Josh took the liberty of taking the charge of negotiation this time as he was pretty much known as the group's leader.
They were given an invitation to the castle to meet the heroes who are looking for talent to make use of. It sounded like a normal invitation as they were deemed talented, thus Josh immediately accepted the invitation.
Despite being the leader, Josh wanted to take his abilities of diplomacy as he came from a rich family. He understood some things about negotiation, but he didn't know about the true goals of the two heroes. He only knew that they are powerful and will turn on them at any moment.
"Good day Josh and his crew, we welcome you to the palace formally after hearing about your accomplishments in our country." In their time in the academy, they were able to reach extreme heights in terms of the people of Aquila. Their talents far exceed regular scholars and how they were taught magic was somewhat out of this world, thus the two heroes called them in. "I am referred to as the [Hero of Prodigies], and we are joined by the [Hero of Control]." "Greetings." The two heroes made proper greetings, but Juniper quickly realized that they were already used to saying those words with the properly calm expression. "If I remember correctly..." Juniper kept those words in his mind as she recalled something.
"There's two walls that actually separate their castle to the public. In between of those walls is a large enough gap where the two heroes can do whatever they want. Even if you think that the castle is very secure, the gap between the two walls is where your group will be the most vulnerable." Earlier in the day, Juniper actually contacted Draxus, for further information about the castle blueprints. Seeing that one of his Sentinels actually requested information, he decided that he would be fine with giving it to them without issues. "There's one spot that I had marked with a purification rod." "Out of all things, wh-" "No need to ask, the guards will just think that somebody buried something below it, but that's a piece of equipment I recently made that I left there on purpose." Juniper then listened to further instructions just in case things go awry. "By the way, where are you right now?" Upon asking that question, she could hear Draxus grin for a bit. "Let's just say I'm in the boundary between worlds, testing a new type of magic that I conceptualized from a game." With that as his last few words, he cut the call knowing that it was enough for them.
Juniper prepared herself for the trickeries that the two heroes might pull. She resolved herself to stop Josh when he does go out of line.
"I- We are grateful to know that what we do could be seen as great things that had happened in the country of Aquila. We merely came here in pursuit of improving our capabilities." "Is that so? Then how about you join the ranks of our country. Forming a unit with your group, you'd be able to reach even greater heights by the side of Aquila and Temockria." Josh formally spoke what he thought about the achievements their group had gotten over the past month. Gayle simply sat laid back next to Josh, and Juniper is on the other side, with Pauleen beside her as well. The rest sat on the other couch as the two heroes gave out their proposal.
"I apologize but-" Josh attempted to decline the request, resulting in a massive pressure brought out. Juniper immediately recognized what had been done. "Our minds, are shaken!" Due to her fallen angel traits that Draxus gave her, she was resilient to the pressure that was brought out. She immediately attempted to cancel the abilities of the [Hero of Control] but she was immediately stopped. "Ghh!" She was gritting her teeth, as she endured the intense pressure in her body that's stopping her from standing up. "I-I..." With Josh's will shaken, Gayle attempted to cancel out the abilities this time as she realized that looking at the target is a requirement for the control to activate. "Not a bad response." The [Hero of Prodigies] stopped Gayle from pulling out her scythe. "As expected, these two ladies here can resist their will being shaken, but their leader only seems to have a resistance over control." Pauleen is completely frozen in place, unable to move despite having a power to seal her target's abilities. But with her forced in place, she was unable to take action. "It seems that we have underestimated their group completely. I don't think they would submit easily as a group but let's go at it this way." The [Hero of Prodigies] brought out something from [Interdimensional Storage], which is technically something that normal people, even heroes have difficulty using. But as he was a prodigy of everything, he was able to make use of magic that originated from Preeliance. "As expected, you know of the [Interdimensional Storage] concept. Then I can conclude it all properly." The hero took notice of Juniper's reaction as her eyes twitched upon seeing the magic he used. "Juniper, Pauleen, Gayle, and Tiffany, you will all stay here for tonight, the rest shall leave immediately." "Wha?!" Josh knew what was about to happen. As he immediately understood that he was losing even though he never got out of line. Juniper also understood that the diplomacy was failing, she took out her rapier and a badge on her left hand. "[Order of the Crystallized Sentinels], [As Sentinel of Advocacy], [Evacuate]!" She used her badge to exert authority higher than the heroes. She had no other choice but to use hers when she planned to use the badge that was distributed to all Sentinels. This allows them to have authority to use a degraded version of [Silent Command] which could only control a select number of targets. She issued an order to her group to escape from the castle immediately. She created a portal with her badge, but it was merely to exit the building as she had to contest the [Hero of Control] for a short while.
"Why the hell are we running?! They'll just catch up easily!" Josh shouted as he made complaints after he finally left the dominating pressure of the hero. "We have no other choice! Only vice-chiefs of the Sentinels are capable of controlling that much willpower, we have to contact one of them-"
The group escaped from the castle walls, but they're now placed on the place where they shouldn't be. "Don't let them get out of this place!" The two heroes easily caught up to them, and have surrounded them with heavily armored men. "Tch, so they caught up already, let's just kill them all then." Gayle spat out her frustration as she prepared her scythe. "Into formation!" Juniper issued another command as she glanced over to Pauleen. Being best friends, Pauleen immediately understood Juniper's intention. She moved to the center and started drawing on her paper, resulting in multiple dangerous monsters, such as blood ligers, and lightning panthers being brought into existence.