Empire Engulfed (XII)

Chapter 211

Anna and Sebas felt strange; though the concept of wearing masks to hide one's identity certainly wasn't alien to them, the masks Cain handed them were... unpalatable. Oversized heads was probably the least offensive term they could think of to describe the masks. As such, Cain also asked them to change out of their colorful garbs and into protective armor, as further means of protecting their identities.

When everyone was ready, Cain took the front and charged Mana into his palm, pointing it at the wall; a mere moment later, the entire wall vanished -- it wasn't destroyed or melted or even displaced, it just... vanished. Luckily, both Anna and Sebas were wearing masks so their exaggerated expressions remained unseen by the world.

"Charge!" Cain suddenly roared, prompting Senna to sigh; she knew that it was time for his theatrics, so she silently followed him through the dusty hole in the wall and into a relatively open chamber on the other end. However, their little group came to an abrupt and rather awkward halt; what welcomed them was a... peculiarly queer sight.

Dozens of prison cells were strewn about, cast out of iron bars, which was what they expected; however, they did not expect over half of them to be open, with the prisoners that were supposed to be inside sitting neatly in one corner, wolfing down on the food they were given. They, also, did not expect a group of seven people to be unlocking those prison cells. And, to add to the queerness of it all... the seven also wore masks.

"..."

"..." Cain had felt awkward many times before in his life; when he asked Emma out, when he flunked an easy math test, when he got fired for the first time, etc. However, he had never felt this kind of awkwardness. One that made a person wish to revert back time to just ten seconds ago, when everything was different and peaceful.

"W-who goes?!!" the seven were the first to recover and made their way in front of Cain. However, they, too, were flabbergasted by what was happening, so there was little confidence in the man's voice.

"We..." Cain paused for a moment. Yes, he could be awkward... or he could embrace the nonsense. "Are the Godly Unbeatable Celestial Four Sect!!!"

"..."

"..." Senna cried. A genuine set of tears emerged from her eyes and trickled down her cheeks. Anna and Sebas lost their sense of reason; the world was strange, much stranger than ever before.

"Our mission in life is but one: to free the chained, to beat the evil, and to look cool doin' it!" AND YOU CHOSE THESE MASKS FOR THAT?!! Senna kept it inside. She thanked the stars that the mask was there. Rather, she made a note in her head: from now onward, whenever she was in public with him, she should wear a mask. At all times. "And who are you?!"

"We..." there was another pause, one not unlike Cain's, before the man continued. "Are the Venerable Seven of the Burning Stars of Gods Sect!" Oh no... "Our mission in life is to unchain the imprisoned, cull the naydoers, and look dashing doin' it!"

"..."

"Did you just copy our sacred founding creeds that our ancestors carved with their True Blood?!"

"Hogwash! Your ancestors stole the creeds of my ancestors who first wrote them by using their magic eyes to carve out the dogmas in the stars!"

"Tsk, I was just lying! It was actually ancestors of my ancestors who came up with the Sacred Words by meditating upon the Glimmer of Truth by the Fountain of Youth! They spent eight eternities until they finally had an inspiration!"

"Tsk, I was also being deceitful; it was actually ancestors of my ancestor's ancestors who conjured up the Essences of Reality! They are--"

"ENOUGH!! SHUT THE FUCK UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP!!!!" Senna, unable to hold it in any longer, cried out. Her cheeks were burning red with second-hand embarrassment and she was regretting every single decision of her life that led her to this moment. "Shut up, shut up, shut up!! How aren't you burning in shame by spouting so much horseshit?!! I'd expect it from this imbecile, but I thought his kind of retardation was one of a kind!! You!! Who the hell are you?!! Why are you just as bad as him?! Why aren't you even remotely normal?!!!"

"..."

"Khm, our creeds don't matter," Cain said, coughing awkwardly. "Our intersecting goals do. Are you here to free the prisoners?"

"Of course! We are, after all--"

"Shut the hell up!" a woman's voice broke out as she pulled the man back and yanked him onto the floor. "And you, get out! If I hear one more word from you, I'll put my life on the line to kill you! How did you get here?" she, then, turned toward Senna and asked, leaving Cain to stand there awkwardly, unsure as to what to do.

"Tunnels," Senna replied simply. "You?"

"Bribes," the woman replied. "Is he your leader?"

"Is he yours?"

"..."

"Khm, we were worried that we wouldn't be able to sneak everyone out," the woman noncommittally moved past the question and continued. "But now that you are here, could you take half of them and sneak them out the way you came?"

"Sure," Senna said. "What's your name?"

"... Astenia. Yours?"

"... Estenia."

"..."

"If fate permits us to meet again," 'Astenia' said.

"Good luck," 'Estenia' replied.

Meanwhile, Sebas and Anna were still recovering from Cain's and that man's... fancy conversation. They had never been exposed to something like that before; shameless boasting, nonsense, outright lies... if they hadn't known any better, they would have truly believed Cain had ancestors who started a sect with such a queer name.

Furthermore, they became side characters; as it turned out, Anna wasn't alone in her plans to raid this place. Though she didn't know who the seven were, they were unlikely to be a part of any of the major powers. After all, almost all prisoners here were just commoners who either insulted a noble or were unable to pay their taxes -- hardly crimes worthy of such a massive punishment.

"... you really went hard at the old man there, kiddo." Cain said as Senna retreated while 'Estenia' and others kept freeing the prisoners, sending half their way.

"You're lucky I didn't cut your tongue off immediately," Senna said, still feeling embarrassed. "Seriously, why are you like a middle-schooler?!! That was beyond embarrassing!"

"It was a test!" Cain exclaimed shamelessly. "You need to be able to endure all manner of ills and iffies, yet you failed to spectacularly! More training is in order!"

"... you know what? I'm done. Don't talk to me. Don't look at me. As a matter of fact, just stop breathing."

"Wouldn't I die, then?"

"Wouldn't that be something..."

"I had to improvise, you know... it's not like I knew we'd meet another group here..."

"And that is what you went with? Literally -- literally -- anything else would have been better."

"... even if I said we're sex fiends looking for people to fulfill our most demented fetishes?"

"Yes, actually yes. That would have been better. Miles better."

"Wow. So, I was that bad."

"Worse."

"Anna, what do you think?"

"H-huh?"

"Was I really that bad?" Cain asked. "I merely tried to create a standing equal to that of a princess, which was why such a grand name came to me immediately."

"Stop trying to bullshit your way out of this," Senna quickly interrupted. "And take out some food and drinks. Do you have a plan on how to deal with them once we're out?"

"Why'd we deal with them?" Cain shrugged. "Just give them an item or two and let them loose. That's the reason why we're freeing them in the first place, to create some disturbance but not to overwhelm anything."

"Will they be fine?" Senna asked with some anxiety in her voice.

"They will be," Cain replied with a gentle smile, patting her head. "The Kingdom's eyes won't be focused on some runaway peasants, but the two audacious groups that had enough balls to go against the Kingdom. So, we're actually in more danger than they are."

"Eh, good enough," Senna shrugged indifferently, but Cain noted the fresh air of relief in her voice. "Life ain't fun if there's no stakes."

"Considering your age," Cain said. "I'm like half-certain the stakes you're talking about are wooden for the vampire lovers and whatnot."

"... ah, how nice it is to live in silence."

"Senna..."

"With nobody and nothing talking..."

"Sweetheart..."

"Ah, to be so free..."

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