The rise of a Frozen Star

[POV Chloé]

The purple mist was not just vapor; it was a living entity that clung to my fur like boiling oil. My lungs burned with every breath, and the taste of rotten flowers grew so intense I nearly vomited. But there was no time for weakness. At the center of that shroud of shadows, the woman in the black robe finally moved, gliding toward me with a grace that defied gravity.

“So, you’ve figured out the trick, little wolf?” she hissed, and her voice did not come from her lips but resonated directly within the bones of my skull. “What a pity. Ignorance is usually an excellent anesthetic before dissection.”

Without warning, the woman extended her hand and five threads of black energy shot from her fingers. They were faster than any arrow. I had to flip backward, feeling one of the threads slice a lock of hair near my ear. When they struck the ground, the impact opened a crater that bubbled with a corrosive substance.

“Less talking, more fighting, witch!” I roared, launching myself at her with all the speed my legs could muster.

I became a blur of gray fur and silver claws. I unleashed a flurry of strikes aimed at her neck, but she dissolved into smoke each time my claws were about to tear through her robe. She reappeared two meters away, then three, hurling shadow projectiles that I had to deflect with my reinforced forearms. The intensity of the battle escalated in seconds; the air around us crackled with sparks of corrupted mana, and the physical pressure of our clash began to topple nearby trees.

In the distance, I could hear Valerie and her soldiers.

“Hold formation! Don’t let the possessed break the circle!” the captain shouted.

They were fighting bravely, but the mist was weakening them. Every movement cost them triple the effort.

I twisted midair, dodging a thrust of energy that would have melted my spine, and managed to land a direct blow on the woman’s shoulder. I felt the impact—the crack of something not entirely bone—and she let out a hiss of genuine pain for the first time.

“That’s it! If you bleed, you can die!” I exclaimed, baring my fangs with a feral grin.

But the woman was not shaken. Instead of fading, her smile widened grotesquely, revealing rows of teeth far too sharp to be human.

“You’re right, wolf. But in this game, I’m not the one at risk of dying first.”

Suddenly, she slammed her foot against the ground. A crimson shockwave spread across the clearing, passing beneath my feet and racing straight toward Valerie’s group. Before I could shout a warning, black thorned roots erupted from the earth with lightning speed, wrapping around the arms and legs of the twelve elite soldiers.

“AHHH! LET US GO!” the warriors screamed in unison.

Valerie tried to cut the roots with her sword, but the metal corroded into rust the moment it touched the black thorns. Within seconds, all twelve women were suspended in the air, immobilized by a web of corrupted vegetation that visibly drained their vitality.

“VALERIE!” I shouted, starting to rush toward them.

“Not another step, Chloé!” the woman’s voice stopped me cold. She stood with her arms extended, and I could see the shadow threads from her fingers connected directly to the throats of the captive soldiers. “One sudden move, and I’ll close my fists. Their necks will snap before you can blink. And believe me, their souls would nourish my cauldron exquisitely.”

I froze. My heart pounded so hard it felt like it would burst. My claws trembled with restrained fury, but I couldn’t risk their lives. Valerie looked at me from her prison of thorns; her face was pale, but her eyes still belonged to a captain of Whirikal.

“Don’t stop for us, Miss Chloé! Kill this bitch!” Valerie shouted before a root tightened over her mouth, silencing her.

The woman in black approached me slowly, with infuriating calm.

“Now, let’s finish this. There’s a runic trap beneath your feet, little wolf. One designed to consume the essence of demi-humans and turn it into a key for the northern portal. If you stand still and let it activate, I’ll let these… ‘bags of meat’ go. A fair trade, don’t you think? Your life for theirs.”

I saw the ground begin to glow with a dark violet geometric pattern—the soul-harvesting trap. I felt the pull already, dragging at my mana, weakening my legs. I could try to attack, yes—but I knew she would keep her word in the worst way possible and kill the soldiers instantly.

“…Alright,” I whispered, lowering my hands as my claws retracted. “You win. Let them go and take whatever you want.”

The woman burst into triumphant laughter.

“How noble! How predictable! Creatures with ‘hearts’ are always the easiest to manipulate.”

The glow beneath my feet intensified, becoming blinding. My bones felt as heavy as lead, and a cold agony began creeping up my legs. The woman raised her hands for the final motion, preparing to absorb my essence and execute the hostages anyway—because I could see in her eyes that she had no intention of honoring the deal.

“Goodbye, wolf,” she said, closing her fingers.

But in the exact millisecond the trap was about to close around my soul, the air in the clearing turned solid. It wasn’t a drop in temperature—it was as if reality itself had been struck by a hammer of absolute ice.

BOOOOM!

A lance of bluish crystal, the size of a tree trunk, fell from the sky in a perfect trajectory, striking exactly between the woman and me. The force of the impact shattered the runic trap, sending out a freezing shockwave that instantly encased the black roots holding the hostages, making them brittle as glass.

“WHAT?!” the woman screamed, stumbling back.

From the depths of the forest, two figures emerged at a speed that defied perception—like twin comets of light and frost cutting through the darkness.

Lotte landed in front of me in an explosion of frost, her dark crystal sword drawn, her emerald gaze blazing with a killing intent that made even the remaining demons shrink in fear. Beside her, Leah descended like a silver phoenix, her short sword wrapped in a pure white flame that dispelled the purple mist in a wide radius.

“You’re late…” I growled, though tears of relief threatened to spill from my eyes as I pushed myself to my feet, shaking frost from my shoulders.

“We arrived exactly when the enemy needed to grow overconfident, Chloé,” Lotte replied without taking her eyes off the woman in black. Her voice was a glacial thunder. “No one touches my people and lives to tell the tale. Especially not a puppet of shadows.”

Leah moved toward the fallen soldiers as the frozen roots shattered.

“Valerie, take the wounded to the rear. We’ll handle this.”

The woman in black roared in fury, her human face beginning to crack and split, revealing the darkness beneath.

“The princess and the guardian?! Even better! Your souls will be the main course!”

“Try it,” I said, extending my claws again as the warmth of Leah’s magic restored my strength. “Now it’s three against one, witch. And I don’t like leaving dinner unfinished.”

Lotte stepped forward, and the ground beneath her feet turned into an eternal glacier.

“Leah, Chloé… let’s show this shadow why Whirikal still stands.”

The forest, once silent, erupted into a roar of fire, ice, and claws.

The real battle had just begun.