Surrounded

I thought we were being careful, but with the prize so close by we messed up. The crowd instantly seemed to part, with some worried shouts echoing around as armed guards surrounded us on all sides.

This was… a bad situation. No, bad was an understatement.

Saga was the first to move. Rushing ahead with her hand held in front of her, she materialized Tarisha and immediately slashed with it.

Based on the direction, she was probably intending to rush straight to Three and kill him.

“Capture them alive!” yelled the Guild Matron while backing away. “Orders from His Highness! We need to question them!”

Recovering from my shock, I hurried to shoot a bolt of lightning at a guard who wasn’t close enough to make sure we didn’t get caught by my attack as well. The woman screamed, crumpling to the ground, while several others around her also got zapped.

I did feel bad for doing this, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

“They have magicians!” someone shouted. “Watch out!”

The scene became absolute chaos… but luckily, I did have a few new cards under my sleeve. I started by blasting the nearest guards not with fire or anything like that, but with pure, blinding light.

“Ugh! What are you doing, C!” shouted Kai from nearby.

Oops. He was right, for I found myself covering my eyes and groaning from the intense light. It felt like my eyes were burning… it wasn’t as bright during the show, but I might have overdone it due to my inexperience with this particular spell.

I felt someone grab me hard.

“Does anyone have mogage?!”

“No need, just keep them surrounded!”

“Protect His Highness!”

I assumed it was an enemy that grabbed me and not Kai or anything, so I shot them up into the air. My eyes still felt like they were stung by something; they teared heavily and I could see stars, so I quickly cast a minor healing spell on them. It worked.

I could see Kai was being restrained by some people, head pushed against the ground, and that some new guards were heading toward me while the one that held me earlier flailed in air helplessly. I cancelled the spell to let her crash, then rushed ahead.

Saga was still fighting nearby against both weaponry and spells—that crazy girl seemed to cut through everything they threw at her.

Alright, it was time to be smarter about this.

“Help! They’re attacking us here too!” came a loud shout from somewhere behind us.

Just as some of the guards turned to the source of the voice—which they had no way of knowing was my very own—I took the moment to blast them away mostly with cantrips. I thus managed to release my roughened-up companion and we retreated, or rather, headed to unite with Saga.

I shot some quick healing at her but she was fighting so intensely she might not even have noticed. Well, she was keeping many enemies off our back, so that was fine.

When I noticed a volley of arrows heading our way I quickly erected a protective barrier.

“Hey, C,” said Kai. “Can you get me a bow or something?”

I frowned at him. Was I supposed to do everything around here? Not to mention I was burning through my MP rather rapidly…

Although I could do much more with my magic than I could even a few days prior (awesome as I was), I still didn’t have an unlimited source of energy.

“…He’s already run away,” I could hear Saga mutter as she fought, elegantly stepping away from attacks, even magical ones, and slashing at anyone who dared come too close.

It took me a while to realize she was talking about the so-called Emperor. He probably ran as the fight started.

The coward… so he was hiding behind his guards, was he? Was he already aware of One and Two’s deaths and scared for himself, perhaps?

So much for being a master mage.

Unfortunately, our prospects looked grim. Soon, I’d probably be forced to either waste all of my energy or get caught, because there were simply so many people. I bet reinforcements were coming, too. Saga tried to secure an escape route, but already most of the attackers were those who struck us from a distance.

It might feel kind of awesome that so many guards and magicians were needed to handle us, but the moment I thought this an arrow stuck in my leg and made me scream in pain. Damn my moment of inattention, but those shield spells were energy-intensive, so I couldn’t just spam them.

“Dammit… cover up for me, C!” shouted Kai and suddenly rushed ahead.

“W-what? You idiot!” I shouted at him while holding my leg. He was holding onto some sort of sword—had he plundered it from one of the fallen guards, perhaps?—and was apparently trying to assist in the fight.

“Dammit,” I said and started providing covering fire mostly with cantrips.

I could easily see his aim, too; there was a relatively close guard with a bow. Using a well-aimed beam of light, I blinded her enough for Kai to succeed in his endeavor and finally gain a new weapon.

Yet in the process he, too, was punctured by some arrows, and even bound by what looked like a conjured rope.

That gave me a neat new toy, but it wasn’t the right time to use it; instead, I gave him some slight support as he cut through that rope and instead readied his bow.

“…I think it’s time for a retreat,” I said.

“No shit,” Kai hissed at me, his face covered in sweat and blood. “Any ideas?”

“Yes. But I need all of us together,” I said. “Plus, I need you all to cover for me. I need as much energy as I can muster for this.”

The grass around us was already covered in blood and much of it was scorched. Even outside of the bare ground used for the exhibition, the garden that looked so lovely before was now half-ruined.

Even what I was planning to do here—an idea inspired by the exhibition—wasn’t foolproof. After all, they could replicate the feat.

But this would hopefully allow us to gain enough of a leeway to get away, even if I had no idea what we would do afterwards.

Saga leapt away from an attack and right next to me. Guards now closed on us, and another arrow hit not very far from my head, actually grazing my cheek.

It was now or never.

“Hold on tight!” I told the pair as I pounded both hands on the ground.

We immediately started falling—no, getting swallowed by a sinkhole.

Currently, I was the master of all elements, having finally attained the element of earth during the show. I dug into the ground, taking care to even close up after me and going deeper, deeper, and deeper down.

I couldn’t see anything—and I could do nothing but focus on the task, especially as my energy levels kept plummeting.

Without considering the fact they might be after us and ignoring the darkness, I kept plunging down in twisted paths, abandoning any notion of safety, until darkness itself swallowed me. Feeling an impact, I lost consciousness.