That day, the sky was clear, sunlight like a blade slicing the Northland’s cold air.

Nana Shi had planned to head for Estis City with the System and Tifana, to sniff out any hidden passages that slipped into the city like burrowed fox paths.

They hadn’t even drawn near Estis when a group blocked them from afar, their gear and cut of cloth unlike any Northland native, like crows blown in from another shore.

“...”

Irritation pricked like thorns; she’d nearly forgotten this wasn’t plane-hopping anymore. The real world doesn’t spawn brain-dead cannon fodder like paper men in the rain.

“Who are you?” The leader’s brows pinched like a tightened bowstring, and his gaze held a sour gleam, like oil on ice.

Estis City had fallen days ago, taken root by them like weeds in a garden. Every resident was penned in the city or chained in the dungeon; how did three women spring from the snow like hares?

Escaped in the chaos that day?

“City Lord Shi...” Tifana tugged at Nana’s sleeve, worry fluttering like a trapped sparrow. She eyed the leader and paled, whispering in a rush.

“That’s the one I told you about—body like iron, and he can wield Spirit Energy. City Lord, be careful...”

That brute could blow a hole through a mountain when he went full power, like a cannon through chalk cliffs.

Oh. So it’s this guy.

Curiosity slid in like a chill breeze. Nana lifted her chin and weighed him with a few lazy glances, then sent Tifana a look—warm as lantern light—saying without words: relax, I’ve got this.

The System watched from the side, silent as frost. A nameless danger crept up her spine like cold water.

#If my host isn’t causing trouble, she isn’t Nana Shi.#

“I asked you a question. Are you deaf, you three?” The leader’s voice thudded heavier, like a drum under snow; underneath, Nana tasted the pressure of Spirit Energy, a thin blade in the sound.

“Who the hell are you yelling at?”

Her words dropped, and then—boom.

A heavy Black Great Axe appeared out of thin air like night condensing, then slammed between the two groups. The ground yowled, and a web of cracks spiked from the impact, the snow torn open like old silk.

Men behind the leader jolted like quail under thunder. The inked sigils on their skin stirred and glowed faintly, cold fire under bare flesh.

Nana never takes well to force; try her softly and she’ll smile like spring. Lean on her with pressure, and she’ll return it tenfold, like a mountain sending back your shout.

“You’re not a Northland native.” The leader’s tone eased, eyes flicking to the axe—weighty, ancient as a stone tablet—and one brow rose like a ridge.

“What’s your name?”

“I’m your dad.” Nana’s smile ghosted her lips, a thin crescent with sharp edges.

Everyone blinked, air freezing like spilled water. Tifana behind her gaped wide enough to fit an egg.

City Lord, you said you had a plan—there’s only three of us!

Is starting a fight here really wise?

The leader barked a laugh, bold and rough, carrying across the empty snowfield like a wild horn’s echo.

“My father died long ago.” By his own hand, like a winter branch snapping itself.

“Maybe I can rise from the grave,” Nana said, voice dry as sand.

“Then I don’t mind killing you again.” The black sigil on his left shoulder flared, and his tone dropped, cold as iron soaked in night.

“Kill me? Try.” Nana gripped the axe haft, and without a hint, snapped her strength forward, cutting waist-high toward the crowd like a river shearing ice.

“You think this is children’s play?” He scoffed, his disdain like a gust over dead leaves. Matching strength with him? Courting death.

Clang—

The clean note rang out, bright as steel on steel. He pushed both palms forward, hands like slabs, and met her sweeping chop head-on with brute force.

Then—boom.

Fist-force exploded at their clash like a shell going off, wind knifing out as if mountains fell and the air broke under the load.

“Mm...” Interest sparked, a hunter’s flame. Single-handed, Nana staggered back a few steps, then settled like a stone seat.

How long had it been? Since she stopped using her ability, she hadn’t fallen behind on sheer physique. The taste of it came back like rain on old dust.

The System, peeking from behind with Tifana, saw Nana’s smile deepen, a curve like a sickle, and alarm bells screamed in her head.

She’d never seen her host wear that devil’s look, like a lantern lit inside a skull.

“Die.” The sigil on his shoulder blazed, muscles thickening like knotted ropes. His whole frame swelled two sizes, turning monstrous, a human war-chariot roaring over the snow.

“So fast!” Tifana gasped, her voice snapping like thin ice. He looked heavy as a boulder, yet moved like lightning leaping between clouds.

“Please. Punching through a few mountains doesn’t mean you can beat me.” Nana shifted from two hands to one, her slim arm clamping the long black haft. Watching her, you’d doubt that arm could catch an oncoming avalanche.

Crack... crack... crack...

The ground beneath them split and crazed, snow-skinned earth complaining like old bones. Each clash carved new fissures like veins.

“Split!”

Her single-handed swing cut the air like a storm tearing canvas. The sigil-bearer leader shot back like a bullet from a muzzle, a dark shape flung into the white.

Bang bang bang bang—

He smashed through trees like broom handles, clipped a low hill, then skidded another hundred meters before grinding to a ragged stop, snow erupting like breath.

“...”

Silence fell, thick as felt. His followers stood dumbstruck, and even Tifana’s jaw hung, ready to drop to the ground like a stone.

She knew this woman was strong, but raw physique this monstrous? It chilled like a night wind.

That single strike... maybe even the Ice Emperor’s Ice-Soul Spear would be caught without fuss, like a fish plucked from a bucket.

Poor man. Didn’t even get to say his name before City Lord Shi smashed him like pottery.

“Dry bones from a tomb—crumble at a touch.” Nana’s voice carried across the wide snowplain, arrogant and playful, a hawk wheeling above sheep. The other sigil-bearers met her gaze and shivered, fear running cold as water down their backs.

Is this really a woman?

They’d thought Northland natives were already beyond human. Now a worse violation of the rules stood laughing, as if the world were soft clay.

Are young women monsters now?

“Well? Anyone else want to try me?” Nana planted her axe casually at her feet, then leaned against Heavens Sunder, wearing a smile that chilled the blood like frost on a blade.

“Emmm, rare to see Nana use partial strength,” Yan Xiao’s voice drifted through the System’s mind from far-off Chronos City, soft as smoke. “Their luck’s good. Nana’s not using her ability. Pride aside, she doesn’t think they’re worth it.”

“Huh? Ability?” The System blinked, confusion puffing like a cloud. Her host had another card? She’d never seen it.

“Ah... little one, you wouldn’t know. Since Nana ascended, she sealed that power, almost never using it. Unless she’s truly forced, she won’t loosen that seal.” Yan Xiao spoke through the comm like a warm whisper in winter.

“A sealed power... only in dire need...” Even back in the real world, her host still hides a blade behind her back. The thought stabbed the System like a thorn.

Damn it. I’m always getting toyed with by my master and my host, like a fish tossed between baskets.

When does this pitiful little me get to live like a normal person?

Of course, them holding back didn’t mean Nana would waste time like a kettle left to simmer.

Once she tasted that these low- to mid-tier sigil-bearers were just a notch above common elite mobs, her plan shifted like a banner caught by a stronger wind.

Why not just take the whole Northland?

“Huh?”

Tifana staggered inside, shock pounding her heart like a drum.

“Ci—City Lord... what did you just say?” Take all of Northland? She couldn’t have heard right.

“Mm? Just reunify Northland.” Nana glanced back, calm as a winter lake. “Didn’t your Ice Emperor do that already?”

“Do... do what?” The quake still rattled Tifana’s thoughts, turning her mind to blank snow.

“Unify the six states of Northland by one person’s strength.” Nana shouldered Heavens Sunder. At her side knelt several sigil-bearers, bound in tortoise-shell rope, patterns on rope like a net on turtles’ backs.

“We have to pass through the six states to reach the Ice Palace anyway. I’ll tidy the house for that Ice Emperor, set the jars straight. But the ledger must be clear...” That woman has fleeced me more than once; this can’t slide.

I’ll collect later.

Tifana stood behind Nana, bleak as withered grass, wondering if she had invited a calamity into the Northland with her own hands.

Letting City Lord Shi run wild here—who knows what the future holds when His Majesty the Ice Emperor returns? The thought hung like a storm cloud over snow.