Reaper(Cradle #10)(15)

Out of habit, Mercy looked over her shoulder for her stalkers. She saw none, but she felt eyes on her from the shadows. Or at least she imagined she did.

“How did you get here?”

Lindon rubbed the back of his neck, and between the gesture and his size, he reminded her of her Uncle Fury. “I do apologize; I was reluctant to interfere with the mechanism of a Divine Treasure created by a Monarch without Dross’ guidance, but you weren’t waking up.”

“How long has it been?” Mercy asked, a lump in her throat. If he had gotten worried, then she had to have been gone more than just a night.

“Three days.”

Mercy sagged in relief. “Oh, good. It only felt like a few hours to me.” If it had really felt like three days, she might have gone insane.

Lindon was about to respond, but the aura pressed in on Mercy again, forcing her to push against it. Pale fingers reached out to Lindon, and she raised her bow to defend him.

Lindon’s eyes turned to blue crystal with circles of white where his irises had been. Blue-white pure madra pushed out from him.

The creatures hissed as his Hollow Domain pushed against them, and they fled like rats from a fire.

As the Domain passed over Mercy, she felt a burden lift from her. Her knees went weak, and she collapsed, but Lindon caught her and steadied her before she hit the floor.

“There’s not much spirits can do to me in a spiritual realm,” Lindon assured her. “But, if you don’t mind me asking, where exactly are we?”

“Inside my Book, but you knew that. This is the fifth page. The home of the Dream of Darkness technique.”

He nodded as he looked around. “Ah, so that’s why there’s Overlord-level madra here. So why did you end up here when your armor broke?”

“I had it open too long.”

This was embarrassing to admit, but he was standing literally inside her soul at the moment, so it was only fair that she open up a bit.

“After the tournament, you and Yerin advanced. I had to lean on the book to fight Sophara, and the more practiced I got, the easier it was to keep the page open. That’s how it works when you’re close to advancing. So I just…kept it open.”

She shifted, not meeting his eyes. The unnatural fear that had gripped her had faded, and now she was just tired. And a bit ashamed.

As expected, Lindon caught her meaning immediately. “Your advancement wasn’t stable.”

Mercy nodded. When she had faced down the Titan—and that was a memory fresh enough to send another tremble of fear through her—it had crushed her armor quickly. Too quickly.

Her unstable spirit had collapsed, and the Book had filled in the gaps. Unfortunately, the imbalance resulted in her consciousness being tied more to the fifth page than to her own body.

“Apologies. I should have left this conversation for later.” He extended a hand to her. “Let’s leave.”

“I’m not sure you can just—”

“Release,” Lindon commanded.

The Book vomited her up instantly at his order, and her eyes snapped open. Her body ached, real air harsh in her lungs, and she saw Lindon sitting peacefully at the side of her bed. They were aboard Ziel’s cloudship; all the rooms in it looked alike.

“That was fascinating,” Lindon said eagerly. “With your permission, I’d love to study your Book more closely.”

Mercy put a hand to her chest. Inside, her Book was recharging from its expenditure of madra, and the burden on her spirit had greatly lessened now that she was released.

And now that she was only an Underlady again.

She could feel heat in her face, and her shoulders drooped. “I’m sorry. I thought I couldn’t help you unless I could keep up.”

“I would welcome it if you did advance, of course. But whether you do or not, we’re planning on exploring the labyrinth. I’d love to have you with us.”

Lindon looked as though he understood, and she suspected he did. She gave him the weak shadow of her usual smile, and Lindon returned it more heartily.

Then, after a little more chatter in which he made sure she didn’t need anything further, he left her alone.

She couldn’t stop wondering if they really needed someone who couldn’t even reach Overlord.

Mercy was not used to being self-conscious about her lack of advancement. Quite the opposite. As a girl, she’d regularly wondered why she was so much faster than her peers.

Now, she wasn’t sure she could advance if she needed to. That bothered her more than she wanted to admit.

Only then did the full impact of Lindon’s proposal dawn on her.

Explore the labyrinth?

That meant defying the law of the Akura clan, which had declared this territory off-limits. Lindon and Yerin had been granted substantial liberties, but this was a decree directly from Mercy’s mother. There had to be a reason for it.

Mercy started to sweat again. She kicked off the sheets.

Not only did she need to work on her advancement, but she had to throw her Aunt Charity off the scent. The Heart Sage could smell lies.

So she would have to be very, very careful not to lie.





Ziel’s spirit hadn’t felt truly comfortable in years, but these days, it was like he was borrowing someone else’s madra. Sparks ran along his madra channels, fresh from the latest stage of the Pure Storm Baptism, and he was still recovering from the effects of the suppression field around Sacred Valley. Not to mention the exertion of a fight against a Dreadgod.