"All right."
Saying that, David casually walks away as if nothing happened, leaving Susun and Rein alone.
"It's been a long while, Rein. No, my daughter." Susun spoke to Rein, calling the girl her daughter as she took her torn up robe off.
"This time for sure, I'll save you."
.
.
.
Somewhere inside the cave, Kaien, Selene and Itsuo found the culprit behind the cave and the monsters and begin chasing them.
"Wait!"
One of the three people they are chasing kept creating walls to halt Itsuo and the other's movement. But because the young woman with a long chocolate brown hair isn't capable of hardening the walls the same time she did the last time, Itsuo and Kaien can easily break them apart and continue chasing them.
"Damn! There's no end to this!" Says the guy who can manipulate the ground at will.
The one who can phase his body to the wall thought there are no choice but to take the battle with Itsuo and others. With that set in mind, the three stopped from running.
Kaien, Itsuo and Selene stops just in front of the three enemies. A staredown between both sides begin. Until one of the three decides to break the silence.
"Hey, let's make a deal."
"Huh?" Itsuo tilted his head in confusion. "Why are you asking to make a deal all of a sudden?"
The girl walks up to respond to Itsuo's question.
"We will give you as many Gate scrolls as you want. That is, if you beat all three of us in a three round one-on-one battle."
"What makes you think we will follow your demand?" Kaien replied. "If you're planning to buy time or something, I will not let you."
"There will be no reinforcements coming for us. We're nothing but pawns to the King." The other guy interjected as he shows the collar around his neck and the other two with his comrades. "As you can see, we are slaves to the King and were given the task to protect these Gates from our enemies. With these collars on our necks, we cannot hope to disobey his orders nor even try to escape from here. Even just a single thought of turning against the King, it will trigger a powerful electric shock from the collar which will kill us all."
"Our mana has depleted greatly from that endless hardening and earth manipulation as well as phasing in and out of the walls." The woman added. "All you need to do is to make it seem like we are doing a real one-on-one battle and make us use the last of the mana we have until you take us down one by one. It's that simple, right?"
Itsuo thought the same about them already using most of the mana they have back when they were circling and running around the cave earlier. If they each fight one of them in a one-on-one battle, Itsuo and the others will obviously have the advantage. However, Itsuo can't help but think otherwise about what they said not long ago.
The three told them that they are pawns by the King of Kruule who were forcefully tasked to protect the Gates at all cost. And with that collars around their necks, the same collar Christa showed them back in Reilaea, if they disobey the orders of King Castile or even having the thought of turning against him, it will trigger the collar to cause a lightning shock which will kill all three of them.
They cannot betray the King of Kruule thanks to the collar on their necks. That is why they cannot lose the fight no matter what situation they're in. That being said, Itsuo find it confusing how beating them one-on-one would solve the problem of the collars. Even if they did get all taken down by Itsuo, Selene and Kaien and that the collar somehow did not trigger and kill them in the process, they are still under the King's control. And once they reported their failure, who knows what the King would do to them?
Not only that, the look in their eyes gives Itsuo a different vibe contrary to what they said. They don't seem to look like they're under anyone's control nor being forced to follow orders. Then again, the collars seem to restrict them from thinking anything that would turn them against the King. Considering that situation, and even if they can still think for themselves, they still have no choice but to think that they have to protect the Gates no matter what happens. If you think about it, the situation they're in is no different to being mind controlled by a King who can control one's mind at will. No, theirs are far worse.
After a long thought process, Itsuo began pondering over the deal the three is offering them. In any way you see it, if not the three of them or the collar happen to take their life, the King would surely bring them death for failing their task. There's no way of them getting out of their situation. That is, if Itsuo, Selene and Kaien are the ones that get taken down.
"...!"
Itsuo's eyes widened in realization before making a straight face as he glanced towards the three people in front of them. One of them is a woman with a long chocolate brown hair who had the Gates around her belt on her waist. One of the three who can phase through walls and other objects is standing right next to the woman, while the other is seemingly standing far behind the two.
Before Itsuo could speak up to tell them that they're ideas have some flaws of its own, Kaien who seemed to be thinking the same comes in and confronts them with his response.
"We refuse."
"Eh?" The three jolted in unison.
"This three round one-on-one battle you're talking about has got quite a few flaws, and I'm not gonna bother explaining all of them except for one."
While Selene was absorbed to Kaien who continues to speak, Itsuo suddenly looks down on the ground as he felt a faint rumbling from the ground underneath them.
"You say that you will give us the Gates once we beat you in a three round one-on-one battle. How does beating all three of you in a fight solve the problem of the collars on your necks? How can we even be sure that those things won't activate once we...?"
"Hey, you two..."
Suddenly, Kaien paused from talking as he heard Selene called him and Itsuo.
"The ground is shaking..." Said, Selene as she also begin to notice the ground.
Just when he turned around to face Selene and Itsuo who are both fixated onto the ground that seemed to be faintly rumbling about, Kaien felt someone glaring daggers at them. He turns back to see one of the three people in front of them who is standing far back already having his hand touching the ground.
While Kaien was gazing intently on the enemies, three magic circles appeared behind all three of them.
"You! What are you...!"
From the left corners of his eyes, Kaien sees the glowing magic circles behind Itsuo and Selene.
"You two, move!"
A drill-like pillars came out of the magic circles and hurtle towards all three of them. As the sound of the pillar grinding through flesh echoes inside the enclosed space, blood began spilling all over the ground.