In the prison, divided into levels and forcing the slaves to sacrifice their health for the enrichment of the aristocrats, there was nothing but rigid rules, all to make this mechanism of processing life into gold work every second of this unjust life.
The slaves obeyed the guards, and they in turn had no more rights than the wardens, of whom there were only a few, but their authority was unshakable. Only the head warden was above them, standing at the top of this power pyramid.
Even the wardens' clothes showed their superior status, allowing them to completely hide their bodies with a long black coat and half of their face due to the shadows from the hat and high collar, unlike the guards.
"Bastards! Work faster!" Guard exclaimed, shouting at the slaves who were struggling to lift shovels full of coal.
Their backs had long been burned by the intense heat coming from the furnace, but... Did they have another option?
Either throw the coal into the furnace or die right now, that was all the freedom given to the slaves.
"Quiet, damn it!" The other guard hissed, poking his elbow at his buddy.
The first guard got an annoyed grimace, but as soon as he saw the two silhouettes approaching them he understood.
In fact, although slave abuse was the norm, it was forbidden by the rules because it lowered the slaves' performance.
"Well, well, there's no way you can enjoy your power, is there?" Klaus uttered, stopping five meters in front of the guards with his hands behind his back.
The guards didn't know every warden by sight, and considering that Klaus did his best to hide his appearance, the guards had no suspicions. It was enough for them to hear the commanding voice of the man in front of them to set their instincts in motion.
Neither the wardens nor the guards were nobles, however, the wardens had impressive fighting abilities and worked directly for the head warden's family.
"I'm sorry... It's just that these slaves aren't meeting deadlines at all! They're working too slowly!" The first guard timidly replied, straightening his back and placing his hands at the hips.
Klaus nodded and pointed the metal club at the guards, causing them to gulp.
"I see... In that case, you need to set an example for these slaves, don't you?"
The guards exchanged glances, clearly confused.
Evan stepped forward, "Come on. Throw a few shovels of coal into the furnace, or do you want us to make you do it? A little work will do you good. You should know your place."
Oddly enough, this time the guards felt even more pressure than before.
Klaus was obviously playing the part pretty well not to be exposed, but Evan acted naturally not as a just escaped slave, but as a ruler of the world.
The first guard nodded silently, picked up his shovel, and began to work under the astonished stares of the other guards and slaves.
Klaus and Evan shared a smirk, their plan had gone smoothly, and now it was their turn to do what they had come here for - chaos.
A green crystal appeared in Evan's hands as his hand moved.
Step. Step. Step.
However, at the last moment, he stopped because of a tall silhouette approaching them with a slow, measured stride.
"What... Another...? Is today some kind of special day?" The Second Guard muttered, sharing the feelings of the others as well as the slaves.
No one understood why another overseer was coming here when two was a rarity.
"Hm? Why are you off duty a day early?" Aron uttered, stopping as his black hair fell over his shoulders while his green eyes intently watched everything around him.
Perhaps the guards couldn't recognize Evan and Klaus, but it was only a matter of time before the real warden.
"Wait... you are..."
Whoooooooooooooosh.
At the same moment, Klaus and Evan turned around, without hesitation running away. However, the reason was not because they were afraid of Aron, there was something more dangerous than an angry warden who was just beginning to realize what was going on there.
'Agh...? What is this...?' The First Guard, holding a shovel in his hands, inwardly muttered, looking at the green crystal flying in front of him.
The crystal, filled with acid, emitted a powerful aura that, in his eyes, looked like an eerie ghost skull - a harbinger of death and suffering for everyone who fell under its gaze.
Once in the furnace, the crystal shattered into hundreds of tiny particles, each of which reacted with the flames, causing the fire to sparkle and explode.
The stream of fire, in a heartbeat, burned the slaves and the first guard, rapidly approaching the others.
The slaves at the mechanism scattered in all directions with faces filled with fear, driven only by their animal instincts.
With the scythe of death right at their necks, there was no time to ponder the consequences - they had to run as fast as they could. Nothing else mattered.
Aron, stunned, looked at the bottom of the cauldron covering cracks and the mechanism whose rod no longer rotated and rested on the edge of the cauldron.
Crack. Crack. Crack.
Under the powerful pressure, part of the bottom of the cauldron shattered, pouring out a white liquid - heavy and hot as lava.
Then, due to the change in balance, the cauldron tilted, falling its wide part to the other side and pouring out tons of amber magma, burning everything in its path.
The only ones who had a chance to survive were Evan and Klaus, who were already on the far side of the second level as they were the only ones who knew about the coming disaster.
Well, they were the ones who had set it all up, but that wasn't really important.
"Hah, looks like our plan worked perfectly. When the rest of the slaves get here and see burnt bones and molten skeletons instead of guards, they'll have no doubt that the riot is real!" Evan smirked, watching the lava flowing from the cauldron and the escaping guards along with the slaves.
Only Aron stood still with his eyes wide open, staring at the magma flowing right at him, wild waves that would soon engulf him for one purpose only - to turn him into lonely ash forever.
"Tsk. I'm not complaining, but it's not good at all that he's the one on duty today." Klaus bit his lip.
"Hm? Is he any different even from the other wardens?"
Klaus nodded, "Yeah... Aron Smirth, roughly speaking he's the main warden and obviously the strongest."
At the same moment, Aron swung his arm, revealing his coat, beneath the long covering of which was hidden a cross-shaped silver sword hilt with a long, split blade at the base with a round blue crystal.
"What an unusual sword..." Evan muttered, feeling a strange energy emanating from Aron's weapon.
"It's a catalyst." Klaus said coldly with great grimace.
"Hmm?" Evan gave him a questioning look.
"Catalyst is a special weapon that can be used by both mages and commoners. The effect is weaker for commoners, but it's much better than ordinary weapons, and Aron is the only Warden who has such a treasure in his arsenal." Klaus muttered, piercing Aron with a stare.
Step.
Aron stepped forward, holding his sword out in front of him and touching the cold blade with his palm like a knight before a mortal combat.
Then, Aron muttered something as the blue crystal shone brightly.
Frosty currents of air swirled like a blizzard between the two blades, causing the temperature around to drop significantly as in a very cold winter where no place was left for flames.
Gripping the hilt firmly, Aron thrust his sword into the ground, in an instant releasing all the energy outward, covering the ground in a dense layer of ice with cold threads spreading out in a spiderweb pattern.
The magma flows colliding with the ice released thick streams of steam, but stopped, preventing full-blown chaos, at least in one place.
Having accomplished his task, Aron turned around and cast his all-consuming gaze at Klaus, who was nervously nibbling his fingers, and Evan, who possessed an excited smile, an almost frantic one.