Carolina and the other soldier were wrapped in the lines in a brutal manner, being thrown against the wall. Ferinish looked at Slady, nodding his head in approval. Fraizen was shocked to see his soldiers being thrown against the wall in such a brutal manner, watching smoke emerge from the ice walls.
"Damn man, how did you do that?"
Slady wrapped the lines around his arm again, speaking in his apathetic tone.
"The lines are extremely delicate and sensitive."
As he finished the sentence, Slady prepared to attack Fraizen. But, the male soldier suddenly appeared, jumping into the air and firing three ice arrows simultaneously. Slady managed to dodge and Ferinish cut the arrows with his flaming sword.
But when they hit the ground, the arrows froze the ground, making the two jump back, so Carolina prepared to attack Slady from behind with her spear and Fraizen created an ice sword to attack Ferinish.
Slady countered the spear with her mechanical arm, causing a reaction of distancing and surprising Carolina. He took the opportunity to strike her neck, but her mechanical claws suddenly emerged from inside her back to defend other arrows fired by the other soldier, causing Slady some pain.
"Hmph!!"
***
"It's surprising that a human woman like you is so strong."
Fraizen said, trying to push Ferinish's body against the ground with her ice sword. But the other woman was much stronger physically, kicking Frazen in the stomach, which ended up not having much effect, as she had created a kind of armor on her body under the fabric of her clothes. But the kick ended up pushing her, at least.
Ferinish threw his sword in a rotating manner towards Fraizen, who created a wall of ice to defend himself from the fire of the blade. Ferinish ran to the wall and gave a powerful kick to the hilt of the sword, making the blade go through the wall and being thrown towards Fraizen at a great speed.
She dodged it by a hair's breadth, with the sword hitting part of her neck and burning her flesh.
"Shit!!"
She put her hand on the curve of her neck, trying to recover it. Ferinish appeared behind her, preparing a kick right at the sensitive nerve of her thigh.
But without realizing it, her leg was hit by ice arrows, making her leg get stuck in a wall of ice.
It was the male soldier, who had jumped above the ice wall and fired the arrows. He wore two gloves made of a material made by renkatas on his hand, preparing to beat Ferinish.
"I hate hitting maidens, but you are not one..."
Suddenly, the ice wall broke, with Carolina being thrown towards the man, making both of them hit their heads on the wall. Slady appeared with some wounds on her chest and face, but very calm for someone who seemed to be in an absurd amount of pain.
"..."
He quickly broke the ice that was holding Ferinish's feet, who freed himself and pulled the ice arrow out of his leg, letting out a grunt of pain.
"That hurts like hell."
"You're a pretty rough woman."
Slady said in an observational tone, Ferinish gave a small chuckle, but when he looked at the place where Fraizen was...
She was no longer there.
She looked around, Ferinish asked Slady to walk around the room and look for Fraizen. As he walked through the huge room, Ferinish could see nothing but the wreckage that was caused during the fight.
But, when he entered an isolated part of the place...
"Die!!"
An absurdly large ice sword was thrown at an insane speed towards Ferinish's chest, Slady watched the scene as if everything around him had gone into slow motion. His body, his mind began to not process his thoughts and his reason, he only felt his claws moving instinctively towards Ferinish to protect her.
'Why can't I move? Why am I walking towards death without thinking? Is it my instinct to protect Ferinish? I... I don't know.'
Without thinking much, the claws took Slady to face Ferinish, her arms began, by instinct, to raise to receive the blow. Ferinish's heart stopped in that short moment and the surprise in Fraizen's eyes was not difficult to see as his sadistic smile grew even more.
But for that difference of milliseconds, Slady's mind had the slightest bit of reason. As he took a syringe with an unknown liquid and threw it towards Fraizen, making the needle enter her neck and inject the substance.
"Shit..."
Fraizen's smile disappeared at that moment. Meanwhile, to prevent the full damage of that blow, apparently fatal to Slady and Ferinish, the man's mechanical claws wrap around the giant ice sword, starting to slow down and try to break that material. But as a consequence, the claw begins to destroy itself along with it.
'Are you serious? I'm going to die, my claws, my arm, all for a single woman? I don't know why I do this, I shouldn't... but even so, it feels so... right.'
Then, the sword hits Slady's chest, causing him to be pushed along with Ferinish, who couldn't help but release a tear from his eyes before losing consciousness.
BOOM!!!
Slady's mechanical arm is destroyed, along with his mechanical eye that was ripped out and broken, with his claws that were sacrificed.
The duo is thrown into the sky, with the castle wall being destroyed. Even though he is unconscious, Ferinish's arms wrap around Slady. Then, the two hit a mountain near the ice walls that surround the IceStorm region, causing great destruction and a large smoke screen.
The ice sword ended up dissolving into water, so Slady and Ferinish begin to fall together towards the icy water surrounding the mountain.
Splash!
...
...
...
Then, emerging from the water, Ferinish manages to get out, holding Slady's body with its chest pierced.
"Coff-coff!"
Ferinish spits out all the water from his lungs, trying to stay conscious.
"Slady..."
With tears in his eyes, Ferinish walks towards Slady, trying to heal him or warm him up somehow.
"Please, don't leave me!"
She hugs Slady, trying to warm him up, tries to look for a syringe in his pocket, but can only find the healing liquids leaking from his overcoat.
"Why did you do that?! I... I would have endured the attack! Y-you shouldn't have done that for me!"
She observes the emptiness left in his eye socket, the small short circuits that connected Slady's stump to the mechanical arm and the mechanical claws submerged in the water, now no longer connected to the man's body.
"Slady!!"
Ferinish can't help but cry, she hugs him tightly, enveloping his body in flames that don't burn. Wanting to keep herself and Slady warm.
"Please... I... I don't want to lose you..."
The world for her was like a lifeless void, there were no sounds, the pain she felt was forgotten, or rather, replaced. Ferinish's tears don't stop coming out, almost like something that flows naturally from his eyes.
"I love you... Slady... stay with me..."
"How beautiful..."
Ferinish looked up, seeing Fraizen in front of her... deformed. Half of his face was replaced by an ice demon with horns on his head, one of his arms had developed spikes and his hands had practically turned into ice claws.
"The woman lost her beloved, a man so weak, but so smart."
She puts her hand on her own ice face, with her normal face shining with pure hatred.
"LOOK WHAT THIS PIECE OF SHIT DID TO ME!!"
Ferinish looks Fraizen straight in the eyes in silence, her eyes widened, not out of shock at seeing the deformity, but because it was Fraizen who was in front of her.
"You... killed the only person important to me in this life. The only person who didn't use me, you... killed him."
Ferinish pulled out his sword, which lit up in a great flame and prepared an attack towards his neck. His eyes were blind, as if the only thing he could see was hatred and the thirsty desire for revenge.
Fraizen created a large sword of ice and with fury in her eyes, she prepared to counter the attack with all her strength.
...
Suddenly, her muscles and mind locked up, unable to land the attack. Their eyes went to Slady's body, from which a ghostly woman began to emerge from her chest. It was a woman with black and white hair, her body covered in a white cloth and her eyes closed.
Truth.
"My contract says that I must not interfere unless my life or that of my wielder is at risk."
She stood up, her body floating and her hands clasped together in front of her waist.
"I wish my beloved wielder could live a peaceful life, considering the cost of having me inside him."
She began to float toward them both, the pressure on her shoulders and back growing heavier and heavier.
Ferinish managed to stay on his feet, leaning on his blade, but Fraizen doubled over in Truth's presence, spitting blood and the same blood coming out of his eyes, almost popping them out.
"But... he who holds knowledge, the truth, is destined for a tragic and terrible end."
Ferinish tried to look at Truth directly, but he couldn't, it was like seeing something forbidden. Fraizen remained with his head down, not daring to move a muscle.
"I want only one thing..."
Truth extends his hand towards Fraizen.
"I want you to disappear from my wielder's life, forever!"
"Yes... my lady."
She begins to transform herself into ice cubes, falling to the ground and starting to move towards the castle in that form.
"..."
"..."
Truth turns towards Ferinish, placing his hand on her chin and forcing her to look at his face.
"When you had my wielder in your arms, you said you loved him. Is that *true*?"
Ferinish tries to speak, but he can't lie, he can't shape his thoughts, he just says the first thing that comes to his mind.
"Yes, I love Slady, more than anything in this life."
Truth can't help but smile a small smile of approval on her lips.
"I love those words, say them to him often."
Truth lets go of Ferinish's face, walking towards Slady, looking at him even with her eyes closed.
"You lost everything in that fight, Slady. Your weapons, your training, everything that made you strong. Now, you are just an ordinary man, but with knowledge beyond comprehension. What will you do with it?"
Truty then stood over Slady, with her ghostly body merging with Slady's physical body. The hole in his chest began to heal slowly, but the scars around his body, the missing arm and his eye were not restored.
Ferinish was still recovering from everything that had happened, admitting his feelings, even if forced, was like taking a weight off his shoulders.
"Slady..."
She walked towards Slady, limping, sitting on her knees next to his body, tears falling from her eyes again, but they were no longer of sadness, they were of happiness and relief.
She puts her hands on Slady's legs and back, Ferinish puts her ears to his chest, the slow beating of his heart being music to her ears, something she could listen to all night.
"How I needed to hear that..."