The flight north was a descent into an ice-choked hell. What started as a biting chill quickly mutated into a full-blown whiteout, the air thick with driving snow that threatened to blind anyone without a reinforced ocular lens.
They pushed through blizzards and freezing drizzles for days, moving at Merun's constant, grueling pace until the dark horizon finally flickered with the orange glow of civilization.
His village, Merun thought, the wind howling past his mask.
But then, a desperate shout cut through the gale. "H-HEY! JUST... W-WAIT! CAN WE GO DOWN FOR A MINUTE?"
Merun banked hard, looking back at the massive white-haired Squire. "Huh? Why?"
"I... I need to take a breath," Nanouk wheezed, his sky-walking rhythm faltering. "We've been at full speed with no sleep for days..."
Merun couldn't help but smile at the man's rugged honesty. "Well, you should've just said so!"
They plummeted toward the white blanket below. Nanouk hit the ground and immediately sprawled out, his massive chest heaving like a bellows. Merun remained standing, his eyes flicking to the digital readout.
[KILAK NANOUK - 4,800 - HIGH TIER MARTIAL SQUIRE]
Merun rubbed his chin. Even in this state of absolute exhaustion, the number hadn't budged. It seemed the Scouter ignored temporary fatigue, focusing instead on the base potential or the highest recent threshold of the user's vessel. A "stable" reading of a warrior's peak.
"Is it always winter here?" Merun asked, looking at the endless white.
"Always... snowing... here..." Nanouk grunted.
Merun noticed something curious. Back in Owari, he had felt the bite of the cold. Now? The sub-zero wind felt like nothing. He felt invincible—as if even the absolute zero of deep space would struggle to pierce his skin.
He reached into his pouch, pulled out a small stash of Earth-side treats he made on the side, and tossed them onto Nanouk's chest. "Have a taste. They're called marshmallows."
Nanouk poked the soft, white pillow-like object with a look of deep suspicion. "Is it... a type of mushroom? I don't... like using drugs. But thank you, friend."
Merun laughed. "No, it's just gelatin and sugar. It's a dessert."
Nanouk popped it in his mouth. The moment the sugar hit his tongue, his eyes rolled back. His entire body seemed to go limp with ecstasy, a spiritual epiphany washing over his face. "Throughout Heaven and Earth," the Squire whispered, sounding half-mad with joy, "I alone am the honored one."
Merun laughed. "...I guess to you, it is kind of a drug."
———
Refreshed by the sugar and a few minutes of rest, they reached the mouth of the village: Nannuavik.
It was a cluster of massive, lattice-framed yurts covered in heavy felt. Fences held woolly cows that huddled together against the wind. But the atmosphere was wrong.
The few villagers outside looked dispirited, their shoulders slumped in a way that spoke of a broken will. They all seemed to be transporting large rocks, forming a makeshift wall. They saw Nanouk and moved as if to cheer, but stopped short—held back by an invisible, suffocating weight.
Nanouk sensed it too. He stood tall and let out a roar that shook the lattice frames. "I, NANOUK, HAVE RETURNED! COME OUT!"
The village fell into a hushed murmur as eyes turned toward the "demon" standing beside their hero. Then, the central yurt opened.
A hulking man stepped out—a scarred, topless brute with a full beard and a massive scimitar strapped to his back. He radiated a dangerous, predatory aura as other martial artists flooded out behind him.
"This guy?" Merun asked, tilting his head and tapping his scouter.
[NAKAMURA IIDA: 300 - MARTIAL APPRENTICE - !WANTED!]
A mere apprentice? Merun's eyes narrowed. Wanted? Does he have a bounty?
Nanouk's voice was a low, nervous tremble. "No... it's not him."
Suddenly, the brute and his men dropped to their knees, forming two parallel lines of fealty, as if clearing a path for their king.
"It's her," Nanouk said gravely.
Finally, she walked out.
She was stunning—long, ink-black hair flowing loosely in the wind, with sharp bangs that framed a face of porcelain perfection. She wore an all-white, high-quality dobok with light armored plates that caught the dim light. Her eyes were a deep, haunting emerald green.
She walked with a grace that felt entirely out of place in this rugged wasteland, her chin tilted upward, looking down on the world with a mix of haughty boredom and playful malice.
Merun felt the hair on his arms stand up. It wasn't just the cold. His tail, tucked tightly around his waist, gave a sharp, involuntary throb against his spine.
His jaw dropped. What the... she looks like a top-tier cosplayer I used to watch on Twitch!
He tapped the side of his mask.
[HWAYEON YI: 6,000 - APEX MARTIAL SQUIRE - !WANTED!]
Merun's heart skipped a beat.
Six... thousand? Squires are supposed to cap at five thousand! How is she this far out of bounds?
Six thousand. In all his self-research and every conversation he'd had with, the cap for a Squire was at five thousand. Crossing that line meant that in that realm, they were the sky above the sky; the Apex.
She stopped ten paces away. Her eyes, a green so deep they looked like forest shadows, drifted over the kneeling thugs and settled on Nanouk.
Then, they shifted to Merun.
Her deep emerald pupils began to vibrate. It was a high-frequency shake, a micro-tremor that made it look like her eyes were physically locking onto his vitals, peeling back his skin to see what's underneath. Merun felt a cold sweat break out under his mask. She's... fucking intense.
"Nanouk," she said. Her voice was flat and imposing. "I remember our last conversation. I told you that your people needed structure. I gave them laws. I gave them safety from the wastes. I even gave you the mercy of your life."
Nanouk's massive frame was trembling. He remembered how quickly she defeated him. How thoroughly broken he ended up... how he felt 'something' beginning to crack. Something more important than his life. He felt his martial path tremble as it was nearly destroyed.
Still, he mustered up all the courage he could, "...You turned my home into a labor camp, Hwayeon! You have them breaking stone in a blizzard for a wall they never asked for!"
Hwayeon tilted her head, a small, graceful movement. "They did not ask for it because they do not understand the value of a border. I am civilizing this ridge. Progress is often mistaken for cruelty by those with limited vision."
She finally fully addressed Merun, her gaze lingering on the demonic features of his mask. "And yet, instead of gratitude, you bring an outsider. A mercenary in a mask. Is this your answer to my generosity, Nanouk? To bring a monster to my doorstep?"
Merun took a step forward, the snow crunching loudly in the silence. It felt so off seeing the image of the "top-tier cosplayer" with the absolute authority she projected. She looked so jaw-dropping but her attitude... was something else.
"Generosity... is not the term I would use here," Merun said, his voice coming out a bit more rasping than he intended through the mask. "Usually, when people are being helped, they don't look like that. Your 'civilization' seems to have a lot of people in chains. Too much control, if you ask me."
Hwayeon's eyes didn't widen, but the vibration in her pupils intensified for a split second. She looked at him with a mix of confusion; buried under layers of icy pride.
"Control," she repeated softly. The word seemed to strike a nerve for some reason. "You speak of things you do not comprehend. If they suffer now, it is so their children will not starve later. Change is always resisted by the short-sighted."
"Yeah, I've heard that one before," Merun replied. He shifted his weight, feeling the familiar beating of his monstrous heart. "The question is... Do you have the power to enforce it?"
The thugs behind her bristled, they steadily ready their stance, but Hwayeon raised a single, porcelain-white hand. They froze instantly.
"It is always the brutes who rejects progress," she said, her voice regaining its metallic calm. "I am Hwayeon Yi. I have the strength to back my ideals."
She looked back at Nanouk, and for a fleeting moment, her expression softened into something almost human. "I spared you once because I believed you were a man of honor who cared for his kin. To see you return like this... it is a profound disappointment. You would rather see your village remain a collection of tents in the wind than accept the gift of a future."
Nanouk let out a choked growl. "We were never yours to fix, Hwayeon!"
"Then I suppose there is no more room for dialogue," she said.
She didn't take a stance. She simply stood there, her arms at her sides, but the air around her began to warp.
The falling snow seemed to veer away at the last second, as if repelled by the sheer intensity of her presence.