Ice cold mist spread all around Fi. A shiver ran through her body, her body cold, tips of her fingers numb. She summoned the water from the inner crystal creating a big shield.

The shield of water relieved her from the cold. Seeing it was effective, she reinforced it and made it bigger, covering the whole group in a thin veil.

The previously lost members in the mist saw each other and thanked Fi with a quick glance. Robin willed his skin into hard rock. Sawyer readied his pistol and pulled himself towards the edge of the water veil.

Blue put one knee on the ground and aimed towards the sky. Her short blue hair twinkling with ice crystals.

"I'll trap the bird once it comes out!" Fi shouted barely legible over the screech. She was prepared to turn the water into a prison making the bird unable to fly. Her brown hair whitened with ice crystals too.

Octo was sitting on Fi's shoulder staring upwards with his black eyes as if he could see everything behind it.

The screech ended, the mist a fraction of a second after and the ice-blue bird was visible again. It had stopped some ten meters above them, letting out a screech seeing them still alive it dove towards them aiming for Blue.

Blue didn't flinch and let the bird come closer while aiming at it down the scopes. Robin dashed towards Blue trying to tackle the bird in the air.

Fi hoped her powers would be strong enough to stop the bird from crashing into Blue, squashing her into pulp.

Blue let out a breath and squeezed the trigger. The shot was good flying straight for the birds head.

The bird was close, Fi had to act now. Robin was too far away to stop the diving bomb of feathers. It was up to Fi. The water rushed to the bird starting to encase it.

The bird only turned his head slightly altering the bullet's trajectory. With a triumphant screech, the ice-blue bird was to spear Blue with its razor-sharp beak.

Blue threw herself to the side, but it was all too late and she would catch the brunt of the bird. Maiming her and possibly even killing her.

The beak was only a meter away when it slowed down. Water enveloped the bird, slowing it down enough for Blue to get away with her life.

A cut along the length of her leg reminding how close to death she was. It wasn't too deep and didn't hit an artery, but it left a steady trickle of blood.

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The bird tried to spread its wings and fly away but the water was pressing down on it. It struggled with all its might and Fi was sweating buckets. The power consumption enormous, the bird more powerful than she imagined.

If the fight went on in this matter she would run out of energy and have only Silver Exhaust to rely on. She had summoned the UI earlier and had the Silver Exhaust timer on.

It was at its current maximum of five minutes. When she gained more power and her body could store more energy, the maximum would increase as well.

"Kill it I can't hold it for much longer," Fi yelled with another drop of dripping off her nose. She clenched her hands together trying to force the bird to be immobile.

The bird trashed harder. Robin stopped his rush and raised his gun to not get caught in the crossfire. Blue and Sawyer were already aiming at it.

All of them fired close to the same time, two streaks of plasma and a physical bullet left their guns. The air was whining from the bullets.

As soon as the bullets were to hit the bird the ball of water froze. A perfect ball of ice. The bullets struck its surface, the plasma tearing through, but losing its energy quickly.

The bullet hit the ice and a big part of it exploded revealing ice-blue feathers under it. The whole ball exploded and sharp pieces of ice flew out.

The whole group was hit, leaving superficial wounds. A drop of blood hit Fi's eye forcing it closed. Fi let out a yelp. It was a burning sensation of pain from her wounds.

The bird didn't wait for anyone and spat another mist of icy air upwards flying through it.

Fi gritted her teeth and urged the rest of the water in the inner crystal to form another veil of water. The veil protected them again from the icy mist. This time it froze into a dome above them.

The sun shone through, painting beautiful pictures of light. It was as if they were inside a heavenly palace of ice. Fi didn't have time to enjoy the view but scanned for a big form through the ice. She didn't find it but neither did let her guard down.

"It seems to have retreated," Blue said with a grimace. She held her leg and took a tourniquet out of her bag.

Sawyer came close and tied it tight, stemming most of the blood flow.

"I think we should leave," Robin said looking at the shape of the group. Blue was in the worst shape, but no-one had escaped the harm's way. Everyone was bleeding from somewhere.

Fi was dripping sweat and blood.

"I vote to leave, I am running on fumes," Fi said still with her one eyes closed.

"And I used all of my water reserves for this," Fi continued waving her hand at the ice palace around them.

Robin threw his water bottle at Fi. She nodded in thanks and controlled it to clean her eye and left a thin sheen of water over her eyebrows to catch the falling blood.

"Go," Sawyer said and helped Blue on Robin's shoulders. Robin's strength in stone form was enough to carry Blue without too many troubles.

The group was ready and headed for one side of the ice veil. Fi cut a path open for them with her water. The team exited the palace and headed for the cover of the trees.

A screech put more speed in their steps.

Fi turned her head while running and saw the bird flying with great speed towards them.

They couldn't hope to outrun the bird. Fi gritted her teeth and stopped. She turned around intending to give a chance for the others to get to safety.

"Run! I'll hold the bird," Fi yelled with a determined voice. She spread her hands and silver smoke started drifting out.