To divide and conquer is to screw up greatly

The Maleobario Circus grounds were in utter chaos as the beasts went wild and the big top tent began to burn.

A multitude of people scrambled to either get to safety or help deal with the issues, but even came from outside of the grounds to see what was all the commotion about.

"Huh? What's going on over there?"

"Looks like the tent caught fire...accident or sabotage?"

"Don't know. Looks like there are no casualties yet..."

"That's a relief."

"Although, I did hear that a bunch of the aether beasts got loose and were in the process of going on a rampage."

"Well, shit."

But as the people watched the circus tragedy unfold, a smaller group of people were having a very different experience.

"They're over there! Move it you slowpokes!"

"Trying!"

Zhen Liu and his friends had chased the kidnappers down several roads and alleyways at this point, but had no luck in terms of catching up with them.

The two kidnappers moved with surprising speed and grace, despite their heavy payload, and had almost outran the trio, had it not been for Matilda's dogmatic pursuit. It was, however, honestly confusing on how they managed to outpace three unimpeded youths. On top of that, the kidnappers had been throwing various impediments at the pursuers as a means to slow them down...somehow. Namely, the shorter of the two kept glaring at stuff and causing things to explode or fly towards the younger generation via that invisible force they had used to block Matilda's chakrams.

"How are we not gaining on them? They're the ones carrying boxes of people!," Zhen Hai complained as he had to dodge yet another barrel flying at his head. "And how come you haven't summoned your puppets yet?"

"Too much collateral damage," Zhen Liu explained while jumping over a sliding crate."Or have you forgotten that one can rip up the earth while the other can turn the area into a glacier?"

[Don't forget the lava. I can make lava.]

[Dangerous...]

"What about the one that the Marquis gave you? Ain't that one fast and not able to do any of those things?," Zhen Hai pointed out. "I mean, judging by what the Marquis called it."

"See, I would, but I didn't bring it," Zhen Liu lied with a mildly forced straight face.

Zhen Hai had a point, at least on a technical level, that the Razor Maiden would probably be good in a moment like this. Zhen Liu still had a few misgivings due to him being about 70% sure that the kidnappers probably worked for the Marquis, and he wasn't sure if the Razor Maiden puppet would turn on them or self destruct if they tried to attack the kidnappers with it...however, the puppet was no longer "just" a puppet.

'Then again, I can't even really control it...her...yet. Wait, I don't even control the other two...'

Zhen Liu was just about to throw caution to the wind and throw the Razor Maiden proto-kaijin at the two kidnappers, hoping it rips them to shreds without hurting Alicia and Jin Fang, when the kidnappers decided to do something smart thing and split up.

Zhen Liu and his group had chased the kidnappers all the way to a wall the way to a T-shaped intersection, readying themselves to immediately juke it in the same direction as they were going to go, but they didn't expect that the two kidnappers would just bolt in opposite directions

The trio was still a few meters away from the intersection, so they had a little bit of time to converse a bit and concoct a plan.

"Huh? I thought they were together?," Zhen Hai asked while catching his breath. Evidently, he was built for power, not stamina.

"They are, they're just trying to shake us," Matilda answered, "We need to split up if we want to catch them now."

"Aye, you and Zhen Hai go after the one who ran left, I'll take the one on the right," Zhen Liu stated.

"Huh?! Why are you going solo? And why to the right?"

"That way leads to an open plaza and I'm technically more than one fighter by myself, remember? Now get ready to split up!"

Once the trio had reached the split up point, Matilda and Zhen Hai veered to the left while Zhen Liu went right.

'Please let there be enough room...'

_________________________________________________

Matilda and Zhen Hai had managed to keep pace with their assigned kidnapper, due to the latter apparently not being the one who was throwing stuff at them earlier.

On the down side, they couldn't catch them yet due to the sheer amount of stuff in their way. Evidently, the kidnapper had taken a very narrow route full of obstacles. This made it rather difficult for Zhen Hai and Matilda to catch up.

"This is bullshit, how is that still avoiding all of this crap?!"

"We need to slow him down..."

Matilda's gaze darted around the pathway, until out of the corner of her and above her, she noticed what appeared to be a net full of barrels hanging above their heads. The faint scent of olive oil began to tickle her nose as an idea formed in her head.

The kidnapper had long since ran past it, but maybe...

"Master Zhen Hai, are you able to punch a barrel with enough force to propel it without it bursting into pieces?"

"Huh? If you mean strength control, then yeah?"

"Good."

Matilda produced another set of razor sharp throwing implements, this time a dagger, and proceeded to throw it at the rope above her.

A satisfying snap echoed through the air as her knife hit her mark.

"Prepare to launch."

"Oh...right on!"

Zhen Hai's aether began to wildly circulate as he concentrated force into his fists.

[Sea Lion Bump!]

_________________________________________________

'Oh I just had to chase after the fucking psychic, huh?!,' Zhen Liu cursed to himself as he had to dodge a swarm of dumplings of all things. All of this dodging was seriously stating to get old to him.

'How are they even doing this, there's no aether fluctuations!'

<That's because they're not using aether. They're using anima,> Zhen Liu's brain buddy piped up.

Zhen Liu was momentarily stunned at the statement.

'...THE FUCK IS ANIMA?!'