Mephisto had yet to determine the winner against Royer. He sheathed his sword, leaving Royer, who had been facing him, momentarily stunned. Then he saw Mephisto take a step back, his figure actually fading into the Gray Domain.
"Hm?" Royer slightly raised his gray-and-white brows and lowered his right hand. The spell forming in his palm instantly vanished. There were all kinds of rumors about Mephisto throughout the empire. Some were utterly absurd, but none had ever mentioned him being timid or afraid of a fight. Though Royer was unfamiliar with Mephisto, he could tell that the man was certainly not afraid of him. As something occurred to him, his gaze instinctively swept toward the forest.
In the forest, Brando and Charles exchanged a glance. The Silver Queen had already grown suspicious, and it was only a matter of time before she saw through their hopelessly flawed lie. The two made the same choice at the same time and fled in separate directions.
They turned and ran. Mordefis immediately followed Brando, while Andriga reacted half a beat slower. After a moment of hesitation, she chose to flee alone in the opposite direction.
The Silver Queen almost froze before finally reacting. "Seize them!" she screamed furiously.
A terrifying force swept across the sky. It came from the Queen of Witches, who extended one finger. A silver ring of light radiated from her fingertip, expanding in an instant until it reached a radius of several miles. Like a tangible ripple of water, it swept through the entire forest and caught up with Brando from behind.
Brando only felt the temperature plunge. A biting wind swept toward him, and behind him came the faint howls of ice wolves giving chase. He instinctively touched his face, only to find his palm wet with snowmelt