"Let's roll! Hero boy!" Mandy yelled as he quickly bolted right at me and Amelia. He was fast, like almost the speed Lilith could go.
I could still cast something before he gets to us! Something that'll stall him or something!
Aiming my hand right out towards him. I silently casted a Intermediate Water spell. It was basically a sharp icicle that I could shoot at people.
Thank god I listened to my Magic classes.
However, without my staff in my hands since I dropped it. The coldness from the spell was starting to affect me, My fingers starting to numb from the coldness. As fast as I could, I aimed the icicle at Mandy and fired it. It basically shot like a bullet towards him.
Dink!
That was the sound of Mandy's pole deflecting the icicle, swiping to his right and flinging the icicle to the walls of the building. He began to laugh as he sped right towards me.
"Hahaha! One less task to worry about!"
Task? Wait, he mentioned that again…
Mandy readied his pole, he was ready to strike me in the head with his pole before he hesitated and skidded to a stop, nearly ten feet away from me and Amelia.
There was a crackling noise that came from behind me. Like someone was trying to get through from the other side.
Oh yeah, That's right. The stone wall that was made to block us should've been destroyed or at least weakened since the two men were killed.
Then something flinched out from the wall and whizzed past me and Amelia. Mandy instantly took action and somehow caught whatever was whizzing towards him. It was his pole that he had thrown at us earlier, how the hell did someone manage to get it out?
Without the pole inside of the wall, the stone wall was now much weaker with the hole left behind. Amelia and I turned to look at the wall with confusion as to who it was that was breaking from the other side.
The wall cracked open, debris scattering and falling as a figure jumped through the wall. Dust was made as the wall crumbled. I watched as the figure landed between me and Amelia, kneeling before slowly standing up.
"I-Mr.Goodman?!" Amelia first reacted. When the dust finally settled. I saw the familiar blonde haired man, looking quite angry at first. But as soon as he heard Amelia, he looked at the both of us in utter confusion.
"Wha-Kids?! What are you guys doing?!" Kale's eyes flared with anger as he looked at me. "You were supposed to take her back! What happened?"
"I-Well she wanted to head back to her inn to get her stuff and we were hea-" Kale stopped me with his hand, his look of disappointment basically shutting me down.
"I already told you. Don't go, They were bound to look in that area." Kale slowly turned to look down the aisle where Mandy stood. "I'm guessing…You're the person who's looking for their Client's Girl."
Mandy smirked, gazing at me and kale. "Heh, Correct!" His eyes scanned Kale from the bottom to top. "You the guardian of this boy? Stunningly handsome, I might say!"
Kale gave him a confused look, scratching his head. "I-I guess? Yeah, I'm the guardian of these two at the moment. Especially the blue haired girl."
"Boo. I guess you won't let me have her then."
"Well I just came from a meeting that was talking about her. So yes. I won't."
Mandy stared at him. I wasn't sure if it was in excitement or something else, but it was starting to creep Kale out.
"Kota, what can she do? Is she like a mage? Fire style, wind style?"
"I-uh…"
Mandy responded to him. "I don't follow the traditional rules here. This here." Mandy held his poles out. "This is all I need." But as he lowered his poles, he frowned at Kale. "And it's also 'He'."
Kale's eyes widened for a moment, his right hand slowly moving up and pointing at Mandy.
"…Huh?"
"What?! Don't I look dashing For a boy? Charmed, aren't you?" Mandy did a twirl and gave Kale a seductive smile as he spun. "I've taken down some studs befo-"
"You use a pole?" Kale asked.
"…eh?" Mandy stopped spinning, his smile slowly faded. "I-Yes, I use this."
"That's weird."
I looked at kale with utter confusion. Was he not aware that Mandy had corrected him on his gender? Or was Kale just too oblivious to notice?
Amelia looked at Kale with confusion as well, she must've had the same thought as me. But Kale focused on the Pole, drawing his two swords from his waist.
"But you leave these kids alone. And surrender for King Lucian. You've committed some heinous crimes and I'm not afraid to be harsh." Kale pointed a finger towards the other side of the alley. "The ruckus you made was noted by the guards, we have this place surrounded."
Mandy scoffed, tapping his poles against the floor playfully. "Hah! What's a bunch of guards going to do? I know all about the guards here! All lacking!"
Kale let out a groan. "Damn it, they aren't that bad! We have your minotaur!"
"They what?! How?" Mandy lifted one of his poles and tapped on his head annoyingly. "Can't believe I let that stud go by himself…ah, who cares." He smirked again and twirled his poles. "I'm not letting that girl get loose, not when I have her right in my hands. And I ain't letting some generic Guy get in my way!"
Kale was taken back by her generic remark. "Wha-Generic?" He turned to me. "Am I?"
I don't think I've heard anyone say that before. Like ever. But…I mean I guess kale would fit that Generic video character look. blonde hair, green eyes, uses a sword. Eh, maybe his personality too.
Kale didn't wait for my response, rather he drew his swords and looked back at Mandy. "Alright, nevermind that. I guess you want to do this the hard way!" Slowly, I noticed that he began to Shimmer a rainbow color that indicated he was mana cloaking.
I watched as Kale quickly made action, watching Mandy as he decided to come swinging down into Kale.
Kale braced for the impact, holding his two swords as the pole Mandy had collided with them. It seemed Mandy was using his full force, but it didn't bother Kale that much. There was a loud metallic noise that came from them, one that rang to each side of the alley.
"I'm taking the girl to my Client!" Mandy yelled.
Kale grunted and pushed him off of himself, readying his Fire king style stance. "You're wasting your time. That minotaur buddy of yours will tell us the truth, and we'll figure out who paid you." He then flung himself at Mandy, fighting aggressively with every swing and jab.
The sound of marching caught my ears as Kale talked with Mandy. It closely came from the way Kale came in. It was most likely the Prusha guards who came to investigate the noises.
Maybe Amelia can go with the guards back to kales? As much as I'd want to get out of whatever the hell is happening here…someone needs to watch Kale in case something bad happens, and I'm probably the only one with the most use for him.
As kale continued to fight, I noticed that Mandy was actually able to dodge his attack relatively easily. And it didn't seem like he was using mana cloaking, only snickering as he loosely swayed and avoided kale's strikes. Then as Kale went for a fast sweep at his feet, Mandy elegantly hopped up. His pole extending even longer and slamming into the walls of the buildings, this caught Kale by surprise as he looked up to see Mandy dangling in the air.
"What th-'' Kale wasn't fast enough to react to Mandy's swift kick to his head. The girlish pink haired boy cackled as he pummeled Kale with kicks. Kale managed to break free from the pummeling by taking a swing at Mandy once again. Only for Mandy to raise his legs up, acrobatically swinging himself on the pole.
"Haha! You're way too slow for me!" Mandy said as he now was squatting on the pole. "Going to let a girl beat you?"
"First of all, No!" Kale fiercely grabbed the pole and yanked it. He was able to pull it off, forcing Mandy to jump off and land away from him.
"Second, I'm fighting a boy!" Kale then threw the Pole like a boomerang at Mandy. Right after he threw it, he ran full speed and jumped. His large leap in the air made sure that Mandy wouldn't get away if he jumped.
"Haah?! Boy?! How crude!" Mandy swiftly pulled out his other pole and struck it down, extending it longer so that it would dig deep into the floor. The spinning pole collided with the erect pole, making an odd looking cross now.
Kale was still then air as that happened, he bunched up his legs as he sprung them out again. I didn't know what he was planning to be honest, but as soon as his legs smashed into the horizontal pole. The sudden force from him managed to jerk the vertical pole backwards, the floor beneath lurching up.
"What the!" That was all Mandy could say before the vertical pole he planted in the ground smacked him on the head, sending him sprawling on the ground.
Kale landed hard on the floor as the horizontal pole landed on his stomach. I watched the two lay sprawled on the floor by their own actions.
"D-did the two of them get knocked out?" Amelia asked me, but I raised a hand at her to silence her.
"Don't know. Stay here. I'm going to help kale. If you see any of the guards, holler at them." Without waiting for her reply, I sped my way to kale, holding my staff.
Mandy could easily spring back up to do something, so I gotta stay alert for that. If anything, I could make my own stone wall to safely assure our protection…though that'd cost us catching him.
"Kale!" I yelled as I knelt beside him. I took a look at him and saw no real injuries. Kale groaned as he stumbled his way up to his feet.
"Ah-Alright…Maybe I shouldn't have done that."
"I think you're learning a bit from Lilith as you train her…"
"Yeah…don't bring this up to her." As Kale rubbed his head, he looked to where Mandy laid. "The gigs up! Hand yourself over to us!" Quickly grabbing his swords from the floor, he readied into a fire king stance.
"Kale, you can't really say that when he's the one giving you the issues." I mumbled to him. I stood back up and readied my staff. I didn't anticipate fighting again, but I'll do it.
"Quiet Kota, you're making me look bad!"
As we stood there, we heard some loud clanking of boots again. I turned my head to see some of the guards running into the alley the way kale came from, some of the guards noticing Amelia. And then on the other side, a few other guards popped in as well.
Mandy was surrounded.
As the pink haired boy opened his eyes, he swiftly pulled himself off the floor and looked at both ends of the alley way. At first there was surprise on his face, then there was a grin.
"Haha…Well, well…" Mandy turned his gaze to me and kale. "Looks like you managed to buy time, huh?"
"You're surrounded." Kale said. "You have no way of getting out."
"Blah blah blah! I've heard of that one too many times to count…There's always a way that none of you could think of." Mandy calmly grabbed his poles, easily tearing the erect one out from the floor. Then he slowly put his hand behind his back. "Allow me to demonstrate."
Mandy then threw something on the ground. The sound of pebbles echoed through the alley way as some black ones landed in front of me and kale. Mandy then threw some the other way towards the other guards. Before any of us could react, they exploded into a thick gray cloud.
Are these…smoke bombs? I grabbed the collar of my shirt and pulled it over my face to not breathe it in. Unfortunately, Kale didn't think of doing that as he ended up coughing and waving his hands around in confusion. Hastily, I silently casted a Beginner wind spell. A burst of wind was enough to disperse this smoky cloud.
And Mandy was not where he was before.
I heard the sound of clanging as I peered up. It was Mandy, using his poles to swing his way up to the roofs of the buildings. Extending and shortening it every time he swung upwards. He was climbing up the buildings like that? It was something I'd see an acrobatic do in my past life.
As everyone began to stare up to the roofs of the building. Mandy took one more swing as he landed safely onto the roofs, he peered back down at us and smirked.
"Haha! Told ya! You people never expect this to happen! Luckily that boy was clever enough to get rid of the smoke." Mandy paused for a moment, turning his head down towards where Amelia was. "Ugh…With this many guards here, I'm going to need to dip."
Kale waved at the guards that were on the end where me and amelia came from. "Watch the roofs! Do not let him escape!"
I saw Mandy frown as he said that. "I'm a woman! Come on!" He mumbled to himself for a moment before looking down at me. His blue eyes pierced into me. "I'm getting that girl. And once I've done the job, I'm coming for you."
I gulped at his words, I don't think anyone has said that to me yet. Although I'm thinking that he meant it in a threatening way…in the back of my head I'm pretty sure he meant capturing me as well.
I aimed my staff at him, maybe he couldn't see I was somewhat shaking as I held it up. "You won't set your hands on that girl. Nor me."
Cool, going for the Heroic quotes.
"Hmph. Guess you're also a little weird." That was the only thing Mandy said before he gave me a wave and ran off. The sounds of the rooftop were the only noises he made.
The guards then put in their work, marching out of the alley way. One of them giving orders to look at the roofs and another saying to have someone lock the gates.
I heard Kale let out an audible sigh as he slowly holstered his swords into their holster.
"You alright kale?" I asked him. He craned his neck to me and frowned. And before I could react, he gave me a chop to the top of my head.
"Ow! What was that for?"
"I'm still mad that you didn't listen to me."
Oh…forgot about that.
"I-uh…If it makes you feel better…I took out one of the big dudes here?" Kale glanced over to the dead bodies of the monstrous men as I said that.
Kale scratched his head. "Well…would have been better if you had kept them alive at least. Good job." He walked his way to the one that I had killed, examining it.
As he examined the body, I decided that I should check up on amelia. I saw her near the crumbled stone wall, idly looking around the roofs and at us. She hasn't really done much, although…now that I think of it, her wind spell actually might have saved us from being cooked. I should probably thank her for that.
…Nah, she doesn't deserve that praise. Especially if it comes from me.
I walked past Kale and headed to Amelia. Once she noticed me, she gave me a look before stomping her way to me. I thought she was angry at me still for the blood on her clothes.
I raised my hands in panic as she came closer. "Hey, listen! I can water it ou-"
"Are you hurt?" Amelia asked.
Oh, that caught me by surprise. I gave her a weird look as she examined me. Her expression of concern was now more visible than it was before.
"I-"
"It's a yes or no question, idiot."
"No..." I watched as Amelia nodded and looked straight at me. "Getting a little concerned for me? Not normal for you to do that."
"I'm only concerned because you could've died. I don't think anyone would want that sort of thought in their head."
"I guess. Are you fine?" I asked her. Amelia folded her arms and straightened herself to look more taller.
"Of course! Why wouldn't I be! You should be more concerned with how I saved us!" She was kindly reminding me of when she used her wind spell.
"Seemed terrified when they started charging us."
"Uh…duh? Why wouldn't a mage not be terrified if something's coming at them? Only reason you were able to do anything was because of that silent casting of yours!" Amelia leaned towards me. "Which by the way, I could've easily finished without your help." She then jabbed a finger into my chest in a sarcastic way.
"Well why didn't you?" I asked in an irritated tone.
"I wouldn't want to step on the foot of the one that beat me in a duel. Of course I'd expect you to beat them!"
I smirked at her. "You just admit I'm better?"
Amelia gawked at me and blushed, her face scrunching into an angry expression . "I-I didn't intend it that way!" Angrily she raised her staff to hit me in the head.
"Hey!" Just as she was about to strike, Kale swooped in and held the top of her staff. He looked quite annoyed as he slowly let go of the staff.
"Gah-Mr.Goodman?!" Amelia lowered her staff and looked at him.
"What? Done flirting with him? C'mon, we need to get you to my home." Kale looked at one of the guards and waved at him. "Jerry, Can you take these two back to my place?"
"Yes, sir!" The guard named Jerry, saluted Kale and proceeded to walk towards me and Amelia.
"Wha-Flirting?!" Amelia was still stunned by Kale's response. "I would never!"
"Yeah, yeah. That's what tera said, and now look at us."
Amelia kept her surprised look as Jerry nudged her out and into the streets again. Leaving me and Kale in the alley.
"Tsk…Going to need to head back and report this event." Kale looked at me. "Those bodies. Those aren't normal, at least from what I saw."
I gave him a somewhat mundane look. "Yeah…I mean they're huge and look like a bundle of flesh. That isn't normal."
"Don't sass me. I'm already pissed off at the moment." He folded his arms and looked down the alley to the dead bodies. "What I mean is that they've been physically modified to an extreme measure."
"By magic?"
"No…" Kale frowned. "Seems like whoever messed with them didn't use magically on any internal organs. They just bulked them. The stitches on them though…those were magically enchanted to help keep them in place."
Sounds like some sort of diabolical doctor doing all of this…or maybe that pink haired boy had something to do with them.
"Either way. I'll need to have someone who has more knowledge take a look at them. So I'll be heading back to the castle." Kale nodded his head into the direction of the streets. "I need you to head back. This time, actually go back."
"I can do that." I nodded back to him. As I made my way through the hole he made, he spoke again.
"Lilith and Claire should be back at the house. Make sure they're doing fine."
With that, I gave him a wave without looking and headed out to the street.