The scene in the room was akin to a nightmare. A massive creature made entirely of vines, with its body covered in cool blue flames, had Nero's entire body wrapped in its vines so that only his face was barely visible. With its other hand it had tried to grab Isa, but missed due to the awkward angle and the increasing stiffness of its rapidly cooling vines.
As a result, its hand had shot through the wall, finally breaking the window open, not that it mattered at this point.
There was no possibility of escape from the creature, for it far outpowered the two. Nero's assessment had been correct. It would take at least an Arcanist to fight it off.
But just as all hope was lost, and Isa's mind once more nearly shut down from fear, a new power appeared. In one go, it encompassed the building and overpowered everything else.
"That's enough," echoed a calm yet stern voice, and everything under its might came to a stop. At least that's what it seemed like at first. But Isa quickly discovered that only the vines had frozen, and he himself stayed completely unaffected!
Nero, too, who was on the verge of losing consciousness, registered that something happened, though not exactly what. All he knew was that the pressure that was holding him down and suffocating him suddenly vanished.
With a sudden burst of strength, he pushed the vines wrapping him aside and dragged in a deep, revitalising breath that brought him back from the brink. Even now, he did not extinguish his flames, nor did he stop using Snowflake!
Using the sharp flakes created in his hand, he cut himself loose as a massive flame wrapped the vine creature, threatening to spread to the rest of the room. Ice started to cover the ground and furniture as the water vapours in the air began to freeze.
It was only after he completely climbed out of the creature's hold completely, still taking in rapid breaths, that Nero paused for a moment to consider the change. But the sheer extent of the horror he just faced did not allow him to pause. His survival instincts had taken over.
In one, smooth motion, he ran to Isa, flung him over his shoulder, grabbed the bed sheet wrapped around the bed frame, and jumped out the hole in the wall.
For a brief few moments the two kids experienced freefall, during which another thought suddenly came to Nero.
He was carrying both his own weight and Isa's, while he was only holding the makeshift rope with one hand. As soon as the rope extended all the way, and he would jerk under the pressure, his grip would probably give way. They would fall.
The thought took only a fraction of a second, during which he also wrapped the bedsheet around his hand.
That fraction of a second was all they had. The rope became taut, and with a jolt, the two stopped falling forward, and instead started heading back towards the building. Nero aimed his body just in time to aim his legs, and kicked the window they were heading towards, breaking it open.
They fell in, and though Nero let go of the rope, it was still wrapped around his hand, which resulted in him experiencing his second jolt.
He grunted at the sensation of his hand being dislocated, but he had no time to stop. The adrenaline kept him from feeling most of the pain. He used another Snowflake to simply cut the bedsheet, then turned to look at the pale Isa.
His racing mind tried to think of the next step, but he felt a force wrap itself around him.
"Calm down, child. This ordeal is over."
The voice seemed to speak to him directly in his mind, but for a moment he was too confused. It was over? What was over?
He did not even question who the voice belonged to, or where it came from. But Nero's mind was resilient, and he quickly realised what was happening, and how he escaped the vine creatures' clutches.
"The… the rescue party is here…" he said, half to himself and half to Isa.
His body, as if it had been running on reserve energy, suddenly gave and Nero fell to his knees. He kept himself from falling unconscious, but he felt his lose focus for a while as exhaustion enveloped him.
Somehow, he had managed to avoid aether deprivation, though not by much. He was only half aware of what was happening when soldiers came in and surrounded them. Both he and Isa were put on stretchers, and Nero tried to speak but only blabbered incoherent words.
At some point, when he exited the building, Nero realised that he lost his knife again. Snowflake was still stuck to his abdomen, and his cardcase which he had trapped to his body using a belt was still there. But besides that he seemed to have little else. His shorts were long gone, and so were most of his pyjamas.
It was a strange thing to focus on, but as if triggered by something, his mind recovered quickly after that. The world came into focus once more, and he found himself laying on a stretcher among countless others, though his condition was much better than most.
Even now, besides his exhaustion, his most grave injury was just a dislocated arm - which he knew how to fix.
Nero grit his teeth and popped his hand back in its place, before stopping to take a look around. Though it was still dark out, massive flood lights covered the hostel buildings, revealing a vast network of creeper vines that had grown on them all! The growth was so rapid that the buildings almost looked like they were from abandoned ruins more than anything else.
How was this even possible? He didn't know. He stood up, his legs wobbling under him, but at least they no longer gave in. Countless soldiers and doctors were running around the makeshift camp, and in the chaos no one noticed Nero walking around. Even he did not know what he was doing.
A quick overview of the situation quickly revealed Isa, who was sitting alone and staring at his hand, lost in his thoughts. Hopefully he had remembered to close off all the emotions around himself. He also found Gabriel, who was easily identified due to his red hair. But he could not spot anyone else.
What had happened to Anthony and the rest?
Still suffering the after effects of shock, to some extent, Nero walked towards someone important. Nero didn't know who he was, but by the number of orders he was giving out, and the countless number of soldiers who were running to and from him, he seemed incharge.
No one seemed to notice Nero, despite his ragged condition, right up until he made his way to the man and pointed his finger at him.
"Nearly 20 minutes after the fire alarm went off!" Nero said, hoarsely, though he tried to be as loud as possible.
The scene froze, as the surrounding soldiers went into shock at what was happening. Actually, what was happening? No one had any idea.
The commander, or whoever he was, turned to look at Nero, and raised an eye in intrigue.
"It took you, the strongest army in the world, 20 minutes after the fire alarm went off to come to our rescue! You took an oath… I… Is this the army I've been training to join?"
Shock, exhaustion, partial asphyxia and perhaps even a concussion had thoroughly disoriented Nero. His analytical brain made him realise that, since there was a state of partial lockdown in the city alongside increased military deployment, it should have taken them no more than five to ten minutes at most to come to their rescue.
Even if the situation was horrendous, the mayor of the city was an Ascendant, and the army should have sufficient powerhouses as well. The fact that it took so long meant that something was amiss.
Normally, he would know to compartmentalise this information till he needed it. But in his current state, it led him to feeling emotions of anger and disappointment.
"You're in shock," the man said calmly, staring into Nero's eyes. His voice was familiar - it was the one that had spoken to him in his mind earlier. "Go to sleep."
As if his words held some unknown power, Nero closed his eyes and collapsed right there. Fortunately, there was a soldier nearby who caught him just in time.
"Si- sir I'm terribly sorry about that," one of the soldiers said with a look of panic and he wiped off some sweat from his brows. "I'll have that student punished! I'll… I'll have-"
"Stop," the commander said, only raising two fingers to indicate his intention. "The kid is right. Today, we have failed, and because of our failure, our next generation was attacked. Kolar has not suffered such a disgrace since its creation, and I will not abide our children slaughtered in their beds. Send word to Sage Morphius. I am personally taking control of the situation here.
Also send word to Sage Christina. If her Tera corp does not present me with a plan of retaliation, then my Demon corp will take over that too."
He paused, and turned to look at Nero.
"Also, have someone take care of this kid. I want him to be in perfect condition when I hand him a commendation for his bravery."
The soldier kept nodding, but despite the chill of the wind that night, he also kept sweating. It was not so easy to stand in the presence of an angry Sage, no matter how amicable they seem on the surface.