"What's going on there?"
The damsel apparently… never was in distress at all after all,
"W-what… what the hell is that?!"
Like an old saying that defeated the purpose of fiction itself in writing, 'Reality is a beautiful, and sometimes can as well be a weird cruel mistress.'
The young man's dry lips were separated so much as if he was in awe. A mouth that he was being opened so wide, yet barely any chilling air coming through; even through the gap between his teeth, hardly he tried to suck in the chilling air. A pair of eyelids that he was being opened so wide, yet barely any blinking act he did to lubricate and clean his eyes that slowly were getting sore for being laid bare too long to the chilling air. Mayhap because the more chilling sight before his own eyes, he did not feel a thing, in fact because he did feel many things at once, he ended up with nothing to be felt; too many things were going on inside his head caused by one thing that happened before his sight in the distance,
That was when he found out of about one Reality; one Reality that could be stranger than even a fantasy itself… like a cynical smile dripping with a snide, the most laughable thing of all was that a sign of Miracle was nothing more than a twisted version of the said Reality,
A Reality in which the damsel wasn't in distress at all, and it was such a Miracle that she was being okay all along hence ought to be grateful since long; that his struggle—though eventually seemed redundant—and this life-and-death situation he was getting himself into, came into fruition; of a taste that of an astringent fruit, apparently his headlong plans to save the damsel took him quite some times to make him realize of quite a telltale taste circulating throughout his chilling body to see quite a chilling a sight of what supposed to be glad tidings,
Normally, a shocking facade in disbelief was the first thing that he showed up with – as natural as it went to show his expression for being a first-timer to witness such a Miracle. And when the mental rejection within himself was no more, his mind could now slowly adjust itself, intertwining his meat-brain together with the said Miracle and becoming his now Reality. And yet perhaps, it maybe was just his layman wit's attempt of wanting not to dwell too deep into patently an obscene matter… and thus a low chuckle was then heard therefore, leaking out of his snide along with the frosty dew of his breath,
"A-ahaha… well, least now I can be a hundred percent assured if the girl is—!"
Before a sentence was even fully formed and out of his lips fretfully smiling away his fret; comforting the anxious thought of his own that tried to justify his presence here after the struggle, after the fact that he was trying to save something an unwonted being – clearly a non-human being… but a massive claw happened to be targeting him and caught him off guard; a massive claw that of a massive beast encased entirely in frozen solid ice was all of a sudden hammering down towards the young man – about to crash him down, shredding his flesh like a thin paper before the presence of glistening frost… so fragile… well, save for the young man's left arm,
Claws would be clashed with each other… feeling confident with his current footing; perturbed he was not, even though the sudden strike the ice beast about to be hammered down upon him, took him by a genuine surprise. Yet dodge away he did not, but stayed firm in place and left arms he raised high, about to clash his with that beast's; his left arm that was massive as well that happened to be possessing claws that encased in opposing element of that beast's: pink fiery liquid-like flame that glowed and shaped entirely the beastly claws of the young man,
Claws would be clashed with each other… eventually becoming a typical deadly exchange between frost and flame yet perturbed he was not; even though being in a disadvantage position being below that massive ice of beastly claws, he let not his claws to go sinking and being shattered under the weight of that massive ice of beastly claws… no, he would not let that happened… in fact by having the lower ground, made him possible to try one of his new tricks up his sleeve,
Massive amount of thermal energy began to form and overflow out of his blazing claws, and later was becoming excessive and starting to swell. The thermal energy turned bigger and thicker, becoming a great wall of pink magma – a very suitable wall to be built between him and those enormous frosty claws that had to manage shredding the magma wall first and foremost before even touching his flesh; needed only for the young man to just watch if such claws capable of shredding it through,
And as it turned out, even before those frosty claws of a beast encased in thick armor-like ice could touch the magma wall the young man just created… already vaporizing those frosty claws were immediately, and left only a painful grunt. Of an ice wolf who quickly pulled its claws back before its vaporized entirely, injuring itself; and with the help of its pair of ice wings hurriedly flapping, eventually the ice wolf managed to escape the ordeal which could otherwise be fatal for its own confidence in its own ice; and so now it knew if a direct confrontation would otherwise be a disadvantage… choosing to attack from the air, that ice wolf kept its distance from the young man,
"Keeping a safe distance I see. Well, that's understandable enough, since I have no means against something that is floating high above," commented the young man, seeming in fret yet trying to keep his mien at still; later raising his unaltered right arm and forming a gesture in his fingers… a sign for his another strike to bet on it… whether or not it could reach that floating ice wolf flying quite high in the skies, yet it was worth a shot nonetheless,
The right arm that he raised high towards the starry night skies, putting together his forefinger and the middle one, then pointing them towards that floating ice wolf… he then abruptly swept the said fingers with a light and gentle movement down and up; and following the movement, no more than a second later, a pink crystalized spear came down from even the higher skies seemingly out of nowhere. Descending at high velocity from the higher skies than where that ice wolf were floating… silently and for sure was deadly… as its sharp, tapered tip of the crystal-clear spear that was about to pierce through a little gap in the back of the ice wolf's neck that was not protected by the layers of thick ice… hoping the spear's sharpened head capable of bringing the massive floating beast down to the frozen ground, penetrating the beast's flesh and making the warm blood flowed out to bring an end to all of this undesirable confrontation with one last bloodshed one more time,
Or so, that was what the young man was hoping for,
"W-well… at least I saw it coming. That thing surely won't make things easier, huh… for the both of us,"
Sounded awfully so sure; quite a reassuring remark the young man just uttered to show his collected self once learning the chilling reality… literally. Expressing an unassuming mien, when in fact he did so to bury down that one mien of his that could otherwise be exposed; that one mien of his that implied his trepidation. Witnessing his sneaky attack did not go as he planned; poorly planned his plan was, because of underestimating how cold that floating ice wolf could go once witnessing that pink crystalized spear of his being frozen in place and being turned the crystal white as snow; still floating in the air… only just… the spearhead was now simply unmoved, losing all of its motion; staying still in the air just a metre before its spearhead was able to touch the beast's exposed furs uncoated with ice,
"…!"
When things seemed to be at his disadvantage right off the bat, things would soon escalate becoming much worse as he soon felt the chilling sensation; a sensation that of frostbite that in a split of a second was prickling his massive left arm before eventually numbing it senseless. Completely caught him off guard for this sensation gave him no pain whatsoever but a sudden realization that he could no longer feel his massive left arm before its fiery flame of pinky-red shade of his massive left arm was marred by discolored frosty aura as soon as his eyes gaped at it in aghast,
Realizing what was about to happen; judging from that pink crystalized spear of his that halted in the air… the young man quickly engulfed his left arm with the pink flame coming from the tip of his beastly claws as he focused more to create it more fierce and fiery… to thicken it, creating a condensation of pure flame... small yet denser and hotter flame that he soon bashed it against the frozen ground right below him and pierced through its thick layer of ice, creating a massive explosion of frosty steam that soon blinded anyone from peeking in,
And was no exception even for that floating ice beast, as it remained floating high above with its pair of golden-brown eyes that were scanning the area below which slowly turned foggy as the frosty steam seemed like would not dissipate soon enough… it grew wider instead, and seemingly became thicker. As a cover perhaps; no doubt having the frosty steam a role for a little distraction… enough to make that floating beast flustered because of least expecting it would be flung out of it,
It was the same crystalized spear; only this time the pink flame was engulfing entirely its shape hence no more crystal clear but a murky one. The flaming spear that flung out of the frosty steam; at high velocity being launched with ferocity; like a flaming lightning, it hurled towards the floating beast who clearly was shocked by the young man's another sneaky strike… yet unfazed still the floating beast was. Because like previous attempt—no matter how fiercer and hotter the pink flame was that engulfed wholly the young man's spear might be—it stopped abruptly just a metre before the tongue of the pink flame touching the skull of that floating beast… as though its layers of ice seemingly froze it almost instantly, seemingly froze all of the motion, more so even the enormous heat energy that was emitted by the pink flame itself… all was frozen in the air; the spark that once of a flaming spear was now the glitter of absolute white ice,
Quite a stunning outcome, yet not the one that the young man surely had not predicted beforehand, for the flaming spear was merely a little distraction that he utilized; and the bona fide strike of his was just about to ensue starting now… through many geysers that all of a sudden were erupting violently. Erupting from the depth of the frozen lake below; below countless thick layers of ice, in which ice had not the capability to freeze the fluidity of the everflowing element. Pure water that now gushing out and boiling hot, created many tall and large pillars of superheated water penetrating through the thick layers of ice… and was free now, the pure water, out in the refreshing yet chilling air,
All thanks to the young man who was somehow capable of summoning them all: those many pillars of superheated water bursting out of the frozen lake, and bringing with them on the top of them: the still-intact chunks of ice that not yet melted before the superheated water… large enough to be viable for someone to actually ride on top of it as it was launched by the great force of geyser high towards the starry skies—towards where the floating beast was utterly flabbergasted amidst the sight of abnormality,
Bearing the title of a literal anomaly itself, not even the great ice wolf and its instinct of a greater beast could comprehend the current situation that no doubt the human male was the cause… somehow… by erupting these many geysers whose height surpassed what its pair of icy wings could carry. Hence stunned; staggered at most… almost losing its balance in the skies as a few pillars of boiling water were—like waterjets—thrusting the beast's ice-cladded body quite forcefully. Hence forced the beast to relocate; flew up higher at most… almost touching the hanging stars in the skies as it was quite a perfect breathing space for the beast who began to scan the ground below once again, looking for that human male nowhere caught within its golden-brown vision…
…yet the beast's vision caught none, even after having long gone the geysers were minutes ago, and thus were leaving many holes befouled the frozen lake below… still, that human male was not caught in the beast's vision. Well of course the beast wouldn't able to, for he was now currently floating, too, after one of the geysers managed to launch him that high… in the starry skies that was even higher than that clueless beast. Like he had planned; to feel once again the chilling breeze as he reached and beyond terminal velocity; the young man was falling faster than the gravity allowed him,
Falling like a blazing shooting star he was, as his pinkish flame slowly turned a blaze… smearing his massive left arm, and whetting those claws of his with an eruption of magma; the young man had inside his mind a single aim, which was to simply bring the beast down with a single sweep of inferno, hoping his pinkish flame could now shatter least melt away those thick layers of ice,
Big gap and wide opportunity as the beast freely exposed its vulnerability; strong momentum full of self-confidence, the young man should not fail at his attempt of unexpected strike. However the beast too, apparently, had its own version of unexpected strike… one that struck the young man the most and faltered him almost in an instant,
"Ughh!"
Feeling no pain; only a simple piercing cold like a needle was being stabbed into his shoulder, only then he couldn't feel his left arm – couldn't sense the immense heat from the blazing flame that his left arm supposed to emit. Extinguished… all of his pinkish flame all of a sudden; the shock on the young man's face witnessing his left arm completely turned white out… as pure as snow… before eventually collapsed under its own weight,
And that was when the pain—throbbing and aching that of frostbite—started to kick in, along with a warmth sensation slowly flooded alongside the pain. And at that moment, the young man was losing his momentum; could no longer be full of self-confidence as he now simply fell with a wailing face bearing his wretched state… trying to find a little breathing space as he struggled to stay stable and remain cold-headed in the cold air, but rather a cold smack that he instead about to receive not long after… when he was least expecting it,
"You gotta be kidding me?! At this range?!"
The visage of a beast encased in ice was right beside him, for the chilling aura that the beast brought he could sense now even stronger piercing pores of his skin… and along with that, a deadly stare… a pair of beastly golden-brown eyes that it gazed straight into the young man's dumfounded visage. The beast had apparently figured out the little scheme of his; and the beast now was about to unleash the scheme of its own as well… a scream of a wolf that rode a blast of blizzard coming out from its open massive muzzle that showed no rows of dangerously sharp teeth – it showed instead… something so unorthodox,
Concentration of energy, of pure white, and for sure so chilling not for its madly low temperature… but for the energy capability to absorb all the heat from its surrounding. And this gaping with eyes widened in awe at that white ball of pure cold energy that just had been created and now slowly getting bigger right in front of his eyes—between him and that wide-open muzzle of that beast—becoming so dense and seemed heavy, that was the first impression that the young man gave at his first glance… and at his first glance too, he knew that would be the death of him when that ball of pure white energy were being wildly unleashed towards him, more so at this close distance. Hence he must act quickly, shattering another crystal to create at least a makeshift barrier since the massive left hand of his wasn't so reliable now,
…however, when his remaining hand was trying to search for the necessary life-saving item,
"D-darn it! I… I got no more crystal left!"