Dreadwolf, Lord of Runes

A few minutes later, the dark-metal floor ran red with blood, and twenty bodies were strewn around; some dead, some less so. As planned, it was the women who survived their encounter with the two of them.

Only two humanoid forms were still standing: Kane and Luna. Neither of them was concerned with the lives lost during this battle. These people tried to sell them as slaves, after all, and who knew what would have happened to Luna if she arrived at her destination before Ella disabled her collar.

Besides, they'd never been overly concerned with the loss of life. Their philosophy was that anyone who took up a weapon should be prepared to die with it in their hands.

Despite the number advantage, Kane and luna didn't have much issue defeating them all. They were the only ones who could see, and none of the bandits had a strength that exceeded the third rank in any of their cores, so the world-hopping pair had an overwhelming advantage.

Ella also remarked that these outlaws didn't seem to have a way of speaking with each other over distance, and since the generator was in the other half of the base, the ones on this side had no idea the power was going to be shut off.

The surroundings remained drowned in darkness as the lights were still out, but that was quickly remedied, when Kane pressed a few buttons on his CyberStrap, and produced a light.

This way, Luna could move using her own vision, rather than Kane's, which they quickly started doing, as they wanted to secure the exit before any of these people made it out. Ella had cut off outside communications, but if Kane couldn't stop anyone from leaving, word would get out anyway.

To be fair, Kane still knew nothing of this world, nor if preventing anyone from finding out what happened would be beneficial or not, but he decided to play the odds. Better safe than sorry was one of his favourite motto's.

They moved by Ella's guidance, who explained her current situation to Kane.

"Due to the power cut, I've lost any access to this place's mainframe, and thus cameras and doors as well," she began, actually sounding a little sad. "The good thing is that without power, they have none of those things either. I do still have the floor plan, however, so I can guide you to where you want to go."

"Thank you, Ella," Kane responded, grinning with excitement. "I have to admit I'm glad you came with me. I know we need to have a proper talk later, but remember what I said, alright? Anything you need to make this easier for you. Regardless of anything else, I respect the decision you made back on Alfheim."

Surprisingly, or perhaps not, Kane felt some feelings of embarrassment and happiness through his bond with her. He imagined her poking her fingers together as she talked, "T— Thank you… that means a lot."

Kane couldn't help but be a little surprised by the genuine feelings behind those words, 'We've only just met, but saying I respect her already means a lot?' But then he shook his head and moved on. 'I really need to have that talk with her, but I still don't have time.'

While they moved, passing the bodies of bandits Kane had already taken out during his original escape, he turned to his companion with a conspiratory grin, "Good job back there, my lovely Valkyrie."

Luna chuckled excitedly, "Hehehe, thank you, Master!"

Then, Kane raised a curious eyebrow, "What was with that blood-red lightning, though?" To his knowledge, Luna has only ever had one technique, the lightning-chain technique, which gave her blue-white lightning.

The catling's lips turned up into a prideful grin, "Why, Master? Don't tell me you thought I spent all that time walking through the forest in Alfheim doing nothing but setting one foot in front of the other? I do know how to multi-task, you know."

Kane smirked and matched the catling's pride, "You mean you actually studied one of the techniques we got from that Archibald, while you were stumbling through the forest, wounded, and looking for me?"

Luna shrugged casually, despite the glee spilling from her face, while they continued to run, "What can I say? I figured I might need every advantage I could get if I ran into any of those elves. Besides, I wasn't actually wounded, remember? Not anymore, anyway."

Kane continued to smirk at her barely concealed smugness, "Well, you still did a good job."

"Hehehe," Luna chuckled again with a silly grin. Despite the hell she put Kane through sometimes, she loved being complimented by him. And she

Meanwhile, they'd passed the room where they were locked up before, and noticed that the collars and cages were still working. Clearly, they had an internal, backup power supply.

So, they continued running. This time, they started encountering some more enemies. With the power shut off, some of the bandits who were previously behind locked doors, now managed to use the manual release to get out.

Fortunately, none of these people posed a threat to them. Without pause, the duo continued moving towards the exit, while killing men and knocking women unconscious.

Finally, Ella's map guided them to a large hall. As with everything else so far, it was constructed out of dark metal with green lining. Although the lining had become far duller compared to before, suggesting they were part of the now disconnected power distribution.

Silent machinery and consoles lined the room's sides, and one wall was dominated by an imposing circular barrier, reminiscent of a giant metallic coin embedded in the wall.

Like everything else, this, too, looked like it had seen better days, yet it appeared sturdy enough to withstand several powerful Mystics banging on it fruitlessly for days on end.

The centre of the door bore a large wheel-like mechanism, with thick radial spokes extending from the hub, designed to lock the door securely in place. Heavy-duty hinges, barely visible, suggested that this door could open and close with surprising smoothness despite its weight.

Unfortunately, there was one major problem: the door had a huge dent and was sitting uselessly next to the doorway it was supposed to secure.

Kane and Luna stood dumbstruck as they saw a large protrusion sticking out from the middle of the massive, thick door. While they couldn't see the other side, it was clear the dent came from that direction.

They realized that, at some point, something or someone had used massive physical force to blow the door off its hinges and then forced it aside with immense strength.

Beyond the circular, empty hole that should have been filled by the door, they could see a large forest extending beneath a star-filled night sky dominated by two moons, which surprisingly shone down with a soft, warm orange light.

But rather than marvel at the sight of this new world they'd arrived at, Kane was occupied by different things. "I thought you said the door closed?!" he exclaimed through his link with Ella, his tone accusatory and annoyed.

"I thought it did!" Ella defended herself, frantically waving her mental arms. "The system said the door was closing, and then it reported the door closed! Clearly the sensors are malfunction, but the machinery is still working, even if the door isn't in its hinges anymore! The cameras here aren't working either, so I couldn't see!"

Unfortunately, neither Kane, nor Ella, nor Luna, had any time to let the implications of this development sink in, because as soon as they entered, a group of at least ten bandits turned their attention towards them.