This Was the True Empress of Ice. What Was Jarilo Compared to Her?
White knee-high military boots struck the hard permafrost.
A metal spur on one heel clipped a rusty piece of iron ore, sending up a few sparks with a click.
The sparks were snuffed out by the deathly still, cold air before they could rise.
The air reeked of sulfur from burned Geomarrows ore.
With this patch of frozen ground in the Underworld as its center,
the gray-black blizzard raging overhead suddenly paused for a second.
The wind changed direction.
The wild ice crystals seemed to encounter an absolute superior and meekly sank lower.
White freezing mist spread outward along the ground.
Around the pristine military boots, it swiftly formed translucent ice lotuses.
Their petals were sharp, catching the faint searchlights of the distant Waste Mining Area.
Su Chen lowered his head.
His gaze passed over the heavy curves of his chest and settled on the ice lotuses beneath his feet.
This body was much taller than the little girl's had been.
The slender heels of his military boots pitched his weight slightly forward.
Unused to shoes like these, he twisted an ankle awkwardly.
A faint ache ran through his calf.
He tugged at the tight black belt, emphasizing the body's startling waist-to-hip ratio even more.
A heavy white military coat draped over his shoulders, shielding him from the cold wind at his back.
Cold.
That was Su Chen's most immediate physical sensation after switching Avatars.
It was not the chill of his surroundings, but the temperature of this body itself.
The power of Demon's Extract surged through his veins.
There was none of the warmth of normal blood flow. It felt as though liquid glaciers were scouring his veins.
Su Chen raised both hands.
Long, pale fingers were encased in white leather gloves.
He clenched his fists.
The leather gloves creaked as they rubbed against themselves.
The leather pulled taut over his knuckles, squeezing his fingers pale.
A sadistic urge to destroy something, to hear someone scream, grew through his mind like weeds.
This was Esdeath's instinct.
Absolute contempt for the weak and a feverish hunger for slaughter.
Su Chen bit the soft flesh inside his mouth.
He bit hard enough for the taste of iron to spread across his tongue.
He forced the Avatar's frenzy back down into his heart.
Su Chen took a deep breath.
Cold air filled his lungs, bringing a faint stab of pain.
When he exhaled, it emerged as a thick cloud of white freezing mist.
The mist dispersed before his face, blurring his vision.
This was Belobog's Underworld.
There was no sky overhead, only rusted steel pillars supporting a heavy alloy dome.
The air smelled of engine oil, rust, and mildew from years without sunlight.
The deathly silence broke.
From behind an abandoned minecart track came a scrape that set his teeth on edge.
Clack. Scrape. Clack. Scrape.
It sounded like countless blunt knives scraping across sheet metal.
Snow on the tracks crunched dully beneath an immense weight.
Even the frozen ground trembled faintly.
Three enormous Fragmentum Monsters crawled out of the shadows.
They were Ice Out of Space.
Born in the bitter cold of the Fragmentum, the monsters were as large as small hills.
Thick blue-white crystal armor covered their bodies, with barbs lining its edges.
They had been dormant deep in the wasteland.
Now, the terrifyingly pure source of ice and snow within Su Chen had awakened them.
Greed overcame their instinctive fear.
They longed to devour that power.
The largest monster, in the middle, opened its mouth.
It had no vocal cords. Its shrill howl came only from the grinding of its crystal joints.
Rings of white cold poured from its mouth.
They condensed into razor-sharp shards in midair and rained down on Su Chen's head.
Its six thick, jointed crystal legs drove forward.
They punched deep pits into the frozen ground.
Soil and ice sprayed in every direction.
Its huge body barreled straight at the woman in the white uniform like a heavy bulldozer out of control.
The icy spines on its back struck one another as it ran, ringing sharply.
The other two monsters flanked him from either side.
They did not charge into close combat.
More than a dozen massive icicles, each as thick as a thigh, rapidly took shape in midair.
They shrieked through the air toward Su Chen's back and neck.
The air tore apart with a piercing whistle.
Their movements whipped the snow across the wasteland into a small storm.
Blown snow blotted out everything.
Su Chen stood where he was.
The hem of his white uniform snapped in the cold wind.
He did not draw the slender rapier at his waist.
He did not even put a hand on its hilt.
He looked at the charging Fragmentum Monsters.
Not a ripple stirred in his ice-blue eyes.
It was as if he were watching a few ridiculous insects struggle through winter.
They were hardly worth a proper glance.
"Playing with ice in front of this general?"
Su Chen spoke.
His voice was mature and rich, carrying an innate arrogance.
He slowly raised his right hand.
His white-gloved forefinger and thumb came together.
The movement was gentle.
It was as though he were flicking nonexistent dust from his cuff.
Snap.
One crisp snap of his fingers.
No lengthy incantation. No elaborate gesture.
Only the pure law of ice descended.
In a hundredth of a second, the moisture was forcibly stripped from the air.
Even the wind froze.
The charging Ice Out of Space halted stiffly in mid-motion.
The largest monster's enormous ice claw remained poised to tear through him.
Its tip hovered mere inches from the brim of Su Chen's cap.
Snowflakes still clung to its sharp edge.
The icicles overhead froze in place as well.
Absolute stillness.
Pale blue, translucent ice spread up from the monsters' feet and covered their enormous bodies in an instant.
This was no surface coating of frost.
They were frozen completely, down to the molecular level.
The Fragmentum energy in their cores was locked fast inside the ice.
Their once-flickering, ghostly blue glow went out entirely.
Not a glimmer escaped.
The little storm raging around them stopped too.
The stones and ice caught in midair were frozen inside a translucent wall.
The world became terrifyingly quiet.
Even the sound of breathing seemed harsh.
Su Chen lowered his hand.
A spotless white boot stepped half a pace forward.
He regarded the enormous ice sculpture before him and felt a little bored.
"Shatter."
His thin lips parted to release the single word.
Crack—
A hairline fracture appeared on the largest monster's head.
The sound was crisp.
It was like an expensive crystal goblet falling onto a marble floor.
The crack ran down its armor, branching out like roots.
Then—
Crash!
A dense burst of fractures sounded like a downpour striking a tin roof.
The noise numbed the ears.
All three Fragmentum Monsters, each as formidable as a heavy armored vehicle, exploded at once, along with the icicles overhead.
Clean and swift.
There was no resistance.
No flying flesh or blood.
No agonized screams.
Only countless chunks of ice, large and small, crashing onto the frozen ground like torrential rain.
Their clattering echoed through the empty Waste Mining Area.
The chunks smashed rocks on the ground, then shattered again from the impact.
They broke into still finer shards.
The immense force stirred up a gust of cold wind.
An icy mist rose from the ground.
Glittering shards caught the bleak, faint light and carpeted the ground.
Only seconds ago, the Fragmentum Monsters had looked ferocious.
Now nothing remained of them but ice fragments whose shapes could no longer be recognized.
Everything fell utterly still.
Su Chen lowered his head and looked at the ice strewn across the ground.
A cold smile crept over his face.
His mouth slowly widened, revealing white teeth.
This body was rejoicing.
It savored the thrill of erasing living beings and lifeless things alike in an instant.
He felt his heart racing.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
It hammered against his chest.
Not from fear, but from the thrill of power over everything.
Esdeath's lust for slaughter roared through his blood.
It wanted to freeze every living thing in this underground world into an ice sculpture he could shatter at will.
Su Chen raised a hand and pressed hard against his chest.
A leather-gloved hand pressed against the fabric of her military uniform.
She took a deep breath, forcing down the cruel impulse that belonged to the Avatar.
But she found she couldn't wipe the arrogant grin from her face.
Her muscles refused to obey her mind, stubbornly holding that bloodthirsty expression.
What a dangerous, volatile body.
Her military boots crunched over ice chips scattered across the ground.
Metal spurs ground the tiny shards to pieces.
They made a sharp crunching sound.
The ice turned to white powder beneath her soles.
Su Chen stopped and slowly raised his head.
His gaze crossed the desolate Waste Mining Area.
He looked up.
Above him, heavy iron plates and steel pillars sealed off the upper district.
Dark red rust covered the plates.
Black icicles hung from some places like sharp fangs.
It was a vast cage pressing down on everyone in the Underworld.
Su Chen raised his right hand.
His white-gloved fingertips touched the brim of his military cap.
He tugged it firmly downward.
The brim's shadow hid half his forehead.
Unconcealed contempt shone in his icy blue eyes.
"So this is the so-called ice-and-snow planet?"
The woman's voice carried far on the cold wind.
It was thick with boundless mockery.
"It falls far short of my Empire."