Chapter 53: The Otaku Delivers a Prisoner (And the Crack Finally Answers)
Dawn painted Southval in shades of gold and rose.
Beautiful.
Peaceful.
Lying.
Meliodas walked through the eastern gate with a captured Magic Knight slung over his shoulder, a tired but triumphant Kaelen at his side, a smug Rem trailing behind, and a tiny dragon on his shoulder who kept sending pulses that translated roughly to 'food soon or I'm telling everyone about the mattress incident.'
The morning light caught Meliodas at exactly the right angle as he passed under the gate. His coat moved in a breeze that hadn't been there a second ago. His hair fell perfectly despite hours of fighting.
The guards at the gate took one look at him and decided very quickly that they hadn't seen anything.
Smart.
Rem noticed. Her ears flicked. "You do that on purpose?"
"Do what?"
"Look like that."
Meliodas kept walking. "I'm literally just carrying a prisoner."
"Mm-hmm."
Bud sent a pulse of dry amusement.
'She's not wrong.'
'Shut up.'
---
The inn was quiet when they arrived. Edrin sat exactly where they'd left him, surrounded by papers, looking like he hadn't moved in hours. He looked up as they entered.
His eyes landed on Lira.
Went wide.
Stopped.
"Lira?"
Lira, bound and gagged, met his gaze with something complicated. Shame? Defiance? Both?
Edrin stood slowly. "She's... she's my..."
"Cousin," Lira mumbled through the gag.
Edrin's face went pale. "You're the Warden?"
"I was." She looked away. "Not anymore."
Meliodas dumped her on the floor. Not gently, but not cruelly. Just efficiently.
"She's alive because she's useful. We're taking her to the Archmage."
Edrin stared at his cousin for a long moment. Then he did something unexpected.
He laughed.
Not a happy laugh.
A broken one.
"Of course. Of course it's you." He sat back down heavily. "I should have known. The way you always asked about my research. The way you pushed me toward certain sites." He shook his head. "You were using me."
Lira didn't deny it.
Kaelen shifted uncomfortably. Rem's ears flattened.
Meliodas watched the exchange without comment. Family drama could wait.
He turned to address the room, and the light from the window shifted to frame him perfectly. Dust motes danced in the beam like they'd been waiting for their cue.
"Rem. Kaelen. Watch her. I'm going to find the Archmage."
Rem perked up. "Alone?"
"Unless you want to carry her."
"No thanks. She smells like cathedral."
Bud hopped onto Meliodas's shoulder as he headed for the door.
'Finally. Alone time.'
'We're going to see the Archmage.'
'Even better. She respects me.'
'Also, I know about the mattress.'
Meliodas stopped walking.
'What?'
'The mattress incident. Rem told me. Through the bond. She didn't know I could feel her thoughts when she's emotional.'
Meliodas closed his eyes for a long-suffering moment.
'...Of course she did.'
'You're very popular.'
'I'm going to ignore that.'
'That's what you always do.'
---
The Archmage's residence was a modest building near the center of Southval. Modest by Archmage standards, which meant it had wards thick enough to stop a dragon and a door that probably weighed more than Meliodas's entire apartment back on Earth.
She opened it before he knocked.
"You caught her."
It wasn't a question.
Meliodas nodded. "She's at the inn. Bound. Alive."
"Good." The Archmage stepped aside. "Come in. We have much to discuss."
Inside, the residence was surprisingly normal. Bookshelves. A desk. A tea set. The kind of place where someone might actually live, not just work.
The Archmage gestured for him to sit.
He didn't.
She didn't comment.
"The cult's plans are accelerating," she said. "Lira's capture will slow them, but not stop them. The entity in the crack has been waiting for a suitable anchor. Kaelen's bloodline is the best they've found in centuries."
Meliodas absorbed that. "How long do we have?"
"Days. Perhaps less." She met his eyes. "The crack is widening. Not physically. Conceptually. It's learning. Adapting. Growing tired of waiting."
Meliodas's expression didn't change.
Inside, his mind raced.
'Days. Not weeks. Not months. Days.'
"The boy needs to leave Southval. Take him somewhere far from here. Somewhere the cult can't reach."
"And go where?"
The Archmage was silent for a moment.
"There is a place. A sanctuary, hidden in the mountains to the north. It was built long ago to protect those with dangerous bloodlines. It still stands. Barely."
Meliodas filed that away. "How do we find it?"
"I'll provide a map. And a guide."
She looked at him pointedly.
"You."
Meliodas blinked. "Me?"
"You're the one he trusts. You're the one who's kept him alive this long. You'll take him there."
It wasn't a request.
Meliodas didn't argue.
"When?"
"Tomorrow. At dawn. Travel light. Move fast. Don't stop for anything."
---
He returned to the inn with the map and a lot to think about.
The room was tense but controlled. Rem had Lira cornered, literally, with a chair positioned so she could watch both the prisoner and the door. Kaelen sat on the mattress, the loop on his wrist glowing white, breathing steady.
Edrin hadn't moved from the desk. He was staring at his papers, but Meliodas doubted he was reading them.
Meliodas stood in the doorway for a moment. The light from the window caught him again—backlighting his silhouette, making him look like something out of a painting.
Rem sighed dreamily.
Kaelen noticed. "What?"
"Nothing. Just appreciating."
Bud sent a pulse that only Meliodas could hear.
'She's doing it again.'
'I know.'
'You should say something.'
'No.'
"We leave tomorrow," Meliodas announced. "North. Mountains. Sanctuary."
Rem's ears perked up. "Mountains? I love mountains."
"You've never been to mountains."
"I've heard they're nice."
Kaelen looked up. "Master, what about the cult?"
"We deal with them by not being here when they arrive."
It was pragmatic. Not heroic. But pragmatic kept people alive.
Bud sent a pulse.
'The crack is watching.'
Meliodas felt it too. A pressure at the edge of his awareness. Not hostile. Not yet.
Just... present.
Waiting.
He moved to the window.
Southval gleamed in the morning light.
Clean.
Quiet.
Lying.
But for how much longer?
---
That night, the pressure became a voice.
Not aloud.
In dreams.
Meliodas found himself standing in darkness. Not the Birth World darkness. Something older. Colder.
A crack hung in front of him. Not large. Just a seam in reality, pulsing with sickly light.
And behind it, something watched.
Not with eyes.
With awareness.
The darkness around Meliodas seemed to pull back, highlighting him like a single figure on an empty stage. The light from the crack framed him perfectly, catching the edges of his coat, his hair, his steady expression.
The entity noticed.
Of course it noticed.
Everything about this moment was designed to be noticed.
A voice crawled into his mind. Not words. Feelings. Intent.
'You have what is mine.'
Meliodas didn't move.
'The boy. His blood. His future. All mine.'
"Not yet."
'Soon.'
The crack widened. Just a fraction. Just enough to let more of that awareness through.
'I have waited longer than your world has existed. I can wait a little longer.'
Meliodas met the presence without flinching. The light from the crack hit him like a spotlight, and he stood in it like he belonged there.
"Then wait."
'I will.'
The crack pulsed.
'But not forever.'
Meliodas woke.
Bud was staring at him, glow bright, claws digging into his chest.
'You were screaming.'
'I wasn't.'
'Inside you were. Also, you looked really dramatic doing it.'
Meliodas stared at him.
'What? You did. The moonlight was hitting your face perfectly. It was very protagonist.'
'...I hate this bond.'
'No you don't.'
He didn't.
Meliodas sat up. Kaelen was still asleep. Rem too. Edrin slumped at the desk.
The room was quiet.
But the pressure was closer now.
Much closer.
He looked at the window.
Dawn was still hours away.
He didn't sleep again.
---
[END OF CHAPTER 53]