16 - The Frozen Soul

The night was dark, and the moon was laughing at its darkness, taunting it with its pretty moonlight that illuminated the city. The layer of clouds slowly dissipated, revealing the moon’s beauty, allowing it to bless the lands which didn’t suspect what their future would hold. And their future was one filled with destruction.

“Alright, get out, you two.” Katya told Nightseer and Reiner, who both jumped down from LV1 after it crouched down. “And you, little brat, climb into my palms.” She told Yumichi. He quietly followed the instructions.

LV1 leapt a great distance, crash landing and probably destroying a few cars beneath it. She released Yumichi and allowed him to run off, like a human releasing an insect into the wild. LV1 leapt back a little, and now that the bait was set, all she had to do was wait.

And sure enough, Ichika took the bait. After rushing to where the giant creature was, she was both relieved and scared to find Yumichi there, running around on the street, confused and frightened, but mostly confused.

“Yumichi!” Ichika yelled out, rushing to him faster than he could even perceive. She quickly embraced him before suddenly letting go of him. “You’re...you’re a soulful? You have a soul presence!”

“Yay, big sis!” Yumichi exclaimed, jumping back into his sister’s embrace. “I missed you so much!”

“Where are they? What did they do to you?!” Ichika asked, brimming with rage.

“They uhh...they gave me some ice cream, and they played cards with me...” Yumichi recollected. “Big sis, they said they wanted to fight you or something. I told them you would totally kick their butts!”

“Oh, I’ll do that, okay? I’ll do more than that.” Ichika said, letting go of him again. She looked into the distance, seeing LV1’s giant frame posing over the city.

“Big sis, I haven’t seen you for so long...” Yumichi said, now a little sad. “I didn’t know anything about where you were, or how you were...”

“I miss you too, but I have to take care of those assholes first.” Ichika said. LV1 was still there, as if inviting Ichika to attack it.

“Mom and dad didn’t know anything either.”

Ichika was caught off guard a little by that sentence, taking into consideration how important it was for her to concentrate, this was probably the single worst sentence she could have heard. The timing was horrific. Her breath shook a little, she was being distracted by bad thoughts again. But nevertheless, a few seconds of dismay later, she recollected herself and took the first step forward.

“How many are there? Just this giant thing?” Ichika asked.

“There’s three of them.” Yumichi replied. “Uhm, big sis...you’re gonna kick their butts, right?”

“The giant is the one that’s supposed to stop me. The other two...they’re here either for backup or to keep tabs on Yumichi.”

“As much as I don’t want to, I’ll have to leave him alone and take care of that thing.”

“Go on then, leave him alone.”

“I can’t let him be close to the combat.”

“He’s scared and confused. He misses you. Go on, leave him alone.”

“Just shut up. I know what I’m doing.”

“Isn’t that what you tell yourself every time before you end up miserable?”

“The big frame will let me use flash freeze as much as possible. It’ll be hard for it to catch me, assuming it doesn’t have any special abilities for that purpose.”

“You’re changing the topic, Ichika.”

“As for the other two, I can’t tell how or when they will intervene.”

“You’re changing the topic, Ichika.”

“Why can’t you just let go of me already?”

“Because I’m treating you the same way you’re treating me.”

“Big sis...?”

“Yumichi, I need you to run away. I need you to get as far away as possible.” Ichika said. “I don’t want you to get caught in the crossfire.”

“Okay, I’ll...I’ll do it.” Yumichi said, frightened by his sister’s determined expression. He quickly ran off, waving at her. “I...I believe in you! Go beat them up!”

“Right...” Ichika said. She felt slightly more reassured, but maybe that emotion was...ill timed. Her eyes were locked onto LV1, and she started to slowly approach her.

“I can feel all three presences, but this one...this one’s pretty damn high.”

“Who do you think you hate more? Me or them?”

“I hate them.”

“How about yourself?”

“Just let me focus.”

“They’re not the ones that hurt you so much, are they?!”

“Just shut the fuck up already!!!” Ichika yelled at the top of her lungs. She charged at LV1, with the road beneath her transforming into ice as she seamlessly skated on it. As she got closer to LV1, she catapulted herself, heading straight for LV1’s large torso.

“This thing probably can’t move fast enough to stop me, I’ll destroy it with just one flash freeze!”

She grabbed onto LV1 and put her palm on it.

“Soul Interpretation.”

“Flash Freeze!!!”

She expected the whole thing to get instantly frozen. Or, at least, large chunks of its body to succumb to that fate, and essentially leave the mech paralyzed. But only a handful of ice formed. A strange layer of soul prowess coated the mech that greatly reduced the effect of enemy abilities, and it rendered flash freeze essentially useless.

“You thought it would be that easy?” Katya’s voice was heard, as LV1 smacked Ichika away, slamming her into a nearby building and leaving a trail of destruction behind. LV1 quickly repositioned itself closer to where she would be, and struck the ground with all its might.

Fortunately, though, despite the damage sustained and the mental shock of realizing the opponent is almost invulnerable to her attacks, Ichika got back up on her feet and dodged the blow. A second or two later, a large shockwave completely destroyed the building, alongside parts of the road and the buildings close to it. Ichika was quickly granted the role of the survivor, as she backed away and essentially ran away from LV1 as fast as she could.

LV1 chased her down, destroying everything in its path. Ichika tried to counter-attack while escaping, she launched frozen spears and icicles at it, but they either only scratched the surface or were deflected completely. LV1 was surprisingly agile for its size, but Ichika’s own agility and speed allowed her to keep going.

“How am I gonna damage that thing?”

She took a moment to catch her breath and stared at the bloodthirsty beast of a mech.

“Flash freeze...”

“Despite the limited damage, it managed to break through. If I sustain contact, it’ll likely spread more.”

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Ichika, subverting Katya’s expectations, charged right at it. While LV1 was trying to catch her, she was already at the mech’s right foot, and attempted to make contact with it. Katya, realizing what was about to unfold, quickly moved her foot, but Ichika had already attached herself on it. She touched it with her palm.

“Flash Freeze.”

“Nice and slow...”

Her theory on how to effectively get her soul expression through was by no means incorrect. Flash freeze slowly started spreading, albeit, that was extremely difficult to execute and required almost all of Ichika’s concentration. Parts of the ice were starting to break apart, and the foot seemed more and more dysfunctional by the minute.

“Ugh...damn it! Do you know how long it takes to fix this thing?!” Katya yelled. LV1 raised its foot with Ichika still attached to it, and instead of shaking it around trying to throw her off like she previously did, she kicked a nearby house. And another one. And she kicked even more of them, like a martial artist breaking one piece of wood after another with precise and deadly kicks.

Ichika was getting hurt, but she was way too focused on disabling the foot. Just making sure the mech struggled with balance and couldn’t just chase her down was a great enough gain for receiving such a beatdown.

“Come on, almost done...”

“This much flash freeze would’ve fucked up this entire area five times over...this thing’s armor or whatever it is is ridiculously strong.”

“I’m surprised I’m strong enough to damage it in the first place.”

“Is that so?”

“Fucking hell, get off of me!” Katya screeched, shoving the half-frozen half-destroyed foot into the ground. Ichika was finally forced off of it, and with another motion, LV1 used the barely intact remnants of the foot to kick Ichika into the distance.

Aizawa was having the time of her life observing it through the surveillance systems around.

Ichika crash landed further away, this time, the kick was strong enough to cause her a great deal of pain. She slowly stood up, her hands shaking a little.

“God damn it...I held contact with it for so long, and still couldn’t properly chop its foot off...”

“If things keep going on like this, my whole carcass will get broken before I manage to chop off at least one of its limbs.”

“And I don’t think I can go for one of its limbs either.”

“I thought you said you’re strong enough to damage it.”

“Yeah, I did.” Ichika sighed. “It’s always the same deal. I’m too weak to do anything.”

“All I do is ruin everything-”

“Big sis?” Yumichi said, peeking out of a ruined house. “Who are you talking to?”

“Yumichi, I told you to run away, didn’t I?” Ichika asked, before realizing that this meeting was a result of her getting knocked far away. She noticed LV1 slowly start to approach her, it was visibly limping a little.

“Why did you call yourself weak?” Yumichi asked. “You’re...you’re strong, right? Look!” He said, pointing at LV1 in the distance. “Look, it can’t walk properly anymore!”

“It’s not just that...” Ichika sighed. “I should’ve killed it one go. But...I can’t.”

“Good job, Ichika. He heard you talk to yourself like that, and now he feels bad. I don’t even know how you manage that.”

“Big sis, you looked awesome running away from it too!” Yumichi exclaimed. “You never give up, I know you can beat it!”

“On second thought, I did make it start limping.” Ichika said, looking at LV1 again. “Right, thanks, Yumichi.”

“You’re my big sis! I know you can do it!” Yumichi cheered.

“He seems happy now. He’s excited to see me.” Ichika thought, heading towards LV1 once again.

“Felt good, didn’t it?”

“Kind of.”

Ichika jumped up on top of one of the buildings, but it wasn’t tall enough to put her on the same level as LV1’s head. She leapt at it, but LV1 managed to smack her away again.

But instead of the usual disappointment, Ichika stood back up again.

“I know how it reacts now.”

She rushed at it again, instead of leaping at it she chose to run towards its feet. LV1 used its botched foot to try and stomp her, but Ichika’s agility was far too superior against such a cheap makeshift weapon.

“If Yumichi believes in me, I know for sure I can take this thing down.”

She latched onto LV1’s other foot. This time, LV1 raised its knee, and attempted to grab Ichika with its hands. Seeing as the mech was relying on its faulty foot to keep itself standing, she found an opening. She quickly launched herself down, using the impact of a smaller ice blast to grant herself enough moment to outspeed LV1’s limbs.

And there, on the ground...

“ICE BLAST!!!”

An incredibly large formation of ice knocked the mech down. Despite receiving little to no damage, the knockback alone was enough to cause it to fall, and it fell with great enough impact to shake some of the buildings close to it, that is, those which weren’t immediately crushed by it.

“”Hah...it actually worked...”

“If Yumichi believes in me, maybe there’s something in me worth believing in.”

“Is he the only one?”

Ichika rushed at the fallen mech, quickly grabbing onto its healthy foot and starting the slow and deadly process of freezing it off. Whilst Katya was desperately trying to get her mech to get up, Ichika had already destroyed its second foot. The mech’s agility, which was one of its surprisingly potent factors, was now compromised.

LV1 got up again, it was really struggling to move around now. Its hands were fine and dandy, matter of fact, it tried to swing its arms around in hopes of catching Ichika. But there was simply no way it would happen. The human was failing to catch the poisonous hornet which was slowly beginning to wear it down.

“No, there’s other people who believe in me too.”

“There’s Sakuto, my soulmate. There’s Ausra, my best friend.”

“Damn it, stop butchering LV1!” Katya yelled again. LV1 moved with powerful footsteps, each step carving a small hole in the ground - not for destruction or intimidation, but to help it balance itself. And Ichika enjoyed playing the role of the hornet.

Her next target was LV1’s knees - even disabling one knee would be enough to neutralize her. For reasons she didn’t know about yet, her icicles and spears she mostly threw as a distraction were starting to deal greater damage to the mech.

“Ice Blast!!!”

Amidst her nigh-impossible to track evasive maneuvers, she launched another ice blast, an even stronger version of what she deployed last time. LV1 reacted in time, jumping back and barely standing up straight after landing. Ichika quickly closed the distance and climbed onto LV1’s body, using small-scale flash freezes that were now much more potent. She was soon punched off, and landed on the roof of a nearby building.

“Go! Go-”

Ichika sharply turned to the side, watching Yumichi in the distance.

“Go! Go! Big sis!” He cheered.

She smiled.

“He got sad when I called myself weak...”

“And Sakuto and Ausra probably feel the same way too. They feel bad when I treat myself like that.”

“You’re right. But you deserve better, don’t you think?”

“They see something in me that makes them like or love me.”

“And you don’t want to hurt anyone, right?”

“For them, it’s not my fault. I’m not weak. I’m not miserable. I deserve to live. I deserve to be around them. And it’s okay if I make a mistake.”

“There’s only one more person that needs to think that way about me.”

Ichika’s eyes were wide open. Even at her current level, she was strong enough to eventually overpower LV1 and break it apart. However, in a moment, the fight would fade from a hard-fought battle to a brutal execution.

Nightseer and Reiner were lurking in the distance. They were there to oversee the battle and to intervene whenever the need arose. Katya would send an emergency signal to them, and the one-on-one confrontation would quickly transform into a three-on-one beatdown. But it all relied on one simple fact that none of them could predict - what if Katya doesn’t physically manage to send out that call for rescue?

Katya’s own pride and perseverance managed to guide her so far, allowing her to fight even while severely hindered. Ichika, however, could feel her voltage hit its maximum, courtesy of finally figuring out her inner puzzle.

“There’s only one person...”

“That needs to stop hating me...”

“To stop this cycle of hurting others and being hurt.”

“ ✦ Divine Acclamation ✦ ”

Upon feeling that spark of soul presence, Katya immediately lunged at Ichika. LV1’s well-placed uppercut managed to destroy the building she was standing on, launching her into the air. LV1 immediately rushed after her, reaching for her with its hand.

And Ichika, mid-air, aimed a finger gun at her. A thin emerald halo emerged behind her head, and her presence was soaring like the wildest flame.

“Maybe I’m not so bad after all.”

Her eyes shone brighter and more beautiful than ever. With a content smile on her half-bloodied face, she unleashed the decisive blow.

“ ✦ Abyssal Frostbite ✦ ”

LV1 erupted into pieces. A gigantic icy explosion that occurred after a thin light blue lightning-like essence struck LV1 and a similarly colored spark that emerged on LV1’s chest completely destroyed it, shredding the seemingly indestructible fortress of a mech to pieces. Large frozen chunks fell down on the ground, as Ichika made a smooth landing on a nearby rooftop.

“Wooooah...” Yumichi said in sheer amusement.

“Katya!!!” Nightseer yelled, for the first time in a while sounding genuinely worried, even fearful for his comrade’s life. He quickly prepared to engage, and Reiner followed suit. The two began their advance towards the target.

And Ichika, for the first time, felt like a weight akin to a whole mountain was lifted off of her shoulders. She felt herself able to move, speak and feel. The spark that resided within her eyes looked profoundly beautiful...