Chapter 515 – Hellish frost [21]

As I approached the pillar where the crown was hiding, it didn’t take long for me to notice its not-so-subtle attempts to pass itself off as an ordinary, mundane object. The problem was that it was absolutely terrible at it. Actually, considering it was practically having a seizure, maybe expecting it to maintain a convincing disguise was a little unfair.

The crown was shaking violently on top of the pillar, rocking from side to side so uncontrollably that the whole thing was almost comical. As if that weren’t enough, the upper part of the object seemed to be literally melting nonstop. The material slowly ran down the sides, forming little streams that slid across its bluish surface.

It was almost as if it were sweating. A sweating crown... Okay. Putting aside how bizarre the sight was, I didn’t need to put too many pieces together to reach a rather obvious conclusion. The crown-shaped anomaly was absolutely terrified of me. The only question was: why? I stopped for a moment, staring at it with a hint of curiosity.

I couldn’t remember doing anything that would justify such an exaggerated reaction. I hadn’t threatened the crown. I hadn’t attacked it. And, as far as I knew, I hadn’t even done anything particularly frightening since I found it. So why was it reacting as if I were some kind of predator about to devour it? I tilted my head slightly.

The crown trembled even harder. Well. The answer seemed pretty obvious. Actually, even after I entered the inner part of the castle, the crown still tried to pass itself off as a simple ice sculpture shaped like a crown. Which, now that I thought about it, was almost funny. Especially considering the blatantly destructive power this anomaly possessed.

The entire city was already practically one step away from becoming the new North Pole, and I had nearly been crushed a dozen times by gigantic ice statues that appeared from God knows where. And yet, the crown continued to act strangely peaceful. Actually, peaceful probably wasn’t the right word.

There was something almost ironic about the way it seemed determined to avoid a direct confrontation, going so far as to pretend to be nothing more than a crown-shaped sculpture just to confuse me. And honestly, that didn’t match its apparent level of power at all.

I would have expected an anomaly capable of freezing an entire city to simply try to kill me the moment it got the chance. Instead, it was... Pretending to be a decoration. The more I thought about it, the stranger it seemed.

“You’re definitely one weird anomaly...” I muttered, staring at the ice crown with a hint of suspicion.

Anyway, when I finally reached the pillar where the crown-shaped anomaly was hiding, I extended my hand and touched its surface. Then I subtly stretched my body toward the anomaly, carefully moving closer to it. Yeah... To my complete surprise, it did absolutely nothing. I mean, it wasn’t like there were many things it could do to escape me at that point.

Still, I had expected some kind of reaction. Maybe one last tremor. A desperate attempt to flee. Or even some strange ability I didn’t know about yet. But nothing happened. Even the trembling that had previously run through its body had stopped completely. I blinked several times, suspicious.

It hadn’t tricked me and left some kind of decoy behind while it escaped... Right? The possibility genuinely worried me. After all, considering everything this anomaly had already done, I wasn’t about to simply assume it had stayed there waiting for me. So I decided to make sure. I narrowed my eyes and carefully examined the small crown-shaped figure.

For several seconds, I remained silent, searching for any sign that it was a copy or some kind of distraction. Then, finally, I noticed the characteristic glow emanating from its body. Ah. Definitely an anomaly. I immediately felt a wave of relief inside. I raised my arm and picked up the crown. And, to my complete surprise, it remained perfectly still.

That was... Curious. Just moments ago, this stupid crown had practically thrown a miniature army of giants at me simply because it didn’t want to face me directly. It had done everything in its power to avoid a head-on confrontation, so seeing it simply remain quiet now was strange. Almost as if it had given up fighting.

I was still suspicious. Call me paranoid if you want, but there was something far too suspicious about this sudden change in behavior. An anomaly like this simply giving up out of nowhere didn’t make much sense. I kept the crown in my hand, watching it for several seconds. Maybe there was some kind of trap. Or maybe it was simply waiting for the right moment to do something.

It was exactly when that thought crossed my mind that my train of thought was interrupted. The crown moved. My eyes immediately narrowed. The movements were subtle, almost careful, but they were definitely happening. The crown’s structure tilted in a way that made me frown. I had no idea whether this thing even had a face.

Much less how it could see, assuming it was capable of seeing at all. Still, considering the way it was moving... It seemed like, somehow, I was holding it with my back turned toward it. I paused for a moment. Then I looked at the crown. Then at the direction it seemed to be trying to orient itself toward.

The crown shifted from side to side in my hand, apparently unsure of what to do, until it finally realized that it was resting on something. It didn’t take long for it to look down. Or, at least, for it to tilt itself enough to see what was underneath it. It was a hand. A hand so white and pale that it almost looked transparent beneath the light around us.

The crown immediately shuddered. It was a sudden, almost violent tremor, as though a shiver had raced through its entire body all at once... Or, in this case, would it be better to call it heat? It didn’t really matter. The crown remained completely still for several seconds, apparently processing what it had just discovered, before it slowly began turning in my direction.

Very slowly. So slowly, in fact, that the scene was almost comical. Little by little, it rotated until it was finally facing me. Or at least, that was what I considered it, given how much effort it had taken to turn itself around. I stared at it. It stared at me. We remained like that for several seconds, surrounded by almost absolute silence.

So... the crown had simply lost it. Its body started trembling again, almost like another completely inexplicable seizure, before suddenly stopping. It went completely still. I stared at it for a few moments... Well. That explained a lot. As strange as it sounded, I had the strong impression that the crown had just passed out.

Well, this was... weird. I wasn't entirely sure why, but there was something about the scene that made me feel like a bully picking on someone who was physically much weaker than me. The worst part was that, technically, the comparison wasn't even that far off. This anomaly didn't seem particularly durable. In fact, I seriously doubted its body could withstand even the slightest amount of force from me.

A little more pressure and I would probably end up breaking some part of it without even realizing it. Which, now that I thought about it, was kind of interesting. It didn't seem all that different from an ordinary crown made of ice. A delicate, translucent, apparently fragile structure that should have shattered at the slightest impact.

Except there was one small detail that made the comparison rather strange. It wasn't melting. Even now, despite everything that had happened, the ice remained perfectly intact. Not a single drop had fallen, none of it seemed to be softening, and as far as I could tell, it showed absolutely no sign of intending to melt anytime soon.

I spent the next few seconds thinking about what I was going to do, trying to organize my thoughts as I stared at the situation in front of me. For some reason, the whole thing felt strangely anticlimactic. Not that fighting gigantic ice sculptures wielding spears and swords while they tried to kill me hadn't been quite an experience. Because it definitely had.

But considering all the chaos happening outside, I had expected the anomaly to be a little more... powerful? I wasn't even sure how to put it. Maybe I'd simply built up too many expectations after everything that had happened. After all, this anomaly had caused a situation big enough to involve an entire city, so I had expected something a little more grandiose in the end.

I definitely hadn't expected to find a crown. A simple crown. It was almost like reaching the final boss of some enormous ice castle only to discover that, instead of a demon king or some absurdly powerful ancient creature, the grand prize was an object that could fit comfortably in my hands... Well, at least now that I had the anomaly in my possession, taking care of it and bringing this whole situation to an end would be much easier.

And, as usual, I'd probably get a new power out of it in the process. Cryokinesis, perhaps? I thought about it for a moment. It sounded fun. More importantly, it seemed pretty versatile. Freezing things, creating ice structures, maybe manipulating temperature... Depending on how the power actually worked, I could probably find dozens of uses for it.

I had no idea exactly how the ability would manifest after being transferred to me. Powers never seemed to work in a perfectly predictable way once they reached me. Still, I was almost certain the essence of it would remain the same. In the end, it was just one more interesting thing to add to the collection. I muttered some of my thoughts aloud, more to myself than anyone else.

I didn't wait another second. I closed my hand around the crown, and the object shattered beneath my fingers with a sharp crack, breaking apart into dozens of tiny fragments that fell to the ground. At that exact moment, I felt something strange. It was as if a new layer had been added to what I already knew I was capable of doing. Somehow, it also allowed me to sense the snowstorm and freezing temperatures that were still ravaging the city.

It was almost as though I could reach out and touch the storm itself. All it took was a thought. Immediately, I began dispersing the effects that had spread throughout the city. It didn't happen instantly. The snow didn't simply vanish all at once, and the cold didn't disappear as though someone had flipped a switch.

But little by little, the abnormal conditions would begin to fade, allowing everything to naturally return to normal over the next few hours. Satisfied, I let out a small sigh before turning to look at the rest of the inside of the ice castle. Only then did I realize something. This place was huge.

My eyes traveled across the frozen corridors, the crystalline walls, and the enormous ice structures stretching far beyond anything I had initially imagined... Would they let me keep the castle if I asked? I remained silent for a few seconds, seriously considering the possibility.

That would be pretty cool. An ice castle was definitely more interesting than any ordinary house. However, I eventually dismissed the idea. There would probably be an entire mess of issues involving ownership, the origin of the anomaly, and all kinds of bureaucratic nonsense that I definitely didn't want to deal with. Besides, I still needed to let Emily and Laura know.

They would probably want to know that the storm was going to end on its own and that, within a few hours, the city should begin returning to normal. With that settled, I took one last look at the enormous ice castle: “Anyway... mission accomplished”