"What do you mean you forgot to tell me Toto was imprisoned!?"

"Between the whole Grand Keeper business, your little proposal, and your stern interrogation afterwards, safe to say that the less important things had slipped my mind."

Nine, you scum. If I didn't need you as a deterrent against Seven, I'd have Timothy rip you apart on the spot the moment you came to me with your filthy mug. Not that the princess is particularly filthy. Wait, no, now's not the time for this.

"Whatever, just give me the details."

***

How many days has it been? Lying on this cold floor, eating a measly meal a day, and hardly getting any sunlight at all had made this body of mine weaker than it had been.

"Hey, what's wrong with you!?"

I hear a voice coming from behind me. It's probably the guard stationed here. From the tone of his voice, I'd say that he's rather worried, not so much for me but more for his job, I suppose. If I were to die under his watch, I'm sure he won't be getting off scot-free either.

"H-hold on, I'll get a healer."

Panicking, the guard apparently ran off. It's about time. I've been coughing nonstop all morning. What if I died? It's terrible having to cough without rest. My throat hurts and it's hard to breathe. Locking me in here while I'm still suffering from the after-effects of mana drain and mana burn... What were they thinking?

"Come, this way."

I hear footsteps and voices echoing down the hall. It would seem that the guard is back.

"Take a look at her, will you? She's been doing that nonstop since the morning."

With the dangling of keys followed by a click from the metal door, the jail cell has been unlocked. With a high pitch creaking, the metal door swings open and I hear a set of footsteps coming closer.

"She is... She's dead."

"What!?"

The guard comes rushing into the cell. By the clanking of his armor, I am guessing that he is kneeling over me.

"What the-"

The guard voices his confusion as I quickly grab onto his keys and tosses it over to the cell across mine.

"T-the priso-"

Before he gets to shout, I quickly lock down one of his legs while the healer that had come to check on me wrestles him to the ground, skillfully shoving a glass bottle into the guard's mouth before whispering into his ears.

"Careful, it's filled with poison strong enough to melt through your bones."

The instant he hears that, the guard turns pale as he attempts to keep his jaws still, fearful of crushing the bottle, even though glass bottles like this one shouldn't be that easy to break. Of course, I'm not going to tell him that.

From the other side of the hall, I hear another clicking sound followed by the creaking of the metallic door.

"I'll hold this one down, go find me a rope."

The one emerging from the cell across mine is Merida. Like me, she too had been arrested. Apparently, she was caught while using herself as decoy so the princess could get away. And while with her skill [Shadow Step], she could easily move through solid objects, the jail cells are made specifically to nullify the use of magic and such abilities. With the prison enchanted with anti-magic from the bricks, the bars, and down to the prison rags we were made to wear, help needed to come from the outside.

With Merida holding the guard down, the healer soon found the rope of which Merida uses to deftly tie the guard up. The speed of how she does it conjures up the image of a spider in my mind.

"Good work, Sophia, I'm surprised you read our intentions and brought poison along."

"Oh, but I had no idea, I simply had it with me. You know, just in case."

"Oh, that right isn't it? You're an Assassin too."

"Was, Merida, just like you."

The healer with what sounds to be a complicated history is apparently named Sophia, a woman with dark hair that contrasts her fair skin as well as her white hood and robes. While the layered robes, her healer uniform, makes her seem bulky at first, it seems that she is actually somewhat petit.

The guard's face turns red after hearing that and tries to shout in vain, letting out only muffled screams with the ball of cloth in his mouth.

"Either way, we're free thanks to you."

Surprising no one, while I can still speak, my voice is coarse and my throat is sore. I can't believe I kept up that coughing the whole way through. Of course, I wouldn't have to if that guard had a bit of sense and got me a healer as soon as something seems wrong. I mean, he should know that my body is weak. What is he going to do if I actually am dying?

"That we are, thanks to your brilliant plan, Lady Toto."

I'm sure Merida is just kissing up to me. I mean, I already heard from her that most of the healers here were trained and taught by the Holy Beast and that they are mostly loyal to the princess. In the end, it was only a matter of getting one of them to come here. In the end, the greatest contributor to the plan was the idiot guard who opened the door to a cell without calling for backup. Of course, I already had a sense that he was a sort of a dimwit.

"We're not in the clear yet. We still need to get out of here. Any ideas?"

"I could get you a couple of healer's robe if need be."

"Better than walking around in prison rags I suppose. We'll be counting on you, Sophia."

It took only a while before Sophia, brought the robes over. Hopefully, no one suspects anything.

After putting on our new disguises, we move out of the prison. The moment I step out of the unwatched gates, I could feel something returning to this body. Most likely, it is the return of the ability to use magic. As for the reason why the prison is unguarded, well, that is because there is a shortage of manpower right now. With the reappearance of the [World Devourer Woods] and the subsequent loss of the capital and the large number of soldiers stationed there, there simply are not enough soldiers to spare just to guard a simple jailhouse, especially now when they are apparently mounting a counteroffensive against the World Devourer that had taken their capital.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

While the situation is certainly grim, it opens up an opportunity for us. With their attention focused on the capital up north, we should be able to make our escape with ease if we head south. What happens after that? I don't know and I don't want to think about it. If I start thinking about that, I'll be too scared to move forward just like before. One step at a time, just like what Aurelius said, I'll go forward one step at a time.

***

From what I've heard from Nine, it would appears that Remus, the brother of the current king, had decided to start a coup against the princess. For that purpose, one of his first orders is to imprison the princess as well as Toto, who is supposedly recognized as someone under her command. As for why now of all times, that much Nine does not know. Perhaps the death of the Holy Beast had driven him to desperation, not that there's anything he could do about it at this point. The Beastkin will not survive this cycle. Not if things keep going the way it is. The only way they could possibly survive would be getting to Zero and somehow get her to completely revamp the system she had designed for this world. Of course, Remus wouldn't have known that, he wouldn't know the forces working behind the veil of this world. However, that does not mean that he'll just sit by and do nothing as doom approaches. Perhaps this rebelion is part of what he plans to do about this situation, a futile effort it may be.

"It'd be good if I have a Champion to spare, but all I have are common soldiers, most of them being Beastkins themselves. I doubt they'll be all too keen on fighting their own."

"I could always use the Diablos. They may not be a match against Seven, but against other Beastkins, it shouldn't be too much a problem."

"I'd rather you not. I've seen how those things work. It'll be a massacre. If possible, I would like for as many Beastkins to survive as possible. That being said, if push comes to shove, we're going to have to use them regardless of how I feel about it. Right now, I'm more concerned about the princess. How are you supposed to summon anything with her body in that condition?"

The condition I refer to is, of course, the mana drain. Having summoned Aras, one of the Celestial Beasts, Nine had used up all of the mana in the princess' body. Even if it's Nine, I doubt he'll be able to use any of her skills or spells with the princes in this condition.

"There's no trouble. With my skill [Overwrite], the creatures may manifest via a host body using the host's mana. I don't have to spend any mana for such summonings, though the downside is that the creature can only be that much stronger than its host."

So it's the same skill he used to summon the Diablos then. At first, I thought that it was the creature's unique ability, but it appears to not be the case.

"Even so, I rather not have a direct confrontation. If we lure them into the forest and keep them there long enough, we may be able to bring them under my control via the World Devourer's [Corruption]."

"We could, but what are we going to do about Toto and Merida? Not that I am too concerned, but they're your highest priority, aren't they?"

"I already have a plan. We'll just have to find their location and use Aras to get them out. With the Beastkin's focused on the capital, there shouldn't be too many of them loitering around the south. We should be able to circle around and go through there. Now it's just the matter of selecting a scout to find out Toto and Merida's location."

The 'princess' shrugs at my proposal, seemingly not caring too much about this.

"Very well then, I'll let you borrow Aras for a bit."

"Borrow? You're the one who took it from me!"

The 'princess' shoots me a puzzled look.

"Took it from you? They're mine in the first place, the creatures you have, every single one of them. I merely hid them in your world for you to find so that Seven couldn't get her hands on them when she sealed me."

Hid them? In Elysium Online? That sounds almost ridiculous, my creatures were based on the enemies in the game after all. Then again, said creature developed a sense of sentience and intelligence upon entering this world, so I can't exactly say for certain that I know what they are for sure, at least not the ones that manifested in this world. And there's the thing of how I, of all people, ended up with the creatures Nine had hidden in Elysium Online, assuming what he said was true.

"I don't believe you. I only know them to be mine and I want them back."

For now, I'll choose to doubt him. For one, I'm sure he has tricked me plenty of times before. For two, it also because I have a feeling that it'll irritate him to no end.

As expected, the 'princess' clicks her tongue after hearing my statement.

"I don't care if you believe or not, I'm not just going to hand them over."

"Well, neither will I hand over mine."

"Suit yourself."

"Good."

"Fine."

As much as it tempts me to try and get the last word in, I better control myself. I still have plenty of troubles to deal with and I already am short on time. This body's inability to stay awake is starting to irk.

***

So far so good. Even now as we travel south, there have been no pursuers in sight. I wonder if they even noticed that we're gone. No, I shouldn't let my guard down. Better to assume that they've found out and are now tracking us down.

"Lady Toto, are you feeling alright? Do you need a rest?"

"I'll be fine. Let's keep going."

I can't stop now, as much as I want to. We can't give them a chance to catch up.

"There should be a forest not too far ahead. We'll go through there and try to lose our tracks. Before the forest, we should be able to come upon a spring. We can take a brief rest there."

The healer, Sophia, as she was from around here, knows the area the best out of the three of us. It is probably thanks to her that we're able to cover the distance we have. She knew all the best roads to take and which paths to avoid, allowing us a smooth journey up till now. However, there are some things even she was not aware of.

"This... Don't tell me..."

"Sophia, is this the spring?"

"It was, at least."

When we arrived at where the spring Sophia told us about, all we found was a dried out ditch. Let alone a spring, there's not a drop of water in sight. Most likely, it is due to the absence of the Holy Beast. It would seem that without the Keeper, everything within her domain will slowly die. It is strange, how everything is intrinsically linked to the Keepers. It's almost as if the beings in this world aren't allowed to live unless someone is watching over them.

Without the Keeper, the water dries out. Without water, plants and animals won't survive and even if they're the kinds that can store up water within them and survive without water for an extended period of time, with the Keeper gone, they too will soon waste away.

"We won't last long. Even if we head south, we're going to starve soon enough."

"Lady Toto? Then, what do you suggest?"

If not south, then where? I don't know, is what I feel like saying. However, in my heart, I have already decided on an answer. I don't like it and I don't think Merida and Sophia will either. But, that's where I feel like going.

"We head north, towards the capital, towards the [World Devourer Woods]."

They both stare at me, wide-eyed. Maybe they think I'm saying this out of desperation or maybe they think I've gone mad, but I think that's our best bet, even if it's a long shot.

"That's where the others are. Where Cecilia, Aurelius, and Six are. Once we meet up with them, I'm sure we'll figure something out."

Even if I can't do a thing alone, if they're with me, I'm sure we can all put our heads together and figure something out. No, I'll bet that they already have an answer. For now, I just have to regroup with them. Even if they're caught within the World Devourer, if what Aurelius said about the [Corruption] is true, then there's no need to worry. They'll recognize me. They won't attack me. For now, to move forward, I have to believe that.

"I'm sure they won't lose to the [Corruption], I believe in them."

Unable to properly explain it since I don't fully understand it myself, this is all I can say to convince Merida and Sophia.

In response, Merida nods.

"That's what the princess said too. I was actually planning to head north once I make sure you're somewhere safe. It'll be a gamble for sure, but, if you say so, Lady Toto, then I'll gladly escort you."

We then turn towards Sophia, expecting her answer.

"I... I don't know. But, if we don't do something, our land, our home, as well as our people are going to die. If the Champions can do something about it, then I suppose we have no better options."

Looks like we have a consensus then. Now that our destination is decided, the only problem is to get there, and that is a troublesome problem indeed.

"I am sad to have to put a damper on this wonderful moment of yours, but I am afraid none of you are going anywhere."

A voice calls out to us out of nowhere, surprising us all. We turn around, expecting pursuers, but all we are able to find is a single man, one with a head of grey hair and a pair of upright ears. His clothing is of vibrant colors and seems to be made from materials of the highest quality. This man is undoubtedly a noble and I think I've seen him somewhere before.

"Lord Remus."

With Merida addressing him, my memory is jogged. That right, this man is Remus, the princess' uncle, and the king's bother. The man who ordered our arrest. But why, why is he out here all alone without a single guard in sight? I don't know. The answer isn't coming to me. However, this much I know, him being here can't mean anything good.

***

End of Chapter 79