Silver smoke enveloped Fi, diffusing her outlines, until settling into a crown on her head. Her eyes shone with a silver luster as power surged through her veins.

The group was stunned, seeing Fi enveloped in the smoke. A royal aura emanating from her, a silver empress high above.

Their water bottles exploded and the contents flew to Fi.

They gathered themselves and left for the camp again.

Fi was staring at the bird, mustering her courage. Her feet were shaking but were covered by the silver smoke.

The Ice-blue bird hesitated, seeing this majestic form. Strong aura emanated from Fi, scaring the bird.

Ice-blue bird thought about it for a second and decided Fi would have killed it if she was strong enough. With a screech, it dove for Fi.

Fi summoned the water she had gained, which didn't amount to much, and carefully operated it to drill into the charging bird.

She didn't go with full power, preparing to pull the water away so it didn't get frozen.

The bird acted as predicted and opened its beak spewing frost mist. The water drills dodged to the side and tried to flank the bird.

The bird increased its speed determined to reach Fi before being hit by the drills. It was a game of dare, who would dare to operate for longer.

The distance between them shrunk, the razor-sharp coming closer to Fi's pretty features. Fi's water drills approached the bird licking its feathers.

Fi gritted her teeth and didn't move. A glint of madness in the bird's eyes, as it came ever closer.

Her drills weren't going to reach in time, but she wasn't the only one who was going to die. She didn't have time to dodge and had to decide on mutual destruction. Fi forgot about dodging, another layer of silver smoke appeared, and the drills sped up.

At the last second the bird veered, clipped Fi's shoulder almost tearing off her arm.

Fi yelled in anguish, her arm useless. Her drills were close enough to not need another urging of energy and struck the bird.

The water drills punched through the feathers, piercing into the bird's stomach. A painful screech arose, echoing through the forest. The bird landed with wobbly legs, with one wing clutching its stomach.

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

The bird had veered, saving them both from death. Neither of them were in a good spot. They were bleeding profusely and didn't have much time.

They gazed at each other, Fi's silver eyes staring holes into the bird. The bird didn't give up in this staring contest and its pitch black eyes warned of thousand deaths.

The staring contest had no winners, as the bird puffed its chest ready to breath freezing mist.

Fi grimaced, moving the last bits of water in front of her. It was a thin veil, thinner than any before. She wasn't sure would it be enough.

The bird's chest expanded till it couldn't anymore. It opened its beak aiming it straight at Fi with a victorious gleam in its eyes.

The mist never came, interrupted by a hacking cough as blood spurted out of the bird's mouth. It had underestimated its injuries, it couldn't even spew mist anymore.

The bird and Fi eyed each other, neither of them willing to attack. Like it was a prior agreement they both stepped back at the same time, lengthening the distance between them.

They nodded at each other as though acknowledging the match as a draw. Both stepped back, multiple steps, very slowly. When at a good distance the bird jumped, shivered, and managed to barely fly away towards the top of the ice tree.

Fi winced as the pain almost overwhelmed her. She examined the cut on her shoulder, gruesome and deep. Blood kept pouring out, she had to do something or everything would be lost.

She went through all the advice Blue had given her. So many different kinds of advice, none seemed to fit, until she finally remembered one.

Fi pulled out the plasma pistol. She opened the hatch under the grip, pulling out the core and crushed its safety override. Pressing it to the wound she let the elements combine and a blue ball of plasma appeared cauterizing the wound.

She used the gun to push the ball of plasma away to not hurt her more than the wound did. A heart-rending scream ran throughout. The forest echoing sending it to an unnatural silence.

She didn't let up on the silver exhaust during this time, fearful of the bird's return. Her vigilance paid off, it seemed like the bird was returning.

The leafs shaking as something came through it. It was something ice-blue, but it was much smaller. The ice squirrels were back.

The creature was see-through ice with a beating core purple core. It was the size of a pineapple and an ice grinding ice was heard when it moved.

Fi promptly pierced its core, shattering the squirrel at once. She breathed out, maybe the trouble was over. Fearing another attack she ran as fast as she could with the wound she had.

Her hand throbbed on every step, her face etched in stone in an unending grimace. She made it a few hundred meters away, to the edge of the frost covered trees.

Chatter, multiple sources of chatter, all around her. The gnashing of ice on ice, painful to the ear.

Fi called up the UI ringing the alarm, her position triangulated on the map, notifying the team. The squirrels were taking positions around her, ready to take down their wounded foe.

Excited chatter, gnashing of teeth and a few gnarls. A few tails of ice visible through the foliage.

Surrounded Fi took a stance and checked her time.

'1 minute 7 seconds left on Silver Exhaust' the timer read. She squinted her eyes having only that much of time before the energy ran out.

"Come at me you… you…" Fi yelled at the squirrels but couldn't find any words. Instead, she yelled out and rushed the nearest squirrel trying to break out of the formation.