"Ugh!"
I clawed my way out of the snow and dragged my frozen body to the surface. Fortunately, I was an ice mage, so the cold didn't bother me none. Not only that, my master had trained me how to survive an avalanche before.
Did you already forgot who my master was? He was the silver-ranked armored adventurer who went around slaying goblins. There was one time when he fought against a goblin paladin and a horde of goblins who had taken up residence at an abandoned dwarf fortress, and after he slew the goblin paladin, he had his comrades cause an avalanche to wipe out the horde.
Thanks to that, I had learned from him how to survive an avalanche.
Originally, I was tempted to use ice magic to freeze the incoming avalanche, but I knew it wouldn't work. Avalanche was basically snow toppling over the slope. If I were to freeze it, I would only increase the weight and mass of the avalanche, and my allies would have a more difficult time surviving.
Fortunately, we had prepared for this scenario so I doubted Stella and the others would succumb to such a disaster, but we were inevitably split up. No matter, I was confident that I would find them soon enough. Particularly the prowlers, Billy Cantwell and Doug Dubinski. They would sniff out my scent and track me down before long.
But damn, I was swept away much further than I thought. Good thing I dismissed my ice dragon before I was blown off my feet and washed down the valley.
Scratching my head and adjusting my gasses, I dusted off the snow from my body and scanned my surroundings. There was no sign of the enemy, but there was also no sign of my friends.
I was all alone here.
Well, there was no point standing around glumly. I might as well start looking for my comrades while watching out for foes.
Tapping my glasses, I used the sensors installed in my enchanted lenses to sweep the icy valley for any sign of life. Infrared, biological, radiological, even electrical. The snow was interfering with my sensors, though, so I couldn't find anything.
Interesting. Snow shouldn't have interference properties. Perhaps this was magic snow then. I had to be more careful. I didn't know if this was a trap laid by the frost giants, though I had never heard of frost giants being able to cast magic.
Then again, I had never heard of magical snow before either…
"Cough!"
I tensed when I heard the sound and swept my gaze around. Finally, my glasses picked up life signs. A thermal signature showed up in the infrared spectrum and I hurried toward it, one hand on the hilt of one of my swords. Perhaps I was thinking too much. The reason why my sensors didn't pick up anything wasn't because so-called magical snow was interfering with them but simply because there was nothing for them to detect.
Still, the sensors in my enchanted glasses could only tell me so much. It merely picked out someone's thermal signature, but it didn't identify them for me. I wasn't sure if he or she was an enemy. Only one way to find out.
Switching from infrared to normal vision, I magnified my vision and zoomed in on the figure digging her way out of the snow. To my pleasant surprise, it was none other than Silvia Winters.
"Silvia! Are you all right?"
"Ugh…" Silvia coughed as she shook the snow from her body. She accepted my hand and allowed me to pull her out, the snow crumbling beneath my feet as I tried to gain traction. It took me a few seconds before I yanked her above the surface of frost. "Thank you, my liege."
"No problem."
I studied her, checking to see if she had suffered any injuries. Miraculously, she didn't look hurt at all, but whether it was because of the preparations I had her do in advance of the avalanche or because she was also an ice mage, I had no idea.
"I'm all right. What about you, my liege?"
"I think I'm in better shape than you, to be honest."
"You're probably right." Silvia giggled. She then looked around. "Where are the others?"
"No idea. I've been looking for them for a while now, but you're the first one I found so far. We should keep looking."
"Good idea." Silvia nodded and helped me look around. We trudged through the snow, unaffected by the cold because of the element we had greatest affinity with.
To think people dismissed ice mages as cold. Nope, we were right at home with this sort of weather.
We spent the next hour or so searching, but found no sign of ally or enemy. The skies were darkening, which was natural given that it was winter. The sun would set early during this season, casting a dark pall over the valley. The shadows of the mountains stretched near infinitely, shrouding everything in gloom.
"Where could they be?" Silvia asked, looking around. I was half expecting a cute, tiny cat-like spirit with grey and white fur to appear beside her, floating in the air. Yeah…I was reading way too any web novels, and that particular series was too depressing to read.
"No idea. But we did prepare for this beforehand, didn't we?" fortunately, I had prepared several contingencies, which included this particular scenario. "If we were to be separated by an incident – including an avalanche – we will meet over the mountains, right across the border in the Havan Kingdom. The renegade demonic legions wouldn't recklessly cross the border. Not if they want to engage in a war on two fronts."
"Yeah, and I can't believe you were completely spot on." Silvia turned to regard me, looking impressed. "How did you predict this?"
"If I told you I read this scenario in a web novel before, would you believe me?"
Silvia raised an eyebrow, wondering if I was joking. When I maintained a serious expression, she sighed and shook her head.
"Honestly, I don't know if I should be surprised by anything you do anymore."
"The perks of being the Demonic Emperor, I guess."
"Ara? You still think you're the Demonic Emperor?"
Without even looking up, I recognized the voice. Even more so when my glasses detected the mana signatures of demons approaching Silvia and my position from all angles.
Cassandra and her enchanting legion had arrived. Winged incubi and succubus surrounded us, charm magic emanating from them in intense waves.
"Did you really think your charm magic will have any effect on us?" Silvia asked frostily, her own frozen mana coming to life and causing a layer of hard ice to spread across the soft snow. Several incubi and succubus were forced to either jump or fly away when icicles erupted right under their feet, almost impaling them.
"It's just a matter of quantity over quality," Cassandra replied, her voice honeyed and almost hypnotic. "No matter how high your magical resistance is, even you won't be able to endure charm spells cast by over a hundred incubi and succubus."
Yeah, now that she mentioned it, I could feel intense waves of mana bombarding us, almost breaking through my arcane defenses. However…
"What makes you think I'm just going to stand here and let you guys cast whatever you want?"
I couldn't help but roll my eyes. My ice dragon materialized once more, bellowing as he unleashed an azure stream of freezing breath that transmuted a few unfortunate succubus into ice. Silvia wasn't going to allow herself to fall behind either. With a curtsy, she turned the entire valley into a sculpture of ice, entombing several incubi.
"Ugh! I can't underestimate a Divine General and the candidate chosen by the gods to be the Demonic Emperor!"
Cassandra must be referring to the crest on my hand. She glared at me, feeling pretty impotent, but I couldn't care less. She lunged forward, her arms glowing purple and transforming into claws, before she smashed the ice apart with brute strength.
"Since when do succubus have such immense strength?" I grumbled. "Or is that some cliché from watching too much anime?"
Cassandra ignored my jibe and slashed at me, but I drew Nocturne and Blood Angel, crossing both of my blades to parry the strike. The snow underneath my feet disintegrated immediately from the tremendous impact, leaving a frozen crater.
"My liege!" Silvia cried out, but she was busily dealing with the hundred or so incubi and succubus under Cassandra's command. Fortunately, she had help. My ice dragon was rampaging among their lines, trampling upon the unfortunate seductive sex demons and crushing them into bloody paste on the snow. The once white plains was now stained red with their blood.
"Don't worry, I'll deal with her. It's my job."
I parried Cassandra's claws and dodged her follow up strike. It was true. I couldn't cement my position as the Demonic Emperor if I didn't deal with challengers. In order to silence all doubts, I had to prove to everyone that I was stronger than the fools who thought to usurp me.
Demons only understood strength, after all. They respected the person who had the power to back up his position. There was no point spouting pretty words when I didn't have the ability to back them up.
So now I focused on defeating Cassandra.
She was still trying to cast her charm magic on me, to get me to fall in love with her or something. Admittedly, she was gorgeous and beautiful, but I couldn't care less. I had seen what beautiful girls, such as Irene, were capable of. Like hell I was going to fall for her trap.
"Blood Fortress," I murmured. Crimson mana erupted from Blood Angel and spiked into the snow around me, turning into a boundary field. Cassandra glanced around and worry flashed over her pretty face.
Immediately recognizing the danger, she flew toward the wall of the boundary field and hammered against it, only to hiss in pain and withdraw. She stared at her claws, which were smoking after coming in contact with the barriers of the boundary field.
"You…! What is this?!"
I simply smiled and sheathed Nocturne. Instead, I held Blood Angel in both hands and infused it with my mana.
"You didn't do you research on my abilities before you challenged me?"
"No, I mean…I did, but…"
Cassandra looked guilty, which meant I hit the nail on the head. I couldn't help but roll my eyes. Even so, I refused to show any mercy and continued to advance forward.
"Bankai." Blood Angel glowed before erupting violently, blood pouring out of its blade and turning into an ominous sea of red. "Minazuki."
"Huh?! What did you just say?!"
"I was just ripping off my favorite manga."
"You're still joking at a time like this!"
Shrieking furiously, Cassandra lunged at me, but I sidestepped her before stabbing her gut. She cried out and retaliated with a swipe, but I ducked under her lethal claws. Reversing my grip on Blood Angel, I eviscerated her.
Cassandra screamed and staggered back, her guts almost spilling out. She flapped her wings to try and fly to safety, only to hiss in pain. Glancing back, her eyes widened when she saw that the blood I had conjured had splashed onto her wings.
And now her wings were gone, eaten away by the acidic fluids, leaving nothing but fuming bones.
"Ah…AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
She slashed at me once more, only to have more of the acidic blood splash onto her body and corrode away her flesh and muscle. I gracefully stepped in and cut her throat open, severing her carotid artery and sending another spurt of blood.
The succubus queen stumbled back, clutching at her ruined throat. She tried to shout something at me, but only a gurgle came out. I felt no sympathy for her, only rage and hated, and rammed my sword into her chest.
The blood that splattered all over her torso went to work, acrid fumes pouring out as her skin and muscle dissolved, leaving an exposed ribcage. Even the lungs and heart within were disintegrating under the chaotic onslaught.
Kicking Cassandra, I sent her tumbling backward in an untidy heap and yanked my sword out. At the same time, my Night of the Bloody Armageddon (that was the real name, not Minazuki) disappeared, allowing me to stand in the open once more.
"Mistress!"
"Lady Cassandra!"
The incubi and succubus were shocked to see the ignominious demise of their mistress. Grinning, I turned to face them while raising my sword mercilessly.
"You guys are next."