William sat in his cell. Although he was rather tired, he couldn’t sleep. That was because he was thinking about a few conversations he’d had earlier in the day…and waiting for a particular moment. William took a moment to meditate, just to calm down his emotions, and his ki as well.

Then, a guard walked up to the one across from William’s cell. He nodded, and the other one left. The replacement guard took his spot across the hallway from William. He looked nice. That made this harder. William concentrated for few minutes, judging the time, then stood up from his position and stretched. Then, he leaped through the bars on his cell that were still bent wide open, and struck the guard directly in the jaw. William took a quick moment to check to make sure he was really unconscious. “Sorry.”

Then he dashed down the corridor. He turned left, left, right as he came to various junctions, and burst into a room, finding two guards. There weren’t supposed to be two. William dashed to the other side of the room and grabbed an oaken staff, then moved as quickly as he could to take out one of the guards. Fortunately, he had been surprised enough that he was only just about to start calling for help when William hit him in the back of the head with the staff. He hoped he got the right amount of power, but he wasn’t sure. The guard went down, crumpling in a heap to the floor. The other one had time to shout for help. There was nothing William could do about that. However, the other guard, the one who was supposed to be there, did nothing. He just looked at William, who grinned sheepishly, before thrusting his staff into the guard’s gut. The guard doubled over, groaning in pain. William grabbed the keys off of his belt, and opened up a small chest, pulling out a travel bag.

William dashed back out into the hallways, and made a few more key turns. He encountered another guard. *Thwack* *Crack* The sound of William’s staff breaking his leg was sickening. William didn’t feel good about that at all. Then, the guard shouted the alarm as William ran back the way he came.

He raced down a few more corridors, supplying a small but steady stream of ki to augment his speed. He opened up some locked doors with the other keys on the ring. There was one last guard, and one more door until the outside. This final guard got cracked ribs. That was hard to do, with the armor. However, William managed to apply the right amount of force required. Then, William was outside.

He raced for several streets, before turning down a specific one and stopping. There, he saw Dong Xin, Big Sister Li, and half a dozen horses. “Let’s go.” William hopped on one horse, and they rode out of the city quickly. However, cries of alarms rose behind them, and the city gate started closing as soon as they came into sight. They just barely made it through, with arrows being shot at them, though with the combination of darkness, ki, and wind magic, the arrows weren’t much threat. The three of them, and their horses, continued on deep into the night, until the horses were exhausted. William thought about the guard whose skull he had cracked. He hoped he was alright.

-----

Earlier that day, the Knight Commander had lined up four knights in the courtyard. The same one that still had a large hole in the middle. William recognized all of them, for they were the ones who had been guarding his cell. “These are some of my most loyal men. They would give their lives for me, and a good cause.” She paused for a few moments, “Though, I would very much prefer they don’t have to. Here’s the plan…”

The Knight Commander would be out at a meeting. She described what he would need to do next, and the route he would have to follow. The guards would have to be injured, preferably as much as possible without threat to their lives. This would of course pin some crimes on William, but that was nothing compared to killing the Archmage. When asked why she hadn’t posted better and more guards… well, it was actually assumed that the older Dong Xin had been the killer of the Archmage. William was just an interpreter who was abandoned, how could he be a threat? That was the story, at least. In addition, the four guards probably should be enough to stop anyone on their own, and normal probability would have William run into more on his escape route. All this was just to hide the fact that he was being let go, because no matter how people might call them incompetent for letting him escape, that was still nothing compared to if they were seen as connected to the escape, and likely the murder of the Archmage.

Once he was outside, he would be able to meet up with his compatriots- showing that it wasn’t an idle threat that the Knight Commander knew where they were, since she had been able to reach them with a message.

-----

William thought about the whole plan, and found it to be quite good. Certainly, some trouble would fall on the knights, but that just meant his value was more than the trouble. William was glad of that. While he wasn’t entirely happy with needing value to be let go, he understood completely. Both he and the Knight Commander were concerned about the Demon King. William thought he might have acted similarly were he in the her position. He also appreciated that she actually continued to give him chances, instead of just deciding he wasn’t worth the risk. Now, however, he had a burden resting on his shoulders. He might not stay the only person who could use Shattering the Soul, but the fact that he could use it meant he had an obligation to try. Specifically, only on the Demon King. Though, William supposed that even if someone else hadn’t been counting on him, now that he knew he could possibly do it, he would have held himself accountable anyway. Though, he’d really rather have more people who could do it. William thought the Knight Commander had potential. As for others… well, William hoped he could get the scroll to Liaoyang and some martial artists he could trust with enough time to practice it before it was needed. William thought he might be able to personally teach Dong Xin, though maybe he would need to practice it himself some more. William wasn’t exactly sure if he could use the technique on something more than an insect at this point, any he certainly wasn’t going to experiment. He liked being alive… and had a good reason to stay that way as long as he could.