"What took him so damn long?!"
"Is he even still alive?"
"Seriously, what is he doing!?"
The red-haired girl let out a series of complaints as she walked back and forth inside Zenonia's secret room. She had been waiting for Emery ever since he mysteriously disappeared three hours ago, and because of that she was starting to lose her patience.
What made her anxious was not just the fact that she had received no news from him, but also the fact that the group of magus, who were most likely the enforcers, had been scouring the institute looking for their whereabouts.
Thanks to her familiar, she was able to keep track of the group's movement, albeit limited. From how they were moving around the place, she came to a conclusion that they had someone who knew the palace as well as she did leading the way.
"None of them should be able to find this room."
The confidence she exuded however was quickly shattered when she could faintly hear voices from the other side of the stone wall. Her body tensed up as she hoped they wouldn't be able to discover the secret mechanism.
"Dammit, how did they know?"
Moments later, Annara's nightmare unfortunately came true as the stone door shook violently and then shattered into pieces, revealing a group of five figures in dark uniform. Standing at the front of the group was someone she recognized.
Gerri the Violet Flame.
The young man stepped inside the room with a confident gait. His eyes quickly turned to Annara as he said, "You are now under arrest for having been found trespassing into a restricted area."
Since it seemed that her disguise was sufficient to fool the other party, Annara decided to feign her innocence and started to act, hoping to slip her way through somehow.
"Ahh, you are enforcers. Thank god! I escaped from a pirate ship and was stranded on this god-forsaken place. Please help me get back home, sir enforcer!!"
Annara put in an award-worthy piece of convincing acting, which seemed to have managed to confuse the young enforcer. The sure look on the latter's face turned to one of doubt, evidence that he had been taken in by her pitiful stare and sobbing words.
But then, the masked enforcer standing beside him suddenly said, "What an act. I would probably have believed you if we found you in any other area, but definitely not in this secret chamber. Who are you?"
Hearing those words, Gerri's chest quickly rose up as he said, "Yes.. Yes.. That's what I thought too. Now tell us who you are!" He quickly assumed his martial arts stance, showing he was prepared to force an answer out of her if he had to.
Thinking there was no way to avoid this with words, Annara quickly analyzed her current situation.
This group of enforcers seemed to be nothing special. After all, their leader Gerri was still only a Crescent Moon magus, while the other four people didn't seem as strong as the former – most of them merely New Moon magus.
Faced against their strength, Annara might still have a chance of escaping. The only reason that had kept her from leaving since earlier was that Emery had still not shown up.
Alas, as much as she liked to help him, her own well-being always came first in her book.
Glancing at the place she had last seen him, Annara spoke in her heart. "I'm sorry, my help ends here."
When Gerri and his team were about to take action, Annara took the initiative first and used her innate skill [Sonic Boom].
The spirit attack caught the five of them by surprise, an opportunity she quickly took advantage of to break through the blockade and dash out of the room. While running, she also threw flying knives to further delay their pursuit.
Though it didn't do much damage to them, her actions were enough for what she wanted, clearing a path for her to escape uninhibited.
"Dammit!! Chase her!!"
Unfortunately for Gerri and the group, by the time they stepped out of the room, the girl's figure could no longer be seen, gone in a dark smoke.
As Gerri was about to chase after her, she was stopped by the masked man. "She went the safe but long way. Don't follow her. I know a faster path"
Under the lead of the masked enforcer, the group quickly made their way through the Darkness Institute's intricate network of tunnels. Just like the former said, it was in the main hall that was only a hundred steps away from the exit where they met the girl once again.
This time, Gerri didn't hesitate and attacked right away. His companions also quickly followed suit, casting various support and offensive spells to assist their leader. The battle brought them outside of the institute.
Outnumbered, it didn't take long before Annara found herself surrounded.
"Dammit!! How do these people know this place better than me?"
Seeing there was no way for their target to escape, Gerri once again stepped forward and asked Annara. "Give up now and tell us what you are doing here. Who are you!?"
"I am just nobody.. So leave me alone!"
"Alright then." Nodding his head, he beckoned to his team. "I guess you chose the hard way!"
Gerri assumed his martial arts stance once more as his palms were engulfed in violet flames. In the next second, his figure disappeared as he shot swiftly towards Annara like a falling meteor.
Annara immediately responded by launching a rain of flying knives at the approaching figure, but Gerri easily took care of her attacks with his flame-covered arms, advancing almost uninterrupted.
The red-haired girl tried her best to fight back while not using abilities that would reveal her true identity. However, her opponent's martial art technique proved too difficult for her to handle while holding back.
Knowing that she wouldn't be able to escape if this situation continued, Annara gritted her teeth and finally used her trump card.
[Spectre Bat Transformation]
As extraordinary sensation coursed through her body, Annara's complexion turned pale white while two sharp teeth and claws made their appearance to the world. With her transformation active, she received a tremendous boost both to her battle power and spells.
Her dark flames that were previously outmatched by Gerri's purple flames flared up and overwhelmed him like a tsunami, engulfing everything in its path and causing Gerri to be forced to retreat to his team.
She quickly turned around and was about to dash away, only to see the masked enforcer waiting in front of her.
"You have nowhere to go, Annara!"
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