-Chapter Three-

Union

Below a distant, irrelevant town deep in the country, in the underground piping systems, there was no life. No life, but one.

A soft panting could be heard, accompanied by the quick upbeat of footsteps, sprinting over the water.

Even in the dark, her long, dark raven hair seemed to have a shine to it.

Her eyes glowed purple in the pitch blackness, granting her the needed vision to navigate the systems.

She kept running, without stopping. Running for her life.

She had come a long way, she found herself thinking. But she had no path back. Behind her, a mere few metres away was her pursuer.

It’s colder here. Much colder, she thought as she saw her breath in front of her.

She snuck a glance behind her, speedily scanning for any sign of the enemy Magician.

But there was no sound, nor sign of him.

A stealth-type Magic.

She knew that he was there, though. She could smell the scent of his Mana, with her sensitive sense of smell.

Mercy knew just who she was dealing with. Her target.

At first, she was the cat and he was the mouse.

But when they ended up coming into the tunnels, that situation was turned around.

Any exit will do. She just needs to get to open space. It doesn’t matter where it is.

She turned her head back around, and focused on the way in front of her. Her eyes darted along the walls for any signs, before she spotted exactly what she wanted to see.

With swift and rapid movement, she took a sharp turn to the right where a dozen metres in front of her stood a lonesome rusty ladder.

“Connect to the Ira Athenaeum!” A purple ribbon of magic, formed of light and engraved with dozens of magic symbols came to life in the dark around her body.

She came to the bottom of the ladder before immediately launching herself upward.

Rapidly, she shot toward the top of the climb, before landing on the ceiling masterfully and flipped down to the ground again.

She didn’t look at her surroundings, but just at the heavy, rusted bolted door, past what looked like some sort of water tank.

She flashed past it, reaching out and threw open the rusty door.

Light rushed into her eyes, and she was blinded for a split second as she took the first step out onto the surface.

The ground soft before her feet, and glowing white, crunching at her step. Soft white droplets fluttered into her air as she took a step in a snowing city.

Paying none of it any detail, Mercy tried to rush to the large, snowy clearing before her.

She didn’t make it three steps when she suddenly heard a dozen sounds of whizzing shoot at her from behind.

What followed right after was the sound of blade on flesh, and her choking voice.

Mercy gasped from the pain and tried to breathe, but blood filled her airways instead.

Her strength disappeared in an instant and she fell onto the ground, into the snow, twitching and gasping for air.

How did he use attack magic?

Behind her, a dark shadow slowly approached the opening, and began to reach toward her.

But it crossed into the ray of light, and began to dissipate, and the shadow quickly withdrew.

It briefly remained, watching the snow around the fallen girl rapidly soak deep red, with six knives all over her back.

Silently, it backawayed back into the shadows, and disappeared again completely.

Mercy’s cried chokes came through the blood in her throat, as she felt her consciousness fading. Unable to summon strength to move, she remained still in the snow.

She can’t faint now! She has to endure it, all the pain, just for even a moment.

Moaning and groaning, she clutched her wand that was tied to her waste, and grasped it tightly against the ground.

“C-co-nect…” she tried to utter through her broken voice. “-Ira… netheuem… res…-tore…ation…”

The wounds on her body began to glow a soft green, as she felt her strength and vitality slowly return to her.

Her vision came into focus, and she felt her lungs begin to gush in air.

Though it wasn’t much, she used her strength to push herself up, and limp away to gain distance from the door.

She fell onto her knees again below a tree, catching her breath, and recasting healing spells.

Though she had lost blood, quite a bit of it, her wounds had sealed now.

She held her wand closely to her side, as she leant up against the trunk, closely watching the door, with apprehension.

Now being in the middle of winter, the snow had covered the streets. It was Taylor’s favourite day of the week. Sunday. No normal school, which the teenage boy dreaded, and able to leave his house.

He disliked being in his home.

His mother was abusive and deranged, he had no father, they were dead broke, and she hated him. Each day was another argument where she loses her shit. At other times, she would just be silent, with no regard for him.

He hated being around her. It felt like a direct attack on his being.

As he walked in his school uniform, he felt it was a bit chilly. But his blazer will keep him warm enough to get to the school grounds.

When he arrived, the entire courtyard, and the buildings looked empty. As it does every Sunday.

He used the caretaker’s key to enter the school gate, before locking it behind him and making his way across the snowy courtyard.

He scanned the buildings, curious to see if he was alone or not, before looking around the courtyard.

The young boy, was lean and tall. He carried himself with a straight back and athletic composure. His short black hair hung above his coffee-brown eyes and his well-defined face.

Taylor let out a relaxed breath in the snow as he came to the sports shed in the corner of the school grounds, standing at the end of the grassy courtyard.

The chinkling of keys softly rung out as he began his weekly routine with sliding the door open.

Taylor took one step into the dark shed but stopped in his tracks at the sight of a stranger lying down on one of the mats.

She immediately sat up as he entered, and the two stared at each other for a long moment.

The first thing Taylor noticed, and his eyes were drawn to the abhorrent amount of deep red coating her torn clothes.

“J-Jesus Christ!” Taylor exclaimed, throwing his shoulder bag off him to the ground and stepping up on her.

“Are you okay!?” his voice shook. “W-we need to call an ambulance,” he fumbled his phone out but she took hand, stopping him.

“Stop!” she called. “Don’t- you need to leave,” she told him seriously.

“What? Why? You’re hurt, we need to get you help.”

The girl frowned at him, before she rose to her feet and twirled a circle.

“I’m fine. But you need to leave,” she told him cooly.

“What happened to you?” Taylor stammered. “Was there an accident? Is someone else hurt?”

“...No one was hurt. You need to get away from here,” she continued exasperatedly.

“Wha- I can’t do that? What am I supposed to do, pretend like I didn’t see anything?” he asked and she nodded.

“Exactly that. Never speak about this to anyone. Forget this ever happened,” she said firmly.

“What’s going on here!?” Taylor looked at the blood and swallowed. “I can tell that’s blood. I need to call the police.” The smell was enough to convince him, but the sheer amount of blood she was covered in also compelled him to do so.

Taylor looked down at his phone again and tried to dial emergency services but was shocked to see he had no reception.

“How… why now? I’ve never not had reception,” he felt panic settle over him. “What is going on right now? I can’t believe this.”

He spun around and stole a glance out the door, paranoid when he spotted a silhouette in the corner of the garden.

“What the hell is that?” he asked, as the girl came to his side and also looked out.

“Shit,” she clicked her tongue. “It’s already onto us.” Her eyes wandered to the skies, and Taylor looked at what she was looking at so intently, only to find what was once a snowy, bright and white day, the sky above had become completely pitch black.

“What the fuck is this!?”

“He’s cast a Domain. This is ridiculous…” the girl said through her teeth, before she quickly scanned their surroundings.

“We need to get out of here. We’re sitting ducks ready to get taken out. Come with me!”

She took his hand and pulled him from the shed.

“Keep up!” she called over her shoulder, breaking into a run across the garden toward the school buildings.

“What is that thing!?” Taylor shouted.

“Don’t worry about it!”

She came to the door and with a swift kick, knocked it down.

Taylor didn’t question it, as they ran for their lives right now.

“I-I had the key for that…” he remarked offhandedly.

“Oh… you did? Well, it might’ve taken too long. We need to find somewhere to hide. If you know this place well… take me to somewhere that’s hard to be found at.”

“Right… we need to hide… this way then!” he took lead and lead her down the corridor and up the stairs.

They kept running until he came to a side room in the corner of the complex, unlocked it, pulled her in and locked it from the inside behind them.

“We should be safe now? Now, what do we do?” he asked, as the girl knelt on the down and began drawing on the ground with white chalk.

“W-what are you doing?” he asked her, but she stayed quiet. Sighing, he looked to the door unsurely.

“This is all so messed up.”

Mercy gave a frustrated groan as she wrote down the ritual circle to break the domain, as fast as she could.

The biggest problem was that this Pureblood had somehow gotten involved. She never expected a passerby to get caught up in this. She’ll have to take him back to the Academy and have him recorrected there.

He had fallen silent, occasionally gazing at what she was doing, but looking back at the door with nervousness.

It would make sense for him to be scared, she thought. He was just an ordinary high schooler after all, by the looks, who happened to be here on a Sunday.

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Thankfully there weren’t more people around.

The shadow was an incredibly dangerous existence, who for some reason has immunity from the world principles binding the Woken World.

She on the other hand, was completely restricted.

She’s going to have to find a way to retreat, and pursue it again later. Hopefully in that time, she can rendezvous with some of friends.

The only worry was the boy, but they could figure it out together later.

The important thing right now was breaking the barrier.

A few minutes passed before she was finished, and looked past her shoulder at the boy.

“Get ready. We’re going to bolt for the gate from here, straight to the exit, okay? It might be quite dangerous.”

“Alright… I’ll lead us…” he answered, taking a deep breath.

Mercy thought he would be in more of a panic but instead he seemed to be concentrating quite well on the frightening situation at hand. He has good adaptability. Now that she looked at him more closely, it was clear he was quite athletic looking. But that’s something she shouldn’t be interested in at this time.

“Connect to the Ira Atheneum…” the circles light up from her chalk. Common Magical casting tools are vital for when you end up in a pinch.

“Raze!”

They heard a loud shattering from all around them.

“What is that sound?” the boy asked.

“Nothing we need to worry about. We do as we said!” she shouted, springing to her feet.

He threw open the door, took a quick glance before sprinting down the hall.

She was swiftly behind him, examining their surroundings for any sign of the attacker.

“There’s only one way we can take to get out to the gate. We won’t run into it, right?” he asked.

“Mmm… we most likely will,” she thought aloud.

“Then what? We just try to run past?”

They came to the bottom of the stairs and to the main exit of the building, where they saw the shadow standing.

Mercy suddenly felt all the Mana in the atmosphere get pulled to it, and she knew something big was coming.

“Stop! It’s casting a wide range attack!”

“What? What the hell-!?” She pulled him back up the stairs, as a flash of purple shot past below them.

“The concrete will hold, but we need to find a way out of here…”

She snuck a glance past the wall, to see it rushing up toward them.

“It’s coming!” She called out.

“Fuck. Fuck it!” He shouted, taking her hand and pulling her back up the stairs.

“Hey-!”

Before she could object, he broke into a sprint, taking her up another story to the third floor.

“Where are you taking us? He’ll corner us!” she objected.

“He’s already cornered us!” the boy simply responded, and pulled her down the long hallway.

“We just need to get to somewhere with people, right?” he asked.

“No! We can’t do that! We need to slip away!”

“Then think of something! The best I can do… is this…”

She wondered what he meant when several balls of block shot past them.

“Jesus!” The boy shouted, and pulled her closer.

“It’s behind us!” she quickly cast a defence barrier behind them, momentarily stopping the oncoming attacks.

They rapidly came up onto a window, and without stopping, the boy took her into a jump through it.

The schoolyard wall was right beneath it, and they were able to go sailing over it, onto the street below.

She gasped as they fell through the air, but the boy quickly pulled her in to cover her and they went spirally downward, about to hit the street when a truck happened to be driving past and they landed on the back of the freight.

There was a loud thunk as the boy landed on his back, shielding her and he let out a grunt at the impact, before rolling over onto his stomach.

She sat up next to him, still gasping from the shock, looking at the school window.

There was no sign of the black figure.

Had they actually escaped? She wondered, as she watched the scenery disappear as they rode away from the neighbourhood atop the truck.

The boy took the hit for her, Mercy thought as she looked down to him, before gasping at the gaping wound on his back.

When did he take the hit? Was it when he jumped out the window?

It was caused by a dark magical slice, and had infected his wound with poison.

Without any form of Magical treatment, it was lethal. Rapid death.

He had already fallen unconscious on the truck, breathing heavily.

He was without a doubt going to die.

Mercy quickly lifted him up, cast alleviation magic on herself and gently launched from the truck.

She landed with him between two buildings in an alleyway, where she gently lay him down and quickly began to inspect the wound.

The main dilemma was that because of the binding principles, she can’t cast Magic on any human, even if it was healing magic.

The consequences of violating the world principles were terrifying.

There was no way she could get him to a hospital because of that, either.

And even if someone were to try to treat him with human medical technology, it would have no effect on the Magical attack.

The shadow hit him, but it would still be fine because it was for some reason immune to the punishment of the world principles.

She can’t just let him die. After all, she was the one who got him involved.

Could she take him into the Dreaming World and heal him there? She wondered, quickly looking around her.

“Shit…” There was no entry point, and not enough time to get to one or make one.

Right now, all options are closed off to her. He really will die, in a split second. She had to act now.

This was the only choice. He covered for her. For that, she was at least grateful. The last remaining option was none other than to… turn him into a Magician and then cast healing Magic. As long as her target wasn’t human, she could practically resurrect the dead.

As a Reviver, she had the power to do that.

Taking a deep breath, she began to chant.

“Connect to the Ira Atheneum - Life Mete!”

Her body began to glow and shine white with pure Mana, and she quickly took the hand of the boy.

The Mete spell was a contractual spell, which both parties had to sign and agree to.

She had already signed her part, but he needed to sign his. The spell requires agreement from both parties of the contract’s terms.

But right now, he was unconscious.

Still, if it was a defenceless human, she should be able to break into his consciousness.

As she expected, it was easily doable with no mind defence barriers erected to protect his consciousness.

With the access she had, she signed the contract from his side before pulling out again.

The Mana shining from her skin swiftly shot into his, and Mercy felt her Mana Source rapidly diminish.

He began to shine and glow with power, now no longer a Pureblood.

It was a success. The contract was made.

Keeping her cool, Mercy quickly began casting an intermediary grade recovery spell on him, and finally sighed in relief as the wound closed up.

She can’t believe something like this just happened. But at least he was okay.

She sat back, before gazing at his unconscious face as he leant against the brick wall.

After a moment, she turned her eyes, casting green restoration Magic over her clothes, leaning back herself, sighing.

She doubts the shadow will leave. He’s an egotistical killer. He wouldn’t like leaving targets alive. He was going to go on the prowl now, she thought as she looked to the setting sun.

And half of her Mana was gone. That was the terms and clauses of the Life Mete spell, a life contract.

That for life, two people will be connected to a shared Mana source. Now that he has a Mana source, he is considered a Magician.

The cost was half of her Mana, but that was only the time being. When he grows and reaches Reviver status, he will amplify their shared Mana pool by multiple times.

Her eyes fell on the unconscious boy beside her. Or young man, she should say. They looked close in age. He was okay looking too, on the good looking side.

“Well… it’s not too bad,” she groaned, leaning down.

The last thing Taylor remembered before he lost unconsciousness was a sharp pain tearing into his back, and the feeling of hot fire leaking into his veins from the wound.

He was falling through the air with the girl, and there was a truck beneath them.

He remembers landing on the truck and blacking out from the pain, but at least he should’ve been able to cover her landing.

He fell into what was like a dream state for sometime.

He found himself faraway. A distant place.

Yet it looked familiar, a deep, engrained place in his soul. He could feel something in him trying to break out.

It was a dark room, of rotting concrete and broken rock. The room appeared empty at first, but Taylor could hear the sound of something floating around him, and horrible, twisted laughter.

He tried to move but found he couldn’t. He tried to scream but found himself unable to.

The sound drew closer to him, before he felt something wet touch his skin, and slowly drag up it, making a squishy sound.

“You are Chosen. You will carry out our will, child. Go forth, bearing our power. You cannot escape your destined fate,” the voices ushered, and then suddenly he found himself awake again.

It was dark out, and he was leaning up against a brick wall in an alleyway.

His wound didn’t seem to hurt much, but more strangely, there was a ball of warmth on his lap.

Taylor looked down and gasped at the girl who was resting her head on his lap, sleeping peacefully.

At least she was okay? He was worried about what would happen when he woke up.

But it seems they got somewhere safe.

He frowned as he noticed her uniform was back to brand-new looking. It was no longer torn, and no longer bloody.

Right. What just happened was not possible, scientifically.

Either those were all secret technology weapons or something, or perhaps monsters were real? Taylor thought in horror.

And the power the girl used. All of those shining lights.

His shaking around made the girl let out a groan, before she slowly sat up and let out a small yawn.

“You’re awake…? Whoa…” she looked into his eyes for a long moment, and he saw her face gradually turn red.

“Are you okay?” he asked, and she quickly turned away.

“Ahem,” she coughed. “Yes. I am. Uhh…” she took a breath and regained her cool. “With thanks to you, I suppose. But what you did was very dangerous.”

“It looked like a very dangerous situation,” Taylor answered.

“It would’ve been better if you had just stood back somewhere where you couldn’t get hurt, and I went to engage him,” she spoke. At first, he just thought she was a defenceless girl who got attacked or something.

But it turns out, it was something he couldn’t afford to get involved with.

“Yeah… I guess you’re right…” he chuckled and sighed.

“So… what now?” he asked. “Did you patch me back up?” he stood to his feet and did a twirl, looking for a wound on his back but found none.

“Yes…”

“I see. Well, thank you. That power is miraculous, I see,” he commented. “I’m glad to see you’re back in normal shape too.”

“You’re a Successor…”

“I’m sorry?” Taylor asked.

“Oh… right, you won’t know what those are. Nevermind. I’ll have to explain it later…” she looked away.

A Successor? Taylor wondered. He found his attention taken by their surroundings instead, as he looked around them.

They were back in the snow, and the ground was freezing.

Taylor glanced over her soft white skin, only to find it odd she was wearing a summer’s uniform. And one he couldn’t recognise. He hadn’t noticed because of all the blood on it earlier. She must’ve not been from these parts.

But it must’ve been freezing.

“Ahem.” He cleanly took off his blazer, which was now also brand new looking, and swung it over her shoulders.

“There.”

She looked up in surprise at him, holding onto it.

“What are you doing…?” she asked.

“It’s probably really cold in that uniform. The jacket’s not much, but hopefully it can keep you warm enough while we figure out where to go,” he nervously told her, his eyes wandering about, trying to act casual.

“Ah…” her face turned red before she smiled sweetly at him. “I see. Thank you for your consideration.”

He found himself suddenly sucked in, and looked away, feeling his face heat up.

“It’s no problem.”

They remained there for a few more minutes, as Mercy knelt down, embraced in the warmth of his jacket.

He was surprisingly kind.

“…You’re name,” she found her voice utter surprisingly quietly.

“Hmm?” he looked to her. She could feel her nervous smile wriggle on her lips.

“What’s your name?” she asked.

“Oh, uhh, right. I’m Taylor. It’s nice to meet you, I guess?” he asked, putting his hand out.

“Taylor…” she repeated, taking his hand and shaking it. “I’m Mercy. It’s nice to meet you,” she smiled softly at him.

“That thing’s still out there, isn’t it?” he asked her, and she nodded.

“It’s not a thing. It’s a man,” she answered.

“What? That was a man?” he repeated in shock.

“Yes. What you saw was his Combat Apparel.” She rose to her feet, standing up straight next to him.

Yeap, he was tall, she found herself thinking.

“I can’t leave now, before taking it out. It’ll either slip away, or even destroy this town.” She looked to his face.

“And you… you’re involved now.”

“Yes… I am. But if you’re going to hunt this thing down, it would be better for me to keep my distance, like you said, right? That way, I don’t interfere with the fight. I definitely can’t lead that thing back home though… though I also just don’t want to go back…”

“Right…” Mercy chuckled. “No, it’s okay this time. Because now, I can cast Magic on you. It’ll keep you protected, at least for long enough for me to take it out. The question is just…” she looked out onto the street, around the city.

“Where would a good place be?” she wondered.