Chapter 394 (1/2)

Chapter 394

Chapter 392: Sovereign’s Quarrel

CAERA DENOIR

Scythe Seris’s soft steps were entirely silent against the stone stairs in front of me while retainer Cylrit’s were barely a whisper behind,footfalls sound like sostairwell beneath her Sehz-Clar estate

Dark gray stone pressed in around us,the narrow stairs feel even h I could feel the weight of the cliffside co above us, tons upon tons of rock, soil, and sandstone all supported at the top of these i and narrow stairs…

“Your silence surprises me,” Scythe Seris said over her shoulder “I’m sure you have questions” Her composed presence seemed at odds with the rushed, furtive nature of my visit to Sehz-Clar, which only enhanced the sense of anticipation and worry building in me

“Toobut questions wheeling like a deranged flock of halcyons through ether, and I found it difficult to untangle one from the next to ask them

What do I need to know? I asked myself Which of my questions are more than mere curiosity?

“Is Grey really from the other continent?” I asked finally

“He is,” Scythe Seris answered nonchalantly

I bit my lip as I considered this fact It was the answer I had expected after everything my blood had discovered, but it only served to further confuse my many other questions

“Did you know the entire time?”

“I did,” she said sier?” This wasn’t really the question I meant to ask, but it slipped out nonetheless, my tone one of disbelief with no small amount of trepidation

“It does,” caed to bite back a scoff “Are you going to answer any of my questions with e of hu into her voice

Behind h, and I shot him a thinly-veiled look of annoyance overabsolutely no new insight, it was clear that, despite her goading, Seris had no intention of divulging any real information yet

I could only assume I was present in Sehz-Clar for a reason, and so I chose to be quiet and patient until she revealed her purpose

There were no more interruptions as ound down into the depths Eventually, the stairway ended in a large square of iron inset in the wall at its base It looked like a door, but there were no handles or hinges, only a dully glowingone hand to the teal crystal and pushi+ng mana into it before Cylrit and I had even stepped off the bottoave a clunk that was an to lift up froap above it with a mechanical whir

I stepped up beside myh t n o v el r e a d e rorg"

A series of floor-to-ceiling glass tubes filled a lowed electric blue, their light reflecting off the white walls, floor, and ceiling of the rooive the entire chamber a surreal air

Scythe Seris walked into the room and approached the closest tube As I followed, I saw that, in a grated trough around the tube’s base, it was heated by piles of glowing orange rocks that gave off a sulfurous stink and enough heat to keep h whatever liquid was inside

Glass tubes as thin as er left the artifact in a dozen different places, so up into the ceiling or the walls, a few tracing along one wall toward a panel of devices es, projection panels, and mana crystals, the purpose of which was awas quite clear, however

“So ht blue liquid radiated e rocks radiated heat “Is it soe device? Like…liquid ht,” she said with no little pride “Only, these batteries are infinitely more expandable, and can be manufactured en masse with the appropriate resources”

I closed low of the co”

“It’s…important,” Scythe Seris started, a note of hesitancy in her voice

My eyes snapped open and I stared at her in concern She lance and esture with her hand He bowed, turned on his heel, and marched out of the rooain and slowly slid back into place

Scythe Seris clasped her hands behind her back and began slowly e of the roo nervousness I’d been feeling since arriving in Aedelgard City returning with a startling suddenness

“Do you knohat the Wraiths are, Caera?”

“Half-blood Vritra warriors secretly guarding Alacrya from the other asura clans,” I answered immediately “I’ve always assumed they were just a scary story for children”

Scythe Seris gave rona’s secret army, the children of Vritra Clan basilisks and Vritra-blooded Alacryans Their reputation as boogeyrona’s part Not to scare Alacryans, no, he has no need of that to keep order on this continent, but to build a wall of uncertainty between him and the other asura”

At first, I didn’t understand how these Wraiths could possibly strike fear into the hearts of full-blooded asura like the Sovereigns or Agrona hin—she’d toldcould these Wraiths be?

And then I registered her words “A wall of uncertainty? You’re suggesting that they really are scarecrows, then? Boogeymen, as you put it A force ht them”

“They even take their naend,” Scythe Seris h the electric-blue rona, if you ask me, but effective Don’t th, however The Wraiths are trained asura-killers A strong squad is capable of taking down even an accooosebumps raise across the back of my neck

Scythe Seris stopped in front of the panel of devices and glass tubes “And Agrona has sent one such squad to Dicathen—to hunt down and capture Grey if possible, or kill him if not” My heart sank, and I looked at my mentor in dread, but before I could respond she added, “But they failed And then, because he’s nothing if not showy, he appeared via portal in the heart of Vechor and obliterated an entire roups and several battalions of unads”

I leaned into the wall and rested hly I had overesti of the world I lived in It had seemed a near-impossibility when Grey had defeated not one but two Scythes before in hirona is trying to capture Grey, then he ht was instantly confirrona will not let his greed for knowledge interrupt his other plans,” she said, flicking one of the s and the little bubbles wobbling “He is growing tired of the conflict in Dicathen and is ready to abandon his initial plans to subdue and utilize the continent’s population”

“So he’ll wipe the down atI couldn’t puzzle out for myself It was a question I was afraid to ask, but somy mentor’s purpose “Why risk certain and horrible death by hiding Grey’s identity, working with hin hi Alacrya?”

Scythe Seris let out a bitter laugh that startledAlacrya, child Which is why you’re really here”

I gave her a questioning look, and she reached out and took my hand

“It isnoho Grey is, can you still support him? If he stood here now and asked for it, would you offer hiiance?”

I hesitated The truth was, I wasn’t yet sure My feelings toward hi he had lied about who he was for the entire time I knew him didn’t help that But…I wasn’t exactly sure what it really changed, either

“My allegiance is with you, Scythe Seris,” I said after a long pause

Soratitude, pride, surprise, I wasn’t entirely sure—and she squeezed my hand “Then listen carefully If we hope to help Grey and Dicathen, we rona’s attention in Alacrya Very shortly, Sovereign Orlaeth of Sehz-Clar will arrive to inspect this machine I have built But it is not what I’ve promised him”

I felt the color drain froainst my ribs

“The mana input systeht flashi+ng in her eyes “It will draw his h that I can deal with hihts, however Orlaeth is powerfully empathic, and he will sense it if you do not control your e"

My stomach sank “You expect h pitch ofaway my fear

Scythe Seris released ht you here without reason, Caera You and Cylrit, your emotions will provideentirely on lanced back at the door “Your retainer doesn’t know this part of the plan, does he?”

“Clever,” she said with an approving nod “He is purposefully being kept blind to my true intentions so that his emotions will contradict your own”

“And…” I hesitated, not wanting to question her judgment, but unable to move pastup ht “There is a second layer to the plan Orlaeth is a genius My trap is well hidden, but if he senses your anxiety and fear, or sees through the ruse, he ht I sensed a hint of trepidation in the way Scythe Seris’s voice constricted, which only heightened my own “But all I need him to do is use his h”

“Scythe Seris, I—”

“Please, Caera My name is Seris After today, no one will call ht of her presence both a bal caly

“It is time Come”

Just like that, she whisked pastto open and then reseal the door Cylrit aiting at the base of the stairs, and together we began the long climb back up to her estate

Under different circumstances, I would have been thrilled to explore Seris’s estate I had only been once before and rehblood Denoir’s ho her hts and emotions, a taskaura that seeard

Our quick h a series of hallways and arched openings, past a sprawling atriue, almost e the cliffs that ringed the Vritra’s Maw Sea

Dozens upon dozens of rugs in every shape, size, and color iically laid out over top of the sandstone flooring, and a plush chair, alainst the back wall, directly opposite the narrow gap between the two balconies

Next to the throne was another series of devices and artifacts sih instead of gauges there were a series of htly-wound coils of a silvery blue nize

I turnedto neither think about nor feel anything regarding its existence It had nothing to do withabout it

And I certainly don’t know thatto use this device to overpower a Sovereign, I thought, unable to entirely squash the racing of my pulse

There was blessedly little ti pressure soon reached its crescendo

Only once before had I felt such a corona himself in the moments after Grey’s disappearance from the Victoriad

Cylrit tookfrozen in the middle of the room He e artifacts, and I could think of nothing other than to let hiance out onto the balcony and waited for the source of that killing intent to arrive

When the man landed on the balcony opposite her, however, he did not crash down like ainto the room, his irritation so palpable I felt it like a whip across n Orlaeth in the flesh I had only ever seen portraits of hins that every Alacryan child was tasked to do

It didn’t prepare ht of him

The man—if such a simple term was appropriate for one of the asura—was tall, but not inhuister anything at all past his heads, for he had two of the up fro well of uncertainty and self-doubt, I couldn’t help but be fascinated by the sight of him

The two heads were each covered in a mop of dark hair, and each had two horns on the outside of the head The lower horns pointed outward to the sides, while the upper pair pointed straight up before curving slightly On the inside of his left head, mostly hidden beneath his unkempt hair, were the stubs of two more horns, and I couldn’t help but wonder if he’d somehow used them to create his other head

The two faces looked nearly identical, though the heads thehtmost head had been attached after the fact Their expressions, however, could not have been ht head took in the three of us with cool, calculating efficiency Its red eyes—which were slightly darker than the other’s—lingered onin ed to the surface with such force that I nearly vo made sense The power and sense ofI’d felt since heading down the stairs into Seris’s laboratory was an effect of the Sovereign He was, quite literally, drawing my emotions out of me

So he can more easily read them I sed heavily and tried to seton me I wouldn’t fail her

The left head didn’t so lance at any of us, its furious scowl turned to the panel of artifacts on the other side of the throne

“Sovereign Orlaeth,” Scythe Seris said respectfully, “thank you for—” Read first at " l ig ht n o v el r e a d e ror g"

“You said the systems were ready for my examination, Seris,” the leftht head, it added, “The situation in Vechor is tenuous First the Victoriad, now this assault Kiros looks weak He will lash out, could attack Sehz-Clar again if the High Sovereign abandons the other continent And with the treaty with Epheotus broken, it is only a matter of time before they strike If this lesser reincarnate can strike in the middle of our Dominions, then Indrath certainly can They n, to weaken hin has outht head answered “With our gift, ill prove our loyalty and usefulness He will side with us against Vechor, if necessary, and ensure we are protected fro the lessuran has succeeded in her task,” the left snapped again Both heads turned toward Seris, one pinched and glaring, the other lifting its brows curiously

Scythe Seris bowed deeply “Forgive the delay, Sovereign It turned out the component we needed was hidden beneath the desert in Dicathen—a peculiar athers and condenses fire-attribute in the demonstration,” Orlaeth’s left head barked, and I couldn’t help the low moan that escaped htened for a heartbeat She recovered almost instantly and took several steps toward me “Caera, perhaps you would be more comfortable in the atriuh a fist were crushi+ng un, her plan isn’t even inher

“No,” Orlaeth’s right head said firh he spoke to Seris, his gaze had settled onhts away fron, from Seris, froning indifference at his gaze, I looked inwards for so else to focus on So, I let my mind settle where it had so often turned since the Victoriad

I thought of Grey I was alth of e theain About everything

In the background, I ren’s n,” Seris had said beforepurposefully to the series of devices and artifacts I had noticed upon first entering the room “This will h all prior small-scale tests have been successful—”

“Seris,” Orlaeth’s left head snapped, “I understand the protocol, which I developed, and the shi+elding array in question, which I ordered you to create”