Elemental Cats

Shortly after Toz created a focal point of space mana in a place close to where the cats were hiding, he felt Asilean assume control over the magic. Toz relinquished his grasp over the focal point of magic, but he didn't cut his connection to it.

Toz gathered more and more space mana in the focal point right in front of him while visualizing a connection between his and Asilean's magic.

It took a lot of mana but not a lot of time, and soon enough, Toz felt something change in the air in front of him. The gathering of magic, which had previously been invisible to the naked eye, had transformed and created a shimmering spiral in the middle of the air.

The spiral of magic spun and tore the fabric of space, creating a spatial vortex similar to the portals Toz had used a couple of times. Toz worried that the guards would sense the commotion, so he hid the vortex with a combination of shadow, void, and space magic. If he hadn't included the space attribute in the mix, he would've severed the vortex's connection with Asilean's vortex.

Toz sensed the vortex stabilize. And if Toz felt it, so did Asilean.

Asilean had to be the last one through to keep the portal steady, but he was also the only one who could enter the portal and ensure it was fully functional. However, they didn't have to spend a lot of time deciding on a test subject. As soon as Asilean confirmed the portal's completion, Lucy jumped straight through it and into Toz's lap with a wide grin. He was way too excited about breaking into the fortress to care about something so trivial about the dangers of traveling through a spatial tunnel.

Lucy was a little sad that the teleportation was so fast that he couldn't experience what it was like traveling through the spatial tunnel. But there was nothing that could worsen his mood when he thought of taking over a pirate fortress.

The other cats followed Lucy in a row, plopping down in Toz's lap.

After Toz and all the cats gathered in one place in front of the fortress wall, the only thing left to do was to enter the fortress.

The greatest way to do it would be to pass by the guards without them noticing and target the depths of the fortress where the councilors were most likely to be. However, doing that would be tricky, especially if the wall had a bunch of enchantments to protect it and discover invaders.

Though, when Toz thought about it more, the fortress was like a stronghold made for a last defensive stand. It didn't have a need for detection enchantments. That meant their only hurdle was the guards' sensitivity. And as long as they were humans, Toz and the cats would be able to sneak past relatively easily.

Toz used the same trick he had used back in First Ignition after he snatched Mindle's egg and added metal studs to his shoes and hands as he began scaling the fortress wall.

Toz could have let the cats hide in their familiar space inside his inclination, but they didn't want to be left out and joined him in climbing the wall. Mindle used her control over heat to melt holes so small they only fit her claws as she climbed next to Toz. Nil used a similar tactic to Toz and enhanced his claws with metal extensions sharp enough to penetrate the rock for his claws.

Asilean solidified the space beneath his paws and walked in an invisible spiral staircase next to the wall. If Toz had thought of doing that, he would have also tried doing it, but he was already halfway up the wall, and it would be useless to change his method.

Scrael stayed behind on the ground and waited until the others were almost at the top of the wall, at which point she reinforced her body with lightning and sprinted up the wall. She wasn't worried about alerting the guards since Lucy and Toz helped her hide the disturbance she caused during her sprint.

Lucy chose the simplest and most effective method since he piggybacked on top of Toz's head.

Toz and the cats arrived and hung onto the edge of the wall. They slowly lifted their heads and peeked over the ledge to make sure the coast was clear.

Shadows filled most of the cave, so Toz's and Lucy's cover was pretty solid, and they would have gone unnoticed if they hadn't popped their heads up right next to a brightly shining torch at the same time a guard looked in their direction.

The armored guard was stunned, but only for a split second before he turned around and took a deep breath so he could shout out a warning. However, the guard stopped in the middle of the turn and slumped to the ground.

Toz reacted quickly and encased the guard in his darkness spell. It worked better than he thought it would. He had only used it since it was the least flashy way of attacking he had, but he almost expected it would take some time for the spell to take effect since he was roughly lowering the target's mind in a simulation of the Void.

Toz didn't have to ponder on the details of his spell since it was only a matter of time until their intrusion into the fortress was discovered, so he and the cats clambered over the wall, put an end to the guard's misery, and looked for a way away from the guard routes.

Since the fortress walls blocked the insides of the fortress, Toz and the cats didn't have an opportunity to check it out, but now that they were on the walls, they saw clearly how much wealth had gone into the Blue Lounge League of Pirates' pockets.

It was to the point that Toz wondered if there was a camouflage function on the fortress walls since the castle was so extravagant.