Footsteps echoed behind us, growing louder with every second.
I did not even need to turn around to know Fury was still chasing us.
The walls trembled every time something heavy slammed against the ground.
Yeah no thanks.
"We are going to die" I muttered while running.
King crossed his arms on Luz's shoulder.
"I appreciate your honesty."
"That is not helping" Luz replied.
We turned another corner at full speed.
Then suddenly—
A wall exploded behind us.
Pieces of stone flew everywhere.
I barely had time to protect my face before a massive hammer crashed into the exact spot where we had been standing a second earlier.
The impact froze me for half a heartbeat.
Too close. Way too close.
Fury slowly emerged from the dust.
His glowing eyes stared directly at us behind his bird-beak mask.
"You are troublesome children."
"Oh wow he really talks like a villain" I whispered.
"THIS IS NOT THE TIME" Luz shouted.
Fair enough.
Fury raised his arm once again. The giant hammer slowly transformed, this time turning into a massive axe.
Oh that definitely cannot be good.
"MOVE" I shouted.
The axe swung toward us.
We jumped aside at the last second as the corridor split apart.
Debris rained everywhere.
A rock barely missed King.
"WATCH OUT" he screamed.
"I AM TRYING" I yelled back.
We kept running through the collapsing hallway.
Honestly this prison seriously needed better construction workers.
Then suddenly—
CRASH.
A huge hole exploded through the ceiling above us.
A figure dropped directly between us and Fury.
Wild gray hair.
A huge grin.
And glowing golden eyes filled with excitement.
Eda.
"Oh finally" Luz said with relief. "Do you have any idea how terrifying this guy is?"
Eda casually cracked her neck.
"Please. I deal with creepy weirdos every week."
While Eda was distracted, Fury's claw transformed again, this time into an axe.
"The Owl Lady."
Before anyone could react, he swung.
Eda's head was sliced clean off.
Luz froze in horror as Eda's severed head landed directly in her hands.
"EDA YOUR HEAD" Luz screamed in panic.
Eda's head turned toward her and calmly looked her in the eyes.
"Do not worry. That happens with age."
"What WITH AGE?" Luz shouted, completely stunned by the answer.
Ahah… well even if I changed some parts of the story, some things never change.
Normally Eda was supposed to lose her head after Fury cut it off inside the confiscated items room after Luz, King, and Eda came to retrieve King's crown, which later turned out to just be cardboard.
Behind the director, Eda's body continued moving around as if it still had a head.
Fury stared at Eda's severed head with a strange tension in his eyes.
"Owl Lady… I finally caught you."
Ah yes. I already knew what was coming next.
Eda rolled her eyes.
"I really do not see why I am being hunted this much. I have never done anything illegal publicly that deserves all this."
At that moment, Fury placed one hand behind his back.
Luz and Eda narrowed their eyes suspiciously.
Another weapon?
But when he revealed what he was hiding, everyone froze.
In Fury's hand was a bouquet of roses.
And when he fully stepped forward, he suddenly knelt down in front of Eda's severed head and extended the bouquet toward her.
"Owl Lady… will you go out with me?"
Everyone stared at him in complete disbelief.
Everyone except me.
After all, I already knew he was going to ask her out.
And of course Eda's answer came instantly.
"No."
"You are insane. You chased me for months, cut off my head, and now you want me to date you? Never in your life."
Hearing her response, Fury froze for a second.
Then he slowly stood back up.
A trace of anger could be seen in his eyes despite the glasses and the crow-like mask.
"Very well then, Owl Lady. I am arresting you for trespassing inside my prison."
The guards behind us surrounded the corridor.
Fury transformed his hand back into an axe and slowly approached us with visible rage.
Eda looked toward Luz, then turned her decapitated head toward me.
"And you must be the guy causing chaos in my escape plan."
"…In my defense, I had a plan."
"You froze half the prison."
"Exactly. A good plan."
Luz looked between the two of us completely confused.
"Wait… do you two know each other?"
"…No" both of us answered immediately.
"Wow that sounded suspicious" King said.
Fury became even angrier seeing us casually talking while he approached.
He suddenly attacked again.
Eda reacted immediately.
Her body, which was still moving around, turned toward him and a magic circle appeared in front of her hand.
A blast of magic collided with Fury's axe.
The shockwave exploded through the corridor.
I almost lost my balance.
"Okay wow she is even cooler in real life" I muttered.
Luz looked at Eda with stars in her eyes.
"I KNOW RIGHT?"
Even now she still had endless energy. Incredible.
"Kids" Eda suddenly said while blocking another attack.
She pointed at me.
"You. Hood guy. Can you still use your ice spells?"
I blinked.
"…Uh yeah."
"Good enough. Freeze the floor when I say so. After that we run straight toward the confiscated items room."
Right.
That was the real reason they came here in the first place, I thought.
Okay… it is finally time.
And more importantly, time to show Eda what I can really do.
"Hehe…" I whispered to myself.
"NOW MOVE" Eda shouted.
And the real battle finally began.