What was he even fighting for? His wife and sons were dead executed by the Prophet’s Seraphs. The Prophet punished him with the loss of his lands, his nobility, and his longevity. Logan scratched at the mark of Solomon branded over his heart. The solemn black key bit at his skin and robbed him of the majority of his qi. Even at the majority realm, he couldn’t hold off the mark forever. Then there was his daughter. His little girl had been innocent. The world corrupted her; no righteous spirit would bond with her, she was isolated, and even he pushed her away out of embarrassment. Was it any wonder she’d bond with the first spirit no matter how forbidden?

High above the forest canopy, he observed the training conducted by his interrogator. She was an outcast as much as he was. Her mother and sisters were witches, descendants of demons who inherited a spirit’s power in the flesh.

She must see herself in Red, a warlock who flaunted his heretical inborn powers. Logan doubted it would have crossed her mind. She had been very young during the black wing trial. Back in those days, Logan had more than enough political clout to bury her involvement.

Logan could see the fanaticism and self-loathing in Emily’s eyes in the way she cackled and beat Red bloody. Of course, with two spirits, the mortal had plenty of qi to work with and a heretical armored form. But, unfortunately, that still didn’t close the gap between realms. Emily had reached the midpoint of coalescence while Red hadn’t touched it yet.

He saw signs of the beginning of coalescence. The armored plates covering Red’s armored form were thickening and squaring out. With every second Red fought, his armor streamlined itself for human combat. His movements came faster even as Emily rattled joints and vanished before Red’s eyes. To Logan’s eyes, Emily’s training resembled a continuous beating.

He didn’t know how he felt adding another to his retinue to a task he had no intention of completing. A part of him wanted to teach Red what he needed to know and cut him loose. Involving him further in hunting his mad daughter was a bad idea. They could teach him a little more and send him to join a branch sect of the triad. Out here, far from any capital or significant city, Red was less likely to be discovered.

Logan landed amongst several stags and pulled his pistol. Three beasts died before they knew what happened, falling over dead in mid jump. Then, with a flick of his hand, the deer floated a few inches off the ground. He would have Red do the grunt work of rendering the animals.

He entered the forest clearing covered in Red’s blood. Most biting insects shied away from his approach. At a casual glance, he spotted the hallucinating spiral mouth, floating spark ball spiders gliding on delicate silk gliders, and the deadly running death hornet. To a mortal, they were quite deadly, so he brushed them away with his spirit.

“He’s had enough practical training; for now, Interrogator, let him rest,” Logan said.

“What’s wrong, scared I’m going to wreck her pretty face?” Red asked. Logan raised an eyebrow at Red’s audacity then smiled.

“Well, if you have the energy to speak so boldly, then you can dress threse while I teach you a lesson,” Logan said.

“That form of yours will mark you as a demon or a warlock,” Logan said.

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The boy stared stupidly at his gauntleted clawed hands. Unfortunately, his dragon helmet made his expression difficult to discern, so Logan cheated with spirit sense.

“I need this power,” Red said. The admission was more human than he expected.

Is that what his daughter felt at first? Did she need the power her heretical spirit granted her to feel like she belonged to something? Logan might never know. The girl she had been drowned in the madness of binding dozens of spirits. After merging with so many spirits Ula committed horrible deeds worthy of a demon.

“I’ll teach you a technique that will help you compensate,” Logan said.

Emily looked ready to rebel, yet another problem child. Was that who he had become? Did he become a collector of broken things to fill the void? Perhaps they came to him feeling a fellow broken spirit.

“We’ve wasted enough time in this forest, and we need to travel. Gemini village is a week’s travel from here, and we’ll enter Gemini County by nightfall. If a scout sees his form, then nothing I say even as a High Inquisitor will stop a mob from coming after him.” Emily nodded at that Logan missed the days when his word was law.

Red took up and knife and struggled to tear through the spirit beast hide. He began to step up when Emily interfered. She stepped behind the boy and took his hand. Did she feel bad about beating him all day and claiming it was training?

“Since you’re too stupid to cut hide, let me show you. First, you have to serrate the blade’s edge with qi; just reinforcing the blade isn’t enough.” Emily said.

Logan winced; that was a little harsh but a start. Red grunted instead of saying anything, and then he heard a grinding sound. Suddenly Red’s knife sliced through hide like a knife through butter, and the cube happily warbled the entire time.

“You said you’d teach me something useful,” Red announced.

Logan glanced at the box spirit and remembered Red’s constant improvements to his armor as he battled Emily. The form had evolved constantly during the fight. It was the power of a warlock without a doubt. Was one of the boy’s parent’s a demon? The first generations were said to be very powerful.

He silenced the inquisitor side of his brain. The boy was simply clever, and the box spirit was more benign than malignant.

“Since you have two spirits, a dual cultivations technique will fit you best. This one is called twin peaks gazing to the kingdom in the sky.” Logan explained while Red pulled the pelt from the carcass. The boy had a talent for taking corpses apart, something he should note for later. He thought about truly teaching him the way of the inquisitor. Though from experience, Logan couldn’t say it led to a happy life.

He explained the concept to a questioning Red, who, for some reason, didn’t believe there was a kingdom in the sky. It took a long time to explain that there was a floating kingdom where the Prophet lived high above any mountain peak. Once they entered deeper into triad territory, they’d see it.

“Why should I pray to it three times a day?” Red asked.

Logan heard the question but didn’t understand it. Three was an exemplary number for its holy significance, its symbolism in the realms of cultivation, and the separation of the day.

“I don’t believe in your Prophet,” Red said brazenly. Emily pulled her gun at the man and Logan knew things were going too far.

“Holster your firearm now,” Logan ordered. He flexed a minuscule amount of spiritual energy to get his point across.

Emily slowly lowered her revolver to the dirt before sliding it into her holster.

Red glared at them both. Logan felt the boy’s progress using the twin peaks gazing at the kingdom in the sky and already gained some benefits. In a few days, he would edge into the barest of the coalescence realm. Both of his spirits seemed to be suitable matches. Dual coalescence was challenging but not impossible, merely multiple times more complex and requiring many more resources. The spirit beast meat they had for supper helped the boy.

If the boy managed to enter a sect and kept his nose to the grindstone, he’d become truly powerful in a few decades. Those who are powerful enough can be overlooked for having slightly heretical spirits. The cube wasn’t bad enough to be burned at the stake, merely a censure. Logan was currently suffering under a censure himself. By the Prophet, his brand itched.

“Never say that in public if you want to keep your head. I don’t care what you believe in, but the world does. So long as you stand in triad lands, you will respect our customs and appear pious.” Logan said. He bore down on Red with an edge of qi.

Red jerked in and out of his battle form, and for a moment, Logan prepared for a fight. The boy’s fists clenched, and it seemed like Logan would have to humiliate him to get the message across. But, after a short session of cultivation, the boy’s battle form felt much stronger. In a week, the difference would be between earth and the heavens.

The boy growled under his breath then nodded. “I will fake it and cultivate instead,” Red said.

Many prayed while they cultivated so Red’s choice would raise even Emily’s ire. Well, if she wasn’t set on purging Red already. Instead, Emily glared at him in her own seething way, and he knew they’d have a talk later.