Elemental Cats

Toz stepped onto the bridge leading to the brown stone cube. While he walked, he deactivated his mana vision to let it recover, and when he arrived in front of the cube, he conjured a chisel and a hammer of metal. Since they were magic, their effects would be reduced against the anti-magic properties of the stone, and they would also quickly get eroded. But it would still be more efficient than trying to melt the rock again, especially since the effects of the stone were concentrated inward.

Toz also didn't have the patience to wait for the stone to melt. Not to mention how the cats might suffer if they were chained to the floor like he had been and molten rock began dripping on and around them.

Since the stone was relatively soft, it didn't take long for Toz to begin making a sizable dent in it. He had to replace his chisel several times, and since the walls were so thick, he had to make a pretty large hole, but it was still the most efficient way if he wanted to save time and mana.

Eventually, after chipping away enough stone to cover the ground in gravel, Toz got through to the final layer of the cell, where the enchantments to isolate and suppress the prisoner were.

Those enchantments or the material they were inscribed on seemed to be a little sturdier than the stone, but it wasn't a problem, and Toz finally opened up the cell.

The cell looked exactly like his had done, but there were no chains in the middle of the floor. The reason for there being no chains was pretty obvious. There was no need for chains if there wasn't a prisoner to keep chained.

Toz was a little disappointed he found an empty cell instead of the cats, but there were more cells than there were cats, so he didn't give up and moved on to the next gray cube, where he repeated the process.

Unfortunately, the same process also led to the same result. The second cell Toz cracked open was just as empty as the first one. It was the same with the third cell.

Toz had opened four cells in total if he included his own. That meant there were still five left. He could have just been unlucky and managed to open the empty cells first before getting to the cats' cells. But in any case, there weren't enough cells for all the cats and Brunswick, so someone, several of them, or all of them had to be somewhere else if they were all imprisoned in separate cells.

But Toz didn't begin looking for a way out of the white room, and he wouldn't do that until he smashed every last cell open for the minuscule chance that one of the cats might be in one of them. If they were, and he left without checking, he would never be able to forgive himself since if he left, he probably wouldn't be in a position to make it back for quite a while.

Toz continued smashing open the cells until only one was left. He had all but confirmed that there were no cats or other prisoners in the white room, but he still decided to open the last cell as well.

With the practice of opening the eight previous cells, Toz barely had to concentrate in order to open the last grey cube or smash apart the stone of the inner cell. And before he knew it, he was already at the last layer. The enchantments keeping the insides isolated against magic were the last thing preventing Toz from confirming that the cats were somewhere else.

Toz sighed before lifting a fist and smashing it against the layer of whatever it was that the enchantments were inscribed on, and after hitting it twice, the layer cracked open and fell to the ground, revealing what Toz thought would have been an empty cell.

Toz was so ready to see an empty cell and become disappointed at the sight. So he barely looked before he turned around. However, as he turned around, he caught something out of the corner of his eye. His inclination reacted at the same time, and Toz jerked his head back to look inside the cell.

Toz's eyes met the gaze of a fluffy orange, partially incorporeal furball.

Both Toz's and Mindle's eyes and faces brightened in joy. Toz widened the opening he made to Mindle's cell before diving in and hugging Mindle.

While hugging her tightly, Toz dissolved the chains restraining her and sent some mana into her to break the seal on her mana pool. He didn't care if breaking the chains set off any alarms since he cared more about freeing Mindle and making sure she was unharmed.

Mindle didn't say anything, either. She just snuggled close to Toz and burrowed into his neck as she began purring. She didn't even need to say anything since her feelings were transmitted through the inclination.

Eventually, after they calmed down and remembered the situation they were in, they left the cell and began looking for an exit to the white room.

Toz and Mindle wanted to continue their reunion, but it would have to wait until they had saved the others as well and after they were in a more secure place.

The middle of a high-security prison wasn't exactly the best place to host a party.

Toz and Mindle didn't want to split up, and Mindle continued riding in Toz's arms as they scoured through the white room, looking for a way out.

Even when he used his mana vision, it still took quite a while until Toz found something that stood out.

A section of one of the walls about the same size as the doors to the gray cubes was outlined with a stream of mana. It was the way out, and Toz and Mindle beamed at the hope of escaping and finding the others. Hopefully, they wouldn't be too far away.