Atticus's Odyssey: Reincarnated Into A Playground

Chapter 1641  Escape

"Help! I need help!"

Thomas burst out of the door, feeling the two sentinels stationed outside fix him with piercing gazes.

"It's urgent! Please—help… now!"

Breathing raggedly, Thomas' shaky arms pointed back toward the lab.

"What happened?"

"It's… one of the specimens. I don't know how, but it got loose. It attacked me. I barely made it out—I just ran!"

The sentinels' eyes narrowed, their bodies tensing. One turned to the other.

"I'm reporting this. Initiate a lockdown on the lab."

Thomas' eyes widened in horror.

"Report? Are you serious? By the time you finish reporting, that thing will have torn the entire lab apart! This will set us back months. The High Judicator will have my head for this! Probably yours too, since you're the ones assigned to guard me."

"…."

"…."

Both sentinels exchanged a silent glance before turning back to Thomas.

"You're certain only one escaped?"

"Yes—yes! Just one. He only has a single fragment. Hest still disoriented."

"…Then we'll deal with it."

Moments later, Thomas trailed behind the two sentinels as they headed toward the main lab.

'It worked.'

Thomas clenched his fists. His heart had been racing the entire time, and he had nearly changed his mind a thousand times, but he had actually managed to convince the Sentinels.

Thomas exhaled as the Sentinels burst into his lab, their wills churning violently around them.

They froze the moment they saw the quiet and peaceful laboratory.

Every specimen was in deep slumber.

"What—"

'Now!'

Thomas struck his palms against the ground and sent his will surging outward.

The Sentinel's eyes widened in alarm, but before they could move, the ground erupted in a blinding light. Ancient letters burst forth in swirling currents, circling them before slamming down and binding them to the ground.

"What are you doing!"

The Sentinel will flared violently as they struggled against the restraint.

'No time!'

The restraints would last only a few seconds at most.

Thomas shot deeper into the lab and returned holding two circular artifacts. Steeling his mind, he approached the struggling sentinels and forced them onto their heads.

"You…! Do you think you can get away with this!?"

Reaching the control terminal, Thomas' arms froze.

He could feel the crushing fear gripping his body. Once he did this, there would be no turning back. The Willguard would hunt him, and once they caught him, death would be the kindest fate he could hope for.

'It's already too late.'

The image of the young girl flashed through his mind, and he gritted his teeth before slamming his arm against the button.

"..!!"

The circular headsets flared with blinding light, engulfing the Sentinels. Their screams echoed across the lab as a powerful suction force erupted, ripping the will and life straight out of the them.

Their bodies shriveled rapidly, collapsing into lifeless husks that crumpled to the ground.

A deadening silence settled over the lab.

"I… I did it."

Thomas stared wide-eyed at the unmoving corpses of the sentinels. He slowly lifted his trembling hands, staring at them in disbelief.

He still couldn't believe it.

A second later, panic surged through him.

"Oh stars… what have I done?"

He clutched his head in dismay.

Had he just killed two sentinels?

Sentinels!

'My life is over!'

The Willguard would never forgive him for this! Where on earth could he possibly run to escape them? They were everywhere!

He had made a terrible choice!

'Calm down. Calm down. I can still salvage this. I can just say that one of the fragment bearers escaped. They won't know it was me.'

Thomas began pacing around the room, his mind racing through countless possibilities.

"T-twomas?"

Thomas froze. Every thought in his mind came to a halt.

He slowly turned and saw a petite girl hesitantly stepping into the hall.

Thomas felt his worries melt away in an instant.

He hurried toward her before she could see the corpses behind him, forcing his calmest smile onto his face.

"Hey… it's alright, it's alright, Tia. Are you okay?"

"Mhm."

Tia nodded with a small smile.

"Twomas… sweaty."

"Heh… yeah, I guess I am. I've been working."

Thomas smiled warmly and bent down to her level.

"Tell me something… how would you feel about finally leaving this gloomy place?"

"Mhm!"

The little girl's eyes immediately lit up, and she nodded eagerly.

"Good. Then do me a favor and wait in the hallway for a moment, alright?"

"Mhm!"

Excited, she quickly turned and skipped away.

Thomas remained where he stood for a moment. He exhaled deeply, then his eyes hardened with resolve.

'I'm doing this.'

Steeling his mind, he walked over to the Willguard and began removing his armor.

The artifact had drained every trace of life from their bodies so completely that they crumbled to dust at the slightest touch.

'It's truly fearsome.'

The artifact was meant to extract the essence of Solvath from fragment bearers. As fragment bearers, their life force had already reached terrifying levels. To use such a device on a normal mortal, god or not, was nothing short of a death sentence.

As he removed his own clothes, Thomas briefly glanced at the tattoo engraved across his arm and clenched his fists.

'I hope it will be enough revenge.'

Thinking briefly about what he had done to their secret weapon, Thomas couldn't help but smile.

Eventually, Thomas stepped out of the lab.

He had donned the Willguard armor and concealed his face behind a mask.

He smiled at the young girl innocently staring at him and crouched down to her level.

"Ready?"

"Mhm!"

"Good. Then let's play a little game."

After a few moments, Thomas finished his preparations.

He bowed to the sickly fragment bearers in the room, then led Tia through the hall and out of the building.

They continued moving until they stepped into a lift that carried them away from the basement floor.

Taking a deep breath, Thomas went over everything in his head once more.

The lab was in the basement, and right now he was heading to the first floor.

While impersonating a sentinel, he had wrapped Tia in a cloak he had personally inscribed. At this moment, though she stood right beside him, she was unseen to the world.

Unless someone was actively searching, they shouldn't notice her.

'Shouldn't…'

Thomas swallowed.

Aside from that, all he had to do was walk out the door and pass through the outer barrier, and he would have escaped.

Thomas forced his racing heart to calm as the elevator slid open before him.

He advanced out into a lobby filled with numerous Willguard roaming about.

'So many!'

Thomas had to bite his lip just to keep himself steady.

For once, he thanked the stars that the sentinels wore masks. At least this way, no one could see the twisted expression on his face.

Taking a deep breath, Thomas fixed his gaze on the exits and began walking.

He made sure to move in a way that allowed Tia to avoid bumping into anyone.

'Almost there!'

At the sight of the closing distance, Thomas could practically taste freedom.

After all these decades, he was finally going to be free.

"You."

Thomas froze. That voice had been close. Too close.

'Please don't be me… please!'

He swallowed and took another step forward.

"I'm talking to you."

'Shit.'

Thomas bit his lip and slowly turned.

Just meters away, another sentinel was staring at him with a cold gaze.

Thomas cleared his throat and deepened his voice.

"…Yes?"

"You just came out of the elevator. You're the one assigned to the lab, correct? The High Judicator wants to see you."

Thomas felt as though a bucket of icy water had been dumped over his head.

He nodded.

"…Understood."

Several seconds passed, yet he remained rooted in place.

The sentinel's eyes narrowed, and he uttered again in an irritated voice.

"Now."

"…Yes."

Countless thoughts flashed through Thomas' mind.

Going to see the High Judicator was not an option. Someone of such power would uncover his plot, and Tia, in a single glance.

However, judging by the lingering Willguard before him, the man clearly intended to follow him there himself.

'It's over.'

A wave of anger and frustration flared in Thomas' chest.

The unfairness of it all! He was sick of this unfair world!

Why should someone good like him have to suffer simply because he was weak? Why should a little girl not even a decade old have to suffer?

Anger bubbled within Thomas, and in the midst of it, a sudden thought surfaced in his mind, one the old Thomas would never have dared to consider.

But the new Thomas… Be damned.

The sentinel's eyes turned icy.

"You… didn't hear me? I said—"

Thomas suddenly dipped, his fingers moving in fluid waves as he engraved runes onto the ground at supersonic speed.

"What are yo—"

"You can go fuck yourself!"

He channeled his will and threw himself around Tia.

The rune lit in a blinding flash before erupting into an explosion that sent a roaring blast tearing across the lobby.

Thomas didn't wait to see the aftermath.

Scooping Tia into his arms, he darted outside the building at full speed, feeling the blazing sun and hot wind slam against his face.

'Almost there!'

He fixed his eyes on the outer barrier, and a cold voice sounded directly behind him.

"Who are you?"

Thomas felt a crushing impact against the side of his face, sending him hurtling through the air.

As he tumbled to a stop, he lifted his disoriented gaze toward the Willguard ahead.

The man was gripping Tia by her hair.

"N-no… pwease…"

The sentinel fixed Thomas with a piercing look.

"I see… you were trying to escape with her."

Other Willguard poured out of the base, each one staring at him with shock.

"No…"

Thomas didn't seem to care about any of them, or his battered face.

His eyes were locked only on Tia, as though he could will her back into his arms.

'Will…'

A faint warmth surged through his arm, and he clenched his fists.

"Release her. Now!"

He roared. His arm flared brightly as the tattoos ignited in a blinding light.

The Willguards' eyes widened, but the arm disintegrated the next moment. A cataclysmic beam of energy erupted in its place.

The force hurled Thomas backward with such power that he was blasted clear out of the base.

Through the haze of disorientation, he briefly saw the earlier sentinel behind him torn to shreds before an explosion of unimaginable magnitude erupted, ripping through the base.

'Tia…'