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Chapter 97: Finding Her Way

In the northern region of the Kingdom, near the capital, was the seat of the Astaroth family. The group stayed in the homes of the nobles according to the variations of the Rifts, if a strong concentration was noted in the north, they settled with Freya, if it was more in the East, they would go to Mercy\'s.

The only place they would never go was the Royal Castle. The Astaroths\' mansion was similar to a small castle.

The concession stretched to the horizon, including a forest, a vast training ground, a stable, and many other establishments.

It was evening and the group was having a banquet as usual for the first night at a friend\'s house.

It was a warm tradition and everyone had a good time.

Solaria fought fiercely, always near Dora, serving him drinks and trying to feed him, but every time she tried skin contact she was met with Zuri\'s pinch.

It was a silent war, but rather impressive since no one noticed them.

In this beautiful picture, only Mercy was out of reach.

She barely ate and remained distracted all the time.

A few hours later, when everyone was supposed to be sleeping, she went to her balcony, looking at the moonlight.

She was wearing her black pajamas and slippers.

The wind welcomed her in its embrace, diffusing exotic flavors from the horizon.

She sat down in a chair next to a table usually used for afternoon tea and sighed.

"I\'m happy to see another midnight tea lover." A voice in front of her startled her.

She was supposed to be alone, but when she looked up, she met Dora\'s gaze.

"... Damn, you scared me..."

"That\'s the whole point of infiltration."

"What... Why are you here though? You\'re not sleeping?"

"Voices in my head keep me from sleeping, what\'s going on with you anyway? You\'re not supposed to look like that until I deal with your knight."

She laughed lightly.

Dora snapped his fingers and a tea set appeared.

"Don\'t make me laugh, you\'re not going to fight someone pathetic, I know that."

She laughed a little, but her facial expression quickly changed into a sad smile.

Dora poured some tea into a cup and handed it to her.

She took it and looked at her reflection.

"You\'re a good knight... I\'m sorry he keeps testing ya because of me, if it wasn\'t for Elizabeth, I would have let ya..."

She was silent for a moment and looked down.

She slowly shook her head and looked at him before being surprised.

Dora observed her with a strange smile, but not his usual mockery.

He showed tenderness, as if he understood her pain, and encouraged her to free his heart.

"... I must be a horrible person... I envy Zuri so much... I should be happy for her, but I would have liked so much if you were my knight instead... I tried to support him, I cheer\'d him up, I gave him advice, I listened to him... But it\'s too much now... I regret having accepted him. If only I had been a little faster that day... But I\'m a failure magnet."

She took a sip of tea and lowered her head.

Dora put 5 sugar cubes in his cup and did the same.

"I don\'t know, whether you\'re bound to fail depends on your goals and how far you are to achieve them. You use to do raids in B-rank rifts, that\'s a big achievement."

"Yeah, and you can do it without any party and using only one skill, definitely something to praise."

He laughed lightly and put down his cup.

"Yeah, because I\'m me, that\'s my thing, I have my power and limits, and they are different than you but you have your own growth too... Why are you so obsessed with power?"

She looked at her reflection again and closed her eyes, gathering courage.

"Sorry, wasn\'t tryin\' to make this comparison. Ya know that I\'m a noble, right? Well, I\'m not exactly from a great noble lineage, like Freya or Solaria, I\'m not the daughter of a duke, a marquise, or anythin\' like that... but my family is closer to the throne than any normal nobles."

She put her cup on the table and stared at Dora.

"My big brother is one of the Queen\'s Holy guards."

The wind rose. The two looked at each other in silence for seconds.

"Holy Knights?"

"Yeah, name\'s Peters, an S-rank halberdier. My family has been linked to the nobility by this link for generations, one of us is designated as a Holy Knight by the preceding and they generally choose the strongest in the family. It\'s a bit weird but I guess that way the Queen is always sure of their loyalty, or somethin\' like that."

"I see, so if I understand clearly, you want to be stronger to be the next Holy Knight?"

She shook her head slowly and looked at the moon.

"Yes, but s\'not really that. I was fine with my bro being the Holy Knight, but one day, he had an argument with our dad... he said that he wouldn\'t pass the title to his successor, so the lineage of holy knights would die with him."

She stared back at Dora.

"Not having a holy knight in the family will cast us out of the nobility, dad knew that, so he turned the house upside down, like t\'was really not good to leave there for months. My dad decided to deny him, but my mom couldn\'t accept it and followed him, so now I\'m leavin\' with my dad and Peters with our mom."

Dora took a sip of tea and thought for a moment, seeing this, Mercy smiled and did the same.

"I wanted to become a Holy Knight to reunite my family, We can have at max one Holy Knight by family, so if I want to take that from Peters, I need to be stronger than him, or havin\' a knight stronger... It was my goal in the beginning but... I am very far from his level and... Hope."

"Big shoes for a cockroach." Dora nodded.

Mercy laughed at his joke and finished her tea.

She stood up and walked toward the edges of the balcony.

"But now, things are different, it\'s not impossible to reach his level anymore," Dora said.

Mercy turned back with a smile.

"Yes, everything is different now, in many ways... I can reach his level, and I\'ll do it, no matter what, but not only to reunite my family but also to save him."

She clenched her fist.

"From this monster... Now I understand why he changed so much... Peters is always a lil\' too stubborn, and always overprotective... If he has learned the truth about the Queen, since he\'s now linked to her, I\'m sure he\'s tryin\' to cut ties with us, just to protect us. That\'s so like him."

She sighed and sat down again. Dora looked at the moon, looking thoughtful.

"It\'s not impossible, you have the time, but that would just be reversing the problem, your brother would be then the one who would train to surpass you."

"I know... But now that I know what a mess he is in, I can\'t let him sink, can I? You have a sister too, I\'m sure you get it."

"... Yeah, and then it makes me want to root for your brother."

She served him tea, a little smile on her lips.

"Don\'t underestimate little sisters, we always get what we want."

"... On the sanity of your brothers? The end doesn\'t always justify the mean."

They laughed together and exchanged a few anecdotes about their brother or sister over cups of tea.

After a while, the mood was excellent. Dora looked at the moon, smiling, and crossed his arms.

"I can understand why he wouldn\'t want you as a holy knight, you\'re too rough to stick around the Queen, this will give him anxiety."

"Oh, he will definitely get anxious when we meet again, I powered up a whole lot since last time!"

"Sounds interesting, I\'ll see how you deal with him, it will be fun to see who will cry first."

"Well, at least I\'m the one in control here, not getting played round\' by a little brother or somethin\'." She teased him with a smug, making him laugh.

"I\'ll see you in control then, it\'s true that you\'re more suited than him for this task... And not only because you can be stronger, your brother is a Holy Knight for the Queen, so he belongs to her, but, since you are my... You are under my wing, you\'re technically immune to the Queen thanks to the Code, as a property of the Avatar of Greed."

He finished his cup and snapped his finger, but this time as an expression of joy.

"Yeah, that\'s a wonderful idea, let\'s do this then... You ok?"

He noticed the expression of the young girl.

Her usual calm and stoic face was now in visible shock.

Her azure eyes were shaking, and she opened her mouth slightly.

Her gaze was fixed on the young boy in front of her.

"You... You\'re serious? You\'re not kidding?"

"Why are you surprised? We agreed to do that from the beginning, didn\'t we?"

"... Ah mean... like... Me under yer wing... you\'re not just saying that for no reason, yer really willing to make me your vessel? Like... Like Miss Candace said... has a sub Avatar?"

Dora stared at her intrigued for a moment then smirked mockingly.

"Hmm... I don\'t know... now that I think about it, maybe it\'s too much pressure for you."

"What? NO!!! I... I can take it! For realzie!!!" She jumped on the table, on her knee, and shook him by the shoulders. "Please! I\'ll do anything for it!"

"Eh...? But as a big brother I can\'t betray the first rule of the bro book: don\'t touch the sisters."

"I\'m not yer sis so you can touch me! Do... Uh...? What the... Urgh... dammit, forget I said that..." she got off the table embarrassed, covering her face.

"Oh my..."

"Please forget it!"

"Your proposal to take you or your proposal to \'take\' you?"

She grinned lightly, looking away while Dora laughed openly.

The moon shines brightly, giving them a marvelous view of the landscape, a perfect sight to end their night.

* * *

It was a few hours past sunrise.

In the family training ground, everyone watched an upcoming mock battle between Dora and Mercy.

Solaria, a fan in her hand, nodded.

"So... What\'s going on here exactly?"

"A friendly battle, I suppose," Gersey answered.

"I know that already, what I mean is, why does she look so happy?... I don\'t like this..."

She growled in her corner, meanwhile, Dora and Mercy were ready to face each other.

It looked like a very lopsided fight, but the look on both fighters\' faces was an auspicious omen.

Mercy put a hand on her chest and took a few breaths.

"This is it. I really made it... I really found a way to achieve all my goals... My family, my life... I can finally see through... And this time, I will do it, not someone else... I\'m the one who\'s gonna climb up and become a Holy Knight, just you wait, Peet."

She looked right into Dora\'s eyes, with a determined impression.

The boy nodded his head and said nonchalantly.

"Yer not planning to lose after such a speech are ya?"

Most of the audience forced themselves not to burst out laughing. On her side, Mercy giggled and took a fighting stance.

"Heh, I know you\'ll wipe the floor with me if ya get serious, I know that... But the truth is after all this chitchat, I really just wanna fight for myself! I don\'t care who\'s stronger than me as long as I can feel stronger than the previous me every day, that way I\'ll be stronger than him one day."

"That\'s the spirit, a battle between a lost girl and a monster, I\'m so moved that I\'ll give you a handicap: I\'m not gonna do anything at all!"

"Eh, don\'t say it wasn\'t a loss if I kick your butt!" She released a massive black aura covering the field.

The four weaker council members present flinched and fell to their knees when the energy became a black tornado.

"Whu... What is that?!" Lisa screamed.

"This..."

On his knees, Cid stared in disbelief.

He had been seeing Mercy for a long time. It all started with a little girl from a noble family, with the misfortune of seeing her knight, a miserable insect, challenge him, the most powerful student of the new generation.

She had nothing special, no special powers, not an avatar, not from the most famous family, just a little girl with almost no facial expression and the behavior of a tomboy.

But just in that moment, in that very moment, he felt her energy, his body reacted by kneeling, not because of a shockwave, but to acknowledge the rise of a higher being.

"Is this... The power of a B-rank?" Gersey murmured in shock, a little further away, Candace couldn\'t hide a proud smile.

The field was covered by a black dome, on the ground, red and black lightning came from several places.

Dora widened his eyes and uncrossed his arms, making Mercy laugh.

"You\'re not gonna move so you\'re not gonna defend yourself, that means that if I make ya switch, I win, right? Don\'t you dare come back on your words!"

She points her palms towards him and the next moment, the Earth shook and the surroundings turned black and white.

*

*

Half an hour had passed, and around what used to be the familial arena, every maids and butlers were gathered, watching in confusion the scenery of a gigantic crater.

In a bubble above, Candace\'s group was watching with attention. The council members were way beyond shock, while the others seemed more focused on what was happening in the crater.

Still emanating from lightning, the crater offered a surprising show.

Dora, shirtless and burned in several parts, was crouched in front of Mercy, who was breathing heavily, lying on the ground.

"Ehehe... Eh... Guess... It\'s... Early... Hehe..."

She laughed lightly, next to her, Dora closed his eyes and started applying healing on her.

"Yeah, it\'s way too early for you to be that strong, but..."

"Uh-uh, we said... No buts... Hehe... You used your energy... to protect your pants."

"I would have been naked!"

"No buts!.... Oh? hehe... Wait, that was funny... hehehe..."

He sighed and helped her up and carried her on his back. For their part, Solaria, was really angry, biting her handkerchief.

"Something happened! I don\'t know what, but something really bad happened!"

"Indeed, she could have made a bet to make him become her knight if she won, what a waste." Freya nodded.

The two emerged from the crater: the girl with newfound light in life, and the monster radiating in a completely distinct way.

*

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Countdown: -4.