Chapter 2044: Surrender "Are you from the Leander Family?" Maeve questioned calmly as she stared at the Transcendent in front of her. "Surrender." The Transcendent spoke with an expressionless look on his face. "You did not answer my ques—" Before Maeve could even complete her sentence, the Transcendent rushed towards her and punched. The Nocthari waved her hand with a calm look on her face, expecting a lethal gas to surround and devour him. The gas she summoned, however, was summoned 10 meters away from where she intended it to be. The Transcendent got close to her and, Bam Maeve was sent flying. The Transcendent didn’t give her the chance to recover either; he carried forward, prepared to hit her again. Maeve, on the other hand, quickly understood the situation and took out her sword. She had forgotten about it for a moment—using abilities with the Power of Chaos infesting this place was foolish. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖 She needed to escape. But... It wasn’t simple. Maeve knew this man wouldn’t let her go. "Tsk." The Nocthari snorted in annoyance. She could sense it—the man wasn’t exactly strong. If she could use her powers without any restrictions, taking him down wouldn’t have been so difficult. However, as someone who was heavily reliant on her powers and rarely participated in close combat, she was at a disadvantage. This, however, was only the beginning, as suddenly, four more Transcendents landed around her, surrounding her in an instant. Maeve paused. She was surrounded, and there was no way she would be able to deal with five Transcendents without her powers. Instead of a victory, she needed a way out. She looked around, her mind trying to come up with a strategy to leave this world. If she succeeded and managed to get out of Chaos Energy’s influence, allowing her to use her ability, she might win. 20 seconds. She calculated in her head. That was all she needed, and her mind was constantly thinking of a way to get away from these people for just 20 seconds. ’What if I get punched, use that momentum to create distance from them and run from ther—’ While Maeve was trying to come up with a battle plan, suddenly, "I didn’t think you of all people would be resisting, Maeve Nocthar." A voice was heard. Maeve turned towards the voice with a frown and saw a black-haired, golden-eyed man—a being she recognized very quickly. How could she not? He was the reason all of this had happened in the first place. "Nux Leander..." She muttered. "You know me." Nux smiled. Soon, however, he just shrugged, "Then again, almost everyone in Khaemorr knows me. Haaah... It is not easy getting used to this fame." The man sighed. Maeve, however, didn’t react to his antics. "Why are you here, Nux Leander?" She questioned directly. "Nothing much, I had my men surround the worlds furthest away from Khaemorr in case I find a few deserters. I just didn’t think I would catch the strongest Nocthari out of all people. I guess logic sometimes makes one too predictable, huh?" "..." Maeve stayed silent. She did not feel embarrassed because, well, she couldn’t. But she did acknowledge her error. She was so focused on escaping before Sharnoth lost her patience and the War that she completely ignored the enemy. "Surrender. There is no way out." Nux spoke as he walked towards the Nocthari. Again, Maeve stayed silent. Surrendering was the last option; she still believed that she had a better fighting chance if she managed to somehow leave Dar’s perimeter. But... "You still think you can escape, huh..." Nux paused. This was the Nocthari’s weakness. They were simply too predictable. Maeve’s slight pause was all Nux needed to understand what she was thinking, and as if to crush whatever slight resistance she had, Nux waved his hand and his shadow trembled. 50 more beings materialized from his shadow and... All 50 of them were Transcendents. Maeve was taken aback. "Still think you can escape?" Nux questioned with a playful look on his face. "How did they come here? It should be impossible to use powers related to space because of the Chaos Energy." The Nocthari questioned, and Nux just smiled at those words. The Energy of Chaos was strong, yes, but... it was still the energy of a different Universe; it had no power over Nux’s own Universe. Nux here wasn’t manipulating Space, he was simply summoning his subordinates using his Universe’s Power. The Energy of Chaos or any other energy held no power over it. Of course, there was no need to reveal all this to someone else, "I will say this one last time, Nocthari. There is no way out. Surrender." Maeve stared at the Transcendents surrounding her, blocking all her escape routes, and after a second, she closed her eyes, "Are you going to recruit me or use me as a prisoner?" She questioned. She knew he wasn’t going to kill her, because she would already be dead if that were the case, so these two were the only things that came to her mind. "I will recruit you." Nux answered. "But I will ensure your loyalty to me." "How will you do that?" "You do not have to worry about it. Stay put." Nux spoke as he extended his hand. Dense, black mist came out and surrounded the Nocthari. Yes, he was going to devour her. Even if that allowed the Universe to make a link between him and Khaemorr, he didn’t back down—the risk was worth it. After all, having a Nocthari completely loyal to you on your side was very useful. She could even be the Leader of all his Transcendent subordinates, allowing him to create an independent unit which he wouldn’t have to give all the directions to. The only thing he needed was to alter her mind in a way that she saw his existence above that of logic. ’Shadow.’ He called out, ready to leave and recruit a useful subordinate, But then— Bzzz A certain artifact in his storage ring buzzed. ’Oh?’ An artifact that he didn’t expect to activate any time soon. Yes, it was Sharnoth Nocthys.