After some more talking, relaying everything I learned, and going over the plan, we're all set. The slaves are all instructed very harshly to head directly back toward the Kevitra Pass. If they deviate at all along the way, their slave crests will kill them. Then it's time.

“Ready, set, go!” On Merith's command, we burst from the treeline and rush straight for the town gate. A hail of spells rain down on everyone in the vicinity without mercy, all opposition disappearing.

And... any civilians passing by...

We blow through, feet pounding over the red-stained ground as we rush full tilt through the gate. We make it an entire block before we even hear the ring of warning bells through the town. It should take the adventurers some time to scramble, and we're already closing in on the slave market.

The adventurers cut down anyone who gets in our way, showing no mercy. No distinction between combatants and noncombatants. The only saving grace is that they don't intentionally chase anyone who flees.

But that doesn't save the women and children who can't flee fast enough...

I follow behind, keeping my emotions in check while we close in on the market. I have to remember, this is the lesser of two evils. This way, they only hurt the ones who get in our way, rather than just going after everyone they can find.

Damn the altraska are fast! When I figured we'd make it to the market before the humans could respond, I didn't realize that the fastest among them could run like thirty fucking miles and hour! I end up at the back of the pack immediately.

Even Master Liina ends up far ahead of me as I bring up the rear with the tanks. By the time I make it to the slave market, they're basically done freeing the altraska. There are only twenty some slaves, so they have more than enough crystals.

Stopping briefly to catch my breath, I scan the crowd, all on alert for incoming adventurers, looking for Master Liina. But then my eyes land on someone else.

Keane!

He isn't dead! Someone is in the middle of handing him a spare staff.

“Graahh!” An angry, howling cry at point blank makes me spin, to see a snarling altraska bringing a sword down on me with no time to respond.

I barely even flinch before another blade dives in its way and they redirect. Then Master Liina is there, standing between me and the raging man. After just a moment, a few other altraska grab him from behind and drag him away.

“Yumi, don't stand too close. They'll attack you,” Master Liina warns, back still to me, her eyes on the newly freed altraska.

They'll attack me because I look like the people who have been torturing them for the last month, at least. I swallow hard. “Yes, Master.” Then I move to the outskirts of the slave market. It's hardly a minute before they finish and everyone pours from the market, back toward the gate to escape from here as fast as we can.

Still careful of straying too close to the altraska, I stick with some of the tanks from our party, who should stop any of their own people from attacking me. Master Liina is just ahead, staying closer now despite her speed, to keep a better eye on me.

As we go, adventurers start to appear, either the ones closest when the alarm went up, or the fastest responders from the guild.

For the most part, they hang back, keeping to the edges of the street. They aren't stupid and won't throw themselves alone into a wave of charging altraska. It's the mages and rangers that are the problem, bombarding us with spells and arrows from the sides.

The tanks shield us, and I eye my stocked spell. I've been holding onto it since we started our mad rush because I really don't want to hurt anyone... For now, I continue to rely on them, and run.

Then a human sees his opportunity, a big man with a huge two handed sword jumps into the gap in the group just ahead of created by our slower speed. He takes a huge swing straight at us, and I duck and roll to get under it.

But the tanks just eat the attack on their shields and charge through him, trampling him like it's nothing. I'm stunned for just a moment, but I've lost my position between them, so I rush as fast as I can, just a step behind now, at the back of our whole group. I do not want to get caught here, especially for a stupid reason like not being able to keep up.

So I dash after the backs of the tanks, to move back into position, while ducking and weaving to avoid any incoming attacks. There's one particularly big fireball coming from a wizard behind, but their travel time is shit, so it's easy to avoid.

And then there's a person in front of me. Directly in front of me.

Zero indication of how he got there.

An Assassin?!

No, that's not it. In an instant, my brain lurches to understanding the sight.

It's... just a guy. Early twenties, with spiky blonde hair. Standing there, in the middle of stretching lazily, in a black hoody and jeans.

A fucking otherworlder?

Right now?!

I've seen them here and there since I arrived in Verilz, so I've seen that they were right that it's a pretty common occurrence, but in the middle of a fucking battle!?

What happened to having good luck?

As I'm screaming inside, I realize that fireball right behind me, easy to avoid, is going to hit the otherworlder.

No no no no no.

Fuck no.

I know what the people here mean now. How bringing otherworlders into our struggles is fucked up and wrong.

From the middle of whatever he was doing, maybe just getting up to start his day, this man is literally about to eat a fireball to the face because of a fantasy world's fucked up race war.

No.

Just as he begins to look around in confusion, I dive into the man, knocking him to the ground so the fireball flies overhead.

But now we're sitting ducks. The humans shouldn't want to attack an otherworlder, but have they even noticed? I doubt it, because the next wave of spells is already coming.

I release my stocked spell, unleashing a hellstorm of wind and sharp, spinning stones down the street behind us, where the bulk of the human mages are, sweeping away the couple of spells from that side.

Then I whip my head to the front, spells already forming as my gaze meets a couple more mages, fire and lightning spells flinging from their fingertips.

With a sweep of earth magic in front, the fire bursts into a crushing explosion, even at a distance away. The lightning though, I hardly have anything but a few instant casting elements to deal with it, to no effect.

Hammering down with my mana control, I try to forcibly redirect it, more effectively than I expected, but it still clips me, just a little.

In an instant, I'm rooted to the spot, body lurching as my mind starts to blank out from the searing pain running up my arm from where the edge of the lightning spell grazed me.

But I'm standing over the otherworlder, prone on the ground with eyes as big as plates. And I don't stop casting, elements forming at maximum speed as I suck down my mana pool at a reckless pace, already drinking in the surrounding mana as fast as it will collect.

I have no plan. Absolutely no idea what to do or how to get out of this. All I know is that I will not allow some random, unrelated, ordinary person to die because of this fucked up race war. I would never be able to live with myself.

So I start flinging spells. My casting speed is faster than theirs, so I let loose during their cooldowns, peppering them with a storm of mid-power spells that are so hastily thrown together, I think a few of them don't even accomplish much. But it doesn't matter, as long as I can keep them busy, keep them reeling, keep them from casting.

Then what?

No idea.

“What the hell?!” Comes the shout, in English, from the man on the ground below me, drawing some small part of my attention that isn't on forming my fuck-off barrage of spells.

“Get out of the way!” I shout back desperately. “Somewhere safe!”

But I got distracted, and one of the mages got a shot off. Just as the man is starting to rise into a crouch from beneath me, a big glowing ball of energy flies straight for us, almost level with his head. I don't recognize this one, but I instinctively know, it's dangerous.

Thrusting one hand out, I dump a full half of my mana pool into a big spell, a huge chunk of earth meeting the pulsing orb. With a shatter of crystal glass and deep rock, the huge explosion tears through my spell. It's all I can do to spin around the man and shield him, taking chunks of broken rock and lances of exploding force on my back. We're both sent flying away.

We roll through the street, tumbling to an agonizing stop. I'm still on top, but I can hardly feel my body and everything's getting blurry, despite the life-or-death adrenaline rush pounding through my head.

I go to start casting again, but my thoughts are scrambled when I start uncontrollably hacking, coughing up blood onto the ground, splattering onto the man underneath me. My hazy eyes drift over, to see that my current Health is down near twenty percent.

Oh, I'm dying...

When I look back up, the mages are already casting again, bigger spells this time, a couple meteors dropping right on us after my previous resistance.

As much as I try, I can't think enough to focus on my magic. It just spews out as uncontrolled waves of elements, which probably gives the enemies pause, but does nothing to help with the imminent death from above.

“Yumi!” Hearing her voice, my eyes trail up the street, to the red fox-woman flying across the ground toward us with pounding footsteps.

“Master!” I call weakly. Then she's there, over me, protecting me.

“Dispel!” She calls, raising her shield up against the falling meteors. The magic bursts on contact, scattering harmlessly. It's followed by a barrage of spells from all sides, which she twists and turns to block continuously, but one by one, they clip her here and there.

With nowhere to go, forced to protect us, she holds on, and holds on, blocking, weaving, and defending us even as she is slowly worn down under their onslaught. The whole time, she tries shouting, screaming for them to stop, but they aren't listening.

“Master...” I cry quietly.

Swaying on her feet, shield nearly burned to cinders and sword cracked up its length, her armor is ready to fall off, but she's still standing, when a tall figure enters the street, and the others hold their fire for a few moments.

“Oh?” He laughs a little. Then he raises his hand and there's a streak of light.

“Dispel!” The magic dissipates around Master Liina on contact.

The man tall man looks surprised for a moment, then tries again. A wave of his hand brings an icy wind sweeping over us.

“Dispel!” Just as the cold is starting to seep in, robbing me of the last of my senses, it vanishes into light. Gazing up at Master Liina, she staggers heavily, knees hitting the pavement as she throws up, before shakily placing herself between us at the man again.

“What are you fighting so hard for?” the man questions, sounding amused. Then he snaps his fingers and there's a sucking sound.

Turning on a heel, Master Liina throws herself over us, and the next instant, there's an explosion, waves of flame washing across her back as she growls and hisses in pain.

“Master...” I call again. She's... going to die...

Hazy eyes meeting mine, she murmurs, “A master protects their slave.”

As she rises once more, swaying from side to side, the man doesn't look quite so amused anymore. “Don't know when to quit, do you?” he asks.

But then, it's the otherworlder, seemingly too shocked to act up to this point, who pushes me aside and rises.

“Stop!” he shouts, in English.

The human mage hesitates, eyes scrunching in confusion as he looks at the otherworlder. “Who are you?” he asks back, in English.

“My name is Felix Schultz. I don't know what's going on, but...” he glances around anxiously, “but you... shouldn't... fight like this...” He sounds uncertain, completely lost in this situation.

“Felix, you aren't from around here, are you?”

“N-no, definitely not...”

“Come, we'll help you get home.”

“What will happen to them?” he asks, glancing back and forth between us.

“You don't need to worry about that,” the man says with a dismissive wave of his hand.

“They just saved my life like a dozen times over! The hell is going on here?!”

The older man flinches. “I suppose you deserve to know, with what we've put you through today...” with a hand to his head, he shakes it sadly.

“Bring them. And someone patch up the girl, before she bleeds out.”