Alwin whipped around, clicking his mandibles in an attempt to intimidate the trespasser. In front of him was a being constructed purely out of ice. Despite clearly being made out of ice, it possessed humanoid features. The only exception being its head—a perfectly square ice cube. Embedded into the frozen block was a pair of eyes that stared at Alwin, accompanied by a sly smile etched into the icy surface.

"Feisty one, aren't you," it said, sauntering forward. Every step it took left a layer of frost in its wake.

Who was that? And why was it interfering with his Tribulation?

Wait. If memory served him right, a similar occurrence happened during his Fire Tribulation. The current theory was that this was the physical manifestation of the Ice Tribulation. That still didn’t explain what it was doing here. Neither did it explain why all these weird Tribulation beings kept cropping up whenever Alwin had a Tribulation. First Dark, then Fire, and now Ice.

Yet, there were no records of this ever happening to any other monster. So why him?

Whatever. Either way, this thing was here to make things tougher for him. Attack first, catch it off guard, then ask questions later.

Alwin launched a volley of Fire Blasts at the Ice Being. Flaming spheres of crimson rushed through the air, heating up the surroundings.

"A really feisty one."

It snapped its fingers. All of the Fire Blasts vanished—disappearing without a trace. That wasn't all. Before Alwin even realized it, the room had completely frozen over. Ice covered every single floor tile, frost coated the walls, and a thick layer sealed away the control panel.

What in Cor's name was this power?

"A little fledgling monster with no strength," it cooed. "The first monster in a thousand years to pique the interest of an Elemental. But you're oh-so weak. Tiny. Pathetic. Useless. Ole Darky really has lost it." It shook its head.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Alwin snapped. He was already preparing another batch of Fire Blasts to melt him down to size.

"Name's Ice. What do I want? Who's to say?" It shrugged its shoulders, a smug smile sculpted across its face.

This guy was getting on his nerves. So arrogant, cocky, and obnoxious.

"Fire Blast!" Alwin shouted.

Another volley of flaming balls shot out from his Core toward the ice being.

"A brainless one too," it said, snapping its fingers again. The Fire Blasts vanished once again, while the layer of ice that enveloped the room grew even thicker.

Alwin shivered. For the first time, Alwin shivered. Not out of fear, but from sheer cold. That should be impossible. He was literally covered in flames, yet that did nothing to abate the cold.

Looking down, he noticed something even stranger. Not even the ice below his feet was melting. Ice that literally had flames licking away at it.

This was bad. He needed to come up with a way to escape or at the very least send a sign to someone much stronger than him. Milvus… and Lapis.

"Oh relax. I'm not here to kill you...at least not directly. It’s against the rules." Its smile grew even wider. "I'm just here because of Darky. I think Fire met you too. Didn't say much. So now I'm here just to check things out."

"What does this have to do with me? I'm just here for my Tribulation!" shouted Alwin. In his mind, he was racking up ideas and strategies.

"And I'm here because of the Tribulation. Who do you think manages them? Cor? She's much too busy for mundane things like that. It looks like you even got one of her blessings. How fun."

"You're going to kill me because of that?"

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"Not at all little monster. I'm here to kill you because you triggered a Tribulation. Kill you indirectly of course."

"Of course." Alwin didn't like where this was heading. Neither did he like all of the scenarios he had simulated in his head—all of which ended in his demise.

"Yup. Since you've gotten this far, the Tribulation is pretty much over. There's only so much power I can draw out, especially for a pathetic Tier 1 Tribulation. So, let's go out with a freeze and we'll call it a day."

It snapped its fingers causing a bunch of System Screens to appear around Alwin. The snowflake across the center glowing brighter than ever before. Everywhere he looked, a screen stared back.

Alwin took a deep breath, the chilled air biting away at his insides. He braced himself, waiting for the first signs of the inevitable attack—sight, sound, smell, anything that could give him an edge, he pushed his senses to their utmost limit.

But what he heard was the cool voice, taunting voice of Ice.

"Having you fight a familiar is so last millennium. I swear Fire is living in the Stone Age with his thinking. It's much more entertaining to watch you struggle—to watch as the life slips away from your eyes without even having to lay a hand on you. Just letting nature take its course as you slowly succumb to the elements." An iced-over tongue poked out of its mouth, licking its lips.

Then it snapped its fingers.

The System Screens roared to life, billowing out tons and tons of snow from all directions. In mere seconds he was stuck in a pile of snow, struggling to even move one of his six legs. Not even his flaming hot body could melt the snow pile that engulfed him.

"Sadly I can't whisk you away to the Alps, but what I can do is the next best thing. I can bring the Alps to you," Ice said. "If you manage to make it out then you pass, if not then I get to gloat to Dark."

Alwin was struggling to even move. No amount of wriggling and writhing could get him out of the mound of white powder. Not even his elemental advantage was proving useful. The snow refused to melt even under direct contact with the flames he was outputting. Even worse, things were starting to become hazy.

It wasn't because of all the smoke his sizzling physique was emitting—it was far worse. The flames that were supposed to help him overcome the Ice Tribulation was now his downfall.

What was one of the key ingredients for fire? The answer was oxygen.

Coincidentally, it was also one of the key ingredients to living a long, fulfilling life.

Right now, it was a race between who can suck up more oxygen from the limited amount of air in the pocket he was trapped in—him or the fire. The fire was winning.

A simple form change into either his Yin-Yang Slime form or Dark Slime form would abate this issue. However, that was a classic out of the frying pan and into the fire…or whatever the Ice equivalent was. That line of thinking was the old Alwin's department—the old goofy Alwin that was currently being suppressed by the new serious Alwin.

Without the heat from his flames, the chances of him turning into frozen slime-flavored jelly was almost a hundred percent. Now, math wasn't exactly his strong suit, but even Alwin knew those odds weren't in his favor.

So, the new serious Alwin did the only thing he could think of. He continued to wriggle his body in an attempt to break free, all while trying to come up with a solution to this impossible predicament.

The flames on his chitinous shell were dwindling. What once were raging infernos dulled to glowing embers that flickered in and out, struggling to hold on. His movements became sluggish as well. Alwin couldn't tell whether that was due to lack of oxygen or the chill seeping through the joints of his exoskeleton, causing him to lose speed. In all honesty, it was probably both. Scratch that, it was definitely both.

Alwin was at his wick's end. Being thwarted by a Tier 1 Ice Tribulation of all things. Oh, the shame. If only the Ice Coat didn't rip apart, maybe he could've held on longer. Not even the Ice Resistance Pill was working its magic. This was it—the end of the new serious Alwin.

It was aggravating.

But…he did have one last trick up his sleeve.

Inside the mind of the main Alwin, the original goofy Alwin was mashing at the control panel, desperately trying to move—to do anything. Between the jammed buttons and frozen levers—no thanks to the Ice Tribulation—there was nothing he could do. He was completely locked out.

The second Alwin—the one in charge of observing and reporting—faced no such issues. There were only two things to relay, after all. Two words.

‘Cold. ''Death'.

How useful. As if the original goofy Alwin didn't already know that. It's not like the entire brain command center was frozen over or anything. Still, nothing he did was working. What little influence he had on the main body had been wrested away by the freezing tundra. But why? Why were his inputs being rejected?

Actually, he did have a sneaking suspicion. Ever since Lapis had mentioned that the main Alwin was possessed, the original goofy Alwin had ignored it, refusing to acknowledge it. But as time passed and more control was stripped away from him—twisting the main Alwin into a serious, disciplined student with no room for nonsense—he could no longer deny it.

Their deepest, darkest fear had returned.

All of a sudden the jammed buttons budged, barely—they were still frozen stiff.

And then, behind the original goofy Alwin, someone appeared.

Serious Alwin was back.

"Hello there," Serious Alwin said. "I think we may need to work together to get ourselves out of this sticky situation."