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Chapter 364: Forgiveness

"Chains…? The Cager\'s legacy? It\'s that girl\'s doing…" She growled as her head cleared up thanks to the pain. She was able to take in her surroundings and was confounded to see a simple but quite inviting room. When looking out the window, she saw a picturesque garden that she couldn\'t help but find beautiful, even compared to some sceneries in Old Eden and other touristic Plateaus.

She furrowed her eyebrows and got out of bed whilst clenching her hands. She wasn\'t sure of her current location, but if she had to guess, this was Rakna Xiorra\'s territory. She clenched her teeth as she remembered the humiliation of having had to bow down to a child decades younger than herself.

\'Of course, I knew he held the emperor title… titles, even. But realistically, it\'s natural to expect a host so young not to possess enough power to make use of them,\' she thought grimly and warily walked toward the door, her eyes wandering to the furniture. None of it looked special or expensive… but she could sense divinity inside each item; most likely the effect of reinforcement.

\'What kind of monster accomplishes this much so fast…?\' She couldn\'t help but shiver.

Slowly, she opened the door and peeked outside. Instantly, she was confronted with a summoned creature quietly sitting on the side of the corridor; an elemental wolf. Lucrecia blinked in surprise and the summon glanced at her before pointing in one direction with its paw.

Her eye faintly twitched. \'He… ordered a familiar to watch over me? Am I that unimportant?\'

Without a sound, the wolf then proceeded to stand up and walk away at a measured pace, as if it was expecting her to follow. Grudgingly, she trailed behind and ultimately ended up in the living room of the mansion, where she found a small group of people awaiting her.

Rakna casually waved his hand at her with a smile while sitting on the couch. "Good morning, have you properly cooled off?" He inquired with a sharp gaze.

Lucrecia winced and eyed the other women staring at her with each their different attitude; one was calm like the sea and had a scent of divinity, another felt like an innocent flower, and the last one was grinning wildly and ready to pounce on her at any sign of hostility.

The Matriarch also scowled at the Nine-Headed Hydra calmly sitting next to its owner, releasing what she undoubtedly recognized as Mystic Energy.

\'…forget the child, all these are a problem. If the girl\'s chains were not on me, my speed would have been enough to dispatch them before they could even react,\' she thought and then silently groaned to herself. \'No… that boy might be able to react to my full speed. I can feel it; his senses are absolute. It\'s as if anywhere he stands in is his domain. And that girl…\'

A bead of sweat ran down Lucrecia\'s temple as she squinted her eyes at the doll-like woman gently observing her, like a curious child. \'What in tarnation is this magic power?\' She steeled herself as her eyes glowed and peered into a well of magical energy of magnitudes she had never seen in her entire life. It was bottomless, incomprehensible, and inanely oppressive all at once.

"…looks like you noticed something interesting," an amused voice jolted her and she glared back at the primary source of her mortification.

Rakna gave a small smile at Ceresta who adorned a confused expression. "You must have a skill to see the mana pool or the raw power of one\'s magic, don\'t you?" He asked. "Believe me… I was as surprised as you were when I saw it the first time," he added as his eyes briefly flashed gold.

"Um… are you talking about me?" The former AI tilted her head with her hushed tone.

The therian chuckled. "And she has yet to realize."

"…what do you intend to do with me?" Lucrecia coldly cut through his joviality. "It will take me at worst an hour to get rid of the fox princess\' chains," she uttered while wrapping her hand around an invisible shackle, causing white flames to sear through the gaps of her fingers in reprisal. "Even without that… you could have already killed me. So, why haven\'t you?"

"You say some funny things," Rakna replied with a raised eyebrow. "I gain nothing."

"I tried to kill you."

"Not exactly," he retorted. "You wanted to, but you didn\'t strike."

"What difference does it make? The moment these restraints are gone, I will do it again."

"…you\'ll do it no matter what I say to you about why I killed your cub?"

"Yes," she replied without so much as a thought.

With a sigh, Rakna\'s purple eyes shone and Sonata rattled as it began to float up. The tension rose for everyone in the room, but before anything could happen, the therian paused and his bubbling aura died down.

"{Let me,}" a growly voice echoed in his mind.

It took him a moment to realize who it belonged to. After all, he had never heard him speak in his presence. "I see…" He uttered and Sonata was laid at rest under the dubious eyes of Lucrecia. "You come out then," he stated and stirred his soul power, before exhaling a stream of purple flames.

The Ardent Flames flew out of his mouth within a single breath and congregated into the form of a nine-tailed wolf, sitting in a lazy but prideful manner. The flames eventually steadied themselves and the tangible figure of Fenriu appeared, indistinguishable from a physical being.

"You are…?!" Lucrecia\'s eyes widened in shock. There was no mistaking who the wolf was or even its authenticity. She would never fail to recognize the soul of one of her own. "What did--!"

"Irrelevant," the juvenile wolf interrupted her flatly and narrowed his eyes. "The pesky fool does not need your pardon, nor do I need your useless consideration," Fen spoke slowly, his voice echoing gutturally and aloofly. "It was my loss; his victory. Your anger has no place here."

The Matriarch stepped back as if she had taken a blow, her previous expression of determination shattered to uncover pain "I…" She bit her lip and swallowed her words. She had no right to defend her actions if the reason itself was condemning her.

"Most importantly, Clan Head…" He grunted. "It\'s a bit late, no?"

It was exactly as he said. She didn\'t need to know why or how the young wolf\'s soul was intact and even seemed to be in a stronger state than whenever he was abducted; the only emotion that was left at the forefront of her mind was shame.

She unclenched her fists and closed her eyes. Then, to the surprise of the onlookers, she knelt in front of Fen and lowered her head as if seeking judgment. Looking at the floor, her wolf ears and tails drooped. "I\'m sorry," she said with a firm voice.

"…" Fen\'s eyes only squinted further in response.

"Not because of my actions, nor my anger you didn\'t share," she spoke sincerely. Here she was, a ruler to all Nine-Tailed Wolves, prostrating to a young cub. "I apologize for my failure. I\'ve sworn to protect my kin. Yet, I was careless enough to allow you to be taken away. Under my nose, you were wronged and led to your death."

Rakna, Nyx, and Higure looked at each other, lost as to what they should do. Only Ceresta kept her eyes on Lucrecia, her face unreadable. Eventually, she was the first to act and stood up from her seat, catching the attention of Fen.

Ceres approached Lucrecia and crouched next to her, tapping her dress as it folded over her knees, and the Matriarch looked up in bemusement, almost enchanted by the doll\'s delicate features.

"I have yet a lot to learn," Ceresta whispered loud enough for everyone to hear. "I\'m not certain I can understand your feelings, but… it bothers me. I believe I\'ve been in a similar place before," she said with soft eyes. "While I accompanied Rakna as his AI, there were plenty of times I experienced indescribable pains. I couldn\'t stand seeing him hurt, and often, I believed that as the one closest to him at all times, I should have done more to protect him from hardship."

"AI…?" Lucrecia\'s pupils shook and flicked to Rakna who was smiling wryly.

Ceresta made a small smile. "I simply learned that not everything I desire… can be decided by me or affected by my wishes. How can I try my best to do something… if the intention arrives after the misfortune strikes?"

The wolf Matriarch couldn\'t utter a word in response and Fen chortled.

"Listen to the doll," he huffed. "It\'s not your fault, thus not your responsibility. So, leave it to rest," he declared and turned around toward Rakna, his body starting the process to disperse into purple flames.

"Please wait…" Lucrecia stopped him calmly, her head lifted. The wolf looked over at her and she gazed right back. "At least… is there something you would like to tell your parents? I will relay it personally."

Fen\'s expression creased for a moment and he looked away. "No need. I will see them again one day. I trust the fool to grant me a new lease on life when the time comes," he stated without a pause and scattered into soul flames, which Rakna absorbed back through his hands with a shake of his head.

"The first time I hear you speak and you just call me a fool," he uttered in amusement and looked at Lucrecia with a tilt of his head. "Well, he was more verbose than I expected... Does your kind get that smart so young?"

"No…" The Matriarch sighed and stood up. "Normally… we stay in a stage of infancy until we are five years old, where we acquire our shape-shifting. I don\'t know what happened or what you did to integrate his soul into you but, it seems it accelerated his growth. Perhaps even replaced what we Nine-Tailed usually unlock with something else."

Rakna snorted. "I see. If he had been like that when we met, we might have never fought. I would also have never come as far as I did on the other hand," he added.

Lucrecia let out a long breath and this time just bowed her head. "I apologize for what I did," she said and Ceresta smiled as she stood back a bit. "It was rash and impulsive of me."

"It\'s fine. I don\'t blame you for anything. And I\'m sure you\'ve gotten enough punishment from my avatar already," Rakna replied and she responded with a trembling smile.

"Yes, I sure did…" She said bitterly and straightened herself. "But… can I ask you something? How did you become a wolf? We were told that you entered the Initiation human, but came out of it as one of our own… is it related to you absorbing his soul? Or was it your master who intervened?"

\'Right, she doesn\'t know who \'Obsidian\' really is,\' Rakna narrowed his eyes. \'They still think I have a nine-tailed master. Well, I could easily say he saved me by using Fen as the medium. But before that…\'

The therian answered with another question, "Who told you about this? I\'m sure you didn\'t rush to my place just because you had a sudden hunch, right?"

"That\'s…" She blinked. "Earlier this morning, we Clan Heads were mobilized to encircle the branch of the Scorpions after the announcement. However, they had evacuated the premises long before that time. Only Luzhe remained, their leader. He was the one who hinted at your involvement and even insinuated your change of race was due to our cub\'s death."

"As expected then…" Rakna hummed. "It\'s admittedly weird that I came out of the Initiation as a therian, but most people would think that it\'s thanks to Obsidian at this point. How could he be so sure? Unless he saw—"

"Your status," Lucrecia finished for him and he frowned at her. "You might not know about this, but one of the Nine-Tailed Scorpions is one of the Top 10 Rankers. His name is Afnil Albus, known as the White Scorpion. He\'s infamous for having the strongest stealth."

"He\'s the main reason why the Scorpions are feared for their intel; he\'s capable of inspecting the status of targets as high as level 900 without being caught," the Matriarch squinted. "Chances are… he did it to you as well. Very recently too from what Luzhe said."

Rakna\'s expression twitched. Considering the timing, and that no stranger could enter a territory without the System warning the owner, there was only one time he could have been scanned after coming out Zero.

"{While you were getting steamy with the ladies,}" Fray helpfully commented, mirth dripping from his tone. Rakna groaned and tried to remember if he had sensed anything odd, but nothing came to mind. In the first place, if it was something he could sense, Kaelith would have reacted first.

\'So, there\'s a guy capable of piercing through the Sin of Sloth\'s protection…\' He thought. \'I suppose it was inevitable. The more fame I gain, the more chances there are of stronger Hosts checking on me. But it had to be the scorpions of all people… It means the Abyss also has all the information they need on me as well.\'

Lucrecia watched him ponder. "I assume it is a power of yours then," she voiced. "It would make the most sense as even an elusive being like your master would not find much success searching for disciples in Initiation dimensions. He must have set his sights on you afterward."

Rakna chuckled wryly at her interpretation. "Well, I guess so…"

It was then that their conversation was interrupted by someone opening the door. A child-looking boy with azure hair entered the house while reading a book and when the entrance closed behind him, he looked up to see everyone staring at him.

Hans scowled at them. "…what?"

"You\'re back already?" Rakna was the one to welcome him first. He didn\'t seem to be surprised by his arrival. "Did Eva open up Zero?"

The boy huffed. "Not exactly. She instituted a Pavilion and allowed those that she did not intend to punish leave. Cura and I were such individuals. Speaking of which, he requested me to inform you that he would like to have his spar soon."

The therian snickered. "And he\'ll have it. We made a soul contract for our deal; I can\'t refuse to do it for too long."

"Right," Hans ended the topic dispassionately and turned toward Lucrecia. Immediately, the latter shuddered as their eyes crossed. It felt like her existence was being dissected by his gaze. She once again asked herself where Rakna kept finding these terrifying people.

"How dreadfully loyal," the author suddenly commented, almost kindly. "I have never encountered somebody with more loyalty than you. Be proud of it… or reflect upon it," he uttered and glanced at Ceresta. "And I see that you have bloomed safely; good for you."

With those words, he headed toward the stairs and left for the second floor. Ceresta was left with a pensive expression and Lucrecia was rooted on the spot, staring at where he left.

"Yeah, he does that to people," Rakna said in amusement.

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Sorry, I had a rough two weeks… not necessarily because I hadn’t much time or because I couldn’t write, but because I felt like shit. Like, if there was an illness of which the symptoms were having your brain half-fucking-dead 24/7, I’m pretty sure I’d have it.

.

I did fuck up my sleeping schedule a bit but holy shit I never experienced so much backlash from it before. It was literally as if my mind was cursed by that mood you get when you wake up in the morning and then it never went away.

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I still intend to keep the schedule as is btw. I swear to fucking god I\'ll bring these updates back to where I want them to be.

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