"Someone's coming, Master Li," Thumb said, tilting his head with a look of doubt. The old man simply nodded. "I mean, someone bad," Thumb continued, tilting his head the other way. The old man nodded again and approached the door of cell number 1, as if knowing what was coming.

"Aron! Aron! Wake up!" Melina exclaimed, addressing the young man who had just opened one eye in cell 2.

"Very well. Wanqian. I suppose you've felt them already. Observe everything, sharpen your senses, retain all the information you can gather. If we're smart, this unforeseen event could work in our favor," Lucia dared to smile slightly in cell number 3.

It was only a few seconds before Wanqian heard the footsteps and commotion. From what he could perceive, their cell was the last one they entered.

"Out of the cells! Out of the cells! Any suspicious movement will end with lead in the head of the mage!" Four men in Anti-Magic Unit attire, accompanied by prison guards, entered without delicacy, handcuffing the boy and his companion, pulling them out of the cell and into the hallway that surrounded the courtyard from the second floor. Wanqian managed to see four prisoners already lined up on the lower tier before being kicked down the stairs from behind.

"Faster, rat!" shouted the soldier leading him to join the other prisoners, unable to keep up, still not recovered from the limp with which he arrived at the prison initially. He rose with a new wound on his face and limped his way to join the line, just behind Lucia. The prisoners were lined up in three rows of two, one row per prison cell.

Wanqian confirmed what Lucia had told him the night before. The elder in the front row was probably Li Wei, although he couldn't see his face, his eyes were probably slanted like his own. Behind the old man, a boy he estimated to be ten years old, likely Thumb, the little one who crossed the portal. In the next row, a slender young man with brown hair, the famous Aron. Right behind him, a slender girl with slightly tanned skin, trembling and on the verge of tears, Melina, an old aristocrat abandoned by her family—according to Lucia—and finally, just in front of Wanqian, his cellmate, probably the tallest of them all and of beautiful figure even in the prison jumpsuit.

"Prisoner number 18, Lucia Giovanni," a soldier from Winston's entourage read aloud. The Sergeant approached the girl, first looking her up and down, then positioning himself behind her, in front of Wanqian.

"Someday I'll come to play with you, bitch," he said in the girl's ear. "It would be a shame if you died first..." Wanqian noticed that, aside from the imposing presence of the disgusting Sergeant Winston, he didn't tower over Lucia in height.

"Is Lucia tall as a tower? Or can the fat lord only grow sideways?" Thumb's voice was heard, looking towards Aron. Wanqian couldn't believe it for a couple of seconds, but the comment—intentional or not—was a mockery that aroused his sense of alertness.

"Observe everything, sharpen your senses..." he recalled Lucia's words. He then realized they were surrounded by soldiers with rifles pointed diagonally towards the ground and prison guards forming a curved line. It was curious to see Grant in the hallway above the cell corridor, with his hands clasped up to his nose. The Director observed the situation, elbows resting on the railing, with an expectant gaze. Beside him, Diego, the young apprentice scientist, with his blonde hair and extremely worried eyes, and finally, on the other side of the prison director, the one who must be Von Hagen... Smiling? Was the legendary mad scientist Von Hagen enjoying Thumb's comment? This last thought made him release a surprised snort, which Winston took as laughter—or maybe not—leading him immediately to turn around and slap Wanqian's face with the back of his huge hand, knocking him to the ground again, and giving him another mark on his face.

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"Prisoner number 33, Wanqian Ji," the guard read from the paper, clearing his throat.

"Fengnian trash!" Winston spat, both metaphorically and literally, as the boy tried to get up. "Haven't you had enough from yesterday?" the Sergeant continued, bringing his face closer to the boy's.

"Hahahaaaaa!" Thumb's voice rang out again. "The new companion doesn't remember the fat lord from yesterday! Why can't he distinguish the whale lord? Do your tiny eyes not let you see properly? Master Li? Can whales be seen from afar? No? Yes?" The boy stretched his eyes with his fingers, trying to mimic the classic Fengnian gaze, and stared directly at Winston, carrying out his playful and out-of-place vision experiment. This caused the chubby Sergeant to turn towards him with a furious expression, before immediately shifting his focus.

"You...," Winston said, looking at a surprised prison guard in particular. "You were in charge of cell number 1, where that DAMN BRAT came from," he continued, approaching the guard who seemed not to understand the situation.

"Yes, sir! I brought...!" The response was violently and suddenly interrupted by a gunshot that disfigured the guard's face and killed him instantly. Grant stood up angrily, determined to descend from the hallway where he had been observing, Diego took him by the arm imploring calm.

"What about someone shackles that piece of garbage! Now!" threatened Winston with his revolver pointed at the ceiling. It was only then that Wanqian realized that little Thumb had his hands free. And apparently, he wasn't the only one surprised.

"Wow. I don't have handcuffs, Master Li!" the boy said in a sing-song tone, looking at his cellmate and then at his own hands. Two soldiers from the Anti-Magic Unit rushed to shackle the boy, who watched them with curiosity as they quickly returned to their place in formation. After seeing him bound again, Winston charged towards where the boy was, aiming his gun at his head.

"One more, and it'll be your head that flies, Winston!" Grant's voice was heard from the upper floor, who had drawn his weapon furiously. "You just killed one of my men, keep tempting your luck..."

"I don't take orders from a sorry chicken tender, Grant! You won't shoot, because you don't have the guts to do it. You're as useless and cowardly as your guards," he shouted before letting out a laugh and firing a shot into the air.

"Prisoner 30, Nameless. Known as Thumb," the officer recited from the paper, as Winston approached the boy and kicked him in the stomach. Thumb clasped his hands to his belly and fell to his knees in an exaggerated, theatrical manner.

"Very well, prisoners. I have an announcement for you," the Sergeant began, holstering his weapon. Perhaps recalling his orders, perhaps feeling stupid for losing control, perhaps fearing Grant, or a little of each "One of you will sacrifice for the good of our nation," he continued, smiling, resuming his usual demeanor "For our glorious army! Facing a soldier in singular combat as training partner!," he added with a mocking tone and gesture— "One of you will have the honor of dying in front of a soldier from Captain General Krom's squadron! And not only that! You will do it fighting under the watchful gaze of Nova Orda's very hero! The reason for gathering you here today is to decide which of you will be the lucky one!" he concluded, applauding three times with his huge hands and letting out another laugh.