ML C10, P12- "La Strada Per L'Oscurità"

"La Strada Per L'Oscurità" is the twelveth Part of "Miracula Luxia" 's final Chapter. It was released on 12.06.2020.
== Plot ==
Jared has managed to escape from his allies. Now he is alone and ready to invade the place where his friends are located.
He notices a dozen guards within the castle, located there to protect their place from anyone who tries to stop their leader (or maybe even leaders). The odds seem to be against our hero in this situation, but he does not give up. He knows that, should he fall behind, he will be subdued by the Darkness and his allies will have no one to guide and advise them.
So he continues to fight the forces of Darkness. Until the bitter end.
== Story ==
Jared climbs the stairs towards the gate that leads inside the castle.
While doing so, he cannot help but admire the architecture of the building. It has been built over a massive pit. And, if someone makes a wrong move here, they might meet their end.
Nonetheless, the castle is built from a massive amount of powerful stone, able to resist even the most powerful siege. Even a huge army of capable soldiers will be unable to penetrate them without the help of something explosive (like bombs, or maybe even cannons).
But the real force that is protecting this building is within. And, luckily, it still has not noticed out hero.
From what he hears, there seem to be at least a hundred of them. Or maybe even more, who knows?
So, if he wants to actually survive this silent onslaught, he has to proceed with a lot of caution.
And that is what he is planning to do. Instead of breaking in with full force and risking his own life in the process, he decides that it is better if he sneaks past the guards of the place and only fight his way through them if there is no other way to reach his friends.
While sneaking past some of the guards, he hears something interesting. It seems like they have recently managed to capture two "very important prisoners", as stated by one of them. 
And, from what he hears, they seem to be on the final, third floor of the castle which is very well guarded by the soldiers.
Jared almost gives away his position when he realizes who the prisoners are. Fortunately, he manages to get away in time before the guards see him.
After managing to find the stairway to the second floor, he begins to walk towards it. However, just as he is about to take the first step, he hears someone coming from the top of the stairs.
He hides behind a corner and waits for whoever is coming to go away.
Once again, he hears more interesting information. The people in this castle are planning to capture four important people to proceed with realizing their ultimate plan- destroying the universe and recreating it as their own. And, from what he hears, two of those people are already here.
However, two of the people have not been captured. Yet. 
One of the guards mentions the surname "Kaos" and says that they need to capture him soon before he causes more damage to their forces.
Jared's eyes widen.
"So. They're looking for... me?"- He says to himself- "That is understandable. I destroyed a large part of their forces and they want to stop me from destroying the rest of them. But why do they want to capture my friends as well? Am I... not enough for them?"
He thinks about this for a few seconds.
"Or maybe they just want to use them as a way to demoralize me. Weaken me. Force me to surrender."
Tears fall down from his eyes. He clenches both of his fists in anger.
"No! That is not going to happen. I will show them that nothing... and no one will stop me from protecting the good and innocent citizens of this troubled world."
"And I will not let anyone make fun of my friends either! But first... I have to rescue them. So, here goes nothing."
While the guards are distracted, Jared goes upstairs and looks around.
Once again, what is on the inside is much bigger than what it looks on the outside, just like the situation with the first floor of the castle.
However, our hero also notices a surprising lack of guards which tells him that the second floor should be easier to get past.
As he carefully steps forward, however, an arrow flies towards him from the back. Fortunately, he realizes that it coming towards him and quickly ducks, barely evading it.
He looks back and sees a trap which shoots arrows and notices that he has stepped on something. As he lifts his foot, he realizes that he has stepped on a pressure plate.
He stares ahead and sees similar traps placed on the ground ahead as well.
It seems like, while there aren't many guards here, the deadly mechanical are more than enough to make up for it, their ammo being both sharp and fast and can easily take care of an unprepared invader. Or maybe even a small force of them.
Jared shakes his head and sighs.
"Nice try, foes."- He says to himself- "But I am done playing around. It is time for the real Jared to come out of his shell!"
He quickly steps forward, nimbly evading the pressure plates and proceeding with his plan.
Further ahead, he sees a flame trap and decides to evade it with a better move. He prepares to perform it.
However, his finger manages to touch the pressure plate. Flames come out of the trap and fly towards him.
Fortunately, he manages to leap up in the air moments before the flames can engulf him, performing a graceful backflip in the air and evading all of them.
When he lands on the ground, he looks at the ground where the flames have landed and sees that the pressure plate that he activated just a few moments ago is completely destroyed.
Serves it right, for being placed on such a peculiar spot!
The rest of the traps are like child's play for our hero. A few leaps here and there, a bit of ducking elsewhere and he is at the end of the second floor.
He goes up the stairs and realizes that this floor will be much harder to pass.
Guards protect almost every perimeter of the castle and it seems like sneaking around will be nearly impossible.
Or, this is what it seems like from Jared's current vantage point, at the very least.
However, he does not give up. He knows that his friends are locked up on this floor and that the guards are going to interrogate them soon. And they are probably going to hurt them badly. Or worse...
This situation is more than enough for Jared to continue and bravely face his fears.
At this moment, he notices that there is a small passage that is not guarded by the soldiers. He quickly sneaks past them and goes there.
He sneaks within the passage and realizes that it is going somewhere. Without thinking twice, he decides to push forward, trying not to give away his position in the process.
Moments later, he arrives in a cell and sees two people in it. Female, from the looks of it, but he has to get a bit closer to see for sure.
When he does so, he realizes that the prisoners are his two friends- Annie and Akari.
Annie seems to have been knocked out. She is unconscious. Akari, on the other hand, seems to be fine. She just sits there, looking down and cries.
Jared looks around. He sees that there are no guards around the cell right now and decides to come out.
"Psst, Aki!"- He says- "I'm here!"
Akari looks up, tears still falling down from her eyes. Her eyes widen. She smiles and hugs him when he gets closer to them.
"Jared? Thank god!"- She whispers- "Where have you been? We've been very worried about you!"
"And where's John? Wasn't he supposed to come with you?"
Jared shakes his head.
"Now is not the time to talk about that. I will tell you everything later. Come, let us go home!"
However, just as Akari is about to get up and grab Annie, both her and Jared hear a few people coming.
"Not now!"- She whispers- "Go hide somewhere! If they see you, they're going to kill you!"
Jared's heart starts to beat much faster when he realizes that he has to leave his two friends behind to save himself.
"But-- "
"I said hide! We'll be fine, don't worry!"
Jared nods and decides to leave the cell through the secret passage and hide somewhere nearby.
"I will be back. I will not leave you to die here!"- He whispers.
Akari stares into Jared's eyes.
"Promise?"- She whispers.
Jared nods and smiles.
"I pinky promise. I will get both of you out of here, Akari!"
Akari nods. They lock the pinkie fingers of their hands as a sign that they won't let each other down.
"Stay safe, my friend."- She whispers, gets up and hugs him.
He hugs her back.
"You too, my friend."- He whispers.
When he leaves through the secret passage, Akari sits back down and stares sadly at an unconscious Annie.
"Oh, Annie."- She says to herself- "If only I was braver, you might not have been captured at all. If only I told you to stay back, if only I fought against those goons by myself."
"It should have been just me! I shouldn't have dragged you along with me. I shouldn't have backed down. Nobody would care about me, anyway."
She looks up and notices the approaching people.
"But now? Now both of us will suffer. And it's all because of me!"
She stares coldly at the people as they open the door to her cell and evaluates both her and Annie's chances of survival, should she try to free herself and run away with her at this moment.
However, she decides not to do anything, for the sake of her unconscious, helpless friend.
The guards that come in look around.
"We heard that somebody is in here. Care to reveal where they are?"- One of the people says, a man that is clearly larger than all of the guards that are with him.
A giant man that is clad in poweful and dark steel armor. A dark steel sword sits on his lap and a dark steel shield is on his back, both of them ready to use should he have to fight someone. Or something.
A truly imposing figure, capable of striking fear into the fear of almost everything that he faces. Even the almighty Vahnatai can be easily crushed by someone like him.
He draws his sword and points it at Akari.
"I'll say it only once more. Where is your little friend?"
However, Akari is not like most people. She looks him straight in the eyes, her cold stare piercing through his dark soul, sending shivers down his spine. It is more than clear that she does not fear him at all.
Instead, she hates him. A lot.
"Do you think that I will just tell you who came here and why, you loyalist scum?! I'm not going to betray my friends! Beat me, cut me with your sword, kill me, but I will still not tell you what you want to know!"
The man smirks.
"Well, well, well. Seems like the little girl is hiding something from us. How cute!"- He says.
He turns to one of his guards.
"Restrain her. Now."
The man does so and soon, Akari is restrained.
"Very nice!"- She says- "You ask one of your friends to restrain me, instead of doing so yourself and showing that you have at least a little bit of determination in that heart of yours! Pathetic loyalist scum, that's what you are!"
The man gets angry. He grabs Akari by the neck and almost snaps it.
"Do you know who you're talking to, little girl? I've fought many brave warriors like you for many years and I'll keep doing so 'til the day I die."
He points his sword at her neck.
"So you better tell me what I want to know or you and your little friend over there will not live to see the destruction of your precious city of Paris."
Akari smiles.
"Well, I can't talk if you keep holding me like this!"- She says slyly- "Put me down and pull your sword back in that huge lap of yours and maybe then I'll tell you something."
The man nods and smiles.
"Hmph. You're a very cunning young woman, I have to give you that."- He says- "Now, where were we? Ah yes... "
He puts her down and puts his sword back in his lap.
"As promised."- He continues- "Now, speak!"
Akari smiles. She realizes that there is no other way out of this situation.
Meanwhile, Jared stares at the guards within the cell from a safe distance away. His expression is cold. His hands are near his weapon.
"You think that I am just going to let you hurt my friends?"- He whispers- "Well, you're in for a treat, mister Big, Bad Boss."
He grabs his bow from his back and aims it at them, having prepared an arrow to shoot one of them down, should they try to hurt his friend.
"Now, you better not make a wrong move or you are going to really regret it."
== Trivia ==
* The Part's name- "La Strada Per L'Oscurità" is written in Italian. Its translation in English is "The Road To Darkness" (Verification needed).