Even so, that still means Liu Xi has the most direct experience of anyone. It's going to be scary for her when they start looking to her for leadership, since she's been trying to hide in the background for so long. The newbies will be looking to her with the question, "What would Hatman do?"





Not to mention acting as Sorcerer Supreme while overtly in love with someone.





Are you implying Vinnie's family would invite Slithis to dinner with Liu Xi just to annoy Vinnie?





Note that I said "annoy" - Faite's specialty is being subtle. She has eons of experience, and has learned over that time that the best way to destroy an enemy is to trip them up with their own faults. If it results in their own death that's a bonus.

Generally she would just watch his plans and throw obstacles in the way that she knows would cause the plan to blow up in his face. For instance if the Void Spectre decided to try and punch through via a dimensional gateway built by Al B Harper at EEE, Faite would arrange for it to explode (it's not like that hasn't happened at EEE before, so they're prepared for it). And it would be the Void Spectre's own tendency not to see that coming which would doom his attempt.

Her most powerful weapon is even an expression of subtlety. If, for example, she was desperate enough to protect Liu Xi once the Void Spectre has already punched through, she would just instantly rearrange the present so he's somewhere else. It would appeal to her sense of humor if that "somewhere else" was right back where he started, so he has to begin all over again.

There's a big "if" to the above paragraph though. Like I said, Faite is particularly fond of letting enemies trip over their own faults, so she might greatly favor that. It might seem like she's letting the Void Spectre come through and assault Liu Xi, when in fact there's a perfect moment she's waiting for. Faite is about as difficult to deal with for help as Xander in that respect.





This is why Faite has the power to change the present. It's very limited, yet also very powerful, because it creates a strong last line of defense. It's a bit like Danny Lyle's denying power in that manner, except that she can make very specific changes, and lots of them at once.

But because it's so powerful, it's also very dangerous, which is why she prefers planning and setting up small, overlooked things in the present to affect the future dramatically instead. She knows how unpredictable it can be to change the present simply because people affected will remember what changed suddenly and tend to try and undo the changes she made without understanding why she did them.

That also means she's more likely to make changes that help out friends, because they will understand them and not attempt to reverse them.