The Ice Empress remembered it clearly. The snow had fallen heavily that day, so heavily that even a veteran Ferocious Beast like her, who had lived in the Far North for countless tens of thousands of years, had grown impatient.
She had wanted to retreat into her ice cavern for a nap and wait until the blizzard passed.
But as she passed the ice cliff where the Snow Empress usually stayed, she stopped.
Not because she had sensed some powerful presence, but because she had seen a Soul Beast.
An unfamiliar figure who had never appeared in the Far North before.
She stood beside the Snow Empress, shrouded in ice-blue light. Her long hair flowed like moonlight, her skin was almost transparently pale, and her exquisite features looked as though they had been carved from ice and snow.
Her head was slightly lowered, as though she were listening to the Snow Empress. The lines of her profile were soft and serene.
The Ice Empress stopped in her tracks.
She did not approach immediately. Instead, she stood at a distance, narrowing her eyes as she studied the unfamiliar figure.
Someone who could stand beside the Snow Empress and make her wear that expression—not the cold courtesy that kept others a thousand miles away, but an almost cautious eagerness.
This unfamiliar Soul Beast was no ordinary being.
The Ice Empress's heart sank a little.
In all her years in the Far North, she had seen countless beings try to approach the Snow Empress.
Challengers, followers, admirers, and those who coveted her.
But not one had ever made the Snow Empress wear that expression.
The Ice Empress lowered her eyes, pressed the emotions surging through her back into her heart, and then started toward the Snow Empress.
She did not walk quickly, but