Chapter 59: Escape
Between the branches of the trees and the city, a figure moved desperately, getting as far away as possible.
But Brandon already had him in his sights. He started running at full speed again, propelling himself with the strength of his legs and his own spirituality.
The strength of his legs pushed to the limit closed the distance between him and several puppets, which he had to push out of the way with his strength.
These puppets, although they managed to slow him down considerably, were broken in half, but they would not die, for they were shadows. Even so, they should not be able to get up in the short time.
Or so Brandon believed.
But suddenly, as he ran after the thief, he felt an oppressive force hitting him from the side and pulling him in the opposite direction from where he was going.
’Am I being dragged?’ He looked behind him and noticed a huge hand from a giant shadow beast hitting him from the side.
When he realized this, his body crashed into one of the hospital buildings.
BOOM*
’Cecily von Larsen?’ He roared inwardly when he saw that giant puppet, characteristic of Cecily, and immediately realized that this could be Ryan’s doing.
’How could he possibly compete with me?!’
His anger increased severalfold, and he shook off the rocks that pierced his body.
"I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!" He roared, losing his characteristic calm.
But then he felt something blocking his vision more and more.
’The giant?’ He turned abruptly upward, thinking that the giant would fall on him, but no.
It was the entire building that collapsed.
He watched in shock, unable to do anything. All he could see was a masked man staring down at him from the top of the building, flying with spiritual energy.
The building had been demolished by some fire attack, coming from that man.
Shortly after, his body was buried under the rubble of the building that collapsed on top of him.
His allies tried to do something against the attackers, but the shadow puppets simply scattered and turned into shadows, while the masked man disappeared.
The place ended up in ruins.
Only one of them ran after the treasure, while the rest had to help Brandon be dug out from there.
The moment they finally pulled him out, injured and with part of his face broken, Brandon looked ahead with hatred.
"He’s gone," he said, shaking off the help his allies were giving him.
His words brought his allies back to reality, and they finally realized that, indeed, the treasure had disappeared.
No one had to say anything to know that they had to go after that place.
It hadn’t taken long to dig it up, only 15 minutes. There was no way it could have gone too far.
--
Upon returning to the veterans’ housing development, Ryan and Cecily met up. He told her a few things and then went into one of the empty wealthy homes.
"It’s ready," said Mr. Roger when he saw him arrive. "It took less time than I thought."
"Good." Ryan nodded and handed him several documents with handwritten information about different people who had potentially participated in this robbery. "Find them and be quick, we don’t have much time," he said.
Mr. Roger nodded and didn’t question anything. Although he looked at the treasure he was carrying in his hands, his dark suit covering practically everything, and a dying civilian, he simply ignored it and left.
Once in the room, Ryan took a deep breath and finally relaxed, but not for long.
He placed the treasure on the floor and sat down in front of it, as he began to prepare to absorb it.
"Ryan." A voice coming from his shadow woke him up.
"How are the preparations going?"
"The leader has just returned; the three Kazaks and that crazy old woman are still in his hands."
"Bring them here."
"I understand. But Brandon seems to have discovered me; he may be coming here."
Ryan frowned after a few seconds of thought. "Tell Captain Garner to have all the troops come to this area in exactly one hour. The rest will be taken care of by the whole town."
"Understood."
As soon as she stopped communicating through the shadows, Ryan closed his eyes again.
’The treasure resonated loudly earlier, so many people in the city could be rushing to this area right now. Luckily, it resonated more when I was near the hospital, so they’ll check that place first. We have the strategic and positional advantage,’ he reasoned.
They had to take advantage of every advantage.
He looked at the treasure and, without thinking twice, activated his ability.
"Spiritual Devourer."
The spirituality inside the item began to writhe, as if it felt fear. It trembled as if there were a strong earthquake, and also swayed as if it were a swing.
Even so, nothing prevented it from being devoured.
Slowly, each of the spirits inside began to emerge from the treasure and enter Ryan’s body.
The spirit count in the system slowly began to rise...
[Spirits: 29/100.]
[Spirits: 30/100.]
[Spirits: 35/100.]
In the meantime, Martin sneaked into the room and threw the guys he had caught inside.
He stared at what Ryan was doing and frowned.
’Was this allowed?’ he thought. ’Well, he is the prince.’ He smiled and turned to leave.
"Wait." Ryan’s voice stopped him.
"Do you have the explosives?" he asked.
"I have them, but... Are you sure?"
"It has to be believable." Ryan smiled mischievously. "Put them in each corner, and when exactly 1 hour and 15 minutes have passed, you’ll detonate them."
"This... Are you...?"
"I already said yes. Don’t ask the same questions over and over. Just do what I tell you. I got the treasure back, you see? I kept my promise, so just do it."
"I understand." Martin resigned himself and went to put them on.
He would be in big trouble if anyone found out about this, but he would be in even bigger trouble if Ryan blew himself up, so he couldn’t help feeling anxious.
After finishing, he got ready to leave, but first he looked at Ryan.
"Is it okay for you to do this, Prince?" he asked.
Ryan understood what he meant, so he smiled.
"You want me to go on a mission where the only thing of value is a few pounds and a little status that might be useless to me?" He scoffed with a chuckle. "I need something of value. Something more concrete. Something real."
Martin swallowed a little. This prince... he really had guts.
--