Escape

I disconnected the possession the moment that giant hand touched my puppet. I could still see them, though, through my shared vision ability. When the fighting started, I was not holding back at all. That should hold them off for a couple of minutes at least.

I was wearing clothes that were meant for tracking, a black blouse, black pants, and black boots. Time to get the heck out of here. I left my room and looked around. With hasty steps, I headed for the elevator. On the way, I encountered maids who were working, and they all looked at me in puzzlement.

“Princess? I thought you were at the ritual?”

“I am leaving this palace.”

“Pardon?”

“Take care, all of you.”

“Huh?”

Eventually, I arrived at the elevator. Like before, there was a lone guard. He stared at me with furrowed brows. I was not supposed to be here after all.

“Princess, please turn back.”

“I am leaving, get out of my way.”

“Leaving? You shouldn’t leave, we have orders to keep you in.”

“Then you leave me no choice.”

Strings appeared on his limbs, obstructing his movements.

“What?”

Ripper appeared and swiftly slammed his fist at the knight, sending him flying into the wall. The knight winced in pain, and before he could stand up, Ripper slammed his fist again. Ripper walked back before disappearing, the knight was left bloodied, barely conscious. But he was alive, nonetheless. I had no intention of killing any of my people.

I rushed to the elevator.

“No!” the wounded knight shouted. I turned to see he had his hand raised. “We have to stop you at any cost.” Magic gathered in his palm.

“Don’t do it!”

But he disregarded my words, and a bolt of celestial magic shot out from his hand and into the elevator, obliterating it. I covered my face as air blasted and debris scattered. I gritted my teeth in annoyance.

“I spared your life and you do this?!”

“I’m s-sorry, Princess…” And he fainted.

Ugh! The stairs then!

“Princess?”

I turned around to see a maid.

“Clarissa...”

She glanced at the downed knight before looking at me again. However, she seemed to come to an understanding, and bowed her head towards me. “Take care, Your Highness.”

I smiled. “You too, Clarissa.”

I ran down the stairs. Ugh, I’d be wasting precious seconds going through this way, what a disaster. There were a couple of knights on the stairs.

“Princess?! You shouldn’t be here!”

“Stop!”

I waved my hand, and strings froze them in place, and Ripper appeared and slammed them down. The good thing about this was that the knights had no intention of harming me at all. They just needed to stop me. Because after all, how could they hurt the princess who was just trying to get out?

I quickly proceeded down the stairs, but they quickly stood up. One fought off Ripper, while the other chased after me.

“Princess, wait!”

I turned around and summoned one of the puppet hands to stop him. He pulled out his sword and blocked the hand. “W-What are you doing, Princess?”

I waved my hand, and a spear appeared in the air, shooting with great force down the knight’s leg.

“Agh!” He kneeled down on the floor as blood bled out of the wound. It would hurt, but it shouldn’t kill a knight like him.

Ripper stomped his opponent, neutralizing him as well. I continued down the stairs as Ripper floated back to me. Just when I was about to reach the floor of where I was intending to go, through the shared vision, I saw that my family had broken through the door blockage.

Dammit.

I dematerialized Ballerina.

And I arrived at the destination. But I encountered a group of knights keeping guard.

“Princess? What are you doing here?” One of them was my sparring partner, Onesto.

“Get out of my way, Onesto.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Are you trying to escape?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“It’s complicated.”

“... Whatever the reason, we have our orders to keep you from getting out of the palace. Please do not resist, Princess.”

The knights drew their swords. This was a bit annoying to deal with, there were five of them in total. Who knew which of them were elites, but at least I was certain of one. Ripper moved in front of me.

“I have no time for this, Onesto.” Especially that my family was free. “I will beat you if I have to.”

“Apologies, Princess. But during our sparring match, I was still holding back. With five of us here, there’s no hope for you to defeat us.”

I frowned. “You know, Onesto, I found our match a bit fun. But this time, I’ll stop playing around.”

Ballerina appeared right beside me.

“Hm? Another puppet, and it looks like you.”

Celestial swords then appeared around Ballerina. Furthermore, Ripper’s gauntlet was covered by another gauntlet, and it was full of blades pressed together pointing outwards. And lastly, a pair of giant hands appeared on both my sides.

The knights were all confused.

“Those weapons…!” Onesto’s eyes widened. “Impossible! How can you conjure those?”

“I was also holding back. Now then, let’s end this quickly.”

***

Saviel lowered his hand as the last of the dolls maintaining the blockage on the exit was destroyed. Meanwhile, Alaric was almost done destroying the rest of the small dolls — they had to switch roles as Saviel was more effective in causing more damage with his spells.

“Father! It’s done!” Saviel shouted.

Dominic stepped away as he dodged the multiple blades swerving in the air controlled by the puppet Ballerina. “Mother! The doors!” he shouted to the Great Mother.

The doors immediately started to open. At that moment, Ballerina suddenly turned into light dust, disappearing completely.

“It’s gone?”

“Avenelle was watching, it seems,” Saviel said.

Alaric struck the last of the small dolls. “That was annoying as hell.”

“Let’s find Avenelle quickly.” Dominic glanced back at Lucilla, and they traded looks. Even they did not know what to do, what was right.

The three men ran through the hallway in search of Avenelle.

“If she’s fleeing, then she should be going for the elevator,” Dominic said.

They headed for the elevator. However, on the way, swords suddenly appeared in the air and shot towards them. They swiftly dodged the blades. Small dolls emerged from under the decorations or behind — the frames, the vases, the pots.

They realized that Avenelle was expecting them to go through this path and thus planted a dozen ‌dolls to stop them. No, to slow them down.

“This again.” Dominic conjured weapons. “Alaric, Saviel, you go ahead, I’ll take care of these.”

The two young men sprinted forward, while Dominic intercepted the weapons coming for them.

The two brothers faced more small dolls on the way, but they were fewer in number. So they quickly took care of them.

***

A knight was thrown into a wall by my giant puppet hands. Ripper kept a relentless attack, slashing the knights, but nothing fatal. Ballerina spun and fired swords towards a knight one after another. And a moment later, the knights were all now littered on the ground.

Onesto groaned as he had a cut on his side and leg. “Impressive, Princess. You beat me for sure.”

I nodded. “I couldn’t have fought this well without your help.”

He chuckled. “But you won’t get far. You can’t hold off all the knights in the palace.”

I smiled. “I have taken care of that, and believe me, you will all be too busy to pursue me. At least for a while.”

“What do you mean?”

I smiled and continued onward. I shared vision with the crawler.

***

It was nighttime. Therefore, the laboratory was dark and empty. One puppet crawled out of its hiding place and ran out towards a particular tank. The young woman inside opened her eyes and stared at the puppet standing on the glass of her tank.

“It’s time,” said the voice coming from the puppet.

The crawler slammed its sharp limb into the glass, cracking it. It slammed hard again and again until the glass shattered. Liquid spilled out of the tank, and the person inside coughed as she slowly moved outside. Her inhuman limbs pulsed and twisted as she landed on the cold, hard floor. She looked around before stopping at the doll.

“Do what is agreed,” the voice from the doll said.

The paladin nodded before she slowly stood up. Golden light shone in her inhuman hand, and she moved ‌it in a sweeping motion. The golden blast hit the tanks all over the room. The abominations awakened. There were those that had birds for a head, and a lion for a body. Another had a crocodile for a head, and a boar for a body. There were many chimeras mixed with different kinds of creatures, from four-legged beasts to bipedal, from the mighty to the venomous.

And they were all freed.

They wreaked havoc inside the Chamber of Mystics.

The paladin glanced at the observing doll. “Satisfied?”

“Yes. But as discussed, you are to be involved in the chaos.”

“No.”

“No?”

“I remembered what you told me… And you were right… So this time, I choose to go back home.”

The doll fell silent for a moment. “… Very well. Congratulations on your newfound freedom.”

With that, the doll disappeared.

***

I would have been happy to have her fight, angry people were most reliable when messing things up. But I suppose my words worked against me, huh? Well, whatever, there were enough chimeras there, anyway.

I arrived at the end of the corridor, and I could see the Chamber of Mystics under the moonlight. Then, the walls suddenly broke open, and the chimeras started roaring and roaming. I walked over to the pathway that led to the Chamber of Mystics. The ferryman merely stared at me, so I ignored him.

I jumped on top of the barrier on the left side of the pathway. Below was a stream of water, which was connected to the river outside the palace.

Here I am finally…

I was about to jump when I heard footsteps rushing towards me.

“Avenelle!” It was Alaric’s voice.

I turned around to meet them, just as Ripper and Ballerina appeared between me and them.

“Alaric, Saviel.”

They stopped in place.

“Avenelle… I…” Alaric seemed to want to say something.

“Little sister, are you really going?”

I nodded. “Yes.”

“... Avenelle, I’m sorry.”

I shook my head. “You two don’t have to say anything. There’s no need for words.” I shifted my gaze to see the chimeras running in our direction. “I understand. And I forgive you. I forgive all of you. Tell Mother, Father, and Vivienne, please.”

Alaric stepped forward, reaching out his hand. “Sister…”

But Saviel put a hand on his shoulder.

I smiled. “Goodbye, my dear brothers.” I leaned backward, and I fell down.

I stared up as I descended, the wind snapping my hair. They were a good family…

The puppet hands engulfed me before I crashed into the water.