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Ulvala, Gray Phoenix Dungeon, Time: 10:00 AM
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Everyone was waiting for Nathan to release them, as Koras had given him a set of master keys to unshackle them.
"You know, that red armor does fit you a lot, Jamie," Mianne complimented. Everyone had already taken off their disguises, but James decided to put it on anyway.
"I put it on because the current one got destroyed by Koras. Does it make me look good?" James asked, unsure of how he looked, tapping the chest plate with his palm.
"Yes! You look so handsome and brave, like a knight in shining armor," Mianne said, getting a little too close to James's face.
He blushed a bit, "T-thank you," James stuttered. Mianne got even closer this time, with her finger dancing up to his shoulder with her smile, "Mianne..." James was blushing at this point at how close she was to him, as he closed his eyes.
Mianne pinched his cheeks, "Hehe, so soft~" Mianne played around with it, James could only sit there and watch Mianne playing with his cheek, "God, this is embarrassing."
Nathan returned, and Koras stood up from sitting on a bunch of crates, "Everything's ready, gramps," Nathan said. With Nathan about to lead everyone to freedom, he acted a little smug.
"Stop messing around; I don't know when the rumors will spread here." Koras decided to hit him over the head and left the room. Murmurs spread among the children as they patiently followed Nathan to the 'Transport Backdoors.'
"Where are they going?"
"Are we going home?"
"I'm scared..." were some of the thoughts going through the children's minds. They finally arrived at the back doors.
Nathan stopped at the ladder and cleared his throat. "Okay, everyone. I want you to move very carefully one by one; is that okay?" Nathan politely asked the children, and they nodded, following their big brother Nathan's words. Everything was going perfectly.
Suddenly, a group of GP Soldiers came down, "Dammit, Already?!" Koras was surprised that they caught on this early.
'Had his men already told the news about him being here?' Koras thought. They seemed to be armed with Muskets, Greatswords, Spellbooks, and sharp knives. A clap could be heard.
"Bravo! Koras! You're the true hero!"
an unknown Scottish accent voice rang out as the guard moved out of the way to let the man walk to the front. His hair was mid-length with a side part, wearing the same clothing as Koras but seemed stitched himself, a red scarf.
"I should congratulate you for returning, but it seems you're up to something bad!" The man said as he stopped clapping and pointed at Koras while striking a pose of some sort.
"Who is he?" James asked curiously, as he watched the man posing.
"Gosto, he's from the west section of GP," Koras said as Gosto kept posing.
"Woah! A pretty Madamn!" Gosto said as he spotted Mianne, "Oh, Goddesses. Will you take a ride back to heaven with me?" Gosto got down on one knee and offered her a rose.
"Ew." Mianne slapped away the rose, even though she was disgusted by him, leaving Gosto with an annoyed expression.
"Hey, that wasn't pretty-" Before Gosto could say a word.
"MIANNE CRITICAL PUNCH BUT FOR REAL THIS TIME." Mianne quickly stated before landing a mean uppercut to his jaw, which made him fall onto the floor.
"Boss!" The guard yelled before they were tackled by Koras and Ace.
"Waaaah!" The children were terrified and climbed the ladders as fast as they could.
"Quickly, don't fall! Try to be as careful as you can," Nathan told them; some children have made it out.
The Ranger pointed the guns at the child who started to climb, finger on the trigger, "Night, night, child."
"Call of Lighting!" A thousand arrows rained down from the sky and pierced through a lot of the army. They screamed in pain as they were hurt by the electricity.
"Alright! New plans! Let's go up and kill that bastard!" Koras said in which everyone started to follow him except for one person...
"OI! COME BACK HERE LADS! I DIDN'T GIVE YOU MY ONE LINER YET-" Gosto yelled as he tried to quickly run before he was blocked in the way by that certain someone.
"You'll be dealing with me, prince," Ezra said as he made one of his arrows turn into ice, pulling it back.
"You aren't flashy, lad!" Gosto said as he was disgusted at how much lack of colors he is.
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Ulvala, Gray Phoenix Tower, Time: 10:20 AM
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"Where's Ezra?!" Ace said, not noticing that he was gone.
"I guess he's dealing with that guy! Come on, I'm sure he'll be fine," Koras replied as everyone reached the dungeon door.
As Koras opened the door, a giant GP soldier with a big hammer tried to slam Koras down. Koras dashed back and decided to punch the giant back into the wall on the other side.
The giant's body flew into a wall, crushing two innocent soldiers who were enjoying a coffee.
As everyone moved out of the dungeon, the soldiers tried to attack them with their weapons, "I don't get time for this!" Koras punched the ground, creating a shockwave that threw them off right away.
"Come on, to the stairs!" Koras pointed up as everyone hurried up the stairs with GP soldiers following behind, "You morons! Get him and off with his head!"
The Lucky Inquisitors and Koras quickly traveled up the stairs to reach the roof. "Hey! Stop right there!" Two guards stood in their way.
Before they could do anything, Koras decided to grab one of them and chuck him out of the window.
"Jerry!" The guard exclaimed as he looked out the window.
"Sorry!" Ace took this opportunity and shield-bashed the other guard out of the window. Their screams could be heard echoing from below.
They continued to travel up and up, floor after floor, "How long is this tower?!" Mianne screamed as she kept running up the stairs.
"We're almost there! Don't give up now!" Koras yelled as he quickly hurried up ahead, leaving everyone confused.
"Dude, I'm telling you! It's like the Wilhelm scream." Two guards were chatting beside the windows, discussing a show stage they watched yesterday.
"Oh, is it like the 'Aaarugh'?" One of them tries to mimic the scream.
"No, It's more like 'HAAugh'." The other guard tries to mimic it; the first guard scratches his helmet in confusion about what's the difference.
Before he could try to do it again, he was pushed in a hasty red blur of Koras out of the windows. On his way down, he somehow did the scream perfectly!
"Dude, that was it!" The other guard yells down as Koras comes back to push the other one, so no one can see what he just did. The guard also did the scream perfectly as well.
A GP mage was telepathically watching from afar and decided to give them a signal, "They're coming up, release the boulder!" The mage instructed the two guards who were watching over the boulder.
The guards nodded as they pushed the boulder down the stairs, "Okay!"
"Did you hear something?" Ace asked, hearing something big coming towards them.
"Yeah, something's rolling," James said. "Like something really big coming our way..."
Everyone looks in front of them to see a red blur coming back toward them. It was Koras, running as fast as he could, "BOULDER HEADING OUR WAY!"
Everyone finally saw the giant round rock coming around the corner, "Eye of the Sun!"
James swung his halberd at the boulder. It seemed to stop, but James was struggling to prevent it from rolling down.
"I GOTCHA!" Koras said as he grabbed the halberd with James and lifted it to put it on the other side.
"PULL IT OUT!" Koras ordered, and James nodded. James and Koras pulled the halberd out of the boulder, which continued to roll down the stairs, crushing the GP guard below.
"Keep moving! You can thank me later," Koras said as he hurried up the stairs.
"Amazing work, you two." Ace gave them a big fat thumbs-up to show his appreciation.
"Thanks, spirit leader!" James stated, leaving Ace in embarrassment.
"I told you to stop calling me that!" Ace yelled as everyone hurried up the stairs.
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Ulvala, Gray Phoenix Tower, 49 Floors, Time: 11:00 AM
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Our remaining team reached the second-to-last floor, running down the halls to reach the final staircase. As they approached, two people emerged from the doors, causing the Lucky Inquisitors to stop in their tracks.
"Who are these guys?" James asked, and Koras immediately recognized them.
Both had red, swept-back, thick hair; one went to the left, and the other to the right. They wore identical red coats with white dress shirts.
"Rinco, Binco," Koras stated their names as they stopped walking towards them.
"Guess we don't have to introduce ourselves, huh, brother?" Rinco said, looking at his sibling. Binco remained silent but angrily stared at Koras.
"We can't let you pass, pal! Even if you try," Rinco declared, and Ace came up with a plan.
"I have an idea. James and Mianne, both of you run for the stairs. Koras and I will deal with these two," Ace said, and James and Mianne nodded.
"Please be safe, you two," Mianne expressed her concern as she ran off with James.
"Come on, give it a try!" Rinco taunted as James and Mianne tried to run past them.
"No plans, no fears, just like our friends!" Rinco mocked as his left arm turned into a blade.
Before Rinco could strike, Ace blocked the attack with his shield. "You just bark, don't you?" Ace pushed Rinco away.
"..." Binco watched them and angrily rushed at them with full force.
But before he could even rush them, "Heyyyy, buddy," Koras stopped him by slamming his head against Binco's, knocking him back a bit.
"You're dealing with me, you bull!" Koras said angrily. Binco kept his mouth shut and wiped the blood from his mouth.
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Ulvala, Gray Phoenix Tower, 50 Floors, Time: 11:00 AM
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James and Mianne swiftly ascended the stairs, arriving at the doors leading to the final floor and the roof.
"This is it, no more turning back," James said, looking at Mianne, who seemed to be shaking.
"Mianne, what's wrong?" James asked, concerned for his childhood best friend.
"I'm just scared. We could lose our lives here. Would Mom and Dad ever know about our deaths? This has just been so intense for me..." Mianne confessed, gripped by fear that this might be their last adventure.
James took her hands and made her look him in the eyes. "Don't say anything like that! This isn't you! The Mianne I know would never turn away from a battle for her friends!" James declared, his face showing absolute determination.
"The Mianne I want from is that she will stand by our sides." James finished with an expression of determination.
She continued to watch him, and slowly, a sense of relief washed over her. He was right; they would get through this together.
"If you believe it, then she should too." Mianne nodded, and her familiar smile returned. James returned the smile too. They both opened the door to the roof.
A man was standing in the middle of the roof, smoking tobacco. He turned around with a wicked smile.
"We meet, at last, Lucky Inquisitors."
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