Chapter 260: The Intention To Escape (Bonus)

She came in again, this time with both hands, pressing the exchange closer. He gave ground deliberately, reading her rhythm.

"Even if everything we suspect is true," he continued, deflecting a strike off his forearm, "we don’t have the full shape of it yet. We don’t know how far it goes. We don’t know if Alistair is operating independently with the Desdemonas."

"And Andrea?" Isabella asked

"Same problem." He replied.

She paused for half a breath, just enough for him to move.

He dropped and blitzed to her flank, closing the gap in a single burst of speed, while having a strike already committed.

But a sudden barrier stopped him.

It appeared without a word from her, a spatial construct that simply existed between his fist and her side, invisible until the moment of contact. He felt the resistance push back against his knuckles.

She turned toward him with a calm smile. "You’re faster."

"You’re still sharp as ever," he replied, smiling back.

They separated, each taking a step back, and then came together again in a tighter exchange and short controlled bursts that neither of them fully committed to.

"I really hope it doesn’t get worse than it is now," she said.

"I hope so too" Ethan replied back. She gave nod, and he disengaged, leaping backward and landing several meters away.

Then he closed his eyes, and for a second it felt as though the yard had gone quiet around him as he drew a slow breath and let his focus turn inward.

In the space behind his eyes, two magic circles formed and they were not overlapping in his mind-scape.

Then he opened eyes and stretched a hand forward as two magic circles appeared in the air before him. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Though they were both purple colored, they each had varying effects. One built up the pressure of the fire element, coiling it into shape to form a massive sphere.

The other gathered moisture from the air, shaping it into the water element as the head of a blue, serpentine dragon began to take form.

Isabella stared in awe.

"...You learned to multicast," she said. There was genuine surprise and approval in her tonr.

"Figured it out," Ethan said. "Took a while."

Then he released them both. The blazing sphere shot forward with a surface, churning like molten flame as it compressed everything in its path.

And the water dragon surged ahead, with its long fluid body coiling through the air in a sweeping arc. Its head led the charge, with jaws parted as it glided with a rushing, tidal force, leaving faint ripples in its wake.

"Ars Levitas" she whispered, and suddenly the flight spell carried her upward in one fluid arc as both constructs passed beneath her, the fire blooming outward and the water detonating against the ground in a wide, low burst.

She hovered above the aftermath, looking down at him with a smile.

Ethan looked up at her with a smile, then leaped up in a burst of speed.

The rest of the night continued exactly like that.

——

Meanwhile at the palace...

Outside Prince Alistair’s chamber, the corridor was quiet with Annette and Leona had standing guard at the door.

They had been here for hours, and hadn’t moved in any meaningful way. But fatigue had a way of settling into the body.

Annette let out a low grunt. "This is almost.. ugh," She shook her head, "why is Imperial Guard doing the work of palace soldiers ."

But Leona said nothing. She remained exactly as she was, composed and gazing forward.

Annette glanced at her, then exhaled. "I’m taking a pee. I’ll be back."

She didn’t wait for a response as she turned and walked down the corridor at a steady pace, until she rounded the corner and disappeared from sight.

The hallway fell still again.

For a moment, Leona didn’t move either. Then her eyes moved slowly, subtly scanning down the length of the corridor. Left and Right. The alcoves and the adjoining passage at the far end.

Then she pressed the chamber door open with measured care, and slipped inside. The door closed behind her with barely a sound.

-

The room was dimly lit. Prince Alistair sat on his bed, with a book resting loosely in one hand.

His posture was relaxed and his expression even more so. However, he looked up the moment she entered and a smile arched through his lips. "It seems Annette has taken her leave."

Leona gave a nod. "A short leave," she added

"Hm.." Alistair returned a nod, then asked. "Are you with your arcphone?"

Her hand moved to her pocket, and she withdrew the device she had in there.

Alistair watched her. "May I?" He asked, extending his hand

She placed it into his palm.

He turned it over once, feeling the weight of it, then looked back at her with a more focused. "I trust you know how to reach this contact."

She gave another nod.

Alistair’s voice carried some level of urgency, "Get another device quickly and use it to establish communication again."

He paused, letting his gaze drift briefly toward the window before returning to her. "If I had to guess... my father has already summoned the head of the Verity Order."

A faint trace of amusement passed across his face. "And soon enough, I’ll be led back to the throne and asked to reveal certain things which I must not."

His eyes sharpened. "Before that happens... I intend to leave."

Leona held his gaze for a moment. Then gave another nod.

She turned and moved back toward the door with the same level of quietness she had entered with.

The door settled shut.

Alistair remained where he was, staring at the door for a while. Then he looked down at the phone in his hand.

He smiled a little as he tossed and caught it. Then his hand reached beneath the mattress and slid the device out of sight.

The book returned to his other hand. But his eyes didn’t move across the page.

He wasn’t reading anymore.

—-

A/N: Will drop update on bonus Chapters on next upload