Authority Conquest

When the soldier said bloodbath, Larkin's face contorted in an ugly expression. He quickly ran off, his left hand waving as the Black Kodiak suddenly jumped out of the shadows. No one managed to move faster than him, the knights in a flurry to chase him.

Artie Shen was also alarmed. She bolted into a sprint, grabbing her skirt up high in an attempt to run as fast as she could. She would be left behind without a horse, but she had forgotten about it. The angel was quickly disoriented by the cries of the people coming from the harbor.

The nail holding down the horse's reins flew up as Lupina pulled on her reins and escaped. Some stewards tried to hold her down, but she moved too fast to be contained. When someone grabbed her rein, Lupina maneuvered to get the rope in her mouth, and she bit it off.

"Lupina!" Miel tried to chase Lupina on foot, but he knew how fast that horse could run. He quickly ran for Sepia, his horse, and chased down the mare. Barda and the knights had already chased Larkin way earlier so Miel was only left to take care of Artie and Lupina who shouldn't be involved in the fight.

"Send word to the castle!" Miel yelled at the remaining soldiers before leaving the rented villa.

...

["Fool!"]

An elegant woman's voice called out to Artie, and when she looked behind her, she saw Lupina running towards her. Artie let go of her dress and grabbed onto Lupina's saddle as the mare passed her by. She quickly swung herself to get on the horse without having the mare slow down.

"Lupina! Let's get to the harbor!" Artie held onto the saddle with one hand as she flattened her dress to look proper despite the haste. "We have to get there to help Larkin!"

However, she held onto the horse with both hands as soon as Lupina picked up her speed. 'Wow, so fast! She's not really like the RPG horses that move so slow!'

"Out of the way!" Artie screamed as she saw people gawking at the streets. Just earlier, their Archduke passed by without any guards and at great speed. Then, he was chased by the knights. The people would surely wonder what was happening… thus the onlooking.

Screams were inevitable as the onlookers on the streets had to dodge. The horse was too fast for them to gauge her speed. They could only dive out of the way in hopes of getting away unscathed. Artie didn't let Lupina slow down either. It was indeed a race against time.

Another rescue mission random event chimed inside Artie's head, and she gritted her teeth. Her hold on the horse relaxed as she thought of a way to deal with the rescue without Larkin. She was hoping that the System would give more pointers.

Soon, she saw the knights riding their horses at full speed. She lowered her body against Lupina's back as she felt that Lupina was speeding up again. In a few moments, she caught up with the knight at the furthest back. However, she had no intention of slowing down…

And so did Lupina.

"Lady Shen!" Barda almost choked out his throat when he saw Lupina run past him, the archduke's prospective second wife crouching down behind her. From the marshal's perspective, he thought the lady was scared by her horse suddenly taking off at such speed.

"Marshal! Don't mind me! Find the archduke and help him!" Artie lifted her body a little, screaming at the marshal. She was supposed to talk more, but the first marker for the rescue showed up to her right. She suddenly took a sharp turn to the side, Lupina not messing up.

"Callum, guard Lady Shen!" Barda sent his second-assistant marshal who quickly chased Artie. He continued to lead the rest of the knights towards the location of the archduke.

Artie could hear the sound of armor from behind her as it bounced from the movements of the horse. When she turned behind her, she saw one of the knights whose job was clear. He needed to protect the archduchess-to-be, but Artie didn't know if he was willing to move for her.

However, she had no choice but to ignore him for now. She quickly reached the first house, but a bandit was actually attacking the household. The father was using a sturdy well cover to endure the attack of the bandit. Artie quickly scanned her surroundings to find what she could use to defeat him.

[Welcome to the tutorial of the Authority Conquest! All angels are bound to fight the evildoers of the world. The Authority Conquest tab will grant you access to battle skills that an angel must have. More skills will be available the higher your Authority level is.]

[However, diplomacy is the second nature of angels. Authority Conquest cannot be summoned at will. It will only be available if battle is necessary. Some battle skills will be available as preliminary skills depending on the effect. High-level Authorities will have a chance to convert battle skills.]

[Character parameters are still sealed! Using tutorial parameters to calculate damage!]

[Available battle skills: Heal I, Swing I, and Psychic I! Details for each skill could be found in the archives. Would you like to check the skill details?]

"Just let me knock out the bandit!" Artie screamed even if she didn't know if the System would respond.

[Active battle tutorial 4: Using battle skills in junction with other battle skills!]

[Use 'Psychic' on the enemy. As he loses balance, use 'Swing' to knock him down.]

Artie was shocked yet elated. The System might have actually responded to her request! She reached out her right hand, and she could feel the air vibrating against her palm. Psychic seemed to be a neural attack that couldn't be blocked. However, it didn't do damage on its own.

'Come on, Heaven Creation! Show me what you've got!'

The bandit was laughing out as he hacked at the father who was clearly inexperienced in battle. Before he could swing down his sword, he felt a faint headache suddenly making his body jerk. He groaned as a hand shot up to his head and tried to massage it before hacking down again.

However, Artie had arrived and moved her hand to use Swing on him. As her dainty hand waved, a faint breath of white mist pushed the bandit. He lost his balance because of the headache, but he wasn't knocked down. Artie was shocked because of how useless her attack was.

"Bitch!"

The bandit came after Artie instead, but Lupina suddenly circled around and kicked the bandit with her powerful hind legs. The bandit screamed as he was sent off the ground and into the well nearby. The father then used the well cover to seal his exit.

"Alright!" Artie cheered as she pumped a hand into the air. The active battle tutorial task just vanished, but she didn't think she'd be in trouble too soon.

Another bandit notched an arrow on his bow and shot towards Artie. The piercing sound became evident, but Callum wasn't fast enough to catch the hit. The arrow suddenly showed up in Artie's vision, her reflexes not enough to save her from the incoming doom.

Artie ended up freezing and soon feeling the arrow piercing through her head!