"Once again, I’ll ask. Are you sure there was no one out there besides the bastard that led you here?"

"Yes, I am sure," confirmed Uta. "There was no one else beside the man that teleported us, then left, and the man that took me here. That I am certain."

"I see... if that’s so. It might be risky, but it can be done," Ina muttered.

"Say, Ina... you said you could get us out of here," Ana inquired on behalf of nearly everyone. "How?"

"Hum, I’m curious too," followed Uta.

While both girls waited for an answer from Ana, they received no answer—at least, "It’s impossible." They heard Edya lamenting, "There is no one else here but us. We’re done for. What did I do to deser—" but Ina's angry voice cut her off before she could finish.

"Didn’t I already tell you to shut up?"

Sobbing like never before, putting one word after another proved to be a challenge for Edya. "But it’s true, though. He said..., the man from earlier said it himse–"

Once again, the girl was interrupted by Ina’s raging voice. "EDYA!!!"

"Eeeek!"

"You dumb bitch!! Trust me, Edya, the first thing I'll have to do when I get out of this place is punch you in the face. But first…"

At that moment, Ana and the others heard the clinking sound of chains. Then there was a moment of silence, followed by a sigh. The sigh turned into a grim groan as the person let out loud, raging breaths.

"Huh?"

"Ina?!"

"What’s going on?!"

Despite the girls' concerns, the raging groans and attemptedly muffled yet still audible screeches continued.

Soon, after what felt like an eternity, the screeches stopped, replaced by a silence in which only the sound of heavy breathing could be heard. Then, even that sound stopped, replaced by the sound of a metal barred door being burst open.

The sound of climbing echoed through the room, followed by a final thud that suggested that something or someone stumbled to the ground.

Though the voice was wimpy, unlike the usual derisive, almost always antagonizing one, the silent Ina eventually spoke, asking, "My Lady Lizzie, Ana, or whatever, within which of these containers are you?"

"Ina, how…"

"So this one, then," Ana heard Ina saying, immediately followed by the sound of footsteps walking atop the container she was held prisoner in.

Suddenly, the hatch in the ceiling was kicked open, and Ina jumped into view, wearing a cheeky smile on her face. "Hello, there."

"Ina… how?" Ana asked, mumbling, but without Ina's explanation, she got her answer: a glance at her straight-up butchered hands, one finger missing on each.

"As if mere chains were enough to hold me," she exclaimed, reaching both hands around Ana's neck and ripping apart the collar around her neck in an animalistic effort.

After Ina released Ana from the collar that kept her restrained, Ana was momentarily speechless before being able to express her most guenine, yet simplest, "Thank you."

It took her little to no effort to tear the chain that was holding her apart now that she could use her magic.

"That was dry, but it should suffice for now; let's free the others and get out of here."

Ana nodded, reaching towards the injured hand holding onto her, and immediately proceeding to tear apart the case she was held within. Freed, she finally got to see what the room she was held in looked like. It was a large, closed room, like some sort of depository, with three other containers or cages similar to the one Ana had been in lying nearby.

"Ina? Lyzzie? What’s happening?" asked the still-clueless Edya.

Hearing from which countainer the voice came, the girls looked at each other, exchanging a sigh. None answered the girl’s question. Ana proceeded to tear apart the container and create a gaping hole, as she had done for hers, in order to immediately proceed to free the chained girl held within.

"Lizzie...," the girl mumbled, incredulous.

"Jeeeeez, girl, you look terrible," commented Ina, also following Ana within.

"Ana,... how?"

"There is no time for explanations. I was planning to just wait, but having dwelt long enough on the matter, I think we really must leave this place, even if it is by ourselves. Can you stand up?"

"I think."

The girl, Edya, most likely wanted to add a little something, but noticing the state Ina’s hands were in, she chose to remain silent.

"Good, now let’s get Uta, let’s get out of wherever this place is."

Ana went straight to the last container after freeing Edya, as she had done with the previous two, to tear and hole through it and emerge moments later with Uta clutching her arm.

She was, to say the least, in a way rougher state than were the two other girls; in fact, it was as though she had gone through a rough beating, something she didn’t even mention when they earlier asked her how she was doing.

"What happened? What did they do to you?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing? How can that be nothing? It looks like you’ve been ganged up on or something."

"Yeah, Ina is right? Did they do something?" Ana asked, sharing the girl's concerns.

While the girls were expecting a response from their last comrade, they were certainly not expecting to hear her chuckle.

"Uta?"

"Did they hit you to the point of getting insane or what?"

"Maybe they did," Uta announced, trying to stand up by herself, only to almost fall off the ground. She was caught just in time by both Ana and Ina.

"I'm sorry. I’m fine."

"You don’t look so... fine."

"I guess... you’re right."

"What happened?"

"Well, they got a little angry when they learned the truth, so this was a punishment of some sort I got for lying."

"Lying about what?"

At this question, Uta looked one after another at the three girls and said, "Lizzie, Ana, and Edya, I’m sorry to have you three involved in all of this. They came for me, thinking I was pregnant, but the truth is, I am not."

When Uta mentioned it, Ana, along with the other girls, remembered that her pregnancy was at the heart of the matter. Not just any pregnancy, but that of a flower to a noble.

From the expression with which Uta was looking at the girls, it was clear that she was expecting them to blame her, but that was not what happened.

"Well, it’s not like you meant for things to go that way, right?" Ina asked.

Uta nodded.

"I’m sure we all have a lot of explanations we owe to each other, but as of now, I think we should make it our priority to get out of this place alive, shouldn’t we?"

The four girls acquiesced.

"So we’d better get our asses moving then."

Following the conclusion of the discussion, the girl proceeded with their escape, encountering a few closed doors, but they were not built to withstand a noble. With Ana’s magic help, they advanced rather smoothly, even though they weren’t sure exactly where the path was taking them.

It was then, as they were crossing a large room, that two individuals suddenly teleported a few dozen meters away from them. The four girls immediately recognized them as their captors and abductors.

One was the young boy wielding teleportation magic; the other was the one wielding lightning magic, who, after murmuring something into the teleporting boy's ear, had him leave for who knows where.

"May we know where exactly you girls are going like this?" the man asked after the boy’s departure.

"Out," Ina answered.

"And who gave you permission to leave?"

Ana, displaying her full intent to not go down as easily as she had the last time, summoned water magic.

Before Ina could forward a single word, Ana intervened, "We’re big girls here, we don’t have to ask permission for anything, and certainly not you."

"Ouuuh... scary," the man mocked.

Giving up on her clutching role for Uta to Edya, she ordered the trio, "Go ahead, you three."

"What are you talking about? There's no way we're leaving you behind with him," Ina retorted.

"Ina’s right, Lizzie. We’re staying," Uta also intervened.

Edya, too, frighteningly acquiesced.

"Girls, look at yourselves, each one of you looks miserable enough to be of any help of any sort. Come on, Ina. You’ve done your fair share for today; let me have mine. " "Besides, ir's not like I'm holding him back for you; I'm just going to whoop his arse and then join you all later."

After a short moment, facing her friend's hesitating face, Ina eventually asked, "You’re sure about this?"

"Yes."

"I’m leaving him to you, then. Not that I can do much with my fingers in this state. We’ll be going, but we’ll be waiting for you. So you'd better catch up to us and not him, or I'll personally come here to send you to the afterlife."

"Understood," Ana said, smiling.

"Where do you think you’re going like that?!" the man said, unleashing bolts of lightning onto the girls.

But standing between the trio, using her water magic, Ana protected them.

"Are you deaf or something? "Out," I remember clearly saying."

Once again, the man flew one of his lightning bolts at the girls, but Ana, not with no great difficulty, standing between them, intercepted each one of them without failing.

"Sigh,... without a doubt, lightning magic is a terrible match for my water-affined magic, but..." Ana seethed to herself before announcing out loud, "—But that won’t stop me from beating your ass up."