Winter flies higher into the sky, erasing her presence and energy signature to avoid detection from any potential sensors. She continues her assent, plunging into the dark cloud cover, hiding her from sight, making her, for all intents and purposes, invisible short of someone scanning the skies with visual enhancement items and skills. Despite Winter’s vertical detour, she arrives, high in the sky, above the human army encampment in short order. Closing her eyes, she reaches out with her senses, scanning the area below. Despite the distance, she can feel the strength of every living creature in the area, allowing her to discern their levels and ranks. Unfortunately, she cannot assess their skills and abilities at this distance, but she is happy enough to confirm the accuracy of the information provided earlier. “It appears the army is making no effort to conceal their actions or strength, which is rather concerning.” She mutters to herself.
Ignoring the average soldier, Winter focuses on two powerful signatures on the outskirts of a small dead zone near the rear of the encampment. Probing the area, she identifies the source of the dead zone as a masking enchantment. Winter considers breaking the magic with force but decides against it. She surmises breaking the masking effect would alert the enemy to her presence, putting them on guard at best and allowing the leadership to evacuate through teleportation skills, abilities, items, or spells at worst, making the entire operation a failure. She frowns, looking in the direction of the hidden area. “I don’t like surprises, but if I was going to guess, this is most likely the Noble’s lodging. Two guards outside and three or four on the inside if they are following typical adventuring group composition.” Attempting to confirm her suspicion, Winter closes her eyes again, focusing on the two guards. The stronger of the two is a level seventy-two A Rank Guardian Knight, while the second and weaker individual is a level sixty-four A Rank Night Hunter. Confirming her assumption, Winter smiles to herself. “Looks like these adventures are either new or inexperienced. I was expecting more, but if this is all the power they have, I could have suppressed my power even further.”
Glaring down at the encampment, Winter draws one of her spears forward with her mind. Grabbing it out of the air, she uses her claws to carve runes into the surface of the spear. The runes glow with soft blue energy, illuminating the ice crystal spear, wisps of energy swirling and twisting around each other inside its form. Winter repeats the process for each spear, causing her halo of blades to glow with a gentle radiance like that of a divine halo. Winter extends her arm, pointing down at the army encampment. The spears move, forming a loose cylindrical ring around her forearm, lightning arching between the crystalline rods. Blue ice energy flows down her right arm, swirling around her forearm and the spears, forming three glowing rings of blue energy. With a flick of her hand, the spears launch with a defining crack as they break the sound barrier. The spears blaze through the air, hurtling towards the ground like falling stars. They fan out, lightning arching across their surface as they fall toward the ground, forming a ring in the air. The soldiers can do little but gaze in awe and fear as the glowing spears break the cloud cover, drawing everyone’s attention, but it is far too late to do anything. Seconds later, the spears impact the ground, forming a perfect circle around the encampment, throwing up dirt and debris in nine identical explosions.
The spears glow, radiating blue ice energy, freezing the craters and consuming the surrounding area in ice. The turbulent energy expands to each side, freezing a curved path along the ground as they travel. The expanding wall of energy slams together at the midpoint between each spear, forming an energy barrier around the encampment. Individuals foolish enough to try and disrupt the barrier’s formation suffer a rebound of frigid ice energy, freezing them solid and turning them into little more than an ornamental decoration. The energy barrier continues expanding upward, forming a rapidly closing dome over the entire area. As the energy dome takes shape, ice condenses, thickens, and grows from the ground, constructing a crystalline ice sheet that travels up the energy barrier, encasing the barrier in a wall of ice.
Ice, snow and the very clouds swirl around Winter like a sphere of white, forming a vortex in the cloud cover. Winter launches herself, flying at high speed towards the rapidly closing dome, the swirling storm following her like a descending cyclone. The makeshift cyclone passes through the opening, slamming into the ground in the center of the encampment before being cut off by the dome. The swirling mass of ice, snow, and moister explodes outward, ripping through the tents and throwing soldiers into the air, flash-freezing everything in a thirty-foot radius of the impact site. A dense mass of frigid fog hangs in the air, slowly flowing out across the battlefield like a rolling wave, obscuring Winter from view. Winter stands without making a sound, preparing for her assault as the soldiers scurry about, more and more drawing near by the second.
The Lieutenant barks orders in an attempt to quell the chaos. “Everyone, grab your gear and be on guard! We are under attack, and we need to protect the young Lord! Mages, get that barrier down now! Knights establish a parameter and prepare for another attack! We need to delay until the other platoons arrive!” The soldiers execute the command like a well-oiled machine, the fear and chaos subsiding. The Mages fly off towards the barrier as the Knights raise their shields and level their swards as they encircle the large mass of frigid fog. The fog, having already spread ankle-deep across the surrounding area, continues unabated across the camp. The Archers take up an elevated position by flying into the air or taking up a position on a tent post. “Archers light this thing up!” The Archers, from their elevated position, draw their bows, the arrows glowing with elemental energy. Releasing a barrage of magical arrows, they bombard the obscured area with a flurry of attacks, but the expected wave of explosions never came. Silence hung in the air like a weight pressing down on the army. It was as if the mysterious fog had devoured the attacks in their entirety, leaving the soldiers in disbelief, fear creeping into their minds.
Chaos breaks out on the battlefield as the Archers prepare for a second barrage of attacks. Nine ice spears launch out of the dense fog like a volley of arrows, catching everyone off guard. Each spear impales an archer, punching a hole clean through their target’s chest or abdomen. The spears disappear back into the fog as quickly as they had appeared, leaving the victims screaming and writhing in pain, collapsing to the ground with a thud, grasping their gaping wounds, but the attack does not end there. The ice-covered wounds explode, shards of ice ripping through their flesh and organs, blooming like a macabre ice flower erupting from their wounds, leaving their further mutilated bodies to be consumed by ice, turning them into sculptures of pain, anguish, and despair.
The Archer stood in shock, staring at his fallen companions, unable to believe what had happened, but he did not have time to grieve. The fog cloud burst, pouring out across the battlefield like a wave, washing over the soldiers. Winter flies through the air, appearing before the stunned Archer in a blur of movement, burying her knee into his face with a sickening crack, sending him crashing to the ground in a heap. The last Archer rolls onto his side, coughing up blood and spitting out his broken teeth. In a blur, Winter appears before the man, kicking him in the gut, ripping up part of the ground, sending dirt, rocks, and the man flying into the air like a ragdoll. Winter launches two ice spears, with her mind, at the man as he tumbles through the air, as though this was a game. The ice spears punch through the man as if he were paper, ice shards erupting from the wounds like blooming flowers, ripping through the man’s body, killing him on the spot. The corpse thuds to the ground as Winter turns, facing the remaining soldiers, her halo of bloody blades floating at her back. Winter glares at the soldiers, blue ice energy flickering from her glowing blue eyes. “Who wants to be next?”
Winter grips the air, ice forming in her hands, growing, twisting, and taking shape, forming two razor-sharp curved swords. The soldiers back away from Winter, unable to perceive her presence despite her standing in front of the group. The Lieutenant shouts orders, using his skills to keep the soldiers from breaking. Winter stands in silent contemplation, not making a move. The soldiers surround her, once again leveling their weapons at her, preparing for an attack. “I need to deal with this quickly. I can feel two approaching platoons, and they will arrive in seconds.” Winter’s eyes glow a brilliant blue, filled with malice and hate, energy flickering from her eyes as she releases the suppression of her energy, presence, and killing intent. Energy rolls off Winter’s body as ice energy washes over the battlefield, freezing the ground and causing the temperature inside the barrier to plummet. Causing the soldiers to stagger back, now able to sense the immensity of the opponent before them, widening the circle around her as they step back. The pressure on the surrounding soldiers is suffocating, causing them to stagger and falter, trembling in instinctual fear at the sight of her.
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Winter stands there motionless, her eyes burning like two blue suns, the energy rolling off her body having subsided, lightning arcs across her form as she vanishes. Two of the encircling soldiers stagger back, gashes opening up on their right and left legs, respectively, ice flowers erupting from the wounds ripping through their flesh, crippling their legs, causing them to collapse to the ground screaming in pain as the ice slowly consumes their bodies. At the same time, reappearing in front of the Lieutenant, Winter lands a devastating kick to his chest. The Lieutenant staggers back, his armor deformed, gasping for air. Winter spins around to his back, and with a flourish, she slashes her two swords across his back, ice flowers blooming from the open wounds, but Winter does not stop there. Spinning to the side, she sweeps out her tail, slamming it into the back of the Lieutenant’s legs, cracking bone and causing him to fall, slamming his back into the ground, driving the ice shards deeper into his body, and with a quick spin of her swords, Winter plunges them into the Lieutenant’s chest, ending his life as shards of ice erupt from the wounds.
Winter turns, watching the soldiers flee in abject terror; their morale and will to fight broken, killing their resistance right alongside the Lieutenant. Looking down at the two maimed Knights, clawing their way through the ice and snow, desperately trying to flee. “Not going to help your comrades?” Winter looks at the gathered army, a vicious smile on her face. The two platoons, consisting of fifty soldiers and six commanding officers each, and despite their massive numerical advantage, keep their distance as they set up a wide perimeter around the battlefield. “Well, if you don’t want them, I will gladly help you dispose of the trash.” Winter spins two of the nine ice spears in the air, firing them at the two soldiers. The spears flash through the air with a crack, impaling the soldiers through their hearts, the wounds erupting in ice, ending their lives without Winter moving a muscle.
With the merciless killing of two injured soldiers, fear, anger, and rage wash over the battlefield. Some soldiers try to flee while others start a charge, Winter’s overwhelming presence fueling their baser instincts. The Lieutenants and Sergeants scream orders, utilizing their skills to bolster the army’s morale, bringing them back under control. “You idiots, pull yourselves together! This thing is messing with your minds; keep it together! We must delay this monster while the Adventures prepare! Everyone coordinate your attacks and be on your guard; this thing is fast, so don’t give it space to maneuver.” The Archers unleash a volley of elemental arrows as the Knights close the distance, sword and shield users taking the lead backed up by rows and rows of spear units, making the encircling formation look like a wall of spikes.
With the volley of arrows blanketing the sky, Winter spins her ice spears like windmills, sending them slicing through the air like buzzsaws, cutting through the arrows, dissipating the elemental energy into particulates, and shattering the arrows. The ice spears orbit in the sky above Winter and the army, like spinning wheels of death neutralizing the Archer’s attacks. Winter smirks at the surrounding soldiers, lightning arcing across her body. “Shall we begin?” Winter steps through the wall of spears appearing in front of a front-line soldier, sweeping his shield aside and kicking him square in the chest; his armor crumples, his ribs break, and he flies back, slamming into the soldiers behind him, sending them all tumbling to the ground.
Winter dances through the wall of spear attacks, and in a flash, beyond what they can perceive, seven of the closest soldiers stagger back, a gash opening up on their right legs. The open wounds explode, a flower of ice blooming from each slash, crippling their legs and sending them collapsing to the ground screaming in pain. Despite the display of power, the soldiers continue to attack her in a relentless frenzy; despite the physical and mental enhancement bestowed by the commanding officers, Winter effortlessly moves through the battlefield. A step back to avoid the frontal attacks, a turn to the left, a step to the right, and a low spinning duck to face the rear dodging into the spear line, crippling eight more soldiers in a flash. Despite the number or angle of attacks, they all miss Winter by a hair’s breadth without fail.
Winter laughs at the soldier’s anger and frustration, a malicious smile on her face, as the soldier’s continued onslaught of attacks proves useless in causing her harm. Winter draws the nine spinning spears to her, forming a ring of blades around her, forcing the soldiers back. Blue ice energy rolls off Winter’s body, flowing into the wall of spinning death, causing the ice spears to glow a soft blue. Throwing her swords into the air, Winter claps her hands together. The glowing intensifies as the ice spears crack and shatter into a cloud of ice shards that float, like a wall of broken glass, around Winter. Throwing her hands out to the sides, Winter propels the shards of ice away from her in a ring, showering the encircling army with ice shards that shred their armor and shields, embedding deep in their bodies. Flowers of ice explode from their wounds, further shredding their bodies, killing a dozen soldiers while wounding and maiming many more, decimating the knight units with a single attack.
Winter catches her two swords, a grin on her face, staring at the volley of arrows raining down on her position. Her ice spears are still reforming and in no state to repel the incoming barrage. “Well, that could be troublesome. Looks like I need to do this the hard way.” Her swords glow, blue energy flickering on the blades, and with a swing, her blades slice through the air, releasing two arcs of energy directed at the incoming attack. Her attack splits the hail of arrows in two, consuming everything in the path of her strike, including two unfortunate Archers. Elemental arrows rain down around her, peppering the battlefield with small explosions as her strike continues cutting through the air, only stopping once it impacts the ice barrier, exploding in a rain of blue energy.
Winter flourishes her two swords through the air, the energy dancing across the blades like fire. “This is getting boring.” Lightning dances across her body as she vanishes, reappearing in front of a Lieutenant, her swords glowing with blue ice energy. The Lieutenant stands flatfooted in shock, his orders catching in his throat at Winter’s appearance. In a flash, Winter brings her swords across the Lieutenant’s chest, slicing into his body, causing him to stagger back in pain, ice rapidly spreading from the open wounds consuming his flesh. Spinning around him, she slices across the back of his knees, forcing him to the ground on his knees. With a spin of her swords, she brings the blades down, cutting through his shoulders, removing his arms, and with a quick cross of her swords, she removes his head, the long-since frozen stump of a corpse still kneeling before her frozen in place.
Chaos erupts on the battlefield, with the one-sided slaughter of another Lieutenant. The soldiers break ranks, scattering in terror, the skills used to keep their minds focused on the battle with blind devotion now broken. The remaining leadership fails in their desperate attempts to bring the remnants of the army under control. Winter laughs at the terror and panic of the fleeing soldiers, a malicious grin on her face as she revels in the chaos, her eyes consumed with malice. Spinning her nine reformed ice spears in a ring around her, she launches them in a fan attack, maiming and crippling nine fleeing soldiers, punching through their armor like paper, leaving them screaming in pain to be consumed by ice as it slowly devours their bodies.
Winter scans through the fleeing soldiers, a predatory glint in her eyes as she searches for her next target. “There you are.” Her form flickers, reappearing with a spinning roundhouse kick to the face of the remaining Lieutenant, sending him flying back, his vision blurred and nose broken. The Lieutenant staggers to his feet, blood running down his face, glaring daggers at Winter. Winter chuckles as she speaks. “I should thank you; slaughtering all these soldiers would have taken far more time had you not sent them marching to their deaths with your skills. It was quite useful, but I need to start rapping things up, so you are no longer useful.” The man grits his teeth and lashes out, swinging his sword with reckless abandon in an attempt to cut Winter down. Winter dodges the wild flurry of attacks, retaliating with a front kick that caves in his armor and breaks his ribs with an audible crack, sending the Lieutenant to the ground, coughing up blood and gasping for air. Winter continues her assault with a vicious axe kick to the Lieutenant’s back as he pulls himself up to his hands and knees, clutching his chest and gasping for air. The kick slams the man into the ground, breaking more bones and knocking the wind out of him again. The man claws at the ground, his back shattered, gasping for air, trying to drag himself away from Winter. “I must admit you are quite durable, but-” Winter jumps back, wrapping her wings around herself as the area erupts in three consecutive fiery explosions, bathing the area in flames.