Nightmare waited for the process to begin without showing any signs of hesitation. Up to this point, only Elidyr knew about how this ritual would work. Considering Michael had the ancient dragon heart, he was able to buy the scroll containing giving Nightmare new cold breath from the system for two hundred thousand badass points. It would have cost Michael six hundred thousand badass points if he didn't have this ancient ice heart.

Michael patiently waited for the chakra to radiate a bright white light that formed a dome around Nightmare. Inside this dome, Nightmare stared at the ice core. Gaya noticed Nightmare shivering. The ancient ice heart radiated enough coldness to put a thin layer of ice on Nightmare.

"Now absorb the cold energy from the heart," Elidyr instructed Nightmare. Nightmare nodded as he slowly breathed in the coldness. At first, Nightmare felt intense pain all over his body. He felt like he was being frozen to death.

"You can do this, Nightmare," said Gaya. Seeing the pain on Nightmare's face, she forgot about Xanali and her meeting with Michael. She sat on the chakra's edge and motivated Nightmare.

"How long will this last?" asked Michael.

"Depends on Nightmare's ability to absorb the energy. According to the scroll you gave, it varies from dragon to dragon," said Elidyr.

Slowly seconds turned into minutes, and minutes turned into hours. Gaya and Michael sat on the floor, looking after Nightmare. Michael just put his head on Gaya's lap and stared at the starry sky. He pinched Gaya's cheek, ears, and nose. After a while of putting up with Michael's playfulness, she knocked him on the head.

"Aren't you worried about Nightmare?" she frowned.

"Look at him, he's turning into an ice statue," Michael glanced at Nightmare. A thick layer of ice covered his body. As she said, Nightmare was lying on the ground like a statue made of ice. However, Michael did not worry about Nightmare. The system wouldn't have given him the scroll if Nightmare couldn't survive this.

"He's fine. He's a dragon, for god sake. A little bit of chillness won't kill him," Michael cupped her cheeks and pulled them as far as he could.

"Awww," She growled.

"For a guy who's about to make a life-changing decision, you're awfully cheery," Gaya ruffled his hair.

"I don't know. I just feel free. Like a burden has been lifted from me. I think our decision to reveal our identities might be the best decision we have ever made,"

"Do you think my mother will really come to us when you reveal your identity? Why did she make such a weird rule?" asked Gaya.

"I don't know why. But when she comes to us, I won't let anything happen to her. She ran enough,"

"I want to know why my real father is. I have a feeling he might be connected to why mother faked her death," Gaya frowned. Michael just pulled her head closer to him and kissed her on the forehead.

"Just don't ask too many questions. Enjoy the time you have with her first. Not everyone will get a chance like this, Gaya,"

If Michael didn't know his mother gave him off voluntarily, he would have done and given anything to meet her. After knowing that, she was dead to him. Michael didn't bother to find her. He had enough things to worry about. But deep down, he was still saddened by everything. Hence, Michael wanted Gaya to have the best time with Adelia instead of asking too many questions.

Whatever problem Adelia was in, Michael would take care of them. After all, Adelia was family to him. The two of them spent hours talking in peace. Elidyr did not return to the place until the next morning. He checked up on Nightmare.

"Shhh,"

When Elidyr was about to speak something, Gaya shushed him. She glanced down at Michael, who was peacefully sleeping on her lap. Elidyr nodded and left the pocket dimension. He had tasks over his head. For example, he had to create runes to build more mortars and teleportation arrays. After Elidyr left the pocket dimension, Gaya looked after her two boys.

*******************************************************

Meanwhile, Xanali and Evan reached the capital of Thusia. This was Evan's first time coming to Itholan. Hence, he was pretty surprised by the look of the city. Even the Royal Land in Elon paled in comparison to the city before him. Every building in the city was newly built with elegant architecture. Each building was surrounded by neatly pruned bushes and flowers. Maple trees stood guard on either side of the street. Unfortunately, the winter made the trees shed their leaves. Otherwise, the streets would have been covered with red and yellow maple leaves.

Evan noticed people running through the snow with no smiles on their faces. As a matter of fact, they looked terrified. Several carriages headed toward the city gates. All these carriages seemed to have belonged to the nobles. Evan realized the war declaration of Ghost had affected the people more than he had expected. These people never lost their smiles when they waged war against Suven, Zulon, and Northguard. They celebrated their army's valor because they knew the thusian army would crush their foes. However, when they learned a Half Immortal has taken over the cities their army conquered and taking the fight to them, they were terrified.

Xanali and Evan decided to walk toward the castle instead of flying. She wanted to know how this war had been affecting the people. While walking through the snow-covered street, Evan and Xanali heard various conversations about nobles leaving the capital just to be safe.

"The commoners seemed to have a lot of trust in King Maxim," said Evan. He heard many commoners speaking so highly of King Maxim. They trusted their king to defeat even a Half Immortal.

"There is something we are missing here, Guardian Captain,"

"Speak your mind," said Xanali.

"I know, Ghost. He is not one to make enemies so quickly without reason. There must be something that happened between King Max and him. I've never seen him so hell bent on destroying something. Many nobles in Elon adored him because he was opportunistic. Among all the youngsters I know, he has the least enemies. We have to know the history between him and Thusia,"

"Isn't that obvious? No one knows about Ghost before he came to the river town. Whatever happened between him and Thusia, it must have happened before he came to the river town. I don't think he or KIng Maxim would tell us what happened. All we can do now is try to talk some sense into Princess Victoria," Xanali sighed.

"Guardian Captain. You don't actually think they would accept Ghost's terms, do you?"

Xanali shook her head.

"It doesn't matter what I think. We are tasked to try to stop the war. As far as I can tell, the simplest way to stop this war is to stop Ghost from launching an offense against Thusia and stop King Maxim from waging war against every kingdom there is. Unfortunately, the alpha guardians lost their chance to stop Ghost. So unless they bring in the Immortals, nothing can stop Ghost,"

Evan agreed with Xanali. Before he joined the Guardians, he never thought the Guild would be in such trouble. Ever since the royal news published the connection between the guardian guild and the vampires, the Holy Church and the other clans were questioning every decision the guild made. Furthermore, the guild had lost many big donors which put a dent in their financial status. Simply put, the Guardian Guild was not in a blunder, and unless they made some big changes, their path would only go down further. The higher-ups wanted to stop the war between Thusia and Ghost so they could show the public that the guild still had the best interest of the people.

Eventually, Xanali and Evan finally reached the castle. When the guards saw the guild symbol on Xanali's chest, they immediately escorted them to the castle.

When they reached the front lawn of the castle, they were welcomed by Edith.

"Welcome to Thusia, Xanali," Edith embraced Xanali in a warm hug. Evan was surprised to see Xanali smiling. From what he had heard from his fellow guardians, Xanali had never smiled since the death of Guardian Peyton.

"Edith. This is Evan Clarke, a guardian trainee,"

"Hello Evan," Edith shook Evan's hands.

"Let's go inside. It's freezing out here," Edith led the two of them inside the castle. Evan looked around the castle and realized this was the cleanest castle he had ever seen. They followed Edith to a cozy room. The firewood in the fireplace crackled, producing gentle warmth. Evan and Xanali sat on the red sofa as Edith ordered the maids to bring them something to drink.

'Where is Princess Victoria?" asked Xanali.

The smile on Edith's face disappeared instantly.

"She is meeting with the generals. She'll be here in a few minutes. So how did your meeting go?" asked Edith.

"Not great. Unless King MAxim Barnes apologizes to the people of Suven, Zulon, and Northguard and returns to Elon, he wouldn't back down,"

Edith sighed, hearing Xanali.

"The guardians have to send the Immortals, Xanali. He needs to be stopped,"

"Not only him, Edith," Xanali's response surprised Edith.

"King Maxim Barnes started this. Now those kings and people are just fighting back for they lost,"

"You're right. But Ghost didn't care about those people. He's just using them for his revenge against King Maxim and Victoria,"

"Do you know what's the history between them?" asked Xanali.

"Does it really matter?" a voice resonated in the room. They all turned their heads to see Victoria walking into the room.