The storm screamed louder now, each gust carrying the bite of blades.
Akihiro's body screamed in protest, yet his eyes stayed fixed on the woman ahead.
One step.
Another.
Until he was close enough to see the faint tremble in her hands.
"Yuki…" His voice cracked. "If the world must freeze… then let me be the first to be frozen beside you."
She didn't answer—only kept walking, the snow swallowing her footprints.
He pushed forward, past the searing cold, past the weight of his own wounds, until his arms wrapped around her from behind.
For a moment—just one—the world seemed still. Her hair brushed against his cheek, strands of ice, strands of memory.
And then—
Shhhhk!
The sound was soft, almost gentle, yet it cut through the silence like lightning.
A sudden sharpness bloomed in his chest.
Her blade had pierced him.
Akihiro gasped, his breath frosting in the air. But he didn't let go.
Instead, he pulled her closer, his voice barely above a whisper.
"I… forgive you."
Yuki's eyes widened. Her hand trembled on the hilt. The weight of the moment crashed over her like an avalanche. She had struck him… and yet, he clung to her as if she was the only warmth left in the world.
"Why…?" Her voice broke, splintering like thin ice.
"Because… I still love you."
The storm slowed. The frost in her heart cracked—not from the cold, but from something far more unbearable.
Her blade slipped from her fingers, clattering onto the snow. She turned in his arms, holding him as the wound bled freely, staining the white with deep crimson.
"No… no, no… what have I done…"
Tears froze on her lashes as she pressed her forehead to his.
In that instant, she made her choice.
Her Flow shifted, no longer surging forward into her march. Instead, it collapsed inward—drawn into herself, consuming every step's worth of gathered power.
The air turned impossibly cold. Not the chaotic cold of a storm, but the still, perfect cold of eternity.
Around them, the frost rose, spiraling upward. Ice bloomed in shapes too intricate for mortal hands—petals, feathers, shards like crystal wings.
And then it settled.
Where they stood, locked in each other's embrace, an immense sculpture of flawless ice now towered—a perfect, frozen testament to their final moment.
Yuki's face was serene, Akihiro's at peace. Both immortalized together, their forms forever intertwined.
The snow fell softly again, blanketing the battlefield in silence.
And somewhere in that quiet… the war itself seemed to pause.
The wind died.
For a heartbeat, the battlefield forgot to breathe. The clash of steel, the roar of war cries, the hiss of arrows — all were swallowed by an unnatural stillness.
Eyes turned toward the horizon, where a crystalline shape rose above the snow like a monument to the gods themselves.
Whispers spread through both armies.
"What… is that?"
"It's… them…"
"No… impossible…"
From the Shizuhara line, Suno felt his throat tighten.
"That Flow… it's gone. She stopped the march."
Lithos narrowed his gaze, his talisman glowing faintly.
"Not stopped… redirected. She turned every step into that."
Even among the soldiers of Haganemori, weapons lowered. The Platinum-ranked admirals shifted uneasily, their breaths caught in their throats.
The sculpture glistened under the pale light — Akihiro and Yuki Ona locked in a final embrace, every detail carved by ice with divine precision. His wounded chest pressed against her, her head resting against his shoulder. A love that war could not sever, sealed forever in frost.
The cold that radiated from it was not cruel. It was quiet. Eternal.
Raijin exhaled, steam curling from his lips.
"…That's not just ice. That's a grave."
Even Gorozai's distant roar seemed to falter, as if the very air refused to carry the sound in that moment.
Shinsei's eyes lingered on the frozen figures. His grip on his blade eased just slightly.
"Damn you, Akihiro…" he murmured under his breath. "You always did choose the harder path."
No one moved to break the silence. Not friend, not foe.
And for the briefest sliver of time, the war paused — as if both kingdoms bowed their heads to two souls who had chosen love over victory.
Then the wind stirred again… and the sound of battle crept back into the world.
But the ice monument did not melt.