His first reaction was to step back a few metres at her presence. He was in no state to keep fighting, not when there was such a visible path to escape right in front of him.
And the drain also wasn't very visible, but it was there. His energy depleted slowly but surely. He didn't think he'd be able to go into a clash with a Class Eight while keeping his energy intact.
"Ah ah ah, I wouldn't do that if I were you." She grinned. "The moment you turn your back on me is the moment you'll fall to the ground, unable to fathom what happened to you. Wrists aren't the only bones that can be broken, you know."
He absolutely resented her tone, but he could do nothing in this situation.
Amelia continued, "Not to mention. The injuries you inflicted on them were probably superficial. One step into the wrong hall, and you're a goner."
Emery sighed. She was right. Igor was probably in gut-wrenching, soul-crushing pain at the moment, but someone at his level would be able to shrug it off after a while.
Owain, on the other hand, was in a bad state, but he could probably ignore the pain of losing an arm. As long as he wanted revenge, that was. And chances were, they wanted revenge.
Citro curled back nervously, mirroring the emotions that Emery was trying to keep hidden from the lady.
"That's a cute rat you got there," she pointed out.
"It's a mongoose."
Her fists came up once more, and she positioned them above the earth. She looked straight at Emery and Citro as she spoke her next words.
"I wonder who…"
Then, without waiting any further, slammed both fists deep into the earth.
"...asked?!"
BOOOOOM~!
A massive explosion emerged as soon as her fists connected. The ground broke apart and began caving in from the steps of the large courthouse. All the debris and the earth in the area slid towards the giant pit, Emery included.
'Shit!'
He looked around for something to hold on to. He couldn't run back or go forward.
There was no leeway for him to escape properly. So he could fall to his death now, or run back and surrender to the two guards, eventually suffering a far more brutal death.
His answer was…
'Fuck all that!'
All rationality flew out of the window in those next few moments. He backed a few metres back into the courtroom, then dropped into a running pose.
"Eep?"
"Hold on tightly, Citro. I'm going to be doing a bit of athletics here,"
"Eep? Eep! Eep!"
Realization gradually set into the mongoose then it sunk its claws deep into Emery''s jacket flesh. He ignored the searing pain, taking it as a wake-up call, then looked fiercely at the target. The woman in front.
There was only one thing that separated them. And that was a giant pit. No matter.
'I refuse!'
He tapped into a little bit of the energy, activating the Energy Circuitry skill, then took off into a quick dash.
More speed. He needed more!
The edge gradually grew closer, but he couldn't stop moving. Not now. Not at all!
Finally, after what seemed like forever, he jumped forward.
Several things happened in that brief second that he was in the air. Citro's claws pierced the layers of his skin, drawing blood. The woman widened her eyes, not expecting him to have done what he did.
More importantly, the adrenaline within him reached its peak.
"HAAAAAAAA!"
And then…
BANG!
CRASH!
He slammed into the side of a newly formed cliff, grabbing onto the rocks and debris jutting out. The adrenaline was wearing off, allowing him to think far more clearly than before.
He couldn't let Amelia catch him here. He needed to move before that.
The spikes he supported himself with cracked the longer he hung on to it. Even here he was given two options to take.
'I don't intend on dying anytime soon!'
Emery looked around, everywhere but down, then finally pulled himself up. He flew several metres into the air above. It was quite a risky move, seeing as the debris could have given in with that slight pull, but luckily it didn't.
The battlefield from his vantage was something else to behold. Chaos, death and destruction. Konnor still fought Carlos' two right-hand men, and Elyn was still cornered.
She looked up briefly as if sensing someone's presence. They briefly locked eyes, causing her to let out a smile of relief. It didn't distract her though, she returned to her battle, attacking with even more ferocity. Fighting to escape the encirclement.
His bird's eye point of view ended then.
Emery landed on the ground, stumbling. As soon as that happened, all the adrenaline wore off.
He could hear his parent's voices yelling and screaming.
'What exactly were you thinking?!'
"EEEEEP!" Citro echoed them, despite everything.
Truthfully, he didn't know at this point.
Amelia broke him out of these thoughts a second later.
"Impressive. I thought you'd take the sensible route and just die by falling. But you just had to choose the harder method, huh?"
He glared at the red-haired woman for a while, then dropped.
Right, this was a battle. He couldn't forget that. He reached into his pantry and pulled out the knife. Its blade was bloody. He would have to burn it afterwards, but let this be its last fight.
"Now you're talking, pretty boy."
His brows narrowed slightly, and then a green energy enveloped his body.
"All right, bring it."
. . . . .
*Meanwhile*
Hemp looked toward the other man. Chris had both arms crossed. They looked out of the glass outward in the distance. The ruckus was visible even from where they were.
"I didn't expect it to turn out like this," he said.
"Yeah."
"I only told him to retrieve that thing and test the boy out. This is unprecedented,"
"Should I go put an end to it?" Chris asked.
"Don't make yourself visible. If you do that, we'll have to explain a lot. So fix it from a distance. Anyhow you can. We need their support, so don't mess it up."
Chris nodded. "What about the tide?"
"We'll tell them about that. In fact, that's exactly what we'll do. Make it snappy and clean."
"Understood, sir."
The man turned around, and then walked towards the door, finally leaving the dark-haired boss alone.