She vanished and dodged, but the clouds parted overhead. Mercy was being buffeted and battered by the wind currents, and while everyone in the battle was avoiding her, eventually Lindon or Yerin would have a chance to catch her. Malice extended a hand and focused her will on Mercy and the entire fortress.
“Return,” Malice commanded. The Way obeyed, twisting to return the fortress to the city from which it had come.
In the fragment of a second before the transportation completed, both Lindon and Yerin appeared on the base of her fortress. They must have moved before her working began.
They’d anticipated her.
Yerin gave her a smirk, and a message slipped past Malice’s mental defenses. [Thanks for the ride!] Dross said.
Then they all vanished.
Lindon endured the rough trip through blue light as they were shoved through the Way. It had been difficult to predict Malice, and even harder to maneuver her into the position that she’d have to transport Mercy away. Especially since he didn’t want to hurt her by accident.
Still, they’d done it. An instant later, they arrived in Moongrave.
As soon as they did, Yerin grabbed Mercy by the shoulders. “Dreadgods, Monarchs, got to kill ‘em.”
Mercy looked like a child being shaken on horseback. “Wait, wait, wait! Explain from the start!”
They didn’t have time for that, as there was a better than ninety percent chance Malice would be seconds behind them. Lindon mentally nudged Dross, who sent Mercy the details in an instant.
Without a Monarch to interrupt the transmission, Mercy heard it all.
Her jaw dropped open…and then tears were in her eyes. “My mother…Uncle Fury? He knew? Nobody told me.” She looked to Lindon, pleading. “Did you make this up? It’s…it’s okay, I just…is it a lie?”
Lindon met her gaze and shook his head a little. “Apologies.”
“Move her!” Yerin shoved Mercy toward Lindon. They were hovering above Moongrave, but the air was already crowded. Hundreds of spiritual perceptions had locked onto them from the beginning.
Lindon gathered his will to move Mercy toward the closest labyrinth entrance. It was harder than just moving himself, but not too bad, as long as he kept it to a limited distance.
“Move,” Lindon commanded, just as Dross shouted, [Dodge!]
A pulse of shadow smashed through the cloud fortress, reducing it to rubble that rained down over the city. And a powerful will smothered his working.
Mercy trembled in place, but she stayed where she was.
Still in her armor and holding her crystalline bow, Malice looked down over the three of them. She extended a hand.
“Go,” she ordered Mercy.
Together, Yerin and Lindon matched their wills against the Monarch. In a warping of space, the working broke.
Malice sent a pulse of force aura to shove Mercy back, but Yerin crushed it.
“Mother,” Mercy said in a trembling voice, “I know everything.”
“You don’t know anything,” Malice snapped. “And neither do they.”
Blades of shadow sliced at Lindon and Yerin, but Lindon intercepted them with the Hollow Domain to weaken them, then tore them to pieces. Yerin stood in front of Mercy and returned Striker techniques with a Rippling Sword.
Lindon and Dross were more than familiar with how the Akura armor worked. The more stress they put on it, the harder it was to maintain.
But a Monarch could hold it through a lot more than a Truegold could.
Lindon and Yerin kept assaulting Malice with techniques, but Malice was an archer. As their Striker techniques slammed into her armor, she kept them on the defensive with arrows. And blades of shadow. And an oppressive, overwhelming will that seeped into their spirits.
Close up, it wasn’t much better.
Lindon slammed his fist into her, driven by the Burning Cloak, and the force sent thunder cracking over Moongrave and scattered air traffic. But the hit on her armor didn’t slow her down at all, and she borrowed the momentum to fly higher in the sky and return fire.
Her missiles were guided by living will. When the arrows missed, they looped around and returned, or flew at Yerin.
They couldn’t use the full power of their techniques for fear of damaging Moongrave. Malice took advantage of that, putting herself between them and the ground. Taking her own city hostage.
But Lindon and Yerin didn’t have to defeat Malice to win. They only had to escape.
Yerin landed a two-handed blow with Netherclaw that Malice had to block with the arm of her bow, but Lindon flew for Mercy.
She was trying to hang in there, bobbing on the back of Suu. “Get ready!” he called to her.