"Woah!"
Arcadia picked up Ayato. She was carrying him like a suitcase. Ayato didn't exactly feel comfortable in that position but there was nothing he could do.
The woman clenched her fist.
"Seriously?"
Arthur edged away slightly. He felt the change in the atmosphere around Arcadia.
"If you don't let me and this boy out of here, I'll destroy this entire palace."
"..."
Alice was torn between a rock and a hard place. Although she wanted to reprimand both of them, she knew that she couldn't stop Arcadia but not trying would damage her pride.
"Ngh..."
The Queen relaxed her hand and sighed.
"Let them go."
She reluctantly uttered.
"Huh, but, Your Majesty..."
"Did you not hear what I said, Alicia, let them go!"
She screamed at the girl. Alicia lowered her staff and so did the other two.
"Good,"
Arcadia said while dragging Ayato along.
"Where are we going?"
He whispered.
"To wherever they're keeping that witch girl. You know, right?"
"I think..."
"That's good enough. We're going to drag that Morgan here and make her confess."
Ayato blinked in confusion.
"Sorry, but why are you helping me? You said because of Pride but you don't seem like the type of person to help another just because they're in danger."
The woman smiled.
"You're right."
"So why?"
"Because I do whatever I want."
She ominously answered. Ayato felt like that was the signal to not inquire any further.
"Okay..."
Suddenly, the palace rumbled. It wasn't the rumble of the building being damaged, but rather from a tremor. Something that the UK didn't get.
"What?"
Arcadia looked up as the chandelier flickered.
"An earthquake?"
"I thought London didn't have any."
Mao Zhao and Yu were also perplexed, however, not as shocked as Alice. Her eyes widened.
"Is this... mana?"
She could sense residual mana in the air. It was clear to her that this earthquake was not ordinary. A mana phenomenon.
"Is this a part of the Azure Eruptions?"
"Correct, Your Majesty."
Upon hearing the voice, Alice froze. She glanced down at her subjects. Arthur, Alicia and Aindeau stood there. Arthur glared at her, meanwhile, the other two averted their eyes in shame.
"What...? Arthur?"
"I don't think it's the best time to keep up the act so I'll just go out and say it."
"Get down!"
Arcadia shouted.
Arthur's sword began shining. It excreted holy mana. He swung his arm. All of the guards' heads were lopped off in a single swing. Their necks spewed blood like a fountain.
Among their heads were...
"Rosie!"
The secretary's head hit the floor. It rolled to the Queen's feet. Alice stood up from her throne.
"Arthur! Alicia! Aindeau! What is the meaning of this?! Have you really...?!"
"There's no benefit in revealing ourselves but I thought it'd be kind to do so now."
Arthur raised his holy sword—he pointed it at Alice Ilistria.
"We will destroy London as one of the world's anchor points. It was a shame. Especially since this was a city that I loved."
"An anchor point?"
Fear. Arthur's entire body went on high alert. Behind him, Arcadia raised her fist. She thrust her arm at him; the knight stepped to the side, barely dodging it, he sliced her wrist.
"What?"
Arthur quizzically yelped.
He backed away from Arcadia. The giant took off her white coat. Her arms were covered in irregular scars. They covered her arms. She had another scar on her stomach.
Arcadia looked like a war-torn rag. Her wrist bled from the cut from Excalibur.
"Only a cut?"
Arthur was confused.
Arthur's holy sword, Excalibur, nullified cause and effect. In other words, he could cut through mana used as a shield. Her hand should've been cut off, however, it was still intact.
"I'll kill you, boy. You'll regret killing my secretary."
"Sadly, we have no time for that. Let's rejoin with Morgan. Bank should be seeping with royal lava."
Alicia tapped her staff against the ground. The three elite guards were surrounded by a blue hue.
"Teleportation."
They disappeared.
Alice dropped into her seat—she was in shock.
"So all of them really were..."
Ayato muttered.
"What are we going to do now?"
He turned to Arcadia. She clenched her fist and maniacal smirk. Her eyes flared with fury.
"Let's go to wherever you say they're holding that witch. I'm going to kill that blonde guard."
"...Okay,"
Ayato replied while averting his eyes. He walked through the door and attempted to stretch.
"Ah, what about these handcuffs?"
·———·
"Hey, can we stop this? This is going to go on forever."
Akari asked the witch. She was breathing heavily and had a cut on the corner of her mouth, like a smile. Morgan exhaled and swung her staff.
"It's fine. We can end this now."
"...Shit."
Akari cursed as three other individuals appeared beside Morgan. She appraised the three of them.
'The girl has the highest mana quantity. That man's sword seems to be a problem. That bartender-looking guy was supposed to be with Ayato, wasn't he?'
There was one conclusion that Akari reached. She threw all of her blood viles into the air. The woman frowned.
'They're enemies then.'
"Bloodcraft..."
Taking on all four of them without knowing what they would do would be foolish. An oversized droplet of blood formed behind Akari.
"What shit have you gotten yourself into, Morgan?"
"Shut up and take care of her. I'm exhausted. I won't have enough left for later."
The white-haired witch sauntered behind the three of them. Arthur chuckled. He was excited to see Morgan troubled.
"Brother!"
Alicia shouted.
A myriad of blood drops flew toward them. Aindeau blocked with his mana, Alicia used her staff and Arthur didn't block at all.
Aindeau furrowed his brow. His hands were stained with blood.
"They weren't hardened?"
Akari now knew who to attack first. That attack was to determine who was the biggest threat out of the three, in terms of their reactions and the way they blocked Akari's feint.
The list went from Arthur to Alicia and finally to Aindeau. It would be best to avoid Arthur for now but she didn't want them to know who she was targetting.
The large blood droplet split in half. Half of the blood transfigured into blades of blood. They floated behind Akari and waited.
"Those are real, aren't they?"
Aindeau asked, making sure.
"Yeah, make sure you block them."
Arthur raised Excalibur.
"Sword Rain."
The blades of blood rushed the elite guards. Arthur swiftly deflected each one that was aimed at his body.
"Tch!"
He let one scar him as he couldn't react in time.
Alicia hid behind a familiar that she summoned. It was currently on the brink of death.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck..."
The girl was reciting in fear. Since she mostly used magic from afar, she had never actually gotten hurt or been in a proper fight.
The man dressed in a waistcoat protected himself with mana. He was putting himself at risk since some of the blood cut through his mana while the others didn't. Aindeau didn't have anything special he could use for defence.
Suddenly, the barrage became more intense. Aindeau was pushed back.
"Oi, Alicia! A bigger familiar!"
"Shut up! I was going to do that anyway!"
She screamed at the man. The girl tapped her staff against the floor.
"Orochi!"
A large snake burst through the room. It acted as a wall between the blades of blood and the elite guards. Alicia sighed.
"I should've just done this from the beginning."
"What about Morgan?"
Looking back, Aindeau asked. Arthur stood in front of the witch with his sword in front of him.
"..."
"Will you say it?"
"Shut up, you idiot. I'm not thanking you. I didn't need your help."
"As you say,"
The knight shrugged off Morgan's pride.
"Well, then, why don't we—?"
As he spoke, the blades of blood rained in, above the snake's wall of flesh.
"She's persistent."
"Kyyaah!"
Alicia managed to hide under another familiar. This time around, it was longer than the other. Arthur blocked the blades for himself and Morgan.
"Fuck...!"
Meanwhile, Aindeau was struggling. He couldn't defend against the blades of blood with simply pure mana. He was bleeding all over. He was lucky that no blades had hit any vital spots.
When Aindeau saw an opening, he formed a bow of mana.
"Hah!"
Aindeau's mana discharge was enormous compared to the other times he shot. The mana erased the blades of blood coming at him.
The man sighed, lowering his arm.
"Are you okay, Aindeau?"
Alicia asked, still hiding underneath her familiar. He gritted his teeth. Veins bulged in his face and fist.
"Let me kill that woman."
Aindeau growled.
"You won't be able to kill her alone, Aindeau."
Morgan stated. She was conserving her mana and doing her best to replenish it.
"I will!"
Aindeau walked toward the snake's body. She raised her bow.
"I'll use my bow to fuck her over. Giga—"
"Star Cross."
"—!"
"Aindeau?"
In the silence, Alicia glanced at the man. She covered her mouth in horror. Aindeau collapsed onto his knees. He had a cross shape through his body. He was bleeding excessively.
"Aindeau? Aindeau!"
Arthur shouted.
"That worked. I knew the weakest link was the way to go."
Morgan smirked.
"You sneaky old fox."
"That's no way to address me."
Akari appeared from behind the elite guards. The man in the waistcoat laid on the ground, bleeding out. The girl ran over to him.
"Aindeau! Aindeau!"
She hovered her staff over him.
"Ad—!"
"No use, he's already dead. The Star Cross cut through his lungs and scraped his heart. He's dead."
The Councilwoman declared.
The blonde knight bit his lip as he stared at Akari. He noticed the hole under her.
'That's how she did it. She probably controlled the blood blades automatically and burrowed a hole into the ground. She appeared on the other side and attacked Aindeau from behind. The strange part is...'
"You broke through the barrier twice, again?"
The witch asked Akari.
"Yeah, it wasn't hard."
She answered.
Akari could break the barrier before with limited blood. With more blood, the barrier broke easily.
"Now, who's next?"
Akari had killed one. Three more left.