Winter pressed his hand to his bleeding side, every step a red-hot agony as he staggered away from No. 2's body. He hardly paused—there was no time. With a burst of will, he slammed his palm to the ground, freezing it solid and conjuring a slick, glimmering slide of ice that raced ahead through the forest. He threw himself onto it, accelerating with reckless speed, branches whipping past in a blur as he slid toward the cabin.
He crested a rise and saw them—No. 1 standing in the clearing, lighter in hand, Varia and Volio pressed against the cabin's window with terror on their faces, and Kyo lying crumpled in the dirt, unmoving.
Winter leapt off the ice, landing hard. His chest heaved with exhaustion and rage. No. 1 turned and smirked, flicking his lighter open. "Well, look who finally made it. I was just about to put this crappy cabin out of its misery." He winked at the kids through the window. "You want to watch, or you got the blueprints on you?"
Winter's vision tunneled at the sight of Kyo on the ground. He staggered forward, dark energy leaking from every breath, eyes burning with unnatural violet light. The temperature plummeted as frost crackled around his feet. "You're dead," he whispered, voice trembling with bloodlust.
No. 1 didn't flinch. He just grinned wider. "Whoa. Edgy. Are you going to bore me to death with your melodrama, or do you actually want to try something?"
Winter's body was failing, he could barely stand. There was pain radiating from every wound—but the fury kept him upright. He took a step forward, raising a shaking hand, black ice swirling at his fingertips.
No. 1 just shook his head in mock disappointment. "Before you get any ideas, let me give you some advice." He tapped his own chest. "There's a bomb inside me, you idiot. One strong enough to level a whole damn town. You kill me, everyone here goes with me. So, what's your move, hero?"
Winter faltered, the darkness in his eyes flickering—he could feel the truth in No. 1's words, the deathtrap wound tight in the man's body. He hesitated for the first time, hands trembling with rage and fear.
No. 1 winked, then turned to the cabin, flicking his lighter. "Oops!" he said, voice dripping with mockery, as he tossed the lighter at the wooden porch.
Time seemed to slow. The lighter arced toward the cabin, flames flickering—
A portal of crackling red energy split open in front of the cabin, swallowing the lighter in midair. The air howled with demonic power, the ground shaking as something massive stepped through the gate.
No. 1 stared, jaw slack. "What the hell—"
A demon emerged, towering and regal, eyes burning with ancient fire. Its gaze swept across the clearing, a terrifying calm in its voice. "This world shall be liberated. Reformed in Prince Chefera's image."
No. 1 blinked, then burst into wild, hysterical laughter. "You've gotta be kidding me! What is this, amateur hour? Monsters, magic portals, assassins—sure, why not! What now, demon? Gonna monologue me to death?"
The demon glided forward, and with a flick of its wrist, a razor-thin claw slit No. 1's throat open in a single, fluid motion. Blood sprayed the grass. No. 1's laughter died in a wet choke as he toppled to his knees.
Winter, barely able to process what was happening, reacted on instinct. Dark tendrils erupted from his hands, snaring No. 1's body and hurling it skyward—just as the bomb inside the assassin detonated in a brilliant, apocalyptic explosion. The sky lit up with fire and shrapnel, raining down harmlessly far from the cabin.
The demon turned to Winter, its gaze like molten gold. "You have done well to survive this far, child of frost. But your trials are not yet over. Prepare yourself. The age of Chefera is dawning."
Winter collapsed to one knee, the adrenaline fading, pain and exhaustion threatening to pull him under. He looked to Kyo, to the children—alive, safe for now...