“The ruler of Northland… the Ice Emperor…”

Hiding behind Nana Shi, the System stares up at the murmuring girl like a moth stunned by moonlight. A twitch snaps through her; she flings a scan.

“……”

The cold here squeezes breath and thought, unlike Northland’s common frost. Inside the snow mountain, even Yan Xiao’s custom thermal suit on the System holds no warmth; the chill gnaws to marrow, threatening to freeze her blood solid, making even finger joints rebel.

From the summit, a gale drags splinters of ice like razors. The world is white and wind-bitten, a natural tomb carved by heaven’s hand.

“Is that kid… a monster?”

Her scanner floods with unknowns. Half her heart drops into winter.

She’s only seen this when she tried scanning Nana Toki before. Now this fourteen, maybe fifteen-year-old reads the same. No wonder fear pricks like needles.

“Days ago, my subordinate Thousandwise owed you two a debt,” the Ice Emperor says, voice young yet frost-burnt. “Today I’ll judge for myself. Two generals of Chronos City—what power makes the continent’s elites tremble?”

White sigils bloom in the air. Light flares, and a storm of colossal ice spikes plummets.

Cold rolls like a tidal wave, Spirit Energy surging through the array like wild floodwater. One careless breath, and the careless fall into an ice-forged hell.

“General Shi, watch it!”

The System’s warning barely leaves her lips. Nana Shi’s wrist snaps; a lance of black light spears upward, punching straight through the array radiating boundless aura.

Boom—

The shattered array screams. Heavens Sunder—the Colossal Axe—drops from the sky, thudding like thunder. On the slope, Northland soldiers see her: a tall black-haired woman, slender arms wrapped around an axe far beyond her height, standing proud like a pine in a blizzard.

“Hah. You cracked a Ground-Binding Array with one hit? Interesting.”

A rare spark of approval gleams in the Ice Emperor’s eyes. “No wonder that old undying treasures her.”

“Thousandwise.”

“Eee—! H-here… Your Majesty the Ice Emperor…” Behind the soldiers, Thousandwise is tied to a bullseye, cheeks flushed like winter roses.

Punishment’s sweet ache still clings to her like perfume. For a moment she swears she sees sunflowers beyond heaven’s gate.

“Good, Thousandwise. You begged me for another chance. I grant it now. Go down there and take her. Someone like that shouldn’t linger beside Moragus, that old undying.”

“Y-yes… Your Majesty…” They ease her off the target board. Wounds glare across her skin, yet excitement kindles like fire under ice.

To serve the Ice Emperor is her honor.

“Lady Thousandwise, your weapon Lord Piercer—we brought it.” A retainer offers a bundled black whip like iron braided with thorns.

“Ah… thanks.” She grips Lord Piercer’s haft, then draws a knife; a savage slash opens her own wrist.

“Ah… there it is again…” Pain snaps like lightning. Weakness from blood-loss drifts in like fog. Flirting with death, she almost laughs—ecstasy at the cliff’s edge.

Vision blurs to watercolor. Blood coats the iron whip; her grin turns feral.

“What is she doing?” The System catches it—wounds across Thousandwise knit shut with eye-blurring speed.

Her wrist still spills, yet the life-flare within her rises, pulse after pulse, like a drum in war.

Whoosh— A wind-razor hisses past the System’s ear. Sonic booms blossom in the thin air. Before she can blink, Thousandwise is there, a ghost with a black spiked whip.

“Generals of Chronos City, we meet again.” Her smile is charming; her weapon’s black thorns are anything but.

Clack-clack-clack— Every joint of Lord Piercer screeches around her like raven-teeth. A weapon of interlocked fangs, it dances mid-snow with a cold black sheen.

Nana Shi’s face, unsettled by the Ice Emperor, smooths to calm. She stands beside the System, Heavens Sunder in hand, wind at her hair, a hint of mockery on her lips.

“Looking to punish me again?” Her voice is winter glass with a taste of play. A flick of her slim wrist; a keen black arc flashes, too sharp to look at straight.

“My, General Shi, you do talk pretty. Your ‘punishment’ isn’t even a tenth of Her Majesty’s. Don’t be absurd.”

Thousandwise’s laugh rings like silver bells. Fire-red hair whips in the air; Lord Piercer snarls as she swings.

Black chains whirl, circling Nana Shi, tightening to strangle. Spiked metal bites and scrapes on Heavens Sunder; axe-shadow and black light split the sky, shrieks like needles jab every ear.

Atop the peak, the Ice Emperor watches, emotion like ice under glass. She stands on the cliff-brink, golden hair and silver-white cloak streaming, wind strumming them like strings. Cold so pure no one dares draw close.

The System, a bystander on the slope, doesn’t dare meddle. One wrong move might sour the Ice Emperor and tilt the battle into madness.

This “Thousandwise” truly earned ruling Estis once. Numbers and charts mean nothing beside speed that cuts like a blade; seeing it in the flesh chills the spine.

“Go, Lord Piercer!”

Perhaps the stalemate grates; Thousandwise snaps, a roar ripping free. Red threads bloom across her skin, scab-like lines crawling everywhere. From those fine seams, scarlet light seeps, violent as a beast cracking its shell.

“Dammit!”

Alarm rings in Nana Shi’s chest. Thousandwise lunges; a crystal-smooth token in Nana’s hand shatters like ice.

Boom-boom-boom!

Black cyclones erupt around Nana Shi, bursting like storm-drums. Thousandwise, eyes blood-bright and aura flaring, is caught off guard and hurled back, body skidding through snow.

“General Shi, look out!”

The System’s cry hangs in the wind. Thousandwise’s prone form jerks; two spiked black chains shoot from her sides, slicing the air. The links thin and lengthen with every swing, each segment sprouting blade-fine metal fins. One wrap, and the only ending is a merciless garrote.

Trouble.

Nana Shi’s gaze hardens; Heavens Sunder whirls faster, cuts carving wind.

A heavy axe against a weapon this fluid and sly—no advantage there.

But if she fells the body outright, the tide may turn.

Her eyes lock onto Thousandwise, thrown not far. The woman staggers now; pale skin splits with crimson runes, a sight like frost cracked by blood.

Lord Piercer coils around her, a black venomous serpent guarding its mistress.

What monsters does Northland breed…

That woman’s pressure alone churns blood. Fighting her feels like drowning in iron.

Can my host still hold?

The System’s worry tightens like a fist. Two more black chains flare from behind Thousandwise, storming toward Nana Shi. The wicked blades carve ghost-cuts through the air; this time their aim is her whole body.

“Hmph. Laughable.”

Nana Shi sneers. Spirit Energy in the air stirs like a storm under skin. On the peak, the Ice Emperor’s eyes tilt down toward the woman with the axe.

Whoosh— Snow bursts from the ground as air tears.

Nana Shi vanishes. A pillar of black light rides Heavens Sunder as she reappears, the swing cleaving toward Thousandwise’s skull.

Air hums. The axe-edge drags Northland wind like a river. The blow is about to land.

And from the summit, a tyrant’s whisper rolls down like thunder in silk.

“Ant. Begone.”