Kibishi's POV

  ...What was happening here?

  The cold weather must have been messing with my head, but still, what was Riley doing here?

  I had been speechless, happy to see both her and Jir, that it hadn't crossed my mind until now.

  But that could wait.

  "Jir! Can you help me out of this ice?!"

  "Yeah, yeah," With two nods and narrow brows, Jir snapped her fingers and the ice melted on my boots.

  I shook away the water before it could become frozen and hold me in pce.

  I smiled at Jir as I wiped my eyes from the tears from before.

  "Thank you, Jir! I owe you one!"

  "More like twice, but who's counting?" Jir pyfully shrugged at me.

  I ughed and then looked in the direction that had my friends screaming moments ago. But to my surprise, they were still fighting against the monster inside its cloud of smoke.

  Csh! Csh!

  Kuma thrust her bde at the smoke, but it simply went through it. David then took his turn and swung his stone sword downwards at the monster, but it simply phased through.

  Tao leaped forward and swung her sword horizontally at the monster. The monster moved out of the way and swung its cw right back at Tao. She blocked it in front of her, as it was aimed at her chest area.

  Tao's bde made sparks with the attacking cw that was trying to end her life.

  Indeed.

  The three of them were still fighting that monster. But still, I didn't understand...

  "Strange. I thought for sure that..."

  I gripped my knife tightly. Had I been imagining things? No. I had heard those screams. But I looked at them; they were 'somewhat' fine while fighting.

  "You thought that they were dying?" Jir asked what I was thinking about. I looked back and saw her folding her arms.

  "Can't be helped. With this cold, your mind isn't functioning right." Jir narrowed her eyes at me childishly. "No. Your mind hasn't been working since you and Tao rushed in here without thinking about the consequences of your actions..."

  I lowered my head in shame.

  She was right. I doubted any normal human being would have rushed into this type of coldness in the air. But despite that fact, I didn't really care about that. Though I felt sorry for abandoning Jir without a second thought. That was the part I was ashamed of and regretted.

  I slowly looked at Riley to avoid my gaze on Jir.

  "Then why are you here, Riley? Isn't this pce dangerous?"

  "Hmm... well, I know I had to do something instead of fading away in the background." Riley scratched the back of her head. "But that aside, I simply wanted to help out, Kibishi."

  "How can you help out?! If supernaturals can't even put a scratch on this monster, then—!"

  Riley slowly pced both of her hands on each of my shoulders. Riley gave me a warm smile.

  "And that's my third reason. You always put others before yourself, Kibishi. While I find that part of you sweet, it worries David and me sometimes." Riley closed her eyes. Riley opened them again with a frown appearing. "I know you don't like it, but David and I do deeply care about you and Tao's safety. It's the reason why we decided to py soldiers."

  "Ah..." I widened my eyes, and they shook out of fear.

  I looked away and could only see Riley's right shoulder. I then heard her chuckle. "See? You know it as well."

  Riley slowly let go of my shoulders and backed up a bit. This made me look at her again. My thoughts were running wild. I could feel myself stressing over the possibility of Riley dying out there alongside David, who was already in the face of danger. I didn't want them to fight.

  I didn't want any of my family to fight.

  Tao. David. Riley.

  They were family to me. I didn't want them to end up hurt.

  And while I still had questions about everything that was happening at the same time, I felt like Riley could help alongside Jir on this.

  And if that was true, then I could leave the questions for ter.

  I gnced back and saw Kuma remaining behind while Tao and David were on the attack against the monster in the cloud of smoke.

  I looked up and saw the ceiling had started to lower a bit. No. It wasn't lowering, but the snow was starting to build up at a rapid pace.

  I looked at the monster once more.

  I then looked at the ground and then at the ceiling one st time.

  And what I could conclude was that either this pce, the cold, or the monster would kill all of us if this mission wasn't done in the next few minutes or so.

  I slowly lifted up my hand and clutched it.

  Right.

  I would die due to the cold if nothing were done. And if I knew my anatomy, which I didn't, I believed the others might feel the same way as I did. Minus Riley, maybe.

  "If I'm gonna die anyway, then I might as well use my life as a gamble..." I muttered out loud.

  I slowly nodded.

  I slowly turned back to Jir. Jir, who had been silent for a while now, finally unfolded her arms and gave me a serious expression.

  "Are you guys finished? You want to get back to the mission now?" Jir said coldly at us with her eyes narrowed and now showing us another childish expression.

  "Sorry, Jir." I simply smiled at Jir with my eyelids lowering a bit. My eyes couldn't stay open for long either. My body must have been shutting down. Yet. Here I was. Standing.

  It must have been willpower at this point.

  But I couldn't be certain for sure.

  Yet still.

  The warmth I had inside was returning to me. Riley seemed to understand what I was thinking and smiled at me.

  "Don't you think I'll let you kill yourself?" Riley scolded me despite her actions mirroring mine as well as Tao and David.

  "That's my line, idiot. Why come back to this dark pce alone? Seems like a death wish to me."

  "I know you are, but what am I?!" Riley closed her eyes and ughed at me.

  "...Can't you be serious about this..." I chuckled at Riley.

  "...I was starting to think that as well. You, Tao, Riley, and David are far too comfortable with the thought of dying." Jir sighed deeply in a dramatic way.

  She then pointed at the monster.

  "First, we need to deal with that cloud-like smoke surrounding that thing..." Jir pointed out.

  "Yeah..." Riley and I said in unison.

  Csh! Csh!

  I looked back and saw the three of my friends fighting once more.

  Kuma thrust her sword once more, and it phased through. David tried to swing horizontally, but his attack phased through. Tao then finally tried to swing her sword like a bat at the monster, but it dodged it.

  They seemed to be repeating the same attack over and over again.

  I didn't really understand it either.

  Why use the same attacks when the monster can—

  "... Wait." I raised my brows in realization.

  Using the same attacks? The monster's familiar patterns? The screams of my friends from earlier?

  ... Oh.

  Oh!

  "... I understand now!" I smiled at this realization.

  Riley and Jir simply nodded at me.

  Ah.

  It seemed like they had figured it out as well. Most likely even before me. That would expin how they could be calm at a time like this.

  With this in mind, I had thought of something that might solve our problems.

  But most likely, it might have a cost. And that cost would be my life.

  That was fine, though.

  As long as it worked, then that was the gamble I was willing to take.

  "Okay, guys. I have a pn." I spoke up.

  Jir and Riley walked closer to listen to the pn I had just thought of.

  "Here's what I need you two to do for me..."