บท 10: 10 : Torrent of Cold
Author here, I will take a break with this fic for a moments because I'm planning to change its premise and direction. I will just read fics and continue to create my own novel piece by piece. Hope you guys are good, and happy new year.
*****
The video in the screen raged on as the watchers continued to observe. To watch a fight that will surely shake the world and topple the balance.
As everyone knows, the mundane world is in chaos with the appearance of gates in Antarctica. Pairing it with the Winter Beast didn't help with it blocking the path for awakened to hunt down the smaller abominations. Adding the fact that the Skinwalker is still roaming somewhere out there, the odds were definitely on the Nightmare creatures' side.
Whoever will be the victor of this fight between the Unknown Saint and the Winter Beast will earn the right to tip off the balance to their own side.
As ash rained from the sky and the ground quaked, Sunny inhaled deeply and extended his shadow sense as far as he could. Soon, his mind was flooded with an avalanche of sensory data, almost making him dizzy.
He was still unaccustomed to how vast his sight was now. Of course, he didn't actually see anything... but after years of perceiving the shapes and movements of the shadows, it was not much different. Sunny had tested his limits while relying on his shadow sense to stay alive in the ocean, but the dark depths were different from land. They were unfathomable and empty, with nothing but the cold currents to see.
"Sensing shadows..."
Beastmaster said under her breath as she looked at the side of Valor. Having known that the man is formerly a member of Changing Star's cohort made her grit her teeth. Thinking of the mysterious Saint siding with the enemy is already a nightmare in Song Eunbin's mind. She absolutely cannot give him to the other side.
She looked beside her, glancing at all of her sisters.
'Who can it be? If there's no other way it could be me.'
Of course she still hasn't thought of a single way to persuade Sunny to the Song Domain. But she already has thought of who will be married to him in case he agreed so that he'll immediately be a part of the Song domain.
'How laughable. I've already thought of putting an icing on top of the cake while still haven't thought of a way on how to bake it. And besides...'
She looked at Mordret with disdain.
'Someone might have already dropped our chances of acquiring him. '
Here in the Antarctic Center, though, there was almost too much to sense.
Further, further, and further still... Sunny filtered out the useless data to keep his Transcendent mind from overloading and reached across many kilometers of cracking ice toward the approaching snowstorm.
Soon, he sensed the shadows trembling from the lethal cold. Even they were not spared from the cruel tyranny of the Winter Beast.
'Somewhere between forty and fifty kilometers.... this is as far as I can reach.'
Saint Cor placed his hand on his chin, as his brows raised in amazement towards Sunny's range.
'It seems the future doesn't look too bleak now... '
As one of the oldest Saints and few of those serving the government, the old Saint already accepted the fact that he will die during or after this war. With two sovereigns all in on reaching for each other's necks, Saint Cor knows that his inevitable demise will come to him fighting other humans in the war or in the chaos after the death of a Sovereign.
The war will only end with the death of a Sovereign, that is an absolute truth. Neither Ki Song nor Anvil will stop until one of them is dead. But who knows what will happen next? Even if the other Sovereign absorbs the domain of the one they killed, there will be no certain that the victor can protect the people after such a battle.
That's where Saint Cor thinks a great chaos will happen. With a Sovereign dead and another damaged, who knows that the events back in Antarctica won't happen again?
If something like that happens... it is all up to the Saints left to defend humanity and that's where he thinks he will die. Quite egotistical for him to think that he will have such an honorable death but who cares? There are people like Sunny who will lead the next generations.
His shadow sense reached further than his actual sight, which was limited due to the curvature of Earth. And yet, it wasn't enough to find the heart of the vast blizzard - at least not until it got closer and enveloped him.
'Still, it is already close enough for the initial greeting.'
Sunny extended a hand. A thin pillar of darkness rose from the ground, growing to stand at almost twice his height. Then, it solidified, turning into an inky-black javelin with a needle-sharp tip. He grasped and weighed it, looking at the towering wall of swirling snow with a cold expression.
A blood sister leaned near a fellow blood sister of hers and whispered. "He's not planning on throwing that is he?"
The other blood sister replied.
"I don't know... he does have tendencies of doing impossible things so his actions are not clear. "
Hearing this, Seishan sighed.
"It's a javelin. He's obviously going to throw it. "
Seishan sighed before continuing.
"Saints are Saints but they are still humans in root. "
He had created the javelin in the image of the Siege Souvenir a similar weapon he had once roaring of the eruption. There was an invisible shockwave that pushed the snow and the falling ash away, creating a sphere of clarity around his ominous onyx figure for a few fleeting moments.
Exhaling slowly, Sunny took a step forward. Using the full augmentation of his five shadows, he infused a torrent of essence into his muscles and tendons, pushed against the ground with his feet, and strained his entire body to whip his hand forward and send the javelin into the dark sky.
The moment he threw it, the world quaked again.
The javelin was like a black comet as it shot across the lightless sky, Its speed immeasurable.
The blood sisters that were talked to by Seishan looked at the screen and back at their leader.
"But Lady Seishan... it's hard to think like that when Saints do things like that. "
Seishan smiled at her.
"You just have to get used to it. "
However... the actual process was rather dull. It actually took an entire minute to reach the wall of snow and disappear into it. Twenty or so seconds later, Sunny felt his connection to the infused essence disappear.
At the same time, he sensed the javelin plummeted into the snow and shattered into countless shards of ice, which then dissolved into an intangible shadow.
' I know the winter beast is strong but... its that strong?'
Kai's worries echoed in his mind. He has heard stories, especially from Jet who is the sole survivor of the first evacuation army's last march. But to think it would be to this extent, to the point that it could freeze something conjured by a Saint.
The corner of his mouth twitched.
'...Not enough.
With the volcano erupting behind him and the gargantuan wall of snow that connected heavens and earth racing to swallow him from the front, Sunny stared forward with a dark expression and did some mental calculation.
'I am no better than an artillery cannon, distance- wise, Granted, that javelin of mine was about twenty-five times heavier than an average artillery shell, Still, I would need to be inside the storm to reach its eye.'
"No, you're like... a million times better. "
Said a warrior from the Sword domain. The warrior couldn't believe what he was seeing, or rather everything he have seen. He was merely a normal awakened serving a minor clan of Valor and only stayed within the premises of Bastion. He have always thought that they are always safe as long as Sovereigns exist.
But seeing things Sunny have shown experiencing, he couldn't help but tremble.
'The Dream Realm isn't place of your dreams. It is a place of your nightmares."
In any case, the distance was not that important. Much more important was the fact that the javelin had been able to survive for more than twenty seconds in the outer reaches of the snowstorm. That... was something Sunny could work with.
Of course, he still did not know how long his missiles would last in the inner hell of the Winter Beast's domain.
Jet's face turned into an unreadable riddle after seeing how vast the blizzard brought by the Winterbeast.
'Even if we have gone farther down this storm... I don't think the two of us will reach the Win... What am I thinking again? '
Clicking her tongue, Soul Reaper just returned to watching the video, completely forgetting what she was just thinking of.
He shook his head, let out a resentful sigh, and glanced at his Shadow.
"...War is a boring affair, isn't it, Serpent?"
Serpent raised its gargantuan head into the air and hissed, perhaps expressing its solidarity.
Sunny smiled.
"Let's make it a bit more exciting, then."
"That's right! Give them hell boy! "
Saint Jest shouted as he stood up from his seat. Rivalen who is just beside the old man immediately pulled him down in an instant.
"What are you doing sir Jest!? " Questioned Rivalen in a shouty whisper.
"It's just standing in excitement! It's not a big deal. Besides a lot of youth do that now. "
Replied by sir Jest in a similar volume.
"You can't just stand in the theater!"
Saint Jest didn't looked so amused as he rolled his eyes.
"tsk tsk, I'm just stealing the honor of the first one to stand up! With this fight going on, a lot more people will spring up from their seats! "
The old man explained as he continued.
"Besides don't be so stressed, you'll age quicker kekeke"
"You're one to say. You're already an old man. "
As the first torrents of snow swirled around him and plunged the world into unbearable cold, Sunny raised his head to the dark sky and laughed.
A few moments later, his laughter disappeared abruptly, and his face suddenly turned still, Only his eyes gleamed with a strange, dark excitement.
Something stirred in their depths...
The scene of Sunny massacring the summons of the Soul Devourer tree once again crossed the people's mind. However, will he be able to do the same to the Winterbeast?
And at the same time, the darkness around Sunny stirred, as well.
Dozens of inky-black pillars rose from the ground, followed by dozens more. They rose into the swirling stow like the fangs of a dragon, their needle-sharp points parting the wind with shrill whistles.
Then, just as many tendrils of darkness wrapped around the shadow javelins, turning into inky-black hands. Each hand had seven fingers, ending with sharp claws.
The audience waited in anticipation, to see what the mysterious Saint's capability was and how far he is compared to anyone else in the world, two worlds even.
Sunny raised a hand, and at the same time, the shadow hands raised the great javelins.
He stared into the swirling snow with a cold smile.
He was not satisfied with being a Transcendent siege engine. To welcome the Winter Beast, he was prepared to summon forth an entire division's worth of devastating artillery.
"I'm going to drown you, bastard."
Revel watched how multiple javelins materialized from the shadows. She saw how these shadows turned from intangible things into weapons of mass slaughter capable of a massacre. She couldn't help but imagine the Song Army in front of a barrage of shadows like this.
'Can those shadows lurk in my darkness?'
Revel is confident that he could take Sunny in a fight because of the shadow's weakness against her ability. But, Revel felt like there's an invisible wall that separates her from Sunny. Something she really can't point out, and until she managed to know what it is... she feels like she couldn't beat him.
Letting out a low growl, he waved his hand forward.
The world seemed to shatter from the thunderous roar when countless black javelins tore the swirling snow apart and shot into the depths of the raging blizzard.
A strange, sinister, thunderous noise suddenly resounded in the raging blizzard.
It was the sound of the Shadow Colossus laughing.
Then, his laughter turned into a chilling growl, and the towering giant exploded forward like a dark tsunami.
"What is that? "
"A giant saint made of shadows... but isn't his transformation ability...? "
Lonesome Howl looked at the screen with a cautious expression amidst the comments of the people as she gritted her teeth.
'You're saying this is an ascended ability? What as a master is this guy capable of?'
Howl was furious, she was supposed to be a princess, a daughter of a Sovereign and a descendant of a god. Yet an unknown Saint, no matter how hard she denies it looked far stronger than her.
An entire area of the snow field was obliterated by his initial push. A crushing shockwave spread from the point where Sunny's foot dug into the ice, but he was moving faster than it.
Faster, and faster, and faster still!
The shadow giant tore through the snowstorm as he ran, effortlessly leaping over the vastest of fissures and sending fountains of incandescent lava into the sky when he stepped in them, as if stepping into puddles. His speed increased more and more, until it was as if a black meteor was flying above the snow, moving parallel to it.
Jet blinked blankly after seeing the giant shadow. She looked at Effie slowly then pointed at the screen.
"Can... can you do that? "
Effie looked back at her with a deadpan look.
"Of course I can... but I ain't that crazy! "
Jet looked at her deadpan.
"Aren't you the woman who challenged the Third nightmare while pregnant? "
"That was not intentional! I can't control it, unlike this! "
Effie pointed in the screen's direction that shows Sunny or rather his giant shadow version cut through the snow storm.
"You can't control? So you can't control yourself from being so ho-"
"Stop embarrassing me! "
Jet just couldn't help but laugh.
The bitter cold sank into the towering colossus, trying to shackle him and slow him down. But Sunny simply broke through the cold, even as he felt the outer layers of his Shell turn to ice.
The heart of the snowstorm was already in front of him. He dove into its terrible embrace, trying to accelerate even more.
In the end, the cold was just too much.
Luster gripped his fist unbeknownst to Kimmy who is just beside him. The force behind it cannot be translated into words for him.
He didn't know this man, he is just a simple shopkeeper for him but the had videos clearly shown who he is to him. He is his captain, his savior, his hero and mentor.
Luster still has nightmares of what had happened on the icy cold hell of the south, yet he always was guilty feeling that way. He doesn't deserve to be. He didn't stay there with the rest of his cohort. He left them there to die alone.
He couldn't even imagine their deaths as the screen showed that his captain, a very strong Saint who has done impossible things is slowly crumbling from the abominations cold.
Luster could only feel guilt. A guilt of a survivor.
A slap came from nowhere as Luster's shoulder ached. Turning his head, he saw his comrade, and also lover, Kimmy. Kimmy was smiling, it was a small sad smile.
"The captain's, fighting. Let's cheer him up shall we? "
Knowing that she wanted him to cheer up and forget the bad memories, Luster reciprocated and smiled.
With his giant body impacted by its fatal force, Sunny couldn't keep up anymore. He lost his balance and fumbled, almost falling down. There was no time to take the next step.
And yet, his speed was so great that he was carried forward by pure inertia.
That inertia...
Was just enough to bring him into the eye of the storm.
There, Sunny finally saw the Winter Beast.
The frozen lips of the Shadow Colossus shattered into pieces as he bared his teeth in a vicious grin.
'Well, aren't you ugly...'
Sunny's thoughts echoed through their ears as the audiences waited in anticipation. No one has ever seen what the Winterbeast looks like. Not even Saint Tyris who has been the closest one to it the time Falcon Scott was falling. And now they might be able to see what it looked like in a few seconds. What the blizzard who melted the lives of millions of people looked like.
The snowstorm manifested by the Winter Beast was like a rolling cataclysm, with devastating winds carrying a seething mass of swirling snow and tiny ice particles. Close to its heart, the ice particles were like a myriad of razor-sharp blades, shredding anything that had not been frozen by the unholy cold already.
Each of the countless shards of ice had been a part of someone slain by the blizzard once, perhaps.
Rivalen looked at Saint Jest for a moment and saw the old man watching the video with a smile on his face.
"Why are you smiling Sir Jest?"
Saint Jest looked at him with a smug.
"Because I haven't met and won't be able to fight abominations like this."
Rivalen scoffed at the old man.
"That's a cowardly word not fit for someone from Valor. " He said as his brows furrowed.
Still, the old man mischievously replied.
"You don't understand... I'm already an old man but I still want to be an old, old man. Tsk, maybe when you're old enough you'll understand me. "
And yet, absolute peace reigned in the heart of the storm. A vast area beyond the invisible fortress wall of suffocating cold was entirely devoid of wind, snow, and ice... everything was flawlessly still, as if nothing could move in this frigid kingdom, not even the winds of the blizzard itself.
With the sky above shrouded by ash, it was dark here, with frozen rivers of lava glowing dimly as they turned to glass. The heat of the underground rivers of molten rock was powerless against the profane power of the Corrupted Titan... and yet, it was enough to buy Sunny a second or two more.
As they watch Sunny reach the farthest point of the storm, their emotions stirred in turmoil. Will they finally see the monster who have terrorized humanity for years now?
The Winter Beast itself was floating above the ground in the middle of its frozen kingdom.
When Sunny first saw it, he was taken aback.
The creature... was eerie and grotesque, unlike anything he had ever seen. Just witnessing it made him feel appalled, as if his senses were trying to reject the existence of such a being.
The Winter Beast could not be called a beast, at all. Instead, it was an expansive, ethereal structure made of ice, as if countless torrents of water had frozen when they exploded outward from a hidden source. It would have been beautiful if it wasn't so... organic.
"Is that... even a living being?"
Kai said as he saw the true structure of the Winterbeast. He who have not seen or felt its wrath only could imagine it with the stories he have heard.
'I thought it would be a bird... '
His guess was far from the reality. The supposed bird is actually an amalgamation of different kinds of everything encased in an ice sarcophagus.
Although the titan's body was made of ice, it also looked like a living creature. The twisting pillars of ice vaguely resembled parts of a mangled body... limbs, organs, torn intestines, broken bones, and desiccated flesh. It was as though a giant being had been meticulously disassembled into countless parts, and then violently fused together in macabre disorder.
There were dark shapes of other Nightmare Creatures fused into the ice here and there, as well, still and lifeless.
A mix of reaction can be seen throughout the crowd. There are some who have only seen nightmare creatures from a far distance and were completely disillusioned about the Winterbeast's form.
One of them was Rain.
'I was expecting a giant bird...'
Although she have fought many nightmare creatures even as a mundane human, her mind is still infected by countless of medias portraying the Dream Realm. She have never thought that something like this existed. The only ones comparable to this are the monsters her master have always talked about...
'I hope whatever master said are just his tales...'
After all, Rain couldn't imagine such things to even exist, and if they do then they are all nightmare fuels.
The ice was pale and bleak, but the Winter Beast itself was nevertheless full of color.
That was because numerous flowers bloomed on the ice, their petals an intense azure color. The contrast between their vibrant beauty and the appalling body of the creature beneath was hideously striking.
Vast plumes of snow drifted from the flowers like pollen, shrouding the Winter Beast in a frosty haze,
It was both beautiful and harrowing... but mostly harrowing.
...At the very heart of the eerie abomination, barely visible through the ice, a small shadow was encased in it. Sunny thought that it resembled the remains of a human being, but he wasn't sure.
"What do you think, princess? "
Effie asked Nephis who is blankly looking at the screen.
"Just wondering"
Sighing as she scratched the back of her head, Effie forced a strained smile.
"Then what are you wondering about?"
Nephis looked at her with the same expression as always. But there's something different. It looked like there's something glittering in her eyes.
"I'm wondering if it will melt against me."
In any case, he was momentarily lost as to what to do. How was one even supposed to fight such a creature?
But his hesitation only lasted for a split second.
"Indeed... although we were brought here with unknown intentions, I want you all to learn from the screen. Even if the slightest hesitation could get you killed. "
Saint Gilead, the Summer knight said as he continued to watch the fight. He doesn't know the purpose of this theater at all, they can't do anything but just watch. Their aspects are locked and everyone here is all in an equal footing. But there surely is one thing they could do. They could learn from what they're watching. Especially from a person like Sunny.
Still carried forward by inertia and having lost his balance, the Shadow Colossus fell and rolled over his shoulder. The ground quaked from the terrible force of the impact, and the thin layer of volcanic glass cracked under his weight, a fountain of molten lava shooting into the air - only to freeze a moment later into an abstract sculpture.
At the same time, the frozen pauldron of the Onyx Mantle shattered into countless pieces of black ice, and the giant's shoulder beneath it became covered by a net of deep cracks.
The outer layers of the Shell had already been turned to ice, and were now fracturing under the strain of his movements. It seemed as though the giant's skin was peeling, revealing the black mess of firm muscles underneath.
'So the giant armor of shadows is called the Shell...'
Song Eunbin thought as if she's a kid learning from her very first math lesson. It's not only her but also the other awakened in the room. Having to watch someone like Sunny do unimaginable things, they couldn't help but study him for future conflicts.
Even Nephis and the cohort did too. Even though they know that he's an ally, they are Saints. It might be a hard pill to swallow for them that they are studying a comrade and his weaknesses, but it's already built in their minds like a mechanism. A defensive mechanism gifted by the horrors of the Dream Realm.
It did not matter.
Sunny was already exiting the roll, propelling himself forward into a powerful leap. The Winter Beast moved slightly, the azure mountain of its body hovering above the snow. Some of the twisting, vaguely organic pillars of ice moved, as well..., unfurling slowly, as if preparing to explode forward and receive the shadow giant into their embrace.
"A barbaric move, I didn't think of him as someone who will do that kind of thing. "
Revel commented as her sisters all looked at her. Sensing the attention, she tilted her head sideways.
"...What?"
No one answered for a moment until Beastmaster broke the ice.
"Nothing... I wonder how a fight between you two will result in? " She said with a small smirk plastered on her face.
"If he have the arsenal currently shown which is definitely unlikely... then I will win. "
Song Eunbin heplaced her arm on her chair's armrest and rested her face on her palm.
"So you're saying that you'll lose? "
Revel looked at her, her eyes stirring a pool of true darkness.
"As long as he isn't hiding an ace behind his cards then I will win. "
The Beastmaster laughed.
"That's rare for you to say, Rev. "
Sunny shuddered as he flew through the frozen hell toward the harrowing creature. But it was too late for regret. Now that he had jumped, there was no turning back, and no choosing a different strategy.
'Die!'
A stifled roar escaped through the dark giant's bared teeth.
Holding their breaths they soon witnessed the fight between the two colossus. A colossus harboring death and a colossus manifestation of death's cold embrace.
Sunny fell on the Winter Beast from above, but just then, countless spikes of ice extended from the creature's body and tore through his armor, impaling the damaged Shell. Not paying it any attention, he immediately grabbed the thickest of the ice spears and pulled himself lower across its length, leaving a trail of dissipating shadows behind.
In the place where his hand touched the ice, the gauntlet of the Onyx Mantle disintegrated into a haze of ice, and two of his fingers broke off.
Nephis' fingers suddenly twitched which made her surprised. Her body moved without her permission. Even though it's merely a twitch, Nephis who is a saint who should have full control of her body was left confused. Was there something she's supposed to do? Something she had forgotten again? Something she have done so much that her body remembers what it is even if the mind had forgot it?
'How bizarre...'
Nephis glanced at her hand, the posture of hand familiar to her. It's a posture she always use whenever she heals someone. Slowly looking back at the mysterious screen, Nephis understood what her body wanted to do.
'Am I... trying to heal him?'
Sunny sensed the twisted pillars of ice flowing forward to encompass him. The unbearable cold permeated the entire mass of the Shadow Colossus Shell, sending waves of pain through his soul.
"Great, it can also damage the souls. "
Jet exclaimed, clearly not happy with what she's seeing. Not only does it have a similar power to her aspect but also the fact that she now knows that the supposed walk to defeat the Winterbeast is now just a stupid action for them.
'Should we have ran away that time? Is our honor...'
The thought disturbed her much, yet she only sighed.
'There's nothing I can do anymore... the past will remain in the past. Even if we tried to run away, we would've... everything will turn out the same.'
His dark eyes surged with murderous fury.
In the next moment, the impaled giant slid low enough to reach the actual body of the abominable titan. His feet touched the ground.
Crushing countless azure flowers, he stretched his hands and grabbed onto the grotesque shape of the titan, his claws digging into the killing ice.
And then...
Sunny pulled the Winter Beast into the shadows.
"He can pull anything to the shadows? Even a titan that is!"
"What would happen now? "
"I'm sure he has a plan"
'Let me help you off your throne, you abominable wretch...
In war, the best advantage one could gain was fighting on a battlefield of their choosing. Sunny was currently in the very heart of the Winter Beast's storm, where his enemy wielded the most power. So...
He was going to carry both of them away from this frozen hell.
'To Mount Erebus isn't it? That's your plan.'
Morgan smiled, successfully predicting Sunny's plan. It is quite the obvious that he would try that, but no sane man will do.
'To predict an insane person, one shall think like one.'
Shadow Step had undergone an evolution during his Transcendence, so Sunny could carry living beings with him now. Sadly, he could not leave them in the dark realm of shadows... but he could very well transport them to someplace else in the material world. The range of his teleportation had also increased drastically due to how far his shadow sense could reach.
But it was more than worth it.
'Come! Come with me, beast!"
He would have grinned if his lips hadn't been frozen and shattered already,
"This is so chaotic, everything I can see is just darkness. "
A government official muttered under his breath, still perplexed about the whole fight.
Saint Cor who was beside her answered.
"You'll get used to it. That's just how Saint's fight. They are... no, we are, bringers of calamity. "
The old man didn't really want to say that he brings calamity. But now that he have seen the potential of this war, he could only say that he is sadly correct. Saints are bringers of calamity, they bring calamity so they could stop another of it.
In the next moment, unbelievably...
The crumbling giant made of shadows and the appalling creature of azure flowers and pale ice suddenly disappeared from the frigid stillness of the snowstorm's heart.
...A split second later, both of them emerged from the darkness in the infernal depths of Mount Erebus, plummeting into a vast lake of Incandescent magma.
Everyone's mouth was agape after seeing Sunny's actions. Some were even forced to spring up their chairs because of the sheer emotion the scene is producing.
"I told you didn't I? "
Saint Jest said smugly, as he stared at Saint Rivalen who is also one of the people who stood up.
Sunny's crumbling Shell and the eerie ice flower of the Winter Beast's vessel plummeted from the darkness into the vast lake of bubbling magma. The frozen hell of the calamitous snowstorm had been left behind, and although Mount Erebus was already swallowed in its ruinous embrace, the unholy cold did not reach this underground cauldron.
Because of the fact that more and more people stood up, naturally those who are sitting are forced to stand up too. They couldn't just let themselves be left out on what's currently happening on the screen can't they?
As if a single organism, all people in the theater are now standing up, may it be mundane or even a Sovereign.
Now, one collective question rang in their minds.
'Will this able to melt this monster?'
I don't know, no one does. But one thing is for sure, this fight is out of this world.
However, the Winter Beast had brought the cold, the snow, and the storm with it.
The azure flowers growing from the corpses of the Nightmare Creatures that the ice had encased were still blooming with plumes of snow, and the creature itself was like the heart of an endless, empty, cold abyss.
The Winterbeast isn't melting. The abomination, even plunged in the depths of a fiery hell still is emitting its cold embrace. A lot was shocked... but they immediately recovered when they saw the Saints unsurprised looks. It seems that they have predicted at least this far. They know how strong the Winterbeast is. It's a Corrupted Titan after all.
All across the Antarctic Center, the ground shook. Avalanches rolled down from snowy peaks, and several mountains collapsed. The ice encasing the frozen ocean split open, and towering waves of black water rolled from below.
Deep underground, Sunny felt like he was caught in the middle of a collapsing star. Bombarded by devastating concussive waves from all sides, wreathed in incinerating flames and suffocating cold, he moved his damaged Shell to dodge the giant boulders that fell from above.
'Just how tough is this guy!?'
Effie thought, not being goofy anymore. She was one of the toughest Saints out there. Yet this is not a fight built for her. Of course her huge size and immense strength will come into play but the environment itself is devastating.
Effie could only imagine his situation now as both being boiled alive and being freezes to death. Adding the fact that even the soul is getting damaged, Effie who is merely watching could imagine the pain he's going through.
"I definitely can survive this... I think but there's no chance I'll do something like this!"
Kai who have heard what she said amidst the noisy theater grinned.
"That's the smartest thing I've ever heard coming out of your mouth Effie! "
While Effie didn't hear anything at all from Kai.
"What did you say!? "
Kai moved his mouth, as if speaking but no voice came out. He just doesn't want to deal with the consequences of talking with Effie.
"I can't hear you Kai! "
The boulders crashed into the crust of frozen magma, breaking it and causing immense geysers of molten rock to shoot upward. Those geysers were immediately frozen, turning into glass pillars, only to be shattered a moment later and collapse in a rain of obsidian shards.
It was a scene of absolute chaos, like a chilling glimpse of fiery hell.
Sunny wanted to laugh.
"Hmm... I didn't expect him to fight in such barbaric ways. "
Noctis said as he caressed his own face. Meanwhile hearing the sorcerer, Solvane frowned.
"It doesn't matter. Victory is the only thing that matters. "
"I disagree... while winning is indeed... fabulous, I believe that winning in a grand way is much more beautiful. "
Solvane didn't even look at Noctis as she replied an answer that you would expect from someone called the Priestess of War.
"No, those thing will not matter if you're on the ground, bleeding to your demise. "
Noctis meanwhile simply laughed.
"I'll bleed beautifully then. "
'...Did I complain that the battle was not exciting enough?'
In this life, it seemed, all his wishes were destined to be granted.
The mangled colossus made of pure darkness lunged toward the grotesque shape of the Winter Beast.
The Shell was in poor shape.
The Onyx Mantle was cracked and fractured all over.
It was repairing itself, but not fast enough to make a difference. His face was missing most of its skin, revealing his black teeth and slightly protruding canines... in that moment, it resembled Weaver's demonic mask much more than his face.
Standing at the back, Rain struggled to see her master in this situation. He is someone who have been with her and showed her how immovable he was in a lot of situations. Seeing him struggle like this is nerve wracking.
'I don't care whatever happens... Just please let him return alive. '
The poor sister who didn't even know that the man she's currently watching is her brother, closed her eyes and hoped, hoped for the best. Hoping that his master will return to her alive, not as a corpse.
Both hands of the dark giant had turned to ice and chattered when he grabbed the Winter Beast, leaving him with no means of holding a weapon.
But that was fine. Sunny himself was a weapon.
Nephis' eyes narrowed as she watched Sunny fight against the Winterbeast. Seeing how his actions and decisions throughout the fight, a single phrase appeared in her mind, reminding her of the situation.
'The essence of combat is murder.'
That phrase... Nephis know who have thought Sunny that very phrase.
It was Nephis herself.
That is why, unlike Rain, Nephis watched. She didn't close her eyes and hoped that Sunny would survive. Because she knows it herself.
She knows that he would survive no matter what.
Reaching the titan in several ferocious leaps, Sunny used all of his mass and all of his momentum to deliver a devastating kick to the eerie ice creature,
The blow was truly terrifying.
Even though the Winter Beast had used countless tendrils of ice to block it, most of them were shattered and exploded into a barrage of deadly ice shards. A net of cracks spread over the innermost surface of its hideous body, as well. Much more importantly, the creature was thrown down, crashing through the crust of magma and plunging into the flaming depths of the hellish cauldron.
"That kick... would've leveled a small town..."
"So this is how Saint's fight? "
"No wonder they are the treasures of humanity! "
"If one Saint is capable of doing this... I can't imagine what a Sovereign would be able to do... "
Of course, Sunny was not unscathed, either.
In fact, his entire left foot had turned to ice and broke off, taking with it the better part of the shin.
"Shit! "
"Oh no! "
"H-he can regenerate this giant body of his right? "
Comments of concerns appeared from the crowds as they saw the huge damage of the Shell. One particular person who is concerned is Saint Roan.
"I don't know... the huge body might cost him a lot of essence... plus the fact that it was made from shadows. Making the shadow tangible might also cost him... This doesn't look good to be honest. "
Saint Roan heard a sigh.
It was his wife, Saint Tyris.
"He will be okay... "
"Why do you think so? "
Saint Tyris didn't look at him, instead she looked at Nephis and then to Mordret.
"It's because he's different. "
Saint Roan who have caught her gaze understood the meaning of her gesture.
'A third one huh?... this generation is something else. '
He thought as he smiled, his confidence of Sunny going to win increased ten folds.
The crumbling colossus roared viciously as it fell.
The Winter Beast was not damaged by the incandescent magma at all, even if it directly opposed the power of unholy cold. Instead, the entire lake of magma cooled, its very heart turning into a vast expanse of black glass.
Thanks to that...
The titan was momentarily trapped in obsidian, fused into it like the corpses of the Nightmare Creatures were fused into the hideous ice of its body.
Lonesome Howl is the one who saw the moment first. Before even the titan fell to the magma, she already knew what would happen.
'An opening!'
A few seconds late to her was the rest of the crowd. The murmurs of the people diminished as all the people held their breaths and watched carefully on what's about to happen.
Sunny was full of furious glee at receiving that moment.
Using the [Feather of Truth] trait of the Onyx Mantle, he turned himself as heavy as he could, and toppled straight onto the immobilized abomination.
With no hands to deliver a blow, he brought his head down on the cracked ice. The force of the impact was so terrible that there was a flash of light, and the entire mountain shook.
"A giant fuckin headbutt!"
Jet screamed along with the other audiences which is rare for her. She usually needs to at least have some limiter on her mouth to maintain her image as a Saint. But now she is not a Saint, she is just an audience like everybody else, watching this spectacle of a fight.
The dark giant's skull cracked... but the cold carapace of the Winter Beast finally cracked, as well, a myriad of ice shards flying away.
It moved, easily breaking free of the obsidian lake. The gargantuan stalks of ice moved as well, wrapping around Sunny and pulling him closer to the ice. At the same time, ice spikes formed below him, shooting forward to impale his mutilated Shell.
The upper part of his broken head was already fused with the ice, turning still and brittle from the frost. Almost immobilized, Sunny was being swiftly assimilated into the Winter Beast's body.
"Fuck!"
"Get out of that thing! "
"T-teleport or do some shit!"
Once again, the tide of cheers became a tide of worried shouts, after seeing how Sunny was trapped in the embrace of the Winterbeast. They were all like kids in front of a screen watching their favorite superhero fighting a villain. They all act as one, after all they were humans. They are all supporting Sunny.
All around him was pale ice, painted beautifully in shades of vivid azure.
He was caught.
"C'mon man get out of there! "
"You can do it! "
Shouts of comments about Sunny's predicament were heard again. But they never predicted what would happen next. After all, Lost from Light shines whenever he's close to his death.
...Caught exactly where he wanted to be.
Instead of trying to free himself from the icy tomb, Sunny used his broken limbs to push himself further down, into the fracture that he had created in the frigid carapace of the profane titan.
And there...
He snarled, and used his bared teeth to bite down ferociously on the vague shape at the heart of the eerie ice creature.
No one could believe what they were seeing...
"Did he just bite the shit out of a Corrupted Titan!?"
That's the thought in everyone's mind right now. Even Cassie who was rarely impressed because of her ability to see the future was in disbelief.
Nephis was in awe about Sunny's actions. He is brutal, unpredictable, and treacherous. He is... a brutal murderer.
'Crazy! this guy's crazy! '
Thought Effie as she couldn't control her jaws that dropped to the floor. She have never seen this kind of performance for so long after Cassie rammed that damn boat in their second nightmare but this is insanity!
The skull of Sunny's battered Shell had cracked, and the upper part of it had fused with the ice. That part was torn off when he pushed what remained of his body into the fractured ice, spilling shadows like a tide of black blood.
But his jaws were still intact.
With most of his limbs gone and his colossal body swiftly turning into ice, Sunny let out a frenzied growl as he opened his skeletal maw and bit down on the small silhouette encased in the heart of the Winter Beast's appalling vessel.
Slicing it in half.
'Did he win?'
Thought Kai... and everybody else.
Kai have never seen such a barbaric performance before. Well... except what Cassie did in the second nightmare. But having seen a single human, do this against one of humanity's greatest debacles out of all things. It's just simply amazing.
A moment later, his teeth exploded into a rain of ice. His mutilated Shell was far too damaged, and would have already crumbled if it had not been fused into ice, becoming a part of it.
His soul was cold, cold... cold enough that even the terrible pain ravaging it had been swallowed by a peaceful numbness. That peace was a herald of death.
Everyone waited for the confirmation, the confirmation of the Winterbeast's death. Anxiety and hope contradicted as they all wanted the abomination dead, but also knows how powerful it truly is. They just can't assume that it's dead, because the majority of those who lost a fight are the ones who have underestimated their opponents.
But none of it mattered.
Because the moment Sunny destroyed the source of the Winter Beast, the abominable sculpture of Ice that served as its body shuddered.
And then, it started to crack.
"Is it... dead? "
"It's dead! "
"Let's go!"
Cheers of victory were heard all around the theater. This is probably the closest thing to world peace to have ever happen, because of a single man.
Right now, there are no government, Valor, nor Song. Right now there is just humanity.
He heard a gleeful laughter ring in his mind, breaking through the haze of stillness that was consuming it. Glee, triumph, vindication, pain, sorrow, guilt, hatred... countless emotions were fused into that laugh, creating an eerily disturbing mixture.
Sunny recognized the laughter as his own.
Or was it a scream?
He was laughing... because the Winter Beast was dead. There was no Nightmare Spell to celebrate his Idll, but Sunny had sensed a trickle of shadow fragments entering his soul.
The cheers stopped.
All they could hear is a man who have gone through all of it. They could feel his rage, his relief, his happiness, his pain. It's just a laugh but this laugh carried the lives of millions of people that the Winterbeast killed, and a laugh of a man who have lost it all.
The harrowing titan, Winter Beast, the bane of the Antarctic Center and the executioner of Falcon Scott, the abominable horror that had stolen the lives of Sunny's soldiers and taught him how unbearably crushing a defeat can be, was gone.
Slain by his own hand, no less.
Vengeance... was so sweet.
But that sweetness was also so indescribably bitter, because it carried the memories of what it was exactly that Sunny had longed to avenge.
Everyone mourned. They have also cheered but the emotions brought by Sunny's laughter changed the mood indescribably. It was simply a laugh but it have changed the atmosphere of the whole room just because of the impact of it to the audience. Because everyone here have lost someone from Antarctica, they have lost friends, lovers and tears because of a single beast.
And that beast is no more.
«Ah...>>>
Imprisoned in the depths of a frozen Shell, Sunny cut off his senses for a fleeting moment.
Left alone in the darkness, he whispered:
<<<This... this is... this is for you.>>>
It was for Belle, Dorn, and Samara. For Professor Obel, Sergeant Gere, and Lieutenant Carin. For numerous others who had perished in Falcon Scott.
And for Sunny himself, who had to live with the scars that the Winter Beast had left on his soul.
He merely came to Antarctica by a whim, he became a captain, he learned how to lead, to become a leader of his own. He realized how much he have changed. The former treacherous boy from the slums became a messiah who have saved thousands of lives. He experienced all the nighmarish things the continent have to offer. He claimed his very first titan kill. He have made and lost people. And he is one of the two who have stayed and survived the fall of Falcon Scott.
He is the Devil of Antarctica.
— ตอนใหม่กำลังมาในเร็วๆ นี้ — เขียนรีวิว
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