Ultimatum

Cornered, that was how Shade felt. His every move had been outplayed by Stitch and Team Catastrophe like a bad game of chess. His goal to gain information on them was a massive failure.

Celia and the other members of Team Shadow Liege were now tied up before him. They were injured, powerless, and in need of desperate help.

"Clive," began Stitch. "...what took you so long? We had to be acting as if we didn't know where the Aconite Flowers were to buy you time to get here."

Clive used his thumb to wipe away a little blood that was present on his lower lip before responding. He also had a fresh knife wound on the right side of his cheek.

"They were tougher than I expected them to be. The girl with black hair seems to have no mana and Arrow Boy wasn't fully recovered from his last encounter, so they were pretty useless. However, the other two chicks were quite tough. I had to reenter my Ruler State to win."