Paolo crouched in front of Festus who stared in disbelief. "You got beat up pretty bad."
Festus coughed weakly. "I-I told you to protect him."
Paolo smiled, his hand patting the man's head. "That's what we're doing." He rose to his feet, crossing his arms. "Rest up, we'll take it from here."
"Prince Octavius," Nintus called, trying to step forward.
Octavius raised his arm, signaling him to stop. "Don't dare come any closer."
He stopped walking, grinning. "Prince Octavius, it's so good to see you, you look even cuter than when we last saw you eleven years ago."
"I won't let you guys take me back," Octavius said, not even bothering to hear them out. "So you can go away."
"But Prince Octavius, your father is worried," Sero, another bodyguard said.
Octavius rolled his eyes. "He didn't come looking for me for eleven years, so I'm pretty sure that's not the reason he wants me back."
"We were told to bring you back no matter what, so if you don't come with us we'll use force," Nintus said.
"I expected this, but I'll pass. I'm an adventurer now, so I don't have time to play with you."
Their eyes widened, his statement not quiet processed properly.
"Your highness, you can't," Sero said. "You are a member of one of the five royal families in the country. You can't be a silly adventurer."
"I have more of an advantage being an adventurer than following you back home." He pointed to Paolo. "To get to me, you have to get through my captain."
Elan moved to Paolo, but got stopped by Nintus on his way
Nintus smiled at Paolo. "If you give up the prince, the Ferrum family will pay you handsomely."
Shinzo's eyes shone brightly, but Aline shoved his shoulder. "Don't even think about it."
Paolo waved his hand dismissively, the thought of selling a comrade an impossible one. "No thanks."
Nintus stared in disbelief, his mouth agape. "How much money do you need we'll supply."
"I'm not going to betray my comrade for materialistic things," Paolo said. "I believe in two things, dreams and family. In family, betrayal is the worst."
Nintus looked at the rest of the crew, his eyes glistening with hope that they would have more sense than their captain. "Won't you talk him into it?"
Shinzo cleared his throat. "Even if I'm strongly considering it, I won't go against my captains orders, so if he says no then no."
Aline nodded. "Apart from the first part, once Paolo is dedicated to something, he won't back down, so we can't argue."
"I wouldn't give him up either, especially since he's so adorable," Luna added.
"I see you have chosen the hard way," Nintus said, pushing up his glasses. "So be it."
A see through armor covered his body, a huge sword appearing in his hand. He moved in to hit Paolo, the captain not moving. As it prepared to hit him, Aline stopped his blade with her own.
"Don't try it."
The two moved backwards, the five adventurers staring the S5 down. Luna stood behind Octavius who stood in the middle while Aline, Shinzo and Paolo stood in front.
"I'll do my best as support," Luna called from the back.
Elan scoffed. "Don't think you can beat us."
Sero smirked, pushing his hands through his brown hair. "Let's show them the power of the S5." He charged forwards, three versions of him appearing. "I'll get the prince easily."
He pulled out a gun from his pocket, shooting at them only for a giant ice wall to appear and stop the bullet. Luna pointed her wand forward. "I'm the defense, so don't think you can touch them."
A bunch of chains made of ice spiraled towards them, reaching to grab Luna, but a wall appeared in front of her, Octavius standing on top of it. "Don't think I'll stand here idly too."
Paolo charged forward to punch Nintus, but an invisible force pushed him back. Immediately understanding that one of them could turn invisible he looked back. "Shinzo start and Aline protect him at all cost."
Aline nodded while Shinzo took a deep breath,
Paolo looked forward, examining the situation,
Denzil in a speed not able to be seen by the human eye, punched Paolo backwards. Paolo rolled on the ground, wheezing.
Denzil charged towards Aline next, but she stopped his fists with her blade, the iron not able to withstand the weight of his punch. He managed to push her backwards, her body almost falling on Shinzo.
During this time, Sero jumped in the air, shooting his gun at Luna. She created another wall, but the bullet broke through it and hit her shoulder. She hissed in pain, paralysis filling her system as she fell on her knees.
"Luna!" Octavius called out.
She held her wounded arm, holding it. "I-I'm fine."
Sero licked his lips. "Those bullets are specially created by Ferrum Works, it sucks energy for a while."
More ice chains grabbed Octavius in his distracted form, tugging him forward and punching him in the stomach. Saliva poured from his lips as he coughed violently, eyes watering.
"Sorry Prince Octavius, but we'll have to restrain you for now."
Aline moved in to help, but an invisible force punched her backwards and she crashed backwards.
Nintus smirked. "You guys were all talk."
Shinzo's eyes peeled open, glowing yellow as he tied his hair up. "Captain, I'm done."
Paolo rose to his feet. "You guys."
Aline pulled off her glasses, tucking her them into her shirt pockets. "About time you stupid man."
Luna forced herself to her feet, removing an alcohol bottle strapped to her side and chugging out of it. "Slow poke, pretending to lose is hard."
Octavius stood up, pulling out a peppermint and putting it in his mouth. "You're pretty good actor regardless of how you look."
"Octavius."
The young boy charged forward, breaking the ground below and shocking Elan as he punched him in the stomach. The S5 member flew backwards, his consciousness slipping as his eyes rolled to the back of his head.
Octavius blew at his fists. "Your punch is weak, put some muscle into it next time."
Denzil tried to attack the young prince, but a figure whizzed past him and sheathed her sword. As she did, blood spurt out from a wound in his chest and his body flopped to the ground.
Aline flipped her glasses open, placing them over her gray eyes. "Too slow."
Sero came from above to shoot her, but Luna created a giant wind that blew him away as well as sliced through his skin. With small wounds on his body, he lay on the ground immobile.
Shinzo then kicked the air, a person flickering between visibility and invisibility before settling on visibility and landing unconscious on the floor.
Nintus stared at his four men on the ground before looking back at them. Paolo suddenly whistled and the crew started moving away, Luna picking up the Fedal brother with her carpet.
Nintus tried to attack them with his blade, but Paolo grabbed his sword. "You guys, get going."
They disappeared to the back of the factory and Paolo and Nintus stared each other down.
"Release the prince."
"No," Paolo stated.
Nintus tried to attack him, but stopped when a huge shadow cast over him. He looked up, mouth agape as a huge ship with a cross figurehead and an arrow coming from the middle floated above him on a cloud.
Paolo grinned. "Goodbye."
He grabbed on to a ladder hanging from the floating object, the ship blasting forward. Nintus couldn't move, the shock too much for him. The ship on the other hand moved too fast, crashing into the ocean.
The crew stood breathless on the deck, the silence being disrupted by their sudden burst of laughter.
"Did you see his face?" Luna wheezed.
Octavius cleaned the tears in his eyes. "He looked like a pucker fish."
"Do you think he'll chase us?" Aline asked.
Paolo shook his head. "His friends are injured and it'll take a lot of time for them to prepare the ship."
"It's a good thing we told the workers to get the ship ready," Shinzo said.
On a glass table in the middle of the ship, a hub placed in the middle rung. Octavius picked it up, placing it on his ear.
"So you finally decided to leave."
Octavius sighed. "The situation called for it. If I stayed, my stupid father might have sent a whole platoon after me or even destroy the island just to get me back."
Festus' chuckle came low. "Well I'm glad you're gone, so you can finally start growing."
Octavius frowned. "I'm already grown."
"You're still a child, Octavius…go out to the world and come up with solutions with your own inventions, I'm rooting for you."
"Festus, thank you."
Festus smiled over the hub. "No thank you."
Octavius dropped the hub, turning to Paolo. "Take care of me."
Paolo grinned. "Of course."