Thinking Ahead

In an instant, Stahl's maul suddenly shifted and extended. It formed a giant polearm with weighted heads on both sides. Upon completion, its black steel was already hurdling through the wind and toward them both.

Itsuki barely managed to dodge, mind still racing as his heart tugged him onward.

They needed to get out of this place now, not waste time! They couldn't afford to. The question was how did they get out of here?

He scanned their surroundings as he ran from various blows, and Velena continued her onslaught of attacks. He noted the side of the dome that most of her stray shots were hitting.

If the walls were already too high to scale, perhaps they could just break through it to get out?

He looked down at his mace before having to sidestep another wanton blow from Stahl. Then, channeling some of his strength, he ran toward it and tried bashing through it with his mace.

The steel met the stone wall in a solid hit. However, his weapon found no purchase.

"!" Instead, it bounced back and went flying out of his hand, springing through the air and nearly hitting his face.

He swore as he nursed his hand. Damn it, how was it this hard? His wrist nearly broke from the force.

He slid beneath a swing as he scooped his weapon back up, heat emanating as the injury healed.

Stahl chuckled at the spectacle as his stance staggered.

"If you're thinking about breaking through this technique of mine, I wouldn't bother." The minotaurus' chest heaved as he landed a glancing blow on Itsuki, causing him to stumble slightly. "So long as I live or will it, neither wall nor ground can be harmed."

Stahl roared as his double-headed polehammer swung across the entire dome.

"Which means your only way forward is over my body. My will cannot be broken."

Itsuki grit his teeth as he dodged several of the swings until one of them connected directly. It smashed him right into the side of the dome.

"!" He felt his entire skeleton shattering inside him as he hit it. However, instead of cratering into it, he bounced off like a ragdoll.

His voice echoed throughout the arena in pain.

Blood trickled from his mouth as his momentum carried him downward. His body smashed into the ground before thudding a few more times.

He finally rolled to a stop like a human pinball as his voice pattered out.

"You have a high scream for a man, worldwalker," Stahl noted amused.

"Damn it!" Itsuki pushed himself back up as his power kicked in, mind still spinning slightly.

Regeneration surged to heal him, mending his body back together. But even with the pain and the urge he had to scream out more, he was more focused on something else.

Getting out.

With how wounded Stahl seemed to be, they could probably win. Yet that might still take too much time. Despite the various wounds that lined his body and his broken armor plates, the minotaurus seemed almost ecstatic.

Itsuki took a shaky breath as his healing finished, looking around again as he dodged another attack.

But if they couldn't scale the walls or break through them with force, then what else could they do but fight him…?

"Kisaragi, look out!"

He dodged out of the way just in time. Though the shockwave from the hit rang through the air. It propelled the double-headed polearm back in recoil as the sheer force of it knocked him backwards.

Itsuki's mace glinted in the dim light of the night as he came to a stop, sliding across the ground.

"!" His eyes widened as he saw it, suddenly remembering a scenario that Kaede had once written.

It'd been similar to this, hadn't it? The hero had no way out, yet he still managed to use his fire magic to launch himself toward safety.

A bittersweet melancholy briefly took him as the thought melded together with more current ones, like the various maneuvers he and Sayaka had done in their training.

He did his best to not shake either off despite the discomfort as he picked up momentum again. Instead he focused on both of them as a plan formed in his head.

He quickly glanced upward at the hole in the dome, trickling in the slightest of clouded starlight. It was easily several stories high, and he didn't have the same magic as Sayaka. That meant there was no way he was getting up there.

Unless of course…

His gaze snapped back to Stahl.

The minotaur-man looked to be tiring, and it was only getting more noticeable by the second. Yet he still stood tall and proud, dominating the enclosed space even while his legs trembled.

"!" The rest of his idea locked into place upon seeing that.

That could work.

Itsuki dashed over to Velena, still whittling away at Stahl's crumbling defenses while dodging. He quickly whispered his plan to her between the minotaurus' attacks.

"…Are you certain of this course?" she replied as if doubting his sanity. "Sounds as insane as Kiaki's old plans."

He nodded. "I am. Follow my lead once I make the opening."

Hesitation lingered in her eyes a bit longer before she lightly smiled.

"Very well, worldwalker. I shall follow."

Not wasting anymore time, Itsuki lurched toward Stahl who was mid-swing with his polearm. Itsuki's mace glowed as he postured himself and ducked beneath the attack.

Stahl grinned, a fire was burning hot in his dark eyes.

"Finally using that weapon of yours, worldwalker? I'm honored. But if you're only using one arm, you better make sure you aim for the head—"

Itsuki abruptly swung some rubble up from the street with his mace to distract him, ash and grit blinding his face.

"By the hells! I didn't mean it like that!" The minotaur-man cursed as Itsuki continued sprinting around him at full speed like a tornado.

He ducked beneath frenzied swings and got in a few glancing blows to knock him backward. Then, once in position he conjured earth walls around Stahl's legs to lock him in place. It was followed up by Velena reinforcing them with her own earthen walls.

He nodded as she ran to meet him after. That should keep the big guy in place—doubly so if the unbreakable aspect extended to their own stone.

"I pray this works, worldwalker," she said as she grasped his wrist, blue hair fluttering as he started his crazy plan.

"I hope so too, matron," he replied as he envisioned it in his head, just like those anime scenes.

Velena's lips curled in at his unassuming remark.

"Wait, what did you just say? I thought you were certa—"

"Nothing!" he quickly shouted as he swept into action. He pulled her along before any more doubts or objections could be made—either by Velena or himself.

He really hoped this worked.

Magic hummed as he layered bolstering techniques over his power, channeling everything he had into an attack. Various lights began to flow through him as each one took effect.

"Fortify. Strengthen. Reinforce."

His muscles flexed as he wound up the attack. He condensed it all into a single blow.

"Impact."

His weapon made contact with the ground.

"!" A shockwave blasted from the strike with more force than Itsuki had ever anticipated. It compressed the very air within the arena. Even the walls shook from the force of the blow as energy surged beneath them.

Then recoil. It blasted them upward toward the hole, soaring over the minotaurus.

For a brief moment, they saw Stahl's eyes as they ascended, still half-blinded by his sneak attack.

"What in the hells—"

Just as they reached their apex, they launched themselves one last time, using the minotaur-man's head as a springboard and cutting him off.

"Do it now, Velena!"

She nodded, then blasted water downward like a rocket to make it the rest of the way up. She clung to him tightly as they were propelled right through the hole and into the night sky.

Itsuki breathed in the open air as they went weightless. He could see the stars peeking briefly through the thickening clouds.

He glimpsed backward to see Stahl's shocked and soaked face, still locked inside the prison of his own making.

"Clever bastard…" the minotaurus grumbled in both exhaustion and defeat, struggling against his bonds.

"!" Then gravity took over again.

They rolled off the dome and hit the streets, scrambling once their feet met the cobble again.

Both let out sighs of relief.

"Thank the triumvirate," Velena said as she let go. She dusted off her garb. "What possessed you with such an idea? I've heard of flight, but that was something else."

"Just a little inspiration I suppose. Both past and present."

A gust rushed past them as he lingered in the feeling.

"It's a new style I'm trying out."

He refocused on the pull in his chest after the moment passed, inhaling the cool night air. It was still tugging him forward, right toward the forest and mountains.

Another flash of Sayaka went through his mind for just a moment as if to reassure him of his path.

"We're still on the right track, it seems. Let's keep going."

They raced off once again past the remaining buildings and straight out the northern gate of Lerwood. The wilderness loomed in front of them now with trees stretching out for as far as they could see.

His grip shifted as he let out a shaky breath and the canopy grew thicker. He hoped that they hadn't lost too much time.

"We're coming Usami. Hang on a little longer."