Yuki and the wolf stared at one another across the fractured ice.

  The beast growled low and violent, a sound born of pure predatory intent, its burning fur crackling as heat rolled off its massive frame. It dwarfed her, more than three times her height, easily ten times her mass, its presence alone enough to make most warriors flee.

  Yuki did not flinch however.

  Instead she smiled.

  Not out of arrogance.

  But out of excitement.

  Now she understood it.

  What she could do.

  What she couldn’t.

  And more importantly, what it could do.

  With that knowledge burning through her veins, she felt alive in a way few ever did. This was no longer reckless aggression. This was a proper hunt.

  Slowly, deliberately, the two began to circle each other.

  The wolf bared its fangs, saliva hissing as it struck the ice. Its body remained low, muscles coiled, every movement deliberate.

  In Yuki’s mind, however, it was nothing more than a spawn.

  Dangerous, yes, but mindless.

  At most, it possessed animalistic instinct.

  And instinct alone was never enough.

  After all, it was not beasts that ruled the world.

  It was humans.

  The wolf lunged.

  Its massive jaws opened wide, heat flaring violently as it aimed to bite her in half in a single motion.

  Yuki smirked seeing the attempt.

  She stepped forward and caught it.

  Both hands slammed against its upper and lower jaws, stopping them inches from her body. The force drove her boots deep into the ice, fractures spiderwebbing outward, but she held.

  Her muscles screamed.

  The ice beneath her feet cracked violently.

  Yuki roared grabbing the creature by its fangs.

  She clenched her grip around its fangs and twisted, lifting the wolf’s massive head, and then its entire body, off the ground.

  With a feral cry, she hurled the beast.

  The wolf’s body sailed across the glacier, skidding and tumbling far beyond the ice shelf.

  But Yuki was already moving.

  She launched herself after it, chasing the creature through the sky. A block of ice formed beneath her feet midair, she kicked off it instantly, redirecting herself like a living missile.

  Her fist slammed into the wolf’s skull.

  A loud howl escaped the beasts fangs.

  The beast was driven straight down into a glacier, ice exploding outward in massive chunks that rained across the battlefield.

  Yuki landed lightly, grinning.

  Then the wolf’s fur ignited brighter than ever.

  The familiar orange glow gathered within its maw.

  “Ah,” Yuki said pleasantly. “There it is.”

  The beam fired.

  No, beams.

  The attack split into five separate lances of heat, each one locking onto her with terrifying precision.

  Yuki’s eyes widened.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  But she didn’t hesitate.

  Ice formed beneath her feet again and again as she leapt through the sky, changing direction violently, but the beams followed, relentless, adaptive, they were hunting her.

  Her lip curled.

  Then suddenly she smiled.

  A reckless, brilliant idea formed.

  She changed course, straight toward the wolf.

  The beams screamed after her, tearing through the air at impossible speed. The wolf blinked once, surprise flickering across its molten eyes as Yuki closed the distance far faster than it expected.

  She landed beneath it and jumped again in one fluid motion.

  The beams followed.

  Straight through the wolf’s body.

  The creature howled as its own attack tore holes clean through its burning flesh, chunks of molten matter raining down before rapidly reforming. With a pained roar, it dismissed the beams, regeneration already knitting its wounds closed.

  Yuki rolled her eyes as she landed, grinning.

  “Seriously? That barely slowed you.”

  The wolf shrieked, pain giving way to fury. Its eyes locked onto her with unmistakable hatred, no longer mindless.

  It lunged again.

  Yuki caught it just as before, hands locking around its fangs, muscles tightening as she prepared to throw it once more,

  Then she froze.

  The wolf’s eyes began to expand.

  Not glow.

  Expand.

  Yuki’s grin faltered.

  “…Oh.”

  Realization hit her like ice water.

  This wasn’t instinct.

  This was thought, intelligence.

  The wolf’s eyes detonated.

  A point-blank heat shockwave erupted.

  Yuki released her grip instantly, allowing the blast to hurl her backward to minimize the damage, but even that wasn’t enough.

  Pain consumed her.

  Her skin burned away in places she didnt think possible, muscle fibers exposed beneath scorched flesh. Her white hair ignited, flames licking up her back as she screamed and tumbled through the air.

  She hit the ice hard.

  Gasping and shaking, she summoned ice around herself in a desperate cocoon. It encased her instantly, steam exploding outward as it absorbed the heat.

  Moments later, the ice shattered.

  Yuki dropped to one knee, breathing raggedly, her grin gone.

  She stared at the wolf, no longer just annoyed, no longer amused.

  “…Am I seriously going to have to use it?” she muttered through clenched teeth.

  She didn’t get time to think however.

  The wolf charged again.

  This time, she retreated.

  Yuki leapt backward hundreds of meters in an instant, forced into defense, her least favorite position. The wolf’s maw flared once more, orange energy scattering outward as multiple beams hunted her relentlessly.

  She ran.

  Ice walls the size of mountains rose behind her, one after another, but the beams punched through them effortlessly, melting straight through solid ice.

  Her teeth ground together.

  She twisted at the last moment, ensuring the beams missed her vitals.

  Then they tore through her torso instantly.

  Blood sprayed in the air.

  Yuki screamed as she fell, holes burned clean through her body, pain overwhelming her ability to recover midair.

  She crashed into the ice.

  Hard.

  She lay there, staring up at the white sky above, breath shallow, a strange, almost defeated, expression crossing her face for the first time.

  The wolf loomed in the distance.

  Still burning.

  And still coming.

  As Yuki stared into the pale, endless sky, something unfamiliar settled into her chest.

  She hadn’t felt this in a very long time.

  Pressure.

  Resistance.

  She was being pushed back.

  No, worse.

  She was losing.

  Some would even dare to call it being beaten.

  Her fingers curled against the ice beneath her.

  'How?'

  She was the Icy Witch, feared across continents, whispered about with equal parts hatred and awe. Even her own Enigma despised her, resented her, for the sheer excess of her talent and the relentless brutality of her training.

  She had earned her strength.

  Every shard of it.

  “So why?!” she shouted, her voice echoing across the frozen wasteland as she forced herself upright.

  “Why am I losing?!” she roared, fury tearing free from her throat as she declared her defiance to the world itself.

  Ice exploded around her body.

  Frost surged over scorched flesh, knitting muscle, sealing wounds, restoring her form in an instant. The frozen shell shattered outward as she rose to her feet, shards clattering across the ice like broken glass.

  She locked eyes with the wolf.

  Hatred burned in her gaze, cold, sharp and primal hatred.

  For a heartbeat, she stood still.

  Then she laughed.

  A wide, wicked grin split her face as something inside her clicked.

  “Oh,” she said softly. “I get it now.”

  She adjusted her stance and raised one hand. Ice wrapped around her arm, condensing, thickening, forming a jagged gauntlet that radiated killing intent.

  “I’m sending you straight to hell.”

  Her voice hardened.

  She inhaled, and declare.

  “Come forth, Mors Frigus.”

  The world screamed.

  A catastrophic wave of cold erupted outward from Yuki’s body, freezing everything in its path, not slowing it, not crystallizing it, but forcing matter itself into absolute zero. Heat vanished. Motion ceased. Even the air screamed as it died.

  The battlefield became silent.

  Behind her, something answered.

  Mors Frigus emerged.

  The physical manifestation of her spirit.

  Every Paragon had one, but few were so overwhelmingly pure.

  A colossal white tiger stepped forth from the void of frost, its form majestic and terrifying, fur woven from ice and death. Its fangs were sculpted crystal, its breath a storm of annihilation. Ancient and beautiful.

  Unstoppable.

  Yuki glanced back at it.

  For a moment, something like reverence crossed her face.

  Then the tiger dissolved.

  With a single wave of its massive paw, it transformed into raw, frozen energy and surged forward, merging with her.

  Yuki screamed, not in pain, but in exultation.

  Her eyes split into sharp, feline slits, glowing with glacial light. Her hair grew longer, whipping violently as frost crystallized along its strands. Her teeth sharpened, jagged ice forming along their edges.

  Power flooded her veins.

  She turned back toward the wolf.

  Her grin returned, wilder, more dangerous than before.

  Then she hesitated.

  Just for a moment.

  This was the line.

  The word.

  A word so rare that most believed it was nothing more than myth. A state so revered that entire religions had been built around the idea of touching it. Many claimed only those chosen by the gods could ever feel its effect.

  Very few in history had ever spoken it.

  Fewer still had survived it.

  Yuki opened her mouth.

  And spoke.

  “Chasm.”