I ran, mustering every last ounce of strength in my legs. My lungs ached from exertion. Icy patches on the streets made me skid; I fought to maintain my balance. In the corner of my eye, I saw Hei still beside me. Farther behind came the footsteps of the armored guards and their shouts for pedestrians to move aside.

At least I thought those were guards. But who knew if they were actually from the city's Guard Guild, or if they were Fink's private soldiers, or something else entirely.

One of them recited an incantation in what sounded like Latin. Wisps of violet light began to streak through the air, before solidifying into a swarm of translucent, floating chains. They darted at me.

I made a sharp turn to dodge them, but it was no good. The chains homed after me, slithering like eels, until they closed in and wrapped around my body and tightened. I fell hard to the ground as our pursuers closed in. Hei tried to pull me up, but in vain. The chains had dug snugly into the ground, anchoring me there.

"Stay away!" I screamed at the guards. They did not stop, but instead closed in with swords and batons and handcuffs. Hei summoned his spear. I clenched my teeth and waited until the guards closed in.

Then, I flicked my thumb, activating the Cold Grenade inside my pocket.

Blinding white consumed my vision; frigid air licked at my skin. The chains around me loosened and disappeared, and I got up and began running again. Looking back, I saw the host of guards I had frozen solid with my Cold Grenade blast. The ones farther back, unhindered, circled around their unmoving comrades to give chase. It was then that I noticed. None of them wore the badge of the Guard's Guild, the silver one Mr. Atlas always had on him. Then, who were these people? If they were Fink's henchmen, how had they arrived so soon?

Hei was still running by my side.

"The Eat Cow Tavern's up ahead," I gasped. "Go through there."

The two of us were frequent customers. We knew our ways through the turns and corners, through the front gate and back exits. And the two of us could easily slip through the gaps between tables, whilst the same gaps would be chokepoints for a swarm of guards.

We did as planned. I took the lead and bolted through the entrance of the Eat Cow Tavern, reassuring the tavern staff with a quick wave as I ran past them. We were on a first-name basis by now, and despite their concerned looks they didn't stop me or Hei. We snaked our ways through the tavern and exited to a busy market street behind the building. I looked back and saw no guards behind us. They were likely still inside. Hei and I hid behind a large vegetable stall to catch our breaths. We could still hear the distant ringing of alarms.

"Where do we go?" I whispered to Hei.

He scanned our surroundings. "Ring Three? We could hide in the farmland."

What about the wilderness outside of town? Either way, we were in deep trouble. I reached inside the envelope Khan gave me.

Come on, Khan. I needed one of your gifts right about now.

I reached inside the envelope. At first it felt empty, but then my fingers found what seemed like a slip of paper. So the envelope really was magical.

I took out the paper slip and examined it. Upon it was a line of text.

"Just keep running! :)" it said.

What the crap!! Khan was actually useless!

I wondered if I made the wrong decision teaming up with him.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

The earth rumbled. An armored arm bursted out of the ground right under me. Before I had a chance to gasp, it grabbed my ankle and dragged me down. And I sank into the earth as it suddenly liquefied into mud.

Hei slammed his spear into the emerging arm, piercing through armor and drawing blood. The hand let go of me, though I was already knee-deep underground. I thrashed, desperate to free myself, only to sink deeper into the sucking mud.

The arm receded into the earth, then an entire person, one of the armored guards, emerged from us not too far away, caked in soil and arm dripping with blood. He had some sort of magic for swimming through the ground, apparently.

People around us shouted and cleared away chaotically. Many drew their weapons. Meanwhile, the dozen or so guards had caught up. I gritted my teeth and launched a Cold Grenade at them.

A swordsman in their midst stepped forward. With a stroke of her sword, she bisected the grenade in mid-air. The two halves fell to the ground, where they disintegrated uselessly.

Ethereal, violet chains formed and bound me while I remained half-sunk in mud. They squeezed so tight, I could barely breathe.

I spared one last look at Hei. Maybe this was it for me.

"Run," I choked out.

But he didn't heed my plea. Instead, he Voidstepped behind the guard with the bleeding arm, wrestled him down, and poised the point of his spear above the guard's neck. The other guards circled around me, with drawn blades and nocked arrows and readied spells.

"Let her go," Hei spat. "Or else."

The muddied ground began to dry, and I floated out to the top. Just as the chains around me expired as well, a pair of guards shoved me down. They pinned my hands down with their knees, so my palms were forced to face downward at the ground. I couldn't even aim my spells now.

"Help!" I screamed at the crowd around us. "They're…gangsters!"

It was worth a try. If these really were private soldiers sent by Fink, that practically made them gangsters, didn't it?

A couple people stepped forth from the crowd. One of them was my neighbor; he had his crossbow drawn and aimed at one of the guards behind me.

"Put your weapon down!" a caped guard barked at him. "I am captain of the security forces of the Combat Institute. Sophia of the Research Division is under arrest for further questioning. If you interfere, we will resort to force."

"She did nothing wrong," Hei hissed, still holding that one guard hostage at spearpoint.

The captain glared at Hei. "She'll answer to the Institute's jury. As will you."

"This isn't right," my neighbor said, his voice quivering. "You work for a guild. You, you can't just arrest people. How is that even legal?"

"Put your weapon down," the captain repeated. He raised a hand at my neighbor. A ball of blue fire ignited in his palm. Even as I laid flat against the cold, hard earth, I felt the searing heat.

At that moment, the wind shifted.

Soft peals of thunder echoed across the street. A flash of lightning shone from the rooftop of a nearby house. I turned to look.

There stood Saber, shrouded in storm.

In one hand she held her sword. In the other, she carried the Seekflower. The flower pointed straight at me.

"Let them go," she ordered the guards. "This is a direct order from Headmaster Khan."

…Was it? Or was Saber just bluffing? Either way, I breathed a tentative sigh of relief. Or as much of a breath as I could manage, whilst the guards held me against the coarse, freezing ground.

"Professor Saber," the guard captain answered. "With due respect, you will need to show me Khan's order in writing." He looked up at her, squinting his eyes against the wind and lightning. Her third-level ability, which created a 40-meter wide thunderstorm around her, certainly looked cinematic, though I wondered how long she could keep it up before running out of mana.

Saber fell silent. There was no way she'd have been able to get anything from Khan this fast. And, considering the Seekflower, she had probably headed straight for me.

"I will do you better," she said. "Citizens of Silvercreek!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. Tens, perhaps hundreds, of eyes converged upon her.

She raised the Seekflower above her head.

"This flower locates anyone you can name," she said. "Let me show you. Seekflower, tell us all! Where is 6E12?"

Slowly but surely, the flower turned to point eastward. In the direction of the crypt-caves.

"The Combat Institute betrayed us all!" Saber bellowed. "The Expedition Division is a lie, a coverup for human sacrifice. Headmaster Fink keeps 6E12 in the caves outside of town, and binds him with the death of the expeditioners. The Truthseekers were right all along! Everyone! Fink is arresting Sophia, because Sophia knows the truth – that we are all mere pawns of the Institute. Rise up and defy the oppressors that plot your slaughter. Rise up, you who wish to be cattle no more! Free 6E12. Win the death game!"