I frantically bolted through the series of corridors as more of the building was pulled into the sky above by Dalius. I was looking for cell 45, but was currently only passing cell 23. Traversing the prison, which had already been confusing enough on its own, became even more difficult when I became forced to jump from one piece of floating debris to another. By the time I finally reached cell 45, the complex was falling apart at the seams.

Even worse, Emeri’s cell was empty. Half of its stone walls had been ripped out of the foundation and disappeared somewhere, leaving a half-open shell of what I imagined her cell had looked like. Emeri had disappeared with them, it seemed.

Suddenly, I noticed a series of flashing lights in the distance. Purple bolts of mana were flying from the left to the right, then were followed by an equal number of pained screams. Another prisoner that had broken out?

Out of options, I headed over in hopes of questioning those present for Emeri. Once I arrived, I realised that this wasn’t yet another fight between prisoners and guards. The guards were certainly fighting, that was for sure, but their enemies weren’t prisoners! They were being fought by a rag-tag group of well-equipped classers, whose teamwork rivalled the guards’. Their outfits didn’t match at all, their stark coloration clashing with those of their teammates. Apart from the fact that they were working together, they had another, more subtle trait, in common. All of them were smiling wide, laughing like maniacs as they enjoyed the battle.

Most of the guards they were facing had either perished or given up by now, so I decided to intervene, attacking the most resilient of them with a volley of overloaded orbs. The craters left behind a few sprawled limbs and a bloodied paladin, who had finally reached his end. He fell to his knees, before collapsing entirely.

Immediately, the opposing group’s eyes settled on me and my equipment. A lady wearing a long purple dress and a black witch hat stepped forward.

“Haven’t met you before, have I? Are you new…? No, I would remember you. Then, are you a prisoner? Where did you get all that gear from?”

“This stuff belonged to me in the first place. I just ‘requisitioned’ it.” I replied gruffly, not liking that I was being questioned. If I wanted this lady’s help finding Emeri, however, I had to get on her good side.

“The clergy was foolish enough to keep your gear on the second floor?” she asked, surprised.

“They kept it in an underground safe, actually. Now, it’s my turn to ask some questions. Have you seen a blond, bordering on silver-haired woman around here? She’s 19, with a holy affinity, though she was taken prisoner as I was.”

“Hmmm.” The lady hummed, “I might have, though I wonder why I should tell you about it…” she teased.

I grit my teeth, trying to hide my frustration. I didn’t have much time and this lady was wasting too much of it.

“I answered your questions, didn’t I? Now answer mine.” I tried, holding back my anger.

“And if I don’t?”

“Then I’ll give you a reason to.”

“A reason? Is that some kind of veiled threat, or an offer? Make the distinction for me, boy…”

“…The former.” I growled, readying my stance and bringing my two-hander to bear.

“Just how I like it, boy. You certainly know how to tell women what they want to hear…”

“Lieutenant, maybe we should just-” One of her subordinates tried.

“Shut up, Brent. Don’t forget who leads this team!”

Clearly, negotiations had entered a standstill. I knew of a better way to make them talk, though. I took the initiative and sent a series of sword arcs their way, which left a torn trail of debris as they cut through the tiled floor below to get to them. On cue, my opponents dodged the attacks, even though I had angled them all differently. Some leaped, others crouched and the lady I had started a fight with instantly retaliated with her own barrage of attacks. Five purple bolts with a golden outline arced at me in the shape of a pentagram.

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I was one step ahead and had already created a lengthy onyx chain, which curled around me like a snake and twisted in the path of the incoming projectiles. The five purple bolts hit my chains, yet persevered instead of dissipating. They continued to push against my chains, slowly forcing them back. The lady in the distance kept pointing in my direction, somehow supplying the bolts with more mana when I thought they had already left her spell matrix. Het subordinates had recovered from their shock by now and were racing my way, weapons drawn.

Seeing no other option, I sent a burst of mana into my chains, which destabilised the five bolts and made them dissipate. In the distance, the purple witch looked like she had been punched in the stomach, because she guffawed and doubled over the moment her projectiles were dispersed. That was one.

Next, I manifested my aura, just as the opposing classers entered my range. They tried to back off te moment they saw the black aura emanate from my form, but were too late and were enveloped.

Now that I knew they were blinded, I could easily target them with melee and ranged attacks alike, taking them out one by one. I was careful to stay nonlethal, since I didn’t know their affiliation, but didn’t hold back beyond that.

After a few moments, all five classers had dropped to the floor, stunned or knocked out. That left just one… I raced forward, my black aura of manifested essence following as I advanced. The purple witch had recovered by now, and tried to use some kind of shielding spell to stop me, but failed to hold me back, as I simply apparated inside. Though that meant that my manifestation fell away as well, it no longer matter, because my sword was already at her throat.

For a moment, everything became quiet. From this distance, I could hear my target audibly gulp.

“Is this reason enough?” I asked as calmly as I could.

“…indeed, it-”

“Arthur!” a new voice suddenly called from the distance, accompanied by several pairs of footsteps.

A shocked “Lieutenant!” followed immediately after, surprising both of us. I looked in the direction from which the familiar voice called out and, sure enough, found Emeri standing there, surrounded by a few other unknown classers.

“Emeri?!” I asked, shocked. “Who are these people? Do you know them?”

Emeri didn’t look like she was in distress, after all…

“Arthur, stop holding the lieutenant hostage! We’re working together with Dalius’ group!”

“You’re one of Dalius’ cronies? Why didn’t you say so?” I asked the violet caster, more surprised than angry. All I got in return was a mischievous grin. Typical Dalius. Now that I thought about it, he had been rather battle-crazed, hadn’t he?

With a wry sigh, I decided to take a chance and let my hostage go, sheathing my sword immediately afterward.

“My subordinates!” she said accusingly, pointing at their downed figures.

“Alive, just unconscious.” I replied neutrally, not about to be blamed for a situation that could have been avoided, had she just told me about Emeri’s whereabouts. To her credit, she did seem to care about them after all, because she heaved a sigh of relief and went over to heal and wake them. The other strangers joined her in completing the task, giving me a moment to reconvene with Emeri.

Left alone, I suddenly remembered how our last meeting had gone and was left feeling embarrassed for my actions. Looking over at Emeri, I could tell she was struggling with the same thing.

“Listen, Emeri-”

“Arthur, I’m so-”

We both began talking at the same time, but fell silent when we realized it. Eventually, she gestured for me to start.

“About that day, I didn’t mean what I said. Your faith doesn’t define you, and even if it did, my words would have been untrue. I regret what I said.”

“I’m… sorry as well. Some of the things I said were unacceptable, and not at all what I believed in. I don’t know what came over me… Can you forgive me?”

“…Sure. Water under the bridge… right? …Ah, well, if you can forgive me as well, of course…” I hurriedly added on, trying to ignore how awkward that had felt. I got a shy nod in return.

In hopes of changing the subject, I reached for my spatial pouch and pulled her things out, before presenting them to her.

“I found your stuff, by the way. Here, equip what you can. We should probably start moving soon, since Dalius’ folk are nearly healed.”

Emeri seemed surprised to see her equipment again, having thought it lost forever, I assumed.

“Thank you! Where did you find this?”

“An underground vault labeled ‘evidence’. ‘Robbery’ would have been more accurate, I feel.” I joked, casually ignoring the fact that I had stolen everything in there and was, therefore, no better. “Regardless, how come we’re suddenly working together with Dalius? Are you involved in this prisonbreak, somehow?”

Instead of the hurried denial I expected, I saw Emeri nod while looking down at the floor, leaving me with my mouth hanging open in shock.

“Emeri, how in the hells did you get involved with a dangerous type like him? You know how insane he acted when we first met!”

“I needed help, okay!” she shot back, before quickly covering her mouth, as if she hadn’t said a thing.

“…Help with what?” I prodded.

“…”

“Help with what, Emeri?!”

“…I… may or may not have checked out the next statue with his help…”

“…”

“…”

“You’re kidding!”