Tap, tap!
The sound of high heels striking the frosted stone floor was unhurried, each footfall distinct.
The black mist parted to either side.
A woman in a long red dress emerged from within.
Her hem trailed over the white frost on the ground, which blackened and melted wherever it touched her dress.
The woman was tall, with a low neckline and long black hair spilling behind her shoulders. She twirled a strand around her fingertip, an intensely unsettling smile on her face.
She glanced at Snowstorm Princess first.
"What a surprise."
"Sealed away for three years, and your senses haven't dulled at all. I only just got here, and you're already rushing to hide your little master behind you."
Snowstorm Princess's face went pale, but she did not retreat.
She swept her hand, and the frosty air before the stone door swirled up, condensing once more into dozens of sharp icicles, all aimed at the woman in red.
"It's Yūgong Feiyue!"
At that name, the clipboard in Amamiya Mio's hand clattered to the ground.
The researcher beside her had yet to catch on.
"Yūgong... who?"
Amamiya Mio stared at the woman in red, her voice somewhat dry.
"One of the Dark Erosion Cult's Five Heavenly Kings."
"Yūgong Feiyue."
At that name, the researchers' expressions all changed.
It wasn't as though the Dark Erosion Cult had never sent anyone before.
Over the years, the International Fantasy Society had captured plenty of peripheral members of dark organizations, destroyed numerous hideouts, and uncovered many underground dueling arenas.
But the Dark Erosion Cult's Five Heavenly Kings were on an entirely different level.
They were the people the Dark Erosion Cult could truly put forward.
Yūgong Feiyue might not have been the strongest of the Five Heavenly Kings.
But she was the most troublesome.