King Minseok appeared from nowhere as the gates and doors of castle opened wide. As soon as the coast became clear the familiar silhouette was seen heading towards the confused crowd. A moment silence occurred at the citizens of Ice City recognized that it was their ruler. The snow continued to fall again and the weather returned to coldness. They stopped pushing the knight guards and mages that are preventing them from infiltrating the castle's yard. All of their eyes were driven at his direction, men began taking off their hats in order to show respect to the Highness. 

D.O shoved Chanyeol as he stood up and looked at Xiumin, there was a unusual expression in his eyes. He used to smile and easy-going, but now they can only see a mighty ruler adored and respected by countless people in his land. The two were bewildered as they watched him walk in his white robe, crown and cane. Each step that he takes was followed by everyone's eyes. The moment was not easy to describe, the next think that Chen could remember is this silence. Taeyeong appeared behind the King and they paused halfway. The leader wandered his eyes and scanned the faces of humans in front of him. Weapons and dangerous things on their hands automatically fell and forgotten. Peace was quickly restored with a muted spell and command. 

The struggle to control over the pathetic people was put to an end. King Minseok raised his right hand and another strong wind gushed through. Cardigans were ripped and some possessions disappeared as the wind calm down again. His cane turned transparent and crystal clear. Chen was terrified when he tried measuring his amount of life force and aura's influence. It changed a lot, it was so much higher than before. Suspicions and malice began to form on his mind, he wanted to know what is this comrade up to. It could be that he finally unveiled the last hidden layer of his power of maybe he used a spell to fake it. His eyebrows creased into curiosity, this doesn't feel right either fine to him. Out of all his fellow mages, he was the only one who noticed the huge difference of old and new Xiumin. 

The servants standing near the gates and front doors bowed their heads with knees bent on the ground. They had the same expression in their faces- a look of adoration and being overwhelmed. D.O stared at his fellow mage and was amazed how powerful he was over these people. He haven't even said a word yet they already stopped insisting. He was fascinated how they sees Xiumin as their highest authority in everything. As soon as King Minseok raised his glass cane too, a dazzling light came from the above and everyone was blinded at that moment. His eyes turned into silver and crimson red, the mark in his cheek appeared and it glowed. 

The light disappeared and another battalion of soldiers and knight guards appeared beside Xiumin. No one spoke until his lips cracked open and made an announcement that made D.O, Chanyeol and Chen's eyes grew wide. Is the fellow mage a liar or betraying Blessed and the rest? He became unreadable and unpredictable. With the snow falling from the gray sky, someone felt a strong and strange wave of power. He collapsed and he lost the ability to see. The man got blinded the same way that Chaerin lost her sight. The pale ground got stained with red, he was crying blood but no one ever helped him. All of them were looking at King Minseok with adoration. 

D.O shivered in cold but what made him more angry is the carelessness of him. He couldn't believe what he just heard, and one wrong move can cut off one of his limbs. The kind-hearted and non-tyrant King was no longer existing. He wonders if this is just for a show to scare people or he really made a change of will. Chanyeol slowly shook his head as he disagreed at the announcement. Chen tried to speak up to King Minseok but a barrier was made to protect him. People were surprised when they saw the mark of their nation in his cheek. The rumor of him becoming the next Guardian of Ice was confirmed to be true. 

"The world will vanish for the next several days, but there's nothing to worry for. Our dear heir of Tree of Life is about to complete the search for the twelve guardians whom will replace the descending. Once the throne is taken, we will be saved and our dreams will be restored. People, I am one of the chosen mages." 

People praised him as expected, their eyes were shining in gladness and celebration. D.O tried to talk to Chanyeol, but he was very surprised that he gotten frozen and astonished. Chen's staring shifted into sharp glaring, his hands balled into fists. He couldn't understand why he had to reveal it with ordinary people. Is he holding into a assurance or just arrogant? Does he forgotten their pinky promise to Blessed to keep everything a secret? If his theory is accurate, then he really lost his head.

Blessed was startled when she heard what Victoria Song said.