A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

They'd heard some explosions and felt powerful fluctuations of aetherium coming from the palace, and now several rumours were already making their way around, from rebellion to outright assault by several third rankers.

Then, the rumours began to include a heavily wounded Lilith, and suddenly, everyone only dared to whisper them, lest they end up dead.

Yet, whatever the case, every soldier in the city had previously already been prepared to march out, and thus needed only a short time to march into the streets.

Meanwhile, no more than a few minutes after the six guards entered the room and were slaughtered, Erik's allies streamed out of there. Fortunately, the hallways in this place were wide, so they were able to keep their formation.

Currently, Naeku was walking at the head. Green runes shone around her eyes as nature sense informed her about the situation around them.

Meanwhile, the Runebound behind her had formed a cordon, with five people in the middle: Elora, carrying Runa, Erik, inside the armour currently being controlled by Eira, and the Ashcroft sifters. Naturally, as Arcanists, they would support the others from there.

"I've found that Lilith woman…" Naeku mentioned while they quickly moved through the hallways to the nearest exit. "She landed somewhere in the harbour, heavily wounded, but awake. She's in no state to chase after us for now, but I see healers rushing their way there."

Her nature-enhanced-eyes flashed green as she continued analysing the situation. "Meanwhile, there are many first and second rankers rushing this way, and some others are on their way to that other third ranker in the city, Abigail, who survived her battle with my uncle."

Their hurried steps echoed through the wide, ostentatious hallways as Naeku's words caused them to move even faster. Their faces carried expression of anxiety, worry, fury, helplessness, and bloodlust. But, most of all, there was determination. Determination to make it out of here and fight another day.

Along the way, they came across several first ranked servants, but they ignored them all.
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Whether these people were accomplices sharing the vision of their leaders, or simple serfs with no ability to deny their masters and mistresses anything, was of no concern right now. They had no time to kill or save them, especially because Erik was too busy being unconscious to put anyone in his dimension.

Fortunately, the servants had the presence of mind to stay out of their way.

Finally, they made it out of the building, but Naeku quickly veered away from the main entrance. "We're sure to run into a massive group of soldiers if we go there," she quickly explained, knowing the trust her allies had in her was far from blind.

She wanted to prevent any doubts from springing up, particularly because they were in a tense situation right now. "They're not large enough to stop us, but enough to slow us down," she continued hastily.

Thus, in an effort to avoid getting swarmed, she quickly led them to a side gate that her nature sense had found. Unfortunately, it turned out to be both locked, and protected by a sigil.

But that barely slowed them down.

After Elora disabled the sigil in a mere few seconds, the lock could even be broken by a first ranker. Moments later, they stood outside the palace courtyard, but they were still far from the city's walls.

Currently, they found themselves standing on top of the sea wall, meaning they were out in the open, but the only paths forward were jumping into the water ahead, or quickly running back to the city while hoping no one saw them.

Of course, knowing any kind of unknown dangers might dwell in those waters, they choose the option of certain, but known danger, and turned towards the city.

As they ran along wall, they didn't speak a word. They were all aware that their words might carry quit far across the water. Besides, they were focused on making it out of the city alive. Even from there they could hear the chaos that was quickly consuming the city. Naeku even had a front row seat for it all.

Fortunately, they reached the end of the wall and slipped into a narrow, deserted street. Abandoned and half-destroyed buildings graced either side, but Naeku had chosen this street quite deliberately for its lack of habitation.

Suddenly, the werepanther turned her face in another direction with a concerned frown, but than kept on moving without explaining. Before anyone could ask why, they heard the answer: helicopters.

Several instances of blades chopping through the air suddenly echoed in their ears and they each cursed inwardly. "Keep moving…!" Naeku whispered resolutely and continued leading them towards the outer wall. Around them, the sound of rushing soldiers and searching helicopters continued getting louder.

It wasn't even the soldiers and guards that were the main problem for them. With the power they had at their disposal, they might just be able to wade through hundreds of first and second rankers before being overwhelmed, and at that point, they would have surely made it to the wall.

But then there was Abigail. Not to mention Lilith, if she recovered enough to chase them. Fortunately, the limited omnisense those two had access to wouldn't be much help in finding Elora and the others.

They moved quickly and quietly, with Naeku able to lead them through abandoned buildings and small alleyways in order to avoid most of the guards and soldiers. Occasionally, they'd be forced to engage anyway, but those fights ended quickly.

Lilith had only known about a heavily wounded Erik and an unconscious Runa, so that was all the soldiers and guards knew as well.

Their large group was a surprise that none of those they encountered had the time to appreciate.

Eventually, they reached the edge of the walls, but at this point, they had to deal with the helicopters. So far, they'd been able to avoid their notice, but as soon as they went across the walls that would change.

Fortunately, Naeku's strategic mind had come up with something.