What truly caught Lucas by surprise as he watched the clash unfold was not merely the scale of power being exchanged but the restraint the ice belle was showing throughout the fight. She had not once attempted to transform to her full and magnificent form, the towering embodiment of absolute frost that Lira had once described to him in careful detail, the same form that had shaken the abyss during their previous encounter. This time she remained in her compact body, small and radiant, relying not on overwhelming presence but on control, precision, and instinct, and that alone told Lucas how much she had matured.
