Consciousness returned in jolts, like a nightmare I couldn't wake from. A dull, persistent throbbing pounded in my temples, and the taste of blood and dirt clung to my lips. I tried to move, but my arms and legs wouldn't respond. It wasn't paralysis, but the cold bite of metal around my wrists and ankles.
I forced my eyes open, fighting against the heavy weight of dizziness. The darkness was almost absolute, broken only by a faint beam of light filtering through a small crack high above, illuminating dust motes dancing in the still air. The place smelled of dampness, earth, and rotten wood. A cellar. Or an abandoned basement.
I was sitting on a thick wooden chair, the restraints biting into my flesh. Every attempt to free myself only made the iron manacles dig in deeper. The silence was oppressive, interrupted only by the sound of my own breathing, which quickened with every second of lucidity.
Rossette, damn it, where is Rossette? I don't see any shapes near me and I don't hear anything.
A murmur of voices came from somewhere outside my prison. I could barely make out the words, but by focusing some aura into my ear, I managed to catch vague fragments.
"...knows this has gotten out of control… the orders were just to scare them, not…" "And what do you want me to do?He insisted. After the ball, he said we couldn't keep playing with children…" "...the girl is scared,but unharmed. In the room upstairs. But he… if he finds out we brought her here too…"
Unharmed. The relief that flooded me was as intense as the pain in my head. She was alive. But she was here, in this place, and "he" wanted more than just to scare us. I didn't have to be a genius to figure out that this "he" referred to the prince. How did he manage to alert these men to attack us with so little notice? Did he have this planned from the beginning?
I tried once more to free my wrists, testing the strength of the manacles, but even with my strength of 13, it was impossible to break these damned chains. I decided to concentrate my aura into my hands and began to force the chains apart. After a while of trying, I felt the chains finally snap.
"Finally."
Just as I felt a surge of relief, the voices fell silent and a shadow grew larger under the door. Realizing someone was approaching, I pretended to be asleep. Keeping my eyes closed, I sensed two people enter.
"Hey, did we hit him too hard? He should have woken up by now."
The moment one of them leaned in to check on me, using aura to enhance my strike, I punched him square in the jaw, knocking him out in an instant. The other man reached for his sword, but before he could draw it, I landed another punch to his jaw, sending him crashing to the floor, unconscious.
After leaving them sprawled on the ground, I ran. I didn't know how many more there were, but the priority was to find Rossette quickly. I raced up the stairs and, upon passing through a door, noticed several men guarding another door.
"You, stop right there!"
Without hesitation, the two charged at me, swords drawn. I dodged, though not without receiving several cuts, and struck back, unable to land a clean knockout blow. I decided to create some distance to better plan my next move.
"Just give up, friend. You're not winning this fight," one of the guards said, advancing with his sword held high. His partner moved to flank me, cutting off my retreat to the stairs. Blood from the superficial cuts on my arms and side stained my clothes.
He was right. In a direct confrontation, two swords against my bleeding fists was a clear losing battle for me. But right now, my goal wasn't to win this fight; it was to get to Rossette. If she wasn't too badly hurt, I knew she could help us get out of this quickly.
[Calm Mind] cooled the panic, filtering out the noise of my own ragged breathing. I assessed the hallway: narrow, with stone walls. They blocked the path to the only guarded door—where she must be. Their advantage was the space to swing their weapons. Mine… was the narrowness.
I took a step back, as if yielding. Then, instead of charging, I turned and ran back toward the stairs leading to the cellar.
"Coward!" The footsteps of the two guards echoed behind me.
I was pretending to flee. But at the last second, just before descending, I kicked the heavy oil lamp hanging by the landing with all my might. The chain snapped with a metallic crack, and the heavy metal and glass fixture crashed to the floor, spilling oil and broken glass across the narrow stairwell entrance.
The first guard, coming in too fast, slipped on the viscous liquid and fell face-first with a muffled curse. The second hesitated for a moment, and in that second, I leaped and delivered a powerful kick to his head, sending it snapping back against the wall. He slumped to the ground, dazed and bleeding.
I immediately turned and sprinted back toward the guarded door.
"ROSSETTE!"
The sight that greeted me was surprising. Rossette was sitting on top of two of the mercenaries, with a few scratches on her. She looked up at me calmly as I burst in.
"You're here. Looks like you had a rough time." "It doesn't matter how we are.Right now, we have to get out of here. There are probably still more guards around."
Rossette nodded, and together we began searching for an exit. After a while, we found a door that led outside to a forest.
"Let's go."
We stepped out the door and came face to face with two people we'd met before.
Alexander. Elizabeth.
"Oh my," Elizabeth said. "It seems our two little prisoners have managed to escape. Tell me, Alexander, what do you think we should do?" "Obviously,we have to finish them off."
Damn it. I have no idea how strong Elizabeth is, and I don't know the prince's full strength either. Plus, Rossette and I are both injured. Rossette is in better shape, but I don't know if she can handle both of them, not to mention any mercenaries who might be regaining their senses by now.
Elizabeth smiled, drawing not a sword, but a thin stiletto from her sleeve. Her aura was different—a serpentine emerald green that coiled around her hands like poisonous smoke. Some kind of magic, or poison. Probably both.
"Do we run?" I murmured to Rossette, assessing our options. We were wounded, exhausted, and outnumbered. She shook her head,her gaze fixed on the prince. Her own golden aura began to glow, steady and resolute. "If we run,they'll chase us like dogs. And the others are still here. We have to face them here. Now."
She was right. It was a trap, but staying and fighting was the only option that gave us a chance, however slim.
"I'll handle Alexander," Rossette said, adopting an impeccable fencing stance despite her torn dress. When did she get a sword without me noticing? "You handle the snake.Don't let her touch you. I think you can see why I'm telling you this."
"With pleasure. Just make sure you don't overexert yourself," I said, focusing on Elizabeth. My steel gauntlets gleamed faintly under the moonlight. They weren't a sword, but they were mine, and I finally had a chance to use them in a more frontal battle.
Alexander charged first, with the speed and precision expected of a prince trained from the cradle. His thrust was a blue lightning bolt aimed at Rossette's heart. She didn't retreat.She met it, her own golden aura deflecting the blow with a metallic clang that sent sparks flying into the air. The impact forced her back a step, but her expression was one of pure concentration.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth glided toward me, her stiletto gleaming with a sinister green light. I raised my guard.
"You know, dear Elizabeth, I never expected a woman like you to know how to use aura." "It's easy to learn when you have a prince to help you.Besides, at our age, many in our generation already have some knowledge, and the more trained ones know how to use it."
I activated my aura as well. I haven't been using it for long, so I probably can't maintain it for much time. I won't enhance anything else and will just use my fists.
"Let's see how resilient you really are, dear Arthur."