Joseph and Damian looked back after hearing the clicking of the gears. They had put their all into running and avoiding the A and Dark Prisoners around them, but hearing such a loud commotion, they couldn't help themselves.
When they saw the sudden appearance of the Dark Cloud Prison guards, and in such a large number at that, they felt as though their legs couldn't carry them fast enough.
There was just half a kilometer between them and the city gates. To well trained men like them, even before the Metamorphosis, this was a matter of a two or three minute run at most. Yet, these few minutes felt like the longest they had experienced in their lifetimes.
Escobar scanned the situation emotionlessly. It was as though he couldn't see the archers aiming their bows toward him.
His gaze landed on each and every one of the guards that had fallen, the billowing of his mustache becoming deeper with each passing moment. Even with the long cycles of his breath, it felt as though the wind around the Warden was kicking up, responding to his will in large swaths.
"Mow them down." He commanded coldly.
At that moment, the clicking of guns sounded.
City Lord Hargrove's pupils constricted. 'That's impossible.'
Heavy military boots stepped forward before they each kneeled, pressing their rifles to their shoulders. And then, the bullets rained.
As quickly as the guards had fallen, the prisoners fell even faster. How could the fire rate of archers match the pace of semi-automatic weaponry?
"Shit!"
Damian growled, his feet stamping against the ground.
A surge of earth followed his command, peeling concrete jetting into the air to cover his back.
"Don't panic! Those are normal gunpowder based weapons!" Joseph roared. "Keep running!"
Using the cover Damian gave them, Joseph and the others crossed the final remaining distance to the city, anxiousness clear in their demeanors.
"Dammit! Open the gate!"
Joseph roared through gritted teeth, but the doors of the city remained firmly closed. By now, the crowd beneath the city gates was growing and there were already more than a hundred that had made it this far while several thousand more were crossing the final distance. But, those of Hargrove City didn't seem to hear what was going on below.
Joseph's heart was gripped with despair. Could this really be a ploy by The Empire?
No that, didn't make any sense. Just what was going on?
Joseph no longer seemed to have the calm headedness he once displayed. His decision making became cloudy and he banged on the gates just like all the others, unable to think for himself. He was practically brought to the point of tears as though he could see his life flashing before his very eyes.
Hargrove watched this scene from above silently.
"It seems they understand their situation now," He said coldly, "Lower the platforms."
Finally, the warriors of Hargrove City began to move. But, they didn't open the gates as many would have expected them to. Rather, they began to lower platforms from the top of the walls.
As a veteran of governance, Hargrove understood the truth of human nature, and it would be the truth no matter which world one was born in. If things came too easy, they wouldn't be appreciated. Very easily, a great boon could become bland, a lifesaving grace could be expected, and a savior could become just a person doing as they should.
When annexing such a large group of people, Hargrove needed them to understand who held the power and who didn't. As for the few who died in proving this point? Who cared.
Seeing the platforms descending, the group of prisoners that had been wailing below suddenly began to cheer. They didn't even consider the fact their lives would still be in danger or that many more could have been saved had Hargrove chosen a different method.
It was exactly as Hargrove expected. This was human nature.
"Down." Escobar commanded coldly. "Shields at the ready. Charge!"
Governor Duke Owen didn't stay back. His aging body seemed even more agile than the youngsters, pouncing forward with vigor.
He realized that platforms presented an opportunity. It was impossible for the thousands of prisoners that had escaped to successfully climb upon those platforms before they crossed the remaining distance. From a cursory calculation, there was only enough space for a hundred people at a time and it took half a minute for a round trip to be completed.
Of course, Governor Duke Owen wasn't foolish enough to use these platforms to try and climb the city wall, that would be asking for death. However, the existence of the platforms would make breaching the gates much easier.
City Lord Hargrove might have wanted to teach the prisoners a pre-emptive lesson with his actions, but he seemed to have not considered the fact that it would be impossible to use the archers to stop their siege if the very platforms they were using protected the warriors of Earth from above!
Seeing such actions though, Hargrove sneered.
Dark Cloud Prison was a place with maybe the tightest security on Earth with the exception of the Royal Palace. It could be said that in order to become a guard here, you had to be an elite amongst elites. Even those who weren't handpicked for this job from the very beginning had been high ranking military officials before their placement.
This was all to say that the group of men and women that followed Governor Duke Owen now were all powerful combatants.
However….
They were all powerful combatants without the slightest idea on how to siege a city.
Both men looked toward one another as though they were looking at a fool. But, only a real clash would tell just who was right and who was wrong.
Unfortunately… whether or not that clash would happen would soon become an unknown.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Just when Governor Duke Owen had already crossed the halfway mark to Hargrove City, space solidified. Another swath of charging warriors froze, unable to move a single inch.
This wasn't out of fear, no… They were physically unable to control their bodies. As though they had suddenly been placed into a hardened mold of concrete, everything from their limbs even to their facial muscles didn't seem capable of budging even the slightest.
The central platform the guards and Warden Owen had just come from splintered into two.
Slowly, a group of prisoners, each with bright red #D tags on their chests made their way up.
The air around them seemed heavy beyond compared to the point where even the archers on Hargrove City's walls couldn't budge an inch.
At the head of these Dark Prisoner's, a lanky man with messy dirty blond hair stood. His back was hunched and his arms were still crossed in his straitjacket. From the front, it was simply impossible to see his facial expressions because his gaze faced the ground, allowing his hair to block whatever view one might have had otherwise.
His bare feet scraped along the ground, his legs barely raising as he walked forward.
Yet, even as this group began to move, no one else seemed capable of doing so.
A cold sweat began to bead down City Lord Hargrove's forehead. Even he struggled to move, even twitching his fingers felt as though he was lifting several tons of weight.
This ability.. Whatever it was… It was the most powerful he had ever seen. No… Even if he included those monsters he had heard of during his over a century worth of life… None could compare to this…