“Ingenuity is the child of necessity. Craftiness, the child of need. Slyness, the child of desperation.” – a worldly philosopher

The soldiers, seeing their target run away, start shouting and running after him.

‘I should still have a couple minutes before I need to be back to Gerald and Walter.’

Alex looks over his shoulder to see multiple seeming mages, garbed in the same dress as the soldiers, chanting with stones in their hands.

‘Oh, this batch has mages… that’s surprising, but might be why they’re so weak physically…’

Alex hadn’t had many brushes with mages in his many ‘resets’ if you could call them that, but from the times he had, he had made a mnemonic.

‘If mages chase, 30 seconds till you break. If mages tail, 30 seconds till you bail.”

Alex keeps running, avoiding the occasional dagger and arrow.

‘28’

Alex looks behind him one more time.

‘It always surprises me how fast they run with such heavy armor.’

‘29’

‘30’

“Domain of fire.”

“Domain of wind.”

“Domain of ash.”

‘Ohhh, a specialist.’

Then, with practiced ease, he ducks his way into an alcove avoiding the unnatural barrage that passes by.

‘As long as you remember, the rule Mages are easy to deal with.’

Alex thinks before opening the door and slipping inside. He then locks and bolts it.

‘It should take them a couple of minutes to break this open, or to get around to the nearest entrance.’

Alex then runs up the stairs that lead to the top of the turret.

‘I’m glad this version of the mansion has the turret. Otherwise, it would be a bit more difficult.’

‘On that note, this architecture seems eerily familiar even more so than usual… not that that matters anyway.’

‘… and I want to find out what that lightning was.’

Alex makes it to the turret, and a sunset greets his eyes. He then locks the trapdoor he took to get up there.

A single moon makes its rise, a gray pimple against the backdrop of the sky.

‘Well, let’s get to work.’

Alex then picks up one of the crossbows that lie against the wall.

‘I’m not sure why, but they always have an area like this. For defense, maybe.’

Alex shrugs his shoulders before putting the but to his shoulder and aiming at one of the soldiers at the back of the pack.

*creak*

‘The door doesn’t seem like it’s going to hold much longer, I better get to it…’

*woosh* *thud*

A bolt leaves Alex's crossbow, striking a soldier at the back of the formation. He falls silently. Alex then reloads, and turns to his next target.

*woosh* *thud*

It hits in the chest, the soldier's dying wheeze alerting those around him.

“What the,” one soldier says, before looking at the turret and seeing Alex, “He’s on the turret and is shooting at us.”

The mages start to chant, and a few soldiers take out ranged weapons.

‘For the soldiers, I should be fine at this distance and angle, but the mages are the next priority.’

*woosh* *thud*

In the eye, the soldier falls.

*woosh* *thud*

In the leg, not necessarily fatal, but still a casualty.

*woosh* *thud*

The chaos in the soldiers has reached a high, this arrow goes through the heart of one unlucky lad.

*woosh* *thud*

One last soldier falls, the arrow in the arm causing him too much pain to stand.

*BAM*

Alex sees soldiers start to enter the now broken door.

‘Well, it looks like I’m out of time,’ Alex thinks while another arrow wooshes past him

’20 left, if I leave at this point, they should be caught up trying to find me…’

‘Time to return then.’

Alex then unlocks the latch on the trapdoor and throws his crossbow down the stairs.

‘Distracting the soldiers is easy, but now it’s time for the hard part.’

Alex then looks over the turret and sees the roof of the manor, he then picks up one of the crates and throws it at the soldiers below. He soon thereafter lands on the roof with a thud.

*Crash*

Alex, having rolled with his fall to prevent damage, continues to sprint.

’30 seconds left.’

After another 12 seconds of a full-tilt sprint, Alex finds himself in front of the battle between his father and Gerald.

‘And… now!’

“I challenge duke contender Gerald to a sacred duel for the right of succession.”