'Ouch, my head…' thought Tyel as he suddenly positioned his right hand over his forehead. The group, noticing the sudden change in his attitude, looked at him confused.
"Tyel, are you alright?" asked Lily. Currently, Tyel's body had surpassed the bleeding stage and his vision had become blurry.
"Didn't you say we have to go from the Sanctuary's exit?" asked Catripple. Tyel didn't answer; he simply lay on the ground.
'It hurts so much… hitting my head against the tree hurt so much I can barely think straight.' Tyel closed his eyes for a moment while everyone else looked at him in confusion.
"Tyel, your body is bleeding so much… are you sure you haven't used too much of your power?" asked Martheel, worried, as he looked over his friend.
"Almost every future ends badly…" whispered Tyel with his hands over his eyes.
"Do we actually have a chance?" asked Darian. Tyel, still with his eyes closed, didn't answer and remained on the ground, trying to calm down.
"At the sanctuary it always ends badly? Don't we have any other exit?" asked Vane. Everyone else stopped thinking for a moment.
"As far as I know, if we go from there—" said Catripple as she pointed at the same path Zrelekai had taken some minutes ago, which the group had taken in the latest loop, "—we should be able to go outside directly on the mainland."
"Is it the only solution if the sanctuary failed that badly?" said Liro, understanding that it might be the only solution.
"NO, STOP!" shouted Tyel as he grabbed Liro by his hand—the same one that had been shot by Zrelekai.
"Argh! It hurts! You don't have to grab it that hard!" shouted Liro. Tyel, realizing what he had just done, slowly removed his hand from Liro's arm.
"I'm sorry…" he whispered, a sad tone in his voice.
"Liro, are you alright? Has the injury opened again?" asked Darian as he checked Liro's bandages, but Liro simply shook his head.
"No, no, don't worry, both of you. I'm alright," he said with a reassuring tone.
"Hey, listen for a moment…" said Orechin, who had remained quiet until now.
"What is it?" asked Darian.
"Our objective is to fight and kill Ashikunz, right?" said Orechin. Everyone nodded their heads.
"We're trying to fight him the wrong way… we should fight him from the city with the other people who want to help us!" said Orechin as he smashed his fist into his open hand.
"Right… and we're having a long fucking day, Orechin… why the hell do you think we're trying to go out? Why do you think I'm looking into all the possible futures in which you die?" asked Tyel, as he couldn't take it anymore. As Orechin was feeling dumb, Tyel tried to calm down, but the more he spoke, the angrier his tone became.
"Listen, Tyel… you said there was another entrance to the sanctuary, right?" asked Orechin. Tyel suddenly stopped, and a confused look appeared over his face.
'Another entrance?' The confused Tyel stopped for a moment, and that's when he realized.
"Orechin, you're a fucking genius!" he shouted as he went to hug his friend, who was suddenly caught by surprise.
"You can finally free me from this…" whispered Tyel, but no one heard him.
"What are they talking about?" asked Lily, confused.
"Right!" shouted Darian and Syrmax almost together. The two of them exchanged an amused look and let out a soft laugh.
"Do you remember how Tyel came to know about the sanctuary?" asked Darian. After that, everyone's face lit up, except for Catripple, who hadn't heard that story.
"Wait, what are you guys talking about?" she asked, confused.
"He was searching for an object to dig into the wall…" said Liro as he finally remembered, "—and that was when he encountered that poster… I don't remember exactly how it went, but with the future he saw, he entered the sanctuary."
"Wait, I remember what you told me about that object… Tyel found it in the prison!" shouted Catripple. Tyel, who had just removed his hands from Orechin, nodded his head.
"That entrance will bring us directly inside the prison! We will definitely have some problems with all the robots and the guards, but there are definitely some guards who support our ideas!" said Syrmax happily.
"Most of them don't join the rebels because they're scared of the consequences… but from what I've heard from a huge group, if a revolution were to happen inside the prison and things were going well for the rebels… well, they'd join too," said Martheel.
"Luckily that entrance should be clear; no rocks should have fallen there, right?" asked Liro.
"Let's just go and check… if there is a chance for us to win this… this is the only one…" said Tyel as he began to walk once again toward the sanctuary, followed by the others.
'My soul can't keep up much longer…' In Tyel's mind, the scene of his head being crushed against the tree replayed again.
"Ashikunz is outside the city; I don't think Zrelekai would have returned inside the city either…" said Catripple as she tried to recall what the biggest problems could be.
"We only have to fight against countless robot guards, some human ones, and…" said Syrmax before Orechin interrupted him, adding something else.
"And Corvinus." With these words, the mood suddenly shifted.
"Well, there are more of us… it won't be a problem to defeat him, right?" asked Lily. The others agreed.
"But he will definitely find a way to warn Ashikunz. Maybe the Krukin has given him a way?" proposed Catripple.
"I don't think so… remember what Zrelekai said? Ashikunz didn't share the plan with him," said Liro. "Maybe he hasn't shared it with Corvinus either?" he proposed. The others seemed both convinced and worried at the same time.
"We have to go and kick his ass almost immediately… we shouldn't waste much time with the others," said Tyel.
"Vane, Lily, and Orechin… you three will go and kick Corvinus's ass," said Darian. "The rest of us will take care of the guards…" whispered Darian as he looked at the group, unable to find anyone else who could fight, as Syrmax wasn't large, Tyel and Liro didn't have combat powers, and he could only stand and watch while Snowy was asleep.
"We still have the other guards… we just need a way to contact them," pointed out Martheel. Suddenly, his eyes turned to Liro.
"Tyel, are you sure this plan is the right one?" he asked. Tyel, in front of him, nodded his head.
"The future never lies," he said.
"Then, Liro… just follow my lead," said Martheel with a smirk. Liro, caught by surprise, gulped.
'The future never lies… I wonder how many times I've said this sentence,' thought Tyel. 'I've lied to them countless times… I've said that it would be alright… but they always ended up dying because of me…'
Tyel suddenly looked back at Syrmax, who was discussing the plan with the others. 'When I spoke before with Syrmax, it was great… relaxing…' Tyel remembered the time when he and Syrmax were discussing in the hall in the latest loop.
'Having someone who always gives you direction or a tip to get out of a situation is always great…' Tyel let out a deep breath. 'While on the other hand, having to do everything by yourself…'
'When will I ever be able to tell you about this? I… I just can't take it anymore… dying always hurts…' Tyel looked again at the group and gave a warm smile.
'But seeing you die hurts more… unable to remember the pain, you don't know what you've been through… and because of this, I can't exploit your suffering…' Tyel remembered all the screams his friends let out while Ashikunz was killing them.
'It isn't stupid… I have to save everyone!' thought Tyel, as they finally arrived in front of the poster.
"Luckily we don't have any rocks blocking our path… let's just hope there isn't anyone in our way," said Vane playfully.
"It's almost impossible… this path was only taken by Ashikunz, and maybe Zrelekai or Corvinus…" whispered Tyel.
"Well, still, if there is someone, you'll warn us, won't you?" asked Syrmax. Tyel nodded his head before leading the group into the path behind the poster.
After ten minutes of walking, the group finally reached the end of the path. In front of them was another poster.
"We're here." Tyel, still leading the way, slowly moved the poster in front of him and revealed the passage to the magazine room of the prison.
"I've never been here…" whispered Martheel as he entered. "Most of the guards aren't allowed here… well, except me…" said Tyel, joking. The others laughed softly.
"Still, what are we supposed to do now? Do we enter and smash every—" Vane started to speak before getting interrupted by another voice.
"Intruders! Shoot the intruders!" said the robot that had heard their voices. Right before it was about to shoot at the group, Lily, slightly annoyed, summoned two roots from the floor that grabbed the robot's hands, ripping them off.
"Water bubble!" said Martheel. From his hand, a small bubble made of water came out and rushed directly at the robot. As the water made contact with the metallic object, the robot couldn't move anymore and fell to the ground, broken.
Suddenly, the alarm in the prison began to ring.
"INTRUDERS!!! INTRUDERS!!!" yelled the voice.
"Hey, they're talking about us!" said Vane, amused, before turning into a buffalo. "Come on, we're going to kill that fucker," he added while Lily and Orechin sat on his back.
With that, Vane and the others immediately went around to search for Corvinus. "Move, bitches!!!" shouted Vane as he charged toward some robots that had just arrived, crushing their bodies under his weight.
"Liro, it's time," said Martheel as he placed his hand over Liro's shoulder. Liro nodded and created two different illusions.
"While you make them move, we will defend you," said Martheel as he took a step forward with Catripple.
"Hey, I found it!" said Darian happily. Everyone turned around and saw Darian with a bucket in his hands.
"I still didn't get why you asked if I had seen a bucket…" said Tyel, slightly confused.
"Oh, don't worry… they're robots and are weak to water… we will simply make them fall for the oldest trick in the world… Martheel, get ready to fill this," said Darian, who had left Snowy in Syrmax's hands while he looked at the door of the magazine room and smirked, amused.
"It never worked in school with the teachers… but now that they're robots, it will definitely work."
Tyel and Martheel, now dressed in their uniforms, were walking silently.
"Martheel? Tyel?" asked one of the guards in panic, confused. "I've never seen you two here during this time. What are you doing in here?"
Tyel and Martheel didn't answer as they simply walked forward.
"Everyone… may I have your attention?" shouted Martheel as he was finally in the middle of a huge group of guards.
The guards remained silent. Those who knew Martheel and Tyel looked at them carefully, wondering why they were here, while the others who had never had the chance to speak with them simply looked at them in fear, frightened by the alarm.
"We're tired of Ashikunz's empire… we rebels have an announcement to make: we're happy to announce that we have invaded the prison! It's time for our rebellion!!" shouted Martheel.
"What about Corvinus? Zrelekai? AND ASHIKUNZ?" yelled a guard in fear. With that, Tyel took a step forward.
"I'll keep it short… my power has finally awakened, and it lets me look into the future…" As he said these words, everyone was surprised. The ones who had known Tyel for a really long time were happy, some were proud, and others were amazed.
"Ashikunz is outside the city, thinking that we would have gone through the other exits… he will never come! He hasn't realized that the city is being attacked from the inside, and when he arrives… everything will be destroyed! Everything of his empire will be lost… all of his robots? Dead. No one will be able to greet him anymore… Let's just go and kick this damn Krukin's ass!!!" shouted Tyel as he raised his fist high. Some guards were convinced and shouted happily.
But not everyone was convinced. There were some who thought Ashikunz was an unstoppable force, and even if they all rushed at him together, no one would be able to stop him.
"You're just crazy!!" shouted a person from behind. Being someone who could use earth magic, he made a spike appear from under Tyel and Martheel, who didn't even flinch.
The spike simply pierced through their bodies. "We're in another place taking care of something else; we just need you all to trust us… and believe that Ardoris will finally be free!!" shouted Tyel before his body completely disappeared, revealing that he was an illusion.
The human guards remained silent for a few seconds before one of the robots stopped and pointed its gun toward them.
"Everyone, what are you doing here? Go and kill the intruder—" Suddenly, one of the guards pointed his hand at the robot.
"Fireball!" he shouted. A sphere of fire came out of his arm and set the robot on fire.
"I believe them! We have to fight to defend this city!!!" shouted the guard. Several other guards shouted in agreement.
"They believed us… we're surely getting some help from the others too," said Liro while breathing heavily, his eyes having already turned black as he could barely stand on his feet.
"They are arriving!!" warned Catripple. Darian moved away from the door.
"I'm so lucky that Zrelekai had multiple buckets and some strings… it will be hella funny," he said as he looked over his trap. Several buckets were positioned to fall directly on top of the robots' heads if the door opened.
"Let's just… enjoy the show," he said, when suddenly the door opened.