The small grassfield deep within the forest, where Evan and Kael had landed hours ago, no longer felt like part of the world.
The air itself had thickened.
It was a battlefield now.
Silence stretched tight between them, pulled like a bowstring ready to snap.
Kael stood with his blade lowered, flames curling around his arms and shoulders like living snakes. His breath was heavy, but his eyes burned brighter than the fire surrounding him.
He wasn't backing down.
Not against a masked stranger.
Not against death.
Not against fate.
"You really plan to fight me?" he asked, lips curling. "Big mistake."
Flames erupted outward, scorching the ground beneath his feet.
In Kael's eyes, this was already over.
A man wielding fire weapons had to be a fire user. And Kael was the king of flames in this Expanse.
But reality crushed that assumption the very next second.
Above Evan's head, the air itself froze.
Moisture condensed in a flash. Frost spread like veins through invisible glass.
And then—
Ice bloomed into existence.
Pure. Sharp. Deadly.
Icicles formed in a rotating halo above him, their tips aimed at Kael like a thousand executioner's spears.
Kael's pupils shrank.
"…Ice?"
Evan tilted his head slightly.
Even through the mask, the mockery was clear.
"Still confident you can handle me with that disadvantage?" he asked calmly.
Kael gave a short, heated laugh.
"You think element advantage decides battle? Then watch how my flames melt your pitiful ice."
He launched forward.
His sword ignited, flames winding along the blade as he closed the distance in a blink.
At the same moment, Evan lifted a finger.
More than twenty full-sized icicles fired forward like ballistic weapons.
Kael's blade whipped in a wide arc.
Clang. Crack. Hiss.
Some shattered. Some melted instantly into steam. Others deflected off his swinging blade.
He burst through the storm of ice, flames roaring behind him like a phoenix's wings.
Yet Evan didn't move.
That unsettled Kael more than the attack itself.
He didn't fear the strong.
He feared the calm.
He slashed.
A crescent of fire flew straight at Evan's neck.
With a smooth motion, Evan leapt upward, the fiery arc slicing through empty space beneath him.
Kael didn't wait.
His fist ignited, a blast of compressed flame launching upward toward Evan's face.
Evan thrust out his palm.
Ice formed instantly, a translucent shield snapping into place.
BOOM.
The impact threw him backwards, but he twisted midair, landing on a tree branch, using the recoil to propel himself forward again.
Both Crimson Gale Blades were raised now.
Ice crawled over their length, wrapping them like crystalline armour.
Kael planted his feet, flames enveloping his own blade, pouring everything he had into a single forward charge.
Two forces met.
Fire and Ice.
Blade and Blade.
The moment they collided, the world seemed to bend.
A violent shockwave tore through the grassfield, uprooting earth and splitting trees. Steam exploded in every direction, blanketing the area in thick, blinding fog.
Within the mist…
Clang.
Clang.
Clang.
Steel screamed against steel.
Sudden flashes lit up the fog as sparks erupted with every exchange.
Then—
A body shot out from the white wall like a broken kite.
Kael crashed into a tree, the trunk snapping behind him as he dropped to one knee.
Evan emerged from the mist, one foot sliding back as he completed a brutal follow-through kick.
Kael gasped, clutching his chest.
It felt like his ribs had been crushed inward.
His vision blurred.
'What is he? A human… or a beast in disguise? How can someone generate that much force in this Expanse…?'
He forced himself to stand, chest burning, lungs screaming.
From the clearing, Evan's voice cut through the haze.
"What's wrong? Not done yet? I thought you said you'd melt my ice."
He slashed the air.
A sharp burst of frost tore through the mist, clearing the field completely.
Kael lifted his head.
Pure defiance burned in his eyes.
"Either I kill you today… or I die."
His aura surged.
Flames poured out from his body, devouring the ground, the grass, the air itself. A sea of fire swallowed the field.
Evan exhaled slowly, almost bored.
"Fine. I'll put some sense into that tiny brain of yours."
He took a step forward.
The earth beneath his boot crackled.
Then—
Ice spread outward in a widening circle.
A thick, merciless frost expanded like a living domain, swallowing everything it touched.
Grass became crystal.
Stone splintered under frozen pressure.
Kael's surrounding flames were suffocated, turned to silence the instant the ice kissed them.
It rushed toward him.
"That won't—!"
The ice wrapped around his legs, his waist, his arms.
He froze in place, trapped in a crystal prison, confusion written across his face.
But then, deep within him—
A light flared.
BOOM.
Death Phoenix flames ignited violently, exploding outward from within the ice, shattering it into thousands of fragments.
Kael stood again, breathing heavily.
Inside his mind, Vela's voice trembled.
"No… this isn't normal ice. It was overpowering our flames. It's like it was born to counter you. You cannot win this right now. And something more is wrong in here. Look at your mana."
Kael checked.
His body and mana pulsed weakly.
More than half of his mana was gone.
And he could feel it… leaving him… flowing toward the masked man.
"…You're stealing it."
His eyes snapped up.
"From the start, you've been draining me."
Rage twisted his face.
"That's why you're not tired. You trickster! I'll kill you!"
Several massive blades of condensed flame formed above his head.
With a scream, he launched them all toward Evan.
Evan didn't even step back.
One clean slash.
The ice-covered blade erased them all.
"Hoh… you noticed at last," he said calmly.
"But it doesn't matter now. You're nearly empty."
His hand lowered.
The siphoning stopped as he smirked.
"Mine? Not even close."
The temperature dropped again.
Between his palms, energy began to gather.
Ice didn't simply form.
It grew.
Petal by petal.
Layer by layer.
A lotus took shape… carved from absolute zero itself.
Above it, countless shards of frozen mana swirled like a miniature hailstorm, revolving in reverence around the bloom.
The presence it emitted was horrifying.
Ancient.
Absolute.
Even Vela felt dread.
The pressure alone was enough to make Kael's knees tremble.
The mana radiating from it… was more than any beast he had ever sensed till yet.
More than any being in this Expanse should possess.
Evan opened his hands fully.
The completed form hovered between them.
A perfectly crystallised, chilling lotus.
A flower of extinction.
He looked straight at Kael.
"Now tell me… can your flames survive this?"
His voice dropped to a whisper.
"Feel the bone-chilling Ice of End…"
The world seemed to hold its breath.
"Go… Hailcrown Lotus Calamity."
And he released it.
The world broke, as the flower was released, its power sending out chills enough to kill anything within its path.
As the lotus drifted forward, Kael's mind went blank.
His body went silent, as his face also went pale.
Fear. Pure and absolute.
It felt like death itself was walking toward him.
Even Vela's aura had never crushed him like this.
"Kael! MOVE!" Vela screamed. "Destroy it before it detonates!"
No response.
His eyes were empty.
'Pathetic, I can't blame you for this… but you are still my vessel. Even if I have to go into deep sleep, I can't let you die.'
Something inside him shattered.
The aura around his body twisted, sharpened… changed.
But it was too late.
Evan's voice slipped through the silence.
"Detonate."
The world froze.
Then it died.
A roaring blast of frozen destruction bloomed, a dome of ice and storm detonating outward for over a hundred meters.
Hail tore through the sky.
The ground became crystal.
Every living thing inside the radius was smothered in volcanic cold.
At the heart of it stood Evan.
Untouched.
A thin veil of fire coated him, vaporising any ice that dared approach.
A familiar sound chimed in his mind.
Ding!
[Action detected beyond current Tier.]
[Element: Ice (E+) has evolved.]
[Ice → (D^)]
[Control, Manifestation, and Transfusion increased]
"I didn't think it would be this strong," Evan muttered.
Arven let out a low whistle. "Where the hell did you even learn that?"
"A Fishman once tried to erase a kingdom with it," Evan replied calmly. "Unbroken Ice Calamity. I survived it… barely. Just stole the idea."
"And he let you live?"
"I had help," Evan said, a flicker of distant memory crossing his mind. "Four months of hell to recover."
Arven laughed. "You're insane."
Then his tone shifted.
"…Look forward."
The temperature spiked.
The icy mist was being burned away by something far hotter than Kael's normal flames.
From within the steam, a figure stood.
It was Kael's body.
But it wasn't Kael anymore.
Armour torn. Skin marked.
Yet not a single serious wound remained.
His eyes opened.
Crimson. Burning. Alive with ancient hatred.
A woman's voice came out of his mouth.
"Did you really think you had won?"
Evan raised a brow. "So the babysitter takes the front seat."
Fire coiled around the body, but not like before.
These weren't normal flames.
Tiny glowing particles lifted into the air, filling the entire clearing.
Like fire-dust. Like suns the size of grains.
"She has switched," Arven muttered. "Be careful now."
Evan watched the countless sparks float toward him.
'What are those supposed to d—'
One touched his hand.
And the world exploded in pain.
It burned through his defences, through his skin, straight into his mana flow.
His eyes widened.
He looked up.
He was surrounded by them.
Thousands.
Closing in.
"Oh no…"