Lightning Combat Spells

Lightning Trident - Create a trident made out of lightning

Lightning Chain - Create a stream of lightning that can go around instead of through objects

Lightning Blast - shoot out a concentrated blast of lightning

Lightning Explosion - Shoot an orb of lightning that explodes into arcs of lightning upon contact

Lightning-Ball - shoot a lightning styled 'fireball' at someone

Lightning Form - transform your body into the embodiment of lightning

Lightning Strike - strike a target and shoot lightning into clouds. The lightning charged clouds will strike the target with lightning empowered by the magical and natural charge

[Lightning Form] and [Lightning Blast] chosen! [15 points remain]

[Lightning Form LV 1 (0/1000) - Mastery Level Electric Spell. With this form, you are only able to be hurt by Electric damage while increasing your lightning damage by 100% 1. If IMMUNE to Electric damage, base resistance is reduced to 99%. MP: 375/s]

[Lightning Blast LV 1 (0/250) - By channeling a large amount of lightning magic into your hands and releasing them, you can shoot out a close range blast of lightning. Damage: INT * 6 * 1.25 [Brilliant] * MP_USE/100 * (11/100): 29,732. MP: 500]

Tigra held out her left hand and channeled lightning through it and released it.

A giant web of lightning exploded out from her hand and struck the ground in 12 different places.

"Hm. Pretty good. The downside would be the indiscriminate aim, but if I'm correct, Mistress of Electricity should fix something like that."

So, she moved.

--------------

She appeared outside the last one for elimination.

Dash gained 400 [miles] * 900 [EXP] = 360,000 EXP!

Dash leveled up! LV 667 --> 669!

[Dash LV (6)69 Increases DEX by 50% 69 * 26. Boost: 45.56 or 4456%]

Tigra channeled lightning through both hands and used Lightning Blast and shot dozens of arcs of lightning into the front of the encampment, destroying the gate they were using to prevent people from just walking in.

"Who goes there!?" Someone shouted.

"Tigra." She answered. "And you messed with my gang."

Tigra would get close before usingL. Blastin each of their faces, listening to those she hadn't reached yet scream and try to run away.

Tigra tch'd before going after the ones furthest away before working her way back in.

"W-Wait!" The last one pleaded as Tigra held a hand at their face. "I-I-I have a family! A husband and 2 kids!"

Tigra stood there for a moment.

Lightning Blast gained 2800 * 34 * 16 [Spellbook] = 1,523,200 EXP!

Lightning Blast mastered!

[Lightning Blast LV MAX - Damage: INT * 6 * 1.25 * 5 * 2 [mastery] = 58,875. MP: 500]

Quest [Mistress of Elements] updated!

Trait [Mistress of Electricity] gained!

[Mistress of Electricity - You can now freely control your electricity magic after it is used. You could adjust a spell's trajectory or halt its movement after using it.]

EXP: 100 * 34 = 3400 EXP

Tigra must have looked like an angry deity, considering she was still in Fire Form with Azure Flames blazing. The sand under her feet was melting and turning to glass.

The woman in front of her was practically bawling and shaking.

"Answer me this one question: Who's the strongest in the Waste?"

---------------

For the next hour, Tigra ran around to each of them and took control of each encampment. She only had to eliminate 4 people in extremely violent fashions to get her attitude towards them across in each of the encampments.

Some had their chests liquified by magma, others had their heads smashed into the ground hard enough that only a foot was above ground, and the lucky ones had their heads removed before anyone could recognize Tigra had even moved.

With every death though, that small voice in the back of her head kept getting louder and louder. Telling her to take down more and in even more violent methods.

She may have given in if they hadn't surrendered after the display.

EXP: 4 [People] * 10 [Bases] * 100 = 4000 EXP

When she reached the final encampment, the doors opened for her.

"Likely were informed by the survivors and said that they don't work for Buuka anymore." She muttered and walked in, no longer blazing blue.

Fire Form gained 375 [Base EXP] * 64 [Pyromaniac, Prodigy, POF, Spellbook] * 70 [minutes] = 1,680,000 EXP!

Fire Form leveled up! LV 76 --> 96

She noticed the large amount of people staring at her, but their body language gave them away.

They were afraid.

Show them what they should be afraid of.

Tigra smirked as she snapped her fingers.

And became surrounded by 11 other versions of herself.

The look of pure terror made her glad that her message got across.

After all, none of the potential methods would have mentioned she could clone herself with ease.

The twelve of them made their way to what was obviously a command tent before the flap was pushed aside.

"Welcome, Tigra, Leader of the Tigra Pride." The person spoke before freezing at seeing twelve of her, along with a woman doing the same right after.

Her eyes narrowed before widening.

"Buuka? Sarah? I haven't seen you since I met Serena. I'll admit, I thought it was some random person named Buuka. After all," Tigra narrowed her eyes lightly. "No one ever reported that you two had gone MIA."

Buuka was shaking, potentially hoping that it was the same case for him about a random person named Tigra.

"So maybe you can explain something then. I heard that your group attacked mine."

"I humbly apollo-"

"I don't need your apologies." She cut him off. "I already removed the three groups who killed my men."

"You…you killed 214 of my men…for your 60?" He asked in shock.

"Is that all?" She cocked her hip. "Seems like I'm feeling generous today."

Buuka gulped.

Tigra looked around and noticed many staring at Buuka in shock.

Which made some sense. Out of this encampment full of level 43s and 47s, Buuka was 52.

'Impressive. Don't know anyone who's had that big of growth in this war besides Adora, Catra, and me. However, I've long since learned that Levels don't always mean threats.'

"What would it take to fix relations between our two groups?" Sarah asked.

"Who gave the order to attack my group?" Tigra asked, activatingLie.

"Buuka." Sarah threw him under the bus.

'Truth.'

"I-I did no such thing!"

'Lie.'

"Alright. You want to wash water under the bridge?" Tigra asked. "Three conditions. 1: Buuka here steps up and fights me." He whimpered. "The fight does not stop until I say so."

"Doable." Sarah stated, pushing him forward as other Band members stepped up to prevent him from running.

"2: There is no more Buuka's Band. You are all now in my gang, Tigra's Pride. If any of you do anything that personally draws me back into the Waste while I'm dealing with the main continent, I will not be happy."

Several growls were heard.

But Tigra was over this group of misfits.

She activated Dark Pulse at her strongest and made it go over the entire encampment.

The growls stopped. Fur spiked. Whimpers were heard.

"I said: I will not be happy. Understood?"

Several nods were seen from those that opposed it originally.

"3: Sarah here will represent your group. I don't care if you remain separate from those that are already in my group, but you listen to Sarah. Who listens to Double Trouble. Who listens to me." She gave the chain of command. "If Sarah is replaced, I will personally vet them. If you attack anyone without any of those people's permission, I will return. Understood?"

More nods.

"Now then," Tigra turned to Buuka, who shrank. "Get up here and take the punishment you deserve as their leader. I do not care if you ordered the attack or not. Your people attacked my people. And here I am, the leader of Tigra's Pride. Not General Tigra, Princess Tigra, or even Princess Fighter Tigra. I am the leader of my pride. Just as you are of Buuka's Band. Which is reduced to just you."

Tigra walked forward as her clones stayed behind.

"Well? Are you going to worsen my mood and make me come to you? Or are you going to stand by your belief of being the strongest and face me with the last of your courage?"

Buuka trembled as he forced himself forward.

It felt like minutes before Buuka was in front of her.

After all, she was focusing Dark Pulse on him now.

She took little pleasure in this, but now she needed to show everyone in the Waste what happens when they get on Tigra's bad side.

After all, Lasher did and look how he's turned out, the leader still but reports everything to Double and her.

"I see that you still have some courage." Tigra scoffed.

She held her hand out to the side and a dozen bolts of lightning shot out before freezing in place and zooming to hover around her head.

Buuka was staring at her with fully dilated pupils.

"You can choose two methods: take each of these arcs of lightning one at a time, causing you to feel less pain but feel it for much longer. Or you can take them in 12 different places at the same time, resulting in mind numbing pain but over immediately. Which is it?"

Buuka opened and closed his mouth repeatedly.

"Well? I don't like having my time wasted, just like what you did by bringing me here."

"2! 2 Shadow Weaver!" He yelled, closing his eyes.

Unaware of just how he was the first person to hurt her since the Portal opened.

Her eyes were wide as a memory slammed into her.

Shadow Weaver was gasping from inside her cell.

"And you'll…take my place…as the monster."

Tigra didn't do anything for a moment before steeling her heart as the rest of the memory came to the front of her mind, just as the arcs of lightning struck Buuka.

"You think I care? I've killed hundreds already. I'm already a monster."

She watched as Buuka screamed and convulsed on the ground. Before she had used the spell, she had used it at a power she knew would not kill him, but would cause immense pain.

So she watched as he fainted after a minute, multiple patches of fur burned off, revealing very pink skin underneath.

Silence went through the air.

"Remember this." Tigra spoke, her voice at a normal level but may as well have been screaming. "Remember this moment when you think about stepping out of line. Remember that I brought your old leader to this state with a weak lightning spell. That I could have killed all of you in under 2 seconds. That I could have glassed this entire place like I did to one of your other encampments."

Tigra looked around at each of them.

"Remember that this happened because your group forced me to deal with you. Forced me to leave behind my more important problems to deal with you. Remember this…next time you think about doing something I won't like."

With that, Tigra and her clones walked away.

"You'll be hearing from Double within the next few days."

Tigra and the clones disappeared, heading back to the Fright Zone.

Quests Completed/Updated!

Dog's Day [Completed]

Rewards: 10,000 EXP, 1 Trait Point

Gangs of the Desert [Updated]

Reward: [Queen of the Desert] updated

Queen of the Desert [Updated]

Rewards: additional 200 EXP per day [400 now]

--------------

A figure was watching from the top of a cliff several miles out with a tablet next to them.

"Your window is closed. She's already on the move again. Seeing as we did our best to only allow information regarding Buuka's Band to reach Trouble, she should either be heading back to him or the Zone. She'll no longer be alone. Seeing as she dealt with the attempt to get someone under our control to expand in the Crimson Waste failed within 2 hours of her arrival, her threat level needs to be adjusted. Her Threat Level is Kingdom, potential Planet level."

"Understood. It likely won't be long until we may need to get the Queen herself involved in this mission."

"Nari and Rani aren't going to be enough to bring her in anymore. The speed and ease she dealt with all 13 encampments speaks of magical power that surpasses Rani, no matter how much she'll disagree. Her speed likely rivals or highly surpasses Nari. She dramatically surpasses them in travel speed, so they'll never keep up without your help."

"That's risky, but still less than the Queen being forced to leave the island. Without me on the island, there will be several places that could allow one to escape out of the barrier. I'm what prevents anyone above Mach 500 from escaping the island. I doubt I need to tell you why it is a bad idea in the scenario if Rey or Silva manage to sneak out during my absence."

"We'd become enemies of practically the entire planet." The figure spoke, standing up and grabbing their things.

As they gathered everything, their form wavered like waves before disappearing with their head being last.

"After all, we have a Princess and King locked up on the island."

---------------------

Tigra 19

Level 84 (5555/25200) 22.04%

HP: 22,760 HPR: 10,242

MP: 31,400 MPR: 20,574

SP: 11,380 SPR: 5121

STR: 260 DEX: 1617

CON: 1138 INT: 785

WIS: 762 CHA: 154