Fist Fight

[They have left for the toilets with some guards as escorts with them]

"Sir what do we do with this bag now?"

Cedric scratched his head. "Keep it with you for now, we'll decide what to do with him once we put the others in jail cells."

"Roger."

"He's a different case. He has the famed blade, although he's nowhere as powerful as 'him' yet we can never be too sure. What of the dragon? Does it still try to break the chains?"

"Yes captain. It wails and roars often breaking the chain seals, the lord had to come himself last time. That dragon… cannot be controlled."

"The lord? How is his health? To have come here himself…"

"The lord is fine and slowly regaining his youth from the dragon's blood."

"Good good…this is good…keep up the good work, okay? And keep the boy away from the dragon."

"Yes captain."

Just then.

"Captain!" a soldier arrived. He was panting and seemed short of breath.

"What happened?! Are you all right?"

"Captain! Haah haaah!"

"Hey! Its fine, breathe, breathe slowly and easily tell me what happened?"

"The prisoners! They- they're running away!"

"What!?"

[At the toilets…?]

"Suck on that blond punk! Hahahahha!!", Venti was going crazy as he pommelled the heads of the escorts together.

"Uggh ahh haaah leave my hair bitch!", Viviane was pulling out the hair of a female escort.

"You dare call a Princess a bitch?! You lowlife peasant scum!"

The scene was chaotic no matter how you looked at it, with the effect of the restriction cuffs placed for so long. The Users were unable to use force and Viviane was unable to use mana so they resorted to physical means.

"[Punch punch punch punch punch] I punched you five times straight without mana, what kind of a soldier even are you? Use mana at least!"

As they fight and punch, Nevera and Viviane stand back to back.

"You know Viviane [pow bang splat splat] Aether once said that if violence isn't getting the job done, [pow bang splat bang pow] you simply aren't using enough of it!"

[pow pow pow bang splat smash pow]

"Hey woaah! She's fast! like a- like a rat!"

"Catch her!"

"How dare you call me a rat?!", Cynthia raged.

[splat bang pow pom pom bang]

"She-[coughs out blood] guaggh! She is..a…strong [bonk bonk pow bam] ra..t?"

[boom bam bap badap bap boom pow]

"ooooooh! Uugh aaah!"

Cynthia had a mad expression on her face, like a mad demon queen dancing in blood to the sound of fists connecting.

"That should be all of them. Huff huff." Cecilia said while wiping off the sweat on her forehead.

[She bends down and slowly sits. The others join her out of exhaustion]

[Back to Viviane pov]

"What now?" I asked.

"We need to escape, with Aether.", Nevera said while getting up.

The others got up too and I decided it was my time to do so.

"I overheard them talking about Aether back there, it seems that they have some work for him in the Aurorium Regalis.", Minerva said slowly.

Lia steped forward, "What do we do then? Do we save him or we leave? Our chances of getting out of here are much higher if we leave him behind."

"What! No! how can you leave your friend behind?" I was in shock. How could they even plan on leaving their friend behind!

"This isn't anything personal but this has to factored into the decision, we don't want anything bad to happen to Aether but risking our own lives for someone we met not long ago isn't worth it. Not yet at least."

"I'm sure that it is the same for you boys but what she said is true. We cannot risk our lives over his life, it would be an irrational decision."

Venti flared up and was about to say something but Kathlyn stopped him with a hand raise.

"I said 'We' but I didn't say I wouldn't help you."

"Kathyln…", Lia expressed her concern.

"Cecilia and I will help you too." Sapphire proudly puffed out her chest.

"Wait, how about this. We'll split up into two teams Team A which saves Aether and Team B which will find a way to get off of this place." Nevera sounded his opinion.

"I agree with him."

"Then let's split into teams of five each."

Everyone quickly agreed with him and decided to split up.

Team A had Kathyln, the boys and me. Team B had the rest of the girls.

"Okay then they'll be here any moment let's go now!"

NEVERA DAYLIGHT

We ran back quickly narrowly avoiding Cedric and his squad. The citizens stared at us as we ran in broad daylight. Some reported to the local police and there were soon dozens of policemen chasing us.

We managed to shake off the police but then I had a thought.

"Wait!"

"What happened?"

"We don't know where Aether is kept."

"…"

"You should have thought of that earlier."

A screen on a building beside us flashed and it showed the face I wanted to see the least.

Cedric. That fucker was coming.

"Fuck."

"Let's run while we still have a chance."

We continued running and were now close to the palace.

"There look there!" Arthur pointed to a group of soldiers carrying a black duffelbag that was shaking violently.

"Let's go that must be Aether!"

"Wait wait. I have a plan." The corners of my mouth took a crescent shape.

***

"Hey you there wait!"

"Huh who are you?"

"Captain Cedric sent us to pick us the suspect, hand him over we'll take him to a prison hospital."

"What? He didn't tell us about that."

"Why would he you oafs, he already has a lot on his hands, it seems that there are suspects on the run."

"But st-"

"Hey stop! Give him back!"

"Huh?! look there's one! Go catch him, we'll take this bag!"

"huh wait hey!"

"GO!"

"Okay! Okay! Don't lose him!"

"GO!"

"Aaaahg damn it! Okay! come here you insolent slave bastard!"

Plan success, they've taken the bait.

[Two hours later in a dark valley, it was now nearing evening]

"Ooof! That was tiring!" an exhausted Arthur was catching his breath in front of us.

"Man you were a good distraction, you run well!", Venti was in great spirits after getting Aether back.

"Thanks thanks huff huff."

"So? What now?", Viviane asked me.

"We'll go to a hospital."

"Are you crazy? they'll find us.", She didn't seem to understand since she wasn't a user.

"Vivane, there's a hospital south of this place where Team B is, there's a secret help sector for Users there."

"What?", she was surprised.

"The area south of this place is a Pandemonium, a complete lawless zone since it is on the border to Zelphtyrst, a neighbouring country that has many demon terrorists." Kathyln decided to explain for once.

"But even there, we won't be welcome right? Central Dominion has probably put out a bounty there?" Arthur seemed unsure.

"No, this nation is already very hostile to Verdana, I'm pretty sure the only way of communications with the mainland is through messengers. And by that way, it'll at least take them a week to get here."

"Fine then, its settled right?", Venti asked.

"Yeah, let's regroup with Team B."