Step four: disable the cuffs.


    What else?


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    Success. Another version of the control panel popped up. This one had far more options than the first. Feeling a surge of hope, Akari navigated to the same page as before and found her name from a list of hundreds.


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    Damnit. Even the admins weren’t immune.


    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    Focus, Akari told herself. Just like mana arts. Keep fighting until the end.


    Hell no. The Martials might have a failsafe to prevent this sort of thing. What if they got the alarm before the server code fired? Or what if she made a syntax error somewhere?


    Thank Talek.


    Almost free. Just a little farther.


    Step five: get out of town.


    Understandable. They hadn’t heard Relia’s story about the outside world, and Kalden wouldn’t share that story lightly. The less they knew, the less they had to lie when the Martials came knocking.


    I’ll come back for you, he thought as he crawled over another pipe. He and Akari would train until they were strong enough to oppose these unseen enemies. They would become stronger than Relia—stronger than her master, even. Whatever it took, they would free the people they’d left behind. Not just Darren and Maelyn, but all their friends and family. Everyone they’d ever known.


    Not bad, Kalden thought with a grin. He could almost see the gears turning in his opponents’ heads. Were these kids smart enough to make a diversion, or were they dumb enough to run away?