Clara, Don't Cry. This Ice Queen Is Actually Very Gentle

Clara's frail body stood between the towering robot and its attacker.

Her thin red hooded coat fluttered in the cold wind like a dead leaf.

She spread her slender arms, shielding Svarog as he knelt behind her on one knee.

Black smoke still poured from Svarog's chest.

Green coolant leaked onto the ground and froze into a sickly green crust.

Broken parts crackled with escaping electricity.

The little girl did not even reach Svarog's knee.

The sight had the absurdity of a mantis trying to stop a cart.

Clara wore no shoes.

Her bare, pale feet stood on frozen ground strewn with rust and shards of ice.

She had run so fast that several sharp pieces of ice had cut her soles.

A few drops of blood seeped out.

They left glaring red spots on the deathly white snow.

Her eyes were shut tight, her voice hoarse from shouting.

Tears streamed down her face.

Her nose was red from the cold, her shoulders jerked with sobs, and she could not string together a single sentence.

The wind sliced across her face like knives.

Su Chen stood still.

His white military boot crushed a shard of ice.

Inside Esdeath's body, his blood boiled like water in a kettle.

Demon's Extract clamored within him.

The weak only know how to cry.

The weak should be frozen with that heap of scrap metal, then smashed to pieces.

It was an instinct built into the Avatar, etched into its bones.

Su Chen raised his right hand. Bone-chilling blue frost had already gathered at his white-gloved fingertips.

A sharp icicle rapidly took shape in the air.

It pointed straight at the little girl's throat.

Su Chen's breathing grew heavy.

His chest heaved, rattling the metal buttons of his military coat.

He bit down hard on the tip of his tongue.

His teeth sank in, and a strong taste of iron burst through his mouth.

Pain jolted his nerves, forcibly dragging back a sliver of reason.

He was an adult.

In his original body, he had always been fond of this little girl who went barefoot and was almost foolishly kind.

What kind of person bullies Clara?

Su Chen clenched his left hand into a fist.

The leather glove twisted out of shape, creaking sharply.

His nails dug into his palm through the glove.

He forced down the savage urge to kill.

The fierce clash between the two consciousnesses sent a wave of nausea through his stomach.

He took a deep breath.

Then he forced the sour taste rising in his throat back down.

With a snap, the deadly icicle at his fingertips dissolved into white mist.

Su Chen closed his eyes and regained control of the body.

His military boot moved half a step forward.

The wind that had been cutting across everyone's faces like blades abruptly stopped.

The air in the abandoned mining district changed in an uncanny way.

White frost swirled in midair, no longer carrying the killing chill that seemed ready to freeze the blood in their veins.

The biting cold receded like a tide.

In its place came a faint warmth that defied physics.

Under Su Chen's precise control, the Ice element was forced into a different form.

White mist crept along the ground.

It wound around the rusted scrap and sharp stones.

The frost gathered soundlessly beneath Clara's bare feet.

The shards of ice on the ground were pushed aside.

The white ice crystals were no longer hard or sharp.

They grew upward, soft and interwoven.

Beneath the girl's scratched soles, they formed a thick cushion of icy fluff.

It felt like a cloud of cotton that would not flatten underfoot.

It gently lifted Clara's little feet, blue with cold, and shielded them from the frozen ground.

Clara still had her eyes squeezed shut and was sobbing at the top of her lungs.

But the needlelike pain in her soles suddenly vanished.

Warmth took its place.

It felt like stepping onto a soft wool rug beside a fireplace in winter.

The wind no longer touched her cuts, and the bleeding stopped.

Clara let out a loud, hiccupping sob.

Her next cry caught in her throat.

Her shoulders slowly stopped shaking.

The little girl cautiously opened her eyes.

Her ruby-red eyes were full of confusion.

Two tears still clung to her long white lashes.

They glimmered in the faint searchlight.

She lowered her head and stared at her feet.

A soft white cloud of icy mist supported her soles.

Instinctively, she curled her toes into it.

It was soft and pleasantly warm.

Clara sniffled, nearly blowing a snot bubble.

She hurriedly wiped her face with the back of her dirty hand.

She smeared dust and tears all over her face until she looked like a little tabby cat.

Behind cover in the distance.

Natasha and Seele stared in disbelief.

Natasha had been bracing for the Ice Queen to strike a killing blow.

Her hand had already gone back to her emergency syringe.

But the sight of that impossibly warm icy cushion left her mind blank.

The quantum scythe in Seele's hand hung toward the ground.

Her purple eyes were wide.

A monster who could freeze the air in an instant was warming a little girl's feet?

What was this supposed to be?

The Imaginary Divine Court's peculiar way of saying hello?

Heavy footsteps approached.

White knee-high military boots stopped in front of Clara.

A tall shadow fell over the little girl.

Su Chen looked down at her.

The brim of his military cap blocked the light, hiding the emotion in his eyes.

Clara shrank back in fright.

She gripped the hem of her red coat with both hands, her knuckles turning white.

Her small body began trembling uncontrollably again.

But she did not move aside. She stayed firmly in front of Svarog.

Like a little animal protecting its food.

Su Chen raised his white-gloved right hand.

It hovered in the air for a second.

Clara shut her eyes tight, waiting for the blow.

But no deadly ice blade came down.

The leather glove settled gently on Clara's tousled white hair.

Su Chen moved his wrist and awkwardly rubbed her head twice.

This body had never made such a tender gesture. He used so much force that he nearly pulled off Clara's hood.

Soft strands brushed his palm, leaving a faint tickle.

The muscles in the Ice Queen's cold face were stiff.

Su Chen tried to lift the corners of his mouth.

He forced out a smile.

On Esdeath's face, it looked startlingly out of place.

"Little one."

His voice was still deep and resonant.

But the arrogance and killing intent that had made everyone feel beneath his heel were gone.

Su Chen withdrew his hand and glanced past Clara at the smoking Svarog.

"I don't kill scrap metal."

Clara froze.

Her ruby-red eyes widened, and she forgot to breathe.

Just as warmth began to settle over the scene.

A jarringly childish voice came from behind a stack of rusted shipping containers.

It was bright, with a teasing lilt that made one want to smack its owner.

The crunch of hard candy being chewed punctuated her words.

"Hey, hey, stealing someone else's target isn't nice."

A white-haired little girl in small round sunglasses poked half her body out.

She held up a half-eaten lollipop.

"I saw that big hunk of metal first~"