"Ugh!" Princess Raecha groaned when the vibration through the cave walls was transferred into her body, causing her to feel pain throughout, 'Just what is happening outside?'
Suddenly, the chains that bound her gave way as the nail holding them to the wall came out. After all, the cracks in the walls had spread to the extent large patches of it fell out. This allowed her to break free, gasping for breath as she lost balance for a second.
To keep herself steady, she instinctively placed her hand on the wall to gain balance, tumbling when the wall caved in, causing her to fall into the other side, looking up with a start before she was overjoyed, noticing the figure of Wakuta chained nearby.
"Let me help you." Princess Raecha whispered, arriving at her rescue, planning to pull Wakuta's chains when she stared in shock.
"My restrains came undone after the first impact to the cave walls. I was waiting for you to break free first." Wakuta said, freeing herself as she quickly led the way, "Come with me, I know where they have hidden some Armaments."
Wakuta quickly arrived within a secluded turn in the cave, placing her hand on a slab of rock that looked no different to the rest, causing an entrance to open up before them, "This piece of rock is lifted from the bottom by an Armament when you place your hand here. With that, this entrance opens up. It's such a crude mechanism."
"How did you figure it out?" Princess Raecha was surprised, entering the tiny cave within as she pocketed her Puppets that had been placed inside. As for the other Armaments, she didn't take anything.
"I'm sensitive to areas with Darble." Wakuta said, "There are other such places throughout this cave. But we don't have time. Let's hurry. With you on board, we'll be able to help Regriel in his fight."
"You mean…all this chaos is due to Regriel?" Princess Raecha asked in shock as they ran through the cave, soon arriving at the entrance, noticing a middle-aged lady sitting atop a stool, holding an Armament as she had aimed it at Regriel who was in the air, looking like she had the confidence of killing him with one shot.
Having already heard the sounds all along, and upon seeing Regriel's figure in the air, Princess Raecha understood that the middle-aged lady had seen the strength of Regriel's barrier. And upon seeing how the middle-aged still sported a confident look, she realised what she had to do, throwing her puppet towards the other party.
The Puppet was shaped like a tiny disc, condensing a pair of blades before beginning to spin at tremendous speeds, hurling towards the middle-aged lady, perfectly severing her right hand the moment she was about to attack, causing her to scream in shock.
'Right, I can do that!' Obtaining an epiphany thanks to the Overdrive Skill, Regriel retracted one of the puppets, condensing it behind him as it surrounded itself with the barrier, expanding it his way, sending him flying towards the middle-aged lady.
He had been focusing on her all along, ensuring she wouldn't escape with the Warble or be killed during the flurry of attacks. Since both he and the Bandit Boss valued her life, their attacks ensured to not involve her in it.
His figure flew right at her as he watched her become flustered upon losing her right hand. Upon seeing what he planned to do, the Bandit Boss gritted his teeth, coming to a decision as he expanded his energy blade, intending to kill her.
But right at this time, Wakuta activated an Armament, slamming the energy blade accurately at his wrist, perfectly timing her attack with breakneck accuracy, something she hadn't done even once, as she wasn't a fighter.
Her attack slammed into the Bandit Boss's wrist, deviating its direction before severing it. And in response, his energy blade that was heading towards the middle-aged lady's head changed directions, hitting on her shoulder blade when it dissipated, causing its spinning tip to lose strength first, resulting in a blunt attack that slammed her flying into the air.
"No!" The Bandit Boss screamed in despair when the middle-aged lady was still alive and was instead sent flying towards his enemy.
Being sent flying into the air, the middle-aged lady looked at him in shock, the feeling of betrayal etched on her face, "Why…did you try to kill me?"
"Your only value is to serve me!" The Bandit Boss screamed, unleashing an energy blade with his other hand when Regriel caught hold of the middle-aged lady in a bear hug, covering the both of them with his barrier, pouring enough energy into it to deflect the Bandit Boss's energy blade.
The collision sent them flying further high up into the air as Regriel noticed the middle-aged lady had fainted, glancing once to see the Warble in her hands, shouting as he noticed the countdown in his mind come to an end, "Screw you! She'd not your tool! She's a human with her own feelings!"
But in response to his shout, the Bandit Boss didn't answer, rather condensing an energy blade to attack his side in anger, targeting the two women that had appeared there, the ones that had supported Regriel to obtain his objective promptly.
"Nooo!" That last scene he saw was of the energy blade of the Bandit Boss arriving before the faces of Princess Raecha and Wakuta. In the next moment, he was standing on the shore of a lake as the endless power in him vanished, causing him to collapse in exhaustion.
The middle-aged lady too fell with him, waking up from the impact, grunting as she crawled forward, extricating herself from him as she arrived at a nearby boulder, leaning her back on it, coughing up blood, "Dammit! That bastard actually tried to kill me."
Tears streamed down her eyes as she was sad, "And to think I devoted to helping him throughout my life. That…wretch! …cough!"
She spat out a mouthful of blood, watching her right hand bleeding profusely as she glared at Regriel, "It was because of you. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have been this injured."
"Damn you Regriel, and damn that Domino to have poisoned me and reduced me to this helpless state?"
Author's note: December month's mass release quota:
Golden Ticket: 1 bonus chappie for every 12 GT
Magic Castle: 2 extra bonus chappies for every Magic Castle
Spacecraft: 5 extra bonus chappies for every Spacecraft
Read 8 chappies in advance in Privilege
