บท 191: CH. 185: Out Of Bounds
Inside the vast, blank void of Hiro's mind, Akira floated lazily in the emptiness, his cloak billowing as though caught in an unseen breeze. His expression was one of amusement, as he teleported sporadically around Hiro's consciousness, his voice echoing with a sinister playfulness.
Hiro's spirit hovered nearby, still bound by the presence of his creator. He watched as Akira moved with unnerving ease, his eyes tracking every erratic shift, though his body was locked in place, unable to move.
Akira chuckled, suddenly appearing directly in front of Hiro, inches from his face. "Well, Hiro," he began, his voice dripping with casual arrogance, "it's been fun, hasn't it? I must admit, your body has served me well for a time. But…" He leaned back, floating through the air like gravity held no sway over him. "I have personal matters to attend to, so I suppose it's time I grant you your body back."
Hiro's spirit trembled slightly, a mix of frustration and relief flooding his senses. "Why now?" he managed to ask, his voice small but steady. "Why are you giving me control again? After everything you've done…"
Akira's crimson eyes gleamed with amusement, and he teleported behind Hiro in an instant, his cold breath just over his shoulder. "Why? Because it's amusing," he answered, laughing softly as he spun around Hiro with a mischievous grin. "I've enjoyed myself, playing with your little world, your friends, your enemies. But truth be told…" He teleported again, now above Hiro, looking down on him. "This was never my story to tell. I'm not even supposed to be here in the first place, the replacement was temporary..."
Hiro clenched his fists, though his spirit remained motionless, bound by Akira's overwhelming presence. "You could have destroyed Nazarick. You didn't. Why?"
Akira's grin widened, a low laugh escaping his lips as he floated in circles around Hiro once more. "Oh, I could have crushed them all—all of them, with barely any effort." He vanished, reappearing at a distance with a flick of his hand, his laughter growing. "But where's the fun in that? You have a mission, Hiro. You're the one meant to face Nazarick, to overcome them. I was just here for a little... entertainment."
Akira floated closer again, his voice dropping to a chilling whisper. "Now, you get to finish what you started. I'll be watching from afar, of course. It'll be… interesting to see how far you go."
Hiro's spirit was silent, his emotions a storm of confusion and resolve. He understood that Akira's intervention had given him a glimpse of power far beyond his own, but now it was time for him to take back control.
Akira smirked one last time, his body flickering out of view before appearing directly in front of Hiro's face, their eyes locking. "Don't disappoint me, Hiro," he said with a cold laugh. "You still have much to prove."
With a snap of his fingers, Akira's form began to dissolve into the void, his laughter echoing as he vanished into nothingness. "Good luck… Also, don't try anything with Albedo now that she's mine, you can talk to her but nothing more than that, I'll be watching very closely." But Hiro didn't care about her, his interest was far beyond a mere woman.
Suddenly, Hiro felt extreme coldness, now in control of his body once again, he glanced around the environment.
Pure Ice.
Hiro, alongside Albedo, who was in the front, cleaning the snow powdered path for them to walk on, and the workers of Foresight behind him, traveled across the hypothermical lands of Nazarick's 5th floor.
Nazarick Floor 5, Glacier.
As the group moved cautiously into the fifth floor of Nazarick; Glacier, a biting cold immediately enveloped them. The landscape stretched out before them—an endless expanse of ice and snow, with towering glaciers that loomed ominously in the distance. The air was so cold that it stung their skin despite the thick clothing Akira had provided.
Termite shivered, his teeth chattering as he tried to wrap his cloak tighter around him. "Damn this place… even with these clothes, it feels like the cold is trying to gnaw through my bones."
Imina hugged herself, rubbing her arms in an attempt to generate warmth. Her breath came out in visible puffs as she nodded in agreement. "No kidding. These clothes help, but it's like the air here is… unnatural. It's not just cold, it feels alive, like it's trying to drain the heat from us."
Roberdyck remained silent for a moment, his expression grim. He glanced around, watching the frosty mist swirl around them. His breath was steady, though the cold made his limbs heavy. "This place… it's a trial. Everything in this Tomb is designed to test and destroy us. We can't stay here for long, or it'll consume us."
Imina's voice trembled as she tried to keep her spirits up. "Well, we don't have much of a choice, do we? We can't go back… and staying here will just kill us. We have to keep moving."
Termite gritted his teeth, forcing himself to push forward through the icy terrain. "The Creator (Akira) provided the clothing, but it's like he's testing us too, seeing how far we can go before we break. We have to stay strong and keep going. There's no other way."
Roberdyck, gripping his staff tightly. "We're not meant to survive here. But if we stay together, we might just make it through."
"And we can all notice that Hiro's appearance reverted back to normal... So I guess The Creator stopped his grasp over him..." Imina adds, they all look at Hiro, walking in front of them without his helmet, now it was clear that his appearance was back to normal.
'Our survival and that of Arche entirely depends on him... A double-faced being...' Termite said in his mind.
X―x―X—x—X―x―X
As the Foresight trio and Hiro continued to trudge through the biting cold of Glacier, the icy winds howled louder, and the landscape grew more menacing. Crystalline formations of ice seemed to shift in the distance, casting eerie, jagged shadows. The sense of something lurking in the frozen depths weighed heavily on their minds.
Suddenly, from the icy mists, the ground beneath them began to tremble. Shards of ice erupted from the ground, forming into grotesque, humanoid figures made entirely of ice and frost. Their jagged limbs crackled as they moved, their glowing blue eyes locked on the group.
Termite's heart raced as he instinctively reached for his sword, though his hands trembled in the cold. "What the hell are those?"
Imina notched an arrow, though her hands were shaking from the cold. "Ice golems... or something worse. We're no match for them!" she hissed, her breath visible in the freezing air.
Roberdyck held his staff up defensively, his grip firm despite the frostbite creeping into his fingers. "We can't take these on in our condition. We're too weak…"
Just as panic began to set in, Albedo, who had been walking silently beside Akira, stepped forward, her eyes glinting with a predatory edge. "Leave them to me," she declared, her voice calm yet commanding.
Without waiting for an answer, Albedo surged ahead, her armor gleaming in the pale light of Glacier. The ice enemies advanced, their icy limbs clattering as they charged, but Albedo met them head-on without hesitation.
In a single, fluid motion, she raised her massive tower shield and smashed it into the first ice golem with brutal force. The creature shattered into a thousand shards of ice, as though it had been nothing more than glass.
Another ice enemy lunged at her, but Albedo was swift. She spun her halberd with deadly precision, the blade glowing faintly in the cold. With one devastating swing, she cleaved through two more enemies, their frozen bodies collapsing into piles of glittering snow and frost.
The Foresight members watched in awe as Albedo, unphased by the cold or the enemies, dismantled them with ease. Her movements were graceful, almost elegant, but there was an underlying brutality to her strikes, each one shattering her enemies without mercy.
Imina lowered her bow, her eyes wide with disbelief. "She's... terrifying," she muttered, her voice barely audible.
Termite, his sword still in hand but unused, swallowed hard. "We don't even need to fight. She's taking care of everything."
Roberdyck, watching Albedo cut through the last of the ice enemies, nodded solemnly. "We're completely outmatched… even as allies, we're nothing compared to her power."
Albedo turned back to the group, her face serene but her eyes burning with an intensity that was hard to read. "Stay close. There will be more of them. And next time, they may not be as weak."
With that, she led the way forward, her halberd gleaming as she moved. The Foresight members followed, shaken but grateful for the protection she provided. Yet, deep down, the weight of their weakness pressed heavily on them as they ventured deeper into the frozen wasteland, relying more on Albedo's overwhelming strength than their own.
And eventually, they reached the beating yet frozen heart of this level.
They arrived at the heart of Glacier. There, towering above them, stood a colossal statue of Cocytus, the floor guardian. The ice-carved figure loomed like a frozen sentinel, its many arms holding weapons of glistening ice, poised for battle.
Termite swallowed hard. "What's that...?" He asked.
"That's Cocytus. One of my former subordinates. He's the guardian of this floor." Albedo explained.
Imina shuddered. "If just his statue is this terrifying, we're in serious trouble."
Hiro's eyws were gleaming. "Impressive. But a statue is nothing compared to the real challenge that awaits."
"What ought we do?" Roberdyck asks.
"..." No replies.
It seems like what comes next, is yet to be triggered.
X―x―X—x—X―x―X
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