CHAPTER 295: 295

The air thickened with tension as the War Church priests surged forward like a crimson tide, weapons raised, eyes blazing with holy fury.

"Don’t let them escape!" roared the towering priest at the front—High Priest Gregor, known across the borderlands as the Iron Judgment. His hammer glowed with an ember-red aura as he slammed it into the ground.

BOOM!

The earth shook beneath their feet, chunks of stone flying as dust erupted in clouds. A lesser person would have stumbled—but Kael and Ariana had already launched into motion.

Kael leapt onto a broken pillar and used it to spring up and over the first wave of charging priests. In midair, he twisted, landed behind them, and swept one’s leg with a sharp kick. The burly man crashed into another like a falling tree, taking two out in a single breath.

Ariana darted under a swinging axe, rolled across the marble tiles, and vaulted over a ceremonial altar, scattering offerings. She didn’t miss a step—her movements fluid, precise, like a ghost weaving through fire.

"Left flank," Kael called out.

"Covering," Ariana responded instantly.

Kael sprinted toward a narrow archway, but two priests blocked it. One lunged with a spiked gauntlet, the other with a hook-blade meant for battlefield grapples.

Kael ducked, palm slamming into the first’s stomach sending him sprawling into the wall.

He twisted to catch the second’s hook with his own arm, redirected it with a pivot, and then launched a short uppercut that knocked the man flat.

Behind him, Ariana leapt up the edge of a shattered statue base and kicked off the wall to reach a high walkway above the courtyard. From there, she tossed a rope down.

"Now!" she shouted.

Kael jumped, caught the rope, and ran along the wall as priests beneath him howled in fury. One even hurled his axe—but Ariana’s dagger met it mid-air, deflecting the weapon with a hard clang as sparks burst from the impact.

On the ground, Gregor snarled, "Break everything! Block their paths!" His voice cracked like a war drum.

Priests began hurling pews, tearing columns down, slamming hammers into walls to bring down debris and seal exits. Rubble flew, shattering stained glass and torch sconces.

But Kael and Ariana never stopped moving.

Ariana backflipped off the walkway, landing beside Kael again. "North tower’s gate..still open!" she gasped.

"Perfect," Kael grinned, grabbing a hanging chain and swinging to crash through the window of a connecting hall.

They ran side-by-side, hearts pounding, not speaking because they didn’t have to. Their footwork matched, their dodges synchronized, every turn preempted as though they’d rehearsed it.

A priest blocked their final corridor—his warhammer coming down like a thunderclap.

Kael stopped just short, slid low under the strike, and used the momentum to twist up behind the man. Ariana spun forward, used Kael’s back as a springboard, and drop-kicked the priest in the face. He flew backward with a shocked grunt, landing in a pile of broken benches.

The final gate was in sight.

Behind them, Gregor roared again. "Cowards! You dare to come to yet you run from war?"

Kael didn’t bother looking back. "No," he muttered. "Just not stupid enough to waste time on muscle-worshipping lunatics.

The gate slammed behind them with a groan of iron, but the sound of pursuit still thundered through the stone corridors. Kael and Ariana didn’t slow—they darted into the twisting alleyways of Cantilever’s lower district, their footsteps echoing off cracked cobbles and moss-slicked walls.

"Don’t lose pace," Kael hissed, glancing over his shoulder.

"I should say that to you," Ariana shot back, lips drawn in a tight line, her breath sharp but steady.

Behind them, the War Priests crashed through the exit gate, led by High Priest Gregor—his massive bulk like a juggernaut draped in crimson and black. Despite the heavy armor and muscle-bound bodies, they were fast—unnaturally fast.

Gregor lifted a slab of loose stone from the alley floor and hurled it with terrifying force.

Kael turned on instinct, caught Ariana by the waist, and spun them into the shadow of a recessed doorway just as the projectile shattered a wall where they’d stood.

Boom!

Bricks flew, shards of pottery and plaster raining down. A cloud of dust engulfed the alley.

"Damn it," Kael muttered, pressing a hand to his ear. "These bastards really think this city is a coliseum."

"That’s how they were raised," Ariana replied grimly remembering the words of the priest.

"Punch the. before speaking. Smash them to smash before you think."

Kael smirked despite himself. "I can almost respect that."

Suddenly, a priest lunged from the smoke—his fists ablaze with holy flames, eyes glowing like embers.

Ariana stepped in, her hand lashing out, not with a blade but an open palm. Her fingers jabbed into his shoulder joint and rib cage in a pattern—paralyzing nerves in a blur of strikes.

The man convulsed and dropped.

"Huh..What is that?"Kael asked in shock.

"Thats a bit of medical science..Now keep moving."

She spun away. "Keep moving."

Kael vaulted over a stack of crates, kicking the top off a barrel in the process. A torrent of grain spilled across the alley, causing two charging priests to lose their footing and slide into a pile of broken boards. They groaned..alive, but winded.

Just ahead, a fruit stand blocked the narrow passage, its baskets stacked in columns.

Kael didn’t slow. He leapt onto one crate, ran across the top of the baskets, and with a twist, vaulted onto a canopy above.

Ariana followed, twisting her body mid-air and landing beside him with feline grace.

"Right wall’s weak," Kael pointed. "See the crack?"

"Got it."

Together, they jumped from the canopy, using momentum to slam their feet into the already-cracked wall of a storage shed. With a

CRACK, the wall caved in, giving them a shortcut through a line of buildings.

They emerged on the far side, coughing from dust but free of immediate pursuit.

"Still behind us," Kael warned, pointing toward the distant sounds of pursuit.

"We’re nearing the southern aqueduct," Ariana said, scanning the path. "If we time it with the water cycle..."

They darted through a narrow arch and into an open terrace that overlooked the city’s ancient aqueduct channels. Down below, a rush of water shot through the tunnels like a liquid freight train.

Kael’s eyes gleamed. "Perfect."

They sprinted down a spiral path toward the lower platform. Behind them, a trio of priests reached the top terrace and spotted them.

"You won’t leave this place alive!" one of them howled.

Kael chuckled. "No one dies tonight."

He reached the lip of the aqueduct and, timing the rhythm of the surge, leapt just as the water came barreling through.

Ariana followed, her cloak snapping behind her like a wing.

The two vanished into the underground river, the priests’ cries fading into the distance.

.....

Moments later,deep beneath the city, soaked but unhurt, Kael and Ariana hauled themselves out onto a quiet side channel where the water slowed into a drainage basin.

Kael collapsed against the wall with a smirk. "It’s fun when I have a competent partner."

Kael rhemwrung out hia cloak, still breathing hard. "You really like living dangerously."

Ariana averted her gaze.

They sat in silence for a moment, water dripping from the stone above.

Kael leaned his head back and looked up through the grate. "Now the only question is...how the hell do we sneak back without being seen?"

Ariana closed her eyes, exhaled. "You’re a genius My Lord..Think of something."

"Thanks for the praise but you are one of them too."