They walked for hours through frost-dusted trees 🌲❄️, breath fogging the air 💨, boots crunching snow ⛄, until a sharp voice rang out from a rocky ridge 🗻📢.
"STOP! In the name of the Adventurer's Balance Guild!" ⚔️📜
King didn't even lift his head 😐❄️.
From behind the rocks 🪨, six adventurers appeared 🧑🤝🧑⚔️.
Well-armed 🔪🛡️.
Well-trained 💪.
Painfully confident 😏.
Their leader, wearing a wolf-pelt cloak 🐺🧥, pointed straight at Ember 👉🔥.
"That girl is kidnapped. Hand her over."
Ember's eyes lit up ✨😲.
"YES! Finally! Someone sane!" 😭🙏
King kept walking 🚶♂️❄️.
The wolf-cloak leader shouted again 😡📢,
"This is your final warning!"
King muttered under his breath 😤,
"Don't fuck with me, asshole."
A flash of steel flew through the air ⚡🗡️.
King caught the sword mid-flight ✋🗡️—
with two fingers ✌️.
Ember's jaw dropped 😱.
The adventurers' eyes exploded wide 👀😨.
"Wrong move," King said calmly ☠️.
The first fight lasted eight seconds ⏱️❄️.
Eight.
King crushed the wolf-cloak's shield with his boot 👢💥🛡️.
Headbutted another into a tree 🤕🌲.
Flipped a third over his shoulder 🤸♂️❄️.
Sent two more rolling into the snow with broken ribs 🩸⛄.
But a mage screamed a spell 🔮📜,
and Ember vanished in a flash of light ✨⚡.
King stopped mid-punch ✋.
Slowly 🐢.
Very slowly 😰.
Very dangerously ☠️.
He turned 👁️❄️.
Ember stood behind the adventurers 🧍♀️❄️,
untied 🪢❌,
trembling 😨.
"Mage," King said quietly 😐.
"Bring her back."
"No!" 😱
"Wrong answer."
They ran 🏃♂️💨.
Full sprint 🏃♀️❄️.
King's eye twitched 👁️⚡.
"Great," he muttered 😤.
"Now I have to chase."
He kicked off the ground 👢💥.
The snow cracked like thunder ⛄⚡.
Ember screamed 😱 as the adventurers grabbed her and ran 🏃♂️🪢.
They made it twenty steps 👣…
Before King appeared in front of them 🚶♂️❄️—
blocking the path 🛑.
One adventurer whispered 😰,
"H-how did he—? He was behind us—"
King cracked his neck 💀.
"Give me the girl," he said calmly 😐.
"Or give me your head." ☠️
They chose exercise 🏃♂️💨.
The second fight lasted longer ⏱️—
twenty seconds.
King grabbed a spear and snapped it 🪓💥.
Used one man as a battering ram 💀➡️💀.
Swung his shield so hard it knocked three people down like bowling pins 🎳🛡️.
Ember fell into the snow ❄️😵, staring.
She had seen strong warriors 💪.
She had seen heroes 🦸♂️.
But this—
This was a storm wearing skin 🌪️👤.
More adventurers arrived 😨⚔️.
Eleven more.
Seventeen total 🔢.
They formed a perfect semicircle 🔵 around King.
"Surround him!" 📢
"Attack together!" ⚔️
"Don't let him grab the girl!" 😱
King sighed 😮💨.
"This is annoying."
They charged 💥.
Steel ⚔️.
Arrows 🏹.
Fire spells 🔥.
Ice blades ❄️🗡️.
King moved through them like a giant tearing tall grass 🌾💥.
He smashed shields 🛡️❌.
Kicked a man twenty feet 👢💨.
Caught an arrow mid-air ✋🏹 and stabbed its owner 🩸.
Slammed his axe into a boulder 🪓🪨, splitting it 💥, shards flying everywhere.
The forest screamed 🌲😱.
When it ended…
Seventeen adventurers lay on the ground 🧑🦽❄️.
Groaning 😖.
Broken 💔.
Defeated ☠️.
All beaten by one boy—
the boy not chosen 🩸❌.
Ember stared 😨.
"Y-you're not human…"
King wiped blood from his cheek 🩸✋.
"I agree."
Then he began stripping them of gear 🧥🛡️🎒.
Armor.
Cloaks.
Bags.
Weapons.
Everything piled together 🔥.
Ember panicked 😱.
"W-wait! What are you—"
King struck a sparkstone ⚡.
FOOOOM
The pile erupted in flames 🔥🔥.
Seventeen adventurers screamed 😭📢.
"My cloak!"
"My staff!"
"MY UNDERPANTS WERE IN THAT BAG!" 😱
"NOOOOO—!!"
Ember stood frozen 😶❄️.
King dusted his hands 👏.
"Now they can't chase us."
"You… burned everything…" Ember whispered 😨.
"Should've stayed home," King replied 😐.
He grabbed the rope again 🪢,
slung Ember behind him 🎒,
and walked into the forest 🚶♂️🌲❄️.
Behind them, the adventurers wailed in tragic harmony 😭🎶.
King never looked back ❌👀.
The North Village gates slammed open 🚪💥.
A single surviving adventurer stumbled inside 🧍♂️🥶—
bruised 🤕,
half-frozen ❄️,
wearing nothing but underwear and shame 🩲😳.
"HE'S A DEMON!" the man screamed 😱🔥.
Villagers surrounded him 👥😨.
The priest rushed forward 🧙♂️😰.
Valmira marched out 👑😡.
The skinny North Hero peeked from behind a pillar 😥.
The man collapsed to his knees 😭.
"What happened?" Valmira demanded 📢.
The adventurer grabbed her ankle like a child 👶➡️👑.
"King smashed us— seventeen— he burned everything— even my pants—"
The North Hero turned pale 😵.
"Seventeen… together?"
The survivor shook violently 😨.
"We weren't defeated," he sobbed.
"We were erased." ☠️
Valmira screamed 😡.
"WHERE IS MY SISTER EMBER?!"
"T-that monster still has her!"
The priest whispered 😰,
"King is making wrong decision every second…"
Valmira clenched her fists 👊🔥.
"I'll kill him— I'll—"
The North Hero whispered 😨,
"He fought seventeen people and walked away…"
"I'M TRYING NOT TO FAINT!" he squeaked 😭.
Fear spread like frost 🧊.
"He's unstoppable…"
"A monster…"
Valmira snarled 😡.
"Prepare a hundred warriors!"
The priest swallowed 😶.
"And pray the gods help you."
Far away 🌲❄️…
King dragged Ember again 🪢🚶♂️.
She stumbled, shaking 😰.
Finally, she screamed 😭.
"STOP!"
She fell to her knees ❄️, pounding the snow 👊.
"WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!"
King stopped 🛑.
He turned slowly 🐺.
"What… am I to you…?" Ember whispered 😨.
King crouched, eye-level 👁️👁️.
"You," he said calmly 😐,
"are my trophy." 🏆
Her breath vanished 😱.
"T-trophy…?"
"Bait," he said.
"Heroes will come."
He stood 🌪️.
"And when they come—"
He cracked his knuckles 👊💥.
"I have fun."
Ember trembled 😭.
"The world was cruel to me first," King said quietly ❄️.
He turned away 🚶♂️.
"Come, trophy," he said.
"We still have paths to break before sunset." 🌅
Ember followed… not by choice 😨—
but because she knew:
Running would only make him hunt her harder .