Julian jumps over a table, dodging a guard attempting to tackle him to the ground by a hair. He keeps sprinting while the entire floor abandons what they’re doing to chase after him. He’s not too concerned, until he hears the sounds of heels clicking at an alarmingly fast rate.

  - “Stop running, I just want to talk!” Agnes yells, running at a speed that allows her to slowly close the gap between them. A swarm of ravens was flying around her, all fixated on Julian and slowly moving in to surround him.

  - “Leave me alone!” Julian shouts back as he throws a chair over to slow her down.

  - “Ha!” Agnes leaps over the chair, but loses her balance upon landing. She rolls on the floor and tries to get up as quickly as she can. “Stupid heels!” She yells, frantically trying to remove her shoes.

  Julian glances at her, turning his head for a fraction of a second. When he does, he is met with a large asteroid flying straight into him. He dodges at the last second, and the rock continues its course until it hits a bay window. The cold night wind rushes through the hole that Nyx just punched into the building. She was standing in front of Agnes’ office, with her leg still in the pink cast.

  - “(Couldn’t get any worse.)” Julian thinks.

  - “Ah, I missed.” Nyx comments. “Come on Julian, stop!” She shouts as she forms two other asteroids. “It’s gonna hurt a lot more if I have to knock you out myself you know?”

  - “Stop destroying the building, I’m going to get in trouble with the administration again !” Agnes pleads, before shaking her head as she gets up. “You know what? Screw the administration! Keep blasting, priority is apprehending him! Just don't put yourself at risk with your spells!”

  - “I’ll do it!” Nyx waddles forward and the asteroids are launched towards Julian.

  He dodges the first one, but the second one grazes his leg. They create two new holes in the bay window, which is completely falling apart by now. Agnes closes in on him, and he finds himself back to the precipice on the other side of the shattered window.

  - “You’re escalating this way out of proportion!” Agnes calls out. “Just be reasonable, nobody here wants to harm you!”

  - “You don’t know what you’re talking about!” Julian lashes out.

  - “Julian, don’t jump!” Beatrice yells from a distance, having left Nyx behind to run over to him.

  - “Humans can’t survive a fall like that!” Nyx adds as she waddles towards the window.

  - “Good thing I’m not human then.” Julian replies as he turns his back to them and jumps into the void.

  - “Dammit!” Agnes throws her hand forward and the giant harpy eagle manifests next to the tower.

  It attempts to catch Julian as he’s falling, but the latter starts sliding diagonally at breakneck speeds, avoiding its talons by a hair.

  - “Is he continuously creating a slope of solidified air?... That’s clever…” Agnes whispers. “But the sky is my domain! You’re not running from me there!”

  She jumps out of the window and grabs one of the legs of the harpy eagle with one hand, her giant coat flying in the wind behind her. The creature immediately dives down to give chase to Julian. The ravens also plunge after him like a swarm of arrows, closely following his movement. By the time Nyx makes it to the window, they are already tens of floors below them.

  - “Ah.” Nyx comments. “I can’t do much from here, my effective range is somewhere around fifty meters…” She turns to the guards who were closing in on the window, trying to get Beatrice and her away from the gaping void. “I'm gonna go upstairs then!”

  Meanwhile, on the ground Julian lands in one of the trees decorating a street, breaking a few branches on his way down. He manages to break his fall by rolling on the ground, and looks up only to see Agnes’ harpy eagle a few tens of meters above him. He immediately jumps on his feet and dashes into a nearby alleyway.

  - “(Change of plans. I need to make it to the headquarters of the Fifth Branch while I still can.)” He thinks.

  - “Huh. I'd wager it was worth checking out what was happening!” A voice suddenly says above him, as a silhouette lands from the rooftops right in front of him.

  He doesn’t have time to stop, and bumps right into the woman. He could see that her wildly styled hair was almost pitch black, with a strand of white hair glowing like silver under the moonlight. Her eyes were a dark gray color, and she was wearing a simple but expensive looking white night gown, like she just rolled straight out of bed.

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  - “Who are you?” Julian asks as he reaches for his dagger.

  - “Just a visitor from far away shores.” The woman replies before looking down at the dagger. “You really think you could harm me, or anyone remotely strong, with that? Given who you’re picking a fight with you’re just throwing your life away.” She looks up at the tower of the Fourth Branch, with glass shards still falling from the broken window on the 70th floor.

  - “...So what if I am?” Julian whispers. “I don’t have time for this. Get out of my way or-”

  - “Or what? Perish? I'd like to see you try!”

  - “...” Julian just walks past her.

  - “Very well!” She exclaims. “I shall see to your end! I’ve been starving for some action ever since I started living in this city, this'll be a nice bit of exercise.”

  Julian starts running to put some distance between them, but the woman not only catches up to him but outpaces him completely.

  - “So where are we going?” She asks with a smirk. “My name is Angelica Ironside, remember it until the day you die!” She has a booming, flamboyant laugh. “Then again, it might very well be today, so it shouldn’t be that difficult of an endeavor!”

  - “Stop being so loud !” Julian loudly whispers, looking up and seeing one of Agnes’ crows flying above them. He could hear the flapping of giant wings closing in. “If you want to help me, knock yourself out ! But at least don’t hinder me!”

  - “Like I’d take orders from a warrior heading straight to his grave! If you want to escape your fate, then run as far as your legs can carry you!” She looks up too, and sees Agnes rapidly approaching from the sky. “I’d suggest you run faster though.”

  He resumes his mad dash through the city, closely followed by Angelica. They run into a few guards trying to stop them when they pass through larger streets, but they get rid of them in a blink. Julian passes through them at lightning speed, stabbing his dagger into each of their legs while Angelica knocks the rest out with a single karate chop to the back of the head. All the guards fall to the ground after about five seconds.

  - “You’re not half bad for an elf!” Angelica comments as they enter a new alleyway. Now, she could see that they were headed towards a large, mansion-like structure.

  - “And you’re pretty quick for a human.” Julian replies. “Then again, your accent sounds Polemian. You guys are barely even human to begin with.”

  - “I’ll take that as a compliment!”

  Julian suddenly accelerates and starts jumping from building to building by using overhangs and windows as platforms, freerunning through any obstacles in his way. Angelica, surprised at first, grins as if accepting the challenge. She effortlessly performs a spectacular vertical leap, landing on the rooftop of a nearby house five meters above the street. She then starts chaining similar leaps, oriented horizontally and following Julian’s trajectory by jumping from roof to roof. They eventually simultaneously land on top of a building right in front of their destination. It was a fairly large mansion mostly made of wood, with branches and leaves visible in its facade. It was as if the entire structure had been grown out of the ground from multiple tree seeds. There was a large garden in front of it, with the front door to the mansion visible on the other side. Above it, a long slab of marble had the words “Headquarters of Variety Business” carved on it. The two guards standing on each side of the entrance to the garden look up, see Julian and Angelica standing on the roof of the building in front of the mansion, and raise the halberds they were holding.

  - “Who goes there?” The guard on the left asks.

  Julian silently jumps off the roof in response, and extends both his hands towards them. They tense up, and the weapon of the guard on the right starts crackling with electricity as he begins to channel a spell. He suddenly stops, and starts grasping at his throat with his mouth wide open, unable to close it as if he was gagged. A similar phenomenon happens to the other guard, and they both fall to the ground after about thirty seconds, completely motionless.

  - “What a fearsome technique!” Angelica comments as they enter the garden. “What’s the secret behind it?”

  - “Nothing special. I hardened the air in their respiratory system. Untrained humans have low magic resistance, so it’s not that difficult to pull off.” He spits on the ground. “I swore I wouldn’t do this ever again but these guys… they deserve it. They're all complicit.”

  - “Ruthless! I like that.” She reaches forward. “I guess it’s time I take this a little more seriously, given where we are. Divine treasury, open.”

  Reality shatters around her hand, pieces of the scenery flying around like shards of stained glass. They seemed to form a gate to a different place, where literal mountains of different weapons were stashed under an infinite, cloudless blue sky. The ground wasn’t even visible, due to all the swords, axes, spears and other weapons scattered around the mountains. Every single one of them appeared to be enchanted in some capacity, radiating magical energy in the form of different elements like fire, lightning, and wind among others.

  - “Come to me, Vortex.” Angelica commands.

  A greatsword the size of her flies from the nearest mountain and into the portal. Its blade was made of a dark blue metal, with drops of shimmering water periodically falling from its edge, turning to vapor upon hitting the ground. Its black hilt featured three turquoise gems embedded in it, brimming with magical energy.

  - “What the-” Julian jumps back.

  - “First time seeing someone with access to the Treasury of the god of War?” Angelica laughs as she seizes the grip of the sword and brandishes it above her head. "Behold, a real weapon !"

  - “Who are you, really?...”

  - “I’ve already introduced myself!” Angelica replies as she adopts a battle stance, crouching down with her right leg fully extended behind her and holding her greatsword with one hand. “Let us begin! Don’t fall behind, elf boy!”

  She lunges towards the entrance of the mansion and slashes sideways with her sword mid course. A wave of water forms under her, carrying her forward and crashing into the wooden door, which explodes in a mayhem of splinters as it shatters. She lands on the other side, in the very luxurious interior of the mansion. The main hall was lined with precious metals and old looking paintings, and featured a myriad of interior balconies with alternating gold and silver railings. The receptionist at the front desk, a dark haired human with cat ears on the top of his head, violently flinches. He instantly reaches for a glass orb on the desk after recovering from the shock, and shatters it in his hand. The orb releases a loud, low pitched sound that resonates throughout the building as the water conjured by Angelica slowly evaporates.

  - “Intruders!” The receptionist yells along with the alarm.

  Julian and Angelica quickly start hearing footsteps coming from all directions, and Julian readies his dagger.

  - “So much for stealth…” Julian grumbles, stopping next to her.

  - “Isn’t it more fun like that?” Angelica flashes a bright smile.