"He's moving... towards the fifth compartment!"
"Well, let's get going...!"
Midas and Foulard didn't waste a moment of their time to stay as close as possible to their enemy once the shape of their mana began to wander - its blurred movements visible from the second floor beneath them once they closed their lids. The image of the hooded, older student turning to them didn't want to leave Midas's head - the way he could feel his gaze through his shut eyes sent a shiver down his spine. His mind was already preoccupied with the possibility that a knight was waiting for them at one of the many corners they had to take to get to the other side of the building's fourth compartment.
"We're screwed if he gets to the fifth one... that place was locked down for only nobles... whoever is guarding that is much better geared - plus, I'm pretty sure the son of the head commander has his room there too..."
Frowning in distress, Foulard glanced at Midas - his skin pale as he clutched his teeth, his knees shivering as he forced himself to keep running behind the youth.
"Then we have to stop him before he reaches that place - since these walkways between the compartments are more like bridges built between a set of walls... we can use their less sturdy structure to our advantage."
"Even more repair costs... I'm getting disowned by my family..."
As Foulards' whine hulled toward Midas, he was already beginning to form another stone projectile - this time giving the rock a diamond form, one that might help with piercing through the wood the walkways were made from. Clutching it in his palm, the youth shifted to walk closer to the hallways' windows - seeing that the enemy beneath them was slightly ahead, he turned back to Foulard.
"Foulard, are you ready to bend...?"
"Yes, yes... I am!"
Woken up from his brief trance of self-pity, Foulard's eyes snapped at the rock that was thrown for him to catch - clutching it with his gloved hand, the water stone began to light up in a blue shine, quickly enveloping the projectile in a cocoon of water, making it spin as the mana that flew into his water stone allowed him to control the flow of the water surrounding it. Holding onto an already spinning drill bit, Foulard hastily opened the window to throw out the projectile, using his glove to control the direction of it as the spinning rock curled downwards onto the second floor.
Meanwhile, on the second floor, students, either from various minor noble families or lower status, began to stroll out of their classroom, some wandering the halls as others decided to stroll around and chat with each other. Between light complaints and bored groans of the students, a figure obscured by an old, washed-out mantle made of cloth began to dart between the gaps of the unknowing figures - his face covered by the hood as he dashed through the compartment as fast as possible.
"My father attended the ceremony to declare the new head commander of the knighthood... he told me it almost sounded like a trial. What happened...?"
"The Troi'Facon happened...! My family is responsible for forging and distributing the gear that is used by the knighthood - one of us has been in the position of head commander of the military for four generations now...! But all of that didn't seem to matter to the king the slightest once that man came around to fight for the position as head - he didn't even get an invitation but somehow was elected...!"
"Well...it wouldn't surprise me if the king was somehow persuaded by the Troi'Facon... I was told that five of their priests attended the ceremony to decide the new head commander. He told me that the look in that man's eye was almost primal - as if his life depended on obtaining that position..."
"It's a shame to see the king disregard the devotion my family showed to them, especially after we entrusted maybe our most important conflict to a man who had only recently become a general..."
The chat of the noble students was cut short as the slightly taller figure dashed through the two of them - startled, they stared after him; already opening his mouth to yell, the student was cut off by the shattering of a window right in front of them - the colorful glass shards fractured and fell to reveal a spiky rock that relentlessly spun and curled in the direction of the obscured student running ahead.
Avoiding it barely by dashing to the side, the enemy didn't waste their time as the projectile dug deep into the tiled floor - making sure to keep his pace as his safety was now only two walkways away from him.
"Missed...! Barely!"
Midas huffed out as he didn't stop; the start of the wooden walkway between the last two compartments of the main building was now possible to see. From the ground, pieces of rock began to break off and blindly dart toward them - tiny shards of granite, each of them moving sharply into their own direction as the enemy tried their best to slow them down. Feeling a cold sensation briefly pass around him, Midas saw a thin wall of water collect the many aimlessly floating pieces of rock - its size engulfing the entire hall as it swept to the end of it.
"Hah...! That's nothing for me!"
Groaning out, Foulard tried his best to hold up, his teeth gritted as he eventually made the mass of water drop again. Actually hitting the enemy from their position was harder than Midas had thought, even though they had the high ground - neither of them was able to direct the projectile, continuously track the enemy through closed lids and walls, or run simultaneously. Seeing him slow down, Midas had to think fast.
"Foulard... cover me if knights appear."
Glancing back at him one last time, Midas leaned forward, his legs bending as he filled mana into his calf muscles - with a sharp leap, he flew roughly to the center of the hallway, having just a fraction of time until the enemy would arrive right underneath him. Quickly regaining his footing again, he clutched the wooden fence of the walkway, hopping over it to let himself fall down - his body filled with adrenaline as he heard the screech of wind engulf him in his fall. Midas managed to grasp the edge of the roof of the walkway on the second floor just in time.
Using the momentum he gained, Midas moved his feet up to kick the enemy out of the walkway - the impact making the hooded enemy fall out over the fence, both of them now in the air. Neither of them was able to bend as Midas already drew his sickle to swing; ducking the swing, the enemy landed a punch deep into the youth's gut, drawing out the air in his lungs as he grasped the youth's wrists.
Colliding onto the ground first, Midas groaned in pain, flashing his teeth as he used his sun shard to form spikes from the tiled path beneath them - his attempt cut short as the stone formations quickly crumbled under the influence of the enemy's mana, his hands rising to his sides before sharpening the fractured stones into a set of projectiles facing him.
"This time I will make sure you perish."
Nearly avoiding the impact of the first, as Midas yanked his head to the side, he watched with wide eyes as the other projectiles fell down. Grasping and clutching the air around him, the enemy's hands landed on the bubble of water that had suddenly submerged his head, allowing Midas to reach out for his blade, struggling to grip it as the enemy's knee was burrowed into his stomach. With a last-ditch effort, the enemy rose his arms again, clutching his fingers as curving shells of rock began to form around them - coming together to form a completely walled-off dome around them.
Cut off from letting his mana directly reach them, Foulard widened his eyes in panic - unable to control the water anymore from such a distance, especially with an object now in between him and the water. Hearing the water splash off his enemy in the tiny dark room that was suddenly created, Midas clenched his teeth - his sickle now behind a wall of rock. Closing his eyes on pure instinct now, he could tell that the enemy's fist was already on its way down to him. Midas threw a punch of his own, charging it with his own mana as both of their knuckles collided at the same time.
Feeling a sudden knockback in his arm, Midas's shut eyes widened behind his closed lids almost instantly at what he was seeing in front of him - clutching at seemingly nothing, Midas endured a hit onto his stomach as he focused on grasping the floating chunk of mana. Groaning at the impact, the youth already knew what he looked at - the same kind of mana remains of a perfect deflection - the exact thing Jikiths Null-Ability made use of.
"Detonate."
With a hiss through his clutched teeth, Midas widened his eyes as he focused solely on letting go of the suppressed mana - a white light beginning to blitz through the dark space and gleam from the gaps between the stone shells making up the dome before an explosion was set off between their faces. The blast made the youths' ears ring, the stone crumbling as he could feel his enemy shift off of him to clutch onto his face. With blood flowing out of his nose, Midas weakly managed to get onto his feet - clutching onto a rock projectile that was sent at him by the slumping enemy with his bare hand.
"You... little..."
With a hazy mumble, Midas simply threw the rock back at the enemy's face, making him fall down onto the ground for good before he too lost his consciousness. Midas's mana was almost fully depleted - most of it likely having been drained by Gilt restoring his body after the blow against his head. With heavy lids, Midas could tell that his body was being shaken by Foulard - his fingers clutching his shoulders desperately to wake him up.
"Midas...! Hey...! Wake up already, by the holy spring... why do you always faint on me...?"
With a frantic expression, Foulard knelt between Midas and the hooded student he used to work for a mere few days ago - having no idea what had happened or who won as he was too busy making his way downstairs, he looked around with panic. In the complete open, Foulard tried his best to drag Midas away by his arm - beginning to drag his body away, he froze at who was looking at him.
The same masked girl with the voluminous hair braided into two long tails stood there by herself - having just appeared from the walkway between the fourth and fifth compartment Foulard tried to drag Midas into. Simply standing there just as frozen as him, she quickly skipped towards the unconscious youth - making Foulard tremble as his head was already frantically working on finding a reasonable excuse for dragging away two knocked-out students from the south.
"This is a huge misunderstanding…!"
"Is he not your friend? Did you hurt him...?"
Her tone was more curious than judgmental - Foulard was still trembling, yet somehow perplexed by how calm she was at the sight of two people coming from her region lying motionlessly on the floor. Her question sounded simple, but the fact she was already beginning to think Foulard was responsible for them to faint made him freeze up - making him drop on his knees, his forehead pressed onto the floor.
"I swear it wasn't me...! Believe me...!"
She looked at the boy, pleading desperately at her for a silent, fleeting moment. Eventually giggling dimly behind her mask to grasp the other arm of Midas without another word, Foulard could feel her gaze on him - maybe it was just his imagination or hope of not being judged, but her gaze didn't feel as harsh as the usual stares that were directed onto him by southerners.
"Your look... it matched his... I know a secure place. You carry the other one."
"That guy is taller than I am. How am I supposed to..."
Looking back at the motionless student, and then back at her as she was already beginning to carry Midas towards the compartments on the left side of the building, Foulard grasped the wrists of the hooded student and dragged his body behind him as he followed the girl he only knew fleetingly. Foulard began to think as she mentioned Midas's gaze - the time they saw her at her dancing practice, Midas wasn't even looking towards their group.
With every step they took down the stairs into the basement, the stairway hulled with the dull thuds of the knocked-out student's legs gliding off the edge of the step. Ever since they picked up the bodies, the girl didn't speak one word to him - her body much stronger than Foulard expected. Now in the basement of the first compartment - she exposed a wooden hatch for the two of them to head down to.
"Uh... I didn't really mean to dispose of them, you know..."
The girl chuckled softly, her shoulder shaking dimly as she continued to hold Midas in her arms as she took the first step on the wooden stairs, eventually glancing at Foulard over her shoulder.
"This is a safe place for them... Don't worry, they might like you if they see you bringing another Gihin down here..."
The room they entered was much larger than the halls of the academy, their steps and the creaking of wood hollowing through the damp stone arches that were dimly lit up by the orange light of candles and torches. The underground hideout had a faint smell of water - a group of students already surrounded at the table in the middle, their attention quickly set on Midas as the girl placed him down onto a pile of hay.
Foulard froze completely, swallowing hard as he saw a much older student wielding a hammer on his back crouch down to examine the unconscious body of Midas - his gaze landing on the masked girl and then eventually on him.
"...and you are...?"
"Foulard - the third son of the Meyson family, sir...!"
"Meyson...? That name... are you from the West...? No, you wouldn't be... if you were, you wouldn't be wearing that badge - hey, didn't I tell you to not just let anybody in...?"
With a critical glance, Qayid looked at the girls with the braided hair, making her giggle completely unphased at him. Foulard simply stood there, his body rigid and frozen on the spot - not even having realized he dropped the arms of the body he dragged down there with him.
"He is a friend of Midas... They are often together."
Foulard flinched almost at the words the girl said so casually, unable to help but force a grin at Qayid's sharp gaze on him - trying to sound casual. His mind, however, couldn't help but think if they had been watched by the girl without him knowing; his thinking was cut short as in the middle of them, Midas began to rise with a groan, rubbing his head.