The last bubble of air reached to the ceiling of the tower - its entirety being filled with water, Midas's consciousness now completely faded, the back of his head soon to be touching the ground as his limp body floated downwards. The enemy was out of reach, still somehow able to keep the water from spilling out through the entrance's creaks - however, if there was a way to reach them, it had to move Midas's limbs.
"What a waste of an opportunity... But I need you to live."
Snapping his eyes open again, Midas's irises were deformed into two slim glowing rings of gold that shone from dark eyeballs; Gilt was the one in control now. Feeling water filling up the lung of the body that was under its influence, it quickly found its footing on the ground underwater, walking towards the brick wall. Midas tried to cling to it in order to escape, walking towards it as if the water was air - Gilt balled his fingers into a fist, the feeling of moving actual bone and flesh somewhat foreign to it. Not wasting much time, Gilt punched the wall, the seemingly sturdy brick bursting apart by the blow as the giant mass of water inside quickly sprouted out of the room.
It was freed now, in control - able to do as it pleased as it stood in front of a shattered wall, the grass field outside of the main building drenched by a giant pool of water - Gilt felt alive, spreading his fingers as he could feel the sun on Midas's hand, groaning dryly as his neck twisted at the mild sensation. Not needing much time to notice a great amount of fear being felt - its gaze snapped onto the window of the second floor, feeling someone stare down at him from there.
Still feeling somewhat limited, Gilt had to be patient, opting to aid the boy whose body he now controlled, bending his knees before leaping up to reach the window, pulling himself up swiftly on the frame of the window to eventually shatter it once he flung himself through it. Staring without any expression into the shocked eyes of the student that hid himself with his scarf, Gilt slowly stepped closer, a shard of the shattered window crunching under the soaked sole of his clothing.
Gilt was right - ever since it managed to fuse into the boy's body, it was able to see glimpses of his past memory while also being able to see what the boy saw - its golden body was tangible, able to wrap around the human bone in a slim film while also being able to be stretched into thin strings that fed into his nerves. Even the sensation of mana flowing through the muscle fibers of this body was something it could feel - making it much easier to apply the Null Abilities the boy used before, able to use them much more flawlessly due to its better understanding of bending mana.
Seeing his enemy still frozen, Gilt eventually ran towards him. Seeing their eyes directly on the knuckles of its left fist, Gilt stopped shortly before the fist could actually hit the enemy's waist - another punch with its right now aimed at the enemy's jaw. The foe's attention was now solely on his right hand - already planning on pulling their forearm up over their face to block the blow, Gilt couldn't help but use Midas's body to laugh at him broadly - sending them flying with a headbutt as both punches were just fake-outs.
Ignoring the fact that the knuckles of Midas's left hand bled from the initial blow against the wall, it quickly dashed towards the still flying enemy, sending them flying through the floor separating the second and first stories of the building. Unable to help itself but grin as it looked down at the foe struggling to get up from the rubble of the destroyed floor - not wanting to stop yet, Gilt made sure to jump down.
A film of water appeared from the hole it created - severely slowing its fall as it could feel water wrapped around its waist. Once through, Gilt hastily took the same corner - wildly waving Midas' sickle around to slash through the balls of water directly sent after him as the enemy tried their best to widen the gap. Eventually taking another corner - the enemy seemed to have been gone. In front of Gilt was a dead end with one door to his left, a milky glass built into the wood.
The enemy clenched onto the scarf that shielded them, their chest rising uncontrollably as they fixated their eyes onto the milky glass that blurredly gave info on what happened outside the crammed storage room they had to retreat to. Their heart pumped wildly as they were able to feel sweat drip down their cheekbone - with their back against the wall, they stood directly to the left of the door, screwed completely if they were caught by whatever they fought.
A silhouette appeared behind the blurry window - silently standing there as they could hear distant distress call through the walls caused by the destruction just a few halls away. With their eyes glued to the window in the door, they watched as the silhouette eventually came closer, their forehead pressed now against the glass as two golden glowing rings were now directly staring at them - it had noticed them.
Just as one of their muscles trembled to scram out of the crammed room, they could feel a cold, pointy object press through their scarf against their throat. With wide eyes, they saw a slim golden skeleton emptily stare down at them, crouched down to fit into the tight room. Acting on pure instinct, the masked figure swiftly opened the door to flee for their life, Midas's limp body falling onto the floor as they pressed the door open.
Cutting the attempt short, Gilt wandered out of the storage room, grabbing the sickle Midas dropped to throw after them, the rusty blade leaving a deep slash on their calf, rendering them unable to run. Forced to crawl now, they dragged themselves to turn a corner, desperately shooting more water bullets at Gilt, now in Midas's body again. Unfazed as they hit onto the chest and hip of the body, it leaned down to press its knee into their stomach.
Letting out an amused huff, Gilt used Midas's body to pummel the enemy, repeatedly punching their face as they struggled to keep their cover up. Feeling blood soak into the cloth of their scarf, they watched with wide eyes as the following punch eventually froze right in front of their face - seeing the arm it controlled tremble slightly as the slim golden irises began to roll back, Midas's mouth began to clutch its teeth as the residual water inside of his body began to flow outside of his nose.
"Give me back my body... you little..."
Groaning, Midas leaned against the wall as his eyes squeezed shut - the enemy watched as his fingers trembled and the arms of his muscles tensed, completely overwhelmed with the sight of the youth trying to regain control over his body again. Eventually seeing the arm that desperately reached out to them fall limply, Midas's eyes began to open again, his eyeballs returning to their regular white color as his brown pupils tiredly looked down onto his limp limbs, eventually choking up the water he swallowed.
"You did it, didn't you... run already..."
Breathing out, he put his hand onto his hip, all of his clothes drenched, his lung aching, and still feeling the pain from the water bullets. Guilt ignored, still too unstable to ensure that Guilt didn't take control over his body again - obviously still too weak to handle resisting it. Whoever the golden skeleton used to be - the youth had a hard time believing so, as everything it currently caused only made his life harder.
"Listen... I didn't mean - I was forced to do this..."
"I said run...!"
Shouting now, Midas groaned - still out of breath - as he felt his body fall to the side onto the ground, watching whoever Gilt nearly killed slowly lumber away. Lying there on his stomach, he could hear the clunking of knight armor in the distance, coughing dryly as more water escaped his lungs. His stern brows eventually relaxed - breathing shallowly as he dragged himself a brief distance, having to run into either Jakal or Uteli before he would be snatched up by some knight and blamed for the destruction caused.
"What's wrong, chosen one? What's with the choice of words...? Someone nearly disposes of you, and you just let them run...? At least let me enjoy myself for once. If you don't plan on fighting at all, stop pretending to be some hero."
"Isn't the golden knight currently talking to me...? What reason do you suddenly have to beat down onto much more inferior students..."
Groaning as he heard Gilts remarks echo through his head, Midas forced himself not to lose his consciousness again as he dragged himself further away - the only known exit to him was the main entrance, and he was forced to roughly crawl in the direction of it. Whatever had happened to Gilt before he ended up in the temple most likely made him go insane, somehow corrupting the man that was once foretold to be the savior of humanity. At least Midas hoped so.
Having heard the sounds of two explosions, Jakal sharply turned his head towards the main entrance - Uteli tightly following him, as she heard the commandos of knights yell from the floor above them. Luckily, most students were occupied outside on the fields - either watching the physical exams or going through the stands that were set up by older students to advocate for their profession - keeping most of the halls completely empty.
Seeing a set of fingers grip the corner of a wall, Jakal sprinted closer, eventually seeing Midas drag himself away towards the main entrance. Uteli watched as Jakal crouched down to him - her eyes flicking to the windows of the hall as a silhouette was visible through the colored glass of the mosaic, already gripping onto the handle of her axe to follow after them.
"Don't... let them go; it's not worth it."
Midas spoke, propping himself up to lean against the wall. Getting into another fight right now while multiple knights were in the building was not worth it - not wanting to find out what kind of gear they would now possess thanks to the Troi'Facon. Remembering how Inaya dragged him towards the lower layer, he turned his head briefly to look back as Jakal stabilized him with his arm.
"We have to regroup - the commander's son was most likely behind this."
"Were you behind these explosions we heard...?"
"Let's go already..."
Whispering, Midas was able to see the colorful cloth of the distant workshops that were set up by the older students - slightly warped by the shards of glass that were put together to form the mosaics displayed with every window. Descending a row of stairs to reach the hidden hatch, Midas eventually returned to the dark canal that was now out of use; the only ones left were Inaya and Patriq, as the staff-wielding student watched in silence as she entertained Fudula.
Midas felt a heavy sense of guilt - even if he was attacked, to pummel them like this was never his intention, royalty or not - having to kill them was something he wanted to avoid at all costs, especially when there was a chance of them being exploited by an even greater power. In a sense, that also applied to the commander's son - probably not knowing better but simply taking what is his, something his father most likely convinced him of.
Seeing the expressions of his friends as they noticed his state, Midas chose to keep silent about Gilt, as it was a problem no one else but he needed to deal with. It was his idea to go and stop the sandstorm, having made the choice of taking a risk - so dealing with the effects of it was something he felt obligated to do.
Raising his head again, he saw Patriq look at him with a somewhat bored expression - leaning back in his chair while having his arm around his wooden staff. Perhaps Midas could adopt the same way of going about these things - simply not caring about what had happened or what was possible to happen - possibly reducing the stress he felt. Inaya eventually approached him, taking a seat beside him to treat his bleeding knuckles; the gesture reminded him of their adventure.
"I'm thinking of working at a pharmacy... the store owner is also a Gihin - willing to let me work there. I also think it's much safer for Fudula there. Who knows what will happen to you in the future if this is your first day here... but don't worry, Haya will be by my side."
"That would fit you. Who knows, maybe I will carry myself there if I get hurt again and need some medicine..."
Laughing gently, Inaya nodded - her fingers carefully applying a bandage around his knuckles. Midas wasn't able to tell for sure, but he could feel her gaze on him through the multiple holes in her metal mask. Perhaps this was a better option for the both of them - Haya seemed to have been training his body recently; his fighting capabilities were most likely much more polished due to being a member of the knighthood.
It was moments like these that made being able to suppress guilt so important to Midas.