The Crescent Moon hung at an angle, and tree shadows swayed. The Martial Emperor was strolling through the Jungle when Ronan suddenly called. The moment she answered, he demanded:
"What did the Divine Cloak look like?"
Ronan's voice was hoarse. He was already going through puberty, and it sounded as though he had just shouted himself raw.
The Martial Emperor had vaguely heard something. She stopped and looked back, but layers of tree shadows had long since swallowed the riverbank. She could not make out what was happening.
Her pace of mind was different from Ronan's. Ignoring his urgency, she replied unhurriedly, "I believe I told you. The Divine Cloak only really means anything within the Abyssal Spirit Net. This one is damaged. It retains some of its properties, but you might as well think of it as a rag..."
"Separate strips of rag?"
This time, the Martial Emperor did not answer at once. She merely raised an eyebrow.
Ronan asked in the same ragged voice, "And the Abyssal Spirit Net?"
The Martial Emperor let the silence stretch a moment before finally answering, "It's a net. A knotted net."
"How are the knots tied?"
"...That's an excellent question," the Martial Emperor said admiringly. "It takes even more courage to ask than to actually do it—unless you're fearlessly ignorant."
After that offhand tease, she continued, "In fact, anyone with a certain degree of Extraordinary Power can 'tie knots.' The Abyssal Spirit Net consists of just three lines: the Spacetime Line, the Self Line, and the Convergence Line, which coordinates the first two while keeping them from ever intersecting.
"If you can sense those three lines, you just gather them up and tie a knot. Like knitting a sweater, or binding them together any way you like.
"But a temporary knot doesn't