Chapter 32: End in sight

The mercenary grabbed the earth itself.

Then pulled.

The ground rose.

The battlefield turned upside down.

Massive chunks of concrete ripped from the earth.

Entire slabs were lifted into the air.

Cars.

Metal.

Stone.

Broken shipping containers.

Everything around them was thrown upward.

The earth itself became a weapon.

Sonne created ice platforms to keep herself from falling.

Kael stabbed one blade into a piece of concrete.

Lucy grabbed onto an exposed steel beam.

Eden used Burst Step repeatedly to avoid being crushed.

The mercenary stood in the center of the chaos.

He looked almost completely unaffected.

Eden breathed heavily, feeling blood come out his nose.

’I can’t keep this up—’

He glanced at Lucy.

She was pale.

Her pink Essence had almost disappeared.

Sonne noticed too.

"Eden."

He looked at her.

"We can’t keep this up."

"I know."

Sonne stared at the mercenary.

Then closed her eyes.

"...Then I’ll use it."

Eden frowned.

"Use what?"

Sonne opened her eyes.

"I have one skill."

Her voice became quieter.

"I normally don’t use it."

Kael looked at her.

"Why?"

"Because it hurts me."

Eden immediately understood.

"How badly?"

Sonne didn’t answer.

She simply raised her hand.

Essence erupted around her.

The temperature dropped.

Instantly.

The air became freezing.

Her body began rising.

Her feet left the ground.

Frost spread across her hands and forearms.

Then higher.

Across her shoulders.

A crown of ice formed above her head.

It floated.

Perfectly still.

Sonne’s amber eyes became pale beneath the freezing aura.

The System appeared briefly.

[SS-Rank Skill]

[Ice Lord’s Soul]

The mercenary looked up.

For the first time, genuine caution appeared in his eyes.

Sonne raised one hand.

A simple gesture.

A graceful attack.

The air froze.

Dozens of ice lances appeared around the battlefield.

The mercenary’s eyes widened.

Sonne closed her fingers.

Every lance moved.

The sky itself seemed to fall.

Ice crashed into the ground.

The mercenary vanished beneath it.

Boom!

An enormous glacier erupted.

Sonne continued.

Her breathing became strained.

Blood appeared at the corner of her mouth.

"Don’t..."

She gasped.

"...let him out."

More ice erupted.

A mountain of frozen spikes expanded until it towered above the ruined port.

The mercenary disappeared completely.

Kael stared.

"Is he..."

The ice exploded.

A fist punched through.

Then another.

The mercenary emerged.

Blood covered his face.

His breathing was finally heavy.

But he was smiling.

"You guys..."

He wiped blood from his mouth.

"...You guys are the fucking best!"

Sonne’s eyes narrowed.

"Shut up."

She moved her hand.

Another wave of ice struck.

This time, Sonne became the main attacker.

Kael and Eden supported her.

Kael’s twin golden blades carved through openings created by the ice.

Eden used the last of his Devour to slow the mercenary whenever he tried to close the distance.

Lucy stayed farther back.

Every time her Essence recovered enough, she rushed in.

Every attack became catastrophic.

Ice mountains erupted.

Golden slashes tore through the ground.

Crimson Essence crashed into the mercenary.

Pink explosions swallowed entire sections of the battlefield.

The shoreline itself began collapsing.

The sea flooded into the massive crater.

Yet the mercenary kept moving.

Sonne’s body began shaking.

"I can’t..."

She gasped.

"Keep this up much longer!"

Eden looked at her.

’Even Sonne is reaching her limit!’

’We have to end this somehow.’

The frost around her arms was spreading.

Her skin had begun turning pale from the cold.

"Stop if it’s too much."

"No."

She stared at the mercenary.

"Not yet."

The mercenary suddenly charged.

Straight toward her.

His expression was no longer amused.

It was serious.

Almost desperate.

He was well aware that they were wearing him down.

He was also aware that Sonne was their last hope.

So he rushed at her with the intent to kill her with his next strike.

Kael saw it.

"Eden!"

"I know!"

Kael poured almost everything he had left into his two blades.

The golden light intensified.

Eden gathered the last of his Essence into the red coating around his sword, coughing up blood in the process due to a lack of Essence.

The mercenary reached Sonne.

His right fist pulled back.

Sonne’s eyes widened.

"Now!"

Kael and Eden moved.

The mercenary swung.

Kael’s two golden blades crossed.

Eden’s red-coated sword struck beside them.

Slash!

The mercenary’s eyes widened.

Their combined attack cut through his right wrist.

’UGHH!!’

For a fraction of a second, nobody moved.

Until his severed fist fell.

The mercenary stared at his severed hand in shock.

Kael and Eden immediately jumped backward.

"SONNE!"

She understood.

The ice around her erupted.

Sonne raised both hands.

Her crown of ice blazed brilliantly.

Every remaining ounce of power from Ice Lord’s Soul gathered around her.

She screamed From the excessive strain the skill put on her body.

Sonne released everything she had left.

The world froze.

A gigantic structure of ice erupted from the ground.

Spikes.

Walls.

Pillars.

Mountains of frozen Essence.

The mercenary disappeared inside.

The ice continued growing.

Higher.

Wider.

Larger.

Within seconds, the frozen structure was larger than the warehouse had ever been.

A strange silence settled in.

Sonne’s body finally dropped.

Her feet touched the ground.

The ice crown vanished.

The frost covering her arms slowly disappeared.

The SS-Rank skill shut down.

Sonne fell to one knee.

Kael immediately caught her.

"Hey!"

"I’m fine."

"You don’t look fine."

"I said I’m fine."

Lucy collapsed onto the ground nearby.

"I can’t feel my arms..."

Eden stood motionless.

Then his legs gave out.

He dropped to his knees.

For several seconds, he simply breathed.

His entire body felt empty.

He looked at the gigantic frozen prison.

Then at Kael.

Then Lucy.

Then Sonne.

A tired smile slowly appeared on his face.

"We..."

He laughed softly.

"We actually did it."

Kael stared at the enormous mass of ice.

"We beat a B-Rank."

Lucy laughed weakly.

"That sounds insane when you say it out loud."

Sonne leaned against Kael.

"We’re alive."

Eden looked around at the destruction.

There was barely anything left of the port.

The battlefield had been transformed into a massive crater surrounded by mountains of ice and shattered debris.

And somewhere inside that enormous frozen prison—

the B-Rank mercenary was buried.

Eden let out a long breath.

He couldn’t even celebrate properly.

His body was exhausted.

His Essence was nearly gone.

His sword felt impossibly heavy in his hand.

But despite everything—

he smiled.

He achieved a victory the Eden from his past life could have never even dreamed off.

Eden slowly pushed himself upright, wiping the blood under his nose away.

"Now..."

He looked toward the distant city.

"...we just have to find Mihui."