Who's The Twilight That Passes?

Mizuki reaches her fingers towards the Piece, hovering her hand tentatively but not touching it. She gulps. As she steels her eyes, a black tentacular figure comes shooting forward, latching onto the exposed Piece. Hinata's first instinct is to brandish his sword, attempt to cut the tentacle.

Mizuki has to duck, else she would've gotten her chest cut open at the slice of his blade. The Piece falls, clattering to the ground. Hinata lunges forward and so does the anonymous assailant, yet another string of magic reaching forward towards the Piece.

Mizuki watches in horror as this all unfolds, hand shaky around the hilt of the dagger. The hooded figure's face is almost impossible to see. Instead of clothes easier to move around in, she wears a gown in full black, ones with decorations in lace and a fluffier skirt than you'd wear to a break-in.

As Hinata's attack blocks her several attempts to make a grab at the Piece, she conjures a sword just like Hinata's by simply raising her hand towards the seabreeze, slashing at Hinata. Hinata, though, is not weak by any means. He dodges any attempted on him, kicking the Piece away. The figure dashes, sliding under Hinata's sword to make a grab at the Piece.

Out of instinct, Mizuki unsheaths her dagger and throws it, stabbing her calf. Blood pools to the floor from her bleeding foot as she stumbles off balance. She loses grip of the Piece.

Mizuki, not hesitating, reaches forward and picks up the Piece. She cradles it in her arms, shuffling away with it in an attempt to get away. The figure stifles a howl of agony, dislodging the blade in her leg and flinging it mid-air.

[Main Quest Accepted: To Save The Unreconciled Land of Stars - Find Ocantis' Befallen Piece of Astra]

With her magic, she sends it flying towards Mizuki's spine to incapacitate her.

Mizuki bends but the glass case behind her shatters, sending shards of glass falling. Guards outside the door start to get the sense that something is not quite right, ratting the lock as they try to break in. Hinata snaps his fingers, signalling for her to run towards the window.

Mizuki, stealing one last peek towards the figure, then runs, as fast as her legs can take her across the huge room. The anonymous attacker starts to grow impatient, sending bursts of magic towards Mizuki and Hinata who tries to aid her in her escape, breaking several display cases in the process.

Even on the other side of the door, the struggle from the guards starts to grow fervent.

At the window, Mizuki, once again, halts. She closes her eyes, readying her mind, only to be seconds too late in her attempt to escape. The figure knocks her back, taking the Piece out of her grip with the help of her magic.

Climbing onto the window sill, she looks back once at Mizuki who with, one eye open, catches the faint glow of luminescent yellow eyes in the moonlight. The doors of the room burst open, exposing an army of guards. Hinata, who's still in the middle of the room, dashes towards the window. Guards follow him, hot on his heel.

"GET HIM!" they roar thunderously. Hinata grips onto Mizuki's wrist and pulls her onto the window sill.

"Why the hell did you hesitate?" he hisses at Mizuki who really, can't be more dazed. She can't decide whether or not to focus on death by falling or death by having her heart pierced out by the guards.

"Don't you think we should be making a run for it?" she shivers.

"We have five seconds," Hinata mentions, turning to the guards. One. Hinata smirks, adrenaline pumping in his veins.

Two. The guards continue running.

Three. They catch a good glimpse of his fox mask, his and her silhouettes shining in the moonlight, questioning their confidence to put themselves under this kind of risk.

Four. They pause a few metres away, wielding their spears. They notice Hinata take a daring step backwards.

Five. They lunge and Hinata jumps, pulling Mizuki down with her.

Mizuki is convinced she's going to die.

Even with Hinata's countless promises that he won't let her go, that they'll make it out alive, this idea is too stupid for her to make it out alive. In fact, if she's going to die from her neck snapping or her back cracking with the pressure, she wants it to be over quickly. She can feel his hand losing grip around her wrist from the wind pressure.

Mizuki waits, and waits - and she does so with such an immense amount of fear in her heart - but she never stops falling.

When she opens her eyes, she finds herself dangling down with Hinata above her, one arm latched onto curvatures on the palace structure. He looks worn out, struggling to climb any faster with the little energy he has left. Mizuki lets out a breath. Forcing her focus off the ground, she starts climbing on her own, trying to get Hinata's wrist off her.

"I can do this on my own!" she yells up to Hinata.

"You don't need to be arrogant at times like this," Hinata screams back, refusing to let her go.

"Shut up and let me be of use to you for once. My arms can hold up, okay?! Now focus on yourself," Mizuki retorts, pushing herself out with one foot and then jumping back in to grapple onto a rock structure on the palace walls.

It's the most terrifying method to climb down, something that takes pure instinct because no one in the world trains themselves for a palace break-in. Minutes go by with Mizuki praying under her breath, chanting to dear god that she'll make it down alive.

And then she does.

Hinata lands on his feet beside her, falling with a thump. He signals for her to follow, running whilst leaning as low as he can to avoid being caught. They only manage as far as the flora near the front gates, where they need to hide amongst the bushes. Guards have the gates wide open, an entire troop marching out to scout the area.

Carrying lanterns, they scour the locality. Mizuki crouches in the bush, hugging her knees.

Hinata bites his lip. "We can't hide here forever," he contemplates upon noticing guards near their location. Without a warning, he stands, the leaves of the bush rustling with his movement. Instantly, it catches the attention of the local soldiers. Mizuki stares, dumbfounded at his audacity.

With his sole sword as his defence, he holds his trusted blade to the sky boldly.