CHAPTER 38: IT’S SO COLD

"Written my will?" Alex blinked, glaring down upon her with a furious expression on his face. Just because she froze a bullet doesn’t give her the audacity to ask me such a question!

Alex fired three shots, then charged forward and swung his blade. Even if all the bullets were frozen, he would surely get a hit with his dagger. It would create an opening for more.

Ether, dashed to the side, dodging the bullets. She was too fast for the bullets to catch her in their path, but she didn’t notice Alex until his dagger was inches away from cleaving her.

Ether pivoted on her heel, swinging her entire upper body and spinning to the side. In that instant, she missed the blade by an hair’s breath, her pupils narrowing to slits as she sighed.

He lunged, forward, exposing his blind side to her attack. Ether did not waste time in burying her claws in his back, but he then aimed his gun to her side, shooting in her face.

Ether pulled out her claws, blocking her face from the bullets. She crossed her arms in defence, seeing as he spun around and swung his dagger in an arc, cutting across her waist.

Her dress got split, soaking in blood as the wound bled out. Ether gritted her teeth and bore the pain of the cut, trying her best to ignore it as she dashed forth and threw a punch.

Ether’s fist landed square on Alex’s face, sending him staggering back with shock etched into his face. He wiped the blood off the corner of his lips then cracked his neck, "Not bad,"

"Not bad at all!" he roared as he charged forward, slashing at her with his dagger then firing three shots from his gun. Ether blocked his blow, titling her body to dodge his bullets.

"Why are you screaming?" Ether sighed, stepping forward then pivoting on her heel and swinging a punch— throwing all her weight into it. Her explosive punch blew him in the air.

As his feet lifted off the ground and he hurtled across the room, Ether dashed forward to grab his ankle. Just as she spun him in the air, Alex suddenly aimed at her face with his gun.

Just as she slammed him into the tiles, he pressed the trigger. His bullet’s trajectory got tilted then it pierced through her arm. Ether ignored the pain, dragging him along the tiles.

She lifted her leg and slammed it in his abdomen, causing him to vomit blood from both his nose and mouth. Alex grabbed Ether’s leg, then fired point-blank into her exposed jaws.

Ether blocked the bullet with her hand, then hunched over and delivered her other fist to his face. The punch sent a shock-wave throughout the floor, causing the walls to shake.

——

"You escaped at the last moment. I underestimated you." Silas praised, lifting his right hand and squeezing it into a fist. He caught ten flashes of light from his left, "Such a mess."

Beams of light ripped through the air from the side, homing in on his direction. As they travelled through the air, Silas snapped his finger then vanished from his position in a blink.

He appeared right behind Verona who had his hands stretched out, clawing downwards with his hand. Verona noticed this, then he rolled forward, homing the lights on Silas again.

"You’ve become careful." Silas complained, watching as the lights diverted to greet him, then he snapped his finger again and vanished. Verona frowned, then he froze all the lights.

"I can barely read your attacks." Silas said in a voice laced with murderous intent as the temperature of their surroundings dropped by a few hundred degrees— far in the negatives.

A chill ran down Verona’s spine as he felt a hand rest on his shoulder, then he broke out a cold sweat. He dragged all the lights to home in on their location, his face pale with fear.

"Don’t worry," Silas said in a calm voice, his tone of speaking growing icier with every passing second. He grabbed Verona tight, whispering into his ear, "I can’t use Disintegrate."

The lights froze right in front of Verona’s face while other’s froze from all around Silas’ sides and behind. He looked around him, raising a brow at the trembling beams, "Oh nice."

He’d create a frozen atmosphere with absolute zero zone, then used telekinesis to halt all the beams of light. Since they weren’t natural beams, Silas didn’t think it’d work, but...

"Why— Why won’t they move?" Verona asked, sweat rolling down his face as he glared at Silas out the corner of his eyes. Veins popped all around his face, but he struggled in vain.

Not a single beam of light advanced further in the absolute zero zone. Silas spun Verona around, keeping his grip tightened round the man’s shoulder, "You want to live, don’t you?"

"I am not going to tell you—" Verona started, only for him to look down and see that his entire shoulder— clothes and skin underneath —was rotting away to disintegrated particles.

The surface flesh was destroyed slowly, then the nerves, muscles and bones followed as the disintegration grew to other body parts with a heart wrenching pain, "—make it stop!"

"I don’t think that some little information is worth your suffering, Verona?" Silas spoke in a soft voice, but it only sent chills into the terrified Verona’s heart, so much he trembled.

"We came here to retrieve our trump care, but no one ever thought you were the ’hero’ that freed her." Verona watched as the disintegration paused, his heart racing in his chest.

His shoulder had already faded from existence, and not a drop of blood was spilled. He had lost the shoulder, but still felt an immense pain, "The resistance would retrieve Ether."

’Oh, it’s those guys.’ Silas raised a brow. He guessed that they must have a hidden base here, and Ether could locate them. She had a good nose, doesn’t she? Silas shook his head.

His hand, which remained on Verona’s body fell after a while. Verona, who stood just a few inches away from Silas moments ago, vanished. Only floating particles remained there.