"The storm... it's gone."

"You're right."

Nylon and Elliott walked out of the broken down shelter they used to rest, and looked around them. The scenery, even if completely white and untouched, laid itself in front of them.

The blizzard that never stopped in the Frigoria Plains, at last, was lifted.

"How could that be?"

Trying to find an answer, Nylon wracked his brain.

'The only thing I can think off is...'

He looked in the direction of the collapsed giant, covered in snow.

"..."

"I think so too. The storm was probably a countermeasure to stop the giants from leaving the country and crossing the border."

"Could you not read my mind?"

"Haha~ No can do."

With a delighted laugh, Elliott stretched while walking forward.

"Then, if we get rid of the other corrupted giants?"

Elliott nodded.

"We might be able to finally free this land of its curse."

A glint of determination shone in his eyes. Elliott's goal became clearer.

"This is not going to be easy, isn't it?"

Shrugging, Nylon pointed in the distance, where storm clouds appeared on the horizon line.

"We have one advantage over our enemies. Using the few moments of drowsiness after they awakened, we should be able to avoid tough fights."

"But this is probably a wishful thinking. Our dead friend over there was crippled to begin with. If it had the ability to fly, this would have been way more troublesome."

Nylon looked at his hands.

"I can believe that. I had to climb that thing for a long time, so I know for a fact I was lucky."

"Your assassin skills are going to become indispensable."

A mocking smile on his face, Nylon glared at Elliott.

"This is a joke? You could probably get rid of them in a single strike if you wanted to."

But Elliott shook his head, but also confirmed it.

"If there was no restrictions on my abilities, then yes, I wouldn't need your help."

"Restrictions?"

This time, he nodded.

"I'm not going to reveal everything, but my fight against Orion wasn't without consequences. There is also the fact that I need to recover from being in stasis for two thousand years."

"It's only been three weeks since I've been freed."

He clenched his fist repeatedly.

*Lo... ott...*

"Hmm?"

A voice suddenly echoed in his mind, catching his attention. It sounded muffled, almost inaudible.

He looked around him while noticing the confused expression Nylon made.

'It's not him. What... no, who was it? It sounded like a voice, and not an animal cry.'

The voice seemed familiar, but it wasn't his father.

"Are you alright?"

Confused, Nylon asked.

"I am. Just to be sure, you haven't heard a voice a few seconds ago, have you?"

"No. Did you?"

Elliott nodded with a serious expression, still scanning his surroundings.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

'That voice, it was calling my name.'

He looked at Vanitas stuck at his waist, which began to vibrate.

'You don't speak to me, so it can't be you.'

Heaving a long sigh, he placed the event in a corner of his mind. He still had a lot to do, and he planned to finish sooner than later.

Time was still against him, now that his father had began his plans.

"Anyways, that's how it is. I'll be using your strength in the future fights, so get ready."

"Great..."

Nylon turned around and shrugged, before walking forward. Ten steps later, he turned around and asked.

"Which direction are we going now?"

...

Elliott's plan was to clean the coldest part of the region first. After killing Spifer, the giant corrupted eagle, the duo continued south.

The further they went, the colder it got. Thanks to Elliott, who kept the temperature above freezing with his barrier, they could advance without having to endure the harsh weather.

Two days after, they entered the storm once again. It was way more vicious than previously, with hail now falling around them.

"How many corrupted giants do you think are encased in ice?"

Nylon, enduring the cold now that his coat had been ripped to pieces, asked in a way to distract his mind.

"That is a good question."

Placing his finger on his temple, Elliott began to think.

"From what I remember, father created more than two hundred of them."

"!"

Hearing the high number made Nylon almost pass out, but, Elliott wasn't done talking.

"During his assaults against the Hero, he expended most of his army. I wasn't conscious during this period, so I can't really tell you how many perished."

"But from the looks of it, Noah killed all the ones sent to attack Triazils during his invasion. There's probably less than ten remaining."

"Cephaïd is a huge region, so we'll hunt them down by following the storms."

Nylon's wolf ears twitched.

"Cephaïd?"

"Oh, I believe I never spoke about that name in my story. This was how we called our land in the past."

Elliott began to explain.

"It became the Frigoria Plains after my father lost against Noah, and Miss Nature cursed the land to an eternal snowfield."

"Though, I am a little relieved to know that she did not curse our land to be like this out of spite, but to stop the giants from rampaging while no one could stop them."

A satisfied smile drew on his face as he pushed forward.

"If that system knows what 'spite' is, anyways."

This was a little too complicated for Nylon, so he let it at that. He had no real need to understand the inner workings of his world.

He preferred to let this stuff to his brother, who seemed more interested than him in the matter.

After walking for a few hours, they both stopped.

"It's starting to get darker. We should thing a place to rest before its completely dark."

There was a single area with trees around them, so they hurriedly walked toward it, and settled camp there.

Nylon removed all of the snow and made big piles on each sides, while Elliott worked hard on lighting a fire.

Once they were done, they sat in front of each other as darkness swallowed everything around them.

"We're starting to get low on meat."

Said Nylon, turning one of the few remaining piece of meat over the fire.

"You shouldn't worry about food."

Elliott suddenly grabbed Vanitas, and walked past Nylon into the darkness.

'He noticed too, huh?'

*YELP*

Moments later, Elliott returned while dragging the dead body of a grey wolf.

"That should be enough for a few more days."

"There was only one? I thought there were three wolves?"

Taking out a knife from behind his back, Nylon approached the wolf and began to butcher it.

"The other two fled. I didn't felt like pursuing them, so I let them go."

He sat back and placed his sword next to him again. This time, he was decided no to leave his spot.

Only the sounds of Nylon removing pieces of meat of the wolf echoed in-between the crackles of the fire.

"One... two... three..."

Once done, Nylon began to count the amount of meat he managed to cut off.

"We're good for five days or so. Depends on how much we eat."

Elliott nodded.

"We should eat when we feel like it. There is no need to ration ourselves, there are plenty of beasts to hunt."

"You're right. By the way, what do I do with this?"

Pointing inside the carcass of the wolf, Nylon asked Elliott.

"Do I just-"

"Yes, you can just smash it, as usual."

*Crack*

Nylon pierced the dark core inside the wolf's side, which instantly crumbled to dust.

With a neutral expression, Elliott bent forward and picked up the steaming meat from the fire.

"Yours good too. You should pick it up before it's charred."

He said before biting into the juicy piece of meat.

"Good idea, thanks."

After their meal, both men turned to sleep. They were used to the wet ground, the cold air, and repeating howls of beasts.

Sometimes, one of them awakened to defend the camp, but other than that, it was still their only chance to rest.

This rest was the only luxury they had in this treacherous place.

...

Their journey continued like this. While they were looking for the giants in this massive region, the days began to go by rapidly.

Five days after finding their first giant.

"This one is smaller than the bird."

Nylon said, looking at a beast on the smaller size of the spectrum. It was even smaller than the bull that invaded Triazils.

"This one is..."

Elliott frown and shrugged.

"Who cares about their names, they're all going to die anyways. You just need to know, this one is a terrestrial jellyfish. Father liked strange combinations."

A sprawled grey jellyfish frozen in the snow. It was difficult to make out its size as it was covered under a few meters of snow, but the pile indicated that it was at least ten meters tall.

"How can you know them if you were unconscious when they were created?"

"..."

A dark veil covered Elliott's eyes after Nylon asked.

"The amount of things father told me, bordering insanity. You have no idea."

"I heard pretty much anything about that war, about Noah, about the corrupted beasts, about his plans..."

His grip on Vanitas increased, before he drew it out of its scabbard.

"If you want to ask anything else, now is the time."

With his eyes focused on the frozen beast, Elliott waited.

"Do we have a plan?"

"Avoid its arms at all cost. Cutting them is a good idea, but they will regrow in seconds. We won't have a lot of breathing room, but the best thing about this beast, is that its cores are visible."

Nylon nodded and equipped his iron claws, ready to began the next fight.

"Ready? Time to get rid of another corrupted giant."

Elliott walked toward the beast, climbed the little hill, and stabbed Vanitas into the ice.

*RUMBLE*

'Here it comes!'

Both men prepared for a tough battle, as a massive jellyfish broke through the ice, floating in the air majestically.