I cast a spell at Lancel, and as he dodged it, I grabbed the black helmet I'd seen earlier. This was another piece of the XyzqvqzyX armor and wearing it would greatly increase my power. Lancel realized this and rushed forward to stop me. I then created a bubble-shaped shield that completely covered me. Lancel tried to break it with desperate blows and spells, all of them much more powerful than before, but my shield was strong enough to withstand them all.
Though I soon sensed Toffson, Brainard, and Heartrice's auras approaching at great speed. It was obvious they, too, had noticed the considerable increase in my magic, so they were coming to stop me. I hastily raised the helmet above my head and was about to put it on when Lancel used all the magic he had left to destroy the shield protecting me. The spell he cast was so powerful that I fell to the ground, several meters away. I never let go of the helmet so as not to lose it in the rubble.
The rest of Lancel's team arrived, so I got up as quickly as I could to face them. Toffson appeared in front of me and raised his fist to strike, but before I could dodge, Heartrice paralyzed me with one of his spells. This was one of the classic strategies they used when facing Dark's men or any other criminal, and it almost always worked, but obviously, I knew those strategies perfectly well.
To prevent Toffson from hitting me with his characteristic strength, and despite Heartrice's paralysis spell also limiting magic, a bit like Bephelometh's collar, I simply created two bubble-shaped shields, one around me to protect myself and another much smaller one around Toffson's fist so that it would explode upon impact with the first shield and would damage his arm just enough so that he couldn't fight anymore.
However, just before this happened, Brainard teleported Toffson away from me. He ended up punching thin air, and therefore the shield I had placed on his fist did not explode.
I dispelled both shields and broke free from Heartrice's spell. Toffson reappeared in front of me, and before I could react, he punched me in the face with such force that it sent me flying through the air. Before I could hit the ground or a wall, Toffson appeared above me and struck me with the same speed as before. I hit the ground immediately, but before Toffson could attack again, I got up and looked around for Brainard. I saw him casting the teleportation spell again, and I immediately created a bubble-shaped shield. At that moment, Toffson appeared in front of me and struck the shield with all his might. The reason I hadn't been able to dodge his punches was because Toffson threw them into the air, and just before they ended, Brainard teleported him in front of me so I could immediately receive them.
My shield withstood the blow, and Toffson's arm ended up badly injured. Brainard teleported him away to protect him, though I had no intention of attacking him. I looked down and realized that at some point I had dropped the XyzqvqzyX helmet. It must have been when Toffson hit me. I looked around, but all I saw was rubble.
With only one piece of armor, it would be very difficult to defeat them all, so I decided to escape. I ran toward one of the prison walls and gathered some magic to destroy with a spell, but Lancel appeared in front of me and struck me with such force that I was sent flying to the other end of the prison, where I collided with several walls and ended up crashing into the courtyard where the prisoners used to do outdoor activities.
I tried to get up quickly, but I felt a sharp pain in my chest. That blow had probably broken some of my ribs. Lancel was slowly approaching. He was wearing XyzqvqzyX's helm. That explained perfectly where he had gotten so much power. He immediately cast a spell at me, and I responded by creating a shield that was quite small, but powerful enough to deflect it. He continued to approach, and when he was only a few feet away, he gathered enough magic to cast another spell. Just as he was about to cast it, I created hundreds of tiny bubble-like shields around him. He cast the spell, and when it touched the first bubble, it exploded with such force that it created a chain reaction where all the bubbles exploded almost simultaneously.
The explosion was so powerful it pushed me a few feet away. I looked up and saw Lancel approaching at full speed. In less than a second, he was right in front of me, unleashing a frenzied barrage of punches and kicks. He was clearly furious and he attacked without any strategy, so it wasn't difficult for me to dodge his desperate attacks. As I did, I noticed a small crack in his helm. The explosion must have damaged it a bit.
Lancel kept throwing so many punches and kicks that I could do nothing but dodge them. The longer this went on, the more certain I became that these attacks weren't as desperate as I'd initially thought, and that's when I remembered the rest of his team. I trapped Lancel inside a bubble-shaped shield, but he immediately destroyed it with a spell, and despite taking considerable damage from the shield's explosion, he continued attacking me as if nothing had happened.
Suddenly, I felt Toffson's power increase exponentially, and in an instant, he appeared in front of me and punched me in the stomach so fast I couldn't dodge it. The blow was far more powerful than before, so I fell to my knees and vomited blood. Lancel wasted no time and kicked me, sending me flying several feet away. I got up immediately, and they both began throwing punches and kicks at me with the same rage and desperation. I dodged some, but not all of them. I created shields to protect myself, but they immediately destroyed them with brute force, so I created tiny bubbles around their arms and legs, and these burst the moment they touched them.
I backed away as fast as I could. I was panting. I felt quite dizzy, and my whole body ached. My mouth was full of blood. Toffson and Lancel quickly caught up with me and resumed their attacks. They looked as hurt and tired as I was, but they still wouldn't give up. I took a blow to the face, another to the stomach, another to the chest. I tried to dodge them, but my body felt bloated. It burned to breathe.
I created a bunch of tiny shields between us, and these exploded when they touched them. The explosion was powerful enough to throw me several feet away. My ears were ringing, and I had burns on various parts of my body, but the explosion put some distance between me and them. Naturally, they approached me again, and as they did, I created a shield that covered Toffson's head to throw him off for a bit, and I went after Lancel. He threw his usual punches and kicks, and I not only dodged them easily, but I also gathered a considerable amount of magic in my fist and delivered a powerful blow to his helmet to destroy it and knock him out of the fight.
He took the hit and was sent flying. The crack in his helmet grew considerably and branched. One more blow would be enough to destroy it.
Even with the shield covering his head, Toffson approached me and tried to hit me, but I dodged him, grabbed his XyzqvqzyX gauntlet with both hands, and kicked him in the chest. He fell to the ground a few feet away, and I was left with his gauntlet. I immediately put it on my left hand, and my power increased considerably since I now had both.
Toffson stood up, but I immediately encased him in a shield that even he would have trouble breaking.
Lancel returned, but now his attacks seemed extremely slow and weak. There was no point in continuing the fight. Despite having both gauntlets, I was quite wounded and exhausted.
But it was far from over: at that moment, Heartrice and Brainard's auras became incredibly powerful, and they both teleported in front of me. They had both gathered the rest of XyzqvqzyX's armor and divided its parts among themselves. Before I could react, Heartrice paralyzed me with a spell, and Brainard released Toffson from the shield where I had imprisoned him. I did everything I could to break free, but Heartrice had both greaves, so her spell just too powerful for me to break. All I could do was watch as Brainard handed all his armor parts to Lancel, who wore them, teleported in front of me, and began to pummel me with such force that I could only feel my bones shattering with each blow.
The blows were so powerful they even affected Heartrice's spell, and it was becoming increasingly difficult for her to maintain it, so I endured each blow and struggled to stay conscious. Soon I lost all feeling in my face. My jaw was shattered and just hanging in my face. Several of my ribs were broken, and it burned to breathe. My vision was blurred, and I felt so dizzy that, if not for the paralysis, I would have already collapsed. Under those circumstances, there was only one thing I could do, and I had to wait for the right moment.
Although it didn't take long for this to happen; after Lancel struck me for the umpteenth time, Heartrice dispelled the paralysis and fell to her knees, exhausted. Lancel was so focused on hitting me that this took him by surprise, and I gathered all the magic I had left and punched him in the helm with such force that it finally shattered, though this caused it to explode with such power that in an instant everything turned white and I lost consciousness.
When I woke up, I was lying in the back of a police car. I was exhausted. My wrists were handcuffed, and they'd taken the XyzqvqzyX gauntlets from me. My right arm was covered in scars. The explosion had probably wrecked it, and Heartrice had healed it. I glanced at front seats, but there were only a couple of officers staring at the desolate road ahead. I thought about asking them about Lancel and his team, but they'd probably blame me for everything that had happened and wouldn't tell me if they were okay or not.
I also noticed I wasn't wearing my prison uniform, but a dirty gray shirt and worn jeans. I have no idea whose clothes those were.
I reached down at my neck and noticed I'd been fitted with another Bephelometh collar. The best thing I could do in my situation was wait for the right moment to escape.
Surprisingly, that wasn't necessary: we soon pulled over in the middle of nowhere, and the officers got out of the police car. One of them opened the back door.
"Get out," he told me, and I obeyed. Given the circumstances, I assumed they were going to kill me and bury me there, where no one would find me. But he took the Bephelometh collar from me, and I looked at him, confused. "The Hero wants you to know that you have five days to find Dark and bring him to us. If you do, the government will give you a passport with a new identity so you can start your life in another country.
"But if you fail, then we're going to come after you."
I nodded.
The other officer took a bottle of water and a sandwich out of the trunk and handed them to me.
"Officially, you're still in jail, so if anyone recognizes you, we're going to say that you escaped and we're going to capture you, understand?"
I nodded again.
"Where's Saint Money?"
He pointed forward. Afterwards, the two got into the police car and drove in the opposite direction. I knew I didn't have a better option, so I walked forward.