Angela, pushing her advantage, chased after Harold and Tommy who had turned tail the moment they saw her deal with the other two so effortlessly. They fell back into what looked like the remains of a fallen building, crumbling walls and collapsed archways swallowing them whole.
Angela, not keen to let them get away, followed without hesitation separating herself from the rest of the group without a second thought.
From the three still dealing with Arthur and the others, one broke away, spotting the opportunity by slipping off quietly to follow after Angela.
"You guys finish off these two I'm going after Angela!"
Without waiting for a response Arthur broke from the line, giving chase before the man could get too far ahead.
"Aye aye, captain!" Mars's voice rang out behind him, followed immediately by the crack of a mana bolt being deflected before it could find Arthur's back.
Arthur ran.
The fallen building swallowed the afternoon light the moment he crossed the threshold. The air inside was cooler and close, the stone underfoot uneven and dark, the walls pressing in on either side as the passage narrowed. He pushed deeper, keeping to the wall, moving fast but quiet.
Then he felt it.
Faint. Like a whisper at the edge of his mana sense rather than anything he could name outright.
'A rune.'
Not exactly sure what kind but the intent was clear enough, a trap had been laid.
He came around the final bend and saw it.
Angela stood in the center of a wider section of the passage where the walls opened up around a partial collapse. Chains of condensed mana wound up from the floor, coiling around her legs and arms, anchoring her in place.
'This idiot.'
He couldn't help it, a basic runic snare, something even rookies would look out for. The kind of rune that only works if you weren't paying attention.
The advantage Angela had carried since the moment the bell rang was gone. Every bit of being a Mythic was reduced to a stationary target because she'd been too focused on what was in front of her to notice what was beneath her feet.
Harold and Tommy hadn't wasted a second.
They pushed forward the moment the chains locked, striking freely, working her from both sides without the hesitation they'd carried all match. Harold drove a mana reinforced hook into her ribs with Tommy following up with a straight strike to her shoulder.
Angela weathered both with mana reinforcement coating her body, absorbing what she could, but the hits were landing clean and they both knew it. She pulled against the chains, mana flaring at her wrists, trying to force the construct apart.
The chains held, giving ample time for Harold to attack Angela.
"That's enough."
Arthur jumps in and fires off a blast of mana bolts knocking back the two brothers. The newcomer wasting no time attacks back at Arthur firing off his own volley forcing Arthur to dash away dodging the incoming bolts.
But Arthur isn't an idiot.
While rolling out of the way he made sure to move closer to Angela rather than away, using the dodge to close the distance without making it obvious that was the plan.
He came up beside her, one knee on the ground, hands already finding the anchor point of the chain construct locked around her feet.
"What are you doing here?" Angela grimaced, pulling against the chains as she looked down at him. "I told you to let me handle them."
"You did," Arthur said, not looking up from the anchor.
"Then go. I have this under control."
"You're chained to the floor, Angela."
"I was breaking free."
"Slowly." He drove a concentrated mana strike into the anchor. A crack split through the construct from the base upward. "Harold and Tommy seemed to be enjoying the extra time."
Angela said nothing to that.
The chains dissolved.
"Now let's take care of them." Arthur says charging up a mana bolt.
"I don't need your help."
"Just can it, I wasn't asking." Arthur fires off a blast meeting a mana bolt of their own.
Scoffing Angela dashes forward meeting the two charging brothers head on.
Catching his mana reinforced hook on her forearm and driving her palm into his chest in the same motion. Harold stumbled back two steps.
Tommy came in from the side to capitalize.
"Left," Arthur said.
Angela shifted without thinking, the word landing before the conscious decision could, and Tommy's charge caught nothing but air where she'd been standing. Arthur was already through the gap Tommy had left open, driving a precise mana bolt into the back of his knee that buckled his next step and put him off balance for the exchange that followed.
Angela was back on Harold before he'd finished recovering, two fast strikes that he could only partially block, the third getting through clean.
Harold went down to one knee.
The third member fired a volley of mana bolts from the back of the passage.
"Down," Arthur said.
Both of them dropped at the same time. The bolts cracked into the wall above their heads, stone fragments scattering across the floor.
Arthur came up first and sent three bolts back down the passage in quick succession, not trying to finish the fight but pushing the man back, buying space. The third member retreated a step, losing the angle he'd been using.
Angela pressed Tommy while he was still recovering his footing, not giving him room to reset, working him toward the wall with short controlled strikes that forced him to keep his guard up and his feet moving backward. She hit clean once, twice, and on the third exchange Tommy's guard broke and she put him into the wall with a mana empowered palm that cracked the stone behind him.
Tommy slid down it and didn't get back up quickly.
Harold tried to use the moment, lunging at Angela's back.
"Behind you," Arthur said.
She spun and caught him mid lunge, using his own momentum, and drove him into the floor.
Bam!
Air leaves his lungs as Harolds heaves trying to get air in but his face goes pale as he coughs.
The third member looked at the two of them standing in the middle of the passage, both brothers down, and made the only reasonable decision left available to him. He turned and ran.
Arthur let him go.
The passage went quiet.
Angela stood over Harold, breathing steady, mana settling back down along her arms. She looked at the two brothers on the floor, then at the empty passage where the third had been, then slowly at Arthur standing beside her.
He let the silence sit for a moment before he spoke.
"You know there are a few ways to close the gap in strength." he said. "Preparation is one such being what they did. But working with others is also a way to close the gap." He held her gaze. "Look, we all know you're strong enough to fight alone, but fighting alone is exactly what they wanted from you today. It made you readable and easy to counter."
Angela said nothing.
"You don't have to rely only on yourself," Arthur continued. "That's not a weakness. That's just how you stop ending up chained to the floor while the bottom of the barrel attacks you."
Her jaw tightened.
But she didn't argue.
She looked at the scorched stone where the chains had been, then back at him. Something behind her gold eyes was replaying the moments where she'd pulled ahead of the group, where she'd followed Harold and Tommy without checking her flanks, where she'd walked straight into a trap because she hadn't expected anyone on the opposing side to be smart enough to set one.
She sighs.
"Yeah, your right…" Like a voice of defeat Angela voices out in agreeance.
"Good then let's get this flag and finish this."
Author Note: Boom! you didn't expect another chapter so fast I know I'm the greatest anyway enjoy.
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