Damien faced Revis across the frozen expanse, his daggers ready, his breath misting in the cold air.
She came at him without warning.
Her ice-encrusted limbs moved in wild, brutal arcs. No technique. No strategy. Just pure, mindless aggression. Her eyes were empty, her mouth twisted into a snarl as she swung her bladed arms again and again.
"WALLENSTEIN! WALLENSTEIN! WALLENSTEIN!"
The name spilled from her lips like a curse, over and over, the only word she seemed capable of forming.
Damien dodged the first strike. The second. The third. Her ice-clad fist passed within inches of his face, and he felt the cold radiate off it like a furnace of frost.
He countered, his dagger slicing toward her side.
His blade connected.
And immediately, ice began crawling up his arm.
"Shit!"
He ripped the dagger away, stumbling back as the frost spread across his fingers. He shook it off, the ice shattering as his warmth returned, but the damage was done. He understood now. Every touch froze him.
Revis attacked again, relentless, screaming that single name.
"WALLENSTEIN!"
Damien flowed around her strikes. His Mind's Eye screamed warnings, but she was predictable now. Mindless. Every attack was telegraphed, every swing too wide, every lunge too deep. She had power. She had speed. But she had lost whatever skill had made her dangerous before.
He ducked under her sweeping claw, rolled past her stomping ice-boot, came up behind her.
His dagger slashed across her back.
Ice bloomed on his wrist. He pulled back before it could spread.
Revis spun, her arm catching him across the chest. He flew backward, ice spreading from the impact point across his ribs. He hit the ground, rolled, came up gasping as Riveria's protection spell fought the freezing invasion.
"WALLENSTEIN! WALLENSTEIN!"
She charged again, arms wide, mouth open in a mindless scream.
Damien waited.
He let her come. Let her close the distance. Let her raise those bladed arms for one final strike.
He moved.
His body flowed under her swing, inside her guard, past her defenses. Both daggers came up. Crossed. Drove forward.
Her head left her shoulders.
It spun through the air, trailing ice crystals, and landed on the frozen ground with a hollow crack. Her body stood for a moment longer, arms still raised, before it crumpled.
Damien stood over her, breathing hard. Frost clung to his arms, his chest, his face. But he was alive.
He looked down at Revis's severed head. Her eyes were still open, still empty, still frozen in that mindless rage.
He thought of Ais. Of the curse Revis had placed on her. Of the screams he had heard through the shadow.
"Goodbye," he said.
He turned and walked away, towards where Riveria and Tiona where facing off against Ice Tione
The frozen mist swallowed him.
Behind him, on the ice, Revis's severed head lay motionless.
Then, slowly, impossibly, particles of ice began to drift toward it. They gathered at the neck, connecting, mending, pulling. The crystals crawled across the frozen ground, drawn to the wound, knitting flesh and bone back together.
Ice particles connected her head to her body.
And in the mist, something stirred.
...
Tione attacked without pause, her ice-clad limbs swinging with brutal force. Her face was blank, her eyes empty, but her mouth moved constantly, words spilling out in a desperate, broken stream.
"The pain won't stop! Make it stop! IT WON'T STOP!"
Tiona dodged another wild swing, Urga raised but unable to strike. "Tione! Please! It's me! Your sister! Fight it!"
Ice claws raked toward her face. She barely got her blade up in time.
"IT HURTS! WHY DOES IT HURT SO MUCH!"
Tione lunged. Tiona twisted away, but not fast enough. The claws caught her shoulder, slicing through her armor. Frost exploded across her skin. She gasped, stumbling back as Riveria's magic fought to contain the freezing.
"Tiona, you cannot keep avoiding her!" Riveria's voice was sharp with frustration. Her staff crackled with ice magic, ready to intervene. "We must end this!"
"No!" Tiona gritted her teeth against the cold. "I won't hurt her! There has to be another way!"
Tione answered with another scream. "MAKE IT STOP! PLEASE! SOMEONE!"
She crashed into Tiona like an avalanche. Ice fists pounded against Urga's flat, driving the Amazon back step by step. Tiona blocked, deflected, dodged—but she could not counter. Every time she thought about striking, she saw her sister's face. Saw the pain behind the madness.
A frozen elbow caught her ribs. She went down hard, ice spreading across her side.
Riveria stepped in, her staff slamming into Tione's chest. Ice met ice, and Tione staggered back. But the freeze crawled up Riveria's arms, forcing her to release her grip.
"You cannot touch her," Riveria hissed, shaking off the frost. "We cannot defeat her without harming her."
"Then we don't defeat her!" Tiona pushed herself up, blood freezing on her lip. "We reach her! We bring her back!"
Tione charged again.
Tiona met her head-on.
She threw Urga aside. Her arms wrapped around her sister, pulling her close, ignoring the ice that immediately began devouring her skin. She held Tione tight, her voice cracking.
"Tione! Come back to me! Please! I can't lose you! I can't!"
Tione screamed. Her ice claws raised high, ready to plunge into her sister's back.
"IT HURTS! WHY WON'T IT STOP!"
The claws descended.
Metal clashed against ice.
Damien stood between them, his hand raised, his palm pierced by Tione's frozen claws. Blood dripped onto the ice. Frost spread across his fingers, his wrist, his forearm.
"That's enough," he said quietly.
Tione froze. Her empty eyes stared at him, something flickering behind the ice.
"It hurts," she whispered. "Why can't he love me the same?"
Damien did not pull away. He let the ice crawl up his arm, let the cold seep into his bones. He reached out with his other hand and gently moved her claws away from his palm.
"I love you just like the rest," he said.
Tione shook her head, her voice breaking. "No. You only love me because of Tiona. Because I am her sister. Because...."
"No, silly." Damien smiled, frost forming on his lips. "I love you because of you. I have been in love since the day you tried helping me in the onsen."
Her eyes widened.
He leaned forward and kissed her.
Ice spread from his lips, crawling across his face. His skin turned white, his breath crystallized, but he did not stop. He held her close, his arms wrapped around her frozen body, and he kissed her like she was the only thing that mattered.
The ice began to melt.
It dripped from her hands first, then her arms, then her face. The cold retreated from his lips, his skin warming as color returned. Tione's hands came up, trembling, and pressed against his chest.
When he pulled back, she was crying.
Real tears. Warm tears.
"Damien..." she breathed.
He wiped a tear from her cheek. "Welcome back."
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