Not even a single breath.
The knight before his eyes vanished.
Uzuki furrowed his brow, his gaze locked onto the position where the figure had just stood.
A chilling sensation ran down his spine.
Uzuki suddenly stomped hard into the snow, the full force rebounding and launching his body straight into the air.
*BOOM!!*
At the spot where he'd just been standing, the snow surface shattered, erupting upward as if some massive object had just crashed down from above.
Uzuki reached inside his coat.
A pistol slid into his palm.
He didn't need to aim. Instead, he seemed to track the source of movement.
Uzuki raised the gun straight toward the rising snow column and pulled the trigger.
*Click.*
He froze for a fraction of a second, looking down at the gun.
Uzuki pulled the trigger once more.
*Click.*
The dry metallic sound rang out, hollow and useless.
Without a moment's hesitation, Uzuki threw the gun away, letting it disappear into the deep snow.
But just as he lifted his head...
Suddenly...
A rhomboid column extended from the ground, a cold jade-green color, its surface smooth and glossy like crystal, its tip rising into a sharp cone aimed straight at the top of Uzuki's head.
*WHOOSH!!*
Uzuki twisted his body mid-air, the blade grazing past the ice column by a hair's breadth.
The thing shot past before his eyes, continuing to pierce straight into the pitch-black sky, extending endlessly as if it had no endpoint.
Uzuki landed on the snow surface, sliding back half a step.
He turned his head, looking toward the point of origin.
Clearly, that thing had come from the earlier snow column.
With the knife in hand, Uzuki suddenly drew his leg back, forming a javelin-throwing stance.
Then he twisted his body sharply, hurling the knife forward with force.
The blade cut through the wind, leaving a faint trace in the air before plunging straight into the smoke column ahead.
But...
It passed completely through.
Striking only empty air.
Uzuki froze, and in that very instant—
A sword blade appeared to the right of his head!
The knight, like a phantom, stood right beside Uzuki without anyone noticing when.
*Swish.*
The cold, sharp sound tore through the air.
The blade stopped mid-air, touching neither flesh nor cutting anything.
The knight tilted his head slightly.
He looked to the side.
Several meters away, Uzuki stood there somehow, standing tall amidst the white snow. And something was very strange.
His eyes...
Pure white?
A faint light emanated from those eyes, standing out bizarrely in the frozen space.
Then the white light gradually faded.
His pupils returned.
The familiar soulless gaze reappeared.
A very slight expression of discomfort crossed his face, as if he'd just been pulled out of something unpleasant.
The knight stood still.
Not from surprise, but rather
reassessing.
As for Uzuki, he suddenly reached behind his back.
From behind him, a long object was gradually pulled out. Slowly appearing, as if being drawn from nothingness.
It gradually revealed its true form.
A Chokutō.
A straight blade, thin edge, cold metallic gleam reflecting the surrounding white snow. No spiritual energy emanating, no explosive aura, just a sword existing with a presence so distinct it was unsettling.
Uzuki gripped the sword hilt tightly, then drew it straight out.
*Shing*
The metallic sound rang softly, dry and crisp.
He raised the sword before him, the blade pointing straight toward the knight.
It seemed... the real battle was just beginning.
◇
Nothing to transition the scene at all...
Uzuki stomped hard into the ground.
The snow exploded.
His eyes blazed bright once more, cold white light flooding his pupils, immediately.
His foot kicked off hard, then straight forward.
The knight also charged.
He stamped his foot, the snow surface erupting under the force, his white-armored figure shooting forward. The European sword raised high, blade aimed straight at Uzuki.
The distance between the two was torn apart in an instant.
The knight moved into a stance so perfect it was textbook.
Center of gravity completely forward.
A direct thrust.
But.
Uzuki extended his blade straight behind his back instead.
Then the very moment his right foot touched the ground—
*Thud.*
Uzuki's ankle twisted sharply left. Redirecting his entire body.
The rotational force transmitted from ankle -> knee -> hip -> shoulder -> arm, his entire body sweeping horizontally in one fluid motion, skimming the snow surface.
The knight tilted his head reflexively, his head tracking the movement, but his body still only surged forward, as if his speed couldn't keep up with his reflexes...
As for Uzuki.
He glided straight to the side, the light in his eyes suddenly extinguishing.
His pupils immediately glanced toward the knight, his entire body spinning in a perfect arc while his right arm pulled the Chokutō blade sharply from his hip.
*Slash!!*
A horizontal slash shot forward, aimed straight at the knight's nape.
The blade tore through the wind, and at the very moment the blade was about to make contact—
The ground suddenly trembled strangely.
A cold, hard sensation transmitted straight through the soles of Uzuki's feet.
From beneath the ground!
Three rhomboid ice spikes thrust straight up, converging to stab directly at him.
Uzuki kicked off hard with one leg, his body leaving position and flying straight backward in an instant.
The three deadly spikes tore through the wind, grazing just beneath his stomach.
But another cold current rushed from his flank.
He seemed to jolt and continued to twist his hips sharply in mid-air...
*THUD!*
Another ice spike pierced straight through his left shoulder.
No blood spurted out.
Just a freezing sensation so numbing it paralyzed, as if the entire shoulder was frozen from the inside.
Uzuki gritted his teeth, but made no sound.
He landed, touching down with his remaining shoulder, rolling once, then kicking off hard, stamping on a withered tree trunk behind him.
The trunk creaked under the force.
Uzuki hung from the branch for half a breath, breathing slightly irregular.
He used his hand to touch his left shoulder where the ice spike had pierced through, yet at that location, instead of torn fabric, there seemed to be something metallic, rim-like, deformed and splayed out like a metal plate pierced by a bullet.
Uzuki glanced briefly at that spot, then looked straight toward the knight.
Below the ground, the ice spikes that had just sprouted began to dissolve, turning into cold mist.
The knight stood there, suddenly reaching behind his neck to discover that a shallow slash had formed there at some point.
He fell slightly silent, then a low voice rang out.
"How cruel..."
The words rang out, bringing incomprehension crashing straight into Uzuki's body.
The sword in his hand seemed to grip tighter.
The knight suddenly released his sword, the blade spinning unbidden in space before plunging straight into the ground.
Uzuki showed a hint of confusion, though hidden behind his expressionless face, but it seemed he had no intention of attacking, only observing...
As for that knight, he wasn't surrendering, wasn't yielding, and perhaps not even employing tactics.
Rather, he slowly, slowly... removed his leg armor?
He removed the armor pieces from his body.
*Clank...clank...clank*
Each heavy piece of armor released from the body was dropped straight onto the snow bed and sank deep as if they weighed like entire blocks of solid iron.
Each piece gradually revealed a slender and flexible body.
Wait a moment?
A girl???
Standing before Uzuki now was not a warrior, not an agent, not an entity.
But rather a strange girl.
She wore almost nothing, pale skin and a goddess-like body, just existing despite air so cold it could freeze lungs.
Uzuki's expression now truly showed surprise, though not very clearly, perhaps he truly didn't understand what the hell was happening.
She removed the gauntlet twice the size of her own hand, and at the same time spoke...
"Those who refuse to accept fate are just like migratory birds, struggling to fly to where they wish, only to freeze to death in harsh weather."
"Flailing in despair despite having chosen the end for themselves."
Each of her words rang out softly, almost a whisper.
Gentle, not harsh, not threatening.
But strangely, they were so cold it seemed to pierce straight through Uzuki's body.
The girl slowly raised her hand to the final remaining helmet piece.
Her pale fingers gently lifted it away, without a single hasty collision sound, then let it drop onto the snow bed.
*Thump.*
A dull sound rang out, gradually sinking into the thick snow layer.
White hair followed, cascading down, long and straight, falling gently on slender shoulders like freshly stopped snowfall.
She raised her face.
And in that very instant...
A round white mask appeared, completely covering her face, as if deliberately hiding something that shouldn't be revealed.
On that smooth, cold surface, three Antarctic Pearl flowers stood out prominently, black as dried ink, standing silently in an unnerving stillness.
She tilted her head very slightly.
A voice rang out, calm, emotionless, but cold to the bone.
"In the end... why does everyone need it?"