As Leo and I continued walking down the market, he walked with less of a stride in his steps, as usual. Talking about anything to keep from thinking about Lavinia, only half looking for her, and introducing me to many of the unique shops in the area.
It wasn't until we came across a large crowd gathered near the western District border that Leo shook off his stupor. "Finaly! A distraction." He exclaimed.
Pushing our way to the front of the crowd to see what the commotion was about, I caught some of the comments from the bystanders.
"Idiots. They never know their place."
"Damn inish. They don't belong here."
"Whatever their punishment, they should have seen it coming."
The crowd was too dense, blocking an easy way to the front. Leo tapped my shoulder from behind and told me to let him handle it. Using a highly directive, high-pitched tone, Leo directed it at the people standing in front of us. Recoiling from the shock and slight pain, they quickly cleared away.
Reaching the front, the crowd was spaced several meters away, in a circle, watching two guards disciplining Lower District residents.
It was easy to tell of their origin; their dressed-down winter clothes provided little to no protection from the elements.
Close enough to hear the interaction, Leo and I both listened in.
The two guards were standing over a young adult couple, waving batons over their heads. One was clearly already struck; the man was clutching his twisted leg, with signs of a break. They were both in a panic, crying.
"Please!" The young woman cried out, grabbing onto one of the guards' legs. Only to be struck on the head a moment later.
Seeing this occur, Leo immediately broke off from the crowd, approaching the guards in a run. I followed behind him, nervous of what he might do.
"Bitch! We don't answer to you! Child or no child, it's not our problem!" The guard yelled, spitting on the ground.
"There's no reason good enough to warrant you setting foot into the district." The second guard yelled.
"What's the meaning of this?!" Leo called out.
The first guard glared at Leo, waving his baton in the air. "Leave, boy! This doesn't concern you."
"Watch your tone, bretch! You're talking to a Grimwald, and you will tell me this instant!" Leo reprimanded, pulling out his identification visa.
"My Lord!" The two guards bowed together.
"It was all his fault!" The first guard pointed to the second.
"What! Me? My Lord, he lies. He—" The guard gets cut off, his voice disappearing behind a siren of ringing.
Leo, in a fit of anger, directionlessly unleashed his Aura. Causing most of the bystanding crowd, and me, to fall to our knees, the two guards and the injured man winced in pain, while the woman fainted for a second.
Leo projected his voice so everyone could hear, "I don't care about your frivolous squabble! Give it to me straight, or I'll have both your positions revoked!"
The second guard recovered first, rushing through his words, "My Lord, we found these two sneaking into the district. We are merely exercising our right to punish them, but they are endlessly whining about their child in the forest just outside the District. I mean you no disrespect!" The guard bowed when finished.
The man gripped his leg in a wince, his face scowling with pain and anger. "My Lord, he lies. We were not sneaking into the District, we had no intention of coming here. It's just our daughter, she's not safe. We had no other choice."
Having woken up from her brief faint and caught the last part of the man's words, the woman spoke up. "My… Lord. Please, you must help. Our daughter is stuck back in the woods, hiding from a hungry Beast. My husband and I had no choice but to run!"
Leo stood tall, a slight smirk flashing across his face from the wife's words. "What Rank was this Beast?" He asked calmly.
"I-I am unsure. I do not possess a Will of my own." Quickly scanning for a core, I confirmed her words. The man, however, had a Decent Will.
"And you? What Rank did you sense the Beast to be?" I asked the husband.
Wincing from his leg, the man slowly answered, "My Lord, i-it was a… High Will Beast."
Leo stared down the two guards again, "You let a High Will Beast wander this close to the district? Knowing all too well the damage it could deal. Without sending a team to eliminate it?!"
"M-my Lord, the scouts must have missed it, but it's being handled. A woman—a Grimwald Lady in fact, just recently went out to deal with it, not too long ago."
Leo's eyes widened in horror. "ALONE?!" He yelled, but before either guard could confirm him, he was already dashing in the direction of the woods.
"Riiin!" He called back, still on the move.
Quickly reaching the border and crossing into the field, Leo swiftly gained distance. Running ahead of me, faster than I could keep up. My stamina training this past week helped me keep a consistent pace, but it was nowhere near fast enough to match Leo's.
The distance between the border of homes in the Upper District and the river marking its end was a few hundred meters. Yet, we reached it faster than I would have imagined. My efforts to not trail too far behind Leo required me to run at near full speed, along with enhancing my legs with essence. Even over a short amount of time, my gap in strength from before my Lord Will and now was shocking.
When Leo reached the wide river separating the forest and the Upper District, he increased his speed. Sprinting as fast as his essence-enhanced body could take him. Right before plunging into the river, he leaped. Sending out shockwaves from his hands and feet right before the moment he left the ground. Ripping apart his boots in the process.
Propelled forward with increased speed, he soared across the length of the 40-foot river in a few seconds. However, he added too much height to his arc, and as he drew closer to land on the other side, his speed quickly lessened, and his forward momentum suspended. He sent out continuous shockwaves to try and regain some distance, but futilely fell into the river.
Unfazed by the setback, he blasted the water with more vibrations, gliding across the rest of the way before I even arrived at the river.
Reaching the shore, Leo didn't wait for me to catch up. Running off into the forest, barefoot, until I lost sight of him.
Knowing I couldn't produce the same results, I dispersed my Will from just underneath my pants hem to freeze the water, expecting to be able to stand on it. I dispersed the ice as deep as possible, big enough for one foot, but when I went to take the first step, I sank.
Quickly coming up with an alternative, I dispersed essence from my hands until it popped. Spreading it out as far as it could reach, by waving my hands, a bridge of ice formed in front of me.
Really would appreciate Release right about now.
Taking a careful step, testing out the bridge, I applied the full weight of my body before moving farther. The bridge held, but cracks were already starting to form. Carefully walking to the end of the bridge with as much haste as possible, I repeated the cycle of dispersing my Will.
When I crossed to the centre of the river, the foundational ice connected to the riverbank began to shatter. Causing a chain reaction of the rest of the bridge following suit.
No longer given the luxury of time, I turned desperate with my actions.
Preparing to run as fast as I could on slippery ice, I unleashed and dispersed more essence than before. Surrounded by hundreds of popping flakes a second, coating my body in frost, I raised a small nub of ice below my feet for better grip. Guiding excess essence into my leg bones and muscles, they viciously contracted in preparation. My mind grew tired, having to keep track of several different commands at once.
As the collapsing bridge of ice was about to crumble under my feet, I pushed off with as much force as my essence-enhanced legs could generate, shattering the last layers of ice beneath my feet. But not before the energy generated lifted me.
For a moment, I was elevated above the river with nothing below me to stand on.
Using the momentum of my feet, I used it to carry the force through my arms and into my essence. Even without being capable of the Release cap, the flakes flew farther than ever before. Covering the water in front of me in a thick layer of ice. Because of the reactivity of Disperse, the flakes continued to pop even as they hit the ground and sunk under the water, in a continuous effect, thickening the layer of ice until it was safe to step on.
But I didn't just step on it, I ran. Before the first wave of essence could stop popping, I unleashed more and spread it over the ice, again. By the time my foot hit the ice, it spread thick enough to cover several meters wide, and below. The long bridge didn't even waver from any of my powerful steps.
By the time I reached the shore, the popping continued. Spreading over increasingly more sections of the river.
Not wasting any time looking back, I ran into the forest.