The Cryomancer's boots crunched softly on a thin layer of frost that hadn't been there a moment ago. His pale eyes glimmered like frozen steel.
Kiro instinctively stepped back, but Ara shifted slightly, keeping herself between him and the intruder.
"Persistent," she said, voice sharp. "You get paid extra for stalking students?"
The Cryomancer tilted his head. "I'm not here for her, Kiro. Just you."
Kiro gritted his teeth. "Yeah, that's not creepy at all."
"Come willingly," the man continued, "and the pain stops. Keep running, and I'll freeze every corner of this place until there's nowhere left to hide."
Ara's grip on her blade tightened. "You'll have to go through me first."
"That," the Cryomancer replied calmly, "was the plan."
The temperature in the storage hall dropped in an instant. Frost bloomed across every surface, creeping over crates, walls, even the ceiling. Kiro's breath fogged the air, and Ara's blade grew slick in her hand.
The Cryomancer made a small gesture, and a wall of jagged ice erupted between them and the exit.
"Split him," Ara hissed.
Kiro blinked. "What?"
"Split your control — take him and something else at the same time. You did it with the constructs."
"Yeah," Kiro said, "and nearly scrambled my own brain."
The Cryomancer thrust his hand forward, sending a wave of ice spikes tearing across the floor. Ara dove aside, rolling between two crates. Kiro barely managed to throw himself behind cover.
The spikes punched through wood like paper.
"Kiro!" Ara called from across the hall. "If you can't control him, at least distract him!"
Kiro closed his eyes, ignoring the sharp throb in his skull. The golden web flared into view — dimmer than before, but still there. The Cryomancer's thread was different from the others he'd touched. Dense. Cold. It burned against his mental grip like holding ice with bare hands.
He reached for it. The Cryomancer froze mid-step, eyes flickering. Kiro felt the resistance — a solid wall of mental discipline pressing back against him.
The man smiled faintly. "You're learning. Good. That means I don't have to hold back."
Kiro's control shattered like glass.
Ice surged upward, forming jagged spears from the floor and ceiling. Ara darted between them, slicing one spear into shards before it could pin her.
Kiro ducked as another slammed down inches from his head.
"Little busy here!" he shouted.
Ara's voice came from behind a crate. "Fine — then buy me two seconds!"
Kiro didn't have a plan, so he made one on the fly. He yanked at the nearest crate with both hands — not physically, but mentally. For a heartbeat, he almost felt a thread inside the inanimate object, not a mind but a faint echo of purpose left by whoever had sealed it.
It was enough. The crate tipped, crashing forward into the Cryomancer's legs.
Ara seized the moment. She flung a small black sphere at the floor between them. It burst into a cloud of choking smoke, mixing with the frost.
The Cryomancer's voice came from somewhere inside it. "You're only delaying the inevitable."
Through the haze, Kiro felt him moving — not by sight or sound, but by the faint disturbance in the golden web. The man's thread cut a slow circle through the air, searching.
Kiro grabbed it again, this time pushing just enough to make the Cryomancer falter mid-stride.
Ara appeared from the side, blade flashing. Steel bit into leather, but the Cryomancer twisted away before it could reach flesh.
Ice exploded outward, flinging them both back. Kiro slammed into a stack of crates, vision swimming.
When it cleared, the Cryomancer was standing at the center of the frost-covered hall, one hand raised, palm glowing faint blue.
"You're not ready," he said simply. "But you will be."
Then he was gone — dissolving into a swirl of icy mist that seeped into the cracks in the walls.
Kiro groaned. "Is it bad that I'm starting to hate mysterious disappearing people?"
Ara offered him a hand. "Get used to it. If he wants you this badly, he's not the only one coming."
Kiro took her hand and got to his feet, the dull ache in his head refusing to fade. "Great. Guess I'm officially popular."