Chapter 6: Chapter 5 – Icebreaker

The air around me grows colder.

1…..2…..3….

I exhaled deeply, watching my breath condense into a white cloud of mist. The heat in my body was slowly being taken away by the atmosphere, like a dwindling fire fading into the darkness. My once rapidly beating heart had started to slow down significantly due to the continuous decrease in temperature. Both of my arms were shivering, with numb hands stiffly locked onto the hilt of my sword like glue.

At least I was still holding onto it, that was what was important.

The princess looked at me with her icy blue eyes, a piercing gaze that could cut through any person's heart.

But here I am, standing here.

Alessia summoned forth a blade of ice and launched it towards me.

Concentrate. Analyze. Observe. Predict where it’s going to go!

The answer is obvious!

I swung my blade against the projectile, completely shattering the ice into pieces.

It’s going towards me, of course!

Another blade came zooming in, but that was just as easy to deflect.

This didn't surprise me though, since it's something I should have been able to do from the very beginning of the exams. But I let my anxiety get in the way. Not anymore. No more angry teammates, no more distractions and no more panic attacks. I can fight without anything holding me back!

Alessia locked her eyes towards me and created more blades of ice in response. She threw her hand forward and with it came along a barrage of blades headed straight towards me.

One, two, three, four, I slashed through everything that entered my zone, swinging my sword around in different directions. Bits of ice scattered everywhere as I danced with the blade. I continued to move my body around as I saw fit, following my intuition to deflect the blades.

“Impressive, I didn't think you could do much with that sword,” Alessia said. “But how long can you last?”

My vision started flashing red. I could feel ice cutting through the side of my cheek, shoulder and thigh. The blood didn’t even bother spilling and froze almost instantly.

30/100 health remaining

Tsk, I don't have much time left. It was clear that I wasn't going to survive for much longer. I’m going to reach my limit soon. That's why I'll rush it!

I charged forward, running straight towards Alessia. The ice blades continued to place their targets on me, so I moved around the trees to avoid them and slash through the remaining ones that got in my way. Alessia points her hands downwards and shoots a ray of ice on the floor, causing a wave of frosted spikes to emerge from the ground and chase after me.

"Tsk!"

I leapt away just in time to avoid the incoming spikes and rolled on the floor. The blades didn't stop coming though, so I had no choice but to get up immediately just to barely deflect the projectiles.

It's getting harder to keep up!

More spikes continued to emerge from the floor, forcing me to jump around the area just to get away from being skewered.

Just need to keep pushing forward!

"Argh!"

A blade had cut through my abdomen, but I had to keep running despite the pain.

20/100 health remaining

I'm only a few feet away from the princess!

It was enough to give me a good look on her face. Alessia's eyes widened and opened her mouth. The ice princess could no longer maintain that stoic appearance.

"Did you really think you could get any closer?!" Alessia said.

She lifted her arms upward, causing huge walls of ice to emerge from the ground in between us.

“W-Woah!”

The sudden force was enough to get me to stagger back and fall down to the ground on my glutes. I forced myself to get up, only to realize that the walls were moving forward to crush me completely. The sheer cold is starting to get the better of me. I’ve been slowly losing the feeling in my limbs, my skin had turned into a bluish hue and I was starting to lose consciousness.

But I have to get away! I can’t give up now!

18/100 health remaining

Looking around frantically, I found some nearby trees and ran over towards them. I mustered up the strength to climb over the trunk and started running through a large branch leading to a nearby wall. At the end of the branch, I jumped towards the wall and stabbed my sword right through the ice.

“GRRAAAAAAAAH!”

Using all my remaining arm strength, I pulled myself over to the very top of the moving wall. From there, my feet hopped across the moving walls, using them as platforms to help me get closer to Alessia.

She did not take this too kindly though, as she had plenty of ice blades to spare. She directed them all my way, but I couldn’t keep deflecting them forever. Every swing I made would cause my arms to scream in pain and my body was starting to slow down from the freezing mist. More blades continued to pierce through my skin, my vision was blinking red once again.

13/100 health remaining

The ice around me started to collapse, so I leapt away and landed on the ground. My legs didn’t take the pressure too lightly, a sharp pain surged like a mass of needles stabbing right underneath my feet. It was enough to make me trip on the floor.

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But I didn’t fall.

I couldn’t allow it. I continued to run anyway, it’s not like there’s anything better for me to do. She’s just right in front of me! There’s no way I’ll stop now! Don’t give up, Lars!

10/100 health remaining

Alessia staggered back and launched more of her blades towards me. One shot right through my shoulder. Another through my thigh. Then my abdomen, then my upper chest……I didn’t care anymore. All I could think about was reaching her.

5/100 health remaining.

If I give in now, what will happen to my dream? All that training for all those years will go to waste! All those sweat and tears swinging my sword over and over again, working out my body to its limits till I passed out, and binge reading all sorts of books related to Enforcers. Everyday of my life was devoted to passing this exam and getting accepted into the academy! All my hardwork, all my effort is for this very moment.

I CAN’T LOSE HERE!

She’s within swinging distance! I can get her!

“Don’t get ahead of yourself!”

Alessia gritted her teeth and placed her hand forward, summoning shields of ice lotuses around her. I slashed my sword against the ice, but it was too hard to break through.

This isn’t going to stop me!

I continued hacking and slashing against the icy exterior, not giving a single damn about how much it hurt doing so or whether it was actually possible to destroy it. It’s the only thing I can do, so it’s absolutely worth the try!

“HAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

She stopped placing her attacks on me, that means she’s completely focused on defense. I just need to keep going at it!

Harder. Better. Faster. Stronger. I’ll keep on slashing no matter what!

CRACK!

This is it!

A small crevice had formed at the side of the lotus. I swung my sword once more and the crevices started to spread out around its surface. The cracks had finally made their way all over the once tough shield.

One more swing!

The shield had finally shattered into pieces. Unfortunately, my sword had broken itself into half.

No way……No. I won’t let it end like this!

I reached out and grabbed on to the floating piece, cutting my palm in the process.

This ends here!

I lunged towards Alessia, aiming the broken metal piece right towards her head like a dagger and swung it down. The sound of flesh being skewered apart played itself out like a violent melody.

What…….

My hand had stopped itself just a few inches close to her face. Alessia’s eyes were wide open as she stared right into the blade, moisture came out as she breathed deeply towards my face.

“It was a good fight, Lars. I never thought anyone could push me this far,” she spoke after a while.

I looked all over my body in horror, realizing that ice spikes had pierced all over, halting all of my movements.

0/100 health remaining.

I lost.

“I completely acknowledge you as a true warrior, there’s no mistaking that. Truly unfortunate that you had to fight me.”

My vision completely turned into a full red, indicating that it was truly over for me. Eventually, it faded into a void of darkness.

I failed you, Master. I tried my best. I really did. But I guess my best wasn’t good enough. Well, in the early stages, I was no good anyway. My team had considered me useless. If only I was able to protect them, we might have had a better chance. If only I had overcome my anxiety a bit earlier. If only I didn’t let any of the negativity get into my head.

I’m…not strong. My heart is too fragile for this sort of thing. I guess I truly don’t deserve to be an Enforcer. I wish I was stronger.

“You say that as if you already know the results of this exam.”

Huh? Who?

I opened my eyes. Looking around, all I could see was white. An endless space of nothing but white. The very floor I was standing on was the same way.

“Where am I?”

“Where else, but in virtual reality?” a deep booming voice echoed in my ears.

“W-Who are you?”

“I am Cier. The Last King of Subtramuros.”

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