CHAPTER 39: THE SNOW STORM

My head swung to the side as his hit landed.

I could’ve dodged. Could’ve easily stepped right and made him look like a fool swinging at empty air. But that was going to be so lame—because what excuse would I have for retaliation? Can’t exactly pummel a teammate for missing.

I frowned darkly as I swung my face back toward him, working my jaw.

’Guess I don’t need an excuse now.’

"What?"

His face was twisted in rage, features contorted like something feral. His voice came out hoarse, raw, like he’d been screaming. Fresh out of horror, apparently, and looking for someone to blame.

"How dare you?! How dare you, F rank, use me as bait! You saw I was vulnerable and ran away so the spirit beast could come at me—you used that opportunity to take a hit for yourself! You’re a coward!"

He shouted, his hand already swinging again.

’Ran away? Take a hit for myself?’

The words took a moment to process. Like he was speaking a different language. Or like I’d somehow fallen into an alternate reality where saving someone’s incompetent ass counted as betrayal.

I tilted my face away from the punch, watching it pass by in slow motion. My expression darkened further.

’This bastard...’

I grabbed his collar immediately, bunching the fabric in my fist.

One headbutt. Brick-breaking impact that sent his head flying back in a spray of blood and the sharp crack of cartilage. Satisfying.

"Cade!" Elena shouted from somewhere behind me.

I barely glanced at her, frown deepening.

"Did you not hear him? This moron is angry at me for saving his life. Let me take back the life I saved."

Fair’s fair, after all.

I headbutted him again—might as well make it symmetrical—then drove a punch into his stomach. Grabbed his head with both hands and forced it down, meeting it with my rising knee. A Tristan special I’d copied after getting hit by it multiple times. Figured I should return the favor to someone who deserved it.

"Cade, that’s enough! He’s our teammate!"

Elena’s voice cut through the satisfying rhythm of violence. I released him, shoving him backward with more force than strictly necessary. He staggered, lost his footing, fell on his ass in the snow. Sprawled there looking dazed and bloody.

"Yes, a useless one at that." I jabbed my finger at him, each word precise. "What exactly did they teach us all this past week? You enter a gate—just barely at the entrance—and you’re already forcing your summon to overextend. You’re slow in the face of danger. You freeze up when it matters." I paused, letting that sink in. "What did you even do up until this point? This one isn’t a teammate. He’s a liability. Let’s abandon him."

Elena stared at me, expression cycling through stunned and shocked before settling on something more complicated.

’What? Did she think I was going to coddle dead weight?’

I raised a brow. "What?"

She shook her head slowly, exhaling like she’d been holding her breath. "Apparently there’s so much about you nobody knows. Who could’ve ever thought you would have elements of such... ruthlessness."

’Elements? Lady, that wasn’t even ruthless. That was restrained.’

"But no, Cade." Her voice firmed up, taking on that idealistic tone that grated on my nerves. "We can’t abandon him. We only have each other to depend on. That’s why we’re a team. And at large, all twenty-three of us are one—we have to protect each other."

I shook my head, feeling my irritation spike higher. Her naivete was starting to genuinely annoy me. Protect each other? Sure. Drag along someone actively trying to get us killed? Different story entirely.

"We should move," I said flatly, turning away and walking toward Kassie.

She looked at me and nodded with what I could only interpret as approval, even through that helmet. I could imagine her stern face underneath, those sharp eyes conveying ’well done’ without words.

’At least someone gets it.’

The sort of people that easily made it to the list of my most hated: ungrateful, entitled, and stupid people. Absolute morons. And that guy? He was hitting the trifecta.

I walked toward Charlotte and Celine, Kassie falling into step behind me. The two had already dismissed their summons. On reaching them, I had to do the same—couldn’t have Kassie out when I was supposed to be playing at F rank.

Kassie looked displeased as the dismissal took hold, fading into ethereal wisps. She always did. Hated being sent away, like I was cutting short her fun.

’Join the club. I’m not thrilled about it either.’

But I had to convince these people I was F rank. Technically I was... or not. I didn’t even know anymore. The Academy’s classification system could go to hell for all I cared.

We continued forward through the snow, boots crunching through the frozen surface, looking for a path to the nearest cave. The cold bit at exposed skin, and the wind carried that hollow sound that only came in desolate places.

We finally found one, though it wasn’t close. It sat at the bottom of the snow mountain—naturally, because nothing could be convenient. We’d have to climb down the steep mountainside, cross the frozen river below, and then maybe, possibly, we’d reach what looked like our destination.

Based on the dark opening and its position tucked into the rock face, I suspected it would be a cave. Hoped, really, because if it wasn’t? We were going to have a problem.

The wind had been whispering all this while—low, almost thoughtful, like it was considering something important. Weighing its options.

Now it seemed to have made up its mind.

It began with a shiver in the air, a faint pulse that made the snow underfoot tremble. The sound shifted, deepened—turned into a low hum that crawled through the bones and settled somewhere uncomfortable. I glanced up. The sky had thickened into a single oppressive sheet of gray, dense enough that even sound felt muffled, swallowed.

’Great. Because this wasn’t already going poorly enough.’

"Keep moving," Elena called out, her voice barely carrying over the growing wind.

She wrapped her coat tighter as she spoke, shoulders hunching against the cold. Charlotte was squinting ahead, trying to gauge the slope’s angle, and Celine had her hand on the ridge, feeling her way down like she didn’t trust her eyes. Smart woman.

The descent wasn’t supposed to be hard—just steep enough to demand focus and careful footing. But the air kept getting heavier, thicker, like the mountain itself was pressing down on us.

We kept pushing forward. Our legs sank into the snow with each step, which made things... complicated. The deep powder meant less chance of slipping and rolling down in an uncontrolled tumble. At the same time, it meant every single step was a conscious battle against the terrain trying to swallow our boots. Lift, push forward, sink, repeat. Each movement deliberate. Each movement exhausting.

Then the snow came.

Not the slow, lazy drift we’d been walking through all morning—that had been almost peaceful. This came in bursts, fast and angry, whipping sideways like the mountain had personally turned on us. Some kind of divine punishment for our hubris in thinking we could cross it.

Within seconds, the world collapsed into nothing but white and wind and the muffled crunch of boots disappearing under it all.

"Stick together!" someone shouted. Maybe Elena. Maybe me. Hard to tell when the storm ate sound like it was starving, desperate, consuming every word before it could reach the next person.

A blur moved at my left—tall, bulky. Charlotte? No, too tall for her. Maybe the deadweight?

’Perfect timing for him to wander off.’

I reached out, fingers grasping, closing around nothing but air and ice crystals. My glove brushed through empty space. The slope gave a subtle shift underfoot, just enough to tilt my balance and make my stomach drop. I dug my boots in hard, gritting my teeth against the effort. Couldn’t see five feet ahead. Couldn’t see anything.

"Elena!" I barked into the white.

No answer. Only the hiss of snow against my hood, the storm pressing close and alive, wrapping around us like something with intent.

I summoned Kassie immediately. A whirlwind of crimson sparks appeared in the chaos, swirling together and merging into her familiar form. The snowstorm threatened to swallow her whole, white trying to drown out red, but her figure remained visible within it—solid, grounded, real.

’At least something’s working.’

I caught a glimpse of movement again—someone sliding downward, body tumbling, swallowed whole by white. Couldn’t even tell who it was through the curtain of snow.

The cold bit deeper now, finding its way past every layer of clothing, worming into joints and lungs like something invasive. Every breath burned going down, ice crystallizing in my throat. My vision tunneled, caught between flashes of gray and white and indistinct motion.

At some point my footing gave out completely. The world tilted, and I felt myself staggering, falling—

But Kassie caught me. Her gauntleted hand grabbed my coat with perfect timing, and she simply eroded through the snowstorm, phasing us both out of the chaos. We landed gently on the surface of the frozen river below, her weight distributed so perfectly that the ice barely groaned under us.

It was quite amazing how she could control her mass despite the drop from that height. Physics didn’t seem to apply the same way when she wanted it not to.

The snowstorm continued above us, drifting down from the mountain like a white cloud descending to pass judgment on everything below. I staggered slightly as I stood up, steadying myself against the residual dizziness. My vision still swam, world tilting gently.

I looked up. The snow was cascading downward with considerable force, and something dark seemed to be rolling through it. Something person-shaped.

A body tumbled out of the storm and onto the frozen river with a heavy thud.

’You’ve got to be kidding me.’

I ran forward immediately to check who it was, boots slipping slightly on the ice. My brows furrowed as I got close enough to make out features.

’Fuck me.’

Of course it was the deadweight. He lay there unconscious, having apparently passed out mid-fall and just... rolled down the entire mountain. Like a particularly incompetent snowball.

I exhaled hard, breath misting in the freezing air, and grabbed his hood. Started dragging him across the river’s surface, ice smooth beneath his dead weight. Each pull sent a spike of effort through my shoulders.

Then the river began to crack.

A sharp, crystalline sound. Almost delicate.

I paused for a moment, making sure I was hearing right and not just imagining disaster. The wind died down just enough for the sound to carry clearly.

Another crack. Louder this time. Spreading.

’Who decided to fuck this all up?!’

I yanked him up hurriedly, adrenaline spiking, and hurled him over my shoulder in one motion. Started running forward, boots pounding against ice that groaned in protest. It wasn’t easy—my steps immediately got heavier, each one threatening to plunge through—but I had to prioritize speed over caution. Had to move now.

"Kassie! Run!"

She stood there, perfectly still, like she didn’t understand the concept of imminent danger. Just watching me with that implacable helmet stare.

Then she suddenly burst into motion.

’Thank—wait. What?’

She was running. But why was she running toward me?!