"I'm ready." Are words Toni said upon initially returning, however he was hastily grabbed by the group before they were doing a mad dash. "What the heck happened!?"
About an hour ago when Toni had left.
"The poor guy." Rika thinks.
Dante nods slowly, agreeing with her sentiment. "Honestly, are we sure he should come with us?"
Nanami sat at the window, seeming like she's checking something. "I think the distraction might be a good thing for him, I for one would not want to be alone amidst the death of my mother."
Kaito spins around aimlessly in a chair. "Yeah, it wouldn't feel right leaving him all alone." Kaito then looked over at Nanami, "why do you look so worried?" He asked.
Nanami turned and faced them all, a serious expression on her face. "I have reason to believe someone made an attempt on our lives." Her words hit like a hammer.
Dante was the first to speak up. "What? That's crazy why are you saying that?"
Nanami pulled out some packaging. "This is a monster attraction pheromone, it was in our cart when we were attacked by that beast."
Rika stayed silent, seemingly like she knew something.
Kaito took a sniff at the thing. "Yuck!" He waved the foul stench. "Why would anything be attracted to that?"
Nanami sighed. "We need to get out of this city, the sooner Toni returns the better."
Then, a knock at the door pulled their attention to it. They all stayed silent at first before the door came flying off the hinges, Kaito acting quickly and slicing it apart, before it hit anyone.
Wood splintered across the floor as masked attackers flooded the room with a roar.
"Down!" Dante shouted.
He intercepted the first blow, an elbow to his ribs, grunting as he staggered back. Another attacker slammed him in the shoulder, sending him into the dresser. "I-I'm good!" he gasped, even though he clearly wasn't.
Nanami jumped to her feet, pulse spiking, but she still stepped forward. "illogical, we should have left," she tried to insert herself between two fighters, only to get shoved back. She stumbled, nearly tripping over a discarded chair. The attacker moved in with a hook, she slipped the punch, barely then attempted to return one of her own. He blocked and Grabbed onto her.
Kaito moved like a storm, grabbing the attacker by the collar and hurling him into another. "Get back, Nanami!" he barked, blocking a club swung toward her head. The impact rang through the room. He didn't flinch. He shoved the attacker away and followed with a clean kick that sent the man tumbling across the floor.
Nanami scrambled behind him, clutching her fist. "My apologies, i'm still clumsy on the attack. I'm trying though."
"I know," Kaito said without turning, deflecting another swing. "Just stay close!"
Dante pushed off the dresser and barreled back into the fight, taking one hit across the cheek but delivering one right back. "Who are these guys!?" he yelled.
More attackers forced their way in. The room was tight, cramped, too many bodies, too little space.
Rika froze for half a second. Her eyes darted to the broken window, the only open path. "Nope. Nope nope nope!"
"Rika!" Dante shouted.
But she was already moving, shoving past a toppled chair, slipping through the window frame and dropping out of sight. A coward's escape. No hesitation. No apology.
"Damn it!" Dante hissed, taking another hit to the stomach before Kaito yanked him back.
"We can't stay here," Kaito growled, grabbing Dante by the wrist and forcing a path toward the back exit. "Nanami, move!"
Nanami swallowed hard, gathered what courage she had, and followed close on their heels as the three of them forced their way out of the ruined room. Dante threw some extra Blastie at the clerk. "Sorry!"
They barely had a second to breathe before they spotted Toni walking through the inn's front doors.
Kaito didn't hesitate, he grabbed Toni by the collar. "Sorry! Borrowing you!"
"W–WOAH, hey!" Toni's voice cracked as Kaito yanked him into a full sprint.
They burst through the inn's entrance just as the first volley of arrows screamed down from the rooftops.
Kaito threw up a barrier on instinct, a bright, curved pane of shimmering force, and the arrows shattered against it like hail on glass.
Toni's jaw dropped. "Hey fellas… not to ask dumb questions, but WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?!"
"Long story," Dante said, slamming his palms to the ground. Spines of ice tore upward into a jagged wall, blocking the next wave of arrows. "But it looks like we're being hunted!"
Nanami peeked over the ice wall, eyes wide but steady. "Hunted by professionals, apparently! Those formations are mercenary-standard! This is… statistically a disaster!"
"Great," Toni muttered. "Love that for us."
Kaito clapped his hands, and the barrier snapped outward, forming a full orb around them. "Alright everybody! Group huddle, aaaand ROLL!"
The barrier lurched forward like a massive hamster ball. Dante yelped. Nanami grabbed onto his sleeve. Toni just screamed and laughed at the same time.
They barreled down the street, ricocheting off crates, market stalls, and, unfortunately, two mercenaries who didn't move fast enough.
"MOVE MOVE MOVE!" Dante shouted as they plowed straight through a fruit stand.
Kaito turned the sphere sharply and hollered, "TONI! By the way, everything go fine?!"
"Yeah!" Toni shouted, grinning like he was front row at the world's best fireworks show. "Said bye to my lil sister, AND NOW I'M RUNNIN' FOR MY LIFE!"
A boom cracked through the alley.
All four turned upward.
A red-haired man stood on a rooftop, cloak whipping in the wind. He held a sword carved with burning runes.
"Oh no…" Nanami whispered. "That's a full-range offensive conduit. That guy is a real mage."
The mage swung his sword down.
"He's using his sword like a staff?!" Dante questioned.
Nanami shook her head. "I hate to admit it, but yes, it's difficult but anything can be a staff with enough skill."
A massive explosion tore open the street ahead, stone shattered, flame spiraled upward, and the shockwave threw the barrier-ball off balance.
Kaito gritted his teeth and braced. "Everyone HOLD ON!"
They hit the shockwave, bounced off the sandstone, and went airborne.
Dante screamed, "KAITO THIS IS THE WORST POSSIBLE WAY TO TRAVEL!"
"DISAGREE!" Toni shouted. "THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!"
The barrier slammed back onto the street and rolled onward. More mercenaries flooded out from alleyways, firing arrows and throwing blades. The mage above fired another barrage, explosive arcs that blew apart entire balconies to cut off their escape.
Nanami pointed frantically. "Left! LEFT! NO, OTHER LEFT!"
"I DON'T KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS!" Kaito yelled, spinning the ball so fast they mowed down a whole line of mercs who had tried forming a blockade.
Acid arrows splashed across the barrier, sizzling.
Dante pounded the inside of the sphere. "KAITO WE CAN'T KEEP RUNNING FOREVER!"
"I KNOW THAT!" Kaito shouted back. "BUT I CAN RUN FOR A LONG TIME!"
"Guys!" Nanami cried, voice cracking as she spotted more mercs closing in ahead. "This is coordinated, they're funneling us! Someone seriously wants us..."
The next explosion cut her off, blasting open the street behind them and throwing dust into the air.
The red-haired mage's voice echoed from above.
"YOU'RE NOT ESCAPING THIS TIME."
The next blast from the red-haired mage wasn't like the others.
A long arc of red energy spiraled toward them, fast, humming, hot enough to warp the air.
"Kaito!" Dante shouted. "That one's different!"
"I SEE IT!"
Kaito braced, hands out, the barrier flickering as cracks spiderwebbed across its surface.
Nanami's voice rose in panic, not fear, but calculation. "Impact force is too high! The structure won't hold, KAITO, DROP IT AND ROLL!"
"I CAN'T DROP IT, WE'RE IN THE MID-"
BOOOOM.
The blast smashed into the barrier.
Light shattered. The sphere burst apart like glass under a hammer, and all four of them were launched across the sandstone.
Dante hit the ground hard and skid. Nanami tumbled into him with a soft "ow." Toni bounced, rolled twice, and somehow landed on his feet like it was choreographed.
Kaito staggered upright, breathing hard. "Okay... barrier's down. Anyone dead?"
"No," Dante groaned, holding his shoulder, "but give me a minute."
"Not a minute we have," Nanami said sharply, pointing behind them.
Mercenaries poured into the street, archers, blades, the red-haired mage descending the side of a building with magic steps like he was walking on the air.
They were surrounded.
Toni gulped. "Welp. Sure was fun while it lasted."
Dante planted himself in front of Nanami. "If Kaito and I push through, maybe you two can..."
A ripple passed through the air.
A shimmer.
A distortion.
And then.
Rika materialized beside them.
Out of nowhere.
"Ugh, you idiots are hopeless WITHOUT me," she snapped, grabbing Nanami's collar and yanking her behind a fallen crate. "Honestly, leave for five minutes, FIVE, and you're already dying!"
Kaito nearly collapsed in relief. "RIKA! You came back!"
"Yeah, yeah, don't get emotional," she said, eyes glowing faintly purple. "I'm about to save your butts, so be grateful quietly."
She clapped her hands.
Three illusions snapped into existence. Full-size duplicates of the group, scattering in different directions, screaming and flailing.
The mercenaries instantly erupted into chaos.
"There they go, east!"
"No, west!"
"Why are there three of the white haired one?!"
"JUST SHOOT ALL OF THEM!"
Arrows and spells flew wildly at the illusions as Rika pulled the real group into a collapsed alleyway, shoving them into a narrow dark gap between two ruined walls.
They ducked low, breaths held.
Mercenaries thundered past their hiding spot.
The red-haired mage landed near their position, eyes narrowed. "An illusion mage too..." he sat up. "Track the illusions. They didn't get far. Move."
The mercs spread out.
A second wave of armed men approached from the opposite street, frustrated, coughing from smoke and dust.
"Boss ain't gonna like this," one muttered.
"Yeah, that's the second time we've failed to get the damned crown…"
Nanami's head shot up. Dante's eyes widened. Toni mouthed, crown?
Another merc grumbled, "We should've just taken it back at them ruins. Now we gotta regroup in Studen and hope he doesn't skin us alive."
"East gate," the first added. "If we hurry we can make it to Studen by tomorrow."
They disappeared down the street.
Silence.
Slowly, everyone turned to Rika.
Rika froze.
"…What?" she said, smiling too wide.
Kaito blinked. "Uh. Rika… the crown they're talking about…"
Nanami pushed her glasses up, voice flat. "Do you mean the necromancy artifact you said you were putting back?"
Dante crossed his arms. "Rika."
Toni raised a hand. "I don't know y'all that well yet but even I know that's her guilty face."
Rika clutched her bag protectively. "No! No guilty face! This is my NORMAL face! My completely innocent, legally blameless, FACE."
Kaito leaned closer. "Rika… did you steal the crown?"
She hesitated.
"…Define 'steal.'"
Dante groaned. Nanami nearly fainted from exasperation. Toni wheezed with laughter.
Kaito pinched the bridge of his nose trying to contain his smile. "Rika…"
Rika sighed dramatically, rummaging in her bag before holding up the ominous, ancient, cursed-looking crown.
"…Okay, fiiine. Maybe I stole it."
Nanami slapped her forehead. "Oh gods help us."