They sat in silence as Lucina meditated to accelerate the process of regenerating her mana. She allowed her body to focus all its efforts within her mana core, absorbing mana from the atmosphere and refilling her body's mana stores. She had always liked to compare it to catching your breath after a long run. She concentrated on manually absorbing ambient mana in the atmosphere, in a similar manner to how you take in oxygen when breathing. It was a technique her brother had taught her for training her mana core. It took a long time to master, but when it becomes second nature, the standard process your body uses can't even be compared, its easily regenerates your mana at twice the speed and trains your mana core to be three folds more efficient.
"Will you fight?" Eri asked, breaking the silence.
"Most likely," Lucina admitted. "As soon as I can, I'll break us out and we'll fly to Elysi."
Eri stared, the hope in her eyes growing by the second. However, she then turned to Lucina confused.
"What about your brother?"
'Oh damn.' In her excitement Lucina had completely forgot there'd be people out looking for her.
"Don't worry about him let's just get you to safety," Lucina stated. Eri was the priority here and everyone would agree, although it wouldn't stop her from getting chewed out later. Despite what she told Eri, in truth, she had no idea what her brother would be doing. Whether he was madly searching for them or still trying to figure out where they were back at the orphanage, if him and Kate worked together it probably wouldn't take them long. All she knew is, she had to get this girl out of here, before she was transported again.
Lucina relaxed for a little longer, Eri sitting patiently beside, and finally she knew her body was ready. She let mana flow from her core into her muscles, it coated and seeped into the muscle fibres, immensely enhancing her physicality. With one swift motion, she snapped the chains imprisoning her, causing an earth-shattering sound to echo around the room. Eri's eyes darted between a stretching Lucina and the door, her face warped into a worried and scared impression.
"Don't worry, I sensed it once I got my mana back," Lucina said. She pointed to the golden sigil, that she'd seen Kate form many times before, above the door. The symbol didn't glow, and hidden within the basement's darkness, it was near invisible. "That sigil up their sound-proofs the room. I'm assuming it's to stop anyone's screams down here reaching outside."
"You can sense it?" Eri asked almost shocked.
"I can," Lucina responded with a grin. Her and her brother both had an extraordinarily high talent to sense mana. Surpassing even some of the greatest mages of their country, despite their younger age. Lucina grabbed Eri's hand and led her up the stairs, stopping at the door. "Alright once I open this door, the room won't be sound proofed anymore, so we have to be silent," Lucina explained and Eri nodded.
She slightly opened the door just enough to break the sigils effect. She placed her ear on the door and listened to any noises coming from outside.
"We've lost contact with five patrol units now. Everyone but you two with me," she heard a man's voice order. The commands where quickly followed by the sound of many people sprinting past the door. One person positioned themselves in front of the door, Lucina peaked through the small slit in the doorway, outside was a large corridor with no windows. There were two people, a man, and a woman, dressed in a black uniform and wearing black masks around their lower face.
"Go call him," a woman spoke her voice coming from the other side of the door.
Immediately, Lucina could hear the travelling further away. Once she could no longer hear the footsteps, Lucina wasted no time, she slammed open the door into the guard's back sending her tumbling to the ground. Lucina Infused mana into her body and pinned the guard to the ground. With her enhanced strength she quickly threw three precise hammer fists into her nose, shattering it completely, before grabbing her head and brutally slamming it into the ground. Leaving the guard's unconscious body behind, Lucina quickly gestured to Eri stay still, before she raced off in the direction of the other guard. She spun the corner and could see him at the end of the hallway. Lucina dashed forward covering the distance between them in an instant. Before he could even register what had happened, she leapt into the air, her momentum carrying her forward at unreal speed. Lucina struck his face with her knee, the strike resulted in a gruesome crunch and he fell to the ground unconscious. Without delay, she rushed back to Eri who was, hiding partially behind the door. Lucina offered out her hand to Eri, who took it without hesitation, and then led her through what seemed to be some rustic, countryside cabin.
Lucina followed the direction she had heard the others go, in hopes that it would lead them outside. She ended up in what seemed in an old, styled living room. It had three doors, all on opposite walls.
"Three doors and no windows … damn" she mumbled while analysing the room.
She glanced down at the carpets placed around the room and noticed the ones towards to the left were all crumpled. Lucina dragged Eri through door, they ended up in another corridor with a door at the end. Running into the next room their journey had finally came to an end. They ended up in them a room with windows and two doors, one leading outside and another leading elsewhere, Lucina didn't care where it went.
They practically flew through the door and surfacing outside, revealing an Elysian, starry night. Before sat the beginning of a forest with trees that melded with the night's darkness as far as her eyes could see. Instantly she felt the cold air bite at her skin and quickly protected her body with mana. Lucina then quickly removed her black jacket and threw it over Eri, despite its ragged condition, it was still better than the cloth rags the girl was dressed in.
Satisfied Eri could now fend off the cold, Lucina turned around could see she'd been held in a cabin which leaked no light allowing it to perfectly blend in with the darkness. If you were flying overhead, it'd blend in with the forest completely.
"Alright let's get out of –"
She was abruptly cut off when something was sent crashing through the cabin wall on their left. Lucina hastily picked up Eri and retreated back. After the dust cleared, she could see that it was one of their captors that had been sent crashing into the cabin. Someone from the patrol squads, Lucina assumed.
Suddenly voices emerged from the woods, Lucina rushed to take cover in the shadow of the nearest tree.
"That's one way to make an entrance," a girl's voice called out jokingly.
"They're definitely in that cabin right? Or have I just broken somebody's home?" a boy's voice responded concerned.
"Yes, they're definitely in there," the girl defended herself. "Are all guards around not a giveaway."
"Was just making sure," the boy grumbled.
A huge grin formed on Lucina's face as she quickly recognised who the voices belonged to.
"Took you long enough," Lucina said. She burst around from the tree, dragging a stunned Eri with her.
The female voice belonged to Kate. She was dressed in a white overcoat, had bright, blonde hair tied into a ponytail and contrasting blue eyes. Behind her was Arthur, a boy with a muscular and athletic frame, who possessed wild, messy, reddish brown hair with golden eyes and was dressed in all black, blending in with the night.
"Lucina … you've escaped," the Kate stated, slightly surprised.
"Of course," Lucina responded proudly. "I even broke a mana suppression seal."
"Ahh well isn't this all a bit anti-climactic," the Kate muttered.
"Why are you annoyed?" Arthur questioned, while scanning the surroundings. "Never mind, time to go. We are already going to be in so much shit."
"Is this her?" the girl asked, glancing at Eri and completely ignoring Arthur.
"Really, we're doing this now," he mumbled to himself baffled.
"Yeah, she was locked up with me. Her name's Eri," Lucina informed, also ignoring him.
"Hi Eri, I'm Kate," she gestured behind her, "that's Arthur."
Arthur gave Eri a wave.
".. Hi," she said quietly, hiding behind Lucina's legs.
"How did you even find me?" Lucina asked. From the looks of it, they where in the middle of nowhere, far beyond even the outskirts of Elysi. To be able to get here so fast, the two of them must've known exactly where she was.
"Tracker," Kate answered bluntly.
It took a moment for Lucina to realise what she meant. "You put a tracker on me!" Lucina exclaimed annoyed.
"Lewis told me too."
"Of course he did," Lucina grumbled. Probably because of that mishap last year, she guessed.
"Let's just get moving, we still aren't safe here," Arthur pointed out. "We're miles from the city, and like idiots we forgot to bring anyway to contact people. There's no reinforcements coming."
"I'm not an idiot," Kate grumbled. "I was just in a rush."
"Yeah," Lucina agreed. "We should definitely get out of here, especially before he shows up." Despite what she said when imprisoned in the basement, Lucina wasn't desperate to try and fight that monster again.
"Before who shows up?" Arthur asked concerned.
"I believe she means me." A deep voice shook from the darkness.
"God's sake," Arthur muttered.
They all turned towards the woods to see an enormous knight clad in black armour emerge from the shadows. He easily stood above seven foot and was the width of two men. Arthur quickly moved to guard the others, and Kate pulled out a silenced pistol from her coat.
"What did you say girl we'd have a round two if you escaped," he said quietly.
Lucina started to truly regret her past actions.
Smoke began leaking from the gaps in his armour and he dashed forward, far faster than should be humanly possible never mind of man of his stature. In the blink of an eye he was in front of Lucina with his first readied. Arthur quickly spun, grabbing their attacker's arm and with inhuman strength, threw him over his shoulder. The knight was sent flying into the woods, crashing through trees far away from a stunned Lucina.
"Get out of here now!" Arthur ordered.
"No one is leaving!" the knight's echoed from the woods. His voice had become unnaturally deep and seemed to almost echo within itself. A side effect of his mana? Lucina wondered. Whatever it was, it caused her hairs to stand on end.
Before anyone could react, the knight was in front of Arthur his gauntlet dug deep into his abdomen. Brute forcing his way thought the pain, Arthur quickly grabbed onto the gauntlet, to avoid been sent flying back, and pulled his attacker off balance before thrusting his elbow into the base of the knight's helmet. Without delay, Arthur thrusted his knee forward however, an armoured hand caught his strike, and another gripped hold of his shirt. Arthur was raised effortlessly into the air. The world then came crashing down around him and he was slammed down, shattering the earth. Still somehow unfazed, Arthur attempted to leap up at their attacker however, the black knight just stomped him further into the ground. Grunting, Arthur grabbed the knight's ankle and launched him into the cabin, like he was weightless, sending him bulldozing through its walls. Without delay, Arthur bounced up from the ground and followed the knight through the cabin ruins.
"Arthur wait!" Lucina called out, but it was too late he'd already disappeared.
"Who is this guy?" Kate asked.
"I don't know, but he's strong. He's the one who captured me," Lucina said. They needed to get out of here, she doubted even Arthur could beat. And if the battle caused him to go berserk, all their lives were at risk.
Lucina channelled her mana into her magic technique. The shadows around her began to gather and coalesce to form an 8-foot bird like silhouette. The shadows then dissolved off the figure, like falling silk, to reveal crystalline, black feathers that displayed the stars in the night sky, and a raven shaped mask, carved out of white marble, that covered the creatures face except for its eyes, that glowed violet.
Lucina was what's classed a summoner. An extremely rare type of mage that when using her magic could summon many magical creatures, such as this one she had named Cali.
"Everyone get on – "
She was abruptly interrupted by an eruption of mana in the mana. It was so immense, it generated a force that it ripped apart the cabin like a hurricane, sending debris flying in all directions. As Lucina dived forward to shield Eri, she noticed Arthur being launched away, lost in the storm like he was just another piece of debris.
"I said no one is leaving," the knight growled.
In an instant, he was upon Cali his fist raised and imbued with mana, black smoke billowing from his armour.
"Cali dodge!" Lucina commanded but he was too fast, his fist struck the bird sending it flying into the treeline.
Kate pulled the trigger of her pistol unleashing a golden bullet into his chest-plate. The bullet dispersed harmlessly against his mana coated armour.
"Your accent it's Aetian right? What are you doing here?" Kate asked, while putting away her firearm.
"Does it matter?"
"No. I was just buying time," Kate explained.
Arthur's fist struck across the knight's helmet, violently snapping his head to the right. Before he could recover, Arthur threw a left hook into his side causing him to keel forwards allowing a follow-up uppercut to knock him back. With a rageful grunt the knight stumbled back. The two charged at each other and began trading blows, that were so powerful they caused the air and ground to quake with every impact. The knight dropped under one of Arthurs attacks and summoned a black long-shield, glistening, yellow sparks dissolving in the air around it as it manifested into existence. Swinging his arm wide the shield struck Arthur's chest, causing him to fly back. The knight then turned and charged at Kate like a bull but, Arthur quickly intercepted him at a speed Lucina could barely register. Arthur slammed his shoulder against the shield, however, black knight pulled back, hauling Arthur off balance. He gripped Arthur by the neck, flipped him over and sent him crashing into the ground. Immediately, the knight raised his shield high and, with both hands, slammed it down onto Arthur chest. To Lucina's relief, Arthur managed to catch it. Suddenly, the knight enhanced his strength even further applying a pressure down on the shield, with a force that fractured to ground around them. Arthur resisted but ended up only pushed himself further into the ground, unable to force the shield back.
"Cali!" Lucina roared.
'KRAA!'
A black blur rocketed out of the trees crashing into the black knight forcing him off Arthur.
"Pests," The knight snarled.
He flexed his hand, and the shield flew to his arm and a black greatsword appeared in his right hand, glowing sigils could be seen engraved along the blade's surface. The sigils on the sword and the shield shone a bright yellow, as he infused mana into them. The knight dashed forward towards Lucina however was intercepted by her summon. Without hesitation, the knight swung down his blade onto the bird, but Cali spread her wings and feathers darted out and formed a hexagon before her. Tendrils of violet lightning began flowing between feathers generating a shield. The blade impacted the shield, and sparks flew into the air as the sword strained against it. The shield pulsed and its lightning grew unstable, suddenly it erupted, repelling the knight. Cali then fired feathers into the knight's chest plate which instantly began to glow violet before exploding launching him further back. The black knight dug his feet into the earth forcing himself to a halt, he then swung his blade through air producing an arc of yellow light that flew towards Cali. The raven attempted to form another shield however, the arc was too fast, striking the bird's wing. Cali to recoiled back, Lucina winced as she sensed her summon's pain. Without remorse, the knight continued to swing his blade resulting in a bombardment of yellow arcs striking the summon. Suddenly, Cali screeched, not of pain but of rage. A violet light spread through the air dissipating any income attacks, the raven then charged forward its body coated in a blinding lightning.
The black knight readied his shield, and they collided in a flash of mana sparks. The air shook as they attempted to overpower one another.
Suddenly, Lucina felt a great flow of mana within the knight and a yellow light erupted from his shield. Cali flew back. Lucina dashed forward to her summon's aid however, with incredible speed the knight's image blurred, and he was upon Cali in an instant. His sword slashed down at the raven' neck.
Suddenly his arm was restrained by golden strands.
"Round two!" a voice barked from behind him. Lucina turned to see Arthur, the golden strands in his hand.
"What is this?" the knight growled.
"My web," Arthur stated bluntly.
Arthur then wrenched the knight off his feet towards him and threw his elbow into his enemy's helmet, cracking the base. He then quickly ducked under a shield strike before grabbing hold of the knight's chest plate.
"This will sting a bit," he smirked.
A golden glow, identical to his eyes, rapidly shot along the veins in his arm, as it reached his palms there was a powerful discharge of electrical energy directly into the knight. The towering figure was sent recoiling backwards, in a trail of charred smoke.
Lucina noticed the knight's body had begun to tense up, almost like he was struggling to control his own muscles. Lucina sensed the knight infuse himself and his weapons with more mana. His blade was now coated in a layer of yellow light.
He charged, Arthur stepped back avoiding a shield plummeting towards his head, then ducked under a yellow slash aiming to split him in two, before spinning on the ball of his foot and kicking the knight's torso. The knight ignored the kick and continued his onslaught unleashing a chain of attacks. Arthur continued to avoid and block the incoming slashes, countering whenever his enemy over extended. Lucina watched stunned and almost intimidated at the brawl which made the ground and air tremble. A battle that she could not hope to compete in. She cursed to herself, hating the feeling of helplessly that was slowly creeping up within her soul.
The two warriors seemed to be on equal footing however, she noticed that every time Arthur seemed to be getting the upper hand the knight increased his power to match him. The knight was holding back only, increasing his strength when he needed to.
'Why?' she thought. 'His he enjoying the fight? Maybe he is too prideful and doesn't think we're worthy of his true might.'
"You need to go," Kate stated, snapping Lucina out of her daze.
"Kate, Arthur won't be able to win like this," Lucina said, worried.
"Don't worry we'll be fine. Take Eri and go!" Kate commanded. "That knight isn't going to let anyone escape without a damn good distraction and we don't know how long this one will last."
Noticing her serious demeanour, Lucina quickly grabbed Eri and climbed upon Cali's back.
"Let's go," Lucina commanded.
With a strong stroke of its wings, the raven rose into the air. They soared higher into the sky until they were almost touching the clouds.
"No!" the knight roared.
Lucina turned to see him launch his sword at them like a spear, with such force the air shuddered. It was quickly stopped in its tracks by strands of golden web. Suddenly the sword was flung back towards the knight striking him with such force the blade implanted itself into his chest plate. Wasting no time, Lucina flew through the sky travelling further and higher with each beat of Cali's wings. She glanced back towards the knight.
He ripped the weapon from his chest and attempted to attack them again, but it was too late. They were already too far away.