Chapter 14

Fire and Ice

“I knew it!” came Kairin’s screaming voice from behind. “I knew you had your secrets too!”

Alex could barely hear her. He could barely see or hear anything in his periphery.

His senses were focused exclusively on his enemy up above.

The massive monkey meteor headed straight for them.

There wasn’t time to come up with any strategy. And even if there was, he had no idea what his options were, or what he was capable of.

And even if he did, his mind was still clouded by the white fog. He felt like he was in a state of pure, unfettered instinct.

Still… some thinking was still possible.

Simple thinking.

Like what would one do if there were a volleyball headed toward them?

A giant, demonic volleyball…

If Alex were Superman, he would’ve just punched the ball straight back into space.

But risking a move like that would be unbelievably stupid. He would most likely break—or shatter—his arm.

What a hilarious way to find out that he was in fact not Superman.

But he could still redirect it.

A well-placed nudge at the right height could be enough to change its trajectory … make it go parallel to the ground … reducing its potential impact …

Saving his friends.

How was he figuring all this out in such a short period of time?

Had time slowed down again?

Or was his brain simply functioning ten times faster?

Maybe Clark could help him figure it out, later.

For now, there was only one shot.

One opportunity—when the demon volleyball would be at exactly the right height.

Alex bent his knees. With his eyes still fixed at the free-falling monkey ball, he jumped straight at it.

Jumped? More like shot upward.

He couldn’t believe the power output by his legs. It felt as though miniature explosions had gone off under his feet, launching him toward his target like a hypersonic missile.

The rapidly-approaching demon volleyball grew larger as it got closer.

Alex raised his right arm.

Come on. We’re almost there.

When close enough, Alex felt the demon ape’s angry, blood-curdling eyes stare right into his soul.

He should have been terrified.

But he was unfazed.

It sparked no emotion within him.

In this moment, for him, all that mattered was the fight.

All that mattered … was redirection.

At the opportune moment, Alex curled his right fist and shot his arm forward.

The punch connected with the demon ape’s curled-up left arm.

And it worked much, much better than Alex had expected.

Instead of slightly altering the ball’s trajectory so that it narrowly misses his friends—as he’d planned—the punch changed the ball’s path altogether.

Now, the cannonball curved into a ninety-degree angle, and shot through the wide street on Alex’s left.

Alex also managed to change the cannonball’s angle of approach. Instead of hitting the ground directly as it intended to, it now flew parallel to the ground and crash-landed into a ten-storey building at the end of the street.

Massive chunks of rubble shot up into the air as the building collapsed upon the demon ape.

It was time now for Alex’s fall. After shooting himself up several meters into the air, Alex looked at the ground below him in panic.

He could try to land on his knees, which would probably destroy them.

Well, if the punch was any indication, he seemed to have at least some form of super strength.

Maybe… Just maybe, he could still survive the drop.

Alex thought of landing on his hands instead; at least he knew for a fact that they were strong.

But apparently not strong enough.

He now saw that his right arm was completely broken. His elbow joint was dislocated, so his lower arm was poking back up, rubbing against the humerus. His fingers were snapped too, sticking out at odd angles around his palm.

Funny, he thought. All this damage, and he hadn’t felt an ounce of pain.

Landing on his hands was no longer an option.

He had to gamble with his knees.

As the ground raced closer, Alex closed his eyes, bracing for impact.

He landed on a soft, squishy snow slide instead.

The cold slide circled him around in a small radius, absorbing all momentum, and gently dropping him into a bed of snow.

Thank the stars for Kairin.

She gazed at him excitedly. “What did you do?”

The white mind fog cleared away. Time returned to its usual speed. He could think as normal now.

And the flames were gone.

“I don’t know,” Alex breathed. “I was burning.”

“You were on fire!” came Aiden’s excited cry. He slowly limped toward them, supported by Lucy. “Literally!”

Alex chuckled. “I think I destroyed my arm.” He gently raised the remains of his right arm.

“Holy shit!” Lucy turned her face away once she barely caught a glimpse of it. He had no idea she was this squeamish.

He couldn’t blame her though. It did look kind of disgusting.

The moment he thought of his arm, excruciating pain shot through his entire body, emanating from his arm, numbing his brain.

It was like all that deferred pain from before was now being released all at once!

Kairin dropped to the ground beside him. “Here,” she said and shot a thin stream of icy mist at his crippled arm. It felt like the cold was freezing his nerves. “Better?”

“Yes,” said Alex. “The pain’s gone.”

“It’ll be back, I’ve just numbed your nerves,” said Kairin. “But don’t worry. I’ve seen our medics heal our knights from far worse.”

“Great,” said Alex. “All I need now is an extra-terrestrial ambulance.”

Aiden chuckled, while Lucy eyed Kairin suspiciously.

Their reunion was soon interrupted by the sound of massive chunks of rubble rolling over a gigantic heap of concrete waste.

Of course it was not over yet.

The demon ape sprang through the heap of rubble and dropped flat on the ground, thrashing his gorilla arms around violently, cracking the concrete below him and on the nearby buildings.

Alex thought it would come straight for them.

It should have. But then why hadn’t he?

Something was wrong.

Upon a closer look, Alex saw that one of the demon ape’s arms was on fire. The same spot where Alex’s punch had connected.

The fire had already consumed its palm and had spread up to its elbow. The demon ape wailed in pain as it continued thrashing its body around; a desperate tantrum to somehow put the fire out.

“Guess he doesn’t like that, huh?” said Aiden.

“We need to get ready,” said Kairin decisively, not taking her eyes off the demon ape.

The round hunk of metal lying next to Aiden—the robot blob—had now reverted to its default, four-legged appearance. It clawed the ground, struggling to make its way to where Alex and Kairin were now positioned, whimpering and squealing like an injured puppy.

“No, no,” said Aiden, grabbing the robot puppy with both hands and putting it onto his lap. “You’ve done enough.”

Kairin pulled her gaze away from the agonized ape and turning to Lucy. “You, um…”

“Lucy,” she said.

“Lucy, hi!” Kairin awkwardly waved at her. “Take these two and find some safe cover. Is your gun still operational?”

“I don’t know,” said Lucy. “It kinda fried on me.”

“Mine is,” said Aiden and handed Lucy his gun.

“There must be flamethrower and grenade attachments on it too,” Kairin informed Lucy. “Use them to keep them out of trouble.”

Alex saw Lucy hesitate. She clearly wasn’t entirely trusting of Kairin yet.

She took a second to think, then nodded. “You got it.”

“Alex, how’s the hand?” asked Kairin.

Alex glanced at his disfigured arm and shrugged. “At least it doesn’t hurt.”

“Perfect,” said Kairin. “Use the other arm and turn the heat up once again.”

“Okay,” said Alex nervously. As if he had any idea on how he’d turned it on the first time.

Another near-death experience, perhaps?

“It’s time we finally switched to offense.” She turned her gaze at the struggling ape once again. “Let’s take this monkey down.”

Alex closed his eyes… and thought of death.

The calming heat spread through his veins once again, erupting through his upper body in soothing flames.

Kairin’s ice that had been numbing the veins on his injured arm melted away. But it didn’t matter. The flames were back, which meant he couldn’t feel the pain anyway.

The white fog had also returned. His thoughts were once again extremely focused, instinctual.

The demon ape finally stopped thrashing around. It reached out for its burning arm and dug its sharp claws through its thick hide above the elbow.

Then, it pulled; harder and harder, until it ripped its own arm off its body.

The ape growled in pain and threw its arm into a nearby building. The arm kept burning.

“Guess he really doesn’t like the fire, huh?” said an awestruck Aiden.

Kairin nodded lightly. Something told Alex that this wasn’t new information for her. “Go!” she said to Lucy.

Alex didn’t turn to see whether they were gone.

His gaze was fixed on his enemy.

“All we have to do,” Kairin told him. “Is make sure you touch him once. Just once. Preferably around the chest or the face. You got that?”

Alex nodded.

“It won’t be easy,” said Kairin. “He is fast. And he knows… now.”

The demon ape, finally having saved its body from the flame, stood tall and panting. Its red eyes were full of rage. It could no longer thump its chest with two arms.

Hot steam puffed out of its nose. The ape closed its eyes and frowned its brows. It seemed to be furiously focusing on something.

The ape’s grayish white fur began to bubble. Thick, granite-colored scales soon began to pop out through every pore of its hide.

Alex recognized it instantly. It was the same scale armor that the reptile demon had on.

The scale armor cascaded through almost every exposed part of the ape’s body; except its face, and other strategic parts like its armpits and the back of its knees, in order to ensure movement.

Eventually, the scale armor particles reached the point where its severed arm should be, and grew into a brand new arm, made entirely of scale armor.

Phase Two, thought Alex.

“That probably shields it from the fire, but don’t be intimidated,” Kairin said in a quivering voice. She didn’t sound as confident as she did before. “I can crack through that armor though. I’m… fairly certain. Besides, its face is still exposed.”

Alex nodded once again.

“The good news is that he should be considerably slower than before,” said Kairin speculatively.

The demon ape, now ready, stared down at Alex and Kairin menacingly. The red glow in its beastly eyes intensified, and his nostrils expunged a massive blast of hot steam.

Alex could tell what the demon ape had in mind:

Bull rush.

As if right on cue, the demon ape threw its gigantic, freshly-armored body toward Alex and Kairin.

Kairin was right. The ape was much slower than before.

Alex took a quick glance at his arm once again. Still no pain, but the dislocated elbow joint seemed to have gone back in place on its own.

Maybe he could risk another punch?

Well, if it comes to it.

Alex also noticed scant, oddly-familiar steam coming out of the pores on his injured arm.

Where had he seen this steam before?

Alex shifted focus back to the armored ape charging at them like an enraged bull, hungry for revenge. Surely there was no punching him away this time around.

On his side, Kairin vanished with a puff of white mist.

Invisible? She could turn invisible?

That should come in handy.

The demon ape jumped the final stretch, extending his scale-armor arm to grab Alex.

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His arm may be defunct now, but if his legs were anywhere close to their previous strength, Alex should be able to dodge this.

Alex waited for his timing, then jumped. His rocket feet blasted him into the air, ten feet over the demon ape’s outstretched arm.

The ape, surprised by the quick dodge, lost balance and slammed into the ground where Alex was once stood. Its body skid through the street, cracking the concrete ground on the way, and he was back at the wide intersection where he’d spawned.

This time, Alex landed firmly on his own two feet.

Above the ape’s downed body, a long, sharp ice spear was conjured out of thin air, aimed straight at its heart.

The spear went straight down with surprising speed; but the demon ape rolled out of the way just in time, and the spear smashed into ice shards on the concrete.

The demon ape sprang back to its feet and looked around frantically.

It knew.

The monkey knew that it wasn’t Alex who had launched that spear attack.

But Kairin was invisible.

Frustrated for not having immediately located her, the demon ape turned its glowing red eyes at Alex.

Come on, thought Alex. Try me.

The flames enveloping his body burned brighter.

The ape was not very different than a human opponent, physiologically. Two arms, two legs. The prosthetic arm considerably harder than the other.

The only difference was the size, obviously.

And that tail. He had obviously never fought an opponent with a tail before. It could essentially function as a fifth limb, which may create a world of complications when used right.

Was the ape smart enough?

Regardless, Alex needed to watch out for it. That long, bushy tail was something that could catch him by surprise.

With no sign of Kairin, and presumably no means of locating her, the demon ape engaged with the only opponent he could see: Alex.

From this short a distance, the demon ape closed the gap between them insanely fast.

Alex wasn’t slow either. He quickly jumped backward, launched swiftly by his powerful legs, and dodged the overhead punch that cracked the ground that Alex was on a few moments ago.

The ape continued the onslaught, relentlessly throwing punch after punch at Alex, clearly dying to squash him like a bug.

But Alex’s newfound speed was barely fast enough, and he dodged every single hit, albeit not without some struggle.

Great, thought Alex. I can dodge.

But when do we start landing punches?

And how? One of his arms was completely useless.

The demon ape mixed in an unexpected kick into his combo, which Alex barely managed to dodge by bending backwards.

This was the kind of bullshit he knew he had to watch out for. The ape moved its body in wholly unnatural ways. Nothing like a human opponent would ever even think of doing.

But Alex was fortunate. Fortunate enough to have this fire-power by his side.

He could tell that the demon ape acknowledged the flame’s power over it. It took special care in its movements to not let the flames get close to any of its exposed body parts.

It didn’t matter if Alex had to keep dodging. All he needed was one opening.

Just one.

And he would roast this monkey alive.

Another kick, aimed straight at his head. Alex dodged in a similar fashion as before.

But that was a mistake.

The goddamn tail shot at him out of nowhere. Covered in scale armor, it wasn’t scared of the flames one bit.

Alex was bent backward in an awkward position. No way he could recover in time to dodge this.

An ice wall appeared out of thin air, shielding Alex from the tail-grab.

Kairin!

The ice wall shattered from the impact of the armored tail crashing into it. The demon ape retracted its outstretched leg back and was about to rest it back on the ground before jumping into its next flurry of attacks, but then—

The ground beneath its foot turned to ice.

The demon ape, who was clearly expecting to find firm footing, was caught off guard by the newly-slippery floor. It slipped, and its gigantic body fell on its back, propagating soft tremors in every direction.

This was it, thought Alex. This was as good of an opening as any.

He quickly swooshed in. When close to the ape’s feet, he launched himself into the air once again—a short jump—and plunged into a dive, aiming for the ape’s exposed face.

The ape’s expression quickly changed into a… smirk (?).

“No!” yelped Kairin.

Alex glanced at his back, but it was too late.

The armored tail had closed the gap from Alex’s blind spot and whipped him out of the air like a stray bug.

The same motion that propelled the tail toward Alex also got the ape back to its feet with a backflip, just as Alex flew past him in a horizontal path.

Once back on its feet, the ape extended its scale-armor arm and caught Alex.

“Alex, no!” Kairin screamed, still invisible.

The demon ape, holding Alex in its massive, scaly palm, twirled around and slammed him to the ground with incredible force.

Alex felt a small spike of pain radiate throughout his body, even through the pain-numbing effect of the soothing flames.

Had his skull cracked open? Only an injury that severe could justify him feeling any pain at all in this mode.

Hot steam rushed out of every pore on his body.

The demon ape raised both its arms to squash Alex once and for all, but a wall of ice conjured between them once again; icy, sharp spikes extended quickly on the monkey’s side, missing its eye by inches.

The demon ape aggressively turned around to try and spot Kairin, but she was still invisible. This frustrated the ape and it began furiously breaking each spike one by one with his punches.

Alex found his window to roll away.

That tail. That damned tail was a big issue.

But Alex was pleasantly surprised. His body should not have been able to survive such an attack.

He was tough. Whatever he was—whatever he had become now—he was tough now.

It had still hurt though. He wondered how many of such slip-ups he could actually afford.

And somewhere deep within him, he knew: He wasn’t going to be able to keep this up forever.

They had to find a way to bring this monkey down quickly.

There was a timer. And it was running out.

The demon ape was finally done punching through all the spikes individually, and it shattered the wall in a single punch.

It frantically looked around once again, naively hoping to spot Kairin by chance. But she was too smart for this.

Alex regulated his breathing and thought about how to approach next.

Quick. He needed to find a quick way in.

And he also needed to find a way to utilize Kairin’s support spells effectively.

Mainly the slippery ice floor.

As the demon ape spun around like crazy, still looking for the invisible Kairin, random pieces of furniture made purely of ice fell upon its head.

A bunch of chairs, a long-ass table, and even a futuristic, very alien-looking piano that burst into funny notes as it slammed on top of the ape’s thick skull.

This was combined with miniature ice spikes spawning at random spots on the ground poking upward, right the ape put its giant feet down.

The antics obviously enraged the ape even more.

Sound strategy, perhaps. To make him lose focus.

Good news: It was working. Bad news: He didn’t know for how long would it keep working.

He must take advantage of the chaos, and quick.

Alex took a deep breath in.

Calm once again.

The flames intensified.

With the demon ape still distracted by Kairin’s antics, Alex bent his knees once again and launched into a quick left-handed jab on the ape’s armored shin from behind.

Direct hit.

The ape lost balance and turned to look at his ankle, trying to find Alex.

But Alex was already in the front.

He lunged at the ape’s chest and hit its armored chest with a full body slam, with as much power as he could muster.

Direct hit once again. Alex was too fast for the armored ape to dodge!

The power of the impact swept the giant monkey off its feet a few inches.

The monkey should have been able to find balance once its feet touched the ground again.

But, as though right on cue, the ground turned slippery ice.

It was like Kairin knew what he wanted her to do, and when. They were communicating via actions alone.

The ice floor surprise should have made the ape fall flat on its back just like before.

But the demon had learned.

It quickly bent its back and put its arms on the ground for balance instead, avoiding the ice, and transitioned into another backflip.

Oh shit, thought Alex. Here comes the tail.

The armored tail shot toward Alex as expected.

But this time, he was ready.

Alex managed to dodge the tail with a swift duck and, from the bent position, shot into a rocket slam once again.

Direct hit on the demon’s chest yet again, just as soon as it had recovered from the backflip.

This time, the monkey was flown off its feet. And right behind him appeared an ice wall plush with pointy ice spikes.

The spikes pierced through the demon ape’s scale armor as it slammed into the thick slab of ice.

The slab tilted over by the force and fell flat on the ground with the demon ape on top, giving the appearance that the monkey had collapsed on a bed of ice spikes from above.

Alex moved in quick. This was his chance.

The ape was immobilized, unlike before, even if just for a moment.

And all he had to do was touch the face.

He intensified his focus. The white mind fog proved helpful in this.

No distracting thoughts. No background noise. No doubts.

Only the target.

Alex launched himself into the air once again. The flames flickered violently around his body, the angriest they’d been yet.

This was it for the ape. Alex was going to move in so quick, all it’d see would be an orange-yellow flash.

Speed was the key.

He had to go faster. Much, much faster than he did the last time.

And he knew he could do it.

After reaching the right height, Alex plunged into a dive once again. A long streak of fire painted the sky as it trailed him.

The demon ape, immobilized by the dozens of spikes piercing every joint and tissue in its body, looked up at Alex with a terrified expression.

It knew its end was near.

Just a few moments ago, the ape planned to crush them in a similar fashion with his meteoric cannonball attack.

Now it had a burning spear plunging at it from above, aimed straight for its head.

Alex knew that the monkey was smart enough to see the irony in that.

The ice spikes had grown longer and curled, firmly gripping the ape’s limbs, holding it in place.

Alex burned brighter and brighter as he zoomed through the air.

He was almost at his target.

It will all be over in the next couple seconds!

And the demon ape knew it too.

The monkey thrashed around on its spiked-bed prison, attempting to escape, but to no avail. The ice must be numbing all its nerves simultaneously.

As Alex got closer, he noticed that the ape now looked abnormal.

Not that it was anywhere close to normal before, but…

Something was wrong!

The ape’s black as death eyeballs rolled back into its head.

A strange red aura, coarse and visible, now surrounded it.

Then, it let out a deafening roar; decibel levels that could tear down a building.

A dense, almost physical sound wave exploded out of its mouth in all directions and knocked Alex off the air.

Alex crashed into a collapsed building nearby. His flames were snuffed out and the white fog of focus was gone.

The beast continued to roar. Alex pressed his palms against his ears as hard as he could as the sound waves pierced into his thoughts.

Alex began to scream in agony. This was too much… just too much to bear.

Then, as suddenly as it had appeared, the roaring stopped.

Alex, still in a daze, struggled back to his feet and looked at the ape to see what the hell was going on.

The bed of ice spikes had melted into a large puddle of water.

And the ape was back on its feet, free.

Its eyeballs were still rolled back into its head. And the coarse, visible red aura surrounding it was thick as ever.

Phase Three.

Alex noticed that the demon ape’s scale armor had also melted away as though it no longer needed it. But its prosthetic scale-armor arm still remained.

The ape’s bare hide was exposed, but there was no fire surrounding Alex anymore. His whole body ached with bone-shattering pain.

The ape slowly turned its head around, scanning the area with its blank eyes. When it finally found Alex collapsed on the rubble, it roared in celebration.

Shit.

He needed his flames right now!

But no matter what he did, no matter what he thought of, they wouldn’t come.

His brain was ringing. His body was near paralyzed.

He was at his limit.

The demon ape charged at Alex with speed never seen before. It was so fast that Alex almost lost track of it.

There was no way he could dodge this!

Icy whips wrapped around his waist just in time and yanked him away from the ape’s path.

Alex’s almost numb body flew through the air and crashed back onto the concrete street once again.

The demon ape crashed into the rubble, but that caused it no damage. It was unfettered, but furious. It slammed its giant arms on the ground in frustration that he’d missed his mark.

So Phase Three is just the speed of Phase One combined with the toughness of Phase Two.

All the strengths, none of the weaknesses. Plus some additional shouting-based craziness.

Great.

The monkey quickly recovered from the mini-tantrum and spotted Alex collapsed on the street. It got ready to charge once again.

Right then, something shiny on the ground caught Alex’s eye.

A message; etched on the street in shiny white ice: Bait it here!

Alex saw several ice chips with weird runes upon them scattered on the street.

A trap set by Kairin.

Will it work?

Only one way to find out.

He had to trust her and stand his ground when the ape charged at him once again. And it wasn’t like he could dodge the attack anyway.

Or move at all.

Without wasting another second, the demon ape charged once again with hyper-speed. The coarse red aura surrounding him cracked the concrete as it moved. Its blank eyes yearned for Alex.

Alex couldn’t move a muscle. Was it due to fear or the fact that he had fried his tissues? He had no idea.

If things don’t work out as intended, Kairin would yank him away just like before.

Right?

Per his signature move, the demon ape leaped at the final stretch, throwing its scale-armor arm forward to grab Alex.

Its eyes were greedy, hungry. It wanted Alex so bad.

When it was barely inches away, all the runic chips on the ground shot ice spikes upward in unison.

And the demon ape was impaled once again. Its scary but exposed face within Alex’s grasp.

Come on, Alex pleaded. Light up!

Kairin had given him the perfect setup.

If he could get the flames going again… if he could just do it again… all he had to do was reach out and touch.

COME ON!

His crippled right arm burst into flames.

That’s it!

The demon ape noticed the flames and howled in pain. It was suspended above ground; long ice spikes impaled every inch of its body.

Especially through its throat and mouth; which meant it shouldn’t be able to roar like it did earlier.

Well, probably.

Maybe.

It was a gamble Alex would have to take.

Alex shot his burning arm forward. The fire was reflected in the demon’s blank eyes.

It knew its end was coming.

But it wasn’t done yet.

With its mouth barely open, the demon ape managed to roar once again.

The force from the almost physical sound wave, now blasted at him in a tight, concentrated cone, swept Alex off his feet. He landed on the ground with a thud a few meters away.

The fire on his right arm was snuffed out.

The coarse red aura around the demon ape blasted out of its body like a hundred steam locomotive whistles going off at once.

In a swift, spiral motion, the demon ape spun in place, using its tail as leverage, and broke every single ice spike impaling its body. The shards of ice that remained stuck within its body melted away.

The ape wasted no time.

It sprung into the air and landed right next to where Alex lay on the ground. It towered over him, gazing at Alex with his blank eyes. But Alex could still feel the rage pouring out of them.

“No!!” came Kairin’s scream. Ice whips appeared from behind the demon ape, aimed at Alex. But they melted away as soon as they got too close within the ape’s coarse red aura.

The demon ape grabbed Alex by its normal arm and lifted him off his feet. The blank eyes gave Alex a deathly stare.

The hair at the back of Alex’s neck shot up. He had never faced death this up close.

Were there no more chances? Was this it?

Had his luck finally run out?

His body gave him no response.

There were no surprise powers, no miracle fire, to save him this time around.

He’d used all that up already.

The demon ape slammed Alex’s body to the ground as hard as he could.

Alex felt pain like he’d never done before; and that was saying something, now that he had had some experience of being beaten up by a gigantic demon monster.

The demon ape then raised its scale-armor arm and punched straight down at Alex. Its fist was so large, it was able to uniformly deliver damage to Alex’s whole body.

Alex was sure that the bones in his ribs, arms, and legs were crushed by the impact. In fact, he was surprised at how he was still conscious at all.

Then, the ape raised its other arm, and punched him again.

And again.

And again.

It was like every vein in his body was on fire. And not in the good, soothing way like before. It was electric and excruciating.

Alex didn’t know at what point was it all supposed to go numb… and dark.

“NOOOO!!” Kairin’s sobbing scream came from every angle all around him. “No! Please! Please save him. He doesn’t deserve to die like this, please! PLEASE!”

Alex felt his skin harden. His body… was still trying to resist.

But what was the point?

If he somehow survives this, he’d be crippled for life.

The ape was relentless. It hated Alex with a passion. It knew that Alex was perhaps the only one who could have delivered a swift and decisive end to its rampage.

“Please!” cried Kairin helplessly. Who exactly was she pleading to?

A random snowball hit the demon ape on its head from behind. Alex figured that it may have started off as a much larger ball, but the coarse red aura must have melted most of it.

“I’m here!” announced Kairin from behind the demon ape.

The demon ape, still in its berserk mode, slowly, and menacingly, turned around.

And there it finally found Kairin. Completely visible.

“You wanted me, didn’t you?” Kairin taunted it. “Well here I am!”

She was sobbing in fear. In a perfectly audible whisper, she breathed,

“Come get me.”

The demon ape roared.

It wanted to get her. It wanted to squash her like a bug so bad.

Why was she revealing herself now?

Then, it hit Alex.

She was intentionally putting herself in mortal danger!

She was a fool.

The same kind of fool as he.

The berserker ape was ready to charge at Kairin.

But before it could take its first step toward her—

A stray arrow came flying from somewhere far behind Kairin.

The arrow was long, longer than any Alex had ever seen.

And it was made of pure ice. Cold, paralyzing ice.

The giant ice arrow pierced through the ape’s armored chest and remained there; the sparkling arrowhead popping out of its rugged, bleeding back.

Alex glanced behind Kairin, struggling to focus.

A hooded archer was barely visible behind her.

Right then, a powerful, commanding voice echoed through the walls of the destroyed buildings on either side of the street.

A human voice.

“Knights of Cahrim!” came the echoing command. “Fulfill your oath! Protect the princess!”

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