"That's a lotta mouths," Harn said, but his expression softened a bit as he looked over the faces looking about them with fear. "But yeah. Can't say as I got a better idea."
"Good. Rafny, get them to the Dust Quarter, northwest corner. Look for the third warehouse passed the disused cartwights," Felix explained to the Dwarf before turning to everyone. He raised his voice. "Everyone, you have to leave this place. Danger is coming. We'll hold them off but you must follow Rafny here to safety."
"I just wanna go home..."
"Is it more redcloaks!?"
"We can fight!"
"No, you can't!" Felix tried to protest over the clamor. The way things were going, the Guilders were gonna hear them. "I don't know how many are coming, but they're all Tempered. You can't--"
"--Kick their asses!"
"...Avet's teeth I'll show them--!"
"They're fools," Evie whispered. "What could they possibly do?"
"Might overwhelm em," Harn suggested with a shrug. "For a moment, at least."
The sounds in the nearby tunnels redoubled, growing louder far faster. It suddenly seemed like forces were coming toward them from two separate directions, now.
"That's not just Guilders," Evie said, her eyes wide. Harn sniffed at the air.
"Redcloaks. More of 'em," he said with alarm. "We gotta move, now."
The crowd still bickered though, ready for a fight that they couldn't win. Felix felt his skin flush in anger and frustration. They couldn't plan another ambush, not like this, and almost all of the Haarwatchers were liabilities. He met Rafny's eyes and her shoulders slumped in defeat. Felix couldn't stand it, and rage boiled in his gut.
"EVERYONE! GET! OUT!"
Lightning sparked to life around him, blasting upward into the ceiling as if he'd become a pillar of electricity. He rose up from the ground slowly, lifted by a shimmering pulse of kinetic energy wrapped around his legs. Pain burned at his Mind and Body, his broken Lightning Resistance activating beneath the torrent of bolts. Felix hadn't even realized he'd utilized Reign of Vellus, having only felt a bottomless rage that threatened to burst him apart at the seams.
"Run! Death is coming! Follow the Dwarf, or else die." Felix could feel his eyes burn a bright, brilliant blue and he didn't care. If that's what it took to get through to these people. "Go!"
There was a beat of silence as everyone's eyes were on Felix and the stuttering arcs of vivid blue lightning that shot off his body.
Then they ran.
Luckily, it was to the west, toward the Dust Quarter. Felix released Reign of Vellus and dropped painfully to the ground, nearly collapsing were it not for Vess. She caught his elbow and hauled him to his feet, and he found himself face to face with the heiress.
"That was..." Vess cleared her throat and smiled. "...well done."
The pain faded a bit as he looked at her smile. She has dimples, he thought. How have I never noticed that?
"Noctis wept, Felix," Evie said, slapping him on the back. He grunted in pain and disengaged from Vess' grip. "Went all Blue-Eyed Fiend, huh?"
Felix grimaced. He really didn't like that name.
"You certainly looked the part," Vess added without surprise at Evie's reveal. He hadn't mentioned that bit of infamy to the heiress, but figured Evie would have blabbed the first chance she got. "Now we must move ourselves."
The sounds were growing stronger as two forces converged on their position. Why, Felix had no clue. Perhaps one was back up, or maybe the Guild were coming to check on their experiments. All he knew was the insistent pulse of the Domain was growing stronger, and it sickened him.
"We're in a bad way, tactically," Harn said. "Tunnel's got the high ground. Whoever comes through can rain down Mana Skills or even arrows and we don't got a chance."
"We can't lead them to the survivors," Evie said. "So that way's out."
"We gotta go in," Felix repeated, and started up the slope toward the Domain. "We have to stop this before it gets worse. We don't have time to wait on Cal and reinforcements. Harn, can you enter the Domain?"
"Should be able to," he said slowly. "You sure about this, kid? We go in, there likely ain't no comin' back out unless we stop this thing."
Felix looked at the others and nodded. "The way this thing is pulsing, it feels like it's gonna burst in hours, not days. I might be wrong. Hell, I don't know what I'm doing half the time. But my gut says we go now, or we miss our shot."
"We don't know what's going on in there," Evie protested. "We could die, just as easy as those poor prisoners."
"Maybe," Felix said. "But we have to try. Right?"
"Do we though?" Evie replied, but her voice was nearly overwhelmed by the tromp of boots and the flair of a familiar sensation of power.
"That is the same as Zara," Vess gasped.
"Master Tier," Harn snarled. "We won't stand a chance."
"Welp, after you then," Evie gestured to the portal with an unsteady grin. "Seems like I changed my mind."
Felix swallowed and stepped up to the reddish film that filled the crevasse. He pressed his hand forward and felt it give, like big jello jiggler.
"Here goes nothing," he said.
Felix dove in, the others close behind.