A shadow cut through the blizzard. It was gone the next heartbeat, replaced by another blur to their left. Then another to their right.
"They're circling us," Keiya said quietly.
"They?" Klyden's grin tilted. "Great. Hate feeling unpopular."
From the storm, a figure stepped forward-tall, regal, and carved as if from ice itself. His long silver hair caught stray glints of frost-light, and his pale blue armor bore engravings that shimmered faintly, like constellations trapped under frozen glass. His eyes burned-not with fire, but with a cold so pure it felt alive.
The Elder Elf. King of the frost-born.
Snow hardened under their boots, forming a perfect arena. Walls of jagged ice speared upward, sealing them in. The wind died, replaced by a suffocating stillness.
Klyden exhaled. "Guess he's not the friendly type."
The first attack came without warning. The Elder Elf lifted one elegant hand, and the ground erupted in a forest of ice pillars, each one lunging forward like a spear. Klyden yanked Keiya aside, the pillar exploding where she'd just stood.
"Guessing this guy doesn't do warm welcomes," he said.
Keiya raised her palm. Inferno Edict. Fire blossomed from her fingertips, fanning into streams that coiled and struck at the ice pillars before they could fully form. Her flames bent around Klyden like they knew him, never once brushing his skin.
The Elder Elf didn't flinch. His body blurred-one moment ten feet away, the next a breath from Keiya, ice blade slicing for her neck.
Klyden met it with his own blade, sparks hissing against frost.
"Not on my watch, frosty."
He shoved back, forcing distance, but more shadows moved within the storm. Ice Elves-sleek, fast, and utterly silent-rushed in from the walls. Klyden's grin widened like this was a party just for him.
"Oh, friends! Keiya, you didn't tell me he had friends."
She ignored him, eyes tracking the Elder Elf, who had already retreated into the storm, his form phasing in and out of sight. Her fire surged outward, chasing the Ice Elves, but they darted like ghosts, leaping from wall to wall.
Klyden became her shield. Every time an Ice Elf got close, he was there-sword flashing, boots kicking up snow, laughter carrying over the clash. "You're gonna have to try harder than that! I'm busy being a hero over here!"
But the Elder Elf was not idle. The air shimmered with cold magic, and then the world cracked open. From above, a wave of jagged frost crashed down like a frozen tsunami.
"Klyden!"
"I see it!" He slammed his palm to the ground. Sunflare Aegis. Heat rippled outward, forming a dome that caught the frost mid-collapse, steam hissing where cold met solar heat. The shield trembled under the weight, but held.
Keiya's fire flared hotter, burning back the lesser Elves. Yet every moment she held Inferno Edict active drained her-she could feel it in her lungs, in the ache of her muscles. And the Elder Elf hadn't even begun to show his true power.
Then, the air shifted. The storm thinned. A voice like splintering ice rang out-an incantation in a tongue older than the snow itself.
The Elder Elf emerged fully now, no longer a flicker in the storm. Around him spun a spiral of ice mirrors, each reflecting him from a different angle, each moving independently. Dozens of him stared back at them.
"Not creepy at all," Klyden said, spinning his sword in his grip.
The mirrors fired. Beams of pure frost lanced from each reflection, crisscrossing the arena in a deadly net. Klyden darted forward, intercepting the beams with his shield, but there were too many-one grazed his arm, searing cold deep into muscle.
Keiya's heart jolted, but she didn't hesitate. She inhaled deeply, the cold tearing at her lungs, and reached deeper into her power than she ever had before.
Her world became light.
The storm evaporated in an instant, burned away by a corona of gold-white fire. The snow beneath her feet hissed into steam, and even the Elder Elf's magic recoiled.
Solar Requiem.
The flames wrapped her like a living sun, bending to her will with perfect obedience. They formed lances that streaked toward her enemies, molten shockwaves that shattered the ice mirrors, brands of burning light that clung to any who touched them until nothing remained but ash.
And through it all, Klyden moved inside her flames as if they were part of him. Not a single spark touched him-her control was that precise.
"Keiya..." he said, low but almost reverent. Not in awe of her beauty-he didn't even realize he was staring-but of the sheer, impossible power she wielded.
The Elder Elf roared, the first crack in his regal composure, and the ground surged upward in jagged ice spires. Klyden met them head-on. He let her flames roll into him, absorbing the heat into his own power. His sword blazed like a star.
Dawnbreaker Strike.
He drove forward, smashing through the spires, heat and steel meeting frost in explosive bursts of steam. Keiya's lances pinned the Elder Elf in place, each strike slowing him just enough for Klyden to close the distance.
And then-together-they struck. Keiya's final blast engulfed the Elder Elf in a sphere of light so intense the shadows around them ceased to exist. At that exact heartbeat, Klyden's Dawnbreaker smashed into the Elf's chest.
The ice king shattered. His body fractured into crystalline shards, each one scattering into snowflakes that dissolved before they could touch the ground. The blizzard was gone. The air was still.
Keiya swayed, her Solar Requiem flickering out, skin faintly aglow with hairline cracks of light. Her knees gave, but Klyden caught her easily, one arm under her legs, the other braced at her back.
She blinked at him, weakly muttering, "A noble lady being carried by someone she doesn't know very well... how scandalous."
Klyden's grin tilted into that oblivious charm. "Then I'll take the time to get to know you. Consider it... a long-term investment."
She groaned. "You're impossible."
"Correct," he said brightly, carrying her without breaking stride.
The snowfield ended abruptly in a clearing. At its center sat a treasure chest-no, not just a chest. A masterpiece of gold and silver filigree, inlaid with gemstones that caught the fading light. It seemed to hum faintly, as if aware of their presence.
Klyden's eyes lit up. "Well, well, what do we have here-"
The lid creaked, a sliver of blinding light spilling out-