Taking Refuge

"FIGHT!" Bill yelled at the top of his lungs as the workers charged in, with the ones having abilities taking the lead at the frontline.

The initial clash is very important in a battle as it instantly defines which of the opposing parties is stronger and who will most likely win the clash as well as the battle.

Even though there were mostly level 3 ability users in both groups, there were a total of three level 4 ability users on the guard's side. These ability users cast skills that were bigger in scale than what the level 3 workers could muster, and could overpower them easily.

The way that the workers countered it was to mostly focus their manpower on these three men who were the biggest threat.

It looked as if it was even a battle, but it was not. Multiple workers could just barely hold back the first wave of guards as within minutes of the battle starting, there was already blood being spilled.

Bill fought as he had never fought before utilizing everything he had in his arsenal, from the fighting moves he learned with his father to the best ability moves he learned from working for El Diablo.

It was safe to say that Bill had more of a fighting experience than any other worker who just got trapped here because he signed a contract with El Diablo that was meant to fail.

After exchanging a couple of blows, almost half of the workers died in a very painful manner all the while Andy and the supervisor resumed their laughing.

Albert, even though was weaker and older than the rest of the workers; somehow still made it to this as Andy's laughter made his skin crawl in the worst way possible.

"I need a diversion!" Albert yelled.

Without asking any questions a water ability user immediately started to throw waves and waves of water toward the guards. This alone didn't cause any major damage or hindrance to the guards; however, as soon as the water had splashed everywhere, another person walked into the middle of the fight and yellow-colored lightning started to wrap around his arms.

All the guards immediately knew what was about to happen and suddenly started to retreat. The man implanted his hands firmly on the ground and electrical sparks started shooting everywhere.

Bill and a couple more earth ability users made a platform so that they won't get electrocuted from the attack while also shielding Ramsay as well.

"Ramsay how much longer!?" Bill shouted.

"A couple more minutes! Just hold on a little longer!" Ramsay replied as the earth completely covered him to protect him from any rogue attacks.

"Alright, Listen everyone! We have a real shot at this, and I have a plan to counter the guards!" Albert shouted as helped the last person climb onto the platform.

"While Jim holds the guards back with his lightning, divide into groups! The one with no abilities will assist the Water ability ones with their electrical weapons and act as a combo. The Wind and Earth ability users will be on defense as they will push back the guards as much as they can." Albert started to tell everyone his strategy.

"Hurry Up, you guys! I can't hold on much longer!" Jim shouted as the intensity of the electricity started to reduce.

"Lightning users, Buy us some more time as you assist Jim! Go!" Albert shouted as three more workers jumped next to Jim to reduce his load.

"Bill! What the hell do you think you are doing!?" Albert finally addressed Bill who got confused at the sudden outburst.

Before Bill could say anything, Albert grabbed his fist and brought it close to his face.

"These gauntlets! Why aren't you using their power?!" Albert asked as Bill stared at him with an innocent look which made Albert even angrier.

"They are high-tier combat gauntlets that cut down the cost of the energy requirement of any low-level ability-related skills cast by the hands by almost 50 percent!" Albert said matter-of-factly.

Bill was shocked to learn what Albert had told him as he had only been using these gauntlets to achieve a greater strength which helped him counter the level 4 ability using guard to some extent.

The four workers including Jim were getting fatigued from constantly pumping electricity to the ground while the guards just waited and observed from a distance to get an opportunity to strike again as they were unaware of the fact that Ramsay was almost 75 percent of the way done in opening the main exit.

"While you guys do that, I will secretly flank them from behind using the pillars as cover to launch a surprise attack!" Albert addressed the group as he finished his plan.

Jim and the remaining group fainted from overexerting themselves as the guards finally made their move and began their assault again. The workers did what they were told and started to counter the guards more efficiently.

Albert also started to make his move to launch the surprise attack, but before he could do so, Bill stopped him by grabbing his arm.

"Albert, what are you doing? Ramsay will get the gate open soon. You should stay and fight here so that we can escape together." Bill told Albert while still gripping his hand tightly.

A warm smile appeared on Albert's face as he spoke lovingly," My boy, Who told you that I wanted to escape? I have been here for too long and lost everything even before I came here, with my only purpose in life being to let a few people taste the freedom that I never got to experience."

Before Bill could even reply, Albert freed himself from his grip and started to run around the pillars in order to launch his surprise attack.

Bill yelled as tears started to form in his eyes, but he couldn't do anything as he had to assist the remaining Earth ability users. Bill glanced in Albert's general direction one last time before going toward the rest of his group.

Bill and another worker who had the staff weapon stood in front of the group and combined their Earth ability to send multiple boulder projectiles to reduce the number of the weaker guards.

The battle continued as it was more even than before since this time the group had an actual plan rather than aimlessly fighting.

After a couple of minutes, a sudden yell sounded from the main gate.

"IT'S OPEN!!" Ramsay shouted as he was the first to escape as the guards and the supervisor was completely caught off-guard by the sudden development.

As soon as Ramsay made an announcement, black liquid started to drip onto the guard's position from above.

Looking up, everyone saw Albert creating a hole in a pipe that started leaking the black liquid.

"Get him down!" The supervisor yelled as a powerful wind blast knocked Albert off his feet, but Albert didn't fall. He grabbed onto the pipe and started to extend the hole even more. Another blast hit him which made the pipe fall alongside him.

The guards were drenched in the black liquid while Albert was still hanging onto the pipe which was suspended a couple of feet from the ground, right in the middle of the guards.

"NICK! DO IT NOW!!" Albert shouted towards the group who had already started to run out of the exit towards freedom.

Only a couple of people remained, and within them was Nick. A fire ability user who had started conjuring a fireball on Albert's command.

Fear set in every guard's heart as they realized what the black liquid was. This time it was Albert's turn to laugh as he looked at the faces of Andy and the supervisor.

"HA!HA!HA! Burn in hell alongside me!" Albert shouted as Nick launched the fireball and immediately started to run.

Bill was now the only person left that hadn't escaped as he stared toward Albert who in his final moments stared back and smiled as if he was the happiest man on Earth.

"NOOO!" Bill shouted before...

*BOOM!*

A huge explosion resounded that threw Bill many feet back in the air, while the guards and Albert were blasted apart.

After some time, Bill finally came to see that the east side of the warehouse had been destroyed and was in flames. Breathing in the black fumes, Bill started to cough violently as he also made his escape.

Bill was so close to the explosion that he suffered multiple injuries and had many burn marks all over his body. His clothes were burned in many places and were torn all over.

Bill ran as fast as he possibly could at that time in a random direction, as he didn't know where he was going, but all he knew was that he had to leave before reinforcements arrived.

After running for what Bill felt like hours, he finally made his way out of the forest that he was running through as in front of his eyes was a single lonely house that had the lights on.

Having no other choice, Bill ran towards the house in the hope that whoever owned the house could help him as he was literally on his last legs.

As soon as he arrived at the front door, he knocked violently as he could feel his vision fade.

*KNOCK!* *KNOCK!*

"Yes? Who is it?" A familiar voice sounded as the door was opened by a young boy with dark hair with a tint of green.

"Mako?" Bill said in confusion before he collapsed right in front of his front door.