I regressed and became the Sword Ice King

The bodies of the duo– the Princess and her guard fell to the ground with a solid thud. Alerting the gathered figures that their guests had succumbed to the gas.

Now, they took action.

The one who stood in front of the rest had taken the leisure to wait until the gas dispersed, before turning to two of the gathered members.

"Pick them up. Let's take them to the Prince for questioning."

With that, she turned to walk away while the two figures retrieved the unconscious bodies and headed with the group which began to retreat.

The direction? Of course, it was the same duo that had taken them to find them.

A few minutes passed, and the area grew silent with their absence.

The occasional disturbance of terrestrial birds, which sang through the Forage and the loud chatters from Beasts, too close for comfort, though, was a consistency.

What wasn't, though, was the sudden warp in the air from the part of the Forest where the Princess was captured.

A Flux of wavelength that soon diluted into the body of a masked figure.

The same assassin who had watched them walk into the forest.

His presence had been quiet. Right there in plain sight, yet everything about him, even as he revealed himself, screamed calm.

A calm too ominous to ignore.

The man's head tilted slightly in the direction they had left.

His face, together with his expression, was hidden beneath his mask.

'Interesting.' He thought.

'So, people were living within the forest all this time…'

His thoughts stilled, then–

'How did the Princess know?'

He straightened up before dispersing his form into the wind, once more.

'I've retrieved enough information.'

His body camouflaged with the environment and disappeared from the common eyes.

'Time to report to the Prince.'

•

•

•

There was a void and it surrounded me.

A fog of darkness clouded my senses. Obscured my vision. And took what little control I had over myself.

That void was a darkness thrown at me.

One that forced me into a state where I had no control… no will to fight back.

A temporary state of complete loss… but like every short-lived thing, it came to its end.

"Princess Meadow, open your eyes before our Leader."

The voice broke through her subconscious and jolted the young princess awake.

Darkness soon replaced by dim light and the influx of information that nearly shut her down.

Her body rose, but something gripped hard and pulled her back to her position.

But none of that scratched her line of worry, immediately.

What did, was something else entirely.

Something that made her body tremble.

Sending wave after wave of blurry attacks through her nervous system.

'Wha– What was that?'

It made her special senses tingle.

An overexcitement from the sudden rush of new information.

She heaved greatly.

Her chest was rising and falling.

Evident palpitation as beads of sweat rushed down from her forehead.

Meadow's eyes flared to life.

Wide and awake.

Shock and confusion took their toll on her at the same time.

But in that moment, an arm grabbed hers and her world stilled.

Stiffening from the firm grasp, she turned to her left.

A familiar boy's face came into view.

Then her head snapped back to normal.

"Ban?"

The young boy nodded with a solemn smile.

His gaze revealed everything, and his position… their predicament had become all so clear to her.

'We were captured.'

The last memory played in her head.

The sudden intrusion of the gas suppressed the breathing air. Replacing it with something that had been notorious.

'It was instant…'

The sensation she felt during the time returned to the moment.

The sensation of the loss of control and the abysmal darkness that came after.

It was different from the usual darkness.

Not the kind you see when you fall asleep, or when you've been forced unconscious with a firm strike.

No, this one felt… submersive.

Like she could feel herself fall prey to the toxins and lose herself.

'I thought I was dying.'

A shiver down her spine.

But she shook it off as she glanced up, and finally, took in her environment with a sane mind.

Around her, was a room that felt utterly similar to a Courtroom.

But while most were bright, ornate and filled with luxury, this one was dark, ominous and filled with the intent of people who wanted them dead.

A line of masked figures filled both ends around her.

A silent, watchful gaze lingered at the back of her mask while their attention was tied to the Princess, as if she were a show.

It enraged her.

But what could her anger achieve?

Sighing inwardly, she glanced up… where the voice… that voice that had jolted her awake came from.

It was startling. Loud.

And it wasn't within the physical realm, she was sure of that.

'No… it felt like I was being spoken to through my mind…'

A mind link? A Psychic Mage.

Her face furrowed at the thought as she locked gazes with a series of long stairs.

She traced it. Followed it, and wound up tilting her head upwards… until she met the eyes that made her shudder.

Her lips quivered, then her eyes flared open.

"Raph…"

She whispered.

Silent as silence could get… but the room she occupied.

It's tightness. The visible lack of windows. Its structure.

It sealed everything within, including sound.

And they had all heard her.

But, none said nor did anything about it.

Meadow shook her head as well as the thought.

'He's dead… supposedly. It can't be him.'

Siphoning her thoughts away, she glanced up once more.

What stood before her was a throne.

Sturdy, and ephemeral.

A deep shade of silver which seemed to shimmer with the dim lights.

The arm rests were smooth, leading up to the part where the fingers of the man who sat on it were delicately placed.

There, the dignified head of a stock was placed.

Neatly anchored against the chair's armrest.

It didn't take much thinking for her to realise who sat on the Throne.

And glancing at him, she could all the more confirm it.

'Glad to see you're doing well, brother.'

She thought before drifting off towards the two figures who caught her attention.

One was a female. Muscular and athletic, with fiery crimson hair and dark eyes.

Her arms were folded, revealing tightly coiled muscles itching to be sprung out.

Safara Desert was her name, but that was information oblivious to the Young Princess.

Then the second, another female.

The one whom she had mistaken for the white haired boy.

Ziza Ruggard, a woman with snow white skin, pale white, glassy eyes and flowing white hair.

Her demeanour was different from the former.

While the former exuded a fierce, fiery aura. An evident swelling of power hidden beneath her battle-stricken body, the latter was a deadly revelation.

With eyes so ghostly, they looked like they saw through you, and an energy that revealed she was anything but milk-like, given her appearance and demise.

The opposing similarity of the two women was what anchored their world together.

And with a single glance, Meadow could tell.

'Impressive… Raph was able to secure people like this on our side?'

She didn't need to think twice to mistake the kind of energy they exuded.

System users, yes, but at the top of their game.

'They're definitely at Level 100.'

Confirmation was unnecessary in this case, as everything was made palpable.

'You would need to be a fool not to see it.'

"Princess."

The voice… familiar, yet alien resounded in the room.

Projecting with the aftereffects of an echo that lingered too long.

Meadow turned to the white haired woman.

'So she was the one who woke me.'

The mental message she received.

A heavy sigh escaped her lips as she attempted to lift her arms.

Something restricted her and pulled her back.

And the sound of iron and chains rattled into her ears.

Her face contorted into disbelief as she looked down.

'What, Chains?'

She moved them once, as if trying to confirm it.

The irons rattled once more, real and palpable, and a twisted realization dawned on her like a thunder hammer.

She whipped her head to the side, and there, Ban knelt in the same position. Clasped by the same chains.

In fact, more so than the Princess.

Her lips shifted into a deep frown.

"What is the meaning of this?"

The air stilled after her question.

Not a word spoken, and not a damn given.

Meadow shook with fury.

Her head darted back to the man who sat on the Throne.

"PLUM SWANSTORM! WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!"

The room shook from the volume of her voice, and in the next second, the air ripped with a powerful wave of suppression.

Meadow groaned, and her body flared with pain as an oppressive force slammed her to the floor.

She squealed– shutting off the scream that threatened to escape her lips.

"PRINCESS!"

Ban screamed as he attempted to stand on his feet, but not a muscle had moved before the same wave struck him like a bullet train.

The chains tore from the iron pole it had been anchored to as his body was sent flying through the air.

Slamming against the wall with a terrible quake as a thick curd of blood splurged out of his mouth while his face contorted from the pain.

The room shuddered, and the silence reclaimed its position.

The masked figures, like mannequins, stood on the spot without flinching.

Anchored to their positions like an army thrown into war.

And above, their superiors watched with condescending stares.

"Watch your tongue, Meadow Swanstorm."

Ziza Ruggard ordered.

But the young princess scoffed.

Straining her entire body as she resisted the range of assault from the white haired woman.

"Ha...Ha…" Her laughter broke into twisted mumbles as the pain ravaged through her like a deadly venom.

"Everywhere you go… There are fools like you."

She lifted her head up, blood slipping down her forehead towards them while she threw a glare at the trio.

"Does power give you the right to act like assholes?!"