Ricci and his men made their way out of the city. They had all the loot they had harvested from their time in the city as well as some captives,aside from the two kidnapped royals.
There was a demand for slaves that had risen in recent times and even though it was widespread,it was still an underground operation lest it be kicked down by the government. They reached the gate. It would have been difficult to escape the city especially given their cargo but Ricci had nothing to worry about. He simply went up to the guards and told them that he wanted to get out. They acted as if they wanted to inspect the wagons but stopped at the mention of money.
" You're lucky I'm an honest officer" the guard said as he allowed them through,putting the bag of money in a drawer.
" Keep up the good work" Ricci said as they left.
They moved quite a distance away from the city when he heard one of the wagons crash.
" What!' Ricci said signalling the caravan to halt. He looked back and saw a wagon that had been dismantled by a huge glacier,bits and pieces of wood sticking out here and there. The captives who were in that wagon appeared to be safe in the hollow center of the ice.
" What the." Ricci said getting off and walking toward the scene. He saw someone walking out of the ice,passing through it like she was walking out of a curtain.
" Good evening gentlemen. Lovely weather,isn't it?" Adriana said with a cute smile.
" How are you still conscious. You should be out for at least half a day." Courier said. Adriana chuckled.
" I'm very proficient I'm using Arcana to nullify poisons. In fact I've done it so much that it's become a passive skill." She said.
" You should have just remained in the wagon and you would have been safe." Courier said." This is your last chance ,come quietly and you won't get hurt."
Adrian looked around and saw the man who touched her while they thought she was unconscious. Before anyone could react he was engulfed in flames.
" Pardon but I couldn't let a pervert like that roam free. Now I'll give you the option to surrender and I'll make sure you'll get a sentence more lenient than the death penalty."
" Death penalty? Who do you think we are?" Courier asked defiantly.
" Well theft is a very serious crime and from what I heard you stole quite a horde from the treasury. That and the fact that you kidnapped you royalty. You'd receive nothing less than the death penalty."
Courier laughed and pointed his sickle at her.
" You must be out of your mind if you think that we'll come quietly."
Adriana sighed.
" I guess the negotiations are over then. Such a shame."
The mercenaries drew closer forming a city around her.
" Oh my,is it really your style to hang up on a lady. You people really lack class." She said.
" Oh spare us the bullshit. You clearly have the advantage when it comes to magic but we outnumber you 100 to one." Courier said.
" You screwed up the moment you decided to face us." One of the men said.
" Don't think we'll go easy in you just cause your a woman."
" Let's have some fun with her after we've taught her a lesson." Another said.
" I call dibs"
Ricci stood there. He wondered why this girl would allow herself to be captured. If she wanted to go to their secret base then what was the point of exposing herself now. She didn't fight back while they were in the city so fighting back now while they were far away from the city wasn't the smartest. She was clearly a skilled mage. However no matter how skilled you are ,you can still be overwhelmed by a large number of moderately skilled fighters. Ricci mean we're fairly skilled both in swordmashio and magic so it would be pointless for one mage to stand up to them.
He then concluded that despite her posh background,manners and magic abilities the lady Infront of him was simply not intelligent.
" Knock yourselves out" Ricci said as he walked away. It was then that he noticed that the men who were gaurding the front of the caravan had been cut down. He bent backward, barely avoiding having his head decapitated. He jumped back. He looked back just to see arrows strike the people around Adriana exploding on impact. Adriana however remained unphased. Some of the men tried to run but were hurled up into the air by a whirlwind and slammed into the ground by an increased force of gravity.
Lin and Koniko came to stand next to Adriana while Sasha kicked away a whole wagon and raised her sword to slash Ricci. He blasted her with a fireball and jumped back to join the rest of his men.
There were 205 people part of his group but they were now lying in a bloody heap and not moving. All he had was half the number and even then some of them were injured.
He way he'd as the freed the rest of the captives and led them to take shelter in Adriana's glacier.
" You bitch you set us up." Ricci said.
" Oh my ,are you angry? But why though,you were equally playing dirty so I had to do same to balance the equation." Adriana said sweetly.
Courier rushed forward and hit them with a powerful blast of magical energy destroying everything that was on the other side. Lin however put up a barrier blocking the attack.
" Tch" Courier said jumping back and landing beside Ricci. He got to his feet. He felt a chilling presence. He looked and saw Sharone stepping out of a fog,she opens her palm and blood flower forming into a a scythe. Ricci sized her up. Then lunged at her signalling his men to go after the others.
The battle raged on, with Sharone's scythe slicing through Ricci's attacks like a hot knife through butter. Her blood magic infused the blade, making each strike more deadly than the last. Ricci retaliated with a blast of nuclear flame magic, but Sharone dodged with ease, her scythe flashing in the dim light and hit him with blasts of red energy and constructs of briars that wrapped aroumd him. They caught his arm but he cut them off though he felt himself weaken slightly.These briars drained the life force of everything they touched. Clenched the fist of his shaky hand and charged again.
Courier clashed with wind but Adriana used thermal reversal to change the air currents and attack with fire and ice, their attacks swirling in a vortex of destruction. Adriana summoned a wave of water, but Courier dispelled it with a gust of wind, striking her with his dual sickles. She manifested an axe made of ice and clashed with him. The entire area shaking with the force of their strikes as they exchanged blows.
Lin used her wind and gravity magic, to support Adriana while fending off attacks from some of the attackers who wanted to interfere. She used her ability,Gravitation to hold them in place while Sasha and Koniko wreaked havoc on the men, Sasha's sword slicing through flesh and bone with spatial magic, while Koniko ran around cutting them down with her claws also using thermal reversal, she ignited the air,forming them into arrows which she aimed and released , incinerating their targets.
Ricci stood alone, an aura of flame covering his body.
He couldn't believe he had lost. He saw Sasha pull her sword out of a body. He was strong enough to hold his own against her so why couldn't he beat this.... He looked at Sharone. It was thier abilities. Her blood magic could affect the soul as was seen when she stole some of his life force though she seemed reluctant to use it. No,it wasn't that. The difference in their strength was just too great. Sharone approached him, scythe at the ready.
Ricci smiled.
" I'll be damned if you think I'll go down that easily" he yelled unleashing an omni-directional blast of flame that shit out indiscriminately. Adriana formed a barrier around herself and the others while also protecting the glacier , but Sharone countered with a wave of blood magic, extinguishing the flames and knocking Ricci back.
He spat blood but refused to give up and charged. The others came to join Sharone with Adriana providing support from the rear. The two enemies clashed, their magic swirling in a maelstrom of destruction. Ricci put both hands in front of him and using nucleation fired a blast of pure energy. Sasha folded space deflecting the blast which shot out and destroy the surroundings area. The nuclear flames reacted with Sasha's spatial magic, creating a temporary temporal rift. A pod with a humonculus body was sucked in, but Lin quickly used her gravity magic to stabilize it.
Ricci fell to his knees. He'd used up almost all of his magic. He looked around at the bodies of his men and the destruction caused by the confrontation. He looked up at the approaching opposition. He knew they had no intention of killing him but he'd rather die than be held in captivity.
" Surrender" Sharine.said as she walked up to him and pointed her weapon at him.
" Hehe you people aren't the usual damsels in distress. I can see why they thought you guys were the reason why that new champion of yours succeded." Ricci said.
" Who's they?" Sasha asked.
" Them" Ricci responded.
" Don't play games with us. Spill it,who set you up to this." Koniko demanded.
A magic circle appeared covering the entire area where they were standing,trapping them in a barrier.
" Atomic Annihilation" he yelled as he laughed. He was about to use a nuclear attack that would not only kill him and them but possibly destroy the city which was not that far away.
The spell went off and it was all Lin and Sasha could do to contain the blast. Adriana gave them support while Koniko deflected all excess radiation.Sharone stepped up and raised the scythe then shot out like a bullet bypassing the radiation to strike the final blow, her scythe slicing through Ricci's chest just as Adriana managed to cancel our the blast,ending the fight. The battlefield lay silent, littered with the bodies of the fallen. The victors stood tall, their magic spent, but their determination unbroken.
They led the prisoners back into the city.