Elemental Cats

All the pirates and delegates signed the agreement one by one.

Toz had stopped struggling to break out of Yill's bindings as soon as he realized his struggles were futile, but that didn't mean he had given up. He couldn't move his body, and the ice covering his body impaired his mana with the chill it spread into him.

But he hadn't lost all hope just yet.

The cats had listened to Toz and stayed inside the familiar space. Even if they left it, they wouldn't be able to do anything against Yill, so it was better to wait for an opportunity they could use to try and escape. They could decide what to do after that when they had successfully managed to flee. Their first priority was to get out and their second priority was to bring Brunswick with them.

Thankfully, Toz had come up with a simple plan during the time Yill stated the terms, and the pirates and delegates signed the written agreement.

'Asilean, are you ready?'

Toz communicated with Asilean using the bond between them when Dyra began signing. She was the last one to sign, and if they didn't get an opening by then, they wouldn't get one and would have to resort to their backup plan.

Thankfully, Toz's prediction turned out to be true.

Yill, who watched everyone like a hawk at first, gradually stopped monitoring everyone's movements, and she became lax in the way she watched the situation. Since everyone had signed already, there wasn't a need for her to be so strict anymore.

Her watchfulness increased a little while Dyra signed the document, but as soon as she finished, Yill let down her guard. Maybe not entirely, but enough for Toz to make use of it.

'Now!'

Following Toz's order, his inclination shone dimly, and Asilean popped out. Asilean didn't sit still when he appeared. He started moving before he even touched the ground and immediately started blinking toward the edge of the platform.

Despite dropping her guard slightly, Yill reacted instantly and sent a stream of snowflakes in Asilean's direction.

Asilean noticed and thickened the space between himself and the snowflakes, barely managing to lower their speed.

However, that also caused Asilean to lose his speed, and before he knew it, a wall of ice appeared in front of him, blocking his escape.

At the same time as Asilean's path forward was blocked, the second cat made its appearance.

And along with Mindle came three tiny tongues of flame and an immense wave of heat.

The heat wasn't quite enough to melt the wall of ice that was quickly growing to cover the entire platform, but the flames were enough to contend with the streams of snowflakes sent in Mindle's and Asilean's directions. One flame protected Mindle, and another protected Asilean.

Yill reacted mostly on instinct when she noticed the cat of fire appear since fire was an element that countered her own. Since ice also countered fire, Yill would still have the advantage since she was significantly stronger. But when the three flames showed up, and the air continued growing hotter without signs of stopping, Yill worried slightly, and when she looked closer at the cat of fire, she gasped in shock.

Toz didn't know why Yill was shocked, but he didn't let go of that opportunity, and it was Nil's time to make an appearance.

Nil also made his move as soon as he left the familiar space. He instantly started casting his spell at the chunk of the wall closest to Asilean. It would be the shortest route for Asilean to escape. It was also closest to one of Mindle's flames. If there was one part of the wall that would break, it was that one.

Sharp Raine sent a torrent of metal daggers and spikes at the wall. Thanks to Nil's level of power and increased mana control, he had an easier time concentrating all the spikes in one place, and a crack appeared after a single volley.

Nil launched a second volley, prompting Yill out of her daze, and she threw another stream of snowflakes in Nil's direction.

Nil noticed the snowflakes, but he didn't stop what he was doing. He trusted Mindle to have his back, which she did. Mindle used her third flame to shield Nil from the stream of snowflakes. Thanks to their proximity, Mindle could also use the same flame to begin to wear down the block of ice restraining Toz.

After Mindle blocked the attack, Toz prompted Scrael to come out.

Yill was already spread thin with Asilean, Mindle, and Nil, and while she still had enough leeway to deal with Scrael, her reaction was slower than usual.

Scrael started moving as soon as she left the familiar space. Mindle already had her paws full, and Scrael didn't want to bother her, so she started running to avoid Yill's snowflakes.

If Scrael had been the only target, Yill wouldn't have had any trouble dealing with her since she could just cut off Scrael's path. But forget being the only target, there were a bunch of bystanders that Yill couldn't recklessly attack, so she had to carefully calculate Scrael's trajectory before casting her magic.

However, Scrael's movements were erratic, and she darted back and forth while steadily building up a cloud of lightning around her.

Yill's snowflakes missed Scrael repeatedly. And thanks to Scrael attracting most of the attention, the other cats had an easier time, especially Mindle, since she managed to melt most of the snowflakes targeting her and the other two, which allowed her to begin defrosting Toz's legs.

Yill noticed what Mindle was doing, but she wanted to stop the cat of lightning from continuing to build up momentum and lightning.

Yill was getting slightly frustrated since what was supposed to be an easy mission of simply watching over the young miss had somehow turned into a troublesome deal of trying to deal with a bunch of cats. And since the pirates and delegates were mortals and unrelated to Toz the way the cats were, she couldn't rashly involve them in her business with Toz.

Thankfully Dyra caught on quickly, and despite no more than a few moments having passed since Asilean first appeared, she had already started telling the pirates and other delegates to get off the platform.

However, before the last delegate and pirate could leave the platform, which would have allowed Yill to let loose, Scrael disappeared. The cat of flashing, purple lightning vanished from sight.

Yill looked around in a panic, trying to find her. She didn't have to look for long before she sensed Scrael again.

Scrael was gunning straight for the place where Nil was aiming his third volley of Sharp Rain. The wall of ice was already cracking, and when it finally got hit by Nil and Scrael's combined attack, several shards of ice broke free, revealing an opening through which Asilean could get out.

Yill tried to restore the wall, but Asilean was ready and blinked through the opening as soon as it appeared.

Right after Asilean blinked into the Void on the other side of the wall, the cultist accompanying the Representative stepped onto the bridge. And Dyra sealed off the platform from the bridges.

The last thing Toz heard was Yill's voice.

"Gotta admit. You were pretty close."