The monster fled.
Its broken shadows converged, instinct screaming louder than reason, racing along the only corridor left to it—the path Elsa had carved with ice and inevitability.
Toward Grey.
He stood there, frozen mid-step, mind still catching up to the violence unfolding around him. The Aberrant burst from the fractured fog like a nightmare made flesh—eight eyes blazing, venomous fangs parting wide as it lunged.
Too fast.
Toward grey.
But before it can even touch him—
The string snapped.
Elsa's arrow left the bow.
It did not arc.
It vanished.
For a fraction of a heartbeat, nothing happened.
Then—
A line of blinding blue-white light carved through the space between them.
The arrow passed through Grey's chest.
Clean.
Effortless.
No resistance.
No blood.
No pain.
And in the same instant, it struck the monster behind him.
The world screamed.
Light detonated outward, swallowing sound, swallowing color, swallowing space itself. Frost bloomed violently from the point of impact, racing across the ground, climbing the air, freezing mana, matter, and motion alike. The Mirror Realm groaned as if its bones were cracking.
Elsa did not move.
She remained where she stood, bow lowered, breath steady, eyes cold.
Finally the light faded. and the fog thinned.
Silence returned—thick and heavy.
Grey stood there.
Alive.
Unharmed.
Unscarred.
He slowly looked down at himself, hands trembling as they touched his chest, his ribs, his shoulders—searching for wounds that did not exist. His face was pale, eyes wide, every emotion fighting for dominance at once.
Fear.
Shock.
Disbelief.
Too many feelings crammed into a body that had not yet decided how to react.
Elsa saw all of it.
And for a moment—just a moment—she wanted to laugh.
No.
She wanted to take pictures.
That expression—raw, unguarded, human—it was priceless. Her fingers twitched reflexively before she remembered.
No phone.
A tragedy.
Behind Grey, the monster lay sprawled against the frozen ground.
Twitching. and Cracking.
Its body encased in layers of ice veined with pale light, its shadows fused together, its movements sluggish and weak. Every breath it took sounded like broken glass grinding against steel.
Still alive.
Barely.
Elsa frowned faintly.
"…Still breathing?" she muttered under her breath.
Her gaze sharpened.
Indeed A-rank monsters were no joke—but this thing was worse. Too clever. Too adaptive. Too close to the edge.
If she is not wrong it was just a step away from evolution...
And becoming a Calamity-class.
If that had happened—truly happened—even she wasn't sure of the outcome.
god she didn't even want to think about it...
Her eyes flicked back to Grey.
He was still staring at her now, trying—and failing—to compose himself. His heartbeat thundered so loudly she could hear it from where she stood. His breathing was uneven, his shoulders tight, his body rigid with delayed terror.
She smiled.
Softly.
The reason he stood unharmed after such destruction was simple.
Elsa's arrows were special.
They would only wound who she decided deserved to be wounded.
She took a step forward.
Toward grey...
But stopped midway...!!
Her body stiffened.
Something brushed against her senses.
A feeling so foreign it took her a second to recognize it.
Cold.
Heavy.
Oppressive.
When was the last time she had felt this?
…She couldn't remember.
After becoming S-rank, fear had become an abstract concept. She was always the one chasing.
Always the one deciding who lived and who died.
She was always the Predator never a prey.
She slowly lifted her head.
The two moon was gone.
Hidden behind shadow....
A vast shadow stretched across the sky, swallowing the fractured heavens of the Mirror Realm. It was so immense she hadn't noticed it at first—her mind refusing to comprehend its scale.
The air grew heavy.
Mana screamed.
A pressure descended—not sharp like a blade, but crushing, ancient, absolute.
Dread wrapped around her spine.
For the first time in longer than she could remember—
Elsa felt small.
She felt powerless...
Ahe felt like a prey.
Her fingers tightened around the bow as she stared upward, eyes reflecting the endless darkness above.
"…Ah," she whispered.
So that was it.
The reason this place had been so quiet.
The reason the Aberrant had been evolving.
The reason her instincts hadn't stopped screaming.
But before she can even think..
The shadow shifted.
And the sky moved with it.