Chapter 18: The Comet-Gem Mantis

Sebastian rounded the yew-wood house and came to stand before a stone wall behind it. He seemed touched by some emotion, gently stroking the stone, and for a very, very long time said nothing at all.

Nathan had only been here the once. Appointed watchman of this abandoned Between by Lord Warden Aurelius or not, he had no idea what an abandoned Between actually looked like; the compound had no second exit at all, and he'd never paid any attention to this stone wall. If Sebastian weren't standing in front of it, Nathan would surely have missed it. He looked at it sideways, up, down—a dozen glances—and got nothing, apart from a vague sense that it didn't match the style of the rest of the courtyard.

Sebastian suddenly gave a soft laugh. "Want to know the origin of this Between?"

Nathan smiled awkwardly. "Honestly, I'm not that curious! Don't really want to know."

Sebastian burst out with a "ha," clicked his tongue a couple of times, and said, half teasing: "You really are something! But curious or not, I have to tell you anyway. If you go dying in there without knowing this Between's background, that's a big loss for me. I paid a steep price to slip into Greyhaven and seize this opening—I'm not about to squander it."

Nathan's scalp went numb on the spot. He asked, horrified: "You want me to go inside the abandoned Between?"

Sebastian nodded. "The World Tree is an exceedingly rare species. Those who inherit its bloodline can cross the Three Dominions and brush off every sealing art there is. You're the only one who can enter this Between. If I could go in myself, I wouldn't have gone to all this trouble—rushing thousands of kilometers to Greyhaven, risking my neck killing the Raging Gale thugs, and capturing you alive."

Nathan's heart gave a couple of hard thumps—he suddenly sensed something not-so-good coming. Without a word, black light wreathing his whole body, he dove straight into the ground!

Nathan knew he couldn't beat Sebastian in a fight, but he had real faith in the black-light vitae's ability to travel through matter. The reason he hadn't dared run before was fear of angering Sebastian—but this was now life and death. If he didn't bolt with everything he had, he'd shortly be forced to go charging into some abandoned Between. He had no idea what was in there, but judging purely by Sebastian's whole attitude, it had to be viciously dangerous—pretty much a death sentence. Failing to run now would just be stupid.

Sebastian didn't lift a finger to stop him. He watched, smiling, as Nathan dove headfirst into the ground—then yowled and bounced right back out—and only then shrugged and said: "This Between's entrance carries a ferocious sealing art. Even I had to borrow the Concord forbidden object—your bronze key, that is—to get in. With your little bag of tricks, how did you expect to escape?"

Nathan, bruised and swollen, let the black-light vitae disperse and couldn't hold back a retort: "Then how could the Raging Gale guys get in? And didn't you say I can cross the Three Dominions and ignore every sealing art? Were you just lying your ass off to me?"

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Sebastian laughed heartily. "That ashwood gate isn't a seal—just a little illusion. This Between's seal sits right around this stone wall. You couldn't crash through it because you're too weak. The Yggdrasil Line can cross the Three Dominions and shrug off any sealing art, sure—but that's the old-timers in their mature stage. A newly awakened sprout like you, without even a lineage inheritance? How could you pass through a sealing art this strong?"

Nathan said, full of resentment: "You're a liar, plain and simple. I'm never believing you again."

Sebastian looked faintly surprised, smiling. "Not afraid I'll kill you?"

Nathan gave a cold snort. "I'm dead either way—what the hell is there to be scared of? If playing chicken would keep me alive, sure, I'd grovel with the best of them. But it's a knife whether I stretch my neck or tuck it in. Might as well stand tall—at worst I suffer a little extra before I die."

Far from taking offense, Sebastian gave him a thumbs-up. "Smart kid, and gutsy too. But I truly don't mean to kill you. Help me retrieve one item from this Between, and not only will I let you go, I'll hand you plenty of benefits besides."

Having just gambled his life on escape and lost, Nathan was all-in now, and he hollered: "Benefits first."

Sebastian took a box from his pocket and handed it over with a smile. "You want a benefit? Then here's a benefit."

The box was transparent all over. Inside sat a lifelike emerald-green mantis, twin scythes raised high—a tiny insect, and yet full of awesome menace. On its back were seven silver spots, and those seven spots weren't perfectly round; they were shaped, somehow, a little like a skull.

Nathan didn't dare take it just like that. A minute ago, between one flick of Sebastian's hand, a swarm of black beetles had eaten two Raging Gale men. This green mantis didn't look like good news either. He asked, hesitating: "What is this thing? You're not setting up some mantis-curse on me, planting a backdoor in my body so you can kill me whenever you feel like it?"

Sebastian shook his head and sighed. "Why would I go to any trouble to kill you? No backdoor needed—I could snuff you with a wave of my hand. This Comet-Gem Mantis is a war-beast I spent more than ten years raising, built to pair with the Comet-Gem Mantis Style. Even a raw newbie like you could use it to kill any bloodborn under two hundred years."

Nathan looked it over, half believing, half doubting. "It knows mantis boxing too? That's a new one. How do you even fight with a bug this size—just chuck it at people and let it hack away with its scythes? What's one little insect gonna accomplish?"

Sebastian laughed out loud, crushed the box in his hand, and a ball of green light flew up from his palm, diving into Nathan's chest before he could react.

Nathan's face went white with alarm—what had Sebastian done to him? He was just about to push his bond-power and check himself over when a circular emerald light-screen suddenly popped up in front of him.

The screen wasn't physically there—something like a projection, except there was no light source to project it; it simply existed in midair, magical beyond words—and a pleasant voice rang out in his head.

"Suitable host found. Activating war-beast: the Comet-Gem Mantis. Loading combat system... loading combat intelligence support system... loading life-protection system... loading vitae conversion unit... loading vitae essence-compression amplification furnace... loading ascendant-path boxing art: Comet-Gem Mantis Style..."

Ten-plus auto-running programs popped up on the emerald screen, like a computer getting worked over by all the big-time racketeers—Norton, McAfee, Kaspersky, AVG, and Malwarebytes. Worse than a regular computer's plight, these weird gizmos came with no close option at all; all you could do was watch them install and load themselves, one after another, cocky and pushy and slick!

Only when every system, unit, and amplifier furnace had finished loading did two lines of solemn explanation appear on the emerald light-screen...