Nine slammed the door of his room, fed up and frustrated.
"That's it, I can't take it anymore! I'm going to try running away again!"
He glanced at his room and hurriedly approached the only window. But before he could jump out, an older figure appeared out of thin air and stared at him with deep eyes.
Nine chuckled, a vein throbbing on his forehead. He really wanted to smash every piece of furniture in his room, but he knew he wouldn't get new ones because of Seraphine. So, he resisted the temptation.
"I just hope... some gigantic sea creatures appear out of nowhere and break the shield around the Kingdom, so I have a chance to escape-!"
Before he could finish his sentence, a piercing cry echoed outside the castle. The old man guarding his window stared at the transparent shield surrounding the Continent with wide eyes. One cry turned into two, and when Nine looked out, he couldn't help but curse in shock.
"Did my words just come true? No way, I never knew my words had so much power!"
The man guarding his window had already started floating, so Nine jumped out and watched the scene. Countless people in the Kingdom screamed as the transparent shield hovering around the entire Continent began to crack.
A lot of older merpeople, including the Queen, came out of the Castle and were shouting because they couldn't believe what was happening. How could the shield that had been glowing so brightly around them for so many years suddenly crack?
But then, everyone froze when ice flakes started falling from the sky. The Queen reached out to touch one and it melted on her finger. But when she looked up again, the cracked shield shattered into countless pieces, like weak glass.
The phenomenon was just like what happened in the outside world, but now it's happening right here on her Continent, right in front of her own two eyes.
"No way..."
She muttered and yelled at the people around her to move, to do something. They all rushed towards the spot where the shield symbols were engraved, but they knew it was too late.
The shield around the Continent was already shattered. Now they have to deal with a swarm of sea creatures flooding into the Kingdom from all directions for at least a year until they rebuild the barrier. And to make matters worse, the invisibility barrier that hid the Kingdom's location also disappeared with the shield.
At a distance, far away from the chaotic mess, Kyle blinked as he looked at the cracked symbols in front of him. He swore he just wanted to scare the merpeople a little by spreading his Ice Domain above the shield, but who could have guessed that the symbols forming the shield would be so weak and crack so easily?
No way, it wasn't his fault at all. He quietly left the location before anyone could find him. It was lucky that not all merpeople were in their original form, at least half of them were floating around with legs, so he easily escaped the crime scene. But while gliding through the panicked individuals, he noticed a familiar figure floating in the water.
Nine's lips were twitching violently as he watched the scene around him, with mirth dancing in his eyes. He even had the nerve to enjoy the ice flakes falling everywhere.
Kyle looked at Nine from head to toe, not sure what to make of it. The clothes Nine wore were way more luxurious than his own. He wanted to approach Nine, but before he could, the latter quietly started moving in the opposite direction.
Kyle watched as Nine took advantage of the panicked crowd and landed between the many buildings. Then, Nine quickly went towards one of the smaller buildings and entered without a care. Kyle raised an eyebrow because the building turned out to be hollow inside, with only a large array drawn in the center.
Nine scattered mana stones on the array like a skilled person before stopping in the center, maybe waiting to teleport away. But even after a minute, nothing happened. He stared at the array beneath him with wide eyes.
"What's wrong with this array now? The last time I checked, it was working perfectly!"
Kyle couldn't help but let out a little chuckle when he saw how Nine, who didn't know anything about arrays, tried to start the teleportation array but failed, even after many attempts.
He wasn't hiding or anything, he was standing right in front of the door that Nine came in from. However, the brown-haired man was so focused on the array that he didn't even notice Kyle's presence.
So, Kyle cleared his throat and spoke up, albeit slowly, but due to the enclosed space, his voice echoed loudly in the air.
"The array needs more mana stones, I guess."
Nine's eyes widened with realization.
"Yeah, right! Thank-? Huh?"
Only then did he snap his eyes up and stare at the place where the voice came from. Nine blinked when he saw Kyle standing in front of him.
"Kyle...?"
Kyle smiled and stepped onto the array.
"Of course, who else? How have you been?"
Nine closed his eyes for a second and then broke out into a huge smile.
"You bastard... do you even know how worried I was?"
He was really worried because he did not even get a chance to see Kyle before he was taken back to the Kingdom. He stood up and wanted to hug Kyle but stopped when it dawned on him.
"Hold on a second, it was you who broke the shield around the Continent, right?"
Kyle blinked innocently as if he had no idea what the latter was talking about.
"What shield?"
Nine burst out into laughter and punched his chest.
"Don't worry, I don't really care about this place. Plus, the Queen has enough resources to build the shield again."
Kyle nodded and let out a relieved sigh. Nine laughed at his face and shook his head before scattering more mana stones on the array.
"Let's leave before anyone notices my absence... I also need to go check on my girlfriend. I haven't been able to contact her since I arrived here."
