Azure absolute ice, cold enough to lock scarlet flame mid-roar, chased along the God of Heart Realm’s retreat like a hunting river.

Facing a god now wearing a beast of fire, Qingsheng Tangxue’s eyes narrowed like drawn steel.

She sank into the ice dragon at her back, then speared forward like a glacier’s lance.

Melted ice becomes water; yet some of Tangxue’s frost refused to melt, like moonlight set in jade.

The God of Heart Realm saw her power climbing, saw a glimmer of Authority dawning like sunrise on a blade.

The divine face twisted, hungry for a swift end, like a storm curling into a fist.

Flames churned into a thousand beasts, then fused into a giant sword, a volcano hammered into form.

That breath of ruin bled through the ice; even bystanders felt it bite like winter wolves.

Elves and beastkin staggered under divine pressure, as if mountains pressed their spines.

Strange weather roiled the sky above the Elven Dominion, omens boiling like bruise-colored clouds.

Where ice kissed fire, disasters bloomed—glaciers split, ash geysers burst, a duet of calamity.

The flame behemoth swallowed the ice dragon; the dragon answered with exploding spines that shredded fire like hail through paper.

They deadlocked, blow for blow, winter and summer grinding their teeth.

If Tangxue hadn’t sealed this zone, the Elven Dominion would’ve turned to ash like the Merfolk’s realm.

Tangxue halted, calm as lullaby snow, and looked at the God of Heart Realm.

Still the same. All you do is tuck your head and bolt?

“Still…?” The God of Heart Realm tilted her head, puzzled, like a flame flickering in a draft.

A beat later, the beast snapped and lunged, its fist slamming into Tangxue’s skull like a meteor.

Hellish heat melted half the girl’s body, wax under a torch.

Not enough. The God of Heart Realm grabbed her leg before it liquefied and smashed her to the ground like a thunderstone.

Then both fists hammered the ice, a drumroll of blows, snarls ripping from her throat like tearing cloth.

Hairline cracks webbed the ice like frost flowers.

Tangxue got driven into the sheet; red lines crawled across her skin like burning vines.

A heartbeat later, the girl blew apart and turned into blazing fire, a phoenix of embers.

The crimson beast panted, gulping air; that flurry had eaten most of her strength like moths in silk.

Her half-divine form faltered, thin as smoke in wind.

The God of Heart Realm eyed her own cracked vessel; a twitch pulled her mouth like a snag in thread.

The aim of this trip was already doomed, a candle pinched out.

That all you’ve got?

?! The god’s pupils quivered like embers in a gust.

The girl who should’ve died re-formed from running water, whole and unscarred, like a stream recalling its banks.

You thought that could kill me? Tangxue looked at the god, face blank as frost. Didn’t eat? Your hits keep getting weaker.

But you’ve run out of chances. From the moment you dropped your half-divine shell.

Frostwhisper shifted in a blink, sheathing Tangxue’s right hand as a gauntlet like ice-grown steel.

Her fist snapped out like a spring and slammed the god’s gut like thunder under snow.

The sounds of ice forming and shattering rang at once, bells and breaking glass.

Tangxue threw everything into that punch, a winter’s full weight.

The God of Heart Realm hit the ice, hacking, yet coughing up nothing, a bell with no tongue.

A second later the ice plane cracked, and the sealed space shattered with it like a mirror.

In the plaza, glass-breaking rang out; then the elven capital sank like a city on thin ice.

A terror of absolute cold burst outward, racing beyond the seal like a white wildfire.

Civilians brushed a fleck of it and froze into popsicles on the spot, statues of breath.

The God of Heart Realm lay blasted among shattered floes, flotsam in a frozen sea.

Her own heat shielded her from the cold’s teeth, but another round might not.

Bastard… The God of Heart Realm tried to stand; her body answered with the crackle of breaking bones, dry twigs underfoot.

She was falling—from godhood down toward the lot of mortals, a star dropping into mud.

Useless trash. The god cursed the body itself, then forced it upright, a storm propped on splinters.

Little… Daiya…? Flora Eina stared at the god, stunned, like a deer in lightning. Then her eyes burned. Who are you? Why are you in Daiya’s body?

Noisy ant. The God of Heart Realm flicked a glance, then lobbed a firebolt at Flora Eina, a sun-streak.

The heat almost roasted her alive, even with Tangxue snapping Frostwhisper up to block, a wall of hoarfrost.

The greatsword hooked up in a rising sweep, a moon lifting from the horizon.

The impact shoved Tangxue back on one foot, ripples on ice.

A knife-edge of killing intent flashed in her eyes, cold stars behind stormglass.

Little Tangxue… Flora Eina’s face knotted, a braid of grief and fear.

Three seconds. Stand here like a rooted pine. Don’t move.

She vanished on the last word, a snowflake melting into light.

Her speed cut like a beam; she was in the god’s face in an instant.

[Sword Art: Snow Immaculate]

Everyone felt a blackout, a curtain of night.

A dazed white flash slid through, froze time and space, then sliced them open like silk.

The God of Heart Realm reeled; her head tilted at an odd angle, a blossom snapping at the stem.

Daiya…! No, don’t—don’t! Flora Eina broke and ran, a river bursting its bank.

Her strength fled; she stumbled and fell, skin scraping open on stone like peeled bark.

Face crumpled, she gritted her teeth and pushed up, a sapling in wind.

A few steps later, her knees buckled, and she went down again, wet earth claiming her.

Daiya had been her friend since childhood, twin saplings grown side by side, the closest outsider she had. No second place.

Tangxue ignored the scene behind her, a hunter in falling snow.

Her focus pinned the fallen girl like a spear.

Sure enough, the next second a translucent red soul wriggled free, a ghost-flame.

It shot her a venomous glare, tore open space like paper, and fled.

Tangxue gave chase at once, a hawk off the wrist.

As the rip closed, she froze the gap—and the soul—ice biting shut like a trap.

A brief hunt began, knives of frost against tongues of fire.

You lunatic! Fine, you win this round, okay? What the hell do you want? The god’s voice skittered like sparks.

The God of Heart Realm had to return now, or her core soul would take a crippling hit, a heartstone cracking.

What do I want…? Tangxue tipped her head, bangs veiling half her gaze like drifting reeds.

The Merfolk’s annihilation—your work, wasn’t it? What did they do wrong?

Yeah, so what!? the god sneered, lip a hooked flame. I just killed that woman’s pet.

What, you gonna go all in over that?

Don’t tell me that woman’s your mother? Hahaha!

After all this, you still don’t know who birthed you?

Oh, right… your mother wasn’t very bright.

Mix-ups happen. Parentless orphan.

So what did they do wrong? Tangxue asked again, face blank, a snow mask.

They were an eyesore! That enough for you!

Their clash kept rattling inside the frozen pocket of space, like stones in a jar.

Only the god grew more and more tired, a fire guttering low.

If her soul got trapped here, she wouldn’t die.

But the body would suffer, and enemies would move while she reeled, vultures on a thermal.

The gap between mortal and god is the gap between human and ant!

Annoy me, get stepped on. Isn’t that normal?

…Given a chance, ants want to kill “humans” too.

She finished, then took the gap, a blade sliding through a seam.

Her frostblade split the wall of flame and the godforce, river cleaving cliff.

Ice spikes punched through barriers like tusks.

She shoulder-checked past heat and fire, knuckles tight, and drove a fist at the burning soul, a comet of winter.

I can’t kill you. But this punch—you can’t dodge.

Her cold-wreathed fist landed flush on the god’s cheek, a hammer in snow.

The hit rode the current of space and drove the distant true body into a wall, hard enough to embed, like a star nailed to stone.

Aaaah! You wretch! Ant! What are you—!

I’ll kill you! A hundred times! A thousand! Ten thousand!

I’ll wipe you all out!

The God of Heart Realm’s soul-core wasn’t wrecked.

But this was worse, poison under the skin.

She raved, spilling divine power like wildfire, trying to burn the world to cinders.

Other gods came, joined hands like an iron ring, brought her down, and locked her in a prison of heaven’s shadow.