Jacob paced around in his cell, trying to come up with a plan on how to escape the cages they were set in. However, he noticed something a bit off with the area they were being locked in. He walked over to Luna who still seemed to be processing the death of her husband.

"Pardon me, Miss Katra, but why are there no guards watching the cages?"

She looked up at him a bit curiously.

"They’re watching. You just can’t see them."

"What do you mean? Where are they?"

"No one is sure. It seems like these cages also act as a veil of sorts that doesn’t allow us to see them."

"How do you know they are there if you can’t see them?"

She gestured her head over towards Jack.

"These cages suppress our power and energy by a ton, but they don’t get rid of them. Jack told us that he was still sensing the vibration of footsteps around our cages even when we couldn’t see anything. Using that, we just assumed that these bastards could hear our every word, but we can’t see them."

"So, do they not care about you all talking about breaking out of prison?"

"What would talking about breaking out do if the guards knew it was impossible? They probably think our situation is absolutely hopeless. And to be honest, it really does seem hopeless, now that you have been captured as well."

Jacob smiled slightly.

"It just so happens that I’ve survived situations that were hundreds of times more hopeless than this one. We’ll get out of here. That’s a promise."

"And how exactly can you do that?"

"Because they missed one."

"What? What do you mean they missed one?"

Suddenly, a loud snap echoed through the halls, followed by a loud thump of something heavy hitting the ground. The door on Jacob’s cage clicked loudly and creaked open. Standing on the other side, Jacob saw a massive cultist with its onyx, cracked skull mask covering its face. However, it looked like its comrade was limp on the ground behind him. Slowly, the cultist took off his mask.

"I knew it."

Slimo had infiltrated the camp using the robes and mask of the cultists. Not only that, but he was able to secure the key to the cell doors, all while remaining undetected. Luna looked at the massive man with fear in her eyes.

"Who the hell is that?!"

"Oh, him? He’s our ticket out of here. Hurry up and help us grab the others."

Gabriel stood up and limped out of the cell. All across the room, there were bodies of cultists scattered about. It looked like a massacre had taken place in the camp.

"How is this possible? We only heard one body fall?"

Slimo put down and his hood and looked at Gabriel proudly while unlocking Lidia’s cell. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

"Those are the ones I killed on the way over here. I hope there’s enough robes for everyone here. I didn’t know how many of you there were."

Gabriel looked at the carnage with his mouth open. There had to be at least fifty dead cultists on the floor.

"Just how powerful is this man?!"

Sarah followed Jacob out as they tried to open Maria’s door. Afterward they all finally unlocked the last cage of the prison. All of them stared at each other in awe. Some of them ran to the others and embraced them. Zoey was the first one to do so. She ran over to Serena and tackled her to the ground.

"I’m so glad my best friends okay! These cultists are going to pay! Let’s give them hell!"

Slimo calmed everyone down and raised his hand.

"I need everyone to put on these robes. This will give us a crucial advantage of surprise if decide to fight. However, I have a plan if all of you are willing to hear me out."

Each of the noble clan members each looked at Slimo, respecting his voice.

"There’s currently a horde of infant beasts led by a beast deity on its way here. If we can dwindle their forces enough, we don’t have to worry about finishing them. We can leave that dirty work to the creatures. Any questions or objections?"

All of them looked at him dubiously. Steel raised his hand.

"Yes?"

"Can I cut them?"

Slimo smiled.

"You can cut the cultists or the beasts as much as you want. Go wild."

A burning passion exploded behind Steel’s eyes. Jacob had never seen him so excited before. Luna was the next to raise her hand to ask a question.

"Yes?"

"What the hells an infant beast and a beast deity?"

Slimo rubbed his forehead.

"I forgot you are all from Iron Kingdom. I can explain it all to you later. Just know that they are immensely powerful creatures. If you want to compare their strength, me and Lidia’s power combined would only be able to harm the deity but not kill it. As for the infant beasts, I’m sure all of you can at least handle a few by yourselves if you need to."

Zoey was the last person to raise her hand.

"Yes?"

"Do we have a team name?"

Murmurs started spreading through the crowd, but Slimo looked at her confused.

"A team name? Why do we need a team name?"

"For a sense of unity! Believe or not, these clans never used to get along that well. I think we need a team name to better unify us!"

"Can we just wait on the team’s name until after we escape?"

However, instead of listening to Slimo, the room erupted into chaos.

"We need to be called the God Slayers! That sounds awesome and will strike fear into those who dare hurt us!"

"We aren’t fighting gods!"

"Nonsense. Our team should be called Throat Slicers Who Cut People a Lot and Keep Cutting if They Don’t Listen to Us."

"Steel, that title is total bogus. How about we just call ourselves the Cuddly Comrades!"

Slimo slapped himself in the face then screamed across the room.

"Everyone put on your clothes and follow me or I’m leaving you behind!"

The room went silent hearing his threatening tone and everyone quickly started putting on their cult outfits. Squabee walked up to Slimo and bowed to him.

"I’m extremely sorry about what happened. Even I was caught off guard. I let you all down."

Slimo scoffed and turned away.

"Lift your head up. We have a long day ahead of us. And didn’t I say to put on your cult outfit?"

Squabee’s eyes widened and she fumbled for her mask on her hip before putting it on. Jacob continued looking around, studying all his friends.

’Is it just me, or is someone missing from this group?’

Before he had any time to process the thought, Slimo was already leading the group steadily through the entire prison.