The willow's long, sweeping arms froze solid in an instant, the green life within them snuffed out under a sheet of jagged white frost. Shards of ice rained down, glittering like knives in the moonlight.
I spun mid-step, already pulling Felicity into me. She dissolved into silver radiance, her essence merging with my own just as the killing strike ripped through where she had stood. My Firefly Swarm erupted in a thousand motes of frost fire, scattering like sparks across the night air. I reformed behind the attackers, breath misting as the unnatural chill clung to my lungs.
Three figures stood where the willow once wept, their robes pale as glaciers, hems stitched in jagged sapphire thread. The sigils of the Frozen Heart Clan pulsed coldly on their sleeves. And at their center—eyes sharp, lips curled with bitter triumph—was a girl no older than sixteen.
Her resemblance was unmistakable. Pale hair cascading down in silver-blue waves, frost-born beauty too cruel for her years. Elyahna's blood ran in this one, this was her prodigy kid sister.
She tilted her chin, not even turning to face me directly, as though the strike that had nearly ended my life was barely worth her effort.
"You move like smoke," she said softly, her voice a crystalline chime in the frost-heavy air. "No wonder Imperion himself warned us about you."
The taller cultivator at her side—their aura at least Core Stage—snapped his sleeves and sent a spiral of icy qi armor crackling over his arms.
"Don't underestimate him, Lady Seriya. The Sovereign-Slayer is no ordinary opponent."
The girl—Seriya—finally turned her gaze on me. Her eyes, a merciless blue, glowed faintly in the dark. "Oh, I don't underestimate him. I intend to break him. To prove the Frozen Heart bloodline doesn't end with my sister's failures."
My jaw tightened. Felicity stirred within, her voice sharp in my mind: Ash, careful—this one's colder than Elyahna.
I spread my stance, eon qi shimmering faintly in my aura, and let my hand drift into position. I was about to call forth the Flickering spear of Dawn.
"You picked the wrong night, little snowflake," I said evenly. "You should've stayed in your sister's shadow."
Hoar frost howled across the grass as the three cultivators flared their qi, and the air between us cracked like shattering glass.
The tall cultivator moved first, his body a blur. He vaulted high into the air, frost spiraling from his limbs, and came crashing down with a heel-kick meant to split my skull. At the same time, Seriya's fingers snapped, and a storm of gigantic ice shurikens spun into being around her — each one trailing spirals of cold that howled like banshees as they homed in on me.
The third cultivator stepped back, lips moving in sharp chants. A slip of icy blue origami fluttered from his palm, dissolving into the spiritual plane. Suddenly, the world thickened — frost-bound qi wrapped around my form, my legs and arms felt heavy, slowing my movements, dragging at my every step. Above us, a massive origami iceberg shimmered in half-existence, its spiritual weight anchoring the battlefield in glacial slowness.
"Perfect trap," Seriya whispered, eyes gleaming. "Try and slip from this, Sovereign-Slayer."
But then, the ground itself trembled.
A roar split the night. Felicity's essence flared silver, exploding out of my body in a surge of blood stone. She towered into being beside me, massive and armored, Felicity had called upon her Behemoth Rage ability. Jagged blood frost stone plates rippled across her growing body, crimson veined with icy white, her helm now crowned with curved horns and a blood glass visor slid into place. Curved horned pauldrons capped each of her shoulders. And she now stood on a pair of behemoth battle heels, adding more height to her. Each breath she exhaled frosted the air, a titaness of glacial steel.
The two Frozen Heart cultivators who had been circling gasped audibly.
"An Armored Behemoth…!?" the third stammered, nearly breaking his chant.
The tall one faltered mid-landing, eyes wide.
Even Seriya's haughty calm cracked for a moment, her lips parting in disbelief. "You… can summon that?!"
Felicity's silver eyes glowed fiercely beneath her helm as she slammed her clawed gauntlet into the ground, the impact shaking the frozen earth. "Try freezing me, little snow-bird! And see what happens!"
The tall cultivator and the chanter scrambled to recover, pulling back and raising their defenses. Seriya clenched her fists, her eyes narrowing to slits. "Split up!" she barked, voice sharp as ice snapping. "Both of you — deal with her! I'll take Ash myself."
She swept her arm forward, and her storm of ice shuriken twisted, doubling their speed, locking onto me with a renewed vengeance.
I cleared my mind focusing on the image of the Flickering Spear of Dawn, I let my eon qi surge looking for the dantian pool that it had stored itself in. In a burst of gold and vermilion, the Flickering Spear of Dawn appeared in my grip, its blade-tip shimmering like liquid light. The shaft pulsed with a rhythm that felt alive, eager.
"Now's as good a time as any to cultivate you," I thought grimly, feeding a thread of my eon qi into the weapon. The spear responded with a crackle of brilliance, its radiance flickering between dawn's first glow and the searing burn of noon.
I swiped the Spear of Dawn sending out a golden wave of pure Yang energy!
The spear howled as its blade-tip ignited, a golden crescent wave exploding outward, pure Yang energy roaring in radiant brilliance. The light shattered the night, a miniature sunrise detonating point-blank. The incoming frost shuriken never stood a chance — they disintegrated mid-flight, bursting into steam and glittering shards that rained harmlessly to the ground. The backlash of clashing elements hissed, sending ripples of white fog curling around us.
Across from me, Seriya snarled, her silver hair whipping in the wake of the blast. Her blood crest seal glowing faintly on her forehead. "So the tales weren't exaggerations…" Her eyes hardened like cut ice. "You really are dangerous."
Meanwhile, the battlefield shook under Felicity's stride.
Her behemoth frame loomed over the tall cultivator, silver eyes flashing within her jagged helm. She slammed both clawed gauntlets together, blood frost and stone erupting in a thunderous surge. "Crimson Bulwark!" She shouted as the skill materialized — a fortress-like wall of translucent crimson, veined with black stone, encased her foe in a prison.
The tall cultivator roared, fists hammering at the walls, but every blow only sank deeper into the structure. The Bulwark fed on his strength, every strike thickening the barrier, every ounce of fury turning into fresh fortification. Soon, he was entombed in a shrinking chamber, the walls pressing closer, sucking the fight out of him with every thrash.
The third Frozen Heart disciple froze mid-chant, the origami iceberg flickering as his concentration faltered. "Impossible… that construct—it's feeding itself!"
Felicity's voice boomed, layered with her Aspect's resonance. "The more you resist, the stronger it grows. Break yourself on it if you wish."
Her jagged armor gleamed, pulsing with runes that drank in the icy qi still swirling from the battlefield.
I felt the spear in my hand vibrate, thrumming with eagerness as if urging me forward into Seriya's icy storm.
Two battles had just ignited, but one truth was already clear: Felicity and I would not break.
Seriya lunged, her fingers weaving a furious mudra. A chain of jagged ice erupted from the ground, lashing toward me like a frozen serpent. I twisted, the Flickering Spear of Dawn spinning in my grip, its shaft blurring with a light that flickered between sunrise gold and blazing noon.
The frozen serpent snapped at my leg—
I struck, the spear's radiant edge cleaving it in two. Frost exploded into vapor, the hiss echoing like a scream.
"Too slow!" Seriya snarled, her other hand slashing through the air. A blade of ice coalesced in her grip, long and curved, gleaming with cruel intent. She closed the gap in a blink, her weapon flashing in a horizontal cut meant to bisect me horizontally.
I pivoted on my heel, spear-tip darting forward like the first ray of dawn. Infused Sun-fire steel kissed frost—her blade rang against my thrust, sparks and shards flying in a cascade of light and ice. She staggered but didn't yield. As she twisted her body she summoned a second frost serpent snapping around my arm.
The Spear of Dawn pulsed, alive. I poured eon qi into it, the weapon flaring with vermilion brilliance. The Flickering Spear of Dawns earth grade intent shattered the frost serpent before it could coil, radiant heat licking across my skin as the broken body of the snake dissolved into steam.
But then—
Above us, the air shifted. My gaze snapped upward. Floating in the spiritual plane like a shadow over the world was the Origami Iceberg, vast and crystalline, its folds layered with runes. Its presence warped the flow of qi, dragging my movements into a sluggish crawl.
The third cultivator's lips trembled as he chanted, sweat dripping down his brow, he was fighting to maintain the origami in the spiritual plane. Watching him struggle I couldn't help but muse to myself, "Eeh you must be new at this."
I gritted my teeth, raising the spear high. "This is going to hurt---You."
With a sweeping arc, I slashed upward. The Flickering Spear of Dawn screamed, releasing a crescent wave of pure Yang energy that tore across both realms.
The golden crescent split the air, burning away the cold as it ascended. It struck the iceberg with a thunderous impact—light devoured frost, flames unmaking folded qi. The iceberg shattered, folding in on itself before detonating into spectral shards that rained harmlessly into the void.
The third cultivator gasped, eyes rolling back in his head. Blood streamed from his nose, and with a groan he collapsed, unconscious, his origami scattering like dead leaves at his feet. Felicity picked his body up and placed it in the crimson bulwark cell with the tall cultivator whose essence was being drained away.
The battlefield stilled for half a heartbeat.
Then Seriya roared, her icy blade glowing as she poured everything into one devastating overhead slash.
And I met her, spear blazing like the rising sun. The air split with a shriek as my spear thrust forward, radiant flares bursting off its tip like miniature suns. Seriya met me head-on, her slim hands weaving frost qi, the qi condensing into a long frost blade with an edge so sharp it could cut diamond.
The first collision cracked like thunder. Sparks of gold and vermilion flared against jagged frost. Her ice blade shuddered but held; my spear vibrated in my grip, yearning to pierce.
She twisted, chains of glacial qi lashing from her free arm. They wrapped toward my torso, snapping like whips. I pivoted, spear haft spinning in a blur, knocking one aside while ducking under another. Frost kissed my shoulder, biting deep enough to sting, but the Dawn's light scorched the chill away.
We moved in a storm of clashing intent. Her steps were elegant, her ice chains coiling like serpents, her blade slashing with deceptive grace. I answered with brutal thrusts, my spear exploding in bursts of radiant yang, each strike an attempt to overwhelm, to break her balance. All the while the seismic thuds of Felicity's armored behemoth heels rang in the backdrop, Seriya was sticking close to me, making it hard for Felicity to get a lock on her.
For a heartbeat, she forced me back. Her ice serpents struck the ground, erupting into pillars that surged to block my path. I leapt high, spinning, and as I came down my spear carved an arc of light, sundering the frozen barriers in a shower of glittering shards.
That was when I felt it.
The cold bite of the frost blade, sliding clean through my chest.
I looked down, disbelieving—the crystalline blade of Seriya's saber jutted out of me, frost spreading across my ribs like spiderweb cracks in glass. My breath hitched; the world blurred around me.
Felicity's scream tore the air, her voice raw, her eyes glowing like twin suns drowned in blood. "A—ASH!"
Seriya's lips curled into a cruel smile, her silver-blue hair whipping in the chill gale. "I have you," she whispered, delight and hunger lighting her face. She twisted the blade cruelly, as if to savor the kill.
I staggered, coughing blood, but my mind drifted—not to her, not to the pain, but to a quiet ember I'd kept hidden deep inside.
Three motes, small as fireflies.
Three names I had given them in secret.
In my dying breath I spoke their names aloud, "Return. Refuse. Remember."
I let the words escape my lips in a broken whisper, more prayer than command.
The world folded. The frost, the blade, Seriya's gloating eyes—all shattered into dawn-light.
A mile away, I stumbled back into existence, chest whole, lungs burning with sudden air. The Lantern of Renewal had answered, just as I'd prepared it to. I was alive.
Back in the grove, Felicity had not seen my revival only my previous body fall to the ground, dead. To her eyes, I had died.
And she broke.
Her armored behemoth form ballooned with rage, spikes of blood-crystal thrusting outward, her jagged carapace igniting with crimson steam. She roared, it was a sound that cracked branches and shook the air, she launched herself at Seriya like a comet of wrath.
The tall cultivator and the origami-caster froze in terror within the crimson bulwark cell, wide-eyed, as Felicity's berserker behemoth fury bore down on their prodigy leader.
Seriya's triumph flickered into sudden alarm.
Felicity's roar shook the trees as crimson qi howled through her jagged behemoth armor.
Seriya snarled in defiance, her frost aura detonating outward. A colossal suit of frost-giant armor cocooned her body, jagged with ice-spikes, each movement groaning with the sound of glaciers breaking. She swung her right arm wide, manifesting a cleaver-blade of pure frost and brought it across with the force of a guillotine, aiming straight for Felicity's neck.
But Felicity ducked low, her armored bulk moving with shocking speed, she swung a bone-shattering hook into Seriya's gut. The impact echoed like stone cracking, sending frost armor flying; Seriya doubled over inside her giant's shell, coughing blood that smeared against the inside of her frosted helm.
With a guttural snarl, Felicity seized the frost helm in both of her massive hands. Her crimson frost stone plated knees pistoned up, smashing into Seriya's frost faceplate again and again. THUD! CRACK! THUD! The blows rattled Seriya's teeth, her qi defenses unraveling as fractures webbed across the frozen armor.
"Too… strong—!" Seriya gasped, struggling to force her qi back into form. But Felicity was merciless.
She hooked one clawed hand around Seriya's ankle and, with a beast's savage strength, snatched the frost giant up into the air. The towering form swung helplessly as Felicity slammed it into the ground with one arm. BOOM! Again. BOOM! Again. The earth quaked with every brutal slam, dirt and snow spraying in all directions as Seriya's frost qi shattered, her armor breaking apart piece by piece until it exploded into icy shards.
The last slam sent Seriya's limp body flying free of the armor, tumbling across the churned earth. She was semi-conscious, her vision swimming, barely able to process the jagged silhouette stomping toward her.
The thudding rhythm of Felicity's armored high heels reverberated like war drums.
Felicity loomed over her, steam venting from her jagged crimson carapace. With a guttural snarl and eyes glowing red, she raised both arms high overhead, fingers clasped into a crushing hammerblow, intent on smashing Seriya into paste.
But just as her hands came down, a streaking swarm of frost flame firefly's cut across the battlefield.
WHOOSH—!
Seriya's body vanished in a flash, snatched away in a azure streak. Felicity's strike hammered the ground instead, detonating a seismic tremor that split the soil in jagged fissures. Dust and frost plumed skyward.
She yanked her claws free of the earth, panting, wild-eyed. "Where did she go!?!"
Her gaze whipped upward—then froze.
I floated there above the churned ground, the Flickering Spear of Dawn glowing in my left hand, and Seriya's unconscious form cradled carefully in my right arm.
Felicity's breath hitched, her glowing red eyes went wide as the killing intent faded from them. Steam hissed violently from her behemoth rage armored form as it shrank. Her berserker qi bled away. "A-Ash… you—"
She screamed, half sob, half squeal, tears brimming in her crimson gaze as she shrank down, the jagged behemoth plating melting away. When her bare feet hit the ground, she stumbled forward, arms trembling, utterly undone by the sight of me alive.
Felicity's arms tightened around me, her silver eyes glimmering with unshed tears. Even as she hugged me, the sight of Seriya cradled in my right arm reminded her of the razor-thin line between life and death.
"Ash… I, I don't understand," she whispered, voice trembling, burying her face in my chest.
I held her gently, my thumb brushing along her neck. "It's okay," I murmured. "That was my Lantern of Renewal technique. It saves me from death—but it costs a few years of my life."
Felicity pulled back slightly, eyes wide. "But… your life span—"
"I've cultivated a long life span, at least three hundred and fifty years," I replied with a small, reassuring smile. "And I still have the Prime Elixir to restore any years spent using it. So, really, there's no need to worry, love."
Felicity growled softly, parting from the hug, her silver eyes narrowing as she looked down at Seriya. "Why did you save her?!"
My gaze swept the semi-conscious girl. "Why not? She's not my enemy. Just an obstacle." My tone softened, almost reflective. "Besides… she's not here of her own free will. She's a marked slave of Lord Imperion."
Felicity's fists clenched, the tension in her body radiating crimson qi. "A marked slave…" she muttered, her voice low and dangerous.
From the outskirts of the clearing, movement stirred. The air shimmered as cultivators from the Poison Lotus Clan arrived, drawn by the seismic upheaval. Their eyes widened at the devastation, frost shards scattered across the ground, scorched earth, and Felicity and Ash standing amid the remnants of Seriya's frost armor.
One of the Poison Lotus clan members knelt near a nervous figure squatting in a bush—the apprentice who had brought the wanted poster. As he checked the figure, his eyes went wide, he saw the wanted poster and put two and two together. He pointed a gloved finger.
"A traitor!" the cultivator shouted, voice carrying like a whip crack through the tense air.
The apprentice froze, eyes darting from the towering warriors to Ash and Felicity. Panic flickered across his face. "W-w-wait! I—I!"
The Poison Lotus cultivators stepped forward in synchronized precision, a wall of qi and steel ready to descend on the traitor. They arrested and led him away without further incident.
I slipped Seriya safely onto the back of a nearby poison lotus clan member. ''We will take her to a strong qi dampening cell that will hold her'' said the poison ninja.
Felicity's hands wrapped around my arm instinctively, blood frost qi coiling faintly as her breathing steadied. "Put her in a hot cell" she growled.
Above them, the clouds churned with the residual energy of the earlier battle, reflecting the uneasy truce between survival and the looming hunt.
Even as Seriya stirred slightly on the poison lotus members back, semi-conscious and groaning, the tension of life, loyalty, and betrayal hung heavy in the air.