**Three miles above the Beast Wilderness.**
Sect Master Han stood atop his flying artifact—a massive sword made of **Deep-Sea Ice Jade**. He cut through the clouds, leaving a trail of frozen vapor behind him.
He was seething.
Every mile he flew, his rage grew hotter. The image of Elder Frost's severed head, projected by the surviving disciples, played on loop in his mind.
"A mortal," Han spat, the wind whipping his white beard. "A mere body refiner dared to slaughter my Elder. I will turn his skin into a rug. I will freeze his soul into a lantern."
He pushed his Qi to the limit. The air around him shrieked.
Suddenly, he frowned.
He looked ahead.
The clouds in the distance were behaving strangely. They weren't drifting. They were... parting.
Something was coming.
Something fast.
"A bird?" Han squinted.
It was a black dot. Then a streak. Then a sonic boom.
*BOOM-BOOM.*
The sound arrived *after* the object.
"Hostile!" Han roared. He flared his Qi barrier. **Frozen Sky Shield.** A dome of blue light surrounded him and his flying sword.
The black streak didn't slow down. It didn't try to go around.
It aimed directly for his face.
"INSOLENCE!"
Han formed a hand seal. "Shatter!"
He prepared to intercept the projectile with an ice spear.
But he was too slow.
The projectile was Kaelen.
**Speed: Mach 2.**
**Mass: Kaelen + Slab (10,000 lbs via Weight Manipulation).**
**Force: Catastrophic.**
Kaelen slammed into the **Frozen Sky Shield**.
*KRA-KOOOOM.*
The sky lit up. It looked like a nuclear detonation.
The shield—capable of stopping siege ballistae—didn't just break. It evaporated. The kinetic energy transfer was absolute.
Sect Master Han was thrown off his flying sword. He tumbled through the air, spinning uncontrollably, blood leaking from his ears due to the sonic pressure.
"What?! What power is this?!"
Han stabilized himself with a burst of Qi. He hovered in the thin air, gasping.
He looked up.
Hovering above him, silhouetted against the sun, was a nightmare.
Twenty-foot wings of black bone and blue plasma beat slowly, keeping the figure aloft. Lightning crackled across grey skin marked with tribal runes.
And in his hand, a massive slab of iron that looked too heavy to exist.
Kaelen looked down at the Sect Master.
"You have a weak chin, old man," Kaelen commented. "Just like your brother."
Han's eyes widened. "The Vane boy? No... impossible. You... you are a Demon!"
"I prefer 'Evolved'," Kaelen grinned.
He folded his wings.
*SNAP.*
He vanished.
Han screamed in panic. "Defense! **Ice Lotus Blooming!**"
Ice petals exploded around him, forming a spinning cocoon of razor-sharp frost.
Kaelen appeared right next to the cocoon.
He didn't swing the slab. He reached out with his free hand. His claws sparked with blue electricity.
"**Thunder King's Grip.**"
He punched *through* the spinning ice.
The frost blades cut his arm, shredding the skin. But the **Mythic Flesh** healed instantly.
Kaelen's hand grabbed Han by the collar of his robes.
"Gotcha."
Han stared at the hand holding him. "You... you grabbed me inside my domain?"
"Your ice is cold," Kaelen leaned in, his face inches from the terrified Sect Master. "But my blood is hotter."
Kaelen flared his wings.
"Let's go for a ride."
Kaelen dove.
He dragged the Foundation Establishment expert with him. He beat his wings, accelerating downward.
Gravity + Thrust.
They plummeted from 15,000 feet.
Han shrieked. He tried to stab Kaelen with ice daggers. He tried to freeze Kaelen's wings.
But Kaelen's **Elemental Nullification** (from the Dragon Vein) and **Lightning Resistance** kept him functioning. He ignored the stabs. He ignored the freezing wind.
"Let me go!" Han screamed. "We will both die on impact!"
"I won't," Kaelen said calmly.
The ground was rushing up. Green canopy. Grey rocks.
1,000 feet.
500 feet.
Han realized the maniac wasn't going to pull up.
"NO! NOOO!"
At 50 feet, Kaelen finally moved.
He swung the **Nameless Slab** under Han's back, using it like a ping-pong paddle.
"**Serve.**"
He slammed Han toward the earth while simultaneously braking with his wings.
*BOOM.*
Han hit the forest floor.
The impact created a mushroom cloud of dirt and splintered wood. Trees for fifty yards were flattened by the shockwave.
Kaelen hovered above the dust cloud. He slowly descended, landing softly on a fallen log.
He folded his wings. The plasma hummed down to a low buzz.
He looked at the crater.
"System," Kaelen said. "Status of target?"
> **[Target Analysis]**
> **Sect Master Han.**
> **Status: Critical.**
> **Bones broken: 45%.**
> **Qi: Destabilized.**
A hand clawed out of the dirt.
Sect Master Han dragged himself up. His white robes were rags. His face was a mask of blood. One arm hung uselessly at his side.
He coughed, spitting out teeth.
"You..." Han wheezed. "You think... you have won?"
Han reached into his chest. He pulled out a blue bead.
The temperature in the forest dropped instantly. The trees began to freeze. The dust in the air turned to snow.
"**Ancestral Artifact: The Frozen Soul Bead.**"
Han's eyes glowed with madness.
"If I die, I take this forest with me!"
He crushed the bead.
A wave of absolute white energy exploded outward. It wasn't ice. It was the concept of **Stasis**. It sought to freeze time and space within a mile radius.
Kaelen looked at the incoming wave of white death.
He didn't run.
He opened his mouth.
His jaw unhinged slightly. The **Demon Soul** roared.
"**Heaven-Devouring Scripture: Gluttony (Overdrive).**"
A black vortex formed in front of Kaelen.
The white wave hit the black vortex.
It was a clash of absolutes. The Unstoppable Hunger vs. The Immovable Ice.
Kaelen's veins turned white. Frost crept up his neck. His eyes began to freeze over.
"Too cold..." Kaelen gritted his teeth. "It's... too heavy..."
> **[Warning]**
> **[Energy Density Exceeds Capacity.]**
> **[Liver Failure Imminent.]**
> **[Stomach Lining Ruptured.]**
"Shut up!" Kaelen roared internally. "Digest it!"
He stepped forward. Into the blast.
He grabbed the leaking energy with his bare hands and shoved it into his mouth.
He ate the blizzard.
Han watched in horror as his suicide attack was... consumed.
"What... are... you?" Han whispered, his soul breaking before his body did.
Kaelen finished. He belched. A cloud of snow escaped his lips.
He walked over to the shivering Sect Master.
Kaelen's skin was cracked like broken porcelain, blue light leaking from the fissures. He was hurt. But he was standing.
He raised the **Nameless Slab**.
"I am the top of the food chain," Kaelen said.
*SPLAT.*
The slab fell.
The threat of the Frost Sect ended.
> **[Target Eliminated: Sect Master Han.]**
> **[Foundation Establishment Essence Detected.]**
> **[Devour?]**
Kaelen sat down on the corpse. He felt tired. Full.
"Yes," Kaelen whispered. "Dessert."