"I won't repeat this twice…. Surrender now or the consequences of not doing so will be grave! There is no way for you to break the barrier spell that you find yourselves currently trapped in, and even if you do, there are a thousand soldiers who have locked their weapons at you, who will slaughter you where you stand without hesitation.... You cannot escape, so it's only wise to surrender!" The Royal Soldier said, as he demanded that both Ben and Leo surrender right this moment.
"Master, if you wish I can nullify mana in our surroundings, helping you break out of this concealment…." Dumpy whispered in Leo's ears, however, Leo purposefully chose to not respond.
Leo knew that Dumpy could help him break out of the barrier the second that he requested him to, however, he did not wish to reveal his trump card against the master mage Vivienne so easily.
Leo understood that nullifying her mana at the critical moment could help create an opening for him to kill her, and hence, he did not wish to use Dumpy's mana nullification ability so early and reveal all his trump cards.
Relenting, he pretended to raise his arms in the air, as he threw a casual glance towards Ben who seemed to take a swipe at the barrier spell, only for his dagger to bounce off harmlessly against the barrier's surface.
"Impenetrable?" Leo asked.
"Impenetrable!" Ben confirmed, as he re-sheathed his dagger and put his own hands behind his head as well, to comply as his captives demanded.
"Good! Now drop down to your knees and spread them as wide as possible! Do it slowly…. Make no sudden movements" The Royal Guard demanded, as Leo simply chuckled at this request.
"Hey, hey, hey…. I'm not doing that, are you crazy?" Ben said, as the Royal Guard immediately felt frustrated by the attitude of the two.
"Why won't you do it? Do you think I'm negotiating here?" The Royal Guard said, as he pointed his sword towards Ben, who pretended to be scared as he took a step back.
"It's not a negotiation, master, the guy has already made up his mind, he's gonna do it in the open…." Leo said, playing along with Ben, as he tried to buy time.
"Really….. in front of a thousand other men? I mean….. woah, and I'm an old man too—" Ben said, looking over towards his nether regions, as he crossed his knees as if blocking the view of others.
"Yeah, in front of so many people….. kinky stuff for sure" Leo corroborated, as their internal conversation made the Royal Guard sweat.
"What are you two talking about? I'm not kinky…." He said, as both Ben and Leo burst out laughing at once when he said this.
"Hahahahaha...He says it's not kinky master!! Can you believe it?"
"He wants me to get on my knees and spread my legs, what do you think is gonna happen? Will he shove it into my face, or is he a sleeper that wants to take mine?" Ben wondered, as Leo pretended to ponder seriously about his question.
"I mean look at him master…. It's clear this guy likes to swallow–" Leo said, as at this moment, the entire crowd of soldiers behind the Royal Guard that was shouting burst out laughing at the joke.
The tag of 'He swallows', was probably never going to leave the man for his life, and although he did not really do it, such tags were not usually logical or based in reality in the first place.
"What nonsense are you two about? I don't swallow!" The man said, as his confession only made his own situation worse.
"Ladies and gentlemen, he spits!" Leo said with disappointment, as a couple of soldiers boo'd in agreement, but were silenced immediately by their superiors, who asked them to hold their laughter.
"ENOUGH! GET ON YOUR KNEES BEFORE I COUNT TO THREE, OR BE KILLED!" The furious royal guard said, as he could not handle the banter anymore.
Outwitted by Leo and Ben, he did what any other brutish man would do in his position, which was to respond to a civil conversation by shouting.
"Woah, woah, woah….. did you really raise your voice at my master?" Leo asked, putting his hands down from around his head, as he looked the royal guard before him dead in the eyes with fury.
"So what if I did? He's a piece of criminal scum and so are you! So what if I raised my voice at you!" The man said, doubling down on his stance, as he unknowingly dug his own grave deeper.
"So what? Hahaha. I'll show you what…." Leo said, as he clasped his hands together and used the spell [Shadowbind].
Within a split second, he enveloped the entire body of the royal guard in dark vines, with an especially large number of vines, choking his throat out.
"LET HIM GO!"
"FIGHT! FIGHT! KILL THEM BOTH"
The moment Leo attacked the royal guard, the other royal guards sprung into action, trying to protect their own, as they started to attack the barrier formed around Leo and Ben relentlessly.
Leo relaxed with a smile under his mask, knowing that the impenetrable barrier around him would keep him safe, while the guards on the outside struggled with no results to try and take him down.
*Clash*
*Bang*
*Scratch*
The guards launched all sorts of attacks/ spells on his barrier, but they all deflected harmlessly, as Leo slowly but surely choked the man in his hold out, until his limbs were no longer moving and struggling.
With the same barrier that was supposed to be his prison, now acting as his shield, Leo punished the man who raised his voice against his master, all the while buying time for Ben to study its mana flow.
"NEVER, Raise your voice against my master" he said, when the royal guard finally dropped dead, as by that point Ben also made a breakthrough in understanding how to break out of the barrier.