The thunder year was coming to an end, but the Empire barely faced any storms and such. Heavy rainfall was the upper limit. But most of the time, the thunder year in the Empire was not any different from a regular Bright year.

But the sky was darkening nonetheless as the red sun began to dip itself into the western horizon, bringing the day to an end.

But that could barely be seen from amongst the thousands of trees in the Subion forest.

The large forest was located a few miles East of Edenshield. The term ‘Park’ suits better for the place than a ‘forest’. After all there was not any sort of dangerous entities living in the place. Even the bandits stay away since the main road connecting the capital of the Empire and Edenshield. Everyone caravans were escorted by a powerful force.

But it did not mean that the place would always remain safe.

Seven individuals were camping at the centre of the forest, not far away from the road.

There no tents in sight. All there was were a few tree stumps and logs upon which everyone were sitting.

Caleb the Giant uprooted a whole tree and laid it in on the ground with his bare hands. His little sister Ley cleared the branches with her daggers and both of them were sitting on the wide trunk of the fallen plant.

Caleb was wearing the frontal skull of some reptilian animal. His beastly eyes stared through the sockets of the dead animal. Just a bit far away from him, his pet was on its feet- maintaining a distance longer than it should have. Its two reptilian eyes were darting nervously- teetering between the icy blue haired woman and the black eyed man.

Ley wore a veil that covered her lower face, and a cap to cover her head. She was sitting close to her brother. Her short legs were dangling in the air.

On two other tree stumps, which were neatly sliced by a single slash each, sat two muscular men.

The younger one was Asmond who was wearing his usual sleeveless shirt, exposing his biceps. There was a cloth wrapping around his head and face, only revealing the eyes.

The other was Halseed. He was wearing a red ghastly mask. Among all the seven, his was definitely the scariest.

Elise sat close to Adrian and Irene. She was wearing a gorgeous blue dress and a half mask that matched with it. One of her hands was holding a half meter rod with a few holes lined on the side. It was an exotic musical instrument called flute. Her black eyes would occasionally move to the young man sitting a bit away, only to turn away the moment her got into her sight.

Irene was wearing the hooded robe she brought all the way from Nemphis, her hood removed. As for Adrian who was sitting just beside her on the bigger than usual stump, he was wearing a plain black mask- the same one he took to the church.

He turned to his purple eyed companion. “Soul, mind, body, matters- these are not the only things you can freeze, right?”

Irene turned to him before looking down, contemplating. She never revealed this to anyone before, not even to her own family. But when she remembered all those ‘warm’ nights she spent with her, just like the fairy tales she read back then, she decided to trust him.

She looked back at him and nodded.

A bright smile formed on his face. “What’s the limit? How much time?”

“About one square kilometre. One second.” She replied.

“More than enough.” The smile on his face reached his ears. “You made the mission a lot easier. Can you cast it now?”

She nodded.

“Good. After you cast the spell, you can take a rest. You don’t have to involve yourself with the strike anymore.”

“But-“

“Trust me.”

“Okay.” She said with a blank face.

He turned to Halseed, the only archer in the team. “I need to borrow your bow and an arrow for a shot.”

His request baffled the middle aged man but he complied. He had a meter long object hanging from his waist.

He walked towards Adrian as he took out the object and unfolded it. It appeared to be a longbow which had a length of about two meters.

He connected the strings and respectfully passed it to the young man. He did not even dare to think that the monster was unable to operate a bow.

Adrian took the weapon and nodded. “Nice bow.”

“They are here.” Irene’s nonchalant words had everyone except Adrian take a deep breath.

Everyone got up from their respective seats and rushed to the direction where the road was at.

Adrian and Irene, both took positions on a long branch that protruded from a tall tree. The concrete road was just below them.

At the Eastern horizon, a band of silhouettes approached. They were coming closer and closer every second. Soon, three grand carriages came into their sights. All of them were were giving off an orange hue and they were surrounded by a company of horsemen.

All of the horses were magical beasts and their riders were armed to the teeth. Nobody needed to take a second glance to know that there was a really important personality travelling across the Empire.

In fact, just the sight of the orange carriages were enough to strike fear in any man of the Empire- be it a commoner or a marquess. Only one family in the entire Ervilia could donn that colour- the Imperial family. They were flying an orange flag with a dragon depicted on it, surrounded by lightning.

“Can you sense him?” Adrian asked.

“The first carriage. Right at the centre.” She said with indifference.

The convoy was about half a kilometre away. The road was straight. Adrian was using his <Absence> essence and Irene froze her very presence.

He took the only arrow he had with him and nocked it on the longbow. He took a deep breath and aimed at the the coach on the vanguard, stretching the string to the fullest.

“Are you ready?” He asked.

An incredibly complex icy blue circle appeared before her. “Yes.”

“Now!”