Moving all at once, they dashed down the hallway and met the door to the final carriage that they were going to in no time.
'Woahh we look so fuckin cool hehehe.'
Excitement and adrenaline rushed through Kristens mind as she pounced through the wooden floorboards, the cold air doing nothing to dull her momentum. As they were less than a meter away from the door Lucia shot forward and dealt a devastating slash to it, creating a gaping hole in it.
THWACK!
To finish the job, she kicked it with all her might, directing snapping it off its hinges and causing it to hit the ground with a loud echoing sound.
The carriage shook slightly from the heaving piece of wood before stabilising. The impact also kicked up a bunch of dust so when the trio entered the room they looked like superhero's, or rather, in this case, villains.
However unlike the movies, the dust actually obscured their view and caused Kristen to walk blindly into a very simple trap.
SNAP!
A net that she hadn't realised was below her snapped up and trapped her in the air, looking around blindly for any sign of her friends.
"HELLO! LUCIA, OLIVIA!"
She telepathically called out to them but heard no response for some reason.
..
.
.
Olivia cautiously stalked through the cloud of dust obscuring her vision, the fact that she couldn't hear the other two birds was concerning but she just had to focus on trying to regain her senses somehow as nothing could get done without them.
The dust had stayed up in the air for an unnatural amount of time, making her think that there might be something else interfering.
'I knew it wouldn't be as easy as Lucia said.'
A bit of annoyance sparked in her chest when thinking about her friend.
'She's so good at manipulating Kristen into thinking that every mission is easy...sigh...if only she knew what happened to...'
Refocusing on the present situation, she tried to note down her surroundings so as to find some clue to where the others were.
The dust wasn't natural, that was for sure. It didn't sting her eyes or make her cough when she inhaled. Instead, it felt… somehow, heavy. Each breath was slowly lessening all of her senses, pressing against her awareness like a pillow over her mouth.
'It must be a silencing formation!'
That explained why she couldn't hear Kristen's telepathic screeching.
"Lucia," she muttered under her breath, forcing her qi to circulate throughout her meridians, a faint silver sheen beneath her feathers flickered as she pushed energy toward her eyes. Shapes began to become clearer through the haze — blurry outlines of crates, hanging charms, thin wires strung low across the room.
A trap.
They had run straight into it.
Somewhere above, there was a faint rustle. Olivia's head snapped upward just in time to see a dark clothed figure leaping down onto her.
'A cultivator!'
That was the last thought that went through her mind before a sack was thrust over her head.
.
.
..
Lucia didn't panic when it all happened.
The moment the dust failed to sting her lungs, she had already known.
'A formation huh?'
Her pupils thinned to slits.
'Turns out that there were some cultivators here, we must of missed that.'
The moment that the presence of her friends disappeared was when she really started to put in some effort.
If she was being truly honest, the truth was that she was already about to form a second beast core but since Kristen unexpectedly joined them she decided to postpone until Kristen had gotten used to their lifestyle.
She was deeply regretting now though, because even she wasn't sure if she would be able to save her friends in time.
She focused and started to listen, really listen, with her whole being.
Beneath the thick silencing formation, beneath Kristens shrieking, beneath the light footsteps around her.
There.
Four anchor points serving as the pillars of the formation. A ceiling beam, a sigil on the floor and wall of talismans. And one core hidden below the carriage, in the floor.
Lucia smiled darkly.
"So that's how you're playing it hehe."
The dust thickened as if responding to her voice. A figure moved along the wall to her left, almost entirely silent and completely controlled. There was another presence above, meaning it was a coordinated attack.
A thin dagger shot from above and into Lucia but before it hit her she vanished.
The thing that the dagger was thrown at was actually an illusion conjured up so while those humans were coordinating an attack she had already slashed up all the talismans on the wall.
She shot through the air straight toward one of the cultivators and killed him before he had the chance to even see her. Disappearing into the dust, the other one raised his sword high after hearing the spurt of blood.
But Lucia's attention had completely diverted from him and was actually trying to get Kristen down from her laughable prison.
She tracked her down easily and sliced off a bit of the rope.
Up above, Kristen yelped as the net constricted harder for half a second before dropping entirely.
"STOP FLAILING," Lucia barked at her.
"I'M NOT FLAILING I'M PANICKING—"
"Same thing.
Try to find a sigil on the floor, when you find it, destroy it."
Lucia ordered her.
She then left because who knew how long it would be before Kristen finally flopped down from her position. For someone who wanted to get out of her restraints she sure as hell didn't want to let go of the rope.
Moving through the room, she searched for one of the anchors.
Another cultivator lunged from behind a crate. Lucia ducked low in response, her wing sweeping out in razor-like accuracy.
SNAP!
Wood exploded and the cultivator staggered back, barely blocking.
She wasn't even trying to win.
Her eyes flashed gold as she located the second anchor point—a faintly glowing script carved into a ceiling beam.
She kicked off the ground and onto the cultivator's chest, then pushing off with such force it broke the humans ribs and smashed their heart through as well. With a sharp inhale she condensed her qi around her claws and slashed against the ceiling beam.
BOOM!
'One down, four to go. Well, two if Kristen managed to find the sigil.'
Just behind the ceiling beam the cultivators had stashed Olivia into a little nook. The sight angered Lucia as who were they to even touch her little sister.
She quickly took off the black bag on top of Olivia's head and frantically checked for injuries.
"Hey! Are you hurt?"
"No I'm just a little dizzy, anyway, whats the plan."
Lucia informed Olivia on what she had found and sent her off to find the talismans on the wall while she herself went to find the core of the formation.