Elemental Cats

The large, wall-looking door cracked open in the middle as the two halves began swinging open due to Nil's magic. The opening widened as the doors moved inward into the room.

It didn't take long for the light from within the treasury to spill out.

Nil opened the doors wide enough for all of them to enter with ease, revealing the insides of the Blue Lounge Treasury.

The room was tall enough that Toz understood why they had to go down several flights of stairs before they arrived. However, he also began wondering how extensive the insides of Pirate Haven were, considering the city could fit the large cave and the underground treasury within itself.

But Toz's thoughts were soon led astray by the objects within the treasury. There were a lot of similar chests that were probably spatial storage items, but there were also a plethora of things not hidden away within storage items. Considering everything on display looked magnificent or extravagant, Toz guessed that the items left in the air were there for the vanity of the leaders of the Blue Lounge League.

With all the time they had spent infiltrating the fortress and then walking through the corridors and hallway to reach the treasury, Toz wanted to shove everything into spatial storage items as soon as possible.

Brunswick and the other cats understood Toz's reasoning and began helping him. However, Lucy had trouble letting go of the shiny treasures he picked up, and he stared with gleaming and pleading eyes every time Toz forced him to do so.

Toz and the others used a bunch of nearly empty chests to store the treasures on the shelves and pedestals before using empty storage bags and rings to store the chests. They then stuffed Toz's pockets to the brim with the spatial storage items.

The multiple layers of spatial distortion and storage probably weren't too good for some of the items, so Toz and the others began moving to leave the fortress and the Blue Lounge headquarters.

"Is there anyone you want to save? Or someone you don't wish to see dead?"

Toz's question caught Brunswick slightly off guard, but he answered after pondering for a few moments.

"No, not really. All the people here are those who climbed on the corpses of others to get where they are. Even the servants are people like that. People like them don't have time for friends."

"Great. What's the closest spire?"

Brunswick stared off into the distance with a blank gaze before answering.

"We are pretty much right beneath the center of the fortress right now."

"Even better. Lead us to the highest point."

Brunswick got slightly worried at Toz's grin, but he obediently led the way to the castle's centermost tower.

The tower was the castle's central wing and, based on the decorations, Stris' personal place within the castle.

However, Toz didn't pay any attention to whose bedroom they ran through to access the stairs to the loft at the top of the castle.

Toz and the cats used a small window to climb onto the roof. Toz bent down and heaved Brunswick onto the roof.

Toz gazed around and reveled in the feeling of standing on top of the castle as he looked around at the spires.

"Everyone except Mindle and Scrael, begin breaking the spires."

The cats looked up in confusion at Toz, especially Mindle and Scrael, who Toz explicitly excluded. However, the only answer they got was Toz sending lances of metal through the air that vanished with a flicker before reappearing in the wall of one of the spires.

Deciding that they would get their answer as long as they followed Toz's directions, the cats did just that.

Nil sent bout after bout of his spell onto another spire. Asilean twisted and tore the fabric of space at the same place the spire was. The fabric of space recovered, but the spire didn't, and it began collapsing as its walls fell apart.

Lucy had a slightly more difficult time tearing down the spire he chose, but he covered one part of the wall in darkness before pulling away that darkness like gum, bringing some of the cobblestones that made the wall with it.

Despite the distance, all three of them managed to take down a spire each. But they looked over to see Toz finish his second spire and felt a surge of competitive spirit as they all rushed to take down the last spire.

The four of them each launched an attack on the spire, almost completely blowing it apart.

In their rush to destroy the last spire, Nil, Lucy, and Asilean missed the results of the other spires' destruction. But Toz, Mindle, Scrael, and Brunswick noticed the thick, sticky, black liquid pouring out of the ruins of each spire.

Brunswick stared at Toz in horror as he realized what Toz was planning to do. Brunswick was almost too confused to remember that Toz had asked him if there was someone he wanted to save. Toz only needed to ask Brunswick that if Brunswick would have the opportunity to get out of the cave himself. Brunswick's horror turned to shock and then confused joy. From what he could tell, he would survive.

Toz didn't pay much attention to Brunswick, but he still noticed the latter's drastic change in mood. Toz focused on the stairway outside the fortress.

"Asilean, do you wanna do the honors?"

At the same time as Toz asked Asilean, guards ran out of the castle and onto the bridges. There were also some guards on the ground who began climbing up the castle to escape the black liquid. It was those guards who had their gazes pointed upward that saw Toz standing on top of the castle.

Toz's white coat made a stark contrast to the cave's dark ceiling, so it wasn't very difficult to spot him.

The guards pretty quickly realized he was the intruder and began shouting at him. Some guards who were confident in their agility began climbing up the castle's outsides. However, they were stopped by the castle's defensive enchantments.

The guard captain and the other people with enough authority to exercise some degree of control over the enchantments were nowhere to be seen.