Fractures, thin as spider silk, began to race across the ice just meters from Sezel's hiding spot.

His gaze followed one particularly ambitious crack as it carved a path toward him, deepening to expose the dark rocks beneath

The rocks below were already leaving the cold grip of the ice. And the Ice surface wasn't strong enough to hold on its own.

Sezel went pale as bone, behind the terrifying woman had her eyes locked on his side, and in front of him the earth was gonna break and fall in a pile of rubble.

Seriously, why does it always happen when i think of getting out.

A violent tremor shook the frozen landscape, and a fresh starburst of cracks erupted from a central point, spreading like a shattered mirror.

Sezel's heart did a panicked little flip-flop. That was… right, not unexpected at all. He was just getting terribly forgetful.

With a grimace, he risked a glance back toward the women, certain they had bigger problems than a lone eavesdropper.

They were never looking at me to begin with. he realized.

The queen in red outfit was standing at the center of spiderwebs of cracks that spread like a broken glass.

The queen in her regal red outfit stood at the epicenter of the splintering web. Her hands were raised, conjuring a shimmering dome of ice that buckled under the percussive assault of metallic chains.

Chains again, huh? Sezel's lip curled. He and chains had a complicated history. Sure, a metallic chain had been his ticket out of the Spirit Realm alive the first time, but that was a minor detail... it certainly was.

I hate, anything related to that place, even if it saved my life.

"Hey there! You seem to be enjoying yourself," a cheerful voice suddenly declared, startling Sezel so badly he nearly launched himself forward. An icicle, sharp as a dagger, missed his eye by a hair's breadth.

His stomach twisted as his heart hammered against his ribs. Am I caught?

But his luck wasn't that bad, but it was bad nonetheless.

Sezel tried to slowly back down and sit quietly, he peeked out from his sorry excuse of a cover and saw a young man emerge from the direction of the factories.

He stood casually beside the mangled corpses of Spirit Beasts, observing the life-or-death struggle with the detached amusement of someone watching a particularly fine stage play. He had a cascade of golden hair tied back in a waist-length ponytail

He wore a... a long black robe of sorts and black pants.

Sezel let out a sigh of relief that he did not get caught at least. The man's attention was at the ladies.

What the hell is that combination? Sezel's survival instincts were momentarily overridden by his fashion critique. How does he even move in that thing?

Sezel gulped hard and took a chance to look what was happening.

He laid on the cold ground, his body was shivering because of the cold and it was a high risk, if the ice completely breaks now, he would be falling down between rocks and become a mess with barely human appearance.

But in order to save himself from exposure he needed to do that. Sezel could have swore that he would run away, but he wanted information now, after knowing that he can understand them, he wouldn't want to waste the chance.

The queen was trying to repel the chains that were lashing at her from above, the other two ladies were not in Sezel's view.

Did they run off leaving their leader behind? That was the natural thought of what everyone would think looking at the desperate situation the lady was in. Struggle was evident on her face.

"You certainly are strong," the man called out, his tone dripping with amused admiration. "As expected of a fellow Rank-5."

He gives me the serious creeps, this guy is not sane at all. Sezel sneered. The guy was giving off bad vibes all over.

A strange shrieking noise made Sezel squint his eyes in annoyance and , he looked at the lady who was breathing heavily but had finally managed to make herself safe from the chains. Or rather it looked like that.

Sezel scowled, he saw what happened. That bastard moved his fingers. It was his doing.

The lady laughed, and spoke in a broken voice between breaths, "You are one hell of a demon-" she coughed, "And what are you even doing here?"

The other man's smile seemed to widen and reach his eyes. It was more of a vicious grin than a smile. It was the kind of grin that made Sezel's legs twitch with the primal urge to be somewhere, anywhere else, but not here.

Sezel let his body relax a little, with the queen not being distracted, the ice around them began to miraculously knit itself back together. The man clearly knew the ice was the only thing keeping them from a messy fall.

Well, at least my assessment was right. She's a Rank-5, and this creepy, fashion-challenged guy is one too.

"So, when are you planning to release my cohort members?" the queen demanded, her eyes narrowed in impotent fury of being helpless.

How strong is that guy, aren't they both Rank-5. What is so different about him?

Sezel saw it again, this time he clicked his finger and suddenly two chains brought the two other girls in black attire, they were bound by the chains so precisely to not even allow a single muffle to escape.

"There are your lovely attendants, my dear," the man purred, his voice a sickeningly sweet melody. "Don't be so angry. I made sure they weren't hurt."

Sezel's instincts screamed at him more than they ever had. They were screaming at him to run. His body was sweating even though he was surrounded by ice.

"And what shall we do about the roach?" The man said, his eyes a little squinted.

Everything suddenly went silent. Sezel could hear his heartbeat in his ears.