Still lacking mastery over aura manipulation, Freyja's poor method of breaking her fall left her with a few scratches and mild injuries. Not only that, she used a considerable amount of aura to 'hook' herself to the surrounding tall trees, so she won't fall out of the barrier. For a couple of minutes, she laid on the ground waiting for her energy to come back.
"I'm an idiot." She laughed, sighed, and regained her composure. Standing up, Freyja prayed for her Father, Mother and Celestia to watch over her. Freyja dashed back to the manor.
Freyja hid among the tall bushes. Aethelmaer minions were increasing in number the closer she gets to the main house. Biting her lip, she forced herself to press on.
Carefully, Freyja crawled through the bushes and luckily, she happened to find a lone soldier with his back at her. Without second thoughts, unsheathed her sword, flipped it, and with one quick blow on the neck, the soldier fell unconscious. Freyja quickly dragged him to the bushes and took his cloak for herself.
Though disguised with the fallen soldier's thick cloak, Freyja was positive her trick won't hold for too long. She conveniently passed through a couple of guards, but as expected, they're starting to notice her suspicious actions. First of all, she's noticeably short.
She did cover a considerable distance, but not even halfway close to the main house. She jumped back to the bushes and took the heavy cloak off. Just as when she thought she's running out of luck, she overheard two soldiers talking. "Lord Kirin is here. Let's hurry." Hearing his name made her heart skip a beat. "Kirin!"
Stealthily, hiding behind tree after tree, she trailed the two Aethelmaer soldiers. But instead of heading to the main house, they shifted their path, to another house in the manor. After almost thirty minutes of running, finally, Freyja arrived at a mansion about as big as Kristril's.
"Lord Kirin!" About fifty soldiers gathered at the entrance. Freyja's eyes widen in surprise.
At the mansion's gates, Kirin is standing with his fiancée, Kristril.
All her plans and strategies crumbled. Freyja's reason shattered. Before she knew, she's already running straight at him, the most reckless she has ever been. "Kirin!" She shouted her lungs out. "Kirin! Kirin! Kirin!"
But no matter how much she shouted, Kirin didn't respond. He didn't move a muscle.
Kristril clicked her tongue and ordered all the soldiers to seize her. Freyja unsheathed her sword and defended herself quite skillfully. This however, didn't last long. Her stamina could not match the number of the enemy. Freyja was hit on the leg, and in an instant, she fell down. The soldiers at once, pinned her down the ground.
"Kirin! Wake up! What the hell happened to you!?" She shouted in desperation. Freyja's tears streamed from her eyes, but Kirin remained blank.
Her luck could not get any worse. After getting captured the second person she never wanted to see arrived. Ahrin Aethelmaer walked from behind Kirin and towards her. "Now this is a surprise. I didn't know you're still here." He crouched, and pulled her chin up. Freyja saw the celestial medallion around his neck, heavily padded with a special alloy to prevent it from burning Ahrin. She wanted to grab it right away, but she couldn't even stand, much more fight him. Her ankle is badly sprained and her left leg is wounded. "Oh well, let's finish you quickly, shall we?" Ahrin stood up and summoned his black aura sword. "Remember this Freyja, you are a special kind of stupid," were his last words before striking to decapitate her.
But before his blade could even touch her skin, a lightning bolt fell from above him, striking his right hand. In his surprise, Ahrin jumped back. His right hand smelled of burning flesh, he couldn't move it at all. But the attacks didn't end there. While the soldiers focused on keeping Freyja down, Ahrin didn't notice the thick ice that started crawling up his legs. He used his aura to de-frost his legs, but it was a mere diversion. A flash just passed in front of him. In a split second, the medallion around his neck was gone.
The soldiers fell one by one, as it rained lightning bolts above them. When Freyja was finally freed, Keon suddenly appeared before her, handing her the celestial medallion in a hurry. Alaric stood in front of her. "Hurry Freyja!"
Freyja wasted no time. She tied the medallion around her neck and summoned the celestial dragon Aria.
"ARIA!" She called, and her hands were suddenly covered in radiant white aura . Her hands glowed as she touched her sprained ankle. In an instant, her foot was as good as new.
Keon singlehandedly warded the remaining soldiers off while Alaric kept Ahrin occupied with his ice sorcery, giving Aria time to heal all of Freyja's injuries, restoring her strength and her body back to its best state. Not for long, she called Aria back and again, took her short sword out.
"Damn you!" Ahrin's usually calm face was warped with anger. With one strong strike, he broke Alaric's ice walls and threw his black aura sword at Keon. Keon blocked it as hard as he could, but Ahrin was too strong that he was thrown aside.
Freyja ran to Keon to support him. However, Keon stopped her by pointing at Kirin. "You're running to the wrong person." he pointed to Kristril and Kirin, who are now boarding a private airship they didn't notice was beside the mansion's gates. "Goddammit! Where are they going now!?" Freyja cursed, continuing to run to Keon. She called Aria once again to heal Keon the same way she did with her injuries.
"Freyja! They're getting away! Hurry!" Alaric too, was thrown to one side while holding Ahrin back. But unlike Keon, he was lucky to get the timing right to cushion his fall. Ahrin was enraged. He never expected that such a scheme would actually thwart their plans. Ahrin rushed straight to kill Freyja with his sword, but Alaric's barrier spell stopped him yet again. "HURRY!" He shouted, prompting Freyja to chase after Kirin.
Keon summoned a flying rune beast and pulled Freyja up with him. His rune beast chased after the airship that just took off. "Later Alaric!" She shouted, leaving Ahrin to the rune master. Alaric smirked before being thrown to one side again. "See, she said later." Alaric knew how strong Ahrin is, but he is determined to do everything to stop him.
"Don't use your celestial aura all at once. It might backfire!" Keon reminded, forcing himself to go faster to match the airship's speed. "My rune beast is very fast, don't worry." He assured.
Keon and Freyja started to catch up to the airship. "Kirin!" Freyja saw him standing at the deck. Keon maneuvered his rune beast to get as close to the deck as possible. There were guards on board, immediately surrounding Kirin. But this didn't faze Freyja the slightest. She stood up, maintaining her balance the best she could.
"Kirin! Kirin!" She called to him, but still got no reaction.
Kristril tugged Kirin's arm before pulling out a gun and aimed it straight at Freyja. "Just leave us alone will you!?" She fired the gun at her, but Keon managed to stir the rune beast enough to dodge the bullets. Freyja crouched, and stood back up after.
"ASTRID!" Freyja called, and the celestial guardian appeared in his human form. "Astrid," Freyja ordered, "Hit that idiot over there and wake him up!" Astrid looked especially thrilled with the order. "My pleasure." He said jumping to the airship's deck, beating all the soldiers around him first. Completely ignoring Kristril, Astrid charged at Kirin and hit his face with his bare fist. Before Kristirl could fire her gun, Astrid pushed her to one side, and went back to beating Kirin.
Freyja fell onto her knees. Astrid knew that Freyja is on her limit already, and with that, he disappeared and came back inside the medallion.
"Freyja, let's do this later, at this rate you'll be drained!" Keon exclaimed, but he was ignored. Looking at Kirin twitch gave Freyja the strength to continue. "Wait Keon, he's responding!"
"Kirin!" She shouted. This time, Kirin recognized her right away. "Kirin! Are you awake now!?"
Kirin was back, so as his memories of what just happened with his father. Seeing Freyja in front of him made him want to jump to her at once. But it also reminded her of his father's revelation. Kirin couldn't move in conflict.
Seeing that Kirin was hesitant, Freyja decided, she will make the move.
"Kirin! Choose!" She shouted, this time, louder. "If you want to side with them, I won't stop you. But you have to choose!" Freyja reached her hand out to him, "Choose them, and I'll leave. But if you choose me, then I'll take you away at all costs! This is your last chance, Kirin!"
"Freyja, I..." Kirin went to the deck's edge, but Kristril pulled him back. "Lord Kirin won't play your stupid games!"
Keon's rune beast started to wobble that Freyja almost fell, but she managed to keep her balance just in time. "Freyja, my rune beast won't last any longer! Hurry!" Keon winced, pouring all his strength to lengthen its materialization. Keon sweated heavily. He could feel his energy draining out, but he endured.
"Fine then! In that case, I will choose for you!" She grinned. "I choose Kirin!" Freyja, grit her teeth and jumped to the deck, about ten meters away From Keon's rune beast.
She will fall. It's stupid. Her leap won't reach that far, especially that the Rune beast started to disappear. She held her hand out, but her jump wasn't even halfway far. She fell.
"Freyja!" Snapping out of daze, Kirin jumped off the deck. Mid-air, the only thing in his mind was reaching her.
Freyja smiled as their hands touched. He pulled her into his arms, shielding her with his own. Kirin was prepared to fall, but then, a rune beast came rushing to catch them.
"Keon! You saved us!" Freyja laughed in relief, tightly squeezing Kirin's hand. Keon just sighed. "I should have let Kirin fall and die." He mumbled.
Freyja embraced Kirin tight. "You jerk! What happened to you!?" She shouted, sobbing. Kirin was at a loss for words. He wrapped her arms around her, gently rubbing her back. "I'm sorry."
"Ehem! Sorry to interrupt but..." All of a sudden, Keon punched Kirin's face. They're both frozen in surprise. "You bastard! Just what are you planning by falling into father's plot!? I don't know what happened to you but you have to snap the hell out of it! Freyja could have died! What are you thinking!?"
Kirin didn't move a finger. "I'm sorry, and thank you for helping us."
Keon felt a sudden warm feeling in his heart. Kirin's apology and gratitude was something he never thought he'd hear. At the same time, this greatly annoyed him. "I didn't do it for you."
"Freyja was too reckless to leave all alone, that's why. If there's something you have to thank, thank Freyja." Freyja blushed, hearing unexpected praise from Keon. She looked away bashfully as Keon continued to scold his elder brother. "If it wasn't because of your stupid self, we could have escaped by now! But another reckless someone thoughtlessly jumped off my rune beast, because of you!"
At this rate, they are all aware that the chances of escaping is practically zero. They are all worried, they are all afraid. But this is a decision they all made knowing this would happen.
There is no other way but to fight.
From above, they saw Alaric running, signaling to them to land. He barely escaped Ahrin. Relieved, Freyja called out to him. "Alaric! Hey!" He waved back at them. After seeing Kirin with them, he smiled in relief. "We're complete now, I guess?" Alaric sounded optimistic. He jumped on the rune beast, joining the three of them.
The main mansion, where Aneurin Aethelmaer is waiting, is just right in front of them. To leave the place, there is only one way. That is to fight him, and beat him.
~ o 0 o ~