*Tatatata
The footsteps of the three prisoners echoed through the floor— Two of them rather confused about the events that just unfolded.
Arc chose to remain silent on the matter but Rei didn't share that sentiment
"Hey Yuki, what just happened?!"
"Huh? Oh I forgot you didn't meet her. That was our collaborator"
"Really?!"
Rei looked back to catch a glimpse of the lady, then turned back to Yuki
"You've been given Arc lip for weeks but chose to trust a shady woman like that?!"
Before Yuki couldn't respond, a Cheshire cat-like grin formed on her face, and she said
"What? Is she your type? Did she give you a little sumn' sumn' down there?"
"Geez Rei! There's a kid around"
"You're not denying it though"
"I don't have to, cause it's a stupid notion to begin with. What do you take me for?"
"A guy"
*KONK
"OW! That's abuse! You're hitting an injured girl. Everyone! We have a molester over here"
"Shut up"
*KONK
He followed up with another knock on her head. It took Arc a few seconds to understand what Rei meant by "sumn' sumn' ", then his face turned beet red, embarrassed. You could clearly see fumes exiting his ears.
Yuki proceeded to deny the allegations
"I didn't trust her, our interests just happen to align then and now. It's in her people's best interest that we escape, I only took advantage of that"
"If it's because of that, why not just kill us?"
"She probably can't take us all by ourselves and also, though this is merely my deductions.... But I think it has something to do with the human"
"Huh? You mean Arc?"
She turned to Arc, curious but he was in the dark as well
"Hmmm.... Maybe she's from Ragnarok"
Arc wondered and Yuki agreed
"Those were my thoughts as well. But that's not important right now, we need to get out of this place"
"But, if those knights are here, it's safe to assume they probably have backup coming"
"Oh, I planned for that as well. When I said this place, I meant this world"
That statement left Arc dumbfounded, but Rei had an "as expected from you" smile. Yuki elaborated
"This prison has a warp gate, that's the only way they could've gotten here so fast. Warp gates are used for transporting within a world but they draw power from an actual gate. If I can access the warp gate, I can hack into the main gate and activate it remotely"
"When it comes to nerdy stuff, Yuki's your man"
Rei said, smirking with a thumbs up
"That's not funny"
Arc was still bothered so he voiced his concern
"Still, this place is huge, the warp gate could be anywhere"
"Our collaborator just gave us a hint though"
********
"Still though, we should probably put collars on them. If I recall, I saw them while we were at the storage room...."
*********
If you arrived to stop a prison break, why head to the storage room first? Answer: they didn't head there, that's where they exited the gate from.
The three ran towards the storage room, inching closer to the endgame
***************
Maya vs Carla
"I'm actually a member of Ragnarok, Maya Scarlet, at your service"
Those words hit Carla like a sucker punch— a member of Ragnarok under her nose this whole time?!
"That can't be true! Even if you were, you should be subordinate to the princess due to the slave contra—"
"—Listen, I honestly couldn't care what you believe. Can we wrap this up quickly? I've got somewhere to be"
She said, after which she removed her hair ornament and threw it on the floor like a gauntlet
The bored expression on Maya's face pissed Carla off to no extent— the look in Maya's eyes.... Carla could tell Maya thought of her as nothing significant
Her, a bloomed Master 4 and the Princess' first sword. That blow to her pride was something she wasn't going to take lying down.
"What exactly does Ragnarok want with us?"
"Was that rhetorical? Or..."
"ANSWER ME!"
"Shouldn't it be obvious? Or are you denser than you look?"
She shrugged then decided to respond. After all, there is no real reason to hide anything now
"Obviously, this prison was our goal. Specifically, cutting off the Hunter's supply of healing potions. Although, partway into the plan, Lord Silvers found you fools could also serve another purpose"
"Yeah? What's that?!"
Putting her index finger on her lips, Maya responded with a dark smile
"That's a trade secret, I'm afraid"
Rewinding a couple months back, Ragnarok discovered the location of the healing potions plant (Baldur) and were working towards destroying it. Around that time was also when Arc was "deported", so Silver's brought him to their temporary base meant for the Baldur operation, anticipating his escape.
As per Silver's plan, Maya used— collaborated with the onis in Selene's kidnapping so that Arc will save her and capture her eye, leading him down a path of suffering and betrayal while also planting him inside the mines where he'll try to escape, sympathize with the onis and collapse the operation from the inside.
Everything had been part of Silver's design from the start, and things were going swimmingly so far.
"Hehehehe..... Lord Ymir, Lord Ymir.... You'll awaken soon, just a little more....Lord Ymir.."
Carla was taken aback by the words Maya was muttering to herself, drooling as though her favorite food was before her and she hadn't eaten in days.
Maya obviously didn't care about her opponent, and this frustrated the knight greatly.
However, this was also a good thing. There was an opening, and Carla didn't hesitate to seize it.
"Unique Skill.... Bridge"
(Bridge: She can open small portals)
Sending her ygg reinforced sword through the portal, it exited at Maya's blindspot, en-route for a fatal hit, but without looking, Maya dodged it effortlessly
"What?!"
Carla was shocked. After all, when it comes to the speed of her strikes and swordsmanship, she's unmatched in Baldur. Coupled with her unique skill that disregards range or direction, her attacks cannot be dodged, blocked or countered
And yet.... Someone ranked lower than her, a Master 5, dodged it with ease?!
Still though, Maya was finally looking at her
"I guess I shouldn't hold back. On my honor as a knight, I will cut you down right here, evildoer!"
"Sigh.... Let's get this over with"
In a flash, they charged each other
Once in one strike range, Carla swiped a horizontal slash but Maya saw though it an leaped into the air
"Bridge"
While Maya was mid-air, Carla opened a portal, transporting her horizontal slash above to strike Maya from above
*ZIIINNNGGGGG
"W-What?! How?!"
Carla was in shock.... After all, Maya just stopped the sword.....with her fingers?!
"Is that all? Or do you still have more boring displays?"
"Why you...."
Unleashing her full aura, Carla blew Maya back, but the latter landed on her feet, still looking unimpressed.
"You will pay for your insolence.... Yggdrasil Bloom.....KILLZONE!!!"
Carla's bloom, distorts space over a 1km radius, and she can touch anything she can target within that range, from any distance or direction. As long as you're within one km and she can see you or knows exactly where you are, her strikes will always land 100% of the time
Assuming a sword draw stance, she infused a criminal amount of ygg and
"Sword draw technique..... crescent moon!"
In a single decisive strike, she cut down Maya...or did she?
*KEUK
The one coughing up blood....was Carla?
Looking down on her belly, she saw she'd been cut open.....by her own slash
"My.....you really are dense, hahaha...."
The voice sounded like Maya, but she was nowhere to be seen.
"....You were so sure of your own power, you didn't even stop to question what my unique skill actually is"
"What? You mean it's not transformation?"
"You idiot, all I did was transform, how did I bypass that bitch's slave contract"
"Don't you dare insult the Prince—"
"It's hypnosis"
"Huh?"
"Basically, all I do is play tricks on your brain. Every sense, every organ in the body receive information and send it to the brain to process, the feedback is what a person perceives as reality.... So then, what if the brain sends false feedback?"
"...."
"I fooled your brain into thinking I was short, so you saw someone short, I fooled your brains into remembering me as one of the Princess's knights, so y'all thought I was, and right now..... I fooled your brain into thinking you were fighting me, meanwhile, you were fighting thin air all this time"
"Wait you mean...."
"Yes, that's right. I haven't crossed blades with you even once, from the very beginning you were fighting yourself. Also, the person you saw who you targeted for your slash, was actually yourself..... That's why you're on the floor"
"You coward! Fight me fair and square, you demon!"
Suddenly, Carla felt a chill behind her.
As a knight, Carla was trained to be fearless and could boast of being unafraid of anything. However, at that very moment, there was no other way to describe it,
Carla was terrified of the presence behind her
"Fair? Make no mistake, the only reason I didn't fight you was because I don't want to get my hands dirty on this special day, I'll kick your ass, you little bitch"
Carla realized the ornament Maya dropped earlier was an inhibitor, concealing her powers. It was something she used to fly under the radar at the cradle after infiltrating their ranks with her unique skill. Her true rank...
Grandmaster 5 , All Rounder
Walking past the severely injured Carla, a smile returned to Maya's face as she said
"Since today's a special day, the one who's going to kill you, is you"
Suddenly, Carla was surrounded by molten lava. She knew it was an illusion but... It hurts? It burns?
"If the brain believes you're in pain, you'll feel pain, if it believes you're burning, you will experience burns to some extent..... If it believes you're dead, you die. Goodbye"
The brain's shock of being buried in magma killed her, and Maya walked away with a satisfied smile
"I can tell, the system has already started encroaching his soul, it won't be long now..... Lord Ymir will soon return, he..he...teehee"
Arc was already torn from all the emotional pain, betrayals and the darkness of the outside world.... According to Maya's assessment, he just needed one big push to fall into darkness.
************
Arriving at the storage room, the three rummaged around until
"Found it!"
Arc found a secret door, leading to the warp gate. They all gathered around to open it.
"Good job, human. It'll take about 10 minutes to hack the warp gate, in the meantime, you'll open a portal for the others to join us here"
"Got i—"
"Arrrrrrcccccccccc"
Arc froze upon hearing that voice, fear welling up inside. He recalled all his trauma, all his pain as he turned around
The object of his fear was standing at the entrance
Princess Selene, gazing at him with a devious smile.