It stood, a giant, towering.
The pure azure ice that completed it in full glittering amidst the day. Its structure a bulky exterior with innards of nothingness, seemingly a fragile mess that would fall down with a single push. Yet, it held the aura that they had all come to recognize, the aura that screamed to them of danger. Given only the signal to run, their legs quaked and shivered from the mere thought of battling the titan before them.
Maria had only felt this aura twice in her life. The first from Alice Albridge, the so-called Crow's Throne 4, directly telling her there were at the very least three more people that were potentially stronger that she would have to face. The second time she had been forced to sense the danger from a being laid with the mysterious vampire empress known as Iu, who seemed to be able to read her as if a book yet she herself could glean nothing from.
She was beginning to think there wasn't a single ounce of a fire temple behind that thing that currently stood before her, and Alex likewise held the thought that maybe they had stepped on a needle ready to pierce their skin. Yet, the floating loli behind him sleeping so soundly almost made him feel a sense of security. Although...putting his life within her hands wasn't the best bet.
Their feet dug into the winter wonderland that surrounded the entirety of the landscape.
"It's attacking." Ais's voice merely drifted, as her right hand grasped the blue hilt of her weapon, pulling it from the sheath at her waist with quick swiftness, the silver blade dancing within the air for a moment before steading.
She stepped forwards, before Maria, as she watched the movements of the beast.
"I am Voltum...all that disrupt my master...must perish..." Its hallow voice, ringing without lips, had churned a quiet, faint, tune.
Its right hand raised.
The wind rolled, the snowy lands waved as dusted white moved in a dance. Even as she wore her armor, Maria began to feel an endless decimation of the temperature. Clearly, she wasn't immune to the elements.
"
The ground rumbled.
The snow below the ice golem's feet rolled forwards in a rise...directly blocking the sun as it fell down upon the group.
"Alex..." Maria asked, hoping the boy somehow held a weapon of sorts that could deal with an attack of this scale.
"Double series..." His voice trailed, he was already in the grasp of the blackened sheath of a katana.
Within moments, the snow beginning to fall upon them, he had taken a drawing stance. His right leg forward and his left aback, the sheath to his left hip.
"
He pulled his weapon from its sheath.
The world rang the echo of a shrill, as if the mixture of a bird's endless chirp and that of scraping metal.
He slashed upwards with a single stroke.
A gleam of a single white strand of light blinded the horizon, as if cleaving the sky into momentous sections.
The air tore as a massive gust of wind echoed, Maria and Ais having to shield their eyes as they watched the mass of the avalanche cleave into two.
A loud boom rang as the snowy wonder found itself at their sides, evading their path as it scaled upwards momentarily before falling back down in the same boom. Momentarily shaking the team's stance, a deep thick frozen breath welding through them as the snow fell with nothing but sprinkles left upon them.
'Did that weapon just cut through distance and scale!?!' Maria furrowed her brow, feeling the lingering trace of mana.
[Mhmm, it holds an ability to cut through distance it seems. Nothing surprising.]
'...'
Alex sheathed the silver glean of his katana.
A harsh wind blew through the lands as his dark purple eyes narrowed into the golem, his chest heaving as fresh air dwelled before him as the cape of his attire blew.
Maria and Ais held their blades forwards, ready for what was to come next.
There eyes a bit drawn towards the 'sleeping' figure of the man impaled by a gleaming azure blade within the golem's head.
'Was that its controller?' They couldn't help but ask themselves.
"Hmm..." Voltum seemed to think deeply for a moment.
It's right hand grasped forward.
"Oh my..." Maria widened her eyes.
Blood seeped from the ground beneath their feet and floated upwards, directly crushing up from the land they had thought as pure snow. They realized they had been wrong...it was rather a land of snow atop blood.
It molded, formed, and conjured into a singular shape as Voltum grasped it in full. Its length the entirety of the golem's...nine meters.
A crimson scythe was birthed into the world, pulsing in iciness as if nothing more than frozen blood.
But they knew better...
Maria's voice shook, "Tha..that thing..."
The gleaming weapon of crimson blood...
"If we receive a single attack, we will die." Ais's emotionless voice spoke out her fears.
She didn't know the exact power of that weapon...but she could guess. Their blood will likely freeze from the inside and they would shatter with a tap.
"
"
"Why are you switching away that weapon?" Maria raised a brow, the heck would you remove that powerful a weapon from your arsenal?
"I would have to stand still and pull every time I want to use that particular one...plus there's a cooldown of exactly five minutes with that ability...it's too slow."
"I see," Maria nodded before looking forwards.
"
Maria at the left, Ais at the right, Alex at the frontal mid, and the Loli floating soundly at the back mid.
Alex squinted his eyes, narrowly and hazily seeing the multilayered barrier the girl had formed.
"Heh," The golem shook for a moment before stepping forwards, its foot thundering against the floor.
The ground shook as the snow rolled, and Voltum rushed forwards. The whole of the world quaking with every boom of his feet as he ran forwards, the scythe dragging behind him, tearing through the ground and revealing the layer of crimson blood beneath the frozen snow.
"All that have come here have died," He abruptly came to a stop as the snow skidded.
"You will be no exception."
There was a universal gulp.
Its whole body twisted with the glam of the sun, holding his scythe with both hands, he cleaved the land with a single swing.
A wave of snow was cleaved.
The golden barrier of light shattered.
"Budding Vine!" Alex's voice boomed.
"Mana Blades!" Maria's voice boomed.
A single thick stalk, as thick as a meter, of jade vine busted forth from the ground as it stood before the path of the crimson weapon.
The crunch, similar to breaking wood, resounded as the scythe tore through the defensive vine.
It came to face with a gigantic golden blade.
Clank
A spark.
"Hmm," Voltum raised a brow as his weapon came to a stop.
He looked at the golden-haired girl supporting the golden blade with her silver weapon, her entire body quaking as she rested her weight upon both weapons.
His right hand shook.
Ais's circular vision shook...
"Jump away!" Maria's voice echoed.
Her body had already begun to move.
As her feet landed against the snow a meter away, she looked in time to see the location she had just stood...
...completely pierced in crimson spikes eluding from the scythe.
If she had remained there, she would have sooner died.
'Shit...' Alex cursed, his hands growing a bit more sweaty.
"It seems to hold an S rank strength...however...its sheer size aids it in its strength..." Ais spoke, having experienced the beast's strength firsthand, as she stood up.
Her right hand shook lightly, but she still managed to wave her sword within the air.
She turned her attention towards the beast that had retracted its attack, remaining still and having seemingly stepped back in preparation for what it assumed would be a retaliation...
It wasn't wrong.
"Assault." They all come to the same conclusion, they didn't much like the thought of standing still for death.
"I'll use my mana blades, should be useful for avoiding the spikes by hopping onto one and I'll use my healing as a supplement for the team while I also use my mana sense to reach as close as possible and go for destroying its arms." Maria's tongue raced.
"I'll go for its neck," Ais spoke, "I should be able to cleave somewhat through if its strength really is just S rank."
Alex nodded, "I'll go for the legs then while also doing my best to hinder that weapon of his."
His hand shown, a dark blue sword appearing in his right hand and a fiery red sword in his left.
The trio nodded to one another.
Ais stepped forwards, her skill in full swing as her feet crunched against the snowy lands. The wind and cold a harsh mix, but she had felt much worse within Eliza Crown's
Her blade held before her, she ran forwards.
She looked up...
A crimson scythe blinded the sun as it fell down.
Boom
Ais jumped, neglecting the torn ground below her as her feet aiming for the pole of the weapon.
A crimson spike shot up...
Almost piercing through her feet...
However,
Ais grasped a golden blade that suddenly appeared overhead and swung herself forwards,
She gently landed upon another golden blade before finally hopping back onto the crimson pole.
She looked forwards...a rain of icicles fell.
Maria swung her blade as she twisted her body, narrowly avoiding a gaping hole in her abdomen as her weapon cleaved through an icicle even in its speed before returning to a normal length.
At this moment, her mana sense was stretched to the limits as she worked towards the beast.
Her breath a ragged mess. She was quite exhausted...this had been the longest series of fights she had entered into.
She felt a rush of wind,
She looked rightward,
The gleaming blade of a scythe headed for her,
Not in a bid to be sliced in two, Maria jumped.
[Not high enough...]
A cove of light appeared beneath her feet as a dome of light was made known.
She held enough time to jump once more upon the light barrier before it shattered at the impact of the blow and made it onto the pole of the crimson scythe.
[She's entered into a hyper battle state...] Mar could help but ponder, having no idea if this was a good or a bad thing. However, she knew, this was also a time for growth in both mind and body.
Maria struck her blade into the weapon of the giant golem, a crack made effectively.
Gritting her teeth, she dragged her blade with both arms as she ran forwards, cracks spreading with every step she took.
She didn't get far, however, as she realized the giant's weapon was in the midst of freezing over...any moment now and she would likely slip off.
She jumped upwards, steps of mana blades appeared before her as she stepped higher.
Then...
She dropped back down...
Her body twisted...
"Sever!" She slashed down with her fall.
A clean cut.
She managed to hold onto her weapon and flip onto it following a horizontal shift. She rode it as if a board as half of the scythe fell down behind her.
His ears rang with the crack of frozen blood and the shaken of the lands as a pillar of snow lightly shot up.
Voltum brought its left feet down in a defense.
The oh abruptly skidded to a stop.
"Freeze." Alex's voice thundered as he slashed with his right hand.
A ground grew in ice as the frigidness of the mass shot forwards in an array of ice spiked, freezing.
The wind ranged as the attack collided with the foot of the titan.
An echoing boom ensured, snow spiraling the area.
The body of the golem froze in spikes of ice.
"Now!" Ais pierced her weapon forwards, her legs jumping from a hovering Mana blade, the wind blowing her golden hair and her irises narrowed, as she dived towards the seamless neck of the golem in an effort to pierced through.
At the same moment, Maria grew her blade to a dependable size, her legs landing softly upon the snowy land, her hair blowing with the wind, she charged forwards in a bid to cut its arms.
However...
"
Ais's eyes widened as the air seemed to crystalize before her infinitely close to an instant, a large icicle the size of her arm appeared and pierced forwards at almost the same time.
She only had a moment to raise her weapon in defense before the impact shattered her backward, the frozen air sucked from her lips
"AIS!" Maria's figure abruptly came to a stop as she turned back to see the body of her guard crash into the ground and skittering away.
She immediately abandoned the notion of attacking the beast and ran towards her.
"You dare use ice against me...?" The voice of Voltum resounded.
Cracks spread along the icy surface that had momentarily entrapped him.
It didn't take long for it all to shattered away to pieces as his foot fully stepped onto the ground once more.
Alex looked around, save for the floating figure of the lol behind him, he was all alone.
"Sh*t." He cursed as he looked up towards the beast currently 'staring' down at him.
His left hand raised, "Then I'll burn you!"
His fiery weapon lit ablaze.
He slashed forwards, "Magma Rush!"
Under the gleaming of the sky, a column of intensely burning magmic red shot from his blade and rushed towards the golem.
The very places it passed melted with ease, revealing only the bloodied ground underneath the snow as it zoomed.
"
As if a mini tornado, a spasm of lofty snow spewed from its hand.
Alex's eyes widened as the two differing elements clashed.
"This..." His voice echoed in utter shock.
His attack froze over as soon as it touched upon the swirling winds of snow emanating from the golem's palm.
No sooner than a moment did it take before the magma, or what was previously magma, to freeze over.
Voltum grasped the 'club' as he swung it within the air once, testing its weight.
"This will do." It simply spoke.
Alex jaw dropped.
"Did it just freeze magma!?! Oh hell nah!"
'Wait, hold on, I forgot I'm in its environment. With so much ice there's bound to be a plethora of strong ice elemental mana in this area aiding it's iced based power while the lacking fire elemental mana weakens any fire-based attacks...' His brain begun to race.
'Shiet...I have to look through my arsenal for a suitable weapon then.'
"AIS!!" Maria skidded to kneel before the figure, her knees digging into the snow as her hands moved to hug and lift up her guard.
"Cold..." The first thing she noticed, even to her who wore elemental resistance armor, was the coldness of her body.
Ais's complexion had become a mess, her eyes shut in faintness and her skin growing paler by the moment... Her weapon having fallen to her side, her hands growing too weak to lift.
"Faint...but she's still breathing. Thank God." Maria took a moment to wipe the tears from her eyes as a sigh rang out.
'I can save her then.'
She grasped the icicle, logged into the left arm of her companion.
She frowned.
It wouldn't budge, and whenever she tried to use too much of her strength, Ais would grimace in pain.
[It's connected with her veins, probably freezing into it, and most likely part of her nervous system and bones...]
"I have no idea what any of that means."
[It means, if you pull it out by force, it could cause irreparable damage to her left arm and shoulder. There's even a chance it could paralyze other parts of her body.]
'Can't I just heal her??'
[Healing magic isn't omnipotent. Although it can regenerate blood and the like, it cannot regenerate broken limbs. Unless, of course, it happens to be the very few special ones or those connected to unique skills.]
"Dammit." Maria cursed, looking at Ais's face.
"I'll cut it for now!" She finally made a decision and grasped her fallen blade.
In one fell swoop, she chopped at the base of the icicle.
Directly leaving only a tiny hint of a stud left...which to her surprise...entered into the arm.
Following which, she placed her hand upon the still visible wound.
She disregarded the thundering noise of battle behind her.
"
However...Ais's complexion did not seem to increase even one bit.
[That won't work, check her status.]
Name: Ais William
Strength: B
Speed: A
Mana: B
Skills: Swordsmanship (B+), Circular View (U), Broken Will(A), Eternal Sleeping Beauty (???)
Overall: A]
[A ranked?...she seems oddly weak for an A ranker. I thought she was at most of the B- rank.] Mar's surprised voice rang.
"Shut up." Maria narrowed her eyes.
[...]
'
[Eternal Sleeping Beauty: Paralyzed into an eternal dream, you shall continue until you are forever frozen over and shatter into nothingness.]
Maria's eyes widened, 'She's freezing from the inside out!?'
'Think think!' Her brain spun.
'My Radiant Blade, Armor, and Mana Blades give off heat. Maybe I can slow down or store the freezing by using them?'
Ten golden blades birthed into the world and hovered around her body before steadily placing themselves above Ais.
However...she frowned.
[It doesn't have much of an effect.]
'Just hovering around her wouldn't be enough, they would need to directly touch her if any effect is to be made. If I can lengthen my Blades then is it possible to change their shapes even slightly?' She creased her brows.
She had never thought of such a possibility before, but, her singular skill had also never seemed as simple as it was on the surface.
'You damn god up there, this better works!'
Her will rang out.
The tell Blades flashed into one, a low clang ringing, as they rolled into a singular spilling ball of gold, wavering slightly with golden light.
The orb slowly lowered onto Ais's figure before slowly melding onto the body of Ais and beginning to encase her.
In the end, the personal guard was covered in a casket that left none but her face now visible.
However...
"It's working but it's not enough." Maria gritted her teeth, she could still feel the intense mana of ice drifting around the figure.
Looking at the figure encased in gold, as she placed her down onto the snowy lands, Maria's voice trembled.
"Mar...how do I save her?"
At that moment, a loud boom rang behind her, snow fluttering ever which way. However, Maria did not even take a moment to glance backward.
[You should focus on the battle at hand first.] Mar seemed to frown.
"HOW DO I SAVE HER!?!"
[...] A sigh rang.
[In the end...companions are nothing more than a dead weight...]
"Mar," Her voice oddly calmed, her pinkish eyes glaring slightly.
"Just, tell me. How do I save her?"
[As you wish.]
[Pierce your weapon into her right hand and coat it with your Mana as you simultaneously heal her. Although it will not fully cleanse the curse, it should be able to stop it from spreading any further for the time being. It will fully prevent the 'shattering into nothingness' for the meantime but I can't say the same for the dream...there's no guarantee she would awake anytime soon.]
"Wouldn't that just tear through her arm and damage it further...?"
[She may lose an arm...but would you rather she loses an arm or her entire body to the curse?]
Maria grasped her Radiant Sword, looking upon it for a moment.
'I need to learn higher ranked healing magic.' She bit her lips, tears staining her eyes.
"Sorry, Ais..." Her voice quivered.
A small section of the golden casket peeled off, revealing the left arm of Ais, which was beginning to grow ever colder and bluer.
Maria pierced her blade down.
A splash of blood splashed her face.
"Cold..." She could taste its coldness.
There was a jolt, nothing more from the sleeping beauty.
"
Maria lifted her hand from the blade, silently watching as the casket finally fully covered Ais's entirely. Leaving nothing more than a golden sword sticking out.
[Are you certain you can maintain all of those things at once...] Mar asked.
She didn't answer, simply bending down to grasp Ais's blade.
Taking a moment, she could not help but stare at it.
Blue hilt, thin silver blade, upon which etched a singular word, 'Father'.
The blade reflected Maria's face with the gleam of the sun, the sound of battle ringing behind her.
She turned around as she looked towards the figure of Voltum.
"I'll kill it."
Her expression was nothing short of rage.