Stuck in her room for what felt like an eternity, Suzune Michiro was wrestling with a dragon called 'Humiliation.' The aftermath of her false accusations against Ryujin had left her shackled to the task of crafting an apology letter.
"Curse it... as if losing to him in our last duel wasn't enough..."
The triumphant grin on Ryujin's face after defeating her was etched in her memory, a mocking piece of graffiti she couldn't scrub away.
"All right, let's give it another shot." She began writing, her handwriting shaky: [I, Suzune Michiro, apologize...]
With a crinkle-crumple-swoosh, the half-finished letter met its untimely end in the wastebasket.
"No good... I'm degrading myself way too much... Just picturing his smug face reading this letter... Ugh!"
Tossing the crumpled failure into the trash, Suzune steeled herself for another attempt. "A bit of humility is okay, but I refuse to debase myself."
Suzune's rivalry with Ryujin was a tale as old as their childhood. Touted as the most promising of her generation, her reign seemed inevitable — until she faced Ryujin.
"You fought well..."
Ryujin's words after their first duel still rang in her ears.
Initially, she accepted the defeat with grace and even attempted to forge a friendship. But loss after loss corroded her good intentions, replacing them with a fervent desire to best him.
Yet, Ryujin always seemed to be one step ahead, his intense training sessions propelling him beyond reach.
"Damn… damn that Pedro!"
Suzune still couldn't believe that she got carried away by Pedro and went to the Blue Lotus sect to accuse Ryujin.
"Suzune-sama, your mother, Yumiko-sama summons you."
Yumiko Michiro was a monolith amongst the leaders of sects — the solitary female figure. A cascade of ethereal white hair, akin to her daughter Suzune's, trailed down her back, an unusual sight that was as majestic as it was rare. Her eyes, the color of stormy skies, held an undisputed authority.
The epoch had recognized her as one of the mightiest sect leaders, her reign echoing through the century. The unique magic she had honed was fire, her command over it so profound that the element itself seemed to bow before her will.
This, however, sparked a curious paradox. Alexia Wan, with her flaming red hair, was a mistress of ice magic. Meanwhile, Yumiko, blessed with snow-white hair, was a sovereign of fire magic. This unexpected deviation from the norm left readers of 'Regressor Survival' confounded, a riddle that unraveled slowly.
"Yes… I expected that."
Suzune was under no illusions. She had foreseen her mother summoning her after the discovery of her impulsive accusation against the eldest son of the Wan family. The Blood Moon Sect, their power still in ascendance, was not yet at its zenith. A confrontation with the Blue Lotus — a monolithic entity celebrated as the preeminent sect — was tantamount to a moth daring to challenge a raging inferno.
Even Yumiko, formidable in her own right, would hesitate to cross swords with Alexia Wan in her wrathful state. Yumiko's prowess was beyond question, yet the wrath of Alexia was an elemental force, a storm capable of upheaval and destruction. The icy chill of her fury could freeze the blood of the most dauntless warriors and her maternal instincts had the ability to turn her into an avenging deity, a notion that Yumiko respected.
***
"Salutations, Mother." Suzune bowed in reverence as she entered.
"Are you aware of the consequences of your actions?" Yumiko asked, welcoming Suzune into her grand chamber. This was a room that exuded the essence of fire, every decorative element within reflecting the power and passion of her pyromancy. Amidst such resplendence, only Suzune and Yumiko stood, casting starkly human shadows.
"Yes, I understand, Mother," Suzune responded, her voice barely above a whisper.
"No, you don't." Yumiko's voice took a sharper edge, and as her anger flared, so did the temperature within the room.
Unlike Alexia, whose anger chilled the atmosphere, Yumiko's ire ignited the very air around her, heating the room in an elemental display of her fiery wrath.
"Mother..." Suzune began to protest, beads of sweat trickling from her brow.
"In your hatred for Ryujin Wan, you chose to believe an outsider's words. You went to the Blue Lotus Sect and wrongfully accused the eldest son of the Wan family. Because of your fury, you trusted a stranger and brought dishonor upon our household."
Yumiko's reproach stung, and the temperature within the chamber continued to escalate.
"Please...Mother..." Suzune gasped, the oppressive heat amplifying her discomfort.
"Do you have any idea of the storm that Alexia will unleash upon hearing of this? When that happens, even I might not be able to shield you from her fury." Yumiko heaved a sigh, her disappointment palpable.
As Yumiko's question still hung heavily in the air, an unanticipated response made itself apparent. The room's sweltering atmosphere began to shift, the heat diminishing, supplanted by an encroaching chill.
The rhythm of steady footsteps punctuated the sudden, stark silence, each tread dropping the temperature further as if winter itself was making its entrance.
Then, there she was: Alexia.
Her arrival was as commanding as the biting frost that now held the room in its icy grip. Yumiko's fiery wrath was dampened, overpowered by Alexia's arctic fury.
"Now Yumiko, what can you say about your daughter's reckless actions?"