Xar knew they were in deep shit. He had known before the [Admiral] and his goons had been on their ass. It had just been a feeling. Not even a [Skill]. He didn’t have [Dangersense] or anything similar, but most adventurers had a good gut feeling for danger.

His gut feeling had been warning him for a while now. And strangely enough he had thought it was the [Admiral] that was the cause, but he got the feeling after seeing him that that wasn’t it. Somehow, there was something else, something worse coming their way, or so it felt.

Still, right now he was in charge of delaying the goons following them. He threw different explosive devices one after the other to slow them down. But one of the pursuers was a mage and was simply erecting barriers, or containing the explosions as they came. In the end, it only slowed them down enough to stop them from gaining on them, if barely.

The situation wasn’t ideal, as he would run out of explosives soon, and they were in no position to look for someone, even less find their way out of here. From the signs he spotted as they ran, they weren’t even close to the hangar.

So they ran. People moved out of their way, no one wanted to stand in front of an armed group with explosions following them. They were coming up to an intersection, and Kali yelled for them to go left. It had come slightly late and they all scrambled to turn without losing too much momentum.

Xar was actually on foot for once, even Krovukk seemed to start getting tired of running so much, especially when he was carrying Matt under one arm. The others all were silent too, concentrated on breathing in that precious air for their tired muscles.

He was the freshest one, as he had been riding on Krovukk’s shoulder for a while. So he ran behind them all, covering them with his favorite thing ever. But even he had a hard time appreciating all the explosions he left behind as they seemed to get better and better at avoiding them or canceling them out.

They arrived in a large room that must have been the cafeteria. It was filled with people actually, even if the tables and chairs were in complete chaos, no one seemed to have bothered putting anything back after the blackout. The small distraction cost him as one of the [Admiral]’s men managed to throw a knife at him, which somehow pierced his anti-ballistic shield.

He dodged out of the way too late and got a cut on his left shoulder. Crying out in pain, Krovukk instantly stepped in and kicked one of them back. The man flew back several meters before he closed the doors and started barricading them. They might just gain a precious few moments of respite.

“Erika?!” It was Kali that was yelling, and Levy soon joined her. The others in the room were giving them a wide breadth. The door behind them was getting opened slowly. A small gap in the middle was widening ever so slowly as the other adventurers used this opportunity to slash at whatever poked through.

“Kali?” Someone in the crowd said.

“Lika? Where is Erika?” Kali asked a lizard-woman.

“She went to take a shower and change. People are upset, you know. It’s not normal for magic to disappear like that. And, outside communications are blocked. Some have tried to send messages back to friends and family but nothing is getting out. But you might just be in more than a pickle than the rest of us.” She had a worried look on her face as she stared at the fight going on at the door, but Xar was more preoccupied with throwing explosives through the gap at their pursuers than listening to their conversation.

“Who are your new friends, and who the hell is trying to force that door open.” Everyone in the room were now looking at their group and what was happening, a lot of them had been slowly walking out of the cafeteria, now the slower ones were tempted to follow suit.

“Uh, yeah, they are her brothers here to help her out apparently.” She said as she gestured vaguely at the group.

“What? All of them? Is she adopted?” Lika asked.

“What? No! The two blonde ones. The others are just their adventurer friends or whatever.” She waved her hand dismissively.

“But that doesn’t matter. We have to go get Erika now.” She looked determined and now the others were listening in too.

“You said she is back in her room then? I’ll lead the way, guys lets go, we have to hurry.” As she pulled into another hallway, he was the last one to leave. Still trying to slow down their pursuers to the last second. He threw two rather heavy explosifs as he turned the corner, but he knew it would only gain them a precious few seconds.

His explosifs, that would kill most people outright, had only managed to slow them down, not truly stop them or let them stand their ground. As they all filed out of the now much emptier cafeteria, Xar could hear the sound of metal bending and knew they were already through.

As they ran, he saw that the others also sported small wounds, something he hadn’t seen on their opponents running after them. They truly were outmatched. But they were also closer than ever to finding Erika.

They ran around a few corners, he dodged another knife, Krovukk managed to kick back one of the faster ones of the bunch with the help of the others. Luckily it was easier to run away than to engage someone running. Which might be the only thing that saved them from being crushed completely.

They couldn’t surround them or get in powerful blows. Like pack predators, they were nibbling at their heels, so to speak, waiting for a mistake to pounce on.

***********************************

Philip was sweating. Well, he was running so it was expected, but he was sweating metaphorically too as he saw the adventurers being pressed again and again behind him.

If they failed, he would die within seconds. Even he knew that. He might be an elite, but they were something above that, boosted with skills from someone far above their level, they managed feats that he didn’t think he would ever manage with years of training.

Life truly was unfair.

He had to admit the adventurers were pretty decent, but even he could see that they were fighting a losing battle. He truly was a genius for swiftly getting them on his side. But now that it seemed they could fail at any moment? He didn’t want to be the last one in the group except the four adventurers.

Even the kid was running ahead of him. Sadly it was not by choice that he was behind Kali and the kid. He simply was the slowest. The kid had hitched a ride on that blue brute, so he didn’t count, but he was a bit mad that Kali was in front of him.

Shouldn’t she be protecting him like the others? She was strong, right? He couldn’t stand cowardice.

Turning left, Kali yelled that they were almost there, taking him out of his musings. Oh right, she was guiding them, maybe not a coward then, or she had done it on purpose…

Still, even an idiot could figure out that stopping to get the girl out of her quarters would be far from easy. Sadly he couldn’t say anything about it, as without the four adventurers, he would be dead already. So he guessed it was fine that they did get their sister, even if it would be complicated with the [Admiral]’s men behind them.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“The third room to the left!” They had engaged in a smaller hallway lined with rooms now, which luckily made it easier to hold back their pursuers for the adventurers. Taking a peek behind him yet again, he spotted the Skraa’s expression as he tossed yet another bomb.

Yeah, he didn’t have many left, and then it would be over. If he could see it this easily, the others would as well, which meant they were soon done for, unless that sister of theirs was powerful?

Maybe that was why they were desperate to get to her. They were almost there, and he saw one of the blond ones, run past them all and to the third room. He didn’t knock but simply cut it down with his magical sword.

A cry of surprise could be heard, and then shock.

“Stan?! What in the system’s name are you doing here?” More cold sweat ran down his spine at the voice. He remembered that voice. Especially how she had rejected him. Still, with no choice he ran inside with the others. He didn’t want to be left behind.

Before Stan could respond to his sister, he walked inside and their eyes met. Erika, so that was her name. Sheesh, he couldn’t believe how unlucky this was.

“Space take me, you brought HIM along?!” She yelled as she pointed at him.

“What?” Stan was clearly confused, shook his head and stared straight at his sister.

“Lil-E, we don’t have time for this. We have to get out of here now.” He said in a stern voice. As if on cue, what was left of the door exploded inwards and pushed the three others defending the entrance to the ground.

The huge Karkaris was the first back on his feet despite his size, he charged and swung a powerful overhead blow, only for his axe to disappear mid swing. It had almost looked like he had swung it horizontally, but so fast he wasn’t sure if that is what had happened.

To his surprise, the human man in front of him had somehow blocked the first blow, and moved out of the way of the second one. It had looked as impossible as what had originally happened, his movement clearly looking strange.

Three more of them ran in behind the first one, spreading out. One of them, a lizardman from the looks of things, threw knives at the Karkaris, who only managed to block and dodge two of the three. The last knife went deep into his left shoulder.

The first one who had blocked the blows advanced on his weakened foe, only to dodge back as a contained explosion appeared out of thin air in front of him; it broke the barrier apart, but most of the strength of the explosion had been blocked already.

He didn’t even stumble and walked forwards again. Now more of them were through the door, and the four adventurers were already more than swamped as they already lost their one on one exchange.

It was clear they wouldn’t last long in this setting, despite all their years and experience fighting stuff.

“Xar! Make us an exit please!” Levy yelled as they all tried to hold, but backed off again and again to avoid dying. Small cuts appeared on all of them, and Philip was surprised he hadn’t been wounded yet. Well, he hadn’t put himself in danger, and from the looks of things, it would be suicide, but still.

“Levy, Stan, I can’t leave! You shouldn’t have come!” Erika yelled at them, panic clear in her voice.

Levy, turned around, shocked by what he was hearing, and his distraction cost him a hammer blow to the knee. His knee bent at an awkward angle, bone protruding out of an ugly wound.

His cry out pain filled the room, as his brother pulled him back, slammed the bone back in a straight line with his leg, even if he broke it doing so, and tried to make the bone more normal again before pouring a healing potion on it.

Levy stopped howling, his flesh knitting itself in front of them while a barrage of explosions had covered their retreat. The leg still looked weird, but he stood on it unsteadily anyway. They all knew that it wouldn’t hold long. A real healer would have to take a look at it.

But they didn’t have the time to worry about that now. The rat had made a hole in the wall to another room. Philip was the first one to go through it and just as the others followed after him, the whole ship trembled and they fell to the ground.

Even the pursuer stopped at that. Something else was going on. Suddenly Philip felt sick to his stomach. He clutched it and saw the others around him feeling something similar. The kid vomited yet again to the side.

Then it hit him. A monstrous amount of mana had been used, and this was the backlash. He felt sick and wrong all over. Like his organs had all been somehow misplaced inside of him. Like they were all wrong. Ever so slowly the feeling passed, but the amount of magic in the air was abnormal. There was no mana in space, but something had cast a ridiculously costly spell close by.

As he got up and finally collected himself, he looked around to see the others just standing around. The black and green men stood there, clearly listening in to something, blocking the hole to the other room.

“I’m sorry you came for me.” Erika was crying and yelling from the other room. The [Admiral]’s men hadn’t touched her at least. Lucky her.

“I signed a magical contract to pay my debt to Bird Of Prey, I cannot leave with you. It was that or become a slave. I can’t go against them in any way, or leave the ship without permission.” She said while crying.

Stan looked shell shocked, not even pretending to be on guard against their pursuers. Philip though? He saw them hesitate towards them again and started moving towards the exit. Kali followed suit and the Karkaris and Skraa were pulling on their friends.

“Guys, we have to leave now. Something is clearly going on, but we can’t stay here.” Like in a daze, the two brothers followed them without thinking.

Behind him, Philip saw the [Admiral]’s cold and calculating gaze, snuggly behind his guards that hadn’t moved towards them yet. He was letting them leave for some reason.

As they ran in the hallway, the whole ship shuddered again, and it had seemed to snap Levy out of his daze. His leg gave out and he fell to the floor. They were barely ten meters from the room! Could he just not hold out for just a bit? What a joke.

They clearly couldn’t stay there, but instead of accepting help to get up, he just shrugged it off violently and yelled at them.

“I… I can’t leave her here, and I’ll only slow you down. Go, get out of here. I’ll manage to take care of her, don’t worry.” He said with a desperate look, halfway between pleading and crying.

The whole group stopped for a moment. It was clear to everyone present that he was lying. He would probably die, and so would she. That didn’t mean they should all stop and let that same fate happen to them.

“You take care of yourself too. It has been an honor fighting with you by our side.” The huge karkaris said.

“Family first eh? Doing the right thing kid.” The Xar said to a sadly smiling blonde man in pain.

Philip was the first to start moving, and somehow that was enough. With hesitant steps and goodbyes out of the way, they started moving, but it only took about ten steps for the group to stop again.

Stan hadn’t followed them. He was still standing by his brother. He turned to look at them with a determined and sad look.

“I’m sorry for this mess guys, but you know family comes first. It has been our honor to have you as our friends and brothers in arms. Mana bless you.” Stan’s words weren’t spoken loudly but they all managed to hear them clearly.

“You show them what’s what Stan.” The small Skraa said with a sad smile.

“And we’ll meet up at the usual spot in a year, yeah?” Krovukk added. They all knew they were lying. But Stan simply smiled and made a hand gesture over his heart as he kneeled by his brother, tears in his eyes.

Philip couldn’t believe they were losing this much time on farewells. They were suiciding, so what? Could they just get moving? His life was in danger here! Somehow they all seemed to keep forgetting about it.

They soon all jogged away in silence, two members lighter, as the ship shook occasionally. Everyone seemed sad, but Philip didn’t get it, so what if they died? Everyone knew you would just be reincarnated again and again, death shouldn’t be such a big deal. It had been proven.

As they turned a corner, Philip saw some guards turn and take aim at their group. Only Kali was in the front, the adventurers had shields, but she didn’t, did she?

Without having time to think about it, he pushed her as he threw himself in front of her. He took two bullets in his back as he yelled ‘Watch out’! Kali fell to the ground and so did he, only his back was bleeding.

But also, he couldn’t understand it. Why had he done that? It didn’t make any sense. He lay there, blood pooling out of his back as the guards were getting destroyed by the remaining two adventurers.

He lay there, completely still, with Kali sitting with her head above him with a complicated emotion on her face. She seemed to be having the same issue as him. The same question.

Why had he done that?