Return of the Fallen Volume 1 Chapter 69
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Author: Blue_Rat
ch69
Racing through the palace, Kazuki contemplated which route to take when the palace shook once more.
*Boom*
Another explosion in the distance caused fires to spread out all over. Kazuki no longer had to kneel down and get close to the ground to tell that the floors below were on fire. Going down was no longer an option.
Kazuki came about a large shattered window. The ground below was about 4 stories from them. To jump out even with their enhanced bodies, maybe Kazuki could escape unharmed but he doubted the rest would walk away without injury.
Not to mention, from where he stood the ground below was alit with a strong blaze. Even behind them, a fire was starting to rapidly spread and would be upon them soon. Shin looked out the window and assessed the situation but what he saw only left him with a grim expression.
“Ryuta, what do we do?”
“We can no longer go back and I’m sure you can feel that heat rising up.”
Kazuki paused for a moment before he noticed something out the window. Looking across the way, a large tower began to crumble and fell over crashing into another part of the palace. A small shockwave of air rushed over and hit him and the others in the face. Kazuki and Shin both saw the same thing and Kazuki pointed to the fallen tower.
“That’s the way.”
“OK, now that we know which way to go, how do we get from here all the way over there.”
Shin asked the important question. Just how in the hell would they get there? The path to an escape revealed itself before them but to get there was problematic. The floors below them were a no go, the halls to the left and right were both clogged with incredibly tough debris and the ground outside was literally on fire.
Nunully tugged on Kazuki’s sleeve and pointed up.
“Ryuta, like before, let’s go up.”
Kazuki wanted to slap his own head for a moment for being so dull. He and Nunully had already used this method to escape the burning hallway and now they could do it again. Kazuki smiled at Nunully before picking her up in a princess carry. This caused her to blush under her mask but she was actually prepared this time.
“Shin, everyone, we’re going for the roof. There’s a fallen tower about 700 feet over there. It’s badly damaged but it’s still intact. We can cross that distance over the roof and climb down the tower and out of this hell hole. That’s the plan, let’s go.”
Kazuki was just about to jump but Asuna’s grabbed at his shoulder in a panic.
“Wait!”
Kazuki almost dropped Nunully on the ground by accident because of this. He saw the look of panic in Asuna’s eyes and wondered what was wrong.
“What, what is it!?”
Asuna suddenly went quiet before she pointed at Nunully.
“That girl, why are you carrying her, she doesn’t seem to be injured so why?”
Everyone stared at Asuna like she was crazy. The same thought roamed in their minds.
(You are really asking that in this situation?)
Jealousy was in Asuna’s tone but Kazuki didn’t have time for that and snapped at her.
“NOW IS NOT THE TIME!”
Kazuki’s rough tone made Asuna flinch. She couldn’t remember the last time she was yelled at like that by someone she cared about.
Kazuki said nothing else before he put strength into his legs and leaped from the broken window onto the roof. Kimi tried to comfort Asuna but there was little she could do. Shin and Danny went on ahead while Sam gently placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Asuna, Ryuta is right, it isn’t the time for this. But don’t worry, after looking all around this palace, like chickens without a head in search of him…”
Sam punched his palm in displeasure.
“I’ll make sure he spills everything. You have my personal guarantee.” Sam pulled Asuna by the hand and they all jumped onto the roof.
Kimi hadn’t seen this side of Sam and found that she liked him even more. Sam’s thoughts were elsewhere though. He wasn’t really one to show much emotion nor speak very much but when it came to either his video games or his friends, he took the matter very seriously. He and Asuna had gathered everyone together in search of their friend and had worried about him when Garn’s attack had started but from what they gathered he seemed to have been playing around with a woman.
Sam wasn’t mad that his friend was with a woman but the current situation led him to believe that the guy he grew up with, one of his best friends, chose a strange woman over him and Asuna. Sam wanted answers just as much as Asuna.
From the roof to the fallen tower, the path was free of obstacles. Besides a few cave-ins here and there, everyone made it to the fallen tower in less than a minute. With their speed, the distance of 700 feet was covered in no time and everyone climbed down the fallen tower and finally made it safely out of the palace.
Escaping through the palace was incredibly dangerous but once they got to the roof it seemed like all of that was a distant memory. Getting away safely, between the inside of the palace constantly collapsing and raging fires burning all around and leaving from the roof, the difference was like night and day. Kazuki felt like an idiot for not heading for the roof sooner.
Nunully urged Kazuki to take her to the Dancing Gazelle and Kazuki had no reason to refuse so he did. Nunully told Kazuki to head to the back entrance and when they arrived, a young servant, seeing who it was, quickly opened the door and led them all inside.
Nunully took everyone to a room on the third floor and the young servant raced off to go inform Lamia.
Everyone went inside and found the room was quite sensual. There was a large round bed that rotated, a large couch with soft pillows atop it and a table big enough for four. Everyone took a seat and they were all about to hit Kazuki with a million questions when the door was quickly shoved open.
A blonde-haired green-eyed woman with large breasts that could suffocate a man, ran in in a hurry. She saw Nunully sitting on the couch and jumped on her with open arms. Hugging Nunully as tight as she could, Lamia’s eyes watered and her body trembled in jubilation.
Feeling her daughter’s warmth, hearing her soft breath, and smelling that same recognizable perfume from her daughter’s skin, Lami’s words repeated for a while.
“Thank the gods you’re okay, thank the gods you are still alive.”
Nunully hugged her back and the two cried together for a bit. Asuna and the others found it awkward to say anything so everyone remained silent as this mother and daughter celebrated their reunion.
A few minutes later and the two finally calmed themselves. Lamia then began to fondle her daughter checking for any wounds or injuries but found none, easing her heart and embarrassing Nunully. Finally, she separated from her poor humiliated daughter and asked.
“What happened? My informer told me that information officer Itsu suddenly arrested you two. How did you escape and where were you exactly? My informer said that neither one of you was in the imperial prison.”
Lamia bombarded the two with question after question but just as the questions ceased from her mouth she only now realized that there were outsiders in the room with her. She gave a look to Kazuki who gave a knowing nod in return letting her know it was fine.
Nunully still a little embarrassed from being groped all over from her mother softly began to recount what happened. Since she was quickly escorted out of the cell when Itsu began interrogating Kazuki, she didn’t know much. The only real details she could give were what happened after Kazuki got her out. Of course, though she left out Kazuki using talismans and other secrets he had showed her. This instead left holes in her story which her mother noticed immediately, though she remained quiet about it, as she noticed her daughter didn’t wish to reveal those things in front of the other people in the room.
When she was finally finished, Asuna and Sam sighed a bit in relief but they were also still worried. Asuna scooted closer to Kazuki on the couch. Bowing her head, she softly spoke.
“Ryuta, I’m sorry. When I saw you dragging around this girl, the first thing my mind went to was that you were playing around with a woman while we were seriously worried and searching for you. Turns out you were thrown in prison and had your own dangers.”
Kazuki patted her head.
“It’s okay, you guys were worried about me. I show up with a girl, it’s only natural to believe that with these charming looks I picked her up to go and have some playtime, hehehe.”
Asuna shook her head.
“Even then, when I saw you bringing her along with you in the palace, it didn’t cross my mind that you could have been saving her. With the building literally falling apart and burning, all I could think was that you were dating around.”
Kazuki felt a little weird for a moment. Asuna didn’t do what she usually would in this situation. If Kazuki made a joke like that any other time, Asuna would have tried to hit him in the head and yell at him but she didn’t even hear his joke. All she heard was that he was imprisoned and had been in the process of saving someone. Asuna was ridiculing herself even now for making such a misjudgment.
Sam as well walked over and slapped Kazuki on the shoulder. Saying nothing else he sat back down at the table and gave a thumbs up.
Everything seemed to be settling down but there was one person who found too many things wrong with the story.
Danny poked his head in and said.
“Hmm, if this were an anime now is the time that something major would be revealed or the main detective on the case would say something like [“Things aren’t adding up.”] Ryuta, I don’t mean to pry but seeing as how my life and everyone else’s was put at risk searching for you, do you mind if I ask you a few questions?”
A powerful rift of wind tore at the palace and with a strike of lightning, a large chunk of the roof flew high into the sky before it was ripped to shreds. Garn’s staff glowed bluish-white and several lightning blades shot forth at the large throne door before him. This large metallic door with several barrier inscriptions on it was torn through like paper.
*Boom Clank Bang*
The large door came crashing down and broke into many pieces. Garn peered into the throne room and saw King David sitting atop his throne with several hundred soldiers and Mages surrounding him, protecting him from every angle. With the sky completely visible above, lightning cracked and flashed while thunder boomed high up above. As the soldiers pointed their weapons and the Mages aimed their staves at Garn, Garn too had his lightning ready to fall upon them all, at any given moment.
Garn’s voice boomed out over the crowd.
“King David, it’s time we have a talk, wouldn’t you agree?”
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