The entire place was a complete chaos, but Yvonne thrived in chaos. Rapidly adapting to the changing circumstances was the key to survival, and she had plenty experience in those. Pressing onto Delving was an option, but Kitty and Sparky got him mostly covered at the moment. Instead her attention switched to the ice wizard with terrible aim, and the enraged thing trying to rip his face off.

Within a heartbeat she was on to the berserker, a hand halfway through the blade in a half-sword stance. Recalling the sensation of hitting metal from the bardiche strike earlier... she'll need to go for the softest part.

Her internal strength welling to the limit, Yvonne struck it slightly behind the temple where the skull was the weakest. If that wasn't enough she'd pull back her right hand and punched it again at the rounded pommel, hammering it in as many times as it took until it break through and smash the brain. So what if its bones were as strong as steel? She's perfectly capable of crushing steel.

"We'll have a long talk when we're done here."

---

Solomon waited with the others as the men left the small barrack towards the manor itself. The group was quiet, holding still. When the footsteps faded, some tension was released. Thankfully, waiting patiently worked as none of the guards went to inspect the barred door. As the group gathered in the antechamber, Solomon looked down each of the halls. No one was seen, coming or going. At least of yet. The hall the men walked down lead to the manor, so that meant the other lead to the laboratory.

Solomon looked into the barrack, where a single man lay sleeping inside. Veronica asked for the knockout chemical again. Normally, Solomon wouldn’t want to do so, but since the man was already asleep. To not risk waking him and having to deal with him flailing about should they try to retrain him, Solomon walked closer to the sleeping man. From inside his coat he removed the clothes he used before. They weren’t as strong in scent, the chemical quickly evaporating. Instead he retrieved the bottle once again. Since the guard was already asleep, he didn’t need to waste any on another cloth. Solomon gingerly held the bottle close to the man’s nose. He quickly recoiled as the guard snorted as the vapors hit. It was hard to tell if enough time had passed for it to take effect, but the man’s breathing was slow and methodical. Hopefully that was enough.

Solomon put the bottle away, and straightened up best he could. With a soft nod, he turned to the others, “That should do it.” He left the room, and followed Veronica down to left most hall towards the laboratory.

Above ground, Athena looked back to see Yvonne was taking care of herself. She was very upset, and Athena wasn’t sure if that was a good thing. At least she was up and walking now, and that was definitely a good thing. Athena’s eyes then turned to see what was happening on the other side of her bulwark. The smoke cleared and there was Delving, enchanted partizan spearheading Athena’s tower shield with full force. She felt the impact, digging her feet deeper into the soil.

Athena stood bewildered. She wasn’t arrogant enough to think her shield impossible to penetrate, but only after one hit? Much like the white gradient that outlined the borders of her barrier, another outline surrounded shaft of Delving’s partizan. The shield itself had a noticeable indent from the hit as well. Before she reacted, Delving was already in the midst of another attack. Similar to his first hit, the second cut through the barrier as though it wasn’t even there. At the same time, Athena released her spell. With the barrier disappearing all together, Athena repositioned her shield to block his attack. It pierced the magic, but it was stopped by the physical shield itself.

When the hit didn’t come, Athena took the opportunity to stand proper, and hold her spear forward. The spear tip glowed with purple flames as she took a couple steps, aligning the tip of her spear to strike the stumbled Delving. Her spear went forward around the lowered shield directly at Delving.

Evan staggered, feeling just a little of the blunt force that remained from that negated slash. The thug grabbed his coat, smoke pouring down from its heated hand melting the outermost layer of his thin ice armor, while Yvonne charged in attempting to crush its skull by the temple.
Evan nodded in response to Yvonne, but not sure if she saw that. He tapped his chest, and two of the three warstaves attached to his back ejected, one of them turning a little distance away before it darted full-force towards the other side of the thug's skull, to either amplify Yvonne's assault or crush the skull by itself.
The other warstaff took a curved beeline to pierce through the old Delving's head from his right side, timing itself with Athena's fiery attack. The escaped warg too attacked at the same time from behind Delving, biting at his magic shield or his left arm to devour his mana and, in the case of the arm, try to dissuade any movement from that limb.

The warg that stayed was fully ensnared. His front leg trapped, his throat assaulted by a searing hand. A gargled noise came out before its jaw clamped at the arm, biding time and trying to heal off of whatever mana is giving these creatures power.
It'll try to kick the other thug away with its hind legs, if it comes close.

Louise can't hold it still since the thug was so aggressive. She doesn't blame the elven woman that she can't made a clean shot, life is tough. Honestly, she is suck at team work which like with her and Erwin back then.

She lured the thug and then casted Wind Chant to create a powerful wind burst, knock-backing the aggressive thug to give herself a rest for a bit. After the wind burst, the barrier has been created nullify both physical and magical attacks. It also could able to break another barrier by the wind burst when collide together before creating a wind barrier.

The last hit created the opening they needed, allowing Jazdia to shape the detonation behavior in her arrow so it would not blast anything behind it. Still maintaining her composure, Jazdia's purple eyes flickered as she aimed. An arrow glowing with violet luster had already knocked into her bow, and with its strings fully drawn, Lurea sang again in the darkness.

Jonas delving gripped his partisan tightly, trying to ignore the pain from his stomach. He managed to refocus his sight on the enemy, prepared to raise his shield defense. But what came next was another purple light.

Enough of that!

He hardened his shield, ready to take that blow, but it wasn't an arrow this time, but rather the spearhead from that cat-eared shieldbearer. Out of rage, he leaned forward and swatted the incoming fiery spear with his shield, while at the same time, a wayward icy war staff flew behind him, tearing the skin from the back of his head.

Still not done, a stray mutt, after a failed attempt to bite his shield went to his leg instead.

Jazdia's arrow concluded that coordinated strikes by detonating itself right on Jonas' midsection. The blast knocked him several meters away. The Delving patriarch knelt, his entire body was covered in goldish light, but some of his armor and pauldron fell off, revealing the burn marks on his arm and upper torso. Blood dripped from his lacerated nape, staining his tattered cape.

Trembled, not by the wounds he sustained, but rather by great anger, Jonas Delving absorbed some of that light and gathered it in his right palm. His shield shrank, but almost immediately it expanded itself before turning into a form of brilliance pulse that spread wide and bright, so bright it felt like the sun had dawned in that courtyard.

Brilliance light fluttered around him. The ground where he stood cracked. The radiant pulse blasted the warg and dispelled its entire existence, the purple fire in Athena's spear extinguished. Jonas Delving stood like a beacon in the field of light, his partisan glow brighter. He saw another dot of purple coming through, a color he despised so much. But no more guesswork this time.

The pesky archer stood in the distance, fully revealed by his light. He tightened his grip on his partisan and launched it with all of his might.

The crystal arrow and the partisan collided, but the explosion only did little to hinder its flight. Almost at the speed of thunder, the brilliant lance struck the archer on the right side of her torso.

Another lance made of brilliant light replaced it, and Jonas reconjured his shield, ready to attack.
___
On the west side of the field, Yvonne's attempt to cave his skull in resulted in the terrifying sound of clang, but the head didn't give in on the first try. Only by the second, it managed to crack, a red crystal jutted out from the wound in retaliation, but as the place suddenly engulfed in bright light, the crystal stopped growing. the enraged suddenly let go of his grip on Evan's coat and ceased to move, suddenly and abnormally as if the entire bask of light stunned him.

On Louise's side, the Squire tapped into her inner power, channeling wind magic toward the incoming enraged. A strong gust of wind manifested between her and the enemy and climaxed into a burst of air so strong it lifted and knocked the enraged some 10 meters away. Another shield made of air swirled around her, but what was the use if the enemy had been displaced that far?

On the east side of the field, both the warg and the enraged struggled to keep each other pinned. The enraged's hand violently clawed the warg's throat, trying to rip away anything he could grip. His other hand brought the warg's front leg closer to his mouth and, returned the favor by clamping it with his jaw.

Evan flinched and braced with his right arm to cover his face. He had to turn off his blood-seeing eyes due to the sheer amount of light that exuded from that old man's being.
Amidst this light, Evan's entire being sparkled like an unfurled bag of diamonds. Foolish, he felt to come at this creature of pure mana with just his half-assed attacks. No longer.
He ran towards the old man Jonas Delving to close the gap. As he did, Jonas threw his partizan way up and an explosion seemed to have happened far behind him, but he cared not for it. As he reached within range and still ran, he positioned his arms, mimicking the motion of crushing an orb-like shape with his bare hands.
Within the full singular second of him creating this motion, three enormous objects emerged.
An enormous hand of ice behind Jonas, aiming to clasp behind him and hold him in place.
Another enormous hand shaped into a fist just off to Evan's side, surging towards Jonas and set to impact exactly one second since its creation where it's at its maximum size.
A third hand shaped into a chop, taking a more diagonal downward route to flank Jonas' right side as it emerges several meters off the ground, set to impact at the same time as the fist.
Each ice structure had a volume of around 1m³, each weighing about 1.6 tons, and looking sharp and jagged in their structure due to Evan's internal rage from being possibly, severely outmatched.

The warg and his victim continue their struggles, having each other's limbs inside each other's mouths. It mustered all the might in its jaw to pierce through the arm and split it in twane, otherwise continuing to absorb the mana that fueled the thug. Nothing really changed.

Godspit, what was this motherfucker's noggin made of? She had put enough strength to punch through a coat of plates and out of the other side, and it barely made a crack. Must be some magic bullshit at work. A better way to deliver the force was needed, and it happen that the ridiculous lightshow offered an opportunity...

Kicking the dazed berserker's foot from under him, Yvonne followed by pushing the handle of her sword down until it caught the head between it and the packed earth. With an enraged yell she drove her armored fist down, this time there's nowhere for the force to bleed out - it'll all go straight to the skull. And through.

Her muscles ached dully, a sensation that she knew would turn into full-bout of debilitating once the bloodlust ran its course. But that's something for future Yvonne to worry about. A triumphant laughter rang as she ripped out the blade out of the stubborn foe, red haze coloring the edge of her vision as her eyes burned the same shade of crimson. Without much delay she set her sight on the brightest motherfucker in a hundred miles, charging forward at a pace more befitting of a galloping warhorse than a human her size.

The sisters watched with wonder and amusement at how ... incredibly naive... the defense of the basement was, and how quickly and easily Solomon subdued the last sleeping guard.

However, the immediate rounding of Veronica toward the source of the reek further down in the basement after asserting they had a bear to save, triggered a moment of small crisis for the pair.

Sure, they wanted to save their brother alright, but the idea of being caught between that killer bitch downstairs, and the idiot guards returning once the noise starts, was just unacceptable. They hesitated for half a second, then immediately addressed each other, as Veronica just plowed down the hallway.

"She gonna go wit'out us Rosie, we gotta go!"
"--Em barstards'll jus' come righ' back down agin'st us Lil! Go on ahead, Uh'll catch up tuh ya!"
"Make it quick sis, we ain't got much time!"

Rose quickly patted her sister on the shoulder forcefully and proudly along with a nod, then set her shield down near the entrance to the hall, then bounded up the other hall, and up toward the stair.

Lily sucked in a breath, and continued with Veronica, Solomon, and varya down toward what must surely be where her brother was being held-- adrenaline and worry tinging her senses, and putting everything in her body on high alert-- She HATED being separated from her sister-- especially in THIS place.

She moved along with the rest of the infiltration team, while Rose worked.

--

In the antechamber, Rose dashed up to the stairs, careful not to overtake the guards, listening carefully for the sounds of men and the clatter of armor in the hall to stop before proceeding, hugging the corner of the hall to remain out of sight until then...

Another shield made of air swirled around her, but what was the use if the enemy had been displaced that far?

Wind chant can be cancelled by the user. As it, Louise ran toward to the light , headed to Jonas Delving, the barrier disappeared too few seconds after the squire exited from it. Losing aggro from her berserker enemy.

Anticipating on Evan's attack, she didn't make the proudly Delving recover after the chill man's attack. Blinked in the Delving's blind spot, dirk him with full power two handed thrust into the weak spot, crippling his movement. Distracted him with her cape and hopped back in safe distance. Putting countermeasures from the attacks by kiting and speedy evasion.

---

Athena’s spear was knocked away, but in the end, she was okay with it. It meant that her allies were able to continue with their respective attacks as well. Ice hitting the adversarial noble from one direction, a transparent wolf from another. It all culminated into a devastating looking blast from Jazdia off in the distance. However, despite the advantage, Jonas was not willing to back down.

A bright light burst before Athena, illuminating the fields and manor like a beacon. Athena raised her shield to cover her eyes. When her sight finally adjusted to the change in luminosity, she discovered that the source of the light was Delving himself. It didn’t matter to Athena, though she and most of her comrades were bathed in the light, it didn’t feel like it was causing any harm. At least in her initial assessment. Only when she readied her spear did she find her fire gone. Any attempt to place it back failed as well. She reasoned that his multitude of cleansing effects is what allowed Delving to boldly face the party.

With speeds faster than Athena could react, Delving’s partizan flew past her position, a sharp but very short lived blast of wind trailing it. Athena watched as in an instant, Jazdia was pierced by the glowing weapon. In the same instant, Delving had conjured a replacement. If the battle didn’t look good before, it looked worse now. Raising her spear, Athena dashed forward. Shield in front, Athena looked to coordinate with the others moving forward. It would be good if he couldn’t throw out another one of those partizans.

In the antechamber, Rose dashed up to the stairs, careful not to overtake the guards, listening carefully for the sounds of men and the clatter of armor in the hall to stop before proceeding, hugging the corner of the hall to remain out of sight until then...

When Rose dashed up to the stairs, the Delving Usuals had made it to the manor and closed the door. The stairs corridor was sufficiently lit, with no rooms, nor crevice on its walls. Up above the door was a single-panel metal door made of iron sheets.

When the bear approached the door, she could hear the sound of a lock being engaged. There was a huff and fast-talkings, one particular sounded like it was uttered by someone who had just escaped from death's grasp.

"You! You! Lock all doors, including this one! Especially this one! Those King's men mean business we can't let them reach the secret. Duncan! Damn it! don't dally! Move that large cupboard and cover this door!"

"Captain, what about milady doctor?!"

"Hell if I care. We got escape tunnels there. It's not like we lock her up to die!"

"Captain! What the hell is happening and where is Sergeant Ardal?"

"He is dead you dumbfuck! Those agents did it! oh Gods! Give strength to our Lord!"

Using Lurea as a staff to help her stand, Jazdia let out a huff of controlled breath. For now, adrenaline did its part to partially numb the pain. She dared not to look at the damage she sustained, but her other senses knew that the blood loss was profuse.

Her fingers trembled as she fought the urge to grope the wound, nonetheless, it felt like she had just done it. When she reached for her bag to get a bandage, it felt like her fingers had dived into the bloody mess, feeling the depth of it; fifteen centimeters wide, right under her ribcage, seven to ten centimeters deep, the organ felt like a jelly to the touch.

She removed her vest, unbuttoned half of her shirt, and tied it so they wouldn't get in the way, before started rolling her bandage. Was that an adequate first aid? Maybe not. Did she just underestimate the severity of her injury? Oh no, the elf knew it damned well that she was standing on borrowed time.

The fight was far from over.

____

A subtle hint of frustration showed on Evan's face when he realized that his ice spell failed to materialize. He tried again, and it too failed to take shape. Amids the radiant light, his target suddenly disappeared, and showed up just a few steps away from him. A sword staff made of pure light swung in a mighty swipe, and Evan, lacking any means to actively defend himself suddenly found himself violently knocked aside.

"Slow!"

Had he not been protected by his ice armor, being cleaved in two could very well be his final fate now. Still, he landed on the grass with chest contracted in pain, some of his ribs broken, and one of his arms felt numbed and arched the wrong way.

---

Killing one of those enraged did not bring enough satisfaction for Yvonne, so after she managed to ensure that one stayed dead, The mad blade, craved for a bigger fish to fight set her eyes on a new target.

Jonas had just finished his mighty swipe when Yvonne viciously attacked from his left. But the Delving's patriarch was faster than before. After he raised his shield to block the combo from Rosenving's sword and mace, his shield changed shape into the form of a longsword, and with that, he retaliated by swinging a sudden strike at her.

Luckily Yvonne was quick enough to intercept the light sword with her mace.

"How sloppy! he scoffed when both had their weapons locked.
And sad! I expected much from you!"

It was at that moment Athena suddenly attacked from his side and stabbed her spear on Jonas' exposed shoulder. The patriarch's smug face once again contorted in pain as he retracted his blade and dashed backward. Quick-footed he might be, his maneuver could still be predicted. An arrow whistled in the air to welcome him with an explosion close to the spot where he was supposed to repose.

Delving reshaped and raised his shield to block the incoming blast, and everyone will see him standing pridefully through the dust and smoke. Yet, unfaltering as he may with all that poise, a trail of blood dripped from his nose, his hands trembling, and his strength, though still formidable, was no longer at its peak.

Standing tall, his eyes darted on them. One cowardly archer and Two she-warriors. Warrior The term felt bitter to the tongue.

"Of course, if you are not fighting dirty, you are not fighting, right?" Particles of lights brighter than the surrounding radiance gathered at the end of his spear, The Delving patriarch raised his sword staff high and had his sight fixed on the first enemy who dared to initiate an attack.

___

Sadly for Louis, there was nothing to anticipate. Yet it did not discourage her from trying to infiltrate the sheer Defense of Jonas Delving by using her wind power.

Propelling herself forward into the radiance, she found the blessing of the wind abruptly disappeared from her very self. With no wind to control her movement, she stumbled and fell after covering a mere three strides into the illuminated zone.

___

After sustaining that many injuries, and failing to siphon any mana from the enraged, the last warg finally faded into nothingness.

The Enraged immediately continued their advance, but rather than aiming for the party's backline, they rushed to aid their Lord instead. Unaware of the effect, their undying loyalty was rewarded with complete immobilization the moment they entered their lord's radiant field.

Evan was not one to make noises when hurt.
He always kept his sufferings for himself, but this... this was one of the worst ones. Even considering it against the time he had a multitude of clawed gashes that had to be sewn shut, which led to the idea of his ice armor to begin with. Though, it seems he just traded open-flesh bleeding wounds for immense blunt force trauma.
A silver lining, if any... was that even Jonas couldn't slice through this armor. It came as a shock to Evan, too.

It hurt to breathe. Damn broken ribs. He couldn't even conjure ice to alleviate the pain. He slowly pushed off the ground, and as he was up on two feet, another explosion. Seems like Jazdia has no problems using magic that far out.
At the corner of his eye, another enraged thug charged towards Jonas and the three women surrounding him, but suddenly stopped. Abnormal. Completely frozen. Two other thugs shared a same fate in the far distance.
There seemed to be a distinct edge to this interferent sanctuary.

He groaned, undislocating his right elbow, and placed his right arm into his right coat pocket with his left hand, then clutched his aching broken ribs and briskly walked towards and past the frozen thug south of him. The grass around him froze, and he was a little more relieved that his power stayed.
A relief immediately replaced by more pain as he molded a wide tightening band around his chest to lessen the movement of his ribs.
In his anger, he conjured a... a sword? That didn't work the last time. Damn it, he'd been taking it easy on these thugs since the first one he accidentally killed.
Dig deep. Stop hesitating. The way these creatures act, it's debatable if they're even alive.

He conjured what could only be described as an oversized knife, taller than even himself, and definitely proportional to a knife in its blade's immensely thick and wide shape compared to the rest of it. It'd take too long to harden the entire thing, so he only hardened the sharp edge, plus a reinforcing web of steel-ice strands within to keep the entire structure intact even if it broke.
It was a mistake to have stuck to using those tiny, measly weapons this entire time, when he had as much ease controlling much bigger weapons.
The oversized knife rose up and then dove, slicing down on the vulnerably frozen thug at the edge of the magic-interfering field. Surely this much weight would crush the thug's entire body even if it didn't slice through. Gotta pulverize it just to be sure, it's not like it could move to retaliate.

Dance, dance, dance of violence. Like a dervish of steel Yvonne relentlessly pressed her assault, all focus fully locked on putting out the sole blinding light in a world of red. Dull clang of steel on a shield of light, followed by the latter morphing into a blade. Raise the mace to block, a momentary clash of strength where she refused to relent.

Delving pulled back upon flanking, followed by the dull crack of an explosion. Her own heartbeat thundering in her ears, Yvonne charged forward before the dust even settled as her visage perpetually twisted into a savage rictus. Yet even under such state there's clarity within her mind, likely even clearer than her usual state. No superficial thoughts, no distraction, blaze to create a path to victory. Nothing else mattered.

His attack was unnaturally swift thanks to his magic, but he was regardless still be hit from anyone outside of his focus. It meant his reaction speed couldn't keep up. An advantage she fully intended on exploiting.

She will feint as she approached his reach, abruptly changing direction to circle to his back from where she'd launch another flurry of blows. To occupy his attention so that her allies can land their hits instead of claiming the killing blow herself.

Tick tock, old man. How long can your body keep up with this?

Sylphy rode herself on Louise head as they tried to blink. During the blink, the wind fairy was ejected herself before she get slam herself on the barrier like slamming into a wall. The wind blink lost its power once Louise entered the barrier and off balance. Fortunately, the squire fixed herself being out of balanced by a roll. Looked quickly on her child who were on panicking floating outside the barrier. Her mother made hand gestured to hide herself. The fairy calmed downed and nodded on her, floating away somewhere safe and hide.

Louise stood up and and tapped her legs to dirt off the ground dirt and made on glance surrounding. She noticed the those thugs can't able entered, Recognizing them as a magical enhanced super human with a draw backs and mysterious procedure. Lost of Sylphy's power, she relied on herself without blink and wind chant.

The squire deep breath to relaxed herself and readied up. She accelerated with her usual speed, twenty four miles per hour, headed to Jonas, rejoining her party. A pupil less has been shown again from the squire. She slipped in on the fight as it synchronized with Yvonne. After the small mercenary attack Jonas Delving, the squire Louise dirk him in unusual spot by a thrust of the sword to cripple his movements.

Anticipating Delving's speedy attacks with her superior speed.

Location: Underground complex, Lab area, Stritzel's Estate, Western Kindeance.

---

As she neared the end of the short passageway to the lab complex, Veronica paused, idly noting the light footfalls she was coming to associate with Varya behind her. Her attention was more focused, however, on the opening she could see branching away even further right from her position, concealing a side room. Though she'd already scried the area prior and was technically aware of the geography of the perhaps soon-to-be battle zone, there was no sense not making one final sweep.

Her Sight leapt from her position, briefly sweeping across the lab complex's interior, looking to identify the location of anyone living within. First down the side passage to the left, then looking to the greater lab area and the holding cells.

The side room to the west was empty. Meanwhile, exploring the lab all the way to the left, they will find a hall with three large cells. In that hall, a red-haired woman and a very large bear are walking toward the lab's main room and will soon be encountered by the team. Behind that unseemly pair, Cedar could be observed lying helplessly on one of the cells at the end of the hall. The main area of the lab complex, itself, the largest room -and the one the potential enemy duo was about to enter, was about 64 meters across at its widest point, from west to east, and the width was about 15 meters... a sizable space.

Her eyes widening, Veronica released her Sight's gaze. If she didn't miss her guess, the passageway she could see on the opposite side of the large room was part of the escape tunnels Jazdia was concerned about. If they waited any longer, Widernia would not only have her back to that spot, but she would have the advantage of range as a mage in this large, open room. Not that Veronica's team didn't have ranged options of their own, but giving a mage of unknown capabilities space was just begging for trouble.

Veronica murmured behind her quietly, "Spotted the mage and bear, about to enter the main lab. Quickly!" If they waited any longer, they'd lose the chance to close the distance and take advantage of the element of surprise.

Veronica slunk around the corner, finally entering the primary lab area properly, and moved back until her back was facing the far wall from the probably escape tunnel. In her right hand, her scythe began to grow back to full size again, as she braced her right foot against the wall behind her as a foot stop.

She wasn't aware of how much so, but she knew bears had fairly good hearing, so she was sure trying to sneak up on the mage while she had that titan beside her was a fool's errand, especially in a wide, spacious area like this that could better echo even the slightest sound. No, moving slowly and quietly here was out of the question, not without magic designed for it.

So, she moved, giving her allies plenty of room to move past her or to use the corner as cover, and the moment either Widernia or the large bear stepped around the far corner, Veronica would launch herself from the wall in their direction, sprinting full ahead, as her scythe finished growing to full size. At her top safe sprinting speed, she would cover roughly 40 meters of the distance in 3 seconds, beyond which there was no guarantee in her mind that the enemy would stay too surprised to act, provided they had good reaction times, as she continued to sprint. She prepared to be attacked, ready to supplement her dodging with glimpses of the immediate future.

It only took half a second after hearing the men on the other side of the now locked door, for the implications to click into place. There was no need whatsoever to try to block this door; those men would not be joining them. Moreover, there was clearly something very suspicious-- something very important-- upstairs that they were trying to protect from them. Whatever it was though, it was NOT her brother, and that was more important right now.

Wasting no more of her precious time, she bolted back down the stairs as fast as her short hairy legs could safely convey her over such dangerous terrain, before rocking back up on 2 feet, snatching the "shield" she had laid aside, and catching up to her sister with a faint scuff on the stone flooring as she slowed herself to avoid making noise, or being carried out into the lab by inertia. She looked wild-eyed at her sister, who nonverbally plied her with questions that she just silently indicated "not now" to.

She and her sister just waited for the inevitable to happen.

Varya Chandrar

Varya followed closely behind Veronica then hid in the corner opposite of her. He could hear two footsteps approaching, one much heavier than the other. Veronica said that they were a mage and a bear, the latter presumably not Cedar. Varya planned on using the hilts of his butterfly swords to knock out the red head by beating her in the back of her head. If there was a chance he didn't have to take her life, might as well take it, if for no other reason than that it was a change of pace. Maybe if he she was knocked out cold Veronica wouldn't kill her, but he wouldn't stop V if she was dead set on it.

Varya got to his knees, placed his hands on the ground, tucked in his chin and arced his back upwards, entering into Cat pose, before channeling the mana to invoke the power of the Cat (Cat's Grace activated). His eyes briefly turned cat like before he sprang up to his front heels, feeling the nimbleness of the cat and drawing his butterfly swords. He then shrouded himself in a veil of illusion (Invisibility activated). Seconds later Veronica dashed forth, a black blur, and Varya zoomed past the corner, boosted by his inhuman speed. The goal was to maximize speed and strike the witch before she had the chance to react. Varya would use Veronica as a distraction so he could circle behind the witch to deliver the knock-out blow. Adrenaline and magic coursed through his veins, propelling him forward. Soon the fury of battle would take him, and he would show both ally and enemy alike what he was capable of!

---

Athena managed to stab at Delving’s shoulder. It wasn’t enough to stop, nor cripple the war hero, but it was still progress. The Delving patriarch backed off in a flash, almost taking Athena’s spear with him. Her arm jerked forward as the spear was forcefully ejected from the freshly made wound. She kept her grip on the weapon, so she didn’t lose it, allowing her to reset her stance. Despite the number difference, Jonas was worthy of the stories she heard about him from before her time as a yokai.

“Fighting dirty?” said Athena in some awe at the statement. The nobleman was able to keep everyone down, forcing a battle between physical prowess against one with both strength and magical influence. If he wanted a noble duel in these conditions, he was out of his mind. Yvonne went forward, and Louise also joined the battle. Athena followed after them. She needed to keep the pressure on along with her colleagues. If he was going to complain about dirty fighting, they might as well lean into his conception of such. Delving was fast, and had displayed a lot of skill. However, he was still a single man, which should mean his ability to react was limited.

Athena kept her shield forward, and her spear poised. She started running forward. Even without her fire, or ability to transform, she knew her way around her tools. Maybe that would be enough to either take advantage of a window, or create a window for the others.

Many unpleasant feelings, a strong headache, and sheer anger burned Ted the Gladiator when Widernia commanded him to wake up. He could hear the cell door being opened, and his chains released.

No questions were asked, rather unusual of her, but it did not make the witch any less obnoxious.

"Come on. Boy. Wake up, That old crone wants to see you." she purred, provocatively, humiliatingly. Something that would make his arm spring to grab her neck and crush it without thinking. But he knew it was futile so he swallowed the taunt whole. At least he finally found something he could tolerate. He would meet his mother, and get out of this stinky place and will see her or this whiny neighbour no more. His great heart thumped in anticipation.

"Lead the way, woman!" he gruffed, forcing his legs to support his enormous bulk and walk in two. Whatever words came of that damn witch she did not care anymore as the door cell closed behind him.

"No talk!" Rembukung angrily, Ted raised his arm as they nearly reached the lab room. The excessive lighting in that place suddenly made his vision blurry, and by instinct, he switched to his smelling.

It was at that moment he stopped. His breathing was rapid and instead of blocking the light, his hands clutched his head.

"You witch! What evil hab you brought here?! Where are they?!!" the great Ted bellowed. His superiorsmelling, long had been rendered palsied suddenly recognized a very distinctive scent of apple and burned wood and iron and stone. And it brought forth a memory of a certain elf.

With new waves of headache assaulting him, He cried again, "Where are they!" before rushing blindly toward that one corner to his right.

Beside him, Widernia was initially confused, but when Ted charged forth she understood what was going on. A crooked smile bloomed on her lips as she materialized her staff. An electric current ran wild on its tip and bloomed into a crown made of energy.

---

A giant bear, a full whole of the beast, enraged and loaded for all bearish cruelty appeared in front of Varya. His eyes were red, and despite his fluffy brownish fur, his chest appeared to be glowing. He stood on two legs, his arms outstretched and his claws unsheathed like eight nasty sharpened blades strong and sharp enough to tear iron. And he was ready to crush the elf under his enormous bulk.