Ishiki watched in amazement and momentarily dazed as he saw the guard take off his helmet and toss it aside.

Long Burgundy hair fell down across his face and back in streaks of thick bundles.

He was a young man, maybe Ishiki's age or a little older. He was taller than him. His face was pale as moonlight and adorned with the messy and unkempt hair, he looked a lot older than he should have.

Ishiki's heart skipped a beat and then another.

"Filch?"

The boy stepped over the dead guard and offered a lazy smile as if he hadn't just committed a murder in a secret prison. His heavy-lidded eyes looked at Ishiki with the profound, ancient exhaustion of someone who had just woken up from a nap that lasted a long time.

"Hello, Ishiki," Filch said, his voice soft and dreamlike. "You look terrible. Have you been eating well? You look like a twig that got stepped on."

"You..." Ishiki stumbled forward, the heavy iron cuffs checking his movement. He blinked, trying to think what to speak. "Holy cow... You're awake. You're actually awake."

"I slept for a long time indeed," Filch murmured, stepping forward. He stretched his arms over his head, his spine cracking audibly. "It was very dark. And very boring. I kept waiting for something interesting to happen, but nothing did. So I woke up."

"Just like that?" Ishiki laughed. "Goddamned bastard... why didn't you wake up sooner if it was that easy?"

Filch chuckled slowly and rubbed his ears. "Well, Nina was crying. It was very loud in my head." He paused for a second and ten added. "And I have dreamt for far too long and missed a lot of things... I don't wanna miss the real action."

Ishiki paused after hearing the last words, the smile slowly faded from his face, turning into a frown. "The real action? What do you mean?"

Filch's expression shifted too. He looked at Ishiki with a mixture of pity and surprise.

"You do not know?" Filch asked quietly. "About what happened to the princess?"

"What about her?" Ishiki took a step closer, fear coiling in his gut. "Filch, what's happening up there?"

Filch sighed—a long, weary sound that seemed to deflate his entire frame. "It is a long story. I am already tired just thinking about it. We will talk latter... actually even I don't know the full details. I was told everything by some old lady named Kaori..."

Ishiki suddenly laughed. "She's not that old."

"Details," Filch waved a hand dismissively. "Her spirit is ancient and grumpy. She said If I don't find you soon, she would make me sleep forever. She has the soul of an angry grandmother."

"Anyways... we need to leave this place first." He pointed a slender finger at Ishiki's wrists which were suppressed by metallic cuffs. "I do not have the key. Do you know where it is?"

"There is a captain level Interrogator," Ishiki said, glancing down the hall toward the interrogation room. "I think he will have the keys to my cuffs. He's usually in the room."

"The Captain," Filch repeated with a groan of pure misery. "That implies a boss fight, he probably has high health and does a lot of yelling. I hate boss fights. They take so much effort."

"..." Ishiki was speechless.

He shook his head and stepped closer, his movements were fluid and unnatural as always, as if he was moving underwater. "Show me your hands."

"What will you do? Break them?" Ishiki warned, lifting the heavy iron. "I can do that myself you know."

Filch looked at him and blinked a couple of times. "Then why didn't you?"

"I... Uh." Ishiki was left speechless once again.

"Well... it would be such a waste to break them," Filch whispered as his eyes drifted out of focus, looking at something Ishiki couldn't see.

He reached out and placed his pale hands over the manacles. The air around them warped.

The rusted, heavy iron of the cuffs didn't melt or something... It just lost its definition. For a terrifying second, the metal glowed with a bright, electric blue light, turning into a swarm of luminous particles that defied gravity. The particles swirled around Ishiki's wrists, then detached and floated in the air like a cloud of fireflies.

Under Filch's gaze, the particles began to coalesce. They elongated, hardened, and solidified.

With a soft _shing_ sound, the process ended.

Ishiki's hands were free and the metal manacles and the chains were gone, in their place, hovering in the air before him was a long, sleek spear made of the same dark metal.

"There," Filch yawned, grabbing the spear and handing it to Ishiki. "Much better. Having a weapon is more fun than chains in hands, don't you think?"

Ishiki took the spear and looked at it for a long moment, feeling its weight—It was perfectly balanced and kind of familiar.

It wasn't [Black Tether], the spear Ishiki once had as a vestige... but it felt right in his hands.

"Filch," Ishiki said, staring at the boy. "Is this your skill? How did you—"

"Later," Filch said, turning away and starting to walk down the corridor with a casual stroll. "Why are you still here, by the way? Why have you not run away?"

Ishiki blinked, hurrying to catch up. "I... I didn't know where the exit was. This place is a maze. And there are guards everywhere."

Filch stopped and looked at him with a dubious expression. One eyebrow raised slowly.

"Well... aren't you strong enough? I know you are, someone weak wouldn't have survived and reached here... I know that very well."

"Well, yes, but—" Ishiki started and then sighed. "I am not that strong you know, I almost died... well I think I actually died, if not for Yuki."

Filch gave him a curios side eye and then they widened in realization. "Oh yeah... the princess's name is Yuki. She is from the same country as you... never mind. She has healing capabilities too? How dangerous."

Ishiki sighed and almost laughed. "You didn't change one bit. Thanks for coming here..."

"And you are you." Filch sighed, shaking his head. "You overthink things, Ishiki. Sometimes you just need to walk until you find a door. It is not complicated."

"Easy for you to say," Ishiki muttered, gripping the spear. "You didn't see what I saw."

"I don't wanna see that anyways... I am already tired," Filch agreed. "Come, I know the exit. It is this way."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.