Thud!
The bodies of the two members collapsed on the floor, and Captain Benu pulled the dagger out of their bodies.
Pressing a small button, it returned to its usual small size.
"Captain... what are you doing?" The one bearing a bag of arrows on his back was confused by the proceedings.
He was Arther, the elite archer, and the other one who had pulled me close to her back was Rose. She was the only female in the elite unit and wielded incredible speed for her kind.
Are they going to fight the Captain now, just like that?
And sure enough, Rose did seem to prepare herself as she clenched her fist.
However, with the hardest hitter and an adept hand-to-hand combatant already lying in a pool of blood, this was certainly a hard matchup for the two.
Furthermore, they weren't just up against any Emontarion.
This was Captain Benu.
A man who ranked fifth in the Inter-Kingdom Combat Competition back in his youth, and one who, alongside the Hitter, put down five hundred nightmares on the Day of Shadows.
He was, without a doubt, a hero of the people, a savior, and most importantly or rather, terrifyingly, the Flame of Calamity to his foes.
At that very moment, as Arther and Rose formed an arc around Captain Benu, his eyes, as well as the scar near his left eye, glowed in red, signaling that he was not in the mood for words.
And the truth soon became clear to the two.
Arther was surprisingly the first to move.
He thrust a right punch at the Captain, and as expected, he missed.
But this was not his aim, for at the same time he dropped five small balls onto the ground.
Upon impact, black smoke quickly diffused and enveloped the descending room in a matter of seconds.
Then Rose quickly grabbed my arm and jumped up.
Using the metal arm she wielded on her left side, she broke through the metallic roof of the descending room, and we jumped out.
She grabbed the pole that supported the movement of the room and snapped it, leaving the room to plummet in a careening motion.
"Get on my back."
Grabbing onto the pole with her left hand and holding me with her right, she spoke in the tone of a half-nervous, half-somber female who had just sacrificed her friend in order to survive.
I made my way onto her back and grabbed on tightly.
I stared down and saw flashes of fire and smoke coming from the plummeting room, an indication of the ongoing battle inside.
Leaving the room to fall was truly genius, for it would affect the Flame of Calamity, as the continuous bumping of the room would make him dizzy and nauseous, giving the young archer a chance.
Plus, even if the Flame of Calamity managed to defeat Arther, there would surely be no way for him to survive the explosion of the room upon hitting the ground.
So the two were trapped in a death box while we, with the incredible speed of Rose, made our escape.
Escape...
My eyes squinted as I pondered, making everything around me blurry and slow.
Could it be that this is the doing of Commander Gal?
Is this supposed to be my rescue?
In the form of the Captain of the Elite Five?
But why go as far as killing his own teammates for my sake?
The questions gnawed at me.
As I debated on what to do, a sudden explosion erupted from below.
A raging red fire met my gaze as I looked downward, and emerging from it was the red-haired middle aged man.
The Flame of Calamity.
His clothes were torn asunder, and he, covered in blood, looked enraged.
Below his feet were flames that appeared to make him float.
With a terrifying roar that echoed through the air, he moved upward.
The horrifying sight, as well as the killing intent that I could read from him, made me choose wisely.
This man was a demon, and I would rather be executed than hope that thing was on my side, only to be burned to death.
I sent down twenty extensions, just as I had done with the baby nightmare.
Each was willed into a weapon that would kill the mad calamity on impact, or possibly even just slow him down.
However, the pain I felt as my extensions were burned to ashes with ease proved me wrong.
The Calamity could not be killed or stalled.
Our only hope was to escape, and I focused on that as I sent an extension upward in hopes of grabbing onto something and pulling us, increasing our speed.
Just as I did so, the temperature of the environment around us began to rise, reducing the amount of oxygen in the air.
I apprehensively glanced down, and the sight of the Calamity closing his eyes whilst ascending brought imagery of Mr. Freak into my head.
And whenever he did that, it meant that he was planning something.
I looked around but saw nothing happening.
More to it, the Calamity was further from us.
However, the reason for his actions soon became apparent when all of a sudden Rose's body glowed red.
He was somehow heating up her core!
Her body began to heat up, and my hands subconsciously let go.
Falling under the force of gravity, I saw Rose's body become engulfed in flames.
The poor emontarion screamed as her grip on the pole wavered.
But the Calamity did not stop.
He burned her and burned her to the point that she released her hands from the pole and began to fall whilst screaming in agony.
I tried to reach out my hand, but the unremitting heat of the air had significantly lowered my little energy.
Slowly but surely, I was losing consciousness.
And in my last blink, I saw Rose's body glow even redder amid the flames that burned her, and then...
BOOM!