The Cold Cage. Vingthor and Lopt's words had reached Joshua because of the connection he had to the two Ancients.

"Raizel." The tome appeared, opening the page where Joshua could see the details to the Cold Cage.

> Where the Lord of Thorns nurture and cultivate their allies. The Cold Cage puts them into a submissive state of unsound loyalty. Where those that are within the cage's reach are forced to follow the will of the Cold Cage.

>

> Achieving Pyrrhic Victories by any means necessary. They are highly dangerous because anyone within their cage will follow their orders.

>

> They are highly dangerous but possess immense leadership abilities. Their Cold Cage allows them to control those within their cage of influence against them.

> Even numbers could put a Lord of Thorns down.

Joshua was concerned, would that mean even his familiars may be affected?

"It's like you thought Lord. Cold Cage can affect your Familiars too." Iacus answered the question that Ethan had. It made things more difficult.

"Although that may be true... But, it will not effect Ancients, your Summon and myself." A voice echoed all around them, black feathers fell from the sky. Where they looked at a man with silver long hair wielding an odachi with one hand. He was tall like a regular human but the one wing he had to his left side was notable. He wore a white coat, smiling at the others as he kept his blade. The silver hair was tied in a braid, resting by his shoulders.

"The One Winged Seraph?" The figure chuckled as he shouldered his blade.

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance. Though Final Judgement. Why don't you make yourself known?" One Wing Seraph spoke, turning to look up to the sky. Where they watched the cloud be cut in half, showing a four winged being wearing black armor that contrasted with the four white wings, wielding the longsword.

"I was preferring to watch and observe, to think that my elder brother would summon me before the time... I suppose that is your right as the leader of the Seraphs. Will we be enough?"

"Hey, You're the Final Judgement. You tell me." Snarky remark by the One Winged Seraph to his brother, whose helmet deformed away from his head. Pinching his forehead.

"Oh by the Gods, must you be this casual? To think I used to think that you're the best among us." Massaging his forehead as he grumbled away while the One Winged Seraph merely chuckled to the others. Seijuro made his appearance, his kimono and the sight of his height was something that towered even the Goliaths and Vizel.

"Ah, the Wandering Mercenary! Seijuro. Good to see you."

"As calm as ever, yet you're itching to draw your blade don't you?" Seijuro's remark had the One Winged Seraph chuckling as he walked over to Joshua, flicking his head that sent Joshua flying a few thousand kilometers.

"Lord!" The Familiars called out in worry, Seijuro shook his head while Final Judgement continued to massage his head.

"Brother can't you be a bit more courteous to the Lord of Thorns?" Final Judgement was bothered by the actions of the One Winged Seraph.

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"Why should I? He's going to be up against you and if he can't even take a flick for me then it's already deemed that he's weaker than me." One Winged Seraph spoke as Joshua leaped to strike One Winged Seraph, Brilliant Ash was stopped with a finger.

"Oh boy. You have a lot of work to do." One Winged Seraph said as he directed the blade aside.

"Blade Shift, Brilliant Ash!" The blade transformed as Joshua thrust the blade at One Winged Seraph's eye, where it was stopped by the Final Judgement.

"A bit too early for that. Did you sense my movement?"

"No."

"Honest answer. Perhaps that is why the two of us are here. No matter, Lord of Thorns. For the assault into the Drusken Empire's Capital of Grisswall. I will aid you this one time. However, I will not be fighting the Cold Cage. That will be your duty alone."

"Sounds about right. We'll provide you cover. You just focus on facing the Cold Cage. The battle might be more difficult than ever. Hey, Avatar. You ever gonna stop hiding in the shadows?" Kael appeared before them.

"Astute as ever One Wing. I can't call you by name now can I? Since whenever I do it just becomes ********** or bleeped out to his ears." One Winged Seraph laughed at hearing that.

"Vingthor, Bileygr and Lopt will be waiting there. Your Rose Knights won't be good for this fight. Not because of power but the Cold Cage's effect to them is uncertain." Seijuro spoke as he looked at Commander 151 and the Crimson Reapers.

"Uncertain? What do you mean?" Ace asked.

"Tis as is said by the Wandering Mercenary, it is uncertain. It's rare to see more than one Rose Knight at a time. Given that you have 3 in your ranks. Rose Knights have their own mortal enemies and when dealing with a class that is said to be your counter. It leaves them in a state of combat euphoria. For Vizel, it is the State of Guilty. For the Rouge Rose it is Commandment and for the White and Red Roses of Slaughter, it is the Slaughtering Party. Granted there are benefits but it leaves them in a state of uncontrollable frenzy. Higher damage and combat potential but the drawback of not calling them or even be able to aid them. They become uncontrolled Roses that will hurt all in their vicinity. Something that may spell doom against you." The Final Judgement explained to them where Joshua took a moment to think about it.

"Your three paths... The Path of Poison, the Path of Fluorescence and Path of Vines will be something that you will use in the fight with the Cold Cage... Be sure to be ready." Joshua thought about whether his strength was enough, but he had Ashen Phoenix and Thanatos's Blade by his weapons. It may help to use those.

"The Cold Cage is not merely just a class that governs, but it also is a class that takes the status and powers of the many individuals that it governs. The Forerunners will not be a threat with consideration that the Fool of Zero's appearance is here. They will be defending the bases outside of the capital and their strength pales in comparison to your Familiars. So don't worry about them. They can be handled by the likes of Iacus the Wise of Darkness and Donovan the Lord's Guardian." The Final Judgement was like a professor giving a detailed lecture. He went on and on about Joshua's familiars, going over details such as synergies.

Joshua paid attention while the others were waiting for Final Judgement's lecture to end. When he finished, Joshua had found that combining the different teams would be useful. Yet, Joshua could not help but feel the tension sink in. He was going to face another person who has a system similar to his and the Cold Cage takes power from their allies, this makes the Cold Cage a bit more dangerous. Kael seemed to be calm about it.

"I can't fight the Outsider though. I will fight with you but I can't stop the Cold Cage because I'm an Outsider too. I can't just kill another Outsider. It is yours. I can only help you but that's about it." Joshua understood, it must be part of the rules that Etana has set for him.

He needed to ponder. What was this Outsider's objective and how much danger should he expect as the Lunaria Kingdom and the Venerators were closing in on the many fronts. The war was going to reach it's conclusion. The Drusken Empire had the numbers, but their strength was lesser when taken into account Joshua's familiars. If the Lunaria Kingdom had fought alone, things would have been far more dangerous than he had anticipated.

The advancement of technology by the Drusken Empire meant that many things came from Cold Cage who possibly was someone who was experienced in strategy. Giving birth to Iron Golems... This was going to be a troublesome fight.