Ten watched the ice spears drop from above, calm as winter water. He lifted both hands; a sheet of light bloomed overhead, then hardened into a massive Mech shield.
“Mech Shield!”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Ice spears shattered on metal, breaking into glittering shards. Sunlight scattered off the fragments like silver rain.
“Haa—so refreshingly cold~”
Eight, a wavy-haired girl in a leather corset and shorts, drawled with theatrical flair. Her curves were bold; a white, fluffy little spider perched on her shoulder like snow on a twig.
“Eyes front. Don’t underestimate them.”
Ten’s voice was steady, a blade under frost.
“Tch.”
Eight shot Ten’s back a disdainful look. Two figures approached, silhouettes like ink on snow.
“Long time no see, Teacher.”
Ten stepped forward with a soft smile. His gaze settled on Gu Xin, and the memory stirred—a few months back, at the Shadow Division’s base, her poise had drawn him like frost to a window.
“What’s the meaning of this?”
Gu Xin frowned, her gaze weighing the six before her. She hadn’t expected Shadow Division here. Except for the faceless Nine, the others had once trained under her. Some rookies were trained separately, so even she and Meng Yuting hadn’t met them all.
“Orders from above. We’d like to invite the two teachers back to the base.”
Ten kept it polite, like a veil over steel.
“Invite? You need this many for an invitation?”
Meng Yuting’s voice carried a thin, cold edge.
“We’re wronged, Teacher. We haven’t touched you.”
Ten spread his hands, a helpless shrug under the sun.
“What for? When we left, Hong Wei said he wouldn’t interfere with our lives.”
Gu Xin’s tone was light, but the air felt brittle.
“No idea. We received the task to bring you back. That’s all we know.”
“What happened to your Anomaly Power?”
Gu Xin’s eyes narrowed. During training, Ten had been light-type. Now he wore machinery like armor.
“HQ developed a gene serum based on Asura’s power.”
Ten’s explanation fell like ash.
Gu Xin’s brows drew tight. She hadn’t expected Asura to stain this moment.
“Go back. I’ll contact the base.”
She turned, the wind at her hem.
“Teacher, please come with us. Shadow Division tasks must be completed. Don’t make it hard on us.”
Ten pressed gently, the tone hardening like ice.
“Fine. I’ll contact Hong Wei now.”
Meng Yuting pulled out her phone, the screen a cold mirror.
“There’s something you might not know.”
Ten cut in, words like a line snapped taut.
“What is it?”
“The Shadow Division isn’t managed by Hong Wei anymore.”
“What!?”
Gu Xin and Meng Yuting froze, shock like snow in the throat.
“Hong Wei relapsed two weeks ago. He’s in a coma.”
“Relapsed?”
Meng Yuting’s surprise rang sharp. They’d never heard of any illness shadowing Hong Wei.
“Then who’s running Shadow Division now?”
Gu Xin’s gaze pinned Ten like a blade.
“Hong Wei’s younger brother, Hongcheng.”
“Hongcheng?”
The two exchanged a look; the name was a stranger in winter.
“Yeah. We were surprised too. But he brought back a gene serum for Asura’s Mech-type power. It strengthened me.”
Ten touched his chest, pride like a small, dark flame.
Impossible… Gu Xin thought, the doubt like ice underfoot.
“He figured you wouldn’t come quietly. He asked me to tell you he found intel on Asura. You care about that, right?”
Gu Xin and Meng Yuting understood at once: a trap laid neat as a snare. Tang Ke was with them. The base wouldn’t have real clues. Tang Coco had never mentioned any gene serum.
“Go. We won’t return. We’re wary of this Hongcheng. We’ll come back when we’ve verified the truth.”
Gu Xin waved them off, reluctant to draw blades against those who were Shadow Division just months ago.
“Teacher… you really want to make it hard for us…”
Ten’s tone cooled, the air pruning leaves.
Metal rose around them like a ring of iron cliffs. Mech walls locked the field. Gu Xin and Meng Yuting had already raised an energy barrier; a quiet dome sealed the mountain, hiding their storm from the world outside.
“…”
“So this is how you treat your elders. Seems we’ve failed as teachers.”
Meng Yuting shook her head, weary as dusk, and tied her long hair back with a band.
“Teacher, we have no choice. Please understand.”
Ten bowed slightly, respect like frost on stone.
“Understand? Heh. Sure, we understand. Then… cut the chatter.”
Meng Yuting opened her arms and vanished into shadow, a swallow into dusk.
“Move. Watch your backs. Phantom excels with shadow.”
Ten’s order sliced the silence. Four, Five, and Seven lunged at Gu Xin. Four was speed—she blurred in first, fingers clawing for Gu Xin’s arm. Gu Xin gave no opening. Ice spikes flared around her in a wreath, forcing Four to pull back.
“I’m up!”
A voice rang from behind Four. Five’s arm roughened to stone, hammering forward.
“Forgive me, Teacher!”
His stone fist smashed the ice spikes, then swung for Gu Xin’s body. An ice shield bloomed large; the blow shattered it, but it bought Gu Xin a breath to retreat.
Swish—
A figure flashed at her right-rear. A pink fist streaked in, neat as cherry blossom. Gu Xin blocked in a heartbeat, her forearm firm as iron bark. The single-pony tail flickered—vanish—then reappeared behind her.
“Tsk…”
Gu Xin clicked her tongue and swept both hands. A cold vortex burst from her center, blowing everyone back like leaves in a gale.
“Guardian of Ice.”
Her voice was steady. Floating shards gathered, knitting into ten soldiers with long swords and shields. At her command, the ice soldiers charged like a winter phalanx.
“Hmph.”
Ten snorted. He lifted his arm; ten black unmanned Mechs shimmered into being and rushed to meet them. The melee erupted, metal and frost colliding like thunder in snow.
Gu Xin watched Ten through the clash. Her brows tightened. His strength was no longer easy to measure, and the Anomalous Energy circling him felt foul, like oil in clear water.
“Eight.”
Ten called back, a cold thread through the storm.
“Alright, alriiight~”
Eight plucked the spider from her shoulder and set it on the ground, playful as a cat. The little creature swelled slowly, growing to the size of a basketball. It stayed fluffy, cute as winter wool—but its power proved looks were a lie.
The white spider scuttled with startling speed, a blur weaving through obstacles. In under two seconds, it reached Gu Xin’s back.
Gu Xin noted the small threat and flicked an ice spike at it. The spider darted aside, then spat a strand of web like a pale arrow.
Swish—
Another ice shield slid into place. The web struck—and part of the shield melted, hissing. The strand liquefied into white fluid, corroding ice like acid rain.
Seeing it, Gu Xin’s eyes cooled further. She summoned more ice spikes, lancing for the spider like hail.
Just then, behind Eight, a figure rose from a shadow. Meng Yuting, a black dagger in hand, lunged with a strike meant to end.
“Eight, behind you!”
Seven, a speed-type, reacted first, her voice a sharp bell.
“Uh—”
Eight sensed danger but was too late. Phantom lived for the one-hit kill.
“Jie-jie—”
A chilling laugh rasped behind Meng Yuting. She heard that sound for the first time—she broke off and slid aside, landing on a tree, eyes cutting back to where she’d stood.
The battlefield ground turned strange. Purple-black smoke seeped from cracks, thickest where she had been. The fog swelled, swallowing the earth in murk.
Ka!
From the densest patch, a bony hand clawed out. A gray skeleton hauled itself up, black mist curling from its ribs. Purple flames burned in its sockets. One rose, then four more clambered out, a macabre chorus.
Not far away, Nine stood with hands before his chest, a purple-black energy vortex spinning in his palms like a hungry whirlpool.
“Roar!!!!”
The skeletons bellowed and charged. Bone hands smashed the tree Meng Yuting had perched on, snapping it like kindling.
“Tsk…”
Meng Yuting clicked her tongue, leaping to the ground nearby. She realized, with a cold drop in her gut, that her shadow power wouldn’t answer.
“Nine’s power can devour nearby shadows. That’s why he’s here…”
Ten’s words carried quiet certainty, victory tasting like iron.
“Yuting, back!”
Gu Xin called. They moved together, their breaths syncing like frost and night.
“Are you sure you want to keep going…”
Gu Xin stared at Ten. Her usual warmth was gone, replaced by a chill without end.
“If you two teachers come quietly, we don’t have to do this.”
Ten’s reply was even, a river under ice.
“…”
Gu Xin didn’t speak. She watched him, and the air around her plunged. A whirl spun under her feet and lifted her slowly from the ground. Ten and the others finally noticed the faint glow from the bracelet on her left wrist—a moonlit ring.
“Domain of Ice…”
Her words fell like snow. From her center, a storm of ice crystals swept outward, a blizzard blooming in full.
“Mech Shield!”
Ten shouted, wrapping everyone in layered shields like iron shells.
When the outer air fell quiet, Ten dismissed the shields. The sight stunned them into breathless silence.
The hill had become an iceberg. At its heart, a white figure floated in the air, cold as a winter star.
