"Not bad, Sera!" Ignis called out, a fierce grin on her face as she saw the knight efficiently disable one opponent. Her moment of praise was short-lived as she turned her attention back to the four enhanced assassins.

She lunged, a fiery fist aimed like a meteor at the lead assassin's chest. He crossed his arms in a desperate block. The impact wasn't just physical; it was a concussive blast of heat and raw power. CRACK. The sound of breaking bone was muffled by the roar of flame. The assassin was flung backwards, skidding across the stone floor, his forearms clearly fractured.

'What the hell is this girl's strength?!' he screamed in his mind, pain and shock warring within him.

But the other assassin, fueled by the pill's vicious energy, didn't give her a moment. He blurred forward, not with a weapon, but with a thrown pouch that exploded at Ignis's feet. It wasn't an attack, but a dense, magically-conjured smoke screen that billowed out in an instant, thick and cloying. More than just obscuring vision, it seemed to deaden the air, muffling sound and—most dangerously for Ignis—dulling the subtle air currents and thermal shifts her dungeon-honed instincts relied on.

Her senses, usually so sharp, became blunt and confused within the cloud. She felt, rather than saw, the attack coming from her blind spot. She twisted, but not enough. The assassin's enchanted dagger, aimed for her heart, scraped across the scales of her ribs with a sound like grinding stone. A line of searing pain bloomed across her side.

The assassin flickered back into the smoke, a look of utter disbelief on his face as he examined his blade, which had only managed a shallow, bleeding scratch on the monstrously tough girl. 'Tch!' he clicked his tongue in frustration before vanishing again.

"Sera, they're targeting you next!" Ignis yelled, swiping a hand to clear the smoke around her, but more magic seemed to replenish it.

Seraphina, standing guard over Elise, narrowed her eyes. She couldn't rely on senses she didn't have. She relied on form, on technique, on the hundred tiny tells of a moving body. When the shimmer of distortion came at her from the haze, she didn't try to track it. She used a knight's defensive skill, Blade Reflection, a precise, circular parry meant to deflect and reveal. Her sword moved in a silver arc, and for a split second, it connected, knocking a dagger aside and giving her a glimpse of the assassin's face.

It was a feint. The real attack came from above, where a second assassin had clung to the ceiling. He dropped silently, his boot aimed for her injured shoulder. Seraphina tried to pivot, but her wounded leg buckled. The kick landed, sending a jolt of agony through her and making her stumble to one knee.

They were being cornered, methodically worn down.

"Enough of this!" Ignis roared, her patience snapping. She sucked in a deep breath, her chest glowing from within like a forge. She was going to incinerate the entire room, smoke and assassins be damned.

"Ignis, no!" Seraphina coughed out, her voice sharp with warning. "We don't know how sealed this space is! If you keep firing like that, you'll consume all the oxygen! We'll suffocate!"

Ignis paused, the glow in her chest dimming slightly. 'Oh. Right.' The concept was annoying. "Then we make our own exit!" she declared. She aimed a hand not at the assassins, but at the far stone wall, preparing to blast a hole through it.

The assassins saw their chance. The one with the broken arms, leaning against a wall, chanted a short, guttural phrase. Shadows coalesced around his good hand, forming into a jagged, whistling Shadow Bolt. He hurled it not at Ignis, but at the ceiling above her. She was forced to abort her wall-breaking and instead throw up a shield of concentrated fire, the shadowy projectile exploding against it in a shower of dark sparks.

The other assassin pressed the attack on Seraphina, keeping her pinned. They were a well-oiled machine, even enhanced and injured, using terrain and tactics to their advantage. Ignis, forced constantly on the defensive to protect the others and now mindful of the air, was seething with frustration. She could feel her own fiery energy beginning to dip from the sustained, high-output barrage.

Seraphina parried another shadowy strike, her breath coming in ragged gasps. "We're going to tire out before we can escape this place!" she hissed, frustration boiling over. "And where in the blazes are Adam and Lilith? They just vanished!"

Ignis, keeping a steady stream of fire to dissuade a flanking maneuver, grunted. "'They had business to take care of."

"That's no excuse!" Seraphina shot back, anger sharpening her tone. "He gave his word to protect Her Highness! He shouldn't be disappearing when we need him most!"

Before Ignis could retort, a weak but clear voice cut through the tension. "Do not blame them, Seraphina."

Both women glanced back. Elise was pushing herself up, one hand pressed to her temple, the other glowing with soft, stabilizing light that she pressed against her own chest. Her face was pale, but her eyes were clear and alert.

"Your Highness! Are you alright?" Seraphina asked, her anger instantly morphing into concern.

"The dizziness has passed," Elise replied, managing a small, wry smile. "I am no longer sleepy."

"This is no time for jokes, my lady!" Seraphina pleaded, deflecting a probing dagger with a clumsy but effective swipe.

"I do not jest," Elise said, her expression hardening with a resolve they hadn't seen before. "I will assist."

"Out of the question!" Seraphina barked, the command instinctual. "Your Highness, you must look for an opening to escape! That is the priority!"

"That's not possible," Elise stated calmly, her gaze scanning the smoky room. "And I am tired of only being protected. I cannot be a burden that weighs you down forever." She began to weave her hands in a familiar pattern, gathering mana for a spell.

"Sera, incoming!" Ignis yelled, sensing the assassins regrouping for a coordinated strike.

Seraphina, torn between stopping her princess and defending her, let out a strangled cry of frustration. Duty won. She turned her back to Elise, placing her body as the final shield, her sword raised against the renewed assault.

The four assassins moved with terrifying, draining synergy. They weren't just attacking; they were a whirlwind of swapped positions, feints, and sudden strikes from unexpected angles, their movements fueled by the dregs of the pill's power. It was a dizzying, confusing tactic designed to overwhelm.

Ignis roared, firing precise jets of flame to intercept blows aimed at Seraphina's injured side. 'I have to be careful, can't waste it, have to be exact!'

One assassin broke from the pattern, leaping back and chanting rapidly. Dark energy coalesced into a seething, unstable orb in his hands—a powerful, area-of-effect attack. He hurled it straight at the cluster surrounding Elise.

"Don't overdo it, you fool! We need the princess alive!" the lead assassin snarled.

The orb detonated with a deafening BOOM, not of fire, but of concussive shadow-force. Dust and debris filled the air. The assassins watched the cloud with wary eyes.

As the dust settled, it revealed a shimmering, golden Barrier dome, flickering but intact. Inside, Elise stood with her hands outstretched, breathing heavily but unharmed. A faint, protective magic circle glowed beneath her feet.

"I am not entirely useless, you see," Elise said, a note of proud defiance in her voice.

"Hah! Nice one, Princess!" Ignis cheered, a genuine grin on her face.

"Do not let it go to your head, Your Highness!" Seraphina scolded, though relief was evident in her eyes. "Remain calm!"

"I am calm, Sera," Elise said, her mind already racing. "These men... they wish to capture me alive. That is why we were teleported here instead of killed in our sleep at the inn."

"That's what's strange," Seraphina agreed, her knightly mind catching up. "If their goal was abduction, why not use the scroll to teleport only you away immediately?"

"Teleportation scrolls of that range and specificity are rare artifacts," Elise explained, her voice taking on a lecturing tone even in the chaos. "Only certain individuals or organizations possess them. Furthermore, the endpoint is often fixed or limited by the scroll's quality. They likely only had the means to teleport us to a prepared location... somewhere nearby." Her eyes gleamed in the dim light as she stared at the shadowy figures. "Which narrows the list of who would dare kidnap a princess of Melium. Duke Arkwright would not invite war by acting so brazenly against a foreign royal... which leaves the other entity that has shown direct interest in me. The Deathless King. Am I correct?"

There was a moment of stunned silence from the assassins' side. Then, the leader let out a low, humorless chuckle, his voice clear in the sudden quiet. "I did not expect you to deduce that, Princess. Commendable."

Elise blinked, momentarily nonplussed. "You... you are remarkably poor assassins, to so readily confirm a client's identity. Is your confidence in your success so absolute?"

"Our confidence," the lead assassin said, his form beginning to blur as he and his companions started another, slower circling pattern, their energy reserves clearly dwindling but their determination not, "is in our ability to ensure you never speak of this to anyone else. Alive for delivery does not mean... unharmed for the journey."

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