A few minutes later, the final orc rushed me, twice the size of the others—massive, armored with ice like jagged crystal.
It swung its double-bladed axe down in a roar.
I caught the blow in my hands—my bare hands—and pushed back, Qi burning through me from Seraphine's resonance.
The orc staggered.
I spun.
Cut through its core.
The creature fell to its knees, breath rattling out in a gust of freezing mist.
Then it collapsed. Silence followed.
The cavern floor was drenched in green blood. Shattered ice. Broken steel. Breathing bodies.
Our breathing.
Alive.
Alive because of her. I looked at her—still standing in the center, aura gently fading, eyes opening like she had just woken from a nap.
And though she was wrapped in my jacket, cheeks flushed from the cold…
She looked like something terrifying.
Something divine.
"Are you hurt?" I asked quietly.
She shook her head. "Just cold."
I almost laughed—if my heart wasn't still pounding.
