Gepard picked up his dropped shield as March practically stomped back towards him. Sunny and Dan Heng made sure to give her enough space that she didn’t accidentally freeze the two of them from close proximity.
After being tossed into a larg pile of snow, she was practically covered in snowflakes. Sunny wasn’t sure if she was mad about being thrown, or if it was because of her currently-ruined appearance.
He wouldn’t be surprised if it was both.
Gepard sighed as he braced his massive shield.
"Stand down. You would only make this more difficult for yourself by fighting."
March scowled is discontent.
"Oh yeah? Well, even if you get through — which you won’t — there’s two more guys you’ll have to deal with!"
’Wait a minute. You can’t drag into this!’
Sunny pleading was left unheard.
March summoned her bow again as the pink-shaded ice on her arms lted away. Sohow, she was able to lt her own ice without decreasing the temperature around her.
She seed like she was going to shift to a more long-range offensive strategy. However, that would be quite difficult against an opponent that had such a massive shield. Not only that, but Gepard’s Aspect allowed him to create a wall of ice.
Of course, it seed relatively fragile compared to March’s Six-Phased ice, but it should allow him to block a few shots from her bow.
’...More fragile?’
Considering that Gepard’s Aspect seed much more defensive than March’s, wasn’t it strange for his ice to be more fragile, considering that their souls were both of the Awakened Rank?
If Sunny were to encounter another Awakened with a shadow-related Aspect, he would automatically have an advantage over them. The reason for this was because his Aspect was much more potent than them.
This was because Sunny had the highest Aspect Rank possible: Divine.
He doubted that their was another shadow-related Aspect of the Divine Rank, since shadow Aspects were generally very rare. It would be even more rare for one to have a Divine Aspect.
Essentially, this was why Aspect Ranks were very important. If two people with similar powers and of the sa Rank were to face each other, the difference between them would be skill, experience, mories and Echoes, and their Aspect Rank.
However, a higher Aspect Rank generally ant that one would have higher skills and experience. The Rank of one’s Aspect was granted based on the appraisal of the Nightmare Spell during the Nightmares. As such, it was much more common for soone like Sunny to have more experience and skill than soone who had a shadow-related Aspect of a lower Rank.
Interestingly enough, that did not apply in this situation.
Although March 7th’s Aspect Rank was most likely higher by a decent amount, Gepard was fighting against her with the sa amount of skill and experience, if not more. Even if March perford better than Gepard within the First Nightmare, the latter must have spent significantly more ti fighting against threats on Jarilo-VI.
Considering the fact that Fragntum monsters were roaming around, it was not unlikely to say that Nightmare Creatures were doing the sa. Naturally, he would have to face these abominations as the captain of the Silvermane Guards.
However, this did not change the fact that March’s Aspect was much more potent and durable. Sunny didn’t know what Gepard’s other Aspect Ability was, but it also must have been related to defense. In that case, Gepard wouldn’t have any offensive maneuvers to change the tide of battle in his favor.
March pulled back the string of her bow, aiming it at Gepard. An arrow of glistening pinkish ice appeared, created for the purpose of violence despite it’s pretty appearance.
Gepard covered himself with his shield, once again creating a wall of transparent ice. The snowflake-like barrier was large enough to cover a dozen people, and that was only if they were not huddling together.
Even if March managed to break the barrier, she wouldn’t be able to damage Gepard. He would be able to go on the offensive the mont she fired, and she would have to go through the process of dismissing her mory and coating her arms in ice again.
In battle, every second counted, so Sunny wondered:
’...What is she doing?’
***
’...I’m starting to run out of fuel.’
March mused as she charged her arrow with essence. Her Soul Essence was starting to get low, with only around a quarter of her Soul Core left. She had used large quantities of it to lower her temperature, and had spent even more when she broke Gepard’s barrier with a kick.
She had to keep expending Soul Essence in order to keep herself at such a dangerously low temperature, which allowed for her Dormant Ability to activate. The augntation provided was extrely powerful if she was cold enough, and the chilling temperature of Belobog ant that she didn’t need to use her Awakened Ability too much. Otherwise, she might have actually ran out by now.
Of course, she would still freeze to death if she crossed a certain threshold. However, it took much more for March to reach that limit. If she didn’t have that limitation...
’Heh... even those idiots would have to idolize as the Great March!’
***
Sunny sneezed, followed by Dan Heng. They both looked at each other.
Sunny rubbed his nose as Dan Heng stared at his hands in confusion.
"...Is it really that cold?"
***
March continued to charge up her arrow, fueling an enchantnt that wasn’t related to her own Aspect Abilities.
Although her Legacy Relic shared her Aspect Abilities in the form of enchantnts, it had it’s own enchantnts that were unique to itself. It was a mory after all, so it would be ridiculous to think that it couldn’t have it’s own enchantnts.
This enchantnt in particular, had a very specific effect.
After a few more monts, she released the string, sending the arrow flying. It rocketed towards Gepard, destined to pierce his barrier.
However, the arrow suddenly fizzled out, splitting to beco countless fragnts of ice. Those fragnts of ice transford into dozens of ice sculptures shaped like bunnies.
’Because they’re cute!’
Indeed, although the enchantnt didn’t create bunnies in the first place, March decided to use her Essence to shape them into bunnies. It wasn’t like she needed that Essence in the first place.
She had just enough to pull off her plan.
The bunnies rained down upon the barrier, causing Gepard to look up in confusion. Suddenly, they all started to explode into icy mist, lowering the chilling temperature even more. The frozen haze disrupted his vision, which was already affected by the raging snowstorm that was occurring.
The onslaught of explosions shattered Gepard’s shield, leaving him practically defenseless without a way to see March. He frantically looked around, attempting to catch even a glimpse of the pink-haired girl.
A shift in the mist caused him to raise his arm to protect himself. He wouldn’t be fast enough to use his shield, so this was the best he could do.
A sickening crunch could be heard as a kick landed on Gepard’s forearm. March’s leg was encased in ice, which only made the attack even more brutal.
Gepard grunted as he was blown away. He rolled along the snow until he was completely out of the mist. He quickly got back onto his feet as he checked his fractured arm.
March panted as she walked out of the mist. She was now completely out of Essence, so the temperature around her was starting to rise again. Her augntation was getting weaker as well, which ant that she was running out of ti.
Just as she was about to lunge forward, a figure suddenly appeared. Sunny grabbed her arm to stop her from moving.
March widened her eyes.
’This... idiot!’
***
Sunny watched as frost started to spread up his arm. It was absolutely freezing, and there was a good chance that he might get frostbite. Despite this, he simply watched as one of the guards that had chased after Sampo returned to report to Gepard.
"...And the pri suspect? The one with the blue hair?"
’Hm... maybe I should let go.’
Sunny removed his hand from March. He shook his hand to get so feeling back into it, since it was numb from the coldness of March’s body. As he did so, March suddenly grabbed his hand, alarming him.
"Hey! What are you..."
Suddenly, the cold started to recede. The pinkish ice started to lt off of his hand, slowly bringing it back to normal.
’...Well that’s convenient.’
Sunny had stopped March mainly because she had shown signs of running out of Essence, as well as the fact that she would only cause problems if this fight went on any longer.
Luckily, a guard had returned to distract Gepard, which gave him the perfect chance to step in. He could have used Saint to restrain him if necessary, but he didn’t want to expose his Shadow to Gepard.
"Apologies, Captain! W—We lost him during the pursuit. We can’t find his footprints..."
’Yeah, there wasn’t any pursuit in the first place.’
Sampo wasn’t even in the sa world as them anymore, so there wouldn’t be any way to chase him down. Gepard sighed.
"No matter, we have his accomplices. He’ll be close by, plotting his next move."
Sunny and March both shouted in indignation.
"Don’t compare to that wretch!"
"Yeah, we’d never team up with soone like him!’
Having drawn their attention, March continued.
"I’m not trying to talk our way out of this, but... we’re not friends with that scoundrel. Did you see how fast he ditched us? We rescued him from the snow out of the kindness of our hearts. We had no idea he might be using us to get past you! Are you really dumb enough to fall for his..."
Gepard shook his head resolutely.
"I’m a captain, not an adjudication panel. As a Belobog citizen, you have the right to defend yourself, but that can only take place under the scrutiny of the Architects, not now."
"But we’re not from Belobog!"
At March’s exclamation, Sunny pointed at himself.
"Do our clothes look anything like what you guys have here?"
Of course, it was possible that they had similar clothes, since they have only seen guards be Awakened so far. However, it was a gamble that Sunny had to take in order to salvage the situation.
One of the guards suddenly shouted:
"Silence! What kind of nonsense are you—"
Gepard raised a hand, silencing the guard.
"As you were. We must not be tempted into careless judgnt. Look at their attire. Indeed, it is not in the Belobog style."
’Heh. My genius knows no bounds, just like my treachery!’
Sunny paused.
’Wait, I’m not treacherous!’
The Spell seed to be influencing the way that he viewed himself. He might need to bleach his mind from such contamination.
March nodded.
"Exactly! A—And we even have photos!"
She reached for her cara after letting go of Sunny’s hand, clicking through it to show Gepard.
"You’ve probably never seen what your planet looks like, right? I took this one. Behold, Jarilo-VI..."
The soldiers suddenly started to huddle around to see the displayed picture.
"...You an to say that this... white ball... That’s here? That’s our ho? How can that..."
Gepard seed to be contemplating sothing as he gazed at the image of Jarilo-VI.
"It is said that a long ti ago, strange visitors from beyond the sky would visit us here... but that after the Eternal Freeze, the blizzards made passage impossible... and Belobog would cease to witness such arrivals."
One of the soldiers spoke to Gepard.
"But these people are—"
Gepard shook his head.
"This decision is beyond us. If what they say is true, then only the Supre Guardian may decide their fate. Our job is to present them before her. Nothing more."
Gepard nodded towards the trio, causing Sunny to believe that he had successfully nded the situation.
"Outsiders, follow . Belobog lies beyond this blizzard."
***
’This... this is just insane.’
Sunny stared in awe at the massive city in front of him. Belobog stood like a shard of civilization wedged in the cold, heartless embrace of Jarilo-VI’s frozen wilderness. The city was a marvel of human ingenuity, its gleaming spires and intricate facades towering against the vast expanse of snow-covered mountains that surrounded it.
Despite this, there was a sense of gloominess emitting from the city. It stood as a symbol of everything that had been lost, the final remains of humanity in this freezing hellscape.
Gepard looked upon the city, an almost solemn look in his eyes.
"Welco to Belobog — the City of Preservation."
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