"You people have a death wish or something? Just because you've got a few more numbers on your side this time around doesn't mean that you're going to stand a chance against us," Remarked Raven, as he looked around at the hooded figures surrounding him, Celia and Ravella, while thinking to himself, "Based on what I'm sensing, a few of them are somewhat powerful, but not enough to be a real threat. The strongest among them are probably around Second-Class level, at best."
"You damned freak...!"
"Calm down, don't let that lowly abomination taunt you."
"Yes, remember why we're here, we must adhere to our orders."
"Well, that's strange," Muttered Celia warily.
"Yeah, what are they really after here?" Frowned Ravella in response, before swiftly swinging her whip across while extending it out as several Spells came shooting towards her, her whip slicing through the attacks and dissipating them before they could reach her.
Raven then spread out his wings as he fully tranformed and zipped up into the air, before firing out a blazing wave of purple flames at some of the hooded figures from his mouth.
They quickly scattered, one of them putting up a shield of water, a large cloud of steam erupting upon impact, before an agonized scream of pain rang out as Raven's flames evaporated the water and engulfed the figure, setting his body ablaze.
He fell onto the ground with a thud, thrashing around while letting out excruciating yells of pain, before going limp and slumping against the ground, his body charred black as streaks of smoke billowed out, his scorched body crackling as a foul stench filled the air.
Deafening explosions followed by several cries of pain then rang out as Celia fired off a volley of explosive projectiles, peppering several of the hooded figures and blasting them to pieces.
"Sh-shit!"
"Get further away from them! Don't get too close!"
"That isn't going to be enough to survive against us," Remarked Raven icily, as he narrowed his eyes at one of the hooded figures before firing out his beams, hitting the middle of her chest and eliciting an anguished scream of pain as his beams drilled through and burst out her back, before she collapsed onto her knees and fell over, hitting the dirt with a thud as smoke billowed out of the burnt hole through the middle of her chest.
"W-we have to resort to Plan B, s-scatter throughout the city!" Yelled one of the hooded figures, before the rest spread out and ran away, darting into nearby alleys.
"Shit, we can't chase down all of them with just the three of us...but we have no choice but to split up and try," Frowned Raven, before exchanging a glance with the girls, who nodded in response before the three of them swiftly split up and chased after the fleeing Nobles.
Meanwhile, in the Capital...
Tilda quickly ducked as Siele closed in on her and whipped one of his blades across at her throat, narrowly evading it as the blade severed a few strands of her hair, before she let out a sharp wheeze as Siele swiftly drove his knee up and slammed it onto her stomach, knocking the wind out of her and sending her stumbling back.
Her eyes then widened in alarm as he fired a rapid blast of water towards her, quickly raising her scythe up defensively in alarm before crying out in pain as the blast struck her chest before she could get her weapon up in time, the force of the blast launching her back, before her back slammed onto the wall behind her with a jarring impact.
As a trickle of blood ran down the corner of her mouth, she quickly spun out of the way as Siele leapt towards her and drove his right blade towards her heart, the blade grazing the side of her left arm as she narrowly rolled out of the way, before Siele swiftly whipped his other blade across in her direction, firing out a rapid, slashing wave of water towards her.
She just barely managed to block the attack with the handle of her scythe, before quickly swinging it across as Siele shot towards her and closed in in the blink of an eye.
Her eyes widened in alarm as he ducked under the slash of her scythe, before she turned her body across as fast as she could as he drive one of his blades straight towards her stomach, wincing sharply in pain as the blade inflicted a deep gash across her hip, blood pouring out and seeping into her clothes.
Siele then swiftly backed away as she unleashed a burst of Dark Magic around her, beads of sweat pouring down the sides of her face as she struggled to catch her breath while keeping her hand clamped over the deep cut across her hip.
"Why...why did you do this!? She trusted you, she did so much for you...after all that, how, how could you betray her like this!?" Snapped Siele furiously, his entire body trembling with rage as he glared seethingly at her.
She paused for a moment, a hesitant look on her face, before a smirk spread out across her lips as she responded...
"It's simple, really...our nation needs to return to the way it was, and she was an obstacle to that. That's all there is to it...it's nothing personal, it was just necessary, that's all."
"I see...is that all you have to say for yourself? I'll kill you...I'll tear you to pieces and FEED YOU TO THE FUCKING DOGS!!!" Snarled Siele viciously, before firing out a rapid, piercing beam of water towards her.
She quickly shuffled across to evade it, grimacing as the attack sliced across the side of her right arm, blood streaming out and running down her arm before she fired off a barrage of dark arrows at Siele from her left hand as he shot towards her.
He weaved across to evade most of the projectiles, before whipping his blades across to deflect the last two, putting on a burst of speed as he closed in on her and leapt forward, swinging his right blade across at her head.
She quickly tilted her head back in alarm, the tip of the blade nicking the skin on her forehead and dragging across, inflicting a long, horizontal cut, trickles of blood running down her face before she gritted her teeth and swung the blade of her scythe up towards him.
He swiftly blocked her swing with his left blade, a sharp clang ringing out before she quickly took one hand off the handle of her scythe and raised her palm up towards him, firing out a sharp burst of dark energy from her hand.
He quickly raised his right blade up defensively, her attack striking the blade and knocking him back a few meters, before she whipped her scythe across to fire off a rapid, slashing wave of Dark Magic.
Siele swiftly got down on all fours, the slash shooting past the top of his head and hitting the wall behind him, before he opened his mouth and fired out a barrage of water needles towards her.
She quickly raced across to evade them, before gasping in pain as a couple of the needles hit her right calf and got lodged in, causing her to stumble before Siele shot towards her again, firing off pressurized jets of water from his heels to launch himself towards her.
As he zipped in rapidly and closed in on her, she quickly raised her scythe up defensively as he swung both his blades across each other, a sharp clang echoing out as she narrowly blocked his attacks with the handle of her scythe, before letting out an agonized, startled wheeze as Siele fired off a burst of water from the back of his knee, driving it forward rapidly and colliding against the middle of her stomach again with immense force.
"I'll kill her, I swear I'll fucking kill her! But I won't do it right away...no, I'll make sure she suffers for as long as possible before I finish her o-...!" Siele thought to himself furiously, before his train of thought was cut off as a loud alarm suddenly rang out of her pocket.
As she stumbled back and coughed out blood, she tensed up and quickly lifted her gaze as Siele stepped in towards her, a burning hatred in his eyes as he drew back his fist and drove it towards her face, firing out a pressurized jet of water from behind his elbow to drive his fist forward with as much force as he could generate.
His fist slammed onto the middle of her face before she could react, a muffled cry ringing out as he broke her nose and knocked out a couple of teeth, before she went flying back across the room, the sound of glass shattering echoing out as the back of her head slammed against the window, a dazed groan ringing out as trails of blood ran down her face from her head, matting her hair down.
"Get up. I'm not done with you yet...and don't even think about running away. I destroyed your Teleport Spell, and you don't stand a chance of getting away from me on foot," Remarked Siele icily, before starting to approach her as she shakily got back onto her feet.
"N-no, you're mistaken. You see, that...that was just a decoy," She responded with a slight smile, as she swiftly took out another Spell Card and ran her Mana through it.
"No-...!" Yelled Siele as he began to race forward, but he was too late to react, as she disappeared from sight.
A loud crash echoed out as he slammed his fist onto the desk in frustration, cracks spreading out across the wood as he trembled in anger...
"Damn it...! That alarm, it must have been a signal...that's why she didn't retreat right away, she was waiting for it to ring before making her escape. Exalt, those bastards...they'll pay for this, all of them, and especially her..."