Oz put his hands up.

“Drop the books,” the black-masked man ordered. The other one grabbed Linnea closer, pulling at her to make her wince.

Oz obeyed. What, afraid I’m going to whack you with Gossip? he mocked them silently.

He swept his eyes over the men. Are they cooperating with Linnea? Is this part of the spider attack? Get me alone, threaten Linnea, who’s secretly cooperating with them, and use that to get me to hand over the library…

He looked at Linnea. She stood on her tiptoes, gripping the arm of the man who held her. White knuckles shone in the light. Her body trembled subtly as she tried to hold back tears, her eyes already red from the few that leaked out anyways. Blood dripped down her pearly white throat. Her eyes silently pleaded with Oz, glimmering with fear.

Based on how easily Linnea breaks her seductress character, I don’t think she’s a good enough actress to fake that kind of terror.

Oz bit his lip. Behind him, the sounds of battle continued as the other two sliced their way through the spiders. Aisling and Roan are busy. I can’t count on a rescue. I’ll try my best to get their attention, but I don’t think I should put all my eggs in that basket.

He made eye contact with Linnea. You’re a mage. You have power. Can you break free?

Linnea’s fearful eyes flickered. She glanced to the side and bit her lip.

Oz rolled his eyes. Now isn’t the time to consider if you want to break free. Now’s the time to do it!

She narrowed her eyes at him. Her lips pressed together and her nostrils flared. Her hand flickered at her side, forming hand signs. Qi subtly gathered around her hand, glowing pale red.

There we go. That’s the anger I’m used to. Oz nodded. Pretending he didn’t see Linnea’s hand signs, he stared at her captors in wide-eyed fear. “What do you want?”

“Surrender the library, Ossian,” the first man demanded, putting a hand on his sword.

Oz sighed. “If you want access to the library, just be patient. I’m going to make it public, as soon as I can manage it.”

“Public? Are you kidding me?” the second one said, tightening his hold on Linnea.

The first man raised his hand, silencing the other. “As I thought. You must be stopped. Madame Saoirse was mad to hand the library to you. Share the library? Give away Madame Saoirse’s hard work? Absolutely not.”

“Why not?” Oz asked. He glanced at Linnea. When’s that magic you cast going to hit?

Linnea flicked her eyes to the left. Oz followed her gaze. In the distance, the grasses shook as something unseen rapidly ran closer.

I just need to buy a little more time.

The first man scoffed. “Why would I give other people an advantage in cultivation for free? What if they grew stronger than me and stole the library away?”

“I dunno. You guys aren’t doing a great job of stealing it, and you’re stronger than me,” Oz said, shrugging.

The first man drew his sword. He pointed it at Oz. “Relinquish it.”

“You can’t kill me, can you?” Oz asked suddenly. They’re clearly willing to kill. The spiders aren’t holding back. Yet, instead of simply killing me, they take Linnea hostage and create this ridiculous scenario to threaten the powerless me? There’s something preventing them from killing me.

The second man’s eyes widened. He gasped.

Beside him, the first man glared. “Ending your pitiful life would take less than a flick of my pinky finger.”

“Physically, yes, you can. But the library breaks if you kill me, right?” Oz guessed, watching the second man.

The second man jolted. Turning slightly, he eyed the first man.

“Speak and die, Cian,” the first man snarled.

Choking back words, the second man glanced aside, making sure to tighten his grip on Linnea.

“We should slay him for the good of the world,” the first man said, walking forward.

“Gian!” the second man hissed.

They can’t kill me. That man’s reactions told me more than enough. Oz put a hand on his chin. He looked at his arm, examining the tattoo.

One of the symbols twisted, reforming into words before his eyes. Self Destruct. The character touched the X of runic marks twisting beneath the magic circles. As his qi circulated, the runes glowed ever so faintly blue, then faded, a quiet heartbeat in tune with his own.

His eyes widened. Ohhhh. Self-destruct touches the runes, and the runes pulse in time with my heart. If I die, the self-destruct goes off.

Good thing I grabbed the control tattoo.

That explains why even Linnea’s attacks have stopped at harassment so far. No one wants me dead, because the library goes with me. Better I be alive, but on their side.

Thanks, Madame Saoirse! You left me in danger, sure, but at least you didn’t leave me more valuable dead than alive. That’s something, I guess.  

“If they can’t kill me, why did the spider almost bite me to death?” Oz wondered aloud, looking at the mountain of books.

“It broke free,” Linnea stated.

Oz looked at her.

“It broke free of their control.”

“Shut up,” the second man said, jabbing the knife at Linnea’s throat.

“Hand over the library, or die.” Gian loomed over Oz. Immense pressure weighed down on Oz, almost as strong as the pressure between the first and second floors of the library. He swirled the sword. Black flames leapt up along its blade.

In the distance, black flames burst up from the spiders. They roared and attacked with greater ferocity. Aisling shouted, her body glowing brighter. Roan threw his hand out, and the three disks at his waist leapt into the air and circulated around him, spinning rapidly and slicing everything they touched.

Gian stepped closer. Oz backed away. His instincts screamed for him to run, but he knew it was useless. I can’t win against that. Even with all my meridians opened, I couldn’t. He’s on another level.

His eyes darted to the wavering grass behind the man. He took a slow breath, settling himself. Stall for time. “I don’t care. I’m not giving you the library.”

“So be it.” Gian raised his sword.

Oz backed away. Whoops. That didn’t go right.

“Gian! This isn’t what we agreed!” the second man hissed.

“If he won’t hand it over, it doesn’t matter. Kill the girl, kill him, kill all of them. If we can’t have it for ourselves, better that no one gets the library.”

The second man hesitated. He looked down at Linnea. “I— he’s going to make it public. Maybe—”

Gian spat, disgusted with his sidekick. “There’s no point, Cian. If everyone can access it, it’s the same as no one accessing it. If we want to get ahead and attract the eyes of a powerful sect, we need to stand out. We need to have the library for ourselves.”

“But the girl, she hasn’t done anything,” Cian argued.

“I haven’t. I’m just a sweet, innocent girl,” Linnea agreed, fluttering her lashes.

Annoyed, Gian clicked his tongue. He raised his sword over Oz. “After I kill this twerp, I’ll kill her for you.”

Linnea paled.

“Now!” Oz shouted.

Gian stiffened. The other man looked around, startled.

Nothing happened. The field laid dead. Even the wind stopped blowing.

“Playing around?” Gian asked, laughing. “I hope you enjoyed it, because that’s the last joke you’ll ever play.”

The sword flew toward Oz’s neck.

A hairy black body burst out of the grasses and wrapped all eight legs around Gian. Gian stumbled forward under its weight. Oz ran toward him, and Gian’s arm struck him, swing going wide. Oz grabbed onto Gian’s arm with both hands, holding on tight.

On Gian’s back, the spider reared, then slammed its fangs down, digging deep into Gian’s neck. Poison pumped out of its fangs, visibly blackening Gian’s veins.

Gian went limp, just for a moment. That towering pressure cut to almost nothing as his cultivation fell into disarray.

A second spider leapt out of the grass and jumped onto Cian. He screamed, then screamed in a higher pitch as Linnea delivered a devastating blow and twisted free.

Oz spun. He grabbed Gian’s sword, grappling it out of the man’s limp grip. Holding it in both hands, he whirled. His body moved according to the sword techniques he’d seen in the book, mind processing a mishmash of all of them into a tortured, strange swing. The blade hurtled toward Gian’s neck.

What the hell am I doing?

The sword stopped. It quivered inches from Gian’s neck. Oz tightened his grip, his chest heaving. Qi spun in his core, in total disarray. His heart pounded. His veins stood out against his skin.

He tried to kill me.

That’s a human being. A real, live, human being.

Who laid in wait. Who set a trap. Who threatened me and Linnea, and decided to kill me when it was no longer convenient.

Even in my world, that isn’t acceptable.

If I let him go, justice won’t be served. He’ll continue to threaten, and bully, and kill. If I let him go, I’ve told the world that it’s acceptable to attack me. The only way to protect myself, to protect the library, is to go through with this.

He took a deep breath. His qi settled. He raised the sword.

Gian looked up. Their eyes met.

The sword struck home. Gian’s head rolled away. Blood spooled after it, painting the grasses red.

In the distance, the spiders jolted. They skittered off in all directions, fleeing Aisling and Roan.

Oz turned toward the second man. “Release Lin—”  

Black veins standing out in his flesh, the man froze, all his muscles taut. Two puncture wounds opened on his arm, pierced directly through his sleeve. Linnea stepped away. Gagging, the man stumbled forward. As he did, Linnea grabbed his hair, using his weight to expose his throat. Her silver dagger flashed. He gagged, just once. She released him, and he fell to the ground, dead.

His brows furrowed. I guess she commanded a second spider to bite him. Must have moved fast. “Linnea—”

The knife appeared at Oz’s throat. Linnea stood before him, her eyes intense, brown eyes now a burning red. Her teeth bared, she hissed, “Tell the others what happened, and you can join them. Library and all.”

Oz put his hands up. He glanced at the bodies on the ground. “Were we not supposed to kill them?” I thought this was a kill-or-be-killed kind of world.

She growled, frustrated. “I forgot how stupid you are. No one cares. They were criminals. We ended their pathetic lives. No. The rest of it.”

“The… spiders?” Oz guessed, confused.

Linnea’s eyes flickered with approval. “Do you agree?”

“I don’t know why you don’t want me to tell the others you saved us, but sure,” Oz agreed. Not knowing things isn’t the same as being stupid. Cut me a break.

He went through the bestiary entry on demonic spiders again in his head, but came up empty. Why doesn’t she want them to know she manipulated the spiders into attacking? Is it a taboo technique, or something? Something like the blood magic, maybe? Or is this part of her ‘cute girl that couldn’t harm a fly’ act, to get Roan’s sympathy?

I still haven’t found much about blood magic in the library. Its absence, though, does suggest that it’s a taboo. Something Madame Saoirse wouldn’t want to display, if she gathered the texts at all.

He frowned. If Madame Saoirse really gathered as many texts as she could, would she omit the taboo ones?

Or did she simply hide them away?

Oz lifted his fingers and pushed the knife away from his throat. “I don’t care about the spiders. I won’t tell them. Deal?”

“Oz!” Aisling shouted. Seeing the knife at his throat, her eyes widened. Her body glowed, ember-like, and she sprinted over at top speed.

Linnea stepped back. She squinted at him, dumbfounded. “You don’t care?”

“Should I?” Oz asked, squinting back.  

“You’re kind, Oz. Too kind.” She spat, lip twisting in disgust, then threw the knife down in the dirt. The spiders had vanished somewhere after her attack, and no trace remained of them but the bite marks on the downed mages. Looking back up, she shook her head at him. “This world is going to chew you up and spit you out.”

“Too kind? I killed a man,” Oz pointed out. Even as he said it, bile welled up in his throat. Only with effort did he force it back down.

At the same time, his mind spun. How does this make me kind? Any of it? Even not mentioning the spiders… what’s going on here?

The spiders thing has to mean something more in this world. There’s clearly something I’m missing here.

Linnea turned away. She shook her head, unable to find the words. At last, she murmured, almost to herself: “If you were smart, you’d kill me, too.”

“What?” Oz asked, startled.

“Oz!” Aisling grabbed him, pulling him away from Linnea. She looked him up and down, checking him for wounds, then looked at the corpses on the floor.

Oz tensed. “I—I had to, they—”

“Thank goodness,” she said, putting a comforting hand on his back. “I was worried you couldn’t handle yourself, but I see my fears were for naught.” Turning, she gave Linnea a suspicious glare.

Oz stepped forward, breaking her line of sight. “Linnea helped me beat them. She—”

Linnea peeked over her shoulder, narrowing her once-more-brown eyes at Oz.

“—k, ki—got the second one,” Oz finished, not quite able to admit it aloud. Killed. We killed them. Real human beings are dead because of us.

Aisling nodded. “Good. They were dark mages. They’d already stepped off the path of righteousness. For people like them, the only fate that awaits them is death and destruction, and better theirs than ours.”

“Dark mages?” Oz asked.

“You saw them manipulating those spider demons. What else is that, but dark magic?” Roan rolled his eyes at Oz as he strolled up beside Aisling.

Oz’s eyes widened subtly. He glanced at Linnea. Oh. Ohhhh. Now I understand. That was a dark magic technique she used. A taboo. If they knew, they’d label her a dark mage as well, and execute her on the spot.

Clearing his throat, Oz glanced aside at Aisling. “And blood magic, would that be—”

“They used blood magic? Good thing you exterminated them. Blood magic is one of the most dangerous schools of dark magic.” Aisling shook her head at the corpses.

“Huh,” Oz said quietly. There’s my answer as to whether or not blood magic is taboo.

Aisling nodded. “Even knowing a blood magic technique is grounds for execution.”

Right. I certainly wouldn’t know anything about that, though. Surely not someone as pure and innocent as me. Oz cleared his throat. “Who were they? Does anyone know?”

Roan knelt. “Let’s find out.” Grabbing Gian’s head by the hair, he nudged the mask off the man’s face.

Beside him, Aisling unmasked the second man, even as the last of his life left him.

Immediately, Roan snorted. “Gian and Cian? That pair of brothers. What idiots. They had no great skill at learning magic, but that didn’t keep them from acting as if they were the gods’ gift to mages. I suppose when Madame Saoirse kicked them out, they grew desperate and hid here, biding their time, learning dark magic as a shortcut to greater strength.” He tossed the head to the ground.

“Grew desperate and hid in the library, huh? No one here would do something as dumb as that,” Oz said, eyeing Roan.

Roan rolled his eyes. “I didn’t hide in the library. I just left a small cocoon behind. Completely different.”

“Uh-huh.” Oz gave him a slow look.

“It is!” Roan argued.

While he teased Roan, Aisling went through the brothers’ robes, searching for something. After a moment, she stood and shook her head. “Nothing. They don’t have a token or bounty notice. They did this of their own volition.”

Oz laughed lightly, nervous about the proximity of the dead bodies. No way could I touch them, but there she is going through their robes like it’s nothing. Everyone’s so blasé about their deaths. Is that normal here? So much I have to get used to, in this new world.

Changing the subject, he nodded at Aisling. “Dark magic is a shortcut?”

“Don’t start thinking about using dark magic,” she warned him, shaking her finger sternly. “Once you step onto the dark path, the righteous path closes off to you. You might grow stronger rapidly, but in the long term, you’ll face greater difficulties in Ascending and forging your own techniques as a mage.”

“No, no. I wasn’t thinking about using it myself,” Oz said, waving his hands. Blood magic brought me here. Am I already on the dark path? How would I know?

I’m not the one who used blood magic, though, and I don’t feel like I’m getting any stronger from having used blood magic. Maybe it’s fine, and it’s only the original Ossian who was tainted by the technique. Still, unease welled up in his stomach. He ran a hand over his short ponytail uncomfortably, untying and retying the short plug of hair at the back of his head.

She gave him a look, but held up a black book anyways. The characters on its cover squirmed, never sitting still for long enough for Oz to read them. “Gian was holding this.”  

Roan leaned in, squinting at the cover. After a moment, he nodded. “Must have broken into one of the taboo shelves. But…” He paused, a hand on his chin.

“What?” Oz asked.

Roan shook his head, his brows furrowed. “It’s just… they’re barely at the peak of first stage, even after they learned dark magic. The first set of taboo shelves are on the second floor. Only people who have entered the second stage can enter the second floor. Did someone cooperate with them? And if so… who?”

Oz threw up his hands. “Could be anyone.”

“Everyone’s trying to get inside, after all,” Aisling agreed.

“This is a more serious threat than anyone, Oss… Oz. These people are ex-disciples. They know Madame Saoirse’s library better than the average person. If an ex-disciple is scheming against you, you’ll have to be wary about everything. They’ll know how to set traps that even you likely don’t know about.”

“You don’t say,” Oz said dryly, looking at Roan. Mister Cocoon-leaver himself. You’d know all about that, huh?

Unflinching, Roan looked Oz in the eye. “Exactly. You know the kind of damage a former disciple can unleash. Do you want to face traps from people many stages more powerful than me?”

Oz considered a moment, then looked at Roan. “Do I have a choice?”

Roan paused at that. He frowned slightly.

Abruptly, Oz jolted. He grabbed his wrist.

“What is it? Are you hurt?” Aisling asked.

He whipped his head up. “There’s someone in the library.”

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