Chapter 32: Fleeing Away

Moon closed his eyes for a short second, then opened them.

He suddenly took a step back. And said in a soft but uncompromising voice, "Make a pact first." His eyes roamed around the brothers. "After I try to cover the mark, no matter if I succeed or not, you can’t leave me here."

The entire room froze in his accusation.

Nox felt guilty for a moment.

He knew why Moon said that. They had left him in the Hole. They had left him in that witch cave. No matter how much they explained they had no choice, Moon would not trust them from his heart. Not to mention Moon had to take a gamble that could ruin even Moon’s very core.

Chimera scoffed while Chika looked at Moon in disbelief.

Goritti sneered from the back, "How ungrateful. Why do you think we are digging this hole for half a month? You think they couldn’t flee...."

"Shut up." Axe stopped his grumbling and chuckled. He stepped forward, closing the distance Moon made.

"Dear wife, do you have any choice even if we don’t make a pact?" his eyes bore no malice, though.

"Axe, tone it down." Ugo reprimanded Axe. His gaze softened as he looked at Moon.

"We will." He touched his chest and swore in the name of the Moon Goddess.

"By the Moon Goddess’s grace, I hereby swear that no matter what happens, I will never betray or leave my Mate, Moon Astra."

As soon as his voice left, Moon felt a thin sensation wash over him. He was caught off guard. He was so casual with the Goddess that he almost forgot this world’s ultimate power in Moon Goddess, and all the oaths sealed by her grace.

He looked at Axe and Nox.

They didn’t waste more time. Time was more precious than anything now. And in a moment, the pact was sealed.

Moon started to run his Qi inside his lower abdomen, spreading through his meridians. A thin strand of core essence moved up from his core. It rested on his finger.

His forefinger pressed on the flesh.

And he sent a strand of essence from his metal core.

The instant the essence touched those lines, it electrified, and the force sprang them back.

Moon coughed up blood.

Nox instantly reached out to hold him from falling.

Moon wiped his lips and gritted his teeth. ’Damn the Alpha! He really has some things,’ he thought, and he stood straight.

Something in the air shifted. When his essence touched the mark, he instantly felt a searching invasion in his very core.

The Alpha must have found out, or must have known his mark was touched.

He clutched his cloak as he quickly sealed the air again.

"We must leave here."

"Right now," he added firmly.

"But we didn’t remove the mark yet; they will follow," Nox said hesitantly as he went to the raft and started to untie it.

"He knows." Moon paused. Took a deep breath, "He can sense my existence in his mark. If I seal the mark here, by the time I have finished, he will already be pinned to the place. Nox, he will know. We need to move. Or all of us will be doomed."

He took the pups from Ugo. And without any ado, he sat on the raft’s center.

Axe was pulling some handle and talking to Vadira. And Ugo was dictating to others.

Moon looked at Vadira and the defective wolves gathering in the corner; his heart felt a twinge.

He can’t forgive them.

He can’t hate them either.

They indeed hurt him.

Indeed, the pain is still there in his heart, burned in every moment of remembrance.

But still—nobody knew better than him how the power hunger can strike people’s nerves when they lay in that gutter hole.

He sighed.

Still, they paved a path—at least, even if their own selfish motive was in front, they did help him to live. And he would repay that favor.

A mage can’t owe a favor.

He can only owe to his Dao and his heart.

Moon looked at Chika—fragile, thin—and he knew just by his crumpled skin that his lifespan was almost over.

As Chika climbed onto another little raft and prepared to go behind them, Moon threw a potion to him.

"This can remove your slave mark. A slave mark was not that powerful to begin with. If you are not afraid, you can take it. But that’s not mine. So don’t come to charge me if anything happens."

Chika took the potion but didn’t drink it. He had more important things to do.

Axe, Ugo, and Nox also climbed up the raft.

The raft was instantly crowded.

Its surface almost dipped down into the water, barely floating.

All of them were soaked.

Vadira leaned from the edge and whispered to Moon, "Please take care of my daughter. She is wolfless. Waiting at the downtown area in Malong village."

With that, he stuffed a pouch into Moon’s lap.

The two wolf pups whined from discomfort as the pouch touched them.

Nox slashed at the thick vine keeping the raft in place. As the water force slammed into the raft, it jerked up a little and instantly drifted far, far away from the Last Hole’s base.

The dirty wastewater soaked them.

The rotten stink was so pungent, it suffocated Moon’s lungs.

Still, he stilled himself from throwing up.

And hugged the two pups tightly.

He felt the pups were not reacting to the essence he had given them earlier. Instead, their marks seemed to be fading. So, he gave them back to Ugo.

He turned to Axe, who was holding a big wooden paddle to keep the raft in line with the water tunnel, and pulled his body down to his lap.

"Let Nox handle this," he said.

Chika’s raft slid near their raft.

The tunnel here was not big, but it was getting very narrow as they were moving fast away from the big mouth they had carved. So, Chika’s raft was just in line.

He threw a grappling hook overboard, the heavy chains rattling as it snagged the floating raft.

"Let me do it. It will not sink," he said.

Moon nodded.

Axe sat closer and leaned on the trunk they bound on the raft.

Moon hesitated for a moment but still decided to try.

He again started to run his Qi inside his lower abdomen, spreading it through his meridians. But this time, he guided a thin strand of core essence to his throat.

He suddenly leaned down and grabbed Axe’s shoulder. And a volatile power rushed out of the lines again.

But he didn’t stop.

Instead, he bit down on the exact place of the mark.