Alier stepped forward and got dangerously near the cocoon. The surroundings were silent and Alier had an apathetic expression on his face as he looked coldly at the cocoon.
"Julie, My Love... I gave you a promise." Alier muttered, his eyes sorrowful and gaze turned downcast—he was having a recollection of some of his bitter memories.
He looked up with a murderous look and said, "My dear nephew, nothing personal but I must keep my promise to beloved Julie... And so you must die!"
Suddenly the air began turning frigid as Alier also underwent the same sort of change that Albaer had when he faced off against the lightning. But there was a major difference; Albaer's Aura was very chaotic and trivalent while Alier's Aura was calm and concealed.
Alier extended his arm and touched the cocoon of light. Just as expected, although it wasn't made of solid material but acted like a strong barrier. It felt absolutely nothing to the touch as if the human skin wasn't able to comprehend its existence.
He removed his hand from over the cocoon and a slight, murderous, frigid and almost unnoticeable air blew in the room around Alier. Unlike with Albaer—it did not freeze anything and everything that it touched but that only made it feel more menacing.
"Emperor of The Snowy Lands! Lord of The Frigid Winds! Child of The Ice God! Essence That May Freeze The Divine, Essence That May Freeze The Heavens! Essence That May Freeze The Nature... Heed My Command And Obey, Ice Calamity Essence!"
Alier said as ice blue particles came out of his body slowly gathering and converging into a small bluish-white bead similar to that of when the Royal Physician had healed Ethan after his birth.
The more particles came out of Alier's body, the more tired and weak he looked. It was as if the particles contained some of his life itself. It was quite obvious that he was paying a considerable price for doing whatever he was doing.
Some time passed and it seemed like Alier was finally out of juice as no more particles came out of his body. The white colored bead was ready over his hand.
Alier looked at the cocoon once more and a hint of complex emotions as well as hesitation flashed in his eyes. He bitterly shook his head in pity and slowly closed his fist.
He then turned over his hand right above the cocoon and opened his fist. The Frigid Essense Calamity Bead dropped down like a water droplet and crashed into the cocoon's surface.
It instantly expanded and covered the golden surface completely—The golden surface nearly turned white but not for long as all the 'Frigid Essence' that was contained in the bead swiftly entered the cocoon.
Everything became normal as if nothing had happened in the first place. The cocoon from the outside looked just as unbreakable as ever shining with a golden glimmer but inside; a frigid essence that could freeze tall mountains and rivers had entered.
'It's finally over... The essence must have easily frozen even his soul by now—let alone blood and bones.' Alier thought as he looked at his hands. He felt as of they were now bloodstained with the color scarlet and he was a kin-slayer.
Alier felt some remorse but he also felt that what he did was all to keep the promise that he had made to his beloved.
He felt tired and was about to leave; that's when he noticed that the cocoon was pulsating weirdly.
Suddenly, a tendril made out of the same golden material shot out and in a blink of an eye directly struck Alier's hand which was still above the cocoon.
Alier felt blanked out all of a sudden and unexpectedly found himself in a snowy place that was burning all over the place with white fire. He caught a slight glimpse of a shadowy silhouette far into the distance amid the white hellfire which turned back toward him.
Alier felt his soul turn cold as he saw two absolutely frosty and extremely cold eyes staring back at him without any emotions.
Abruptly, Alier felt acute pain in his head as if his soul was breaking apart after getting frozen as he snapped to reality from the horrifying nightmare.
He stumbled back several steps in absolute horror as he looked at the cocoon which seemed just as normal as before without any changes. Alier mattered in disbelief and terror, "The.. White... Mystic...?"
Alier was a sight to witness as he was sweating profusely, his face had a petrified expression and he looked extremely fatigued.
Suddenly the door opened behind him and Earlene entered. She looked around the room and said, "What are you doing?"
Alier forcefully calmed himself and looked back, "I'm watching over my nephew..." He said with a somewhat dissatisfied expression.
It was quite rude of Earlene to ask that question in a way that seemed as if she was doubtful as to why Alier was there.
"Oh, I see... It's... Rather cold here." Earlene said as she looked around some more but everything seemed normal.
"Perhaps it's because of the storm outside. Anyways, I will take my leave now. You can stay if you wish." He said and left immediately.
'Why was he sweating so much if it's so cold in here?' Earlene thought momentarily but did not follow the thought as she hadn't suspected anything in the first place.
~~~
One day passed since Albaer left Adenberd, he was going towards the east and had traveled non-stop for day and night. Even Hooch was now getting exhausted as he had been flying at a tremendous speed in a constant.
Albaer had crossed many small territories during his travels. Whenever he flew over towns or villages. Some people noticed a shadowy bird flying across the sky in a blink of an eye creating a strange urban legend.
The storm had already passed a long time ago but Albaer looked completely wretched and ragged because of flying in such conditions. His hair was messy and his armor was stained with dust but he looked just as valiant nonetheless.
"Hooch! Just a little more! We're almost there now!" Albaer said in a tired voice while stroking Hooch's back urging him to not give up just yet.
Hooch whose wings were slightly shaking from exhaustion gathered up all his courage and strength—with a muffled screech; he shot forward once again.