Mantle of the Gods [LitRPG / Slow Burn / FTB Harem]

Sydney Faeru was tied up.

There was a part of me that regretted that we had to treat a potential ally like this, but she had been the only one that had known that we were going to try to rescue our friends. She was someone that supposedly Trent trusted, but we had no way of asking him that.

Oz Mite had come with me. I hadn't had the heart to wake up Justia or Ether and the only other one who'd been awake had been Jen Violu. Jen was Sydney's niece though, so I didn't want her to come along until I knew for sure that I could trust the green woman.

Sydney was a Power class and had the usual white hair and red eyes that most of those shared. Though Oz was also a Power class, yet she had black hair and green eyes as well as brown skin, which was an outlier compared to the usual snow-white that most Power class Adventurers had. Though the Nobility with that skin tone preferred the designation ivory, reserving the term snow for the Mundane. As a snow myself, I'd always found the term endearing because it snowed so rarely in the Cathedral Ward, so snow was usually an anticipated sight. But there were plenty who didn't share my opinion on the matter.

The restrained woman struggled in her bindings. "I told you! I didn't set you up!"

"Then how did they know that we were coming?" Gesai squatted in front of the green woman.

"I don't know!" Sydney pulled against her restraints. Knowing Gesai, she would've used the strongest ones she could, which meant that those were Tier Four ropes. Despite her Power, she wouldn't have been able to bend Tier Five ropes that tight. But that told me that this woman was at most Tier Three.

"How did you find out where our friends were?" I put my hand on Gesai's shoulder.

She glared at me. "I don't answer to you! If I…!"

"You answer to my father." I motioned at where Trent was lying unconscious. I eyed her small reaction. "Or someone you answer to does. Either way, my FATHER…" I made sure to emphasize the word. "Is incapacitated and has left me in charge." I eyed her. "Which means you answer to ME." I made sure to hold her gaze until she broke. There was a small part of me that wondered if I could use my magnetism on her, but she probably had the same protections that Jen had and I wasn't interested in having to chase off a married Noble if she didn't.

She was quiet for what I considered too long. "I asked you a question."

"I have a security guard pass that I use to gather information like this. I looked for information about how shifts were being changed and duty assignments. I saw that the safe room was receiving more attention than normal and had one of the custodians that I get to look into things do a quick walk by. She confirmed that they were in there, hung up on crosses."

"You left that last part out." I eyed her. "Did you know what they were doing?"

"I'd heard whispers about an empowering ceremony, but nothing concrete. I didn't think it was relevant, probably just something to freak you out." She must have seen something on our faces. "It was bad wasn't it."

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I looked at Gesai. "I want to believe her…" I shook my head, "But she could just be faking."

"We could poke her a few times." Rix pulled out a knife.

I glared at the golden woman. "I'm not torturing her."

"She didn't know that." Rix put the knife away.

"If Trent were here, then he'd just do that mind thingy and we'd know for sure." Oz looked at Rix, "You think Whisper knows something like that?'

Rix shook her head. "Whisper is more Speed and Power based, I doubt he has a skill like that."

"I have an idea…" It was a very bad idea. And I had a feeling that none of the women with me at the moment were going to approve. But I had a feeling it would work. "Rix, go get Whisper to bring Mive in here."

"You've got Mive with you?!" Sydney looked at each of us to see who would talk to her. "Is he okay? Where did you..?"

"You're going to do the thing…" Rix shook her head. "Okay."

"What thing?!?" Sydney strained against her restraints. "What is going on?!"

Oz had never seen me use a spell to hijack a mind link, so she had no idea what I was about to do. I'd pulled Rix in with me once and one time I'd hijacked one of Trent's spells to go into Gesai's mind. I wasn't sure if it was going to work, but to me it seemed like the best idea I had.

"Do I need to get Jus to stop whatever insane thing you're about to do?" Oz inched towards the door.

Concern covered Gesai's face. "Are you sure you can do this?" She nodded at the unconscious white-haired man. "Trent couldn't handle the one that was designed to contain a Tier Zero…"

"I'm hoping…" I paused as Whisper walked in carrying Mive.

"You're going to get yourself killed." Whisper point at me as he laid Mive down next to Sydney.

"What happened to him?!?" Sydney strained against her bonds again. She looked at Rix, who walked in after them. "Did you do this to him?"

Rix glared at the spy. "I kill Gods…" She nodded at the sleeping Kitsune. "Does he look dead?"

To be fair, he did. His skin was ashen and his fur didn't have any sheen at all. To top it off, he was breathing so slowly that if you didn't watch carefully, you couldn't see his chest rising and falling. But Rix's comment drained the color out of the green woman's face.

"The demon's did this to him…" I saw the confusion on her face and started to feel apprehensive about what I was about to do. Mental magic seemed to cause a lot of pain, though I'd never felt any. Either way it looked like there was going to be a lot of explaining I was going to have to do. "He'll be fine once we figure out how to wake him up." I looked at Gesai. "If I don't get out of there, follow Rix's instincts."

"Isn't that what we're already doing?" Whisper turned to leave.

"What's your problem with me?" I stood up so that I could face the Bandit. "You've been short with me since you showed up even if you have saved my life more times than I can remember right now."

"You know what my problem is? It's…" The blonde looked around the RV. "You know what?" He reached out and grabbed my shoulder. "I'm going in there with you."

"Shouldn't you stay out here in case..?"

"There's a reason for me to do this." The bandit looked over at Rix. The bond between them stated that she could give him a reasonable order. It seemed like he was daring her to countermand his plan.

"I'll go run around the block." Rix vanished.

Whisper looked at me. "We're following Rix's instincts, yes?"

I sat down and put one hand on Mive and one had on Sydney. My hope had been that the bindings would only keep in larger things, like Trent who was Tier Seven or Mive who was probably Tier Eight. I started to share my concerns, but he had already been inside the Mantle this morning, so I had a feeling that whatever floor they used hadn't included Tier Five. Probably because that was what Sandez Jinsu had been.

I closed my eyes and muttered one word.

"Siphon."