Chapter 143: Aftermath
About thirty minutes later...
Although this hadn’t been part of the original plan, the Imperial Guard had arrived at the scene.
Their king’s soldiers were now whisking away the remaining League members, those who had survived; loading them into reinforced transport vehicles one by one.
Valerie had managed to hold her ground against Martina during their aerial confrontation, up until the imperial guard arrived.
The caster had already been loaded into one of the vans, her wrists bound by mana-dampening cuffs reinforced with enough zaranite ore to suppress even S-tier caster from casting spells.
Eula was still alive only because Eduardo hadn’t reached her in time during her battle with Hayley at the back of the house.
Now she was being restrained as well, her wrists locked in peculiar cuffs as an Imperial Guard soldier pressed firmly on the back of her head to force her into the vehicle.
"My father will get me out of this!" Eula screamed, struggling against the soldier’s grip. "Just you watch!"
The soldier ignored her and shoved her inside before slamming the door shut.
Then there was Lucien.
The League leader stumbled forward with his hands bound in the same mana-dampening restraints.
His movements were sluggish and pained from the wound Eduardo had inflicted on him earlier. Annette walked directly behind him, and without warning, she slapped the back of his head hard enough to make him stumble.
"Move it, son of a bitch!" she barked.
Eduardo was several meters away, watching the scene unfold with clenched fists. He clicked his tongue in frustration, hating the fact that he hadn’t returned to finish off Lucien before the Imperial Guard had arrived to complicate everything.
It was at that very moment that Ethan and Isabella descended gently from the sky and landed within the compound. They had spent most of the last half-hour searching for Casper, but all their efforts had been in vain.
Ethan walked quickly toward Eduardo, with puzzled expression on his face as he took in the scene around him.
"How is the Imperial Guard here?" he asked.
He had just watched them load Lucien into one of the vans, and now soldiers were beginning to move the dead bodies out as well.
"I’m sorry, Master Ethan..." Eduardo began, then added, "but Prince Rayleigh was the one who got them involved."
He pointed toward Rayleigh, whose attention had been focused on speaking with Isabella but now turned in their direction as he registered that he was being discussed.
Ethan’s head turned sharply toward the prince, with some level of annoyance on his face.
"Why?" he asked flatly.
Rayleigh met his gaze and answered, "I made the call to involve them as soon as the girl’s spell worked."
He gestured briefly toward Valerie before continuing.
"The problem with involving the Imperial Guard was always having to explain everything to the General and getting them to move quietly like we did. But it’s not an issue if I simply text Annette an address and tell her to come here with her men, especially since they’re already searching for these criminals."
There was a brief pause before he added, "Moreover, we also need more intel on these people. Of course they’ll still face the capital punishment of death for coming after my sister, but only after the Imperial Guard has made sure to learn everything there is to know about them and how they operate."
Ethan stared at him for a long moment without responding.
Then the Arcorys family began walking toward their direction.
Rayleigh and Isabella moved aside to give them space, and it seemed Isabella had already begun giving her brother an earful about his decision based on the expression on her face.
Percival closed in first. He was bare-chested now and covered in smudges of dirt and minor cuts. His pants were tattered and torn in multiple places from the battle.
"What about Bettie?" he asked immediately.
Ethan nodded with a little smile, signaling that she was okay.
Hayley quickly entered the conversation as well, with a wide grin on her face despite her own disheveled appearance.
Her black sleeveless top somehow survived mostly intact, but her pants had been shredded so badly they now resembled bum-shorts.
Ethan smiled back at her, but his expression quickly changed as his eyes caught sight of three deep claw marks running along the side of her shoulder.
"Oh, don’t worry about that," Hayley said before he could comment. "You should see the other person." Then she asked, "Your friend’s safe, yeah?"
Ethan nodded in confirmation.
Then he turned back toward Eduardo and asked simply, "Well?"
Eduardo sighed deeply and shook his head. "I’m sorry, Master Ethan, but I wasn’t able to get the coin out of Lucien before the Imperial Guard came and took him away."
Ethan exhaled slowly before saying, "I guess I’m lucky he isn’t dead then..."
"One more thing, Master Ethan," Eduardo interrupted. "One other guy slipped away from us, the shapeshifting one. Lots of the fakes he created were eliminated, but we never got our hands on the real one."
Ethan nodded in acknowledgment, then said, "The Casper guy also escaped, but we got the other one."
Then he turned toward Percival. "Man, you won’t believe who that was."
"Who?" Percival asked, genuinely puzzled.
"Dante," Ethan said.
Percival’s eyes widened in shock for just a second before he shook his head. "I mean, it’s not totally surprising. After all, a family member of his was running this whole thing." He gestured vaguely around them with his fingers, then added, "But wasn’t he just a student? Wait—"
Percival’s eyes widened again as realization dawned on him. He raised one hand and dragged his index finger across his throat in a silent question.
Ethan nodded grimly but said nothing more.
If he was being honest with himself, he didn’t regret it.
Dante had been out to have him killed and would have done so without giving it a second thought.
Moreover, this was Ethan’s second chance at life; Allen’s as well to be more specific, and he wasn’t about to treat that lightly.
Ethan looked around the compound for a moment, taking in the aftermath of everything that had happened.
Then he exhaled again and said, "I’d say we did a good job still."
——
That evening, in a dark alley corner...
A small rat scurried along the base of the wall, moving quickly through the shadows until it reached the area behind a large waste container. The creature paused there for just a moment, its tiny body trembling.
Then suddenly, the rat’s form began to dissolve. Its shape broke apart into wisps of purple smoke that swirled and gathered in the confined space, growing larger and more substantial with each passing second.
From within that expanding cloud of violet mist, a human figure emerged.
Hector stepped fully into view and immediately released a long sigh of relief, his shoulders sagging as the tension drained out of his body.
He leaned on the wall for a moment, catching his breath and letting his heart rate settle back to normal.
Then he closed his eyes briefly, and when they opened again, his entire appearance had changed again, into someone else. Then, he moved out of the alley.
It turned out that when it had become clear the League was going to lose, Hector had once more borrowed the skill of his summon Morthorz to mimic the appearance and form of a rat.
He never left the house while others did initially, until he took this disguised state in that desperate moment.
He had stayed hidden within the tree line and beneath bushes at the property’s edge, waiting patiently as the battle concluded around him.
When Valerie eventually brought down the barrier after the Imperial Guard’s arrival, he had seized the opportunity.
After waiting for what felt like an appropriate amount of time to ensure no one was actively searching the grounds anymore, he had made his escape into the surrounding streets.
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A/N:
I’ve completed the bonuses i owe but i think i still owe one more. So the next Chapter comes with (+2bonus)
The next few Chapters will be wholesome ones and i actually look forward to writing them.
Thank you!