Ripping off the ice that was freezing his mouth shut, the robbed church member shout out “Get her! Punish that beast! For Gaia!” he commanded, the other eight looking at each other for a moment, then charged her, weapons pointed forward.

‘Dangerous.’ She glanced back a the line of people behind her, while they had backed off aways, what if they missed? Thankfully Mia could end this quickly.

One of the perks of her title [Maiden of Ice] made her manipulation of the element second nature to her, combined with her 1000 Int, she controlled it freely. On top of this, what was once seen as a curse by her, after some testing, became a boon.

Her mist.

Her mist that she emitted naturally and beyond her control, was not just a simple cloud of visible cold air, no it was much more than that.

It had tiny ice particles in it.

Particles she could control. Tiny and hardly noticeable shards of ice she could move freely around her that she could send out and do various tasks. One such task being attaching themselves to her enemies bodies and expanding, tiny shards of ice suddenly becoming chunks of ice that she could manipulate freely.

That was how she encased that man’s hand in ice and covered his face. Tiny shards of ice she sent out from her mist.

The technique was not without its limits, however, she could not expand the ice past a certain point, or control it if it got too far away from her, it was also a lot weaker than ice made by her magic directly, but for weaker opponents dumb enough to enter her mist…

The eight charged at her, each taking swings at her that Mia didn’t bother dodging. During their time talking she had spread her mist over the area, and as soon as they ran into it, they lost, their limbs frozen in place as they suddenly froze over, falling to the ground in front of her.

“What is this!” “Help?!” “M-Monster!” “Save me Gaia!”

Mia had left their heads uncovered, normally she wouldn’t care but…well she had to finish this quickly.

She hoped over the frozen church members, the lone man falling onto his butt and scooting away in panic, she raised her hand, the mist around her condensing into a thick fog as more pooled around her “Ready?”

“N-No! please!” The man pleaded “If you stop now, Gaia will forgive! We can let-“

“Still?” she was amazed he could still spout that nonsense in this situation, she shrugged it off, if was insistent on it then her plan wouldn’t change. The fog inched towards him, she’d start with his legs, maybe that would be good enough.

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“No- stop! Stay away!” The man screamed, the fog closing in on his body and engulphin his legs as he screamed out.

A gust of wind blew through the area, blowing away Mia’s mist not directly under her control ‘Ah, time’s up.’ The wind continued to blow as Mia looked towards the source.

Three knights, two of which were using the wind magic, one of which seemed very annoyed at something with the other two wore stern expressions.

Mia released the fog from under her control, watching it scatter in the wind. She had noticed the guards approaching awhile ago, she also noticed how slow they were walking which was one of the reasons why she ended it as fast as she did, without killing. While the guards didn’t seem like they liked the church, they were still putting up with them for some reason. So, she decided it was best to spare them.

“Alight, that’s enough.” One knight stepped forward, taking in the scene in front of him, out of the corner of his eye, Mia noticed he glanced towards the carriage line “We are going to have to ask you to come with us, little girl…”

“Frozen solid.”

Mia looked behind her, one of the guards had come behind her and was tapping on the ice one robed man was stuck in, unsure if he should break it. The person inside pleading for help.

“…after you unfreeze them.” He scratched his head, not believing the sight in front of him “You uh, can do that. Correct?”

“Melt on own?” she’d rather not, she wanted them to suffer as long as possible.

“Throw her in jail! Lock her up! Surrender her to the church for cleansing! That beast committed blasphemy against Gaia and her people! She will repent! Repent I say!”

Especially him.

“That would… cause a lot of issues for us.” The guard sighed, then suddenly straightened up “Fox! On the order of the city guard! I order you to release these people and come with us quietly!”

“Hmn?” what was with the attitude shift? But fine.

Just for the show of it, she raised her hand and snapped her fingers, the ice trapping everyone shattered, the eight members collapsing on the spot, finally allowed to rest and not be held in place.

“And the priest.” The guard said.

“…” she looked towards him, he was still shouting about getting her to repent “sure?” Mia covered her mouth, trying to convey she could freeze it shut again.

“I…” there was a notable pause before them man gave up, sighing “I’m sure.”

Mia did as order, snapping her fingers and freeing the man, her hands were then gripped from behind and quickly let go.

“She’s freezing! My hands!” the culprit leaped back, trying to warm their hands by rubbing them together.

One of the guards had attempted to grab her, quickly finding out it wasn’t the best of ideas when she was this upset, she was still emitting a decently thick mist after all.

“She’s a demon! Just like a beast! A wolf in sheep’s clothing! Quickly, capture her and hand her over to us! It’s unnatural! She must be cleansed before it is too late!” the free’d priest was now taking the opportunity to protest.

[Knowing the church, it is amazing he doesn’t try to snap a slave collar on you.] Ami piped up.

‘Agreed, he doesn’t have one?’

The guard was now gripping his forehead “a headache…” he muttered under his breath “Alright, fox…ice fox? Please come quietly…. Please.”

“Mhm.” She was stuffed between the three guards, the shouting priest next to them as they proceeded towards the gate, Mia ignoring the mixed whispering of the people in line, some disdain, some worried for her, while the others secretly congratulating her.

As they approached the gate with the priest shouting in her ear, she could only be grateful that she was skipping the line.