The next day, Val met with the kidnappers. He offered them five children, who were in fact members of the royal family turned into children by Gilbert.
Of course the kidnappers did not hand Sephi and Kemet over. They captured all of them instead.
In the carriage, as the group was carried off to wherever they were being taken, they thought back to what Gilbert had told them: that the queen had ordered the kidnapper gang exterminated and all of the hostages saved. Gilbert's ability to turn everyone into children had made quite a shocking impression on all of them.
As they reached their destination, Stale teleported his handcuffs away.
One of the kidnappers came in and immediately attacked him for trying to escape, and Stale teleported the man into a jail cell. More and more criminals ended up in prison the same way, while the group turned its attention to saving the hostages. The knights beat the hideout's location out of the criminals and set out for the operation.
Meanwhile, the group explored the gang's base, which was hidden inside a cave.
They learned that the high-value people, the ones with special powers, were kept deep within, and they themselves were transported to a cell holding ordinary people. Inside it they heard children calling out for Val, and realized these were Sephi and Kemet, who had been hiding their powers this whole time.
Elsewhere, deep in the cave, Stale was exploring with Val. They found the high-grade cell and freed everyone in it, and then Stale noticed a glowing light nearby.
A guard found the two of them and pulled out a gun. Stale teleported in a bundle of dynamite as a distraction, then ran toward the light while Val held off the guard and made as much commotion as he could.
Back in the middle cell, the guards received the alert about the attack and ran off, leaving the cell unguarded. Everyone inside took the opportunity and got out.
At the light, Stale stopped in shock. A young boy was trembling there, electricity crawling all over him.
His name was Powell, and his power zapped everyone who came near. He refused Stale's help. He did not want to go back and hurt anybody else. Stale told him that the kingdom was a safe place. The boy would not be convinced, and Stale understood he was going to have to do something.
So he stepped closer, and closer, while the electricity struck him again and again, and he told Powell about the new and kind ruler of the kingdom of Frieia, who had promised to make it a better place for all of its citizens.
The boy was shocked that anyone would bear so much pain just to get near him. He calmed, and all of his hostility went out of him.
Stale teleported him to a safe place — and only after that did he collapse, heavily injured, and pass out.
Meanwhile, the Royal Knights arrived back at the middle camp to help. But the guards there managed to take Val hostage while Gilbert tried to fend them off. As the knights moved to find Stale, the leader of the guards, a man whose power let him attack with chains, caught both Arthur and Val in a firm grip.
It looked hopeless. The knights would not endanger their own people.
Then Pride ran in and sliced the chains apart with her sword.
She challenged the man to a fight, and he was surprised by her raw strength and skill. He had expected a good fight from her. Instead, Pride took the upper hand, and had a knight execute the criminal.
Then an explosion outside the cave shook everyone.
The group rushed out, and Val overheard that the blast had left a massive crater where two young children had been seen. Worried, he ran ahead to reach the place faster.
When he got there, he found Sephi, but there was no sign of Kemet anywhere. Sephi pointed to the rubble.
Val peered into a hole in the wreckage and called the boy's name. Thankfully Kemet was alive and could breathe through the gap. Even so, the situation was dire: he had to be gotten out before more of the rubble came down on top of him.
Pride tried to help, but the trembling cave was clearly unstable. Val refused her help and told her to go outside. He asked her to leave this matter to him, because it was personal. Pride respected his wishes and left, and Val blocked off the path behind her with rock.
Outside, Pride met Sephi. The girl was devastated that her family was still in there, and there was nothing she could do about it. A little jet from her water gun splashed the knight who was keeping her from running back inside.
Pride thought hard about what she could do for Kemet and for Val. Then Gilbert told her that Kemet himself might have the ability to save the situation.
So she went back to the rubble, which surprised Val considerably.
Pride told Val to reach in and take Kemet's hand. He did, though he wondered whether she meant for him to drag the child out through the whole mass of rock.
Once Val had the boy's hand, Pride told him to take hold of the entire cave and destroy the rubble that was blocking Kemet in.
Val thought she had gone insane. And then, somehow, he felt strong enough to do it — strong enough to move the rocks of the whole cave at once and shatter the wreckage.
Overjoyed, he pulled the frightened Kemet into his arms, and Pride understood what Kemet's natural ability really was. He enhanced other people's unique skills.
That explained everything. It explained why Sephi could power huge jets of water with Kemet beside her, and only little water guns when she was alone.
As the cave began to shake harder and harder, Val built a ship out of rock and carried the group out of the collapsing tunnels.
The group let out a breath of relief in the open air. And somewhere nearby, a group of suspicious people watched them escape. They seemed surprised that any of them had made it out alive — and then they dropped even more bombs below.