Liana Wikia, the Blood Hound.

The frozen born turf and its environment were anything but ordinary.The air itself felt sharpened, heavy with pressure, as though the land demanded strength from anyone who dared stand upon it.Only the most gifted gathered here, talents refined to a terrifying edge.

For the children of the Count, that pressure was nothing.They had been born beneath it, raised within it, molded until restraint felt unnatural.To call them prodigies would be an insult. They were aberrations.

"Come out, boys. There's no need to hide. We just want to spar."Her voice carried easily across the frost bitten ground, playful yet feral.Madness flickered in her eyes, bright and eager, as if she already tasted blood.

Her father had spoken often of the Lokian faction.Of rivalries that never cooled, of hunts that ended only when one side stopped struggling.Knowing another of their kind was nearby made her pulse quicken, made her smile widen.

That familiar rush surged through her and her brothers alike.The craving that dragged them toward conflict, toward proof of dominance.Battle was not a choice. It was an instinct.

She moved openly, boots crunching against ice with deliberate confidence.Meanwhile her older brothers melted into the surroundings, shadows clinging to them like loyal beasts.They circled patiently, eyes sharp, waiting for the slightest mistake.

Protecting their little sister was not affection.It was law, carved into them since childhood.Anyone who reached her would die first.

What they did not know was that Enzo and the others had already disengaged.Distance had been created with care, every movement calculated.By the time the hunt truly began, the prey was already gone.

"That came in handy," Zeke smirked, shaking his head beneath a white hood.The long cloak masked his build, its pale fabric blending cleanly with the frozen backdrop.Even his presence felt muted now.

"I know right?" Enzo replied, amused.His face bore no trace of the boy from before, features subtly reshaped into something unfamiliar.Even his posture felt wrong, deliberately so.

One of the abilities gained from his second voyage was transformation.It allowed him to alter height, weight, even bone structure with unsettling ease.At its peak, it could twist him into raging beasts, forms meant only for slaughter.

He rarely relied on it.But stepping onto enemy turf without preparation was suicide.This was not caution. It was survival.

"Easy for you to say," Titus muttered from the rear.His voice drifted from within a floating silhouette of smoke and darkness, barely humanoid."You don't have to sit inside a creepy coffin."

"Got it. My bad. Here's a proper expansion, clearly more than double, tighter atmosphere, same voice, no em dash, short paragraphs throughout."Hehe, let's find someone with half a brain that can help us. Those lunatics are hard to shake off," Enzo said, waving off Titus' complaint.His tone was casual, but his steps never slowed, nor did his awareness.

He had already tried contacting Minister Fin minutes ago.The call rang. Then silence.

Straight to voicemail.

That old bastard was probably locked in another absurd contest, laughing while betting away something important.Enzo could picture it vividly and it only made his mood sour.

"The fortress is massive," Zeke said, looking upward.Spires of ice stone and iron stretched endlessly, packed so tightly they blotted out the sky.

"It's the size of a small city. We just need an inn and we disappear."

It sounded simple.Too simple.

Their status as representatives meant nothing yet.Not until the kingdom formally acknowledged them during the hunter games.

Until then, they were nobody.Guests without protection.

Worse, prey wandering under borrowed names.

They walked for a long time.Long enough for the streets to blur together.

Cold lanterns lit narrow roads.Windows glowed warmly, filled with laughter, meals, families.

Yet every structure felt closed off.Private.

There were no banners.No signs.

No inns.

Only homes.Only businesses tied to bloodlines and long standing contracts.

They approached several families.Smiles appeared at first.

Then the question was asked.

The smiles vanished.Doors closed gently but firmly.

Some people refused without meeting their eyes.Others apologized while already stepping back.

After the fifth rejection, silence followed them wherever they walked.

"Hello," Enzo said quietly, stopping near an alley drowned in shadow."Please, can I have a moment of your time? I need to ask a few questions."

An old man stood there, leaning against the stone wall.His body was faint, translucent, like fog barely holding shape.

"Hm?""You can see the dead?"

The man squinted at Enzo, clearly puzzled rather than afraid.After a moment, he nodded as if confirming a suspicion.

Death had stripped him of many things.Shock was one of them.

Enzo seeing him was strange.But not worth reacting to.

"We need a place to stay," Enzo said."We can pay. Generously."

He hesitated, then added softly."But everywhere we go, we're turned away. Do you know why?"

The people here were not cruel.That was the unsettling part.

They were polite.Almost apologetic.

Yet unyielding.

The ghost let out a slow breath, a sound more habit than necessity.His eyes drifted over Enzo, Zeke, and the faint silhouette of Titus behind them.

"Ahhh," he murmured.

"You're not a citizen."

He looked genuinely surprised Enzo had not understood.

"Is that really so hard to grasp?"

To him, it was common sense.

"Oh?" Enzo was genuinely taken aback.Did one truly need citizenship just to find shelter within these walls?

If that was the case, then why were outsiders even allowed inside the fortress at all?The question lingered, heavy and unresolved.

"Let me explain," the ghost said calmly.His voice carried no impatience, only certainty, as his gaze drifted across the snow blanketed street.

"The kingdom exists for its denizens," he continued."Each of us bears responsibility for it, whether living or dead."

Allowing strangers into private homes was not simply rude.It was dangerous.

"Culturally, it is unacceptable," the ghost said."But more importantly, it is not functional."

He lifted a faint hand, gesturing to the buildings around them.Each structure stood firm, quiet, seemingly ordinary.

"Every home within this fortress is part of the Heaven Killing Formation of ice and wonder," he explained."They are not merely dwellings."

They were components.Nodes.

"If even one node is damaged," the ghost said evenly,"the consequences ripple outward."

What had once been a system built for war had never been dismantled.Over time, necessity hardened into tradition.

"What was meant for survival," he added,"became culture."

The ghost paused, memories flickering behind his pale eyes."I lived during the war for supremacy over Gaia," he said.

"The time when the myriad ice clans tore the world apart.""I know what espionage looks like."

Suspicion was not cruelty.It was experience.

"Most people do not know you," the ghost continued."So they avoid closeness until you are proven clean."

Trust was earned slowly here.And never freely.

"If you are clean," he said, turning his attention back to Enzo,"you may speak to the guards."

"They maintain facilities for merchants, travelers, and those permitted temporary stay.""It is controlled. Observed."

Safe.

Enzo listened in silence.The pieces slid together far too neatly.

This was one of the quiet advantages of his ability.Not strength. Not speed.

Information.

The kind that never appeared on maps.The kind most people never thought to ask.

""So there's a ghost in that alley?" Zeke asked, watching Enzo step back into the street with an unsettling calm.His eyes flicked past Enzo, instinctively trying to see what could not be seen.

"Yes," Enzo replied quietly."An old man. Just standing there, staring at the wall of that house."

He glanced back once more.The ghost had not moved.

There was something painfully familiar about scenes like this.Too familiar.

Most of these beings were miserable.Trapped in a half existence that granted awareness without relief.

They could see their families live on.Laugh, age, move forward.

Yet they could not touch them.Could not speak to them.

Nor could they move on themselves.The afterlife rejected them as firmly as the living world did.

A flaw in nature.A cruel oversight.

They wandered endlessly, bound by unfinished threads, waiting for a miracle that almost never came.

"Heheh, that's a creepy ability," Zeke said with a laugh."Where'd you even get it?"

He gave Enzo a firm pat on the shoulder."I'd pay top dollar for that. Become a seer overnight."

"Exclusive to night creatures," Enzo replied.He shook his head, then let out a short, bitter smile.

Zeke chuckled, but the sound faded quickly.The street felt tighter now.

"She's already on our tail again," Enzo said, his tone sharpening."We just need a place to sleep today."

His gaze swept the snowy road ahead.Every shadow felt closer than before.

"If Minister Fin isn't available by then," he added,"we'll contact Master White."

There was no enthusiasm in his voice.Only necessity.

With that, Enzo turned and walked off.Zeke followed without hesitation, their figures melting into the cold glow of the fortress streets.

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