Location: Back at Vologda's Border —
YNNNGG–!
Metal screamed against metal as Reyha's Gostchel locked blades with Nanook's greatsword.
The vibration resonated into the air like a sonic shockwave.
It was a crackle of force burst from the contact point, rippling through the frozen street and making the snow shudder.
Both women recoiled, backwards, skidding against the ice, before stopping.
After a breif moment, they leapt.
CLANG—!
Only for another flash of sparks and clash to resound.
Yet, both didn't stop there. They began, a clash of motion where each could not let up on the attack.
They danced like mirrored furies across the snow-dusted asphalt, trading blow for blow.
Rather in this case, steel for steel.
The frequency of their strikes created a high-pitched screech, almost mechanical, as their weapons collided again and again.
CLANG—CLANG!
SKREEE—KLANG!
Finally, Reyha twisted mid-swing, using the momentum to sweep Nanook's blade wide, forcing her to step back.
A breathless moment passed.
Nanook steadied herself in the churned snow, with her eyes narrowed at Reyha more in surprise.
"You… actually…"
She didn't finish the thought. She didn't have to. Stronger than expected.
More than just another flashy Teslovik recruit with a vibration arm.
'Tsk. I underestimated her…?'
Nanook's frown deepened as she bolted forward, black boots carving a footprint in the snow.
Her greatsword—easily double the size of Reyha's lance—spun with sudden grace as she blurred forward.
Reyha's muscles screamed as she pushed off with one leg, narrowly leaping sideways.
THUD–BAM!
'How is she this fast dragging around that damn dinner table of a sword?!'
She didn't have time to marvel.
Reyha slammed the butt of her weapon into the ground, both palms bracing the shaft of the sleek lance.
"Roar with thunder! [Gostchel]!"
She shouted its name as it crackled with life, yellow lightning pulsing from her arms into the weapon's core.
"Blow away!"
At once, the charge compressed.
Lightning danced like veins of plasma around the grounded weapon, the energy coiling into a single, volatile point.
The air grew denser, mostly due to the release of static pressure.
And for Nanook, who sprinted towards Reyha, this was bad news for her. She was already in range.
"Shit—!"
Reacting on pure instinct, Nanook twisted her body, vaulting backward with one strong kick just as—
THUMM—KRAKKK!!
The charge detonated in a bloom of wild electricity.
Brilliant burst of golden lightning screamed outward in a radial shockwave, splitting the asphalt.
The force sent rubble skittering, steam hissing from the fried snows below.
For a moment, only the deep buzz of spent lightning filled the air.
TZZZ—!
TZ—TZZ—!
Smoke curled upward from the cracked pavement, and a bitter scent of scorched iron and evaporated water hung in the air.
Through the fading haze—
Reyha stood.
Panting. Shoulders rising and falling. Her fingers twitched faintly at her sides.
"I haven't…" she managed between breaths, "haah… trained… haah… for nothing…"
Every muscle in her body ached.
She'd discharged so many attacks today; maybe that was why she was beginning to feel the recoil.
"You say that but you're running on fumes."
Nanook's voice called from beyond the mist, with her shadow moving fast within the mist.
Reyha's body stiffened.
Nanook emerged, breath visible in the frigid air, sword already leveled along with the words: "Die." However…
"Back off!"
TSUM—!
A sharp voice cut through the haze. A flash of silver streaked through the air.
"Ngh!"
KRANG—!
Nanook barely had time to react; her broadblade snapped into position at a diagonal block just as the arrow collided.
The sheer force of it rattled her arms and sent her skidding backward in the snow, with her boots carving trenches across the frost.
"Give it up, you're surrounded."
It was Sova, Snezhana, and Eriri, with the perimeter surrounded.
Although compared to the approximately fifty mobs in the perimeter, they were few in number.
No, forget the numbers.
It didn't matter here.
Sova herself is a master archer, capable of sniping from afar; each of her arrows has the force to bring down five men.
Not to mention, Eriri, who was a solid close-combat fighter despite also being a healer,
Nanook clicked her tongue. Her ears twitched. She wasn't used to this—being on the back foot.
However..
"Look who it is, isn't this Snezhana. Hahaha."
Looking over to the snow fox case, Nanook let out a sneer at the woman.
Snezhana herself was known for being one of those who assisted in thwarting the assassination attempts carried out on Niz.
Naturally hearing such a sarcastic comment especially from someone like Nanoom—BAM!
Snezhana couldn't help but reply in earnest by firing a bullet.
WHIZZ–!
The bullet whizzed through the air. Though Nanook evaded it in time, the ground cracked from the bullet's force.
"Oh? That was… as expected of Luceris lapdog, finally moved away from your friend's death?"
The words were venom, spoken mid-air as she twisted her body for a stylish landing.
Snezhana's mechanical barrel rotated, adjusting automatically.
BAM!
Another shot, only for the wolf girl to dodge mid-air.
"Your mouth is writing checks your body can't cash, stupid bitch."
"Bah."
Despite the bravado, Nanook was aware of her position. She had lost the advantage.
The perimeter was collapsing.
As for the mobs, now they somewhat regretted it.
With a further glance at Eriri, who had smashed her hammer on the ground, creating a small crack…
"Hm. Now that I think of it..
We haven't crusaded other places."
"Mhm. I'm beginning to feel slightly cold."
They rethought their decision to revolt, stiffening as a few even took a step back.
Sova, meanwhile went over to Reyha who with one knee knelt on the floor panting.
"How are you?"
"... haah… I'll live… besides…"
Despite that, Reyha turned her attention to where Snezhana and Nanook faced off in a confrontation.
"Haah. As much as I'll love to play, I've got some more important things to do."
"Stay where you are!"
Snezhana on the other hand hissed, motioning with her cannon, however, Nanook had been more wiser.
"Buh-bye."
"You…"
She leaped backward, straight into the crowd.. A coward's move, but an effective one.
They shielded her from line-of-sight. No one could risk shooting.
And just like that. Nanook vanished.
"HEY! Lady with the bow! You could've hit her! You're a sniper, aren't you?! Why didn't you help?!"
Deena had been one to rush at Sova with that question. Heck, Sova could have sniped away at any given moment.
However,... Sova simply shook her head and gave the expected answer.
"GRR! That's why I hate grown-ups!"
With a loud stomp and a childish huff, Deena stormed away—again.
"Reyha!" Eriri called out, without looking back. "You're up again."
"Not… again…" Reyha groaned.
Dragging herself to her feet, as if her entire skeleton had been replaced with bricks, she and Eriri hobbled after the pint-sized menace..
As for the mobs on the other hand,
VRMMM—!
As Eriri and Reyha trailed off to the distance, around where the mobs were stationed accompanied by Sova and Snezhana…
The sound of high-torque wheels tearing across icy asphalt roared into the air.
A matte-black van skidded across the snow and halted in a perfect drift near the edge of the confrontation zone.
The rear doors flung open.
A team of soldiers stepped out, armor-clad, rifle-equipped, their faces hidden behind reinforced tactical visors.
Bifrost's Special Weapons and Tactics team.
"Lady Sova, we've arrived."
In hindsight, when cases like theirs exist, wielding supernatural powers, it may seem like a waste of manpower hiring such men.
However, not Luceris.
"It's you people."
The captain nodded.
"General Luceris predicted this potential outcome. He had us scattered along the border hours ago."
It was a man, one with a husky voice, who stepped forward with a salute. He was as geared up as the rest of them.
"Rest assured. We won't deploy S-Arms against civilians. We're under control."
Sova and Snezhana returned the salute. "Understood, Captain."
"We'll follow Nanook's trail from here," Sova continued. "There's a chance it'll lead directly to Yulia."
The man nodded again.
"Should we report this movement back to the Supreme General?"
Sova paused muling it over.
"…No. Not yet. We report only when we have visual confirmation of Yulia herself."
"Understood. May our lord's light guide your path, ma'am."
His voice was solemn. Reverent, even.
It was more than military discipline; it was faith. In Luceris, not Bifrost or the government, but him alone.
Then again… it wasn't just the SWAT team.
Half of Bifrost's inner circle were cultist-adjacent, at best. But that wasn't relevant now.
Location: North. Inside the Vologda Radio Station.
Inside a room filled with dozens of communication terminals lined the curved interior, transmitting signals.
A dimly lit room with several panels of flickering screens around each side of its walls.
"Tsk. It can only amplify the power of the Relic this much? How annoying."
A certain pale, white-haired woman sighed, shaking her head.
She was a striking young woman with medium-length silvery-gray hair and polar bear ears, wearing a sleek, dark-themed outfit.
"This is not enough for Niz… and that person."
For several reasons, she had to be there, and knowing Niz, she would soon begin countermeasures.
At the very least, she wasn't worried that 'that person' would be dispatched; the rules forbade it.
Unless it were life-threatening to the North as a whole. And that was his only weakness.
Still, if he wasn't coming, that didn't mean others wouldn't come after her. She was at least sure Bifrost's lap dogs would come for her, haha.
Yet, 'Not if they get brainwashed first.'
"But that aside… what is an Eastrise spy doing here?"
Yulia said that, turning to a blindfolded young-looking woman wearing the standard Eastrise military clothing.
Short, dark gray hair was styled in soft waves and decorated with small gold flower-like ornaments.
Her uniform was a sleek black and gray military outfit with gold accents.
"Viva…"
At first, the female muttered blindly; however, she then blinked under her blindfold, coming to.
"N-no, I'm a subject of Raeon. I…"
Nevermind her; Yulia didn't pay much attention to her, having been brainwashed by her.
"I get it, you see. Lord Raeon is human too; she can be confused by people around her."
"Without those who offer poor advice, Eastrise would be stronger, don't you think?"
Like a devil's whisper, Yulia leaned over, whispering to her ear, holding the short, scepter-like relic in her hand.
The relic pulsed once.
In a daze, the female spy shivered, then nodded slowly, her voice faint and glassy.
"...Right… those around Lord Raeon are conspirators…"
"There it is."
Yulia smiled softly, standing again and gently twirling the relic between her fingers.
"Good girl."
Indeed, she was setting Eastrise up for failure, if the worst-case scenario should occur.
Even as powerful as Raeon is…
Ultimate Lifeform or not, she is still susceptible to the power of the Relic.
"As expected. Luceris… you're an obstacle."
She might have met him only a few times, no more than three.
However, she had heard more than enough about it.
But enough of that; while she may not be able to overthrow Luceris…
"I have my ways of turning people against you and Niz."
Twirling a remote control in her hand, the polar bear casually let out a smile.