"WOLF! Snap out of it!" Snapper yelled. But Wolf was still unable to move from his current position, his body stiffening like a sculpture.
The small silhouette, which breached his mind like a foreign invader, steadily raised its arm. Simultaneously, Wolf slowly raised his head until he saw a shadowy finger pointed right between his eyes.
Suddenly, teeth emerged from the face of the shadow entity, which formed a hideous smile.
Then, a low voice cracked through the wide gap left by its opened mouth…
"GUILTY!" The word vigorously echoed in Wolf's mind as the shadowy figure began to grow, engulfing him in a dome of pure darkness.
At that moment, Mel's eyelids flashed open, once again revealing the crimson glow in her eyes.
"Shit, she's awake!?" Snapper exclaimed, noticing that Mel had regained consciousness.
As if driven by a murderous rage, Mel immediately kicked the paralyzed Wolf away from her before retrieving her sword as she flipped herself back up from the ground.
Wolf's body flung to the side, and he groaned in pain, no longer able to move due to exhaustion.
The speed of Mel's actions had completely surpassed the agility she had shown during their fight, as though she had been saving her remaining stamina for one final attack.
"WOLF!"
Before Snapper could even make a move to engage her, Mel had already sprinted off into Wolf's direction.
"SHAAAAA!!!" She let out a savage cry as she charged at her target, scraping the edge of her blade against the ground.
"DIE!" she screamed, while using both of her hands to send a full-force overhead swing in Wolf's direction.
CLANG!
A sharp metallic sound reverberated from the impact of Mel's blade, which had hit something unprecedented.
"What!?"
Due to Mel's fixation on Wolf, she was unable to notice the presence of another, who had rushed all the way from the park in order to assist her allies.
"May?" Due to the sudden appearance of his teammate, Wolf was able to snap out of his trance and regain focus.
"I won't let you hurt my friends anymore!"
May, who stood in front of Wolf, was able to protect him at the very last second, clashing her shield against Mel's blade.
"Tsk, yet another annoying pest," Mel complained as she leapt backward in order to distance herself from them.
But the moment her feet made contact with the ground, she received a blow aimed at the side of her head, which she barely managed to block with her arm.
Snapper's feet met the ground after delivering a flying round house kick.
"Dammit!" he moaned, frustrated at his inability to knock her out with that final attack.
He watched as Mel's feet dragged backward across the ground due to its sheer force.
She was unconscious a moment ago… How the hell is she able to stand after that? Snapper questioned. Is she even human…?
Snapper's eyes then wandered over to May and Wolf.
"Thank you, May." Wolf showed his gratitude toward her after raising himself up from the ground. "If you hadn't been here, I'm sure I would've…"
"N-No, Wolf, there's no need to thank me. I just wish I could have been here much sooner." She grew silent, upon examining the injuries Wolf had accumulated during this fight.
"Don't worry," Wolf assured, noticing the look of concern on May's face. "I think I'll still be able to hold out for a while."
Wolf attempted to deter May's worry by understating the condition he was in, however, she still seemed gloomy for some reason, as she hung her head low in despair.
It didn't take long for Wolf to realize why May was acting this way.
"Since you're here, then I guess that means it was Amber that became frozen."
May lightly nodded before giving a run down of the events that took place prior, most notably her and Amber's fight against the winged creature.
That must be one of the things Jude refused to mention, Wolf concluded after hearing the story.
May continued to summarize everything that happened to her after they had been split up, making sure to mention the blue orb that emerged from the statue after being destroyed, as well as the message Amber asked her to relay in her final moments.
"I see…"
Wolf's fists clenched as he tried to picture Amber in her current state.
"Wolf…"
"Yo!" Snapper hurriedly approached his comrades. "You guys alright?"
Wolf quickly changed his expression, shaking his head to get rid of his negative thoughts as Snapper greeted May.
"You arrived just in time; that was some entrance by the way," he praised in an impressed tone.
"Uh, really?"
"Yeah, you actually looked pretty cool for once, so I almost didn't recognize you."
"O-oh…" May didn't know whether or not to take Snapper's words as a compliment, so she remained unresponsive.
Snapper's eyes wandered between the both of them, noticing that they were both acting more reticent than usual.
"Well, since you're here, I guess that means Amber's the one who got turned into a frozen statue."
May nodded her head once.
Snapper sighed. "Guess there's only one way to go about this then." He then returned his focus to Mel, whose twisted expression and lowered stance made her seem like an actual monster.
She stood a couple meters away with a mixture of sweat and blood pouring down her body as she began to pant heavily, frustrated and fatigued.
"Umm–"
"Snapper," Wolf said, cutting May off. "There's something you need to know–"
Suddenly, the soft sound of maniacal laughter quietly escaped from Mel's breath.
The laugh began to stretch in an eerie manner and its volume increased in a crescendo.
"Ahahahahahahahahahahaha... AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!"
This bitch is crazy… Snapper couldn't help but think this as he and his friends witnessed this spectacle of hilarity unfold.
"It appears the hot-headed peasant finally got what was coming to her. Perhaps in her current state, she'll be able to cool down for once." She chuckled much more devilishly this time.
Wolf responded to her words with a sharp glare, but the ignorant Mel continued without showing any concern.
"You should be glad she was the first one to go, otherwise I would have certainly returned the favor by now." She pointed to the side of her face, making reference to the scar she received from Amber earlier at the station.
Snapper, whose mind had remained focused despite Mel's provocations, noticed something off about her stance.
She was far too relaxed unlike earlier, as though she no longer had any intention of fighting.
"Well, with that being said, I suppose it is time for my departure," she sighed. "My master wouldn't appreciate me wasting time, after all."
Another card appeared around her, which–once again–no one was able to ascertain using Clairvoyance.
"Materialize!"
"Shit! She's tryna escape!" Realizing what Mel had been planning to do, Snapper and an alarmed Wolf began to charge at her instinctively.
But in spite of their rapid chase, there was no way they would be able to approach her in time.
Mel's body, which was gradually disintegrating, diffused into the air until an empty space was left where her whole body stood only a mere moment ago.
"Damn, she got us!" Snapper complained as he kicked the ground within the space she disappeared from.
"Where do you think she's headed?" Wolf asked.
"Who knows... But maybe this is a good thing. I was getting tired of fighting that gremlin of a princess anyway."
May approached Snapper and Wolf, emerging from behind them.
"I-Is she really gone?"
"It seems so," Wolf replied, doubtful that it would be the last time they saw her. "Now that I think about it, she's probably planning to locate the spawn of the next ice hat before anyone else."
"Eh? Do you think she knows where the next spawn will be?"
"Considering Jude's character, I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. I doubt it was simply a coincidence that the ice hat managed to spawn within her general vicinity."
"So, you think she knew it would be in this area, huh? That bastard… I should've guessed he was a frickin' cheat!"
Realizing his temper was reaching its boiling point, Snapper took a moment to calm down.
"Anyway, Wolf, you said you had something to tell me?"
Wolf's eyes turned over to May ever so slightly before he lightly shook his head.
"No, it… it's nothing. Please forget about it."
He stared at him blankly. "Geez, are we keeping secrets now? Well, I'm not the type to pry though, so I understand."
"Sorry, Snapper, but I just don't think there's any point in telling you anymore. We should just focus on finding the ice hat now before we're too late."
"Umm," May began to interject, "I think we still have some time, right? I'm pretty sure Mel won't be able to claim the ice hat next round since she already claimed it just now."
"She's right, but that still means that Jude can claim it in the next round, and if we have to get through him to get the ice hat, it'll be much more troublesome than Mel."
From everything they've experienced so far, Wolf knew that Jude's power was far superior to theirs, so having to face him to obtain the next ice hat would be a serious problem–at least, not one they could deal with on their own.
"I think we're gonna need the Viper's help for this," Wolf calmly proposed.
"H-huh!?" May exclaimed in bewilderment.
Snapper also turned to Wolf with a confused expression.
"Are you actually serious?"
Wolf nodded, maintaining his composed stance.
"B-but he's not even a part of the game, is he?" May questioned.
"It's the only chance we'll have if we want to save Amber. You heard that rumbling sound earlier, didn't you? I can tell that he's still fighting against Jude as we speak."
Snapper took a moment to think before letting out an unconstrained sigh.
"Alright, so what's the plan? We get on our knees and beg Mr. Viper for his help? How do we know he won't shoot our brains out the second we ask?"
"We won't, but we seem to have a common enemy, so it's still our best bet at the moment."
"..."
"Umm, I think I agree with Wolf," May said.
Snapper raised his eyebrow. "Seriously? You of all people?"
May lightly nodded while bringing her metallic hand close to her chest.
"Even though I still hold a grudge against him for what he did to my parents, it's true that we're both fighting against Jude at the moment, so it would be best to co-operate with him for now."
The mature way in which she spoke seemed to surprise the rest as they began to examine her silently.
"W-Why are you guys staring at me like that?"
"I think you've changed somehow, May."
"Yeah, lately you haven't been acting like the same little wuss you were when we first met you," Snapper bluntly added.
"Ah, a lot has already happened since then, I guess…" She spoke shyly while dwelling on the series of events that she had experienced in such a short amount of time.
There have been a lot of things that have caused May to change somewhat overnight.
She had confronted a nightmare from her past, suffered near death experiences, her family's home and workshop had been utterly destroyed, with her adoptive father still missing at this very moment.
She had been forced to deal with these issues head-on, and experienced tremendous growth from them.
"Well, if even May's okay with this ridiculous plan of yours, then I guess we have no choice," Snapper complied. "It's only a matter of time before more Royal Guards begin to show up too..."
Snapper's words were not false in any way. The Department of Royal Guards were likely to have received notices of disturbances in the Paradise District, and the beacon of light could have been heard or seen from miles away.
"We better get moving before things start to get a little too complicated."
The rest nodded and followed Snapper's lead, heading toward the area where the loud streak of thunder had erupted.
But only a few moments later, white flakes began to fall elegantly from the grey clouds once more…