Suddenly, Herad sensed a burst of energy to his right, his instincts warning of danger as his head snapped in that direction for a fraction of a second, breaking his focus from Helga.
Naturally, Helga exploited the opening, the ground splitting as a blood spear shot up from beneath Herad's feet.
"Damn it!"
Herad cursed as he hastily leapt to evade, but he failed to fully escape, and the spear's tip sliced against the side of his leg. His balance broke, and he stumbled as Helga lunged, one sword thrusting straight toward his left shoulder.
He twisted his upper body in a hurried half-turn that spared him from a deeper strike, but her blade still pierced his shoulder and drew blood, not deep enough to disable the arm but enough to wound him.
At that moment, Eleanor summoned a sword and enveloped it with her aura, the flame-like monochrome light enveloping the blade.
Herad's right hand shot out, aiming to counter whatever attack she was preparing, but in the next instant, Eleanor's sword was already carving through his wrist, cutting upward.
She reversed her grip and brought the blade down, slicing cleanly between his wrist and elbow. Flipping her sword again, she slashed across his elbow, her blade cleaving through flesh and bone as easily as a hot knife through butter.
Eleanor stepped forward, moving behind him to his opposite side, and swung her right leg backwards into the side of his left leg, knocking him off balance. As his body was thrown into the air, her sword flashed once more, severing his left wrist completely.
She immediately deactivated her skill, spinning as she skidded to a halt, and Helga, capitalising on the opening, drove her blood-forged swords downward, piercing through Herad's magical barriers and striking straight through his head, pinning his body to the ground.
"Urgh!"
The instant Helga's blade pierced Herad's brain, Eleanor felt her stomach revolt. Everything she had eaten in the morning rushed up, and she clamped a hand over her mouth, though blood still trickled slowly from her nose as she staggered to one knee, her sword clattering to the ground.
"Elea-Ellie!?"
Helga called out in alarm, but Eleanor didn't respond. Instead, she charged at Herad's corpse and rifled through his clothing until she found a pair of multi-coloured keys that matched the magical signature of the sealing cuffs on Marie's wrists.
"What are you doing?! Your cond—!"
"Remove the barrier on the human side! Quick!" Eleanor interrupted, grabbing Helga by the arm before pivoting and dashing toward the barrier.
Realising Eleanor would collide with it otherwise, Helga immediately released her barrier, allowing Eleanor to push through the crowd, reach the disguised Marie, drop to her knees, and unlock the magical restraints on her wrists.
Eleanor briefly glanced at one of the half-crumbled hallways behind them, sensing the approaching enemies, then took a deep breath to calm herself as she grabbed Marie's shoulders and whispered into her ear.
"More of them are coming. More of the same people who were after your life and the reason your father sent you to this country."
As she spoke, Marie's eyes widened.
'How does she know that?!'
Eleanor's words made it clear she knew who Marie was under her disguise, but Eleanor gave her no time to dwell on it and continued.
"There are more of the people trying to capture you for their own goals, intending to turn you into a pawn against your father. More of the same people who hurt your dear Alessia.
All unforgivable acts, they've committed."
The footsteps of the approaching masked men grew louder, their voices echoing and magic power rising as they prepared to attack.
Eleanor then grabbed Marie's hands, lifting them as she asked. "Your magic is free. You're not going to let them go scot-free, are you?"
Her soft voice felt like a devil's whisper in Marie's ears.
At that, Marie's eyes widened once more, and then, the simmering rage buried beneath her fear erupted to the surface.
Magic power erupted from the frail-looking elf's body, and Helga, who had been warily eying the nearest hallway, immediately turned towards her in shock.
'That… at least three times mine!!'
She instantly sensed the overwhelming amount of magic power that Marie possessed, now unsealed.
At that same moment, the reinforcements of the masked assailants reached the clearing, swords drawn, guns levelled, and staffs brimming with magic power at their tips, ready to strike.
Simultaneously, a four-ringed blue magic circle appeared beneath the feet of everyone in the clearing.
—Tier 4 Ice Magic: Frost Nova—
A bright flash of blue light erupted, forcing everyone, hostages and assailants alike, to instinctively shut their eyes, and the ambient temperature instantly dropped as a wave of cold swept through the area.
When Eleanor opened her eyes, all of the assailants who had entered from the various hallways leading to the clearing were encased in layers of ice, frozen up to their mouths, leaving only their noses and eyes exposed.
Seeing this, Eleanor smiled wryly at the display of Marie's 'Myriad Mage' trait.
Then, even more magic power poured out from Marie, forming ten glowing orbs above her head.
Seeing this, Eleanor smiled wryly at the manifestation of Marie's 'Myriad Mage' trait.
From the orbs, beams of light shot out, curving through the air to strike the heads of all the assailants, their screams muffled by the ice that had frozen their mouths.
Not all of them died from this. The weaker ones were killed instantly, while the stronger and more durable endured, surviving with cracked skulls, concussions, or being knocked unconscious.
The beams even bent around the wall of ice to strike those behind it, and as this happened, Eleanor attempted to stand, only to stagger and collapse backwards.
"!!"
Marie's concentration broke, her light magic dissipating as her full attention snapped to the falling Eleanor, hands reaching out to catch her.
At that exact moment, a loud voice rang out, "Nobody move!"
They all turned toward the voice and saw a man holding a crying elf child, a dagger pressed to the child's neck.
"All of you, drop your weapons! Stop your magic!"
'You've gotta be fucking kidding me!' Eleanor cursed internally as she realised one of the assailants had hidden among the hostages.
This realisation instantly sent Eleanor's aching head spiralling into a rabbit hole of negative thoughts.
'What if he's not the only one?
What if there are others in the other groups?
No one else has moved, but that doesn't rule out the possibility of more assailants hiding among them.'
The man pressed the dagger closer to the child's neck, so close that even the slightest movement would draw blood, and shouted, "Stop your magic now!"
Marie froze, gritting her teeth, and silently cancelled her spell. The ice melted, and the frostbitten assailants collapsed to the ground, either unconscious or shivering uncontrollably.
The man then shouted at Helga, who still gripped her blood sword, "Drop your sword and remove the barriers!"
Helga remained silent for a moment, then slowly exhaled and let the sword fall to the ground.
'There's still some blood, but…'
A trace of blood remained on the ring she had used to deploy the barrier around the house, but she had no confidence she could turn it into a projectile fast enough to prevent the dagger from piercing the child's neck.
They were locked in this tense stalemate when a foreign voice rang out across the area.
"Chivalry: First Step."