In the silence that followed, the Umbral Path user stood tall, both sabers lowered, watching the Inheritance Beacon begin to erupt from the fallen Manticore's corpse.
Far from the chaos of the Little World, in the towering obsidian halls of the Dusk Spire Clan's ancestral citadel, the great viewing crystal blazed with the image of the fallen Manticore. A long, echoing silence gripped the chamber. Then, like a wave breaking, the room erupted. Patriarch Draeven Dusk Spire's lips curled in a rare, razor-thin smile.
"Flawless execution. He's mastered the Third Spiral." Elder Selqis leaned forward, her many bangles clinking. "Not just mastered — he bent the domain to his will. The beast never had a chance once he shifted to inversion mode." Around them, younger clan members slammed their fists to their chests in salute, their cheers filling the darkened hall like the tolling of victory bells.
A hush fell again when the Beacon's light flared on the viewing crystal — the fourth such flare since the tournament began.
"That," Draeven said, voice low but carrying, "is the shadow of an Immortal contender." The Dusk Spire Clan roared in agreement.
The frozen spires of Elyahna's wave glittered like a trail of diamonds under the tropical sky, each crest shimmering with her Mystic Ice Bloodline's power. Her dirty blonde hair streamed behind her as she rode the rising bridge of ice with her frost blades, carving smooth lines into her traveling ice bridge. The cold radiating in her wake so deep it chilled the tropical island air. Far ahead, the horizon lit up—four great pillars of Inheritance Beacon light stabbing the clouds.
Her eyes narrowed. So, the hunters are already finding their prey. But her lips curled into a smile. She angled her hands, the wave of ice tilting like a living serpent beneath her, carving a winding path toward the far-off plume of volcanic smoke. The temperature climbed as she approached the Lava region, heat shimmering in the air. Molten rivers cut through black basalt ridges, and then—she saw it.
A massive, four-legged bull-like minotaur, its obsidian hide glowing with crimson cracks, swinging a molten wrecking ball of earth-grade ore as if it were a child's toy. The beast's bellow shook the ground. Several prodigies darted around it—dodging the blazing chain arcs and sprays of molten rock. "Elyahna!" one prodigy shouted, voice breaking with relief. "Help us defeat it!"
Her gaze swept the battlefield. This was the same beast that had crushed the Five Coalition's encampment earlier—its wrecking ball leaving only smoking craters and scattered corpses. The fact that it was still standing meant one thing: its hide and its fury were both nearly unbreakable. Her eyes glinted like chips of frozen sapphire.
"Stand back and let me solo it!"
She raised both hands, and the ice wave beneath her surged forward toward the raging Fire Bull Minotaur. Elyahna's breath frosted in the sweltering air as she slid to a stop atop her ice wave, one hand rising, the other tracing intricate arcs. Her Mystic Ice qi gathered above her like a coiling storm—condensed so tightly it shimmered with sharp-edged brilliance.
With a flick of her wrist, the condensed core expanded, hexagonal facets forming and locking together until a ring of titanic glacier spheres hovered in the molten sky. "Ice Breaker" she whispered. The great ice balls began their descent, trailing ribbons of mist that hissed into steam as they crossed the lava-heated air. The Fire Bull Minotaur finally noticed the shifting shadow above and tilted its massive head upward.
But instead of retreating, it bellowed, molten spittle flying, and planted its hooves. The earth-grade wrecking ball swung in a deadly arc, chain rattling like steel lightning.
CRASH!—the first glacier sphere shattered into a thousand razor shards.
CRASH!
CRASH!—
Each impact was like a meteor strike, thunderous booms, and steam, and fragments raining down. The beast didn't dodge; it dared her ice to break against its fire and iron. The ground shook with each swing, the minotaur roaring louder with every smash, as if proving the futility of her attack. Elyahna's eyes narrowed, her hands already weaving for the real setup beneath the storm of shattered ice. The Fire Bull Minotaur's final swing sent the last glacier sphere exploding into a halo of glittering shards, molten heat flashing through the fragments.
It stomped forward, chain whirling overhead in a wide, punishing loop.
With a bellow that rattled the cracked obsidian ground, the beast charged, hooves pounding like war drums. The wrecking ball swung low—aimed not to smash her ice, but to pulverize her entire wave. The instant before impact, Elyahna's pupils contracted to icy pinpoints. Her stance shifted, one foot pressing down into her ice path.
The ice wave dipped—a sudden slope forming under her as she leaned into the descent. The wrecking ball whooshed over her head, its heat prickling her scalp.
She let the momentum carry her past the beast's flank, shards of ice bursting behind her like a wake. The minotaur snarled, horns glowing brighter, its body coiling for another attack—this time far closer than before. Elyahna twisted at the hip mid-slide, her right hand carving a crescent through the air. Mystic Ice qi flared from her palm in a compressed spiral, condensing into a sleek, jagged Ice Lance that steamed under the lava's reflected heat.
The moment her body rotated enough to face the beast's exposed flank, she snapped her arm forward.
"Glacial javelin!"
' 'SSSSSHRRKZZ!' '
The javelin screamed through the air like a frozen comet, its point shimmering with needle-fine sharpness. It struck just behind the Minotaur's front leg, piercing through the thinner armor of molten hide. The crack of ice meeting flesh echoed like breaking stone, followed by a bellow of pure fury. Lava-hot blood hissed as it met the lance's frost, and a jagged web of rime began to creep outward from the wound, frosting over muscle and hardening its movements.
The Minotaur staggered, its wrecking ball momentarily lowering, chain clinking with a momentary loss of rhythm—an opening that would last only seconds. Elyahna's eyes narrowed—this was her moment.She pushed off the ice slide with both feet, twisting her body forward in a blur. Her Mystic Ice qi surged into her arms, swirling up from her core until her fists were wrapped in crystalline gauntlets of jagged frost.
"Mystic Ice; Frost Fist Combo!"
Her first strike slammed into the Minotaur's wounded flank, the frost gauntlet detonating with a shock burst of freezing mist that deepened the ice web already creeping through its muscles. The second came an instant later—an uppercut into its ribs—forcing the giant beast to lurch backward with a startled roar. Elyahna didn't stop.
She hammered its torso with a rapid flurry—three, four, five punishing blows—each one leaving behind a burst of freezing spikes that locked joints and slowed the molten flow of heat through its body. By the time she spun into her final strike—a driving hook that connected with its jaw—the Minotaur's movements had grown sluggish, its fiery glow dimming under the invasive cold.
Steam roared from its nostrils as its molten fury fought against the creeping frost, and for the first time, the beast looked… wary. The Minotaur's eyes burned brighter, crimson fury igniting within its molten core. With a guttural roar, it slammed its massive hooves into the ground, sending shockwaves rippling through the cracked lava bed.
The icy frost on its flank cracked and shattered under the tremors, fracturing like brittle glass. Gathering every ounce of its fiery wrath, the beast swung its spiked wrecking ball in a vicious, overhead arc — aimed directly at Elyahna's chest. She tried to brace, but the force was overwhelming. The blow smashed through her ice barrier, sending shards flying in every direction and knocking her backward with bone-rattling impact.
Steam hissed from her shattered frost gauntlets, and a sharp sting blossomed in her side. Yet, even bruised and scorched, Elyahna's gaze remained fierce and unyielding.
The battle was far from over. Elyahna drew her breath, steady and cold, as the Soul Ice Arrow shimmered with spectral frost. She released. The arrow streaked through the molten haze, leaving a trail of crystalline shards that tinkled like frozen bells.
It struck the Minotaur's chest with a resonant crack, embedding deep into its fiery flesh. The impact unleashed a surge of soul-freezing energy, spreading like a web of frost that snaked along the beast's molten veins, slowing its furious heat and dulling its fiery strength.
The Minotaur roared in pain, steam hissing from its wounds as the icy grip tightened. But fury burned brighter than ever. It slammed its wrecking ball into the ground, sending a tremor that cracked the ice beneath Elyahna's feet. With a snarl, the beast charged, its molten body glowing brighter, threatening to shatter the soul ice before her.
Elyahna's lips curled into a confident smile as she vaulted backward, her body spinning through the air in a graceful somersault. Where she had stood, a perfect Mystic Ice Clone shimmered into existence, radiating a cold so fierce it frosted the molten ground beneath it. The Fire Bull Minotaur charged blindly, massive hooves pounding like thunder, aiming straight for the shimmering decoy.
CRASH!
The clone detonated in a blinding explosion of icy shards and biting frost, engulfing the minotaur in a sudden, suffocating freeze. Steam hissed and crackled as molten flesh and ice collided, encasing the beast in a glittering tomb of crystal. Before any other prodigy could even react, Elyahna's fist, wreathed in True Will Mystic Ice, slammed down with relentless force into the minotaur's frozen heart.
SHATTER!
The crystalline prison exploded outward, sending shards scattering like stars across the volcanic terrain. From the icy rubble, a brilliant Inheritance Beacon shot upward, its light piercing the smoke and ash like a beacon of triumph. Elyahna stood tall, her breath steady, eyes gleaming with frost and fire. Thirty Tokens joined her single token.
In the grand hall of the Frozen Heart Clan, Matriarch Vanessa stood before the towering crystalline throne, her gaze fixed intently on the glowing viewing crystal that displayed Elyahna's victorious strike. Her normally serene face was alight with a rare, fierce pride.
"Remarkable," she murmured, voice steady but carrying the weight of generations. "Elyahna has woven ice and will into a blade sharper than any frostbite. She has not only bested the beast's fury but has turned its own molten rage into her victory."
Her hands, wrapped in elegant silver cuffs etched with ancient runes, clenched briefly.
"This victory will echo through the Frozen Heart legacy for centuries. The clan thrives in her triumph."
Around her, the elders and clan members erupted into thunderous applause, the sound like the crackling of ice sheets breaking free after a long winter. Vanessa's eyes softened for a moment as she whispered, "She is the true heir of our bloodline." Back in the Little World's central viewing hub, a growing crowd gathered around Elyahna's screen.
Voices rose in awe and excitement as the icy battlefield replayed in stunning clarity. "She froze the Minotaur solid!" one whispered breathlessly. "Did you see that True Will strike? That's mastery." another exclaimed, eyes wide with admiration. Others shouted praises, some swearing they'd never seen ice manipulation so refined, so fierce.
The energy in the room crackled like the frost in Elyahna's aura—her fan club swelling fast, voices rising in unified cheers.
From all corners, whispers spread: Frozen Heart's prodigy is a force to be reckoned with.