73 Run.

"S-show you my hands?" Michael can't help but stutter out, "Er, do I have to? My hands are rather unsightly to look at... I was burned as a child you see..."

Wardes gives a kindly smile, "You have my sympathy, but I am not so weak-willed to be repulsed by such a sight." he states, gesturing for Michael to continue.

...

Michael coughs into his fist and 'goes' to start unwrapping the fabric around his left hand, but before he reveals his Gandalfr rune he quickly whispers "Hex!" from his upturned finger at Wardes.

*Pop!*

Caught off guard by the sudden wandless spell, Wardes is covered in a puff of smoke, which fades to reveal his now chicken body.

Michael continues his attack, not waiting to see if Wardes had any artifacts that could resist it. His Griffin alone was threat enough even without the other two Griffin knights flying overhead. "Shock!" he exclaims, casting his Ether Shock via a shortened chant.

Six threads of orange lightning strike out towards the helpless chicken, but before they're able to hit, a *pop* of smoke occurs yet again, revealing an unhexed Wardes wielding his now glowing blue rapier. "A peculiar spell, but not enough. Come quietly and I might allow you to keep your limbs, Michael, the False Familiar." he threatens, his bloodlust almost becoming visible to Michael.

Upon seeing his sneak attack utterly fail and feeling Wardes' bloodlust, Michael makes the only rational decision at this moment. "Pounce!" he exclaims, his legs bulging as he propels himself from the road and over the tree line of the nearby forest, eventually plummeting back into the thick foliage under the persuasion of gravity.

"SCCREEEEEEEEEEeee!"

The sound of Wardes Griffin screeching as it audibly flaps its wings and begins chasing him has Michael accelerate further, disregarding the occasional branch he accidentally runs into. Fortunately, any damage he takes is quickly healed due to Shadow Dance, not to mention his drastically increased speed due to it.

His flying pursuers wouldn't be able to see him through the canopy, so at least he had that one advantage. That wasn't to say he was at all confident about escaping... They could definitely fly faster than he could run, even with his Gandalfr runes and Shadow Dance passive-active, and he knew that he'd eventually run out of forest to hide in... So despite his momentary escape, the situation was still pretty fucked.

Michael's current top speed, ignoring how difficult it is to traverse the forest quickly, is around twice an Olympic athlete at fifty miles an hour. The air resistance made him feel like he was moving through water, which was a first for him, but he barrels through it regardless due to the adrenaline pumping through him. He simply didn't have the time nor the focus to comment on just how fast he was actually moving.

Eventually, however, his pursuers seemed to get tired of chasing him, and Michael is vaguely able to hear one chanting, "Gale Strike!"

He barely dodges to the side in time as a powerful wind blows through the area, literally uprooting a few trees as many others nearby lose all of their leaves in one go.

Michael is thrown through a nearby tree before eventually getting embedded in a larger oak tree. "Urrgh." he mutters as he pulls himself out of the bark all while grimacing at the pain in his back. He wasn't sure if anything was broken, but since he'd literally just be blown through a tree, it was a possibility.

Despite this though, he dips back into the forest before his perusers are able to catch him, risking it all on his Shadow Dance passive to heal him up enough so he wouldn't be one-shot by any other spells they cast.

By the time ten seconds passes, most of his wounds had healed, and his wonky-looking arm had snapped itself back into place... Just in time too! As the three Griffin Knights start throwing more and more spells the longer the chase goes on.

"Gale Strike!"/"Water Barrage!"

"Water Rapture!"

"Air Thrust!"

Michael zigzags as spells collide around him, his Shadow Dance occasionally deactivating as the Griffin Knights catch glimpses of him. He wondered whether they'd run out of mana before he escaped, but his hopes seemed to be for nought as Wardes' voice rings out. "Lightning Trap."

"Wha-AAAAHHYA'YA'YA'YA'YA'YA!!!!" Michael screams as he accidentally runs through some sort of lightning net, the trap enclosing around him and binding his limbs together all while continuously electrocuting him.

Michael is barely able to activate both Shadow Dance and Dark Pact through the seizure he was experiencing, managing to bite onto his tongue to draw enough blood for the latter ability. A wave of the blackest shade of smoke explodes from Michael's body as Shadow Dance activates, completely concealing him his the three Griffin Knights fly down to intercept him.

A second later, Dark Pact activates, causing a purple ring of smoke to explode this time, the caustic cloud burning and melting everything nearby. Sucking the vitality out of all nearby foliage and preventing the Griffin Knights from coming any closer, fearing the effects the smoke would have on them. Even Wardes' attempts to blow it away via his Elemental Wind Magic have no effect.

The lightning net binding Michael is instantly destroyed as Dark Pact activates, and with Shadow Dance activated, his wounds quickly repair themselves as he's concealed by the smoke. Unfortunately, before he's able to escape again, Wardes' waves his blade and completely surrounds him with lightning traps.

Since his Dark Pact had already ended, Michael was trapped... His Shadow Dance would end in a couple seconds, and since Dark Pact takes seconds to activate, he wouldn't be able to heal the damage he would inflict on himself.

"Surrender criminal! Or you will be executed for your crimes!" one of the knights beside Wardes commands, his wand-rapier still pointing at Michael's general location which was still covered in Shadow Dance smoke.