The Intruders

The glass ceiling shattered, sending shards spraying in every direction.

Some clapped their hands over their ears at the deafening blast, others screamed, others scrambled to flee.

Reactions varied.

Azu immediately grabbed Yohane's sleeve, pulled him down low, and threw herself over him.

Elza cast her blessing on everyone at the same time Alexia used wind magic to deflect the smaller fragments.

"What the— What happened?!"

Yohane shouted, face still down.

"The ceiling's been blown off! Intruders!"

"Damn it! Here of all places?!"

Yohane told Azu to get off him and finally raised his head to survey the scene.

Panic had erupted across most of the venue.

Looking up, five figures in red robes were descending slowly.

They were almost certainly the ones who'd blown the ceiling.

Fleeing attendees were replaced by shield-bearing guards who poured into the hall and surrounded the robed figures.

The royal's escort was on edge, but the young royal himself observed the situation calmly.

Wherever they'd been hiding them, the escorts now held club-like weapons at the ready.

"My, my. Uninvited guests, it seems. I don't recall sending you an invitation."

The emcee pointed his cane at the robed figures and said.

"Hand over the Earth Elemental Stone."

The robed man spoke, then drew a wand from beneath his cloak.

Both sides pointed their implements at each other, squaring off.

This wasn't solid ground, but a sky island.

The only ways to reach it besides teleportation magic were flight magic or something similar.

It was safest to assume every one of those intruders was a mage.

The emcee shook his head at the demand.

"Items put up for auction are to be handed over to the winning bidder alone."

"Then we'll take it by force."

On that cue, the robed figures unleashed their spells in unison.

The guards raised their magic-resistant mithril shields and blocked.

Using the shields as cover, the masked man retaliated with magic of his own.

Spells of all four attributes flew back and forth, and collateral damage began to spread.

The participants' safety was clearly secondary.

The intruders had the upper hand, though the auction side was holding their own.

Because of the no-weapons rule for entering the venue, Azu in particular was helpless.

They'd have to rely on Alexia's magic and Elza's blessings.

The exit would require a long detour from here, exposing their backs to the intruders. They needed to wait for an opening.

The royal not moving right away was probably going with the same calculation.

The robed intruders were clearly formidable; arrows and spears thrown at openings were being swatted away with magic.

The masked emcee was a capable mage himself, but he was outnumbered.

Staying put meant a stray spell could hit them at any moment.

"We're getting out of here. At the very least, we need our weapons if we're going to defend ourselves."

Yohane's call got nods from all three.

They stayed low and headed for the stairs first.

The fighting was centered in the middle, so they wanted as much distance as possible.

When they started moving, the royals fell in behind them, following along.

He had a sneaking suspicion they were being used as a shield, but telling them to go first wouldn't accomplish anything.

Typical royals, he thought, but pressed on.

He put Alexia in the lead since she could counter magic.

Her dress had been too restrictive to move in, so she'd torn the side open.

It was an emergency. Couldn't be helped.

One of the robed figures noticed them.

Apparently deciding they were a nuisance, they lobbed a fireball their way.

Alexia thrust the fire brooch into the fireball's path.

The flames were sucked into the brooch.

Fire was useless against a Fire Elemental.

Inside the brooch, the Fire Elemental let out a little burp of smoke.

But that had bumped them from 'nuisance' to 'threat,' drawing unwanted attention.

The one who'd fired the fireball called to a companion, and the two of them began chanting together.

"Casting high-level magic in a place like this?! Have they no restraint?!"

Alexia conjured a whip of fire and lashed it at the two chanters.

It struck one, forcing them back, but wasn't enough to break their concentration.

She cracked the whip again.

But the enemy's spell completed first.

The fire whip was swallowed by a massive black cloud and snuffed out.

"Tch, lightning magic! Elza, put up a barrier!"

"On it!"

Elza threw a barrier around them, and Alexia layered her own magic over it.

A bolt tore from the black cloud and slammed into the barrier.

The impact was enormous, but the barrier held.

A second strike, then a third. Cracks spiderwebbed through the barrier.

With two of the intruders focused on them, the auction side was pushing back, but a quick resolution didn't look likely.

"It's going to break!"

"I know!"

Alexia's shout drowned out Yohane's.

She conjured a spear of fire, wound up, and hurled it.

Her form would have done a Spartian warrior proud.

The flaming spear accelerated, deflected a bolt of lightning, pierced one of the five intruders through the shoulder, and sent them plummeting.

"Yes."

Alexia pumped her fist.

At the same time, the black cloud, now free of its caster's control, began discharging lightning indiscriminately.

Bolts lashed out around Yohane and the others, and the barrier finally shattered.

Each discharge shrank the cloud further.

"Run!"

At Yohane's command, everyone sprinted.

They were almost at the exit when the cloud fired one last bolt.

Lightning was faster than sound. There was no dodging it once you saw it.

And it was aimed straight at Yohane.

Azu whipped around, but she was too late. The bolt struck Yohane square in the chest.

"No…!?"

Azu's scream echoed through the hall.

Yohane slammed into a wall and didn't move.

Another intruder moved to follow up. Seeing that, Azu charged down the stairs in her dress and leaped.

Wary of Alexia, the intruder had been winding up a powerful spell with a long chant, and was slow to react to Azu's approach.

She closed the gap in an instant, clenched her right fist, and punched through the robe.

A barrier flared up just before contact, slicing open her hand, but she drove through it anyway.

The intruder she hit was slammed into the ground and went still.

Having stopped the follow-up, Azu landed and immediately rushed back to Yohane's side.