Zay took the lead, keeping a cautious pace as he followed Lyra's steady footsteps through the thick snow. The four of them moved in silence, their breath visible in the freezing air. Snowflakes clung to their fur-lined coats, melting slightly before being replaced by fresh ones. Each step crushed the dense powder beneath their boots, leaving a faint trail.
Zay let out a slow sigh, rubbing his gloved hands together before bringing them to his face, hoping to steal some warmth from his breath. The cold had begun to settle deep into his skin.
Without realizing it, Renzo's passive activated, responding instinctively to the frigid temperature.
[Scorched Blood] Activated.
A slow heat began to pulse through Renzo's veins, radiating from his aura core. His body temperature rose—not to the point of discomfort or harm, but just enough to create an internal warmth, shielding him from the cold. Wisps of steam curled from his exposed skin as the snowflakes that landed on him evaporated instantly.
Unlike external fire, Scorched Blood didn't burn his surroundings, nor did it damage his own organs. Instead, it acted as an internal furnace, regulating his body temperature and allowing him to endure the extreme conditions with ease. The once-piercing cold had become nothing more than a distant annoyance, while the others still struggled against the numbing frost.
Zay shot Renzo a glance, noticing the faint steam rising from his brother's skin. "Lucky bastard," he muttered under his breath before shoving his hands back into his coat pockets, trudging forward.
Several hours had passed, the snowfall growing heavier as they pressed deeper into the white expanse. Just as the wind began to howl louder, Lyra suddenly halted mid-step. Her eyes narrowed, and she took a single step back.
Snow erupted at her feet as a fox lunged from beneath the surface, missing her by inches.
"…It's the fox," she murmured, her voice barely above a whisper, eyes locking onto the beast as it skidded across the snow.
Zay reacted instantly. His aura flared around his body in a thin layer. Beside him, Renzo's aura ignited in tandem—his body emanating waves of heat as steam hissed into the freezing air.
Behind them, Lily kept her distance, tense. Her fingers twitched, but she held back—knowing full well that using her aura would change the weather to rain and lightning again.
Six glowing spheres of vibrant pink energy formed around it, with a sharp howl, it launched them at the group, each one trailing fire through the air.
"God damn it..." Zay muttered to himself for a split second.
Zay and Renzo stepped forward in unison. Without exchanging a word, they threw their hands out, aura flaring. Twin shields of red and violet burst to life before the group, colliding with the incoming spheres. The sound of impact cracked across the snow-covered field like thunder.
As the shimmering shields of aura faded into the cold air, silence settled—just for a breath.
Zay exhaled slowly, wiping sweat from his brow as his amethyst eyes sharpened.
"…Let's begin," he muttered, his voice calm but laced with fire.
He glanced toward Renzo, Renzo offered a single, sharp nod.
"Let's kill this bastard."
Without another word, the two brothers launched forward in perfect sync, kicking up waves of snow.
The fox responded instantly, leaping into the air, twirling its body with grace. Two orbs of pulsing pink energy spun into existence beneath it, then hurtled downward like comets. Zay and Renzo veered apart, narrowly avoiding the blast as the orbs detonated on impact. The resulting explosion carved into the snow, flinging frost and mist high into the air.
A brief moment passed as the wind carried the remnants of the blast. In the distance, Lily and Lyra stood at the edge of the battlefield.
"They'll be fine," Lyra whispered into Lily's ear, her voice smooth, almost too calm for the chaos unfolding. "And don't try to hit me. It won't work."
Lily stiffened—her thoughts had been read like an open book. Her hand had twitched moments before, instinctively ready to lash out. Her eyes widened slightly.
She sighed, licking her lips and turning her focus forward. "Tch. Annoying."
The fox landed back on top of the snow slowly before looking at all of them.
On the battlefield, Renzo charged in from the right, steam hissing from his skin as his body burned with internal heat. He threw a powerful punch straight at the fox's side. But the beast flared its tails outward at the last second, the pink-flamed appendages hardening like a wall. The impact clashed against the barrier with a crack, but didn't break through.
Zay came in from the left, he tightened his fist, the knuckle-blades of Midnight Fangs gleaming with aura as he closed the distance. His strike piercing into the fox. The blades sank into the creature's side, and it let out a sharp, guttural whine.
With a defiant howl, the fox twisted and sprang backward, landing atop four levitating orbs of its own energy. They hovered like stepping stones in midair, crackling with unstable pink flame.
Then, without hesitation, the beast unleashed a roar. Its entire body ignited—flames spiraling around it, dancing like a living inferno. The light burned against the snowy backdrop, casting long shadows as the creature cloaked itself in bright pink fire.
"What the hell is that…?" Renzo muttered, eyes darting between the fox—now engulfed in roaring flames—and Zay, whose expression had hardened.
Zay's gaze locked on the creature for only a second longer before he remembered what it was doing.
"FUCKING RUN!" he barked, spinning on his heel and breaking into a full sprint across the snow.
Renzo didn't hesitate. No questions, no second-guessing. The tone in Zay's voice told him everything he needed to know. He took off right behind his brother, boots crushing into the snow as he ran.
Lily heard Zay's voice and what he said before he instantly spun around on her heel and bolted without thinking.
Lyra followed them without a word, her expression unreadable, blonde hair trailing behind her as the four figures raced across the frozen landscape—leaving behind the burning, howling fox as its flames stretched higher into the sky, chasing their shadows like a nightmare given form.
As the four of them ran, boots crunching through the snow, a low, agonized howl tore through the hail storm. The fox, wreathed in searing pink flames, buckled in place. The inferno around its body melted the snow in a wide radius, carving charred veins into the earth beneath. The flames shimmered unnaturally, pulsing in rhythmic waves of heat and energy.
WUUUMMM.
A sudden pulse of pink aura exploded outward from the fox, rippling through the air like a shockwave. Snowflakes vaporized mid-descent, and the ground beneath its feet hissed and cracked as the heat forced water to boil from the frozen soil. Three powerful bursts of aura spiraled upward, forming towering geysers of fire that lit the skies with a hellish-pink glow.
Its golden eyes—full of rage—locked onto the fleeing group. It let out one last thunderous roar before its body shuddered violently. The line of ice from the earlier guard's attack had finally caught up to it. The frost rapidly crept across its limbs, weaving through its body like veins of white lightning.
In seconds, the flaming beast was sealed in a crystal block of ice.
But it didn't end there.
From within the ice, the fox let out one final pulse—a compact, blinding sphere of pink fire condensed in front of its frozen maw. With a violent twitch, the sphere launched forward like a comet streaking through the sky, aimed directly at the fleeing group.
The snow beneath the sphere's path evaporated in an instant, revealing blackened rock that sizzled under the pressure. Trails of flame flared along its sides, painting the frozen wasteland in streaks of crimson and rose. But the sphere faltered—losing altitude—and slammed into the ground with a thunderous crash.
The moment it hit, the world lit up.
Three massive pillars of pink fire erupted into the sky, spiraling and writhing around each other. Their edges pulsed with raw, chaotic energy, until the flames twisted inward, coalescing into a single massive pillar that blazed upward like a beacon of destruction.
Zay glanced over his shoulder—and froze for a breath.
His eyes widened.
'It's getting closer... shit.'
He forced more aura into his legs. Violet energy surged around him as he accelerated forward, slicing through the cold air like a dart.
The others saw his sudden burst of speed and followed suit without hesitation.
Behind them, the pillar of fire pulsed violently—then contorted into the shape of an hourglass.
BOOOOOM.
A devastating explosion ripped through the landscape. The hourglass shattered, sending waves of pink fire across the tundra, melting everything it touched—snow, rock, forcing the air to sizzle.
Then—
—A shadow slithered underneath the ground.
With a bone-chilling hiss, the massive snow serpent from earlier erupted from beneath the earth. Its jaws unhinged, bearing large black fangs as it reared back—and with a deafening screech, unleashed a torrent of freezing breath.
The icy blast met the flames mid-charge.
In an instant, the pink inferno was swallowed whole—snuffed out by the serpent's blizzard breath, the explosion halted in a flash of white and pink, freezing the entire land back to snow.
Steam rose in thick clouds as silence returned, but the tension still hung in the air like a knife waiting to fall.
The serpent hissed before jumping into the sky before slamming into the ground as it vanished underneath the ground. Vanishing into the ground.