Inside the inner court of the Nishi royal palace not very far from the dungeon entrance. A crowd of soldiers formed around for figures, Shinji, Kenji, a dead guard, and a certain caged inquisitor.
"LET ME OUT OF THIS THING!!!" Muneto screamed from within his cramped cage.
"RELEASE LORD MUNETO, YOU FILTH!"
"BACK OFF, OR I SWEAR TO GOD HE DIES HERE AND NOW!" Shinji shouted at the soldier that looked about to approach them.
The growing crowd of palace officials, curious servants, and palace guards were forming around the scene. Shinji and Kenji, dressed as palace guards were holding Supreme Lord Inquisitor Muneto hostage, while the palace guards were struggling to think of a way to rescue him alive without giving into their demands.
"CLEAR A PATH! WE'RE LEAVING THIS CITY, AND IF ANYONE GET IN OUR WAY HE'S DEAD!" Shinji shouted.
However, just as it seemed the crowd would give way, a low ranked official stepped out in front of them.
"DIDN'T YOU HEAR ME! SCRAM, OR ELSE!" Shinji said, giving Kenji a look.
Understanding his meaning, Kenji proceeded to push his sword into Muneto's body.
"Ouch, ouch, OUCH! STOP IT!"
"YOU FIENDS! YOU THINK YOU'LL GET AWAY WITH THIS?!"
"HEY, I SAID STAY BACK OR ELSE WE'LL-!"
"GO RIGHT AHEAD! I KNOW INQUISITOR MUNETO WOULD GLADLY DIE FOR HIS COUNTRY AND EMPEROR! NOW PREPARE TO MEET YOUR MAKER!!!" The official said as he charged at them with lighting crackling between his fingers.
Unfortunately for Shinji and Kenji, Muneto was currently rather disliked in the royal court, whether it be because of the lives he ruined to climb to his position, his less than kind treatment of the lower class that were slowly making their way up the ranks, or just the prejudice of the masses in regards to the current rumor about him and a certain less than reputable subordinate, a lot of people would be very happy to see him dead right now. Hence, why the low ranked official charging at them was not making any attempts at a ling ranged attack as he charged the pair, giving them plenty of time to make good on their threats. Unfortunately for the official, the two were a bit bewildered by the sudden disregard for the hostage's wellbeing as they had not quite thought about this eventuality. If they didn't kill Muneto, everyone might think they are bluffing and they'll be captured, but if they do kill Muneto, the value of their hostage would lower significantly and if an energy ghost is not good enough of a leverage to keep them at bay, they might die before Muneto's ghost does. They knew they had been spared the death penalty so far on account of having some kind of value to them alive, but they were not entirely sure to what extent they could push that before crossing the line. Hence, they hesitated.
*Crackle*
"Crap!"
Seeing that they weren't killing Muneto, the official tried to zap them all at close range using his lightning qi. However, Kenji reacted just in time and jumped out of the way, while Shinji and Muneto took what would have normally been a lethal voltage of electricity head on. However, Muneto was a blue core nascent soul meaning he is far to resilient to die from the qi attack of a mere orange core, and Shinji had a lightning element spirit inside his body to lessen the damage. However, the shock was still strong enough to paralyze Shinji's body head to toe.
"Shit! SHI-!"
*Thud**Thud**Thud*
Just as Kenji was about to rush in to help Shinji, like a gang of rugby players, the surrounding guards started piling on top of him, pinning him to the ground.
"Get off me y-!"
*Bang*
And with a swift blow to the head, Kenji lost consciousness.
…
"They're late. Did they get caught?" Aiko muttered before digging into her ice cream.
A few days ago, she had escaped from the royal palace and was currently waiting at the rendezvous point they had agreed on, located just outside the city limits. The original plan was to use the hostage to clear a path out of the city, however, since they couldn't quite fit Aiko into an armor set without her looking a bit off, Shinji had proposed that they split up. He and Kenji would do their original plan while Aiko would use her upgraded ancestor armor golem to turn invisible and sneak out of the city. Not only would this make it possible for all three of them to escape, but in the event, they were forced to use the hostage, the attention they'd attract would draw away the attention elsewhere, increasing Aiko's chances of escaping.
However, despite managing to find her way to the cave with a tiny flag inside it saying 'Home Free' on it, as described by her friends, in the entire three days she's been outside, neither Shinji, Kenji, Alex, or Nox has shown up. The only thing that did appear was a spider-golem that occasionally dispenses ice cream.
*Grumble*
"I'm hungry!"
In the 3 days she has spent on her own, she's mostly been living off of ice cream and whatever her increasingly modified golem ancestor armor set could catch, which wasn't all that much seeing as there aren't a lot of game near the capital.
*Grumble*
"hmmm!"
With no more ideas for modifying her ancestor's golem to distract her from her hunger, she left the cave alongside the glowing rescue beacon she had set up a day ago, to go see if she could sneak back into the city to get some food.
Less than an hour later, a certain purple-haired girl was caught trying to steal her own weight in bread by shoving it inside her hollowed-out golem escort. The thief had supposedly hopped inside the bulky golem as brief chase ensued. The culprit was eventually caught, but the stolen bread was missing. Not long after, an official arrived from the imperial palace arrived and the thief was transferred to the royal dungeon.