A voice woven with domineering Spirit Energy detonated by Nana Shi’s ear, like a thunderclap under a winter sky.

From mid-slope, the System saw the summit crown explode around the Ice Emperor, a night-blue geyser of frost spearing straight into the clouds.

Falling snow in the air kicked loose and whirled like startled birds; ground and sky glazed over in ice at an impossible sprint.

Sound fell out of the world, as if someone hit a pause button and froze every living scene inside an invisible clock.

Everything hung inside a vacuum jar; flakes suspended mid-flight, and a thin crystalline blue veil cloaked every shape, man and thing alike.

This blue was no Northland whiteout; it was a sealed domain under the Ice Emperor’s boots, bearing eternal permafrost and baring winter’s fangs to all intruders.

Fear rose first, hot against the cold; then Nana Shi’s blood surged as the whispered power hit her, flinging her ten meters before she dug in and steadied.

The Northland went mute; only the System and Nana Shi still moved inside that icy field, while the Ice Emperor watched them from the cliff like a chill moon.

“What, is that all your strength amounts to?” A childlike voice drifted down, mocking and sharp as wind off a blade.

Both Nana Shi and the System looked up into that tyrant aura above; their faces sank like stones into dark water.

This one wasn’t in the same league as Thousandwise; charge her, and you’re an ant head-butting an ancient tree, begging to be crushed.

To unify the entire Northland alone—of course she was terrifying.

“Run!”

Nana Shi grabbed the System’s collar and moved; the Ice Emperor crook’d a finger, and still snow became a storm of ice spikes in a single heartbeat.

Their speed and burst matched Thousandwise’s signature piercing art, no slower, no softer.

Whoosh—thud-thud-thud—!

A sky of ice bolts poured like a thousand arrows; Nana Shi clamped the System’s waist, dashed downhill, and swung Heavens Sunder through the white howl.

Spikes slammed and shattered on the spinning black blade, raining ghost-blue shards; but the frozen snow was countless, and gaps slipped through the guard.

Pfft-pfft-pfft—

A crimson streak flashed across the System’s vision; several spikes knifed past, and hot blood burst from Nana Shi’s waist like a pricked water balloon.

“General Shi…”

“Shut up. Want me to drop you? Then keep still.”

Her voice was jagged, but her hands moved cleaner; Heavens Sunder howled harder, a tyrant arc beating back the Ice Emperor’s hail.

Interesting. The Ice Emperor’s gaze never left the woman sprinting with an axe, eyes like winter stars, Spirit Energy curling at her fingertips and snapping into a point.

Then try this.

Bzz-bzz-bzz—

Bzz-bzz-bzz—

The snow mountain trembled; as the slope rushed closer, giant blue crystals shouldered up from the frozen soil like jagged teeth.

They slammed together and burst, spitting shrapnel colder and fiercer than any spike before.

Annoying.

Nana Shi shot a glance up at the Ice Emperor’s chilled stare, flipped Heavens Sunder from carry to grip, smashed the crystals underfoot, then snapped, breath quick and words quicker, “Give me the other augmentation token!”

“Huh? But, General Shi, your body’s already at its limit. Another token might tear you apart.”

“So you wanna die here with me?”

Pfft-pfft!

Spikes scraped past her arm; the System saw pain twist her face, hesitated, then dug into a pocket and handed over the token with shaking fingers.

Hmph. Clever little tricks.

The Ice Emperor watched every twitch beneath her; Spirit Energy pooled between her fingers, condensing into a tiny nebula, a star-cloud glitter cupped in her palm.

“Then die.” She said it like a shrug; her hand closed, and the orb broke with a soundless crack.

Next breath, the mountain heaved; a blizzard roared skyward like a white dragon, threads crossing, layers stacking into a single titanic mass.

Buried inside, Nana Shi had no time to move—snow swallowed her whole, and the world went calm again, as if nothing had ever stirred.

The Ice Emperor stood on the peak, looked down at the new mountain she’d folded into place, and a faint smile cut her lips like a crescent of ice.

These border pests were ants, no more.

“Back.”

To whom, no one knew; she flicked her cape, and her soldiers—blue ice statues moments before—split with fine cracks and burst free like thawed river stones.

A sun with no warmth slid across their armor; faces blinked, dazed, like men waking from a long frost-dream.

“Huh? Since when was there a mountain that tall over there?” Several soldiers scratched their heads, questions tumbling like loose snow.

They hadn’t found an answer before the Ice Emperor turned to leave.

“Why the daze? I’m tired. Back to the palace.”

“Yes… yes, Your Majesty the Ice Emperor.” The ranks looked like monks lost in fog, brains two steps behind their boots.

And yet—

“Uh… wait. Your Majesty, what about those two from Chronos City?” A soldier with a working memory blurted it out, worry like steam in cold air.

“No need. I’ve already removed them. If you care, check under that snow mountain. You might even find the bodies.”

“If you can find them.” Her voice stayed cool, her mouth tilted almost into a not-quite smile.

“……”

Silence spread; soldiers stared at their ruler with wide eyes, disbelief flickering like candlelight.

Removed… when? Just now?

Then that wrongness, that sudden mountain—also hers?

The news hit too hard; many simply froze in place again, minds snowed under.

Only when the Ice Emperor walked far ahead did they finally thaw.

“Her Majesty’s gone…”

“Then we head back.”

“What about Lady Thousandwise?” someone piped up. “She’s still knocked out down there. Should we bring her?”

“Emmm, with her temperament, she won’t want us hauling an unconscious body.” They glanced toward Thousandwise lying below, voices dropping like falling flakes.

“Lady Thousandwise’s our toughest proud masochist, you know.”

“And she always rushes to be first in line to take a beating.”

“So we go?”

“We go. We go!”

“Right, let’s move. Her constitution’s special; outside won’t kill her.”

“March!”

They settled it, shrugged off the worry, and streamed back toward the Ice Palace in chattering clusters.

……

Elsewhere.

Under the snow mountain.

Time crawled or ran—she couldn’t tell. Consciousness seeped back into the System like a cold tide, and she found herself in a space so tight and dark it ate her hands.

The air was despair-cold; she rolled with effort, and the chill had frozen her limbs stiff, joints locked like iron under ice.

Tsk. Buried alive, aren’t we?

Memories were scattered like broken glass; she used the cramped echo and her internal data to guess the shape of her grave.

Good thing I’m a System. Otherwise, this dark would be a blindfold tied tight.

No time to sort the past; instinct lit her scanner, checking for threats like a lantern in a mine, and a faint life signal pulsed nearby.

“Who?”

Pain throbbed behind her eyes; for a moment, no names would come. Then a shard of memory slid in like a knife of light.

Host.

Clarity followed the word. The System ramped the scan, sweeping the black with careful nets of data.

The weak life signal overlapped her own coordinates, beating in the same tiny pocket of space.

“Where… where… where…” Fumbling in the dark, her hands couldn’t find the pulse’s exact spot, fear pattering like sleet on bone.

Ah—light.

She yanked a compact flashlight from a pocket, an emergency tool tucked in her System space, and clicked it on with a small, sharp sound.

The cramped world crept into view; she curled up, ready to rise, when her arm trembled and her whole body froze like a startled hare.

Behind her, Nana Shi bent into a shrimp-curve, Heavens Sunder braced against the crushing snow above, one hand holding the weight, one arm wrapped under to shield the System, her body the wall that kept a tiny pocket open for breath and life.