17 - Ice-bound Showdown

“Ugh...”

Katya barely climbed out of a pile of rubble and ice. Her face looked bloody and her body sustained impressive damage. She coughed up a little blood and somehow found enough strength within her to stand up.

“This damn...creature...”

“Whatever the hell that was... my soul expression and LV1’s essence saved me. If I got hit by that thing outside of LV1, I would’ve been dead for sure...”

She tripped on some debris and fell down, coughing up more blood. After wiping some of the blood that dripped out of her lips and nose, she took a deep breath.

“I’ll have to figure something out.”

...

Blessed by a heavenly feeling of momentary inner peace, Ichika Hanasaki’s voltage had reached its maximum.

“Yumichi said there were two others, right?”

“With this type of power...I can’t see how they’ll hurt me.”

Just as she recollected her thoughts, the two new additions to the battlefield arrived at the scene, and took a stance. Under the intrigued moonlight, Nightseer and Reiner stood on the rooftop across, and prepared to engage.

“Out of everything we could’ve done to capture Sakuto Hitori...why the fuck were we told to go after her?” Reiner asked his comrade, annoyed, frustrated and even a little scared.

“No idea-”

“Sakuto Hitori?” Ichika asked, who, to Reiner’s detriment, appeared to have overheard the conversation. “That was your goal all along? Capturing Sakuto?”

“Hey, it’s-”

“No one can capture him.” She said, her deadly intent apparent in her voice. “No one can hurt him or even lay a finger on him. Only I can, and that’s because he’s into it.”

Before the two could even process that information, Ichika rushed in!

“Ice Blast.”

Instead of an instant blast of ice, a light quake occurred, followed by a tremendous ice shard destroying the building completely and launching the two soulfuls into the air. Upon their landing, Ichika rushed in and swung her kunai blades at Nightseer. The attack that was supposed to land perfectly, however...

At the last second, Nightseer parried the attack. Tightly holding onto his blade, he fought back - forcing Ichika to play it safer and focus more on dodging. Ichika stepped back and unleashed a hellfire of icicles and tiny ice knives at Nightseer, who seemed to have little difficulty parrying or even deflecting most of the projectiles. Ichika fired off a more spherical and larger ice projectile, missing it on purpose. A second later, the orb detonated into dozens of sharp fragments.

Nightseer subverted Ichika’s plans and didn’t turn around to parry it, instead, he focused on Ichika herself. She charged in, and, for just a second, touched him with her palm. Nightseer found himself under the mercy of flash freeze, but at least he was prepared.

He managed to parry it. Instead of having his body frozen dead as originally intended, a small force repelled Ichika back and even hurt her arm.

“This touch-based attack is what caused Katya of all people so much trouble.”

“I can parry it efficiently as long as she hasn’t figured out how I react to things. As long as I get the appropriate warnings, I can parry virtually anything.”

Ichika prepared for another attack, but instead of feeling the thrill of battle, she felt the unpleasantness of a piercing wound. Her right arm was struck by what appeared to be a long steel spear, and it pinned the limb to the ground.

“Reiner’s getting involved too.” Nightseer thought, now a little more hopeful.

Ichika failed to remove the spear from her arm, and the task became even more grueling once another such spear pierced it. Nightseer immediately charged in, and so did Reiner, attacking from the flank.

“I got this. This is nothing I can’t overcome.”

“Had it been another soulful in my shoes, they’d be out of options.”

Ichika’s arm erupted and launched frozen shards everywhere! The impact forced both soulfuls back, and instead of a usual limb, Ichika’s half-torn arm was equipped with a large and sharp ice formation. She swung it like a blade, and with a kunai in her other arm, had melee options both for close and long range options. Instead of focusing on Nightseer, who she suspected to have a tough defensive ability, she went for Reiner - the new combatant who caused quite a bit of trouble to her just then.

She rushed at Reiner and swung the frozen arm. Reiner dodged, and Ichika quickly enhanced the arm - transforming it to a large frozen scythe. The change of weapons caught Reiner off guard, and the latter was struck in his stomach. The ice didn’t go far though, it seemed that Reiner too had some type of hardened defense.

Ichika jumped back, striking the ground with the scythe and summoning another ice blast. She was now on the backfoot, constantly dodging Nightseer’s and Reiner’s advances.

“The guy with the blindfold can parry my attacks. He bailed himself out from getting killed by flash freeze.”

“And the other guy...alongside the weapons, he also has solid defense.”

“So what should I do?”

“...”

“Abyssal frostbite.”

“That’s what I killed the giant robot thingy with. It was definitely stronger than these guys, and I destroyed it in one shot.”

"But I feel like it needs some more time to charge up. I feel that if I fight and use my abilities more, and if I retain my voltage...I'll be able to access it again."

“Right now, I feel like I’m on top of the world. And that I shouldn’t be ashamed of being here.”

Ichika quickly regenerated her limb, armed herself with her soul-bound weapon, and went on the offensive once more. She threw heaps of slashing attacks and kicks at Reiner, but the latter received little to not damage. She occasionally used small-scale ice blasts or frozen projectiles to fend off Nightseer, but the latter simply parried everything. But despite the battle being at a numerical disadvantage for her, she was the one dictating its course.

“If she uses whatever destroyed LV1 on Reiner, he’ll be toast. But if she uses it on me...”

Nightseer, finalizing his strategy, went in for the counter attack. He swung his blade, which Ichika countered with a step back and a well-timed sweep to drop him. Ichika swung her arm with all her might and struck the ground, and while Nightseer did manage to dodge, the ground shook from the impact. Nightseer, who expected to get targeted further, was surprised to see her holding contact with the ground.

“Flash Freeze.”

The ground erupted, as a deadly flash freeze spread all throughout the street, breaking up the concrete like a child breaking up a biscuit before somehow managing to choke on it anyways and disappointing its parents. Dozens of frozen spikes emerged from the ground, forcing both Nightseer and Reiner to retreat.

“Night, what’s the plan?!” Reiner yelled, trying to avoid the spikes. He got tagged by a few of them regardless, had it not been for his refined toughness, those tags would’ve instead been fight-ending wounds.

“Thoughts and prayers.” Nightseer replied, holding onto his blade tighter. His hands were a little shaky. “We just have to hope something goes the way we want it to.”

“That little brat wasn’t lying. She’s a fucking monster.” Reiner said, before preparing to advance again.

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“My soul expression’s ‘toughness’ is enough to withstand most ice attacks. And the ‘sharpness’ is enough to wound her body.”

“I should be the one taking her head on!”

Reiner rushed towards the target, traversing the spike-filled and dangerous frozen landscape. Ichika, who tracked her advance, spent no time resting and quickly went to greet the unwanted visitor in her domain of ice. She jumped down from above and attacked him with all her strength. Reiner only blocked and managed to withstand an otherwise lethal barrage with relative ease.

Ichika feinted a kick and used the maneuver to step to the side and stab Reiner in his shoulder. It felt like the kunai just wouldn’t go inside his body. Reiner caught her with a hook and a left-right, finishing the combination off with a shove-kick. Nightseer had already positioned himself to assist him.

“My ‘steel’ runs through my body and reinforces me to the point where not even this fucking monster can hurt me.” Reiner thought, watching Ichika and Nightseer go at it in close-quarters combat.

“It’s probably risky to sacrifice accumulated toughness to manifest a sharpened attack.”

“But at the same time, the more I accumulate it, the heavier I get. Eventually, I’ll become slow enough to fail to dodge the instant-freeze attack, and that’s game over.”

“So what’s the solution to this?”

He manifested a saw blade and threw it in their direction. It sliced through the spikes in the area and barely missed the target. Ichika barely avoided it, and in that timeframe, Nightseer managed to land a slashing attack with his blade. Reiner closed the distance, and he and his ally began a two-on-one advance.

Nightseer jumped forward to parry Ichika’s attacks and counter attack, and Reiner used a small dagger in his hand to damage the enemy.

“Reiner’s in offensive mode. I gotta keep him safe and let him secure a killshot.” Nightseer thought, continuing the advance.

“Eventually, Night will find a good enough opening for me to strike. I won’t let it go to waste!” Reiner thought, avoiding a series of ice projectiles and getting close, managing to land more and more light slashing attacks as time went on.

“Why the fuck am I letting them get close?” Ichika thought, launching herself off of the ground. A large ice spike followed her, allowing her to, for even just an instant, stand high above the ground.

What proceeded could only be described as utter destruction. Heaps of large icicles and shards fell down on the ground, breaking everything apart. Reiner’s lack of toughness would be to his great disadvantage had it not been for Nightseer covering for him.

“The ice is accumulating well enough.” Ichika said. “I’ll fire it soon.” Her strongest believer, Yumichi, was observing the fight from far away. He was in awe of just what her sister was capable of. His warnings should’ve been paid more attention to, because Ichika was, quite frankly, kicking their butts.

However, an unexpected addition to the battlefield changed the tide of war.

A figure, twice the size of a human and similar in appearance to LV1, launched itself at Ichika. It grabbed her and plummeted to the ground with her, slamming her face first into the concrete. Ichika quickly stood back up and rushed back, but the mech, which had a hidden blade, chopped her left arm off clean.

Ichika, off guard, quickly tried to set off an ice blast, but before she could strike the ground, the mech kicked her away.

“Katya!” Nightseer cheered, now sounding much more hopeful.

“Watch the newest miracle unfold.” Katya’s voice said. “Less size, more toughness, more awesomeness. Introducing LV1-S, the S stands for ‘small’!”

“Being inside of a mech protects me from being instantly killed by that attack. She’ll have to dedicate twice the effort to kill me, and if Nighty covers for me, I’ll be a massive pain in the ass for her.”

“Now it’s getting fun.” Reiner said. “Just the three of us, taking down a monster.”

“It’s not fun. Her soul presence is blindingly high, and it’s only getting higher.”

“Katya, me and you will secure Reiner while he prepares a killshot. She’s weak now, we can pressure her.” Nightseer said.

“If only we knew we’d be safe getting close to her.”

“Something’s off.”

Ichika stood up. She seemed unfazed by the fact that her limb was completely missing. She calmly manifested an ice spear and spun it in her hand. And then, she dashed back.

“Katya!!!” Nightseer immediately yelled, sensing her soul presence be elevated to a whole different level. “She’s preparing to launch it!”

“On it!” Katya yelled. LV1 quickly rushed towards Ichika, but was met with a series of frozen spears striking her down, now dealing significant damage to the mech.

“Tch, damn it! Now she knows I was bluffing about the toughness!”

“Katya, I’m getting heavier!” Reiner called out. Katya quickly turned around heading towards Reiner to pick him up.

Ichika benefited greatly from being at a distance. Not only could she pressure them with ranged projectiles, but she could also gain enough time to prepare for another usage of ‘abyssal frostbite’. She conjured a gigantic spear with a fork-like tip and hurled it at the three soulfuls. Nightseer managed to intercept it and get in its way in the nick of time. Once he felt the warning go off, he quickly parried and destroyed the spear. Large chunks of ice fell on the ground, but at this point, it was nothing new for the area.

Katya finished picking up Reiner, and the three rushed at Ichika. Their whole plan relied on the fact that Ichika wasn’t aware of the ‘sharpness’. They made their way through a bombardment of ice, akin to soldiers slowly advancing into the enemy trenches while being shelled.

At last, they reached Ichika, who was now in an area were buildings still...existed. Katya threw Reiner at her, and Reiner, upon landing, quickly began throwing hands at the frozen soulful. He couldn’t deal much damage, but he could absorb a lot of it, despite the pain and slowness, he knew what he had to do. Until, at last, he was struck by something much more potent.

“Flash freeze.”

It was just one punch. One punch that he couldn’t block properly transformed into maintained contact with his shoulder, and became the source of great pain and punishment. The toughness resisted well, but it ultimately succumbed to the superior ability.

The next one to join the exchange was Nightseer, he, seeing his friend get badly injured, left his hesitation behind as he relentlessly pressured Ichika. He didn’t dedicate all of his attention to parrying, hence why a few sneaky ice projectiles and slashing attacks managed to land.

And finally, Katya herself attacked Ichika. But instead of keeping her at a distance, she made one fatal mistake. LV1-S put a bit too much power behind its attack, and thus, knocked Ichika away. Katya tried to fix that error by quickly chasing her down, but Ichika used the opportunity to unleash a powerful ice blast - this time, directed not at LV1-S, but at herself. She used the impact to propel herself into the roof of a nearby building.

Reiner, who didn’t want the opportunity to go to waste, sacrificed a part of his toughness to manifest a sharp steel spear and chuck it at Ichika. It pierced her abdomen and pinned her to the clock tower she was trying to climb up. There, on its brick roof tiles, droplets of her blood slowly began running down.

“Now! Rush her now!” Nightseer yelled. Reiner caught up to him, and they looked at their target who had finally started to look beatable.

Ichika calmly touched the spear with her palm, freezing it and destroying it.

"They'll try their hardest to kill me now, won't they?"

"I doubt they know...but I can use abyssal frostbite again."

“The mech somehow previously survived it, and the guy with the parry shenanigans might have a response to it.”

“They think I’m gonna go for the one with the toughness, right? Even if they do, there’s nothing they can do to stop it. ”

“Abyssal frostbite destroys the body, but it targets the soul itself. Physical toughness is effectively removed from the equation.”

She pointed a finger gun at the crowd.

“ ✦ Befall ✦ ”

“ ✦ Abyssal Frostbite ✦ ”

Ichika finally decided to unleash her newfound ability. The target was Reiner. But in the nick of time, Nightseer managed to intervene. He stabbed Reiner in the chest.

What followed was a sequence of Nightseer’s brilliant decision making and a major stroke of luck. At that time, Ichika’s divine acclamation was incomplete. It could indeed target souls while rendering physical defenses essentially useless, but it couldn’t lock onto a specific soul yet. Thus, when Nightseer’s soul-bound weapon pierced Reiner’s body, and a soul-bound weapon was imbued by the wielder’s soul, both souls were under attack.

Nightseer was able to conjure up this plan in mere instants. He assumed that doing so would allow him to also be targeted by the attack, and his efforts were fruitful. However, this time, he wouldn't limit himself by just parrying the attack.

“I finally have a chance!”

“Soul Interpretation:”

“Deflection!”

The warning system sounded off in his mind, and he not only parried the attack, but also deflected it. Ichika was struck by her own abyssal frostbite, and a small cloud of dust and debris surrounded her as the attack damaged the clock tower. The battlefield fell silent. Nightseer, Reiner and Katya all stared at what they predicted would be Ichika’s incapacitated body. Yumichi, who was excited, was now speechless and even worried. And Ichika...

“What is this?”

She saw a vision of a person she used to hate a lot. But she changed her mind about that person throughout the recent events.

“What are you going to do? I’m coming at you.”

“I don’t know.”

“Are you gonna fight back?”

“No, not anymore. Doing bad things to you will only make everything miserable.”

“Then what are you going to do?”

“I’m going to embrace you.”

“I’m the one person you need to embrace.”

Her soul presence reached its apotheosis, sparking with unforeseeable might, echoing throughout the skies, momentarily paralyzing the soulfuls present. Her wounds were healed, and her eyes sparked brighter than ever. Some of her bangs were now a snowy white, she had sharp frozen claws, a pair of ice crystal-colored fox ears, and parts of her body were enhanced by a frozen bliss. And she looked so damn beautiful under the moonlight...

“ ✦ Abyssal Frostbite Release: Ice Fox ✦ ”

Ichika Hanasaki, after gazing at herself with love and not hate, was finally able to bring out her most dormant and most dangerous powers...