Coldsnap: Harbinger of Ice

Chapter 23: Holding the Line

-Time Until Lock Activation: 5:00- 

Coldsnap projected an ice barrier around herself to defend against the sentries' strikes while she attempted to pick the lock on the throne. Meanwhile, Firebird, Leo, and Keena jumped into the fray. 

Firebird took on a group of four grunts and managed to handle them with immense efficiency, taking one of the soldiers' feet right out from under them before leaping into the center of the other three. She spun towards each of them and delivered a slash to their midsections using her daggers before vaulting off of one of their backs, throwing one of her knives into their stomach to kill them and dashing over to their corpse to pick the weapon back up. 

The second enforcer attempted to strike her from overhead with his ice axe, but she held her blades in a cross-shaped formation to stop the hilt's advance, then shifted her hold to the left to force him to drop the weapon. She then leapt onto his back, slit his throat with one of the daggers, then sprung off of his collapsing body to kick another one in the face. 

The first one---who had been knocked on his back by Firebird early on---managed to pull himself back to his feet, and would've managed to land a decent hit on the fire mage.....if she didn't see him coming. She sold her current target an uppercut to wind him significantly, then charged up one of her knives and sent a flaming energy wave projectile towards her ambusher, instantly bisecting him at the torso and causing him to fall apart. 

By now, the last sentry she had been fighting put down his weapon and raised his hands, conceding. Firebird pretended to sheathe her weapons and allow him to run away, but as soon as his back was turned, she threw one of the knives square into his back, causing him to collapse motionlessly to the ground. 

"Darn, I'm good," she said with a smirk. 

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-Time Until Lock Activation: 4:00-

Leo grabbed one of the soldiers by the throat and threw his body directly into a second one who was attempting to charge him from the right. A third one tried to slice him at the stomach with his sword, but to his surprise, Leo casually caught the weapon by the blade, his hand smoldering with heat as he remained completely unharmed. 

"Nice try," he said, as the sentry's only means of defense melted into a useless puddle within seconds. "Now, it's my turn." 

He then assaulted his attacker with a blow to the chest, then to the head---knocking out large chunks of their body with each one---then finished him off by selling him a blazing kick to the face, lopping his head right off his body. 

Firebird suddenly landed beside him, and they ended up back-to-back as more Ice Sentries closed in on them. 

"What do we do?!" she exclaimed. 

At that moment, Leo came up with an idea. "I got a plan....and I apologize in advance!" 

"Wait, what?!" 

"Hold both of your knives overhead! Blades pointed upward!" he instructed. 

Firebird did so, and Leo promptly grabbed her by the legs and swung her around him in a circle as he moved around the room while constantly spinning. Every guard who came into contact with Firebird's weapons melted before they even knew what was happening. 

Once all the enemies in the immediate area were down, Leo stopped spinning and gently set Firebird back down on the ground. 

"Phew! .....You good?" he asked. 

Poor Firebird couldn't even stand up straight or keep her head at a steady angle. She felt like the entire room was moving in circles, like her head was about to fall off her body.