"I can't find a key anywhere. Are you guys having any luck?" Lucilla called out.
"Sorry dear, I can't seem to locate it." Morella answered.
"The only thing we found was an arena-like area at the end of the hall." Judieth said as she and Aliaa walked towards them from the back end of the hall that made up the underground prison.
"I can't find anything either Teacher." Sara regretfully informed.
"It's probably with whoever is in charge of this place." Cristina said. "I doubt they would've just left them hanging with only these two hardly working machines."
Lucilla glanced over at Cristina who was leaning against the wall. 'I wonder what she knows of these things. I'll have to ask about it later.' She thought to herself.
These weren't magi-tech like she and the rest of this world were used to. There was a magic stone imbued with the lightning element inside the machine itself, it looked more like it was rigged up to function that way instead of it being it's intended use. Even the Mana Cables were made from something like copper, instead of something that could conduct Mana more efficiently like silver.
'I don't even think those were Mana cables.' She figured. 'I didn't get the feeling there was any Mana flowing through the entity, not counting the Mana stone.'
Shaking her head to clear her though, Lucilla walked over to the metal door. Channeling 'Arcane Power' Into her pointer and middle finger, a large blast of fire started to surge. With some effort she started to compress the flame into a smaller and more concentrated flame. With all the power focused into a point, the normally red and orange fir was a scolding blue and white. Moving her finger, Lucilla brought it to the lock and melted through the door and the locking mechanism within, destroying it. She then grabbed the door an pulled it open.
Inside the small stone room was a Demon sitting on the floor with shackles on his hands and feet. A slave collar was wrapped around his neck, the thick metal giving a dull sheen as it reflected the low light coming from the hall. His dark blue skin of his upper body was bare for all to see, showing the many fresh wounds marring it. His amethyst-colored iris, surrounded by the deep sea of black of his sclera, looked at Lucilla with mistrust and hatred.
Looking down at the man without a change in her usual expression, Lucilla looked cold and menacing. She appeared to be an executioner ready to help this man depart from the mortal plane. The two of them stared at each other for what felt like an eternity. After a few seconds of this Lucilla crouched in front of the man and asked one simple question.
"Are you the group from the Lost Country?" Not understanding what she meant at first the Demon froze. Before realizing that this Silver haired woman might be here to rescue him and his two companions.
"Yes I am." He answered. "There are two others here as well. A Human male, and a wolf woman."
Having gotten the answer she was looking for, Lucilla stood up and left the confined room. There was a total of ten holding cells in the hall. Five doors on either side lined the wall, with nothing to help them to see inside the room. The appeared to be a panel at the bottom of each door, she assumed so they can slide food inside, but those appeared to be locked. She wasn't keen on getting on her hands and feet to try and peak inside each room anyway.
"Guess we'll have to search each room one by one." She said with a sigh.
-- -- --
After a few minutes of searching each room, they managed to locate the other two. Using the same trick she used to open the doors, Lucilla freed the three captives from their shackles, but the slave collars had to be dealt with at a later date. They could try forcefully breaking it like they did hers all those months ago, but that would waste a lot of time.
"Let's get going." Lucilla said as she turned and walked to the exit. The others following close behind. As they ascended the stairs, no none of them noticed the two dark figures reveling themselves. The two figures watched the group leave without stopping them.
"Well, not exactly what we planned, but we still got to see how the bots handle themselves in combat." The taller figure said. He was wearing clothing not of this world. A jacket with neon blue accents, and a holster at his side. If Jason or Cristina saw him, they would describe his outfit as something Stright from sci-fi.
"Well, we weren't expecting much. Shame my facility got destroyed and my cover completely useless." The other man said, dressed in identical clothes. It was Davis Cathrendor, the man Lucilla had let escape only a few days prior. His personality that made him seem like a slimy and arrogant businessman trying to butter up the upper class was gone. "It wasn't easy getting that identity."
"That's your own fault. You got sloppy and carless." Admonished the taller man. "Anyway, you sure on letting them go. They took our bots."
"Yes. They ones they rescued are from the Lost Country so no one would care about them. Thats why we imprisoned them in the first place." Davis started. "Now if we kill the guards they knocked out and blame it on them, we can justify starting a fight with the Arachne Queen."
"We could even get the Holy Theocracy to help." The other man concluded. "We'll be able to collect different specimen and claim we are holding prisoners of war."
"War? The other counties don't even recognize them as a real country. They don't have rights as far as they are concerned. No what we need, and what the Theocracy needs, is an excuse to slay the Arachne Queen."
"Unexpected development, but overall helpful for us."
The two men smiled as they turned around and headed back down the way they came.