Shackled Exalted

Emil

Sometimes I wonder if the Steiger messed up the part of my brain that detects danger when they granted me a second chance at life.

Then I remember that they never touched my head during the operation.

And while I like to think of myself a thoughtful and well-read person, truthfully, if I'm being honest, I had always been unabashedly reckless.

Those frivolous thoughts entered and exited Emil's head as he found himself mid-air. There was no going back now. He had just leaped off the edge of the seventh floor's rooftop after strengthening his legs with Mana Arts.

This was Petra's 'amazing' contingency plan for him in case he failed to secure a maintenance worker's disguise to escape—get to the tallest point of the main building and jump past the north wall. This was his competent senior's grand idea after several hours of deep contemplation.

Emil was engulfed by a sense of weightlessness. He felt like a feather. Every part of his primal instincts screamed at the unfamiliar sensation. He was near the apex of his jump. The north wall, however, still seemed out of reach.

The cold winds slammed against his soaring body. When he was still attached to the ground, they felt chilly but bearable. Now that he was in the skies, the winds became a blanket of resistance opposing his escape. It was like he was trudging through a swamp as he slowly sank.

I should have timed it when the winds were calm!

He cursed his rashness. His ascent was starting to slow. Gravity began to take its due.

Goddammit!

He was quickly losing elevation. The top of the north wall was in view. With each passing second, it loomed closer and closer, but Emil still couldn't tell if he was going to clear the jump.

Fuck!

He braced himself for the worst. If he didn't clear the wall, he was going to have to prepare for a painful collision. In a split second, he came up with a makeshift plan once he landed back onto the grounds of the compound. All of it was contingent on whether or not he was still conscious and able to move after the fall.

The barbed wires on top of the north wall eked past beneath his feet. He made it over. Somehow. His heart swelled with elation for a split second until he realized his next predicament. The most crucial part hadn't arrived yet.

The landing.

Emil clenched his jaws as the ground of the Third Sector cropped up into view. The ground never looked so menacing. Using the momentum of his jump, he leaned forward, trying to leverage his limbs to distribute the incoming force.

"Fortify!"

Stone materialized from mana, covering his body in a layer of earthen armor. He made it as thick and wide as he could in the remaining seconds while airborne. At the same time, he shrouded his vitals and joints in a coat of mana. He prayed that the strengthening effects of Mana Arts would make him more resilient.

Then, inevitability arrived.

Petra

Boom!

Petra was in the forest of the Third Sector when a deafening sound erupted nearby. She had been hurrying to make her way back towards the walls of the Sixth Hidden Laboratory to help Emil with his escape. Sentinel patrols, however, had already begun to investigate the cause of the flooded river before she could reach the walls. Their response was faster than she expected, and Petra was forced to evade their eyes by moving through the forest. The dense vegetation had slowed her down considerably.

That noise—

Her eyes widened, suddenly remembering the conversation she and Emil had during their debriefing session.

Don't tell me he actually went through with that?!

Petra stormed out of the forest towards the direction of the sound. As she stumbled into the opening facing the riverbank, the roaring tides of flooded river filled the vicinity. She could barely hear herself think. Perhaps that was a blessing in disguise—hopefully, the cacophony of the river would have been loud enough to prevent any Sentinels from hearing Emil's landing.

Most of the Sentinels should be further upstream by now.

She sprinted down the length of riverbank. Her hands hovered over the daggers strapped to her body, ready to strike if any stray Sentinels stood in her way.

The field by the riverbank was overflowing with water, but the soiled earth was still easier to traverse than the crowded undergrowth of the forest. She made quick progress as the north walls soon came into view.

Oh, you idiot!

Her head blanked as she found a body sprawled on the ground in a pool of water. There were stone fragments littered around them with faint traces of mana still lingering on the surface. The manifestations of Bulwark.

Petra ran over. Panic nearly took over until she forced herself to recall her first aid training. Emil's body was unresponsive when she flipped him onto his back. Fearing the worst, she immediately checked his pulse.

Please.

A faint, raging beat echoed against the tip of her fingers. She then quickly checked his breathing. The passage of air seemed normal as far as she could tell over the loud river. He hadn't intake any water into his lungs. With the emergency assessment done, Petra lifted Emil up. The boy was heavier than he looked. She had to use Mana Arts just to plop him onto her back. Once Emil was secured, she ran back into the forest of the Third Sector.

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***

Twenty minutes passed before Petra was forced to stop. Her legs were about to give out. Her head spun with a pounding nausea. At first, she chalked it up to mere exhaustion until she remembered that she had been strengthening her body with Mana Arts this entire time while carrying Emil.

Likely she was also suffering from the onset of Overclock.

We should be fine here.

She had been charting a mental map of their position within the Third Sector. Despite the sameness of her surroundings and the lack of distinct landmarks, Petra had a rough idea where she was. The Sixth Hidden Laboratory was in the southeastern quadrant of the city. Petra had continued to head north using the direction of moss on the tree trunks to navigate.

There's no Hidden Laboratory in this portion of the Third Sector. Sentinel presence should be low. I also didn't notice anyone following us from behind.

She set Emil down gently against the foot of a tree. She then slumped back onto the ground. Her lungs were burning. She could feel the sweat clawing down her neck as she labored to control her breaths. Everything was sore.

Petra couldn't remember the last time she was this exhausted. Probably not since her physical training to become a Steiger agent. Unlike a Cleaner, Fixers in Steiger were primarily responsible for information gathering and collecting leads. Their role typically involved settling into a location, integrating themselves with the local populace, and then passively gathering information while undercover. The infiltration, assassination, and other physical work felt onto the Cleaner's plates.

As such, it was rare for her to be on the frontlines and taking an active role in a mission. But what could they do? Between her and Emil, there was only the two of them in Azure City. They were severely lacking in personnel due to the hostile relationship between the Council of Mana and Steiger.

I need a vacation.

She grunted before pulling herself back up. She needed to make sure Emil was okay. He was still alive and breathing while she grabbed him, but his condition could have deteriorated. Without her medical tools, it was difficult to tell the extent of his damages.

Mia is going to kill me if I bring him back dead.

She still vividly remembered the despair on the young lady's face when Emil had arrived on her doorsteps the first time, bloodied and on the verge of collapse.

Petra didn't want to admit it, but she had grown attached to the young girl. In the beginning, she thought of her as a mere nuisance imposed by Hortensia. After all, why did she have to babysit a fellow agent's family? The director had never showed this much consideration to anyone else in the organization. Sure, Emil was Steiger's most prominent rising star, but even so, it was frustrating to be on the other side of Hortensia's blatant favoritism.

Mia, however, proved herself far more capable than Petra expected. The menial tasks that she never had time to do Mia took care for her without complaint. Meals, especially, had been problematic. Petra never thought much of food besides as something that she had to eat to keep herself alive. Between her daytime cover as a shoemaker and gathering intel as a Fixer, she had no time for proper meals. It was an annoyance. An obstruction to her work. A waste of time. That mentality changed once she tasted Mia's cooking.

Frankly speaking, she also wanted Emil to succeed in his mission and prove that his cover at the Academy was a worthwhile endeavor. Not just because of her devotion to Steiger, but for a more selfish reason—so she could have Mia around for a bit longer.

Now is probably a good time to check him for internal injuries.

Petra brushed off the sand and stone still attached to his clothes. She then carefully unbuttoned the black overcoat he had presumably stolen from another researcher. The young man's face was ghastly. Dirt and mud smeared along his cheeks, barely hiding scars from the landing. Parts of his face were still being plopped up by glue to alter his facial structure.

His eyes suddenly snapped open.

Petra felt her back crawl. Sensing something was wrong, she tossed her head back on instinct. A vicious punch blasted the air beside her left ears. A narrow miss, but it was too close for comfort.

"Stop! Stop! It's me!" she yelled in desperation, "It's Petra!"

She channeled mana, ignoring the protests of her body. The Azurite pendant dangling from her neck glowed faintly. She raised the object up to illuminate the space.

Emil had a feral look on his face. His wild gaze softened instantly once their eyes met.

"Petra…" she overheard him mutter weakly. The murderous energy around him vanished. He slumped back against the tree as if the strings in his body had been cut loose.

"The proper way to express gratitude is to say thank you by the way," she said while dissipating the mana.

He almost killed me.

Her sassy retort was the only way she could hide her fear. She was thankful for the darkness of the undergrowth. Otherwise, Emil might have noticed her trembling.

"The evidence!" Emil suddenly shot up again. Petra flinched, raising her hands in self-defense in case another outburst was coming. "Where's the evidence?!"

"What evidence?"

"The evidence! The shit that we risked our lives to get!"

"I don't know!"

Emil frantically patted his body. Without hesitation, he tore apart the black overcoat clinging to his skin. Petra winced at the earthy odor that was intermingled with blood. A section above Emil's chest was still covered in stone casing. Despite his urgency, he broke apart the construct with care.

Within the stone enclosure, there was a bundle of paper. It was the documents that he had stolen from the archive room.

Emil gently flipped through the pages. His touch was delicate despite his ghastly appearance. He treated the documents like a fragile relic that could disintegrate with just one wrong twitch.

Once he arrived at the end of the documents, he breathed a heavy sigh. "Oh, thank the Goddess," he mumbled as he leaned back against the tree trunk. Relief washed over his face. The calmness in his eyes was so soothing that Petra almost forgot that he had just fallen off a seven-floor building.

"…Move your arms. I need to check your body for injuries."

Emil offered her documents. "Take the evidence first. Keep them safe."

"Just hold onto them yourself. I need to make sure you're not going to randomly collapse once we make it back home. Or would you rather traumatize Mia with your sudden death?"

That shut him up. Emil obliged without another word of complaint. Petra shook her head in disbelief as she moved in to check his condition.

"Honestly, are you insane? Leaping off the building? Seriously?"

"Do I need to remind you that this was your idea?"

"I didn't think we would actually have to resort to that! The original plan was fine if you hadn't dawdled and wasted so much time on the second floor!"

Her accusation came out louder than she intended. Petra widened her eyes, shocked by her own outburst.

Emil was sullen. "Save for the scolding for another day. I got the evidence. We got out alive. And Hortensia will probably let me stay at the Academy for a bit longer with these results. We should be celebrating."

Petra paused, embroiled with emotions. You really have no sense of self-preservation.

"Is it that important for you to uphold your title as Steiger's rising star? Is having a perfect record more important than your life?"

Emil scoffed. "As if I care about that."

"Then why are you so reckless? A single failure isn't going to diminish all of your past achievements."

Emil fell quiet. The two of them remained still for what felt like an eternity. Finally, after an agonizing silence—

"I don't believe you," he said. A cold, unvarnished declaration.

I see. He doesn't trust the organization.

His reckless dedication to his mission was not out of pride or status, but a genuine fear that he would be discarded if he failed. Petra composed herself. For the first time since she met Emil, she finally felt like she was starting to understand her eccentric junior.

"Forget what I said. It's getting late and Mia's probably waiting for us." The tension in the air eased at the mention of Mia's name. "Can you move?"

"Uhhh, probably not."

"I still have stimulants and painkillers if you—"

"No."

An instant refusal. Petra sighed.

"Then we're going to have to wait. I don't have the strength to carry you right now."

"Have you been slacking on your training?" Emil asked sarcastically.

Petra took a seat, unfazed by the quip. "No, but I can tell you've been slacking on your diet."