Ning Xue raised his hand, and three thicker pillars of ice rose from the ground, their entire lengths gleaming with a cold white light. Like three mighty arms holding up the heavens, they shot skyward even faster than before and braced precisely against the underside of the second, larger meteorite.
The cold at the tops of the ice pillars collided with the intense heat generated by friction on the meteorite's surface, letting out a piercing hiss as great clouds of steam erupted from the points of contact.
The meteorite was still falling, but its descent slowed visibly.
At the same time, he used his other hand to swiftly form several layers of ice, each with hollow depressions, between the surface of the first meteorite and the underside of the second.
Those depressions were filled with soft snow to absorb the impact of the falling meteorite.
And so, a sight no one would ever forget appeared over the battlefield.
The three ice pillars interlaced with the sand and ice pillars Gaara and Ōnoki had been supporting together, forming an enormous crystalline framework.
Above that framework, the first meteorite was held firmly in place; above it, the second, even larger meteorite rested on the three white ice pillars farther out.
The two meteorites, one above the other, were supported by layer upon layer of ice and sand pillars, hanging beneath the vast sky like a gourd propped high on a frame.
Sunlight refracted through the ice crystals into a rainbow of colors that spilled onto the sand below, cold and dazzling.
Having finished all this, Ning Xue turned his head. His gaze passed over the ravaged battlefield and settled on the white figure hovering in the distance.
Deidara sat frozen on the back of his giant clay bird, his mouth slightly open