Kaito’s strike to the neck of the soldier landed and the man collapsed unconscious on the ground. The fox quickly disarmed him and collected the weapons of the two soldiers that Chounan had slain and tossed them into the canal. For now that threat was neutralized however on the other side there was still an Aaron Delving with some remaining men.

And with the bridge destroyed, reaching him would be difficult. They could try to swim across but just the idea of diving into the with feces infested sewer water made the kitsune sick. Not to mention that cleaning his brush tail afterwards would be a drag. It might smell for a week. Only the golem didn’t seem to care about the risk of attracting unwanted odors. But the rest seemed stuck at the other side of the canal.

To make matters worse, that prick of a constable had raised some kind of barrier that made him and his last few men save from their attacks. The Golem tried to sweep underneath it but by the looks of it the barrier covered all their angles while the two soldiers with muskets could still fire potshots at them.

Kaito could feel the fatigue setting in. He had been covering the entire room into an illusionary mist for quite some time now and it started to drain his mana. The fox wasn’t sure if his illusion was still affecting the enemies inside Delving’s barrier. There was a magic barrier in the underground arena that had been messing with his abilities and the constable’s one looked somewhat similar.

Quickly he assessed the situation. Delving and his men were waiting at the other side. Clearly they were waiting for them to make a move. Kaito and his companions could try to retreat but then the musketeers would most likely open fire on them when they would enter the narrow pathway that they had used to enter the canal room. If they would try to cross the feces canal they would be exposed to the same musket fire. And as long as Delving has his barrier up, there was nothing they could do about it.

Kaito quickly took cover behind the rear pillar and gestured to Chounan to do the same. For now the fox did not see any options to either advance or to retreat. The only thing to do was to wait for an opening. It would be unlikely that constable Delving could hold up his barrier of an indefinite amount of time. With everyone having taken cover, it would be best to conserve his mana so the kitsune ended his illusion.

Speaking from behind the rear pillar, Kaito decided to taunt the constable. Maybe Delving would make a mistake if the fox could manage to get under his skin.  [color=#93FFFF]” Hey Delving, I always knew you were a crook but you turned out to be also a coward. Hiding like a scared little baby behind a barrier isn’t exactly knightly. Why don’t you come over to our side and fight like a real man?”[/color]