Well, this was about what he'd expected. If anything, it wasn't quite as bad. Of course, the fact that all of their powers were weakened did help, as Phibrizzo's actual ability to harm him in this form was in question. That didn't change the fact that he did have some of this criticism coming.

And to avoid future criticism, although he doubted Hellmaster would appreciate it at the moment, he mentioned, "My roommate spoke to me about eavesdropping on our conversations, Lord Hellmaster." So please turn your volume down slightly. "Last night, when I was unable to find you, I met with an individual called Quatre Rabera Winner and went upstairs in search of you. So far as I am aware, only two options were possible, either you had been unleashed on the general population or your body was being experimented on. Since I could do nothing in the latter case and it would in fact be an improvement in circumstances over our current state, I decided to act upon the possibility that you were the victim of experimentation. Unfortunately, despite finding my way upstairs and to the area where I believe such things take place, I was unable to find you. There was a large crowd of individuals coming and going, likely on similar missions." Calling it a 'rescue mission' would likely sound insulting.

"As for the princess, I can only assume she arrived this morning before breakfast; that was the first time I saw her. I saw you with her, but did not approach so she would ideally not be aware of my presence until we could discuss how to address our status here with her." Xelloss looked up a bit.