While everyone was still recovering from the shock, Tepo used the short timeframe to turn his ballista around. He narrowed his eyes, aimed hastily, fired… and missed.

Tepo could already guess it. His attack would miss the tower, crashing into a building close to it. He hastily adjusted his aim and fired his last shot.

As another two hisses echoed through the base, Voria finally reacted. The powerful warrior’s eyes were wide open, her chest heaving in anger. She hastily took out a special com.

Suddenly the vice-captains voice could be heard within the entire base.

“F*ck! Shoot him! Shoot! You imbeciles! If you don’t shoot now, I will kill you! What are you doing…”

Suddenly the raging voice was drowned out by a loud rumble. Another tower was destroyed.

But Tepo also heard Voria’s voice. Originally, he wanted to cause more destruction, but now he could only hope that it was enough.

The warrior let go of the ballista. Suddenly he turned around, his narrowed eyes staring at multiple lightning rods shooting towards him like harbinger’s of death.

For a moment Tepo’s chest tightened but fortunately he was already mentally prepared. A streamlined, blue ship suddenly appeared in the air. Tepo hurried up, jumping into the ship and wildly pumping his force in.

Suddenly a blue flash could be seen leaving the base. The tower Tepo just left behind was immediately reduced into dust by multiple attacks.

Rocks shot in all directions, some even chasing the ship, but being blown away by the storms.

Tepo did his best to escape from the base. His flight was rocky, his mind and body only focused on flying away.

“DON’T YOU DARE LET HIM ESCAPE!”

Voria’s voice shattered everyone’s eardrums as she almost screamed her throat out. The woman’s eyes were red. She waved her hand, a ship appearing before her. Immediately she entered it and shot after Tepo.

The young man knew that he wasn’t safe yet. The guards were indeed much better with the ballistae than him. He had seen what they could do during the fight on the cargo ship.

And just as Tepo expected, new lightning rods raced through the storms, threatening to rip his ship apart. The young warrior observed their trajectories. He gritted his teeth as he realized two of the attacks perfectly predicted his path.

Despite his effort of destroying the closest towers the attacks were still incredibly accurate. Tepo had to react abruptly. He weakened his engines, letting the storm grip his ship and push it to the side.

The warrior’s surroundings shook as two lightning rods barely missed his ship. Sparks even seemed to reach out, trying to latch onto their enemy.

With a wildly beating heart Tepo continued his escape. He noticed something behind him. Below another salvo a ship did its best to catch up with him.

Tepo furrowed his brows. The ship was slower than his but if the lighting rods kept delaying him, Voria would reach him sooner or later.

Meanwhile, the new attack was on Tepo’s tail. He took a deep breath before making out the two rods which were most likely to hit him. He activated his [Time Dilation: Target].

Suddenly to Voria’s surprise, two of the lightning rods slowed down. The vice-captain understood who the culprit might be. She growled in frustration, cursing Tepo for having too many tricks up his sleeve.

But within his ship the escapee wasn’t feeling well, too. His head felt as if it would explode any second. His vision blurred. His mental strength was almost spent.

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Through the corner of his eye Tepo saw another attack coming for him. He felt like throwing up as he forced himself to react.

This time only a single lightning rod looked as if it might hit him. As if in a delirium Tepo activated his last trump card [Time Protection: Future].

The lighting rod raced through the air. This time it looked like it might hit the ship.

But a mysterious violet swirl appeared all of a sudden. The lightning rod touched it and both of them vanished into thin air.

Voria had despair on her face as she watched this scene. In her position she naturally roughly knew the base’s attack range. She almost teared up, sinking in her chair, the whole world vanishing into the background.

In the vice-captain’s blurry view, the blue ship soon sped away, unreachable.

Ironically Tepo didn’t feel much better. He kept falling asleep, only his strong will waking him quickly.

After a rocky flight and with barely any strength left the warrior finally entered a wind channel again. He was more or less carried back towards the city.

Tepo stored his ship. He tumbled along the street. Some kind strangers even offered their support while others looked down on the drunk beggar.

Not even knowing himself how he did it Tepo reached Tonam’s Inn. His world spun as he entered the crowded place.

Tepo held his head. The noise stabbed into his ears. Suddenly a surprised shout reached him.

“Tepo! Bro, what happened?! You are bleeding!”

Tepo rose his head shakily. A blurry red silhouette entered his eyes.

“You stl… wan do travl with me?”

“What? Tepo, what’s going on? Come, let me help you!”, Yerive reached out with his hands, trying to support his friend. His face was filled with concern.

“Answeer…”

“Wha? Yeah of course I want to travel.”

“Good. We leaveing. Now!”

Tepo didn’t give Yerive time to understand the situation. He tumbled outside, his ship suddenly appearing out of thin air.

“Hey, hey, Tepo! What are you doing? You know it’s illegal to fl…”

“Stop. Get in… we leave.”

Yerive was confused but ultimately, he gritted his teeth and followed his best friend. He even had to give the latter a boost as Tepo had difficulty just entering his ship. It was a miracle that he somehow made it to the inn.

Shortly after, Yerive got in as well, taking the driver seat which Tepo left unoccupied.

Before Yerive could ask any more question, his friend pulled out a map. He pointed at a certain place.

“Fly here.”

With those words Tepo used his last bit of strength to swallow another root before falling unconscious.

***

A few hours later. Tepo’s world was dark. He turned his head left and right as imagines of his past and present life mixed. In the midst of all this was the surprisingly persistent calling triggered by the dark roots.

Suddenly a small slit of light cut into the dark world. Tepo let out a grown. Another light.

Ahh it’s my eyelids…

The moment he mustered a conscious thought Tepo suddenly felt in control of his body again. The images vanished. His eyes groggily opened.

Immediately the light shining on his face brought pain to the warrior’s brain. He turned his head away. An unfamiliar room appeared in his view.

Tepo smiled faintly, realizing that they made it to safety. He closed his eyes again, falling asleep.

Some more time passed. The sun was already setting when faint sounds of steps approached Tepo’s room. The door was opened carefully.

The warrior’s ears twitched, as he slowly opened his eyes, looking at Yerive.

“Morning.”

Tepo’s voice was dry, but he felt much better already. The concern on Yerive’s face finally softened greatly.

“Finally, you woke up. How are you feeling?”

Why do I get to hear those words so often…

Tepo smiled wryly as he sat up against the wall behind him. He felt some of his muscles protesting but all in all he was alright.

“Better than expected, honestly. Since I mostly used up my mental strength, I only needed some rest to recover.”

“Some rest?”, scoffed Yerive. “You sleep for more than two days!”

“Really? Now I understand why I’m so hungry.”

“Hey! Is this you reaction, bro? Can you understand how shocked I was?! You looked terrible! How can you be so nonchalant now?”

“But I wasn’t even that injured. Honestly, compared to the state you were in when I found you this was nothing.”

“And I still have nightmares about that…”

A shiver ran down Yerive’s back as he thought back to those terrible days. Tepo furrowed his brows slightly before letting out a light sigh.

I shouldn’t expect too much, I guess. Yerive is basically still a child. He lacks experience.

“Hey, listen. I appreciate your concern. But honestly, we are warriors now. We have to get used to injuries. If you approach your battles with fear, you are already at a disadvantage.”

A struggle was visible on Yerive’s face. The young man had difficulties adjusting and hastily changed the topic:

“Anyways, what did you even do that you ended up like this? Who did you pick a fight with?”

“I was in a bad mood, so I took revenge on Tondka. I raided one of their dungeons.”

Suddenly Yerive opened his mouth wide, but no sound was coming out. Tepo was surprised by this strong reaction.

“You… you took revenge? Alone?”

“Yes…”

“Why didn’t you take me with you?!”

Accusation could be seen in Yerive’s eyes, letting Tepo fall silent.