CHAPTER 435: AGAINST A CYBORG

The storm of ice soldiers finally paused, as if they too felt the shift that cut through the air. The ground beneath Ethan rumbled, deeper, heavier, more deliberate than anything before.

Not random.

A process.

Something was being constructed.

The snow bulged outward, then split apart in a violent burst. Frozen dirt and shattered crystals spiraled into the air as a new figure rose from below, a towering thing of seamless melding. Corrupted ice fused with metal plating, wires intertwining like black veins beneath its frozen skin. Its core pulsed with a blue, glitching light, and circuitry crawled across its chest like mechanical runes.

Ten feet tall. Humanoid. But wrong.

The head was a sleek visor of cracked glass, cracked enough to show one glaring eye, the same icy blue that marked Leon’s corruption, flickering like a computer screen on its deathbed.

Its arms morphed into weapons mid-motion. One elongated into a cannon of jagged crystal and steel. The other warped into claws capable of slicing air. Its footsteps thudded like steel-toed hammers, frost churning beneath every step.

Ethan’s brows rose.

"Well damn. Someone’s getting creative."

The construct scanned him with a shrill mechanical whir, and a broken, distorted voice crackled through its speakers.

"ELIMINATE SUBJECT: ETHAN SMITH. PRIORITY: ABSOLUTE."

The cannon lit up, a growing orb of corrupted cryo-energy swirling inside. Ethan’s instincts screamed. He teleported just as a beam ripped through the battlefield, flash-freezing everything in its path and carving a trench that shimmered with black ice.

Several beasts unlucky enough to be caught in the blast froze solid, then shattered into dust.

Ethan reappeared on a high ice ridge, eyes narrowing.

"Alright... that one might leave a bruise."

The cyborg turned sharply. Its claws extended, now superheated by a surge of internal tech. They hissed, melting the ice beneath them, droplets turning to steam instantly before freezing again.

A hybrid of elements. Technology. And bloodlust that wasn’t programmed.

Leon’s influence.

The construct charged.

Faster than anything before.

Ethan blocked the first strike, his forearms rattling like he’d caught a train mid-rush. The second claw slashed across his chest, sparks and shards erupting as his reinforced skin met corrupted ice. He skidded back, boots cracking through layers of snow.

A grin crept up Ethan’s face.

"You... are way better than your friends."

His aura surged. Purple motes flickered behind him like falling embers of a celestial fire, feeding into his limbs. He ducked under a swipe and countered with a palm strike to the construct’s core. The cyborg slid back, cracks spreading like lightning across its torso, but the core didn’t break.

Instead, its voice glitched into something almost proud.

"ADAPTIVE COMBAT! ENGAGE."

More weapons unfolded, hidden compartments releasing drones of icy steel, wings humming with cold fury. Missiles formed on shoulder mounts, shimmering frost vapor around them.

Ethan exhaled slowly.

"Alright."

He planted his foot into the ice, stance tightening, every muscle coiling like a loaded spring. The air around him warped, heat and cold colliding violently as he finally accepted the escalation.

His golden eye flared.

Time dilated, just a hair.

Enough.

The drones’ wings stopped mid-flap. The missiles hung in the air, their fuses flickering like frozen stars. The construct jerked, motors grinding as they tried to compensate for the slowed moment.

Ethan stepped.

Just one step.

And then his fist tore through the cyborg’s core like a raging comet.

The frozen heart cracked, then exploded outward with a roar of shattering metal and rupturing ice. The construct collapsed in parts, scattering across the snow like discarded machinery.

Time snapped back to normal. The drones plummeted, lifeless.

Ethan dusted off his knuckles, eyes still fixed on the castle.

"Leon... if that’s your appetizer..."

The wind howled, carrying that mocking laughter again, closer this time, dripping with anticipation.

"...you better pray your main course can keep up."

The shards of the destroyed cyborg were still settling when another wave of laughter slid across the air. This time, the wind didn’t carry it. It was spoken. Directed. Close.

"So that is your strength now. How disappointing."

Leon’s voice echoed from the ice walls around him, taunting, multiplied, impossible to pin down. It crawled under Ethan’s skin like cold poison.

"You look fragile, Ethan. Mortal. Breakable."A pause swollen with smug delight."Let’s test the limits of this new weakness of yours."

The ice beneath Ethan quaked. Lines of circuitry ignited beneath the snow like buried runes awakening, casting a sinister blue glow that encircled the battlefield. The world responded to Leon’s will.

From that light rose a figure.

Not a beast. Not a mindless machine.

A knight.

Forged of dark, corrupted ice infused with black metal and humming tech. Its frame was broad and intimidating, nearly Ethan’s height but twice as dense with armor engineered for slaughter. Its eyes glowed like twin frozen stars, unblinking and merciless. In each hand, it carried a sword so massive the ice cracked beneath their weight. Blades forged from reinforced cryo-steel, edges lined with a pulsing energy field.

The knight tilted its head once. No roar. No words. Just purpose.

It moved.

The snow erupted as the knight launched forward, speed wildly disproportionate to its size. Ethan barely twisted aside as both swords crashed into the earth where he stood, sending a geyser of frozen debris skyward. The shockwave flung Ethan back several meters before he stabilized, boots digging ruts through packed snow.

His eyes gleamed with focus now. The playful grin faded.

"So that’s how we’re playing."

The knight was already on him again. The blades came from opposing angles, a perfect intersection to remove his head. Ethan ducked low, then shot upward with an uppercut that could shatter reinforced steel. His fist cracked against the knight’s helmet, denting the metal, sending it stumbling.

But it did not fall.

It retaliated with a sweeping kick that hit Ethan squarely in the ribs. The force launched him through a frozen pillar, ice exploding around him as he rolled and skidded across the ground. He felt the throb of impact through his bones.

Stronger than the last. Much stronger.

The knight trudged through the destroyed ice and raised both swords again. Energy began swirling along their edges, readying to bisect him in one brutal motion.

Ethan inhaled, steady and slow.

"I was hoping to save this for Leon."

His right hand opened beside him, fingers curling as if gripping a ghost. A golden circle flickered into existence under his feet, faint but pulsing with ancient authority. The ice around it cracked outward like spiderweb fractures.

Metal shimmered in the air.

Then it dropped into his hand.

A hammer taller than Ethan himself.

The shaft was crafted from a sturdy dark metal, smooth to the touch and built for a fighter’s grip. The head of the hammer was broad and solid, its edges sharp enough to bite into armor, and faint engravings flickered to life along its surface. When the weapon landed against the ground, a heavy thump rolled through the ice beneath him, steady and powerful without being overwhelming.

The knight hesitated. Even it understood the danger.

Ethan rolled his shoulder once, feeling the familiar balance of the weapon.

"Let’s dance, tin can."

He charged. The ice cracked beneath each step, his hammer tracing a deadly arc. The knight crossed its blades to block, but the impact was biblical. A shockwave tore outward, snow vaporizing in a circle around them. The knight skidded back, feet carving trenches into the ground, armor sparking.

It retaliated instantly, slashing in a flurry of precision and monstrous weight. Ethan spun, dodging the first blade, deflecting the second with the haft of his hammer. Sparks and frost collided violently. The knight flipped forward with terrifying agility for its size, stabbing down with both blades from above.

Ethan braced.

The swords crashed against his hammer, metal screeching. Cracks spidered through the ice for dozens of meters around them as they pushed against each other, strength vs strength. With a guttural shove, Ethan forced the knight back, then twisted his hammer into a brutal upswing that caught its torso.

The knight flew.

It slammed into an ice wall hard enough to crater into it. The armor dented, one sword cracked, and flickering.

Ethan wiped a bit of blood from his lip.

"You’re good."

The knight rose again. Limbs jerking. Body creaking. It sprinted forward, abandoning technique for ferocity. Ethan welcomed it, sprinting to meet the charge. They collided again, and again, and again, a storm of steel and godly might echoing across the frozen world.

Each clash shook the land.

Leon’s grin was practically audible.

"Break him," the voice whispered across the ice.

The knight struck low. Ethan pivoted, hammered downward with a roar. The blow struck the knight’s head clean on. Its helmet cracked fully, ice and steel exploding outward as the core beneath was exposed.

Cold light flickered. Then dimmed.

The knight crumpled, collapsing into metallic snow.

Ethan exhaled heavily, grip tightening on his hammer. He scanned the shimmering ice castle ahead, the silent audience to their battle.

"I’m done playing your games, Leon."

A soft clap echoed.

Slow. Sarcastic.

"I was worried your decline made you boring. But you are still... entertaining."

A figure stepped onto the balcony of the castle.

White hair. One mechanical eye. That perpetual smirk of superiority.

Leon Richards finally showed himself.

And the temperature dropped even lower, as if even winter feared what came next.