Chapter 773: Green Haze

Beyond the smoke, part of the enormous white body shifted against the darkness. One of its legs moved across the space above Proxima, drawing the retreating lines farther from the planet.

The ships and ruined buildings looked small beneath that enormous body.

Lolth was leaving with her daughter’s remains. The bargain had worked; it hadn’t made Alex and Mingyue strong enough to follow her into the web.

The last visible threads rose beyond the clouds, and space folded around the white shape.

Alex watched until he could no longer see the leg or the glow of the organ among the strands.

Whatever remained in Lolth’s older web went with her. He had not reached it or forced her to show him who could still be saved.

He lowered his eyes to the street where Dorian’s fighters were carrying the newly freed soldier toward Selene.

That man was still moving.

Alex drew a deeper breath and immediately regretted it. Pain spread through his right side.

Mingyue took his upper arm and steadied him when he bent forward.

"Sit down."

"The formation first."

She followed his gaze toward the green haze.

Without the organ suspended over it, the yard looked empty. The broken ring remained on the paving, with faint red light running through some of its marks.

Smoke was still gathered inside the boundary.

Mingyue released his arm and pointed to a low piece of wall outside it.

"You can reach from there."

Alex sat. He could have kept standing, but there was no reason to spend his strength proving it while he worked.

The barrier stayed between him and the smoke.

"Vesa, the organ is gone. Some outer marks are still lit."

"Show me which ones."

Alex described the ring, including the places where the released lines had fallen back against the paving. He left the broken slab inside the boundary rather than handing it to one of Dorian’s soldiers.

Alucard’s voice came faintly through the connection.

"Break the remaining paths into the center. Keep the residue contained while you do it."

Alex put a small rune against the first exposed mark.

The mark went dark when he split the stone beneath it. No pulse answered from the center of the yard.

He followed the visible ring around the broken paving, cutting the surviving paths where the fleet’s damage and his earlier separation had exposed them.

Mingyue stayed beside him, facing the street while he worked.

The red light faded section by section. When the final connected mark went dark, the green haze ceased drawing inward toward the place where the organ had hung.

It spread slowly across the enclosed paving instead.

Alex kept his barrier closed.

The marks had gone dark. The smoke remained, pressed against his barrier.

"Keep everyone out of this yard," he told Dorian when the commander came to the opening. "The smoke stays behind this boundary until we know how to clear it."

Dorian looked over the empty apparatus.

"Any of ours inside?"

"No one I can see."

Alex had searched the visible gaps while following the formation. No body emerged when the red marks broke, and no one called from the place the organ had occupied.

Whatever had already been consumed to feed it had not returned with the web’s withdrawal.

Dorian sent two fighters to guard the approaches from outside the barrier.

"Nothing goes through. If a human officer objects, point him at that smoke."

He directed the others toward their wounded.

An Imperial soldier came around the next corner with one arm hanging out of his damaged armor. Dorian’s nearest fighter raised a blade, stopping him in the street.

The human pointed toward a second armored man lying beneath the place a strand had just left.

Alex looked at the body, then at the weapon still in the standing soldier’s hand.

"Put that down if you’re coming for him."

The soldier hesitated before placing it on the paving.

Alex nodded to Dorian’s fighter.

"Let him reach the wounded man. Keep watching the others."

The human crossed the gap and knelt beside his companion. After checking the man’s face, he dragged him toward the corner, leaving his weapon on the paving.

Dorian’s fighter watched him go. The blade stayed ready until both men were out of reach. Dorian kicked the abandoned weapon beneath the wall, away from the route to the patients.

Vesa’s voice reached Alex again.

"The restraints are holding. Thepes saw the threads leave."

"Did he try anything?"

"He pushed against them. He stopped when they held."

Alex closed his eyes for a moment.

He would have to deal with Thepes while keeping that restraint intact, but at least Lolth was no longer pulling through the streets between them.

A groan from the road made Alex open his eyes. The two fighters were carrying the soldier from the wall past the yard. The man had stopped gripping the sleeve. One carrier called for help, and another soldier hurried from Selene’s direction to check his breathing.

"He’s breathing," the newcomer said. "Keep his head up. Don’t stop here."

They moved on.

Alex watched the carriers hurry on. Freedom from the thread had not steadied the man’s breathing.

Mingyue lowered the sword in her injured left hand. Blood ran over her fingers, and she changed her grip before putting it away.

Alex reached toward her sleeve, but she sat beside him on the broken wall before he could get up.

"I’m here," she said. "Look at your own wound."

He pressed his hand against his right side. The bleeding had slowed, but healing it still required strength he had spent holding the organ and the boundary.

For a few breaths, they remained beside each other while Dorian’s fighters passed with the wounded.

Then a shadow moved across the road.

Alex looked up.

The nearest Imperial ship had steadied its bow. Its guns were still extended beneath the hull, and soldiers on the street were gathering behind its damaged landing craft.

Mingyue’s right hand tightened around her remaining sword.

Alex got back to his feet as the vessel turned above them.