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

Klix was waiting for us by herself.

The Goddess looked upset, though her anger didn't look like it was directed at us. Mostly because she didn't notice us entering the room. Instead, she was looking at Trent and biting her nails.

I cleared my throat. I really didn't want to startle her. "Is everything okay?"

The ivory Goddess looked up at me, then saw Oz and her worried face lit up a little. "Good, you brought her."

One second the Goddess was next to Trent, and the next she was in front of Oz. She had her left hand on Oz's right shoulder and then ripped the collar of the younger woman's shirt to the left with her right hand.

"Wha..!" Oz was too surprised to move, though I had a feeling that even if her legs gave out, Klix's grasp on her would keep her standing.

"Where…" Klix ran her claw over Oz's dark skin, drawing a thin white line of blood behind her nail.

"What's going on?" I moved closer to Oz to try to get in Klix's field of view.

"Shh!" Klix hissed.

Oz gasped, and I felt a buzz of magic pulse out of the Goddess.

"Fascinating…" Klix clicked her tongue. "This should work!"

"What is going on?!?" I grabbed Klix's arm as she started leading Oz towards the empty cot that Fray usually lay on.

Her glare barely hit me before I let go of her.

"Don't think that just because you're a Godling, that gives you the right to casually touch a Goddess." Klix didn't ease her glare at all. "Don't do that again."

"I need to know what you're doing to my people." I tried to fight against the pressure that was washing over me. It almost felt like I was drowning.

For a moment it felt like she wasn't going to answer, but the pressure stopped as she looked away.

"We don't have much time, but fine. I suppose you need to know what we're doing." Klix turned Oz so that I could see her. "We're going to use a seal outline instead of the whole seal." She tapped on the blue outline over Oz's heart.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"Why?"

"Because we're running out of time." Klix gestured at Trent. "How long has he been like that?"

I tried to think. It'd been a while since everything had happened in Mive. "Over two weeks?"

"Seventeen days since he tried to brute force that seal…" Klix shook her head. "Arrogant fool. While that's concerning by itself, the number that we're the most worried about is how long has that seal been degrading?"

I wasn't sure what she meant. "Degrading?"

"How long since you destroyed the demon that was holding the seal together?" Klix seemed irritated that she had to clarify.

"Oh…" I thought for a moment. "That was one week ago today."

"That's when the cage he's in started to deteriorate." Klix actually looked concerned. "I talked to Tres just a little while ago and we're not sure what's going to happen to him once the seal breaks down."

"Wouldn't he be able to break out once it gets weak enough?" There was a part of me that was hoping that if we just waited, everything would work out.

"His mind is detached from his body." Klix pointed at the unconscious body of my teacher. "We can already tell that the cage that's holding him is breaking down, but that's a bad way of explaining it…" Klix took a deep breath. "It's more like the cage is being absorbed into the inert seal. We're afraid if we leave him in there for much longer, then it's going to start eating away at him."

"Oh…" I looked at Oz. "And you think me replicating her seal will give me enough control over the cage to release him?"

Klix nodded. "That's what we're hoping anyway."

"How did you know about her seal?" I was trying to remember who had been there. It'd been Rix, Ether, Oz, Fray, and Gesai, and I didn't think any of them would have told her about it. From what I could tell, since she'd verified that Oz had the seal, Klix couldn't tell who had a seal until it was activated.

"Whisper told Tres about it."

Of course. I'd forgotten that the bandit had been there. That was probably because he'd spent most of our time tied up while Trent was working on Astrid's seal.

"Aren't we going to have to redo most of what I've already done?" The seal looked like a rough sketch of what I'd been working on. Instead of making the outlines, I'd been trying to replicate the seal piece by piece.

"Yes, which is why we need to hurry." The Goddess looked over at Trent. "I don't know how much will be left of him if the cage he's in collapses before we get him out.

I moved over to my seat and looked at the seal that I'd been working on for the last few days. It didn't take much more than a wave of my hand to wipe it away. It felt wrong to just destroy it, but I needed to start over from scratch.

"Sorry about dinner." I looked at Oz, who was trying to get comfortable on the cot.

"It's for Trent." The dark woman shrugged. "I wasn't that hungry anyway."

Her stomach growled in protest. I smirked. "Tell you what, I'll find somewhere to take you to make it up to you after we get done." I looked at my CB. "Well, maybe not right after we're done. But soon."

"I'll hold you to that." Oz closed her eyes and settled in.

I looked at Klix. "I'm ready."