159 A nice reunion.

"Master?!" Claire turned her head to the side and found Nick floating beside her. And to her shock, it was her beloved Master who she had been looking for to teach her the Secret art of Food Alchemy!

"Hmm." Nick calmly turned his head as well. He had actually forgotten to take a look at the face of the beauty whose underwear had mesmerized him?!

"Claire?!" Nick looked at her in shock. What a nice reunion… How come he didn't know she had such stylish panties?

"Master! You came to rescue me?!" Claire felt touched. Her Master cares about her this much?! Although she was a bit disappointed that it wasn't the handsome hero saving her as she had imagined.

"Huh? Yes, exactly! I came to rescue you." Nick wouldn't deny it. There was no need to.

It was weird. Although the Dark mist surrounding them blocked their hearing sense, keeping them shut out from most of the world. It weirdly didn't prevent those covered with the Dark mist from communicating! For example, they couldn't hear anything Shadow One and Master Crow said unless Master Crow specifically allowed them to. But Claire and Nick could still talk to each other because they were both shrouded with a little dark mist!

"You two know each other?" Master Crow had overheard Nick and Claire's conversation and he got interested.

"Yes! He's my Master!" Claire announced proudly.

But Nick didn't answer right away. Instead, he turned to her and asked, "Hey, Claire, do you have a good relationship with Master Crow?"

"No, he wants to torture some information out of me." Claire didn't understand why Nick asked this at this moment. Couldn't he see she was being dragged around like a prisoner, why ask something so obvious?!

"Oh…" Nick frowned as he did the math quickly in his head. Master Crow didn't like him, and apparently, he wanted to torture Claire for information. And usually when one wanted to get some information out of a person, then they would torture the person's loved ones. So, if Crow found out they knew each other, Nick would be the person he would torture in order to get the information he seeks out of Claire!

"Mr. Crow, I have no relation with this delusional woman over here. She must have a couple of screws loose in her head to think so! I just can't understand why so many women want to call me Master so badly, okay, I know I am handsome and charismatic with a personality of gold, but don't you think claiming to know me is too much?!" Nick sounded a little upset. But he was sending Claire multiple winks as if telling her to agree with him on this.

Claire grew sad and confused when she heard Nick say all those mean, hurtful things. But she soon found him winking at her, and she finally understood. So, her Master had a plan for escape but he couldn't do it if Crow knew they knew each other. She finally felt better and winked back at him multiple times to show him she understood.

Nick wished he had hands at the moment just so he could give Claire a smack to the face. What is wrong with this woman?! Why is she blinking rapidly for no reason?! Was she suffering from a stroke?!

"So, do you or do you not know each other?!" Master Crow got ready to give these two insolent worms a little taste of the torture to come if they didn't answer him properly this time.

But before Nick and Claire could even respond…

"Master, it's Shadow Two!" Shadow One exclaimed. His fingers pointing at a figure in the distance who was heading their way.

"Huh?" Master Crow looked on in shock. Did that little traitor actually turn himself in?! Was this his way for repenting for his action, and asking for forgiveness?! But even if it was, Master Crow didn't plan on letting him off easily, at the least he would torture the bastard for a few months before he forgave him!

"Ahhhh!"

But Master Crow's theory of Shadow Two turning himself in, soon got disproved since Shadow Two turned tail and ran as soon as he caught a glimpse of him!

"Stop right there! Shadow Two, it is time you paid for those words of yours!" Master Crow scoffed slightly and a tiny portion of dark mist suddenly appeared right next to Shadow Two's feet. And before Shadow Two could react. Both his feet got tied up nice and tight. But that didn't stop him, no, he immediately rose to the air and began flying off. Silly Master, who needed their feet these days…

But he soon found out that his Master didn't do pointless things as the dark mist that bound up his feet began to spread and spread until it finally covered Shadow Two along with Shadow Five up like a cocoon.

And with a wave of his hands, Master Crow made the cocoon fly over to his side and he made it float right beside Nick and the other captives.

'Shadow Two!' Nick suddenly remembered that Shadow Two didn't get caught yet and that the man was probably heading this way at this moment. So, Nick hurriedly tried to contact him. But he got a little distracted for a moment because a cocoon made entirely of dark mist soon floated beside him. Apparently, someone else had gotten caught, but Nick couldn't see who it was. Yet, Nick didn't bother with the cocoon too much because he needed to send Shadow Two a message telling him to run. Otherwise, if all of them got caught, who would save who?!

'Shadow Two, do you hear me?!'

'Brother Nick is that you?! Wuuu, Brother Nick, I got caught! Now what do I do?! Please save me!' Shadow Two couldn't see Nick either because the Dark Mist was just too thick to see through. So, he thought he was the only person that got captured.

'Huh? What do you mean?! I know I've been caught. But where the hell are you?! I don't see you here!

'Stop messing around, we don't have time! Master Crow is heading towards the layer as we speak! So, don't come trying to find me, hide somewhere, and I will send you a message with instructions later on! Don't forget that I have that secret space, that is the only place you can truly stay hidden from Master Crow!' Nick had guessed that the reason Shadow Two was acting like this was all because he didn't want to help him. So, Nick tried reminding Shadow Two he needed the palace just as much as Nick needed his help.

'Wait, brother Nick, did you get caught as well?! I am covered with Master's Dak mist so I can't really see the outside world?! Wait a minute?! Why didn't you warn me that Master caught you sooner?!' Shadow Two smacked Shadow Five, who was lying unconscious on his shoulder, right on the face! He needed to vent some of his anxiety.

Nick looked at the large ball of dark mist by his side with a tinge of annoyance. He didn't talk with Shadow Two anymore because it was pointless. It would better serve his time if he tried to think of ways to escape.

Suddenly, as they flew towards their layer, Shadow Two and Master Crow began hearing someone yelling while heading in their direction. The person yelling seemed to be dragging something huge as well.

"Brother Nick!"

"Brother Nick, are you still alive?! I am sorry I abandoned you…wait, I didn't abandon you, I just retreated before you did! Brother Nick, are you still alive?!" Loyd flew anxiously as he called out. He had left Nick behind, swearing to never look back. But as he remembered how Nick had given him a lift to the Secret realm, how he had fed him multiple delicacies that people would kill for, and even how Nick had risked his life to come and rescue him today his conscience just didn't let him get far. Soon he flew back and began looking for Nick by tracing his steps and the battle marks left behind.

Loyd had even found Silver, who was on its last breath on the way. So, he dragged Silver along with him by using its tail. Bringing the heavily injured Silver to Nick would be his way of apologizing.

"Ugh…" Loyd's face became scrunched up as tears fell down his face rapidly. He could see Shadow One flying toward his direction and beside him, was the scariest person Loyd had ever seen! Master Crow! While he was being held captive in their cellar, Loyd had seen Crow torture, someone, in the cage next to him to death, so he knew how scary the man could be. And he also knew that escaping was out of the cards now. Damn it! This is why people don't listen to you anymore, 'Stupid conscious'!

Pa!

Shadow One vanished from his spot and arrived right behind Loyd. And with a light chop to the neck using his remaining hand, Loyd was knocked unconscious. Shadow One wanted to prove to himself and to his Master that he could still fight. Because fighting Nick had really depressed him. He could usually kill those at the immortal Core or even sometimes Immortal foundation level, as long as they weren't geniuses, of course. But today he had nearly lost his life to someone like Nick, who was much weaker than him?!

Dragging Loyd and Silver over, Shadow One presented them both to his Master. And Crow shrouded Loyd in a little dark mist, just enough to bind his limbs and before placing him with the others.

"Sigh, at least Loyd escaped, I am pretty sure that this good deed will get me a good seat up in heaven…" Nick couldn't think of ways to escape, so he started thinking on the brighter side of things. But it seemed the heavens refused to let him have a win since not a moment sooner a body floated right beside him, and goddamn it if it wasn't Loyd!

"What is this beast?!" Master Crow frowned. Although Dark Nightmares might be rare to some, to someone of Master Crow's abilities these creatures weren't anything much. At most he would enjoy eating them…

"Master, this is Nick's pet. That Hog I told you about must-have teleported it beside me because it had just appeared in the fight out of nowhere!" Shadow One elaborated.

"Hmm, interesting. I am really looking forward to finding this Hog you speak off. Hopefully, it hadn't run off yet and is still near the layer! But this beast is useless, let's kill it!" Master Crow then raised his hands in a chopping motion. This was the same thing he had done before Elder Grimm and the other disciples lost their head, and Nick lost all his limbs…well, all except for his third leg of course…