The world shifted violently. The desert dissolved, the golden dunes replaced by endless sheets of glistening ice. The air dropped to an impossibly cold temperature, the very act of breathing causing frost to form on their lips. The horizon was no longer sand but a shimmering expanse of ice stretching endlessly in every direction.
Adelasta's eyes darted around, immediately taking stock of their new surroundings. What she saw sent a chill down even her spine.
Thousands upon thousands of ice mannequins stood eerily still, their glossy, frozen bodies reflecting the pale light. Among them were massive constructs of beasts, each one exuding an aura of danger that was seen even from a distance.
And then there was him.
Permafrost loomed in the distance, no longer in his humanoid form. He had transformed, his body now a towering sixty-meter-tall ice dragon.
His scales shimmered like crystal. Massive wings spread behind him, their translucent membranes crackling with frost. When he spoke, his voice reverberated across the ice.
[This is my domain now. You are nothing here.]
Peroncerea's pistols glowed faintly as she muttered under her breath, "Divine Transformation."
She looked at Adelasta and Elyonari, as she explained.
"When someone ascends to the Divine Rank, they gain a transformation that reveals their true essence, their absolute ability as a Divine. Now that he's temporarily at the Forgotten Rank, his transformation is on another level. This… is his domain. His Overwrite makes him invincible here."
Adelasta's jaw tightened. "So what's the plan? We just wait it out?"
Peroncerea nodded slowly. "Yeah. He's temporary. This form will collapse when his boost ends. But surviving until then…"
Her eyes flicked to the thousands of mannequins and beast constructs slowly beginning to stir.
"Let's just say, he's not going to make it easy."
Adelasta smirked, flames flickering dangerously around her hands. "When has anything ever been easy for us?"
As if responding to her challenge, the ice mannequins began moving, their frozen limbs creaking as they advanced. The beast constructs let out deafening roars, their icy forms charging forward with terrifying speed.
"Here they come!" Peroncerea shouted, raising her pistols and opening fire. Her bullets streaked through the air, each one shattering a mannequin into shards of ice.
Elyonari hesitated for a moment, her bow materializing in her hands. But Peroncerea grabbed her arm.
"Hey! You're a Divine, too. You've got a transformation. Use it!"
Elyonari groaned, clearly reluctant. She didn't expect Peroncerea to catch on so fast.
"I didn't want to use it until I mastered it, but… fine."
She stepped back, closing her eyes as a green aura surrounded her. Her body began to glow, and then… it started to grow.
Adelasta and Peroncerea watched as Elyonari's form expanded, her elegant elven figure enlarging to gargantuan proportions. Her skin shimmered with a faint green hue, her silver hair flowing like a waterfall of leaves. By the time she stopped growing, she stood at an incredible seventy meters tall, towering over even the ice dragon.
She was a giant with a crown of thorns on her head, vines on her hands.
"I'll handle the dragon," she said, her voice deeper but still carrying its calm, melodic tone. She glared at Permafrost, her massive hands curling into fists.
"I hate dragons. One almost killed me once. This is personal."
Adelasta chuckled, twirling her daggers. "I get the frustration. Go have your fun. We've got the minions covered."
Elyonari didn't respond. She took one massive step forward, the ice cracking under her weight, and then broke into a sprint. Her movements were surprisingly agile for her size, each stride closing the distance between her and the dragon.
Permafrost roared, his icy breath streaking toward her in a massive wave of frost. Elyonari raised her arms, summoning a wooden shield that absorbed the attack. With a leap that shook the ground, she lunged at the dragon, her enormous fist crashing into his side and sending him skidding across the ice.
Meanwhile, Adelasta and Peroncerea were already in the thick of the battle.
"Let's go!" Adelasta shouted, flames erupting around her as she charged into the horde of ice mannequins.
Her daggers moved like extensions of her body, slicing through the frozen figures with fiery precision. Each strike sent waves of heat that melted nearby enemies, but for every mannequin she destroyed, six more took its place.
Peroncerea covered her from above, her pistols blazing as she shot down beast constructs trying to flank them as she flew using her wings. She jumped onto an ice wolf, pressing one pistol to its head and pulling the trigger. The wolf exploded into shards, but another beast her from the side.
"Adelasta, a little help here?!"
Adelasta glanced over her shoulder, saw the bear and threw one of her daggers. The blade spun through the air, embedding itself in the bear's chest and detonating in a burst of flames.
"Got your back," Adelasta said with a smirk, catching her dagger as it re-materialized in her hand.
The two of them moved like a well-oiled machine, weaving through the chaos and taking down enemies with efficiency. But the sheer number of foes was overwhelming and even their combined efforts couldn't keep up.
Fighting Third Phase Ascender ranked creatures was getting a little tiring.
Above them, Elyonari and Permafrost clashed in a battle of titans. The dragon unleashed a flurry of massive spears of frost, but Elyonari countered with her nature energy. She summoned massive roots that erupted from the ice, ensnaring the dragon's limbs and slowing its movements.
"You're not invincible," she muttered, slamming her fist into his jaw. The dragon staggered but its regeneration was nearly instant.
Permafrost let out a roar, spreading his wings and taking to the air. He circled above her, raining shards of ice down like meteors. Elyonari raised her arms, summoning a hemispherical barrier to shield herself.
"Get down here and fight me!" She bellowed, grabbing a massive chunk of ice and hurling it at the dragon.
She didn't miss.
Back on the ground, Adelasta and Peroncerea were struggling to hold their ground. Adelasta's flames were starting to waver and Peroncerea's demonic energy was running low.
"This is getting ridiculous," Peroncerea muttered, taking out another mannequin with a shot to the head.
Adelasta wiped sweat from her brow, her flames reigniting. "Just hold on. He can't keep this up forever."
As if on cue, Permafrost let out another roar, this one sounding more strained. Cracks began forming on his icy body, his temporary ascension starting to waver.
"Looks like he's running out of time," Peroncerea said with a grin.
Elyonari smirked, raising her massive fist. "Finally."
With a final charge, she leaped into the air, bringing both fists down on the dragon. The impact created a shockwave that shattered the ice beneath them, and Permafrost's massive form began to crumble.
The battle wasn't over yet, but for the first time, victory felt within reach.
But...
Elyonari tightened her grip on her huge bow, her massive form still towering over the battlefield as she watched the ice dragon, Permafrost, shift and writhe. The power emanating from him was suffocating that seemed to press down on her chest with every breath she took. Her mind raced, calculating their odds.
They had none.
Not realistically, at least. They weren't supposed to be standing here, fighting something that could obliterate them with a single thought. The only reason they were still alive, the only reason they hadn't been reduced to frozen statues was her Boon, Extreme Luck.
It had always been her greatest asset, an inexplicable force that seemed to turn impossible situations in her favor. Arrows veered to hit their targets, enemy attacks missed by fractions of an inch and opportunities for survival presented themselves at the most critical moments. But it wasn't infinite.
Elyonari had learned long ago that relying too much on her Boon came with a steep price. Her Bane was a cruel counterbalance. The more she leaned on her luck, the more the world seemed to conspire against her afterward. Every moment they survived this fight, every lucky break they caught, was another step closer to disaster.
And the effects were already starting to show.
Her shots, once flawless and precise, began to waver. Some missed entirely, the arrows shattering uselessly against the ice. The barriers she summoned to shield herself from Permafrost's frost breath buckled under the pressure, thinner and weaker than it should have been. Even the constructs that had been manageable before now seemed faster and more coordinated, as if the universe itself was adjusting to compensate for her borrowed fortune.
Adelasta's flames flickered in the corner of her vision, struggling to stay alight against the suffocating cold of the ice domain. Peroncerea, usually a steady presence with her pistols blazing, was running low on demonic energy, her shots less frequent and more frantic.
Elyonari clenched her teeth. They were reaching their limit.
Her Divine Transformation instantly vanished. She returned back to normal size but immediately summoned a hemispherical barrier around herself and the two women before the creatures got to them. Adelasta's flames coated the barrier, protecting them from their assault.
"Luck can only carry us so far," she muttered under her breath, her massive hands trembling as she notched another energy arrow.
Peroncerea, catching the mutter, glanced up at her.
"What are you talking about? You've been nailing every shot."
"Not anymore," Elyonari replied. She released the arrow, watching as it passed through the barrier. It veered slightly off-course and embedded itself in the shoulder of an ice construct instead of its chest.
"The more I use my luck, the worse it gets. And right now…"
She didn't finish the sentence, but the dread in her voice was enough.
Adelasta, still coating the barrier in flames, shouted over her shoulder. "Are you saying this is as good as it gets? Because if that's true, we're screwed!"
Elyonari let out a deep sigh.
"I'm saying we need to end this fast before my Bane kicks in full force and we lose everything."
Elyonari raised her head, glaring at Permafrost as he roared, summoning another wave of ice constructs.
"If luck won't carry us, then skill will," she said, her voice steady despite the storm raging around them. "But I wouldn't count on it. I'll use one final strike of luck. If we fail to take it down by then, we'll be on survival mode until we die."
Adelasta grinned, wiping sweat from her brow as her flames reignited.
"That's the spirit. Now let's show this overgrown lizard what we're made of!"
The fight wasn't over, and the odds were still stacked against them. But for Elyonari, there was no turning back. She would give everything she had, Boon or no Boon, to see this battle through to the end. Even if the universe itself turned against her.
"Three, two, one, now!"
Elyonari disabled the barrier.