Because I Am Surtr Chapter 2

"For example, Mephisto?" Frostnova tilted her head, scanning their surroundings. She had the distinct feeling that something was writhing within the afterglow of dusk.

"Not just Mephisto." The Yeti shook his head. "I'm simply afraid—afraid that more people like us will want to become 'Ember Demons.' That would only make our situation even more miserable."

"There is only one Ember Demon." Frostnova shook her head, a layer of gloom settling over her lovely face. "It assassinated the king of Kazdel, forcing Theresis to flee to Victoria with his confidants to seek shelter. It assassinated the emperor of Ursus, causing the former emperor to abdicate after succumbing to his severe wounds, and leaving the new emperor too afraid to step outside the Winter Palace even in summer—it has indeed done many things, and it is indeed powerful. But from beginning to end, there has only ever been one of it. And... it has already gone mad."

"But even so, our infected brethren will still worship it, will still want to become it... especially the Reunion Movement as it is now. What we've done has simply been too bold. Many people will become even bolder." The Yeti's words were filled with worry. "We don't matter, but Big Sister. You, and Big Father... you've fought for this for so long..."

Silence.

The silence continued for quite some time.

The air seemed to be filled with some tangible viscosity. Before they knew it, the other Yetis had put down their work and turned to look their way as well.

"..."

"...Once this is over, I'll ask the leader about it." Frostnova closed her eyes and drew in a soft breath. The strange quality in the air made her throat sting slightly.

"And..." She pressed at her delicate nose in confusion. "Can you smell... something strange?"

Beside them, a tall, powerfully built Yeti who had been listening in silence removed his mask at those words, revealing a rough-hewn face—one that abruptly flushed bright red after he took a deep breath.

"Cough, cough—" He coughed violently, struggling to shout between coughs, "It... it's sulfur!"

Sulfur... Why would the air in an abandoned city be filled with sulfur?

Frostnova whipped her head around. What met her eyes was a fierce gale and exploding fire rising at the edge of her vision!

It was here!

"It's the Ember Demon! Why is it here?!"

The Yetis abruptly snatched up the weapons at hand, desperately trying to form a defensive formation. Frostnova instinctively raised her hand as well, her freezing Originium Arts ready to strike—

But in the next instant, the fire at the end of the street turned into an ocean, rearing up into a massive wave and crashing straight toward them!

A shield of ice rose and shattered.

A wall of ice was erected, crushed, then vaporized.

The casters' blasts of cold vanished within the flames, while the powerful Icebreakers roared and charged into the sea of fire, only to be effortlessly swallowed like sparrows crashing into a storm.

"No! Stop!" Frostnova's pupils abruptly widened. A frigid current erupted around her, frost cold enough to make matter brittle surging from her body and rushing directly toward the sea of flames that had engulfed several Icebreakers!

Yet the roaring sea of fire went out in an instant.

"What?!"

Her dilated pupils suddenly contracted. She instinctively tried to turn around, but at that very moment, she saw a wave of flame erupt from behind her—and a pale, clean hand extending from the sulfurous fire!

—It was a decoy!

The next instant, that slender hand pressed against her skull.

Then flames surged in alongside the darkness of unconsciousness.

No one was hurt.

But when the flames and smoke cleared, the members of the Yeti Squadron discovered that they had lost their leader.

Second: Then Stab Her with a Sword

The girl's body was light, so light it was almost as if she had no bones.

Surtr knew why—of course she did, even though much of what had happened five years ago had already become blurry in her mind. But since this land was called Terra, she could not possibly forget the famous mobile game she had played before being transported here, a game called Arknights.

She knew what Originium Infection was, and she knew what misfortune awaited this girl codenamed Frostnova, whose real name was Yelena—she had once been a protagonist too, and had also once been the Doctor of Rhodes Island. She knew the girl was already terminally ill. After just a few more battles, she would meet the end fate had prepared for her.

—Originium had already entered her circulatory system, corroding and partially replacing some of her internal organs and bones, even bursting through her skin to extend outside her body. Certainly, this amplified her Originium Arts, allowing her to unleash more, greater, and more intense waves of freezing cold—even cold enough to bring molecules to a standstill. But the more she acted this way, the closer she drew to death.

She would inevitably die.

She would inevitably become a single crystalline snowflake drifting down on Christmas Day in Arknights.

People... the players of Arknights, the Doctors, would mourn her death, but they would mourn only her. Because there were only so many characters the story could portray. Before, after, and even during her death, hundreds or thousands of infected people silently died every day for the same or similar reasons. Yet she was still the only one people paid attention to.

At first, Surtr had only paid attention to her—to this beautiful girl who loved candy and pranks, yet had no choice but to shoulder a responsibility far beyond what her immature shoulders could bear. Everyone who played mobile games was a face connoisseur, a leg connoisseur, or some other kind of weird connoisseur; liking a two-dimensional wife was nothing shameful. When she had first arrived, she had intended to change the fate of this girl she cherished, so that she would not repeat the same tragedy.

Unfortunately, five years was ultimately too short for a strange big sister.

By the time Surtr first arrived in Ursus, Frostnova and her Yeti Squadron had already become a fairly renowned local resistance force. And some of the experiences she had afterward slightly changed her thinking.

She still liked the girl before her and wanted to save her. But beyond that, she also wanted to offer whatever help she could to the infected people of this world.

Of course, that did not stop her from thinking first of taking the hand she had failed to take in Arknights once she had truly come up with a solution.

—Come to think of it, this hand was rather soft.

"We're here."

Riding on flames, the flame-haired Sarkaz lightly descended into the secret base she had prepared a week ago, carrying the sleeping maiden of ice in her arms—she had gone to considerable trouble to prepare all this medical equipment, though in most circumstances it would be of no use at all.

The base's automatic door closed behind her and activated its camouflage. For at least two days, those enraged Yetis would have no hope of finding her through conventional means—Laevateinn left her side, hovering in the air and glowing to provide light. She then casually activated a number of intricate, sophisticated instruments and carefully placed the girl in her arms onto a hospital bed covered in restraint straps.

She knew what Frostnova's staff was, so she had taken it away.

She knew Frostnova could cast using the Originium in her body even without her staff, so she gave Frostnova an injection of Originium Suppressant.

—Top-grade stuff. It could temporarily suppress Originium activity, and was often used as a highly effective medicine for controlling Originium Infection. Though infected people had never been able to afford its price, nor could it cure the root of the problem.

The medicine took effect quickly. The girl's body, tense even in unconsciousness, soon relaxed. The chill that had clung to her—a cold capable of easily inflicting severe frostbite on ordinary people, yet of little effect on Miss Surtr—quietly dispersed and vanished as well, allowing this frost-cold star to return to being an ordinary person... an ordinary Caster.

Of course, that was not enough.

Miss Surtr raised a brow, picked up the restraints from the hospital bed, and put them to their proper use—she had to admit that Yelena possessed an enviable figure even while seriously ill and infected. These restraints happened to accentuate the girl's graceful curves perfectly.

"What a sight."

The strange older sister who had temporarily switched professions let out a frivolous whistle. After doing her utmost to suppress the shut-in urge to "test how it feels," she stretched lazily. Then she began setting up various nameless instruments and strange medicines—

—Naturally, if she had been the original Surtr, she would have known nothing about these medical devices. But this enhanced version who had crossed over clearly had other experiences... or rather, cheats. Some ancient medical tools that would ordinarily only appear in the most secret ruins were far from limited to one or two pieces in her possession. The resources she would expend on this "treatment" would be enough to drive any finance officer outside utterly insane on the spot!

Unfortunately, there was no finance clerk here waiting to go mad. Even the blood demon lady most likely to appear here was currently inside Rhodes Island's main ship, hundreds of kilometers away. And besides—

"If pretending to sleep is uncomfortable for you, you can open your eyes instead, Princess of the Yeti. Death God of the tundra, Reunion Movement officer, the renowned Miss Frostnova." The flame-haired Sarkaz tilted her head slightly, the corners of her mouth pulling into a somewhat strange smile. "Or would you rather be called Yelena of the guerrillas?"