Yume, physically exhausted, and Ryu had half of his mana left, were together while surrounded by their enemies.
The addition of the twins and a few more assassins that came for reinforcement placed them in a dire situation, with no escape path.
"If you hand over the lady, my older brother might make your death less painful."
"I still want to dissect this little bug, younger brother."
"Oh, my bad... Then I retract my words, little bug. Please don't hand over the Lady."
Chuckles!
With mocking words from the twins, the assassins dared to laugh, seeing that they had dozens of allies on their side. At the same time, Ryu was alone, moreover carrying someone. Like a pack of wolves gnashing their teeth on helpless prey. They became complacent.
Pffft!
The Assassin Leader chortled while playfully spinning a dagger between fingers.
"Right, please don't hand over the Lady. So we can slowly play with you."
Squeeze—! Yume, who had her arms over Ryu's shoulders, abruptly tightened her embrace and leaned her face as she whispered. "Ryu, please leave me here and run."
"Why?" Ryu said casually.
She looked at Ryu with innocent eyes. Pondering why he questioned her. She even thought her suggestion was the most reasonable plan in this scenario.
"Because I'll just slow you down." Yume shook her head eagerly.
"You're really light, like a feather." Ryu smiled at her.
"...Still, one arm."
Ryu remembered when they flew in the sky, it was exactly like this. But instead of beautiful scenery, they were faced with many rogues.
"Remember the time when we flew up in the sky?" Ryu said.
"Yes?"
"It's the same how you've been hugging me."
"I don't get you, Ryu."
"Like how you trusted me and opened your eyes while we were flying. I just wanted to say that all you have to do is do the same, just trust me once again, Princess."
"—Are you guys done talking? I'm sad, but by orders, the Little Lady needs to die now."
"Alright, Ryu. I trust you." Yume smiled back and relaxed.
"Thank you."
Shiiick!
Ryu returned the fire sword into its scabbard. Then he stretched his arm wide open to the right.
"It seems the bug already surrendered. That's good. You made the right choice."
"I feel pity for the Lady, though. Abandoned by her lover."
"That Lady is beautiful. What a pity for her to just die."
"Hahahaha, you have a point."
The leader sneered while he eyed one of his subordinates. "You there, the guy already surrendered. So go and take the Lady away from him."
"Yes!" The subordinate slowly walked toward Ryu with caution. The other people in front were watching him in case he would do something. But the time was enough for Ryu to finish his spell.
"Afiste to spathi na vgei!"
"—Wait, I think the guy was saying something?"
"He was casting a spell!" The twins watching from the sidelines exclaimed.
"EVERYONE PREPARE TO FIGHT!"
A magic circle appeared on the ground below Ryu's right hand. There, a sword handle appeared with a large blade. It was the Gravity Rune Sword. The sword continued to rise until the tip came out from the ground, and the grip reached his hand.
"I'm counting on you, buddy."
The enemies rushed toward Ryu as he grabbed the sword and stabbed it to the ground.
100 times gravity!
Shiiing!
"W-What's happen—"
Bam!
The power of the rune sword disseminated throughout the place in a radius. Now the person tasked to snatch Yume was the nearest to the Gravity Rune Sword, so he was the first one who plummeted to the ground, crushing his face. Then the rest followed.
"Help! Ack!"
Bam! Bam!
"I can't move!"
Bam! Bam! Bam!
Ryu assumed that 2-Star and below enemies should already be crushed to death. And those who have higher skills would at least be incapacitated, better injured.
The twins dropped a few meters from their flight. They almost fell to the ground until they forcefully released a large amount of purple-colored mana. The aura appeared visible to the naked eyes as it overflowed from their bodies, which helped them fight against the immense increase of gravity.
"What happened?" Yume was flabbergasted as she looked at Ryu with questioning eyes. Ryu saw her cute yet confused expression, wanting to tease her more, if not for this undesired situation.
"I'm not done yet."
Ryu quickly released the Gravity Rune Sword and switched to the Fire Dragon Sword. As agreed upon, the sword's essence would only allow Ryu to borrow its power on a condition, and the Fire Sword wished for Ryu to always protect his loved ones.
"Yume, please release your hands."
Slash!
Tossing Yume in the air as Ryu carved an arched line on the ground using the sword, creating a wall of fire. This will give them a short period for a strategic retreat.
After a few seconds, Yume safely fell into his arm, catching her as he decided to run. "Hang on, Yume."
Then Ryu chanted three spells: To retrieve and hide the rune sword, fly, and conceal their presence.
The chase didn't stop, and the enemies were still in pursuit. The leader of the assassins, the twins, and some skillful ones overcame the Gravity Rune Sword's power. So they were able to follow.
After a while, little by little, they found themselves in disarray since Ryu left fake trails to confuse them.
Unfortunately, the twins and the leader of the assassins were powerful enough not to be fooled.
"Ryu." Yume, who had her face looking behind, informed Ryu that the enemies had almost caught up.
"Hold on, we're almost at the city walls."
When Ryu reached the walls, he flew above them and used a large amount of mana to lunge into the forest. He couldn't use this earlier because there were too many obstacles. But now, the location was an open area, so he could freely dash through the air.
"What was that?"
The guards on the wall lifted their helmets on instinct.
"I think I just saw someone fly."
"Fly? Hahaha. That's just you hallucinating. Did you skip lunch?"
The leader of the assassins failed to follow since he would need to climb the wall or go through the gate. For the twins, Ryu temporarily escaped from them. This gave them enough time for preparations.
Ryu and Yume arrived in a small cave to rest. He added some concealment magic to prevent the twins from tracking them.
'This should give us at least a while.'
He could've run into a different place, like where the city guards were, but he couldn't trust anyone for now.
"Yume, please take a rest and let me heal you."
"I'm sorr—"
"You should be thanking me instead. Are we not friends?"
"Sor... I mean, thank you, Ryu."
Ryu cast a minor healing spell for her fatigue. However, to his dismay, not much time passed when the twins quickly broke the barrier and found them. Which made their first aid and recovery stop.
'Only a 5-Star magic would break my barrier.'
With no choice, Ryu left the cave and saw the twins flying above.
"Older brother, the bug thought it could escape us."
"We already wasted too much time, younger brother. The city guards might catch up if we delay any longer."
"Then."
"Yes."
"Alright, older brother."
"Ha!"
Not too long, the twins shouted with all their might. They began releasing a large amount of magic power. Combined, it was even more potent than Ryu's current mana.
The mana emanated from their bodies became visible and grew large enough to reach each other.
The sight of the twins combining their mana was spectacular. Ryu had heard this from the old sage before. The fifth advancement of mage.
Actually, after the fourth advancement, the only thing left for the mage to do to advance into a higher rank was to increase its own mana capacity and practice chanting. Because each magic circle combination would require an additional amount of mana. Hence, how many times a mage could combine a spell to create a better one would determine their prowess in magic.
What the twins were doing now was combining both their mana to cast 5-Star magic. But it was rather forceful. Seeing how they reached their limit even practicing magic for more than a hundred years, only to reach 5-Star combined. That was what Ryu thought.
The older brother saw Ryu with his talent. So it only aggravated the twins more. "Hahaha! I can see pity in your eyes, little bug!"
The younger brother continued what his older brother was saying. "But we don't need your pity! You may be a real genius, but you will die today!"
"Afiste... Mia... Ischyroteri... Magiki... Morfi..."
The twins started their synchronized chanting. 3-Star wind magic and 4-Star ice magic combined with 3-Star water magic and 4-Star fire magic to create 5-Star lightning magic.
Earlier, Ryu defended against 4-Star magic and already depleted a quarter of his mana. So it was already predetermined that receiving magic much stronger than before would not be suitable for his situation.
"Do you think I'll let you guys complete your chanting?"
Grabbing the Ice and Fire swords, Ryu slashed into the air, releasing a fire slash to burn the older brother and an ice slash to freeze the younger brother.
"And do you think I'll let you stop their chanting?"
Suddenly, two daggers flew and intercepted the attack.
Crack! Sizzle!
One dagger froze, and the other dagger burned. A man who was hiding behind a tree appeared.
Ryu sighed in disbelief. "Another problem appeared."
The leader of the assassins. When Ryu thought they had already escaped from him, now he reappeared. It seems that the magic the twins used earlier gave out the location.
"Just be a good boy and let them finish."