In the illusory world—
As soon as Heimfher realized that they were in an illusion, Duskiell's eyes widened and he instantly spoke in a panic tone.
"Prepare for battle.. As soon as we left this illusion, immediately try to chant your magic."
Click!
Heimfher's vision suddenly went dark, both Duskiell and Bentley had disappeared and Heimfher was left alone in the empty void.
'W- what..' He thought, afraid of what was happening.
'Where am i— Keukk!! My body.. It hurts.. Huh..'
Heimfher tried to open his eyes, but as he expected, there's still nothing, that means his eyes wasn't closed, but rather being either covered or he was staring at a void dimension.
At first, Heimfher assumed he was in some sort of another illusion, but when he moved his arms, a sound of chains rattling was heard, despite him not being able to see.
'Am i.. chained?— Shit! Its no longer an illusion! Im being blindfolded!'
"Mmffhhh!! mmfgh!" Heimfher tried to speak, but his voice won't come out, only a quiet grunt.
'I can't speak!'
That's when Heimfher knew, he had been captured, blindfolded and silenced by an unknown person.
'Is it the kidnapper?!'
"Urrghhh..." A groaning moan was heard from across the seemingl enclosed space, thankfully Heimfher was still able to hear, and based on the voice, Heimfher could tell that there are other people, not only him and his colleagues, but also normal civilians that were kidnapped.
'Fuck! I need to get rid of this cloth in my mouth! I have to use my magic and break free..' Heimfher aggressively shakes his body, hoping that it would loosen the knot on the loin cloth that was covering his mouth.
Then, when the cloth doesn't seem to be loosening up, Heimfher decided to bite into it, he used his teeth to tear the fabric, almost dislocating his jaw in the process.
While he was biting, Heimfher soon heard another chains rattling rapidly, it was so loud that Heimfher thought it came from right beside him.
'Duskiell?..' He thought.
Realizing that his colleagues were all captured aswell, Heimfher became determined and continued on to bite the cloth, little by little, it was torn apart, a few small chunk of the cloth fabric was swallowed into his throat accidentally, but Heimfher didn't care, he kept biting.
Until, his mouth broke free and Heimfher could taste the thick air in his tongue.
"O' Ignis, Heed my plea!"
Whirr!!
Heimfher managed to cast his magic, a ball of fire appeared in his right hand, knowing that he won't be able to break free just from the fire alone since the chain's melting point was too high, Heimfher ended up with a risky decision.
BOOM!
"AAGHHH!!" Many of the hostages that were chained in the basement screamed when they saw Heimfher shooting the fireball to the cobblestone wall behind him and caused an explosion, destroying the walls and everything on it.
Because of that, Heimfher was able to stand up and move again, although the chains was still stuck in his arms, atleast he was no longer bounded.
Now that Heimfher had regained control over his arms, he took off the blindfold and the loin cloth in his mouth, that's when he saw the room he was in.
Cold, damp, and reeked of malice.
Cough! Cough!
A cough startled Heimfher, his head turned to see where it came from, when he noticed that it was Duskiell who had loosened the cloth on his mouth, Heimfher was relieved.
"Heimfher, is that you? Hurry up and help me!" Duskiell asked.
It didn't take long before Heimfher released Heimfher and Bentley from their shackles.
.
.
"Shit.. Everything is in pain.." Duskiell said, he stretches all of his limbs to get rid of all the soreness.
"Urgh.. My eyes.. Fuck, we got caught in their trap huh.." Bentley added, he covered his left eye with one of his hand, it seems like he was actually blinded by the injuries he got from the fall.
"Yeah it seems like it.. Fortunately they didn't kill us right away, i didn't expect them to also use Mirabelis power.." Duskiell replied, he occasionally groaned from the throbbing pain that constantly annoyed him.
"What do we do now.." Heimfher asked, he also doesn't seem to be in the best condition.
"First thing first.. Let's set these people free." Duskiell looked at all of the hostages and sighed.
The hostages, who weren't blindfolded nor silenced, stared at the three infront of them as if they were their savior.
"T- THANK YOU.. Are you from the bureau?!" One of the hostage asked.
"That's right." Duskiell asnwered whilst swinging his sword that was engulfed with bright flame.
He was using a sword aura to enhance its power, making it capable of cutting chains in half.
One by one Duskiell and Bentley released everyone from their misery, but when they were done with releasing the hostages, something was off.
"T- Thank you.." The last hostage said, he was the only lne that's still chained.
After he was released, Bentley suddenly spoke to Duskiell.
"Duskiell, how many hostages have we set free?" He said.
"So you noticed it too huh.." Duskiell replied, his eyes squinted as he turned around and began counting everyone that was in the basement excluding Heimfher.
"What's wrong?" Heimfher asked, he saw Duskiell counting but doesn't know what it was for.
"—There's only 33 hostages.." Duskiell claimed.
Heimfher was about to count it himself as he couldn't believe what Duskiell had just said, however moments later, a footsteps was heard coming from the beyond the wooden door that was supposed to lead to the staircase towards the basement exit.
Step!
Step!
"Shit!" Duskiell whispered.
"Everyone stay behind us."
Hearing his order, all of the hostages obliged instantly, a second passed, then two, then three, until finally, the wooden door was opened.
Yet, even after waiting for another second, there was no one that came.
"What the..." Bentley said, confused with the empty staircase infront of him.
No one came through the wooden door, but Duskiell wasn't going to let his guard down just like that.
"Stay cautious.." He said, his sword being held tightly as his veins almost protruded from his hand.
To everyone surprise, an invisible knife was suddenly swung towards Duskiell's neck, as it turns out, the previous robed men who were able to become invisible had entered the room and was waiting for a chance to strike.
They attacked, convinced that they would kill Duskiell in an instant, when out of nowhere, Duskiell noticed the change in air pressure and the subtle wind from beside him.
CLANG!
It was an unbelievable sight, the robed man who attacked Duskiell was left shocked after his sword managed to hit his knife, blocking him from stabbing his neck.
'W- WHAT!! I SHOULD BE INVISIBLE!' The robed man thought, he gritted his teeth as he tried his hardest not to lose his balance after being struck by a crushing force from Duskiell's swing.
The two robed men soon revealed themselves, since Duskiell was able to sense their presence when they're close enough, an ambush wouldn't work.
"Tch, i knew it.. Artifacts huh, that's annoying– Heimfher, support me while i deal with them." Duskiell said, he asked Heimfher for help.
"O- Okay." Heimfher replied, he began his chant and prepared to give his opponent a barrage of fireballs.
SWOOSH!
Duskiell dashed towards the two robed men, his speed was similar to Carlessa except he wasn't using the power of god, but rather only Aura.
"O' Ignis, Heed my plea!"
Whirr!
Accompanied with his burning Aura, Duskiell also used his fire magic in his other hand, a swirling fire formed and Duskiell then shot it to the ground beneath the robed men.
"SHIT! WATCH OUT!" One of the robed man shouted.
WHIRR!!
The two robed men jumped back, avoiding the swirling flame as it hit the ground and summoning a flame wall that burns intensely.
"Tch, looks like the bureau sent some pretty troublesome people.."
The two robed men then pulled out their knife, one charges directly at Duskiell while the other followed quietly from behind while chanting a magic spell.
CLANG!
Duskiell's eyes widened as he saw the robed man blocking his sword attack using just a simple knife, he swung once more, and this time the robed man dodges it by sliding his body to the side.
"Doubt thy eyes and fall, Mirabelis!" The other robed man tried to trap Duskiell into an illusion again, a black fog was shot from his palm and was heading towards Duskiell.
But unlike before, Duskiell didn't plan on getting hit by the spell, he swiftly dashed to the left, rotating his body while shooting another swirling flame to the robed men, multiple fire wall protruded from the ground like a deadly thorn, burning and injecting heat into everyone's skin.
At first, the two robed men seems agile and was hard to hit, but all this time, they were only focusing on Duskiell and failed to notice the one person that was preparing to launch an unavoidable attack.
'Now!' Heimfher said to himself.
Seeing the two robed men grouping after being surrounded by Duskiell's flame wall, Heimfher saw an opportunity and quickly unleashed his fireball, initially he only had one, but then by using an extra mana in his resever, Heimfher was able to conjure another fireball even if it wasn't above his palm.
Slowly but surely as the battle goes on, Heimfher secretly stacked multiple fireballs beside him, and when the two robed men realized it, it was too late.
SWOOSH!
Heimfher shot all of his fireballs, totaling up to 20, all heading to the same direction.
Since a fireball will explode upon contact, if all of the fireball were to hit the ground at the same time, it would still cover a large area in its explosion range.
"W- Wh- what.. the fuck.." One of the robed men said, his jaw fell as he lost the urge to dodge, dozens of fireball lit up on the ceiling, falling towards them at an incredible speed before it explodes, killing them in an instant while destroying the entire basement and also causing the house above to collapse gradually.
BOOM!!!
"Holy shit! HEIMFHER! BENTLEY! TELL EVERYONE TO GET OUT! NOW!" Duskiell screamed, he ran as fast as he could, planning to regroup with the two and left the basement as soon as possible.