Powerful bright energy exploded out against a barrier that Laphy projected from their hands. It intensified causing tiny cracks to form in the barrier. Even though the power and light further intensified, Laphy kept the barrier up preventing it from going straight through them.
Had it not been for Laphy stepping in front of them to block the attack from the sorcerer from afar who cast the powerful light-based spell, he thought they’d all be ashes right about now.
Both of Laphy’s palms spread out in front of him keeping the barrier up. It appeared faintly golden and translucent enough that he could see beyond it, although due to the powerful energy continually slamming up against it, he could not see much from beyond the barrier itself.
“Find a way out of here!” Laphy yelled out to the rest of them. He continued to project the barrier keeping them from being killed.
Considering the power demonstrated by the sorcerer attacking them, they had to find an alternative route to escape or they’d all be done for. Rather than think too long over what route to take, Kiran found a window overlooking the well-groomed exterior wall of the mansion. He cast a straightforward projectile spell from his left hand to send the glass exploding outward and thereafter leaped out onto the lawn covered in white snow. Juna, Lar, and shortly after Laphy came leaping out to join them with Aini in their arms.
“We need to try to lose them,” he said in a rush. They followed him near the tall walls which surrounded the mansion’s exterior space. They assisted each other and managed to all get over the wall and out onto the regular streets of Liall. By the time they crossed a block or two, more of the arcane-infused street lamps went dark within the surrounding area.
It was almost like all of the residual magical energy in this area was sucked away and absorbed into a central source. That source came to greet them by summoning fire rather than a powerful spell made out of the light that they used prior to now. They held their hand above their head while the fire coalesced into a ball growing in size every second. The snow that fell around them melted and the snow on the rooftops and ground below them melted away too to turn into water that evaporated into steam.
“The rest of you should go,” Laphy said preparing to defend their attempt at an escape.
However, he was not just about to let him face off with this unknown assailant alone. It was his primary task to retrieve them after all. “I’ll stay and help you,” he said standing beside the familiar. Before he could urge the others to leave them to fight this sorcerer whose appearance was obscured, Lar came to take up a position behind him and summon their fauchard.
“You’re not getting rid of me so easily,” Lar said.
“Juna, can you take Aini away from here?” Kiran asked quickly.
“Sure thing! Just don’t die!”
It was going to be a three-on-one fight. The same odds as that fighter who Laphy had killed.
This sorcerer came across as much stronger however. And he hadn’t fought anyone outside of training who utilized magic to such a destructive extent.
“Once I block their attack, try to attack them from the side from both angles. Got that?”
“Got it,” he and Lar said at once.
The sorcerer’s arm came down fast and pointed directly towards them. The ball of flame came hurdling towards them melting every flake of snow that it moved by.
Laphy created a much wider barrier this time around the three of them protecting them from the fire slamming against the barrier. All the snow in this area melted away and tons of light overwhelmed his vision. As the fire dwindled in intensity bursting against the barrier, Kiran began to run towards the right while Lar ran towards the left so they could attack them from both sides.
Both of them attacked the sorcerer at the same time when the entire area went dark as their flame spell died out.
Sparks from their weapons lit the darkened street as they were blocked by the assailant’s own summoned sword. The aura-infused street lamps nearby became lit once more allowing them to see a bit better. For whatever reason whenever this particular sorcerer prepared a spell, the aura-infused lighting nearby dimmed significantly and reappeared right after.
The assailant wore black robe-like attire and a facial covering that hid the entirety of their head. It was a different kind of mask than the ones the partygoers wore however.
Kiran’s attacks so far failed to land any direct hits on them. They had their own long sword to block his and Lar’s attacks. While they kept them busy, Laphy leaped onto a rooftop from an adjacent building. Their feet sent them flying out towards the building behind the assailant and as they leaped into the air to land onto the sorcerer trying to kill them, the sorcerer avoided the hit and distanced themselves quite a bit away.
Someone began to clap. On a nearby intersecting street, a large man with two other intimidating figures came to greet them. The sorcerer stood back in reverence to the one they served.
Marthus Einfeld had chosen to greet them out on the streets unafraid of the three of them. “To think a group of insignificant scum would attempt to steal away my toys. Lay down your arms, surrender, and I just may peel back a little less flesh from your skin when I get my hands on each of you.”
“You’re a sick freak,” Lar proclaimed before the enlarged man.
“I will not be lectured by familiars who don’t know their place. You’re the cause of our world being as it is. Do not even think to judge me.”
“Even if that’s true,” Lar said, “it doesn’t change how messed up you are.”
“I wouldn’t expect a familiar to understand. After all, your souls belong to me. You are all my property and as my property, you will bow before me!”
Marthus raised their hand and a disgruntled noise erupted into Kiran’s left ear. Laphy fell to their knees and began to submit to his authority.
“Laphy!” Kiran rushed to him to try to help him as he could barely move and was clearly in a lot of pain.
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“So long as he has that collar around his neck, he is mine,” Marthus stated firmly. “Submit or die.”
Kiran stood tall stepping several steps forward towards Marthus with a slight grin on his face. “Let’s see then who ultimately ends up submitting.”
Lar flashed forward towards Marthus who didn’t flinch at all. He simply stood his ground. The womanly figure to his left blocked Lar’s attack as they reached him and blocked every other attack they tried to unleash upon them.
In the meantime, the sorcerer began to come towards Kiran. Fire ran along the sorcerer’s blade and they sent it slashing at him.
I can’t afford for this encounter to go on for much longer. I need to eliminate them right now. His body had been worn down after that fight with the hooded figure from earlier. He couldn’t afford for this fight to end up too prolonged. For that reason, he focused on taking a more daring manner of fighting to conclude this encounter as quickly as possible.
He blocked their flaming sword and sent his sword flashing at them. Like before, they expectedly backed a few meters away to reposition themselves. However, by doing so, Kiran expected this maneuver since they had used it before. As a result, as they thought they had time to prepare to defend against another attack, instead his blade entered their torso.
Got you!
The sorcerer grimaced in pain. They tried to block another piercing strike after he yanked it out of their body, but they weren’t able to. It went into their gut more harshly this time. With them in a tattered and pained state, it allowed him to yank the sword out one last time and send it slashing towards their neck. The sword cut through their neck ending the sorcerer’s threatening position in this fight as their head fell over onto the ground spilling blood all around.
The other two assailants fighting Lar became noticeably concerned as they realized they weren’t so easy to eliminate even with Laphy unable to assist the two of them due to the collar around their neck.
Marthus could prevent Laphy from fighting, but he had no control over Kiran or Lar. His only defense was the two other fighters who attended to his side and neither of them appeared as strong as the sorcerer he had just killed.
Kiran came to assist Lar and dug his sword into the back of the woman assailant who fought them. She let out a yelp as Lar’s fauchard pierced through them afterward. The other assailant came to assault them but Kiran’s sword blocked their attack and then sliced their arm off before they could defend against it.
Blood splattered from the newly made wound as they screamed aloud. Due to the snow having been melted on the ground from that earlier ball of fire cast out from the sorcerer, instead of blood landing on snow, it instead landed on the wet reflective ground. He didn’t let the final assailant whose arm was just cut off suffer for long. He drove his sword through their heart darkening their gaze and allowing them to pass from this world to the next.
When the fighting stopped, most of the areas that had snow melted away became covered in new snow continuing to fall from the sky. It began to cover the new corpses that were strewn around the open city area as well and whiten the blood spilling out onto the cobbled stone ground.
Marthus tried to run away only for Kiran to grab their collar causing them to fall over onto the wet snow-covered street. They turned around and pleaded with both of their hands open towards him.
“Please! I-I will go in peace. You won’t have any more problems with me.”
Laphy came walking by him and motioned towards the enlarged man pleading for his life. They wielded one of the assailant’s swords and they were eager to fulfill their revenge upon the one who had harbored them just to torture them endlessly.
“That’s not for me to decide,” he said to the pathetic man who seconds ago would’ve gladly seen his guts torn from his body.
“Thank you,” Laphy said and then dug the sword through Marthus’s heart as he desired.
Silence filled the space around them. He watched as the man’s eyes bulge out of his skull and his arms fall to their side. They fell to their back staring up at the eternally dark sky as every bit of remaining life within them spilled out onto the wet cobbled ground.
Things had not gone quite as planned. They had wanted to get Laphy out of the mansion and retreat before anyone knew about it. Instead, things had gotten violent forcing him and them to spill blood. And Laphy did in fact get their revenge even though he had convinced them to set it aside for a future time. But Marthus chose to confront them. Had he not done that, he would likely still be alive.
Now numerous corpses littered the public streets. People would learn come morning about these gruesome deaths. It was likely they would pin them on the Human Familiar Coalition. The authorities would likely then twist a narrative accusing them of murdering an innocent man who had strong ties to the queen. His reputation was immaculate. He was regarded by many as a saint in Liall. But to the coalition, he was a depraved human who took pleasure from torturing familiars and even humans if they so choose. If the authorities told one narrative, they had no choice but to tell another about the true nature of this supposed saint who was nothing more than a depraved soul harboring people beneath their mansion ceaselessly torturing them. It was up to the people of Liall to decide which narrative to believe.
The sight of the dead man and their dead assailants sent a chill down his spine as it all began to register completely in his mind.
Laphy looked the two of them in the eyes. “We should leave before the city guard or worse, the queen’s knights potentially come by.”
He hadn’t noticed until now, but Laphy’s arms were a bit burnt. Even though he had those barriers to protect them from taking a full-on strike from those sorcerers’ flames and light-based attacks, it had not been enough to prevent it from burning his arms and hands.
“Don’t worry about me,” he said noticing Kiran’s gaze towards those blackened appendages of his. “I’ll heal and fully recover over time.”
They did not remain around the bloodied and torn bodies. They fled in the same direction Juna and Aini had gone earlier. As they got far away enough, they felt comfortable walking as normal pedestrians. Not many were out at this time of night. Some of the local businesses locked their stores up and the lights inside their places went dark. If it weren’t for the sorcerers keeping the aura-infused street lamps up and running, it would be pitch black around these parts.
As they walked beside each other, Laphy eyed him briefly. “Your sword techniques are quite interesting. It’s like you’re both highly attuned to higher forms of sword fighting techniques with sloppier executions of them.”
“I’ve been getting better but I’ve got a long way to go to refine things as you can imagine.”
“Some of the best swordsmen I know can’t execute some of those maneuvers. How is it that you can despite almost coming across as an amateur?”
“It’s a long story.”
A brief chuckle escaped his mouth. “Always with the excuses. I understand if you don’t wish to tell me the real reason. We all have our secrets we wish to keep to ourselves and no others.”
“It’s not really a secret.” At this point many members within the coalition knew of his lost past and the state of his being.
There was of course always a danger to telling people about his memories from his past not being there. It allowed for an opportunity to take advantage of his ignorance. Whether Laphy would exploit such an ordeal, was unknown to him as many other things were unknown.
But rather than closely guard knowledge that he could easily extract from other members within the coalition, he chose to tell him since he had saved their lives multiple times tonight. It was the least he deserved. “I lost my memories some time ago. I believe I was likely a proficient fighter from a time I cannot fully grasp.”
“I see,” he said. They turned a corner and strode down another darkened street.
Kiran had been refining his fighting techniques for months now with the help of the Human Familiar Coalition’s training offered to him. He made a lot more progress than they were expecting which put him in a favorable light and gave him the advantage to excel within the coalition at a faster rate than most other newly recruited individuals. As a result, he came across as a highly desired person to put to the test and they had done so by giving him this job to retrieve Laphy. And thankfully he had succeeded in retrieving them alive.