Venturing Graces

Chapter Fifteen: Subzero

(Fox House Arc) 

"He's strong," Rose thought. The floor, walls, and staircase had been encased in ice. Rose held her knife in her hand. Yuka and Zenon were busy fending off the others. "This ice makes it harder to move." Spires of ice shot out of the ground towards Rose. "Ratto!" The dogs fire melted through the ice. Rose threw a small blue bouncy ball and destroyed it. "It's still too much for Ratto to melt." 

"Rose! We took the others down!" Yuka declared. She slid over the ice like a fumbling fawn. Zenon inched along after her. The other two people had been  knocked out. "My ash magic did that," Yuka said.

"And I helped too!" Zenon added. Ice shards flew at them. Zenon put up a forcefield. "I don't know if I can hold it!" Ratto let out a bark and a burst of flames. Yuka created a cloud of ash around them. Just then a large gust of wind blew the ashes away. Giant swords made out of ice spiraled down towards Rose and the group. "I can't protect us from something that big, and I'm running low on energy," Zenon said. 

"Shit, I don't have anything powerful enough to stop it," Rose thought. She dug through her purse. 

"Schrod, what are the chances of the ice being redirected at the attacker?" 

"Moonlit Refraction Slash!"

Rose's eyes widened as she watched three groups appear. Ren, Tsubaki, and Scimitar burst up from the floor. Ren was blown high into the air with Schrod in their hands. The cat blinked its golden eyes. The ice spun around towards the man. From the roof Hex, Aki, and Kashi fell. Hex swung his sword and slashed at the ice. Only the man took damage; both groups landed. "We might be on different teams, but no one hurts my Aunt."

"How'd you like it? My brand new move?" Hex asked. The man shoved the ice shards away and walked over. He limped but other than that no other injuries were obvious. "I invented this from watching Kashi."

"Subzero Emperor," Kashi pointed her sword at the man. "You shall answer for your sins."

"We shall see who answers at the end of this battle," The man stated. The air chilled again and ice shards flew forth. 

"So he's Subzero," Aki thought. "How exciting!" They slipped a knife out of a pocket on their skirt and spun it around. All of the ice shards were deflected. 

"Whose the Subzero Emperor?" Ren asked. "He sounds important."

"Ren, I can't help you here," Orochi yawned. The snake slipped into Ren's jacket and curled up. 

"Great, Orochi's asleep," Ren thought. They focused on the man. "This ice has magic in it too," Ren thought. They focused on the magic in the ice and absorbing it into their body. Ren felt like their bones were freezing. "It's just magic."

Kashi charged, using her sword to slice through any ice attacks. The magic field from earlier kicked in. "A domain?" Zenon asked. Icicles fell at Kashi from above. Zenon cast a protection spell around her.

"Thanks," Kashi said. Yuka appeared behind Subzero and she blew a cloud of ash at him. "Good, now prepare." Chains burst up from the ice and wrapped around him. The ashes cleared away to reveal a shell of ice. It crumbled away and Subzero stood there. "We didn't reach him," She thought. 

"Ice blade." Blades of ice flew towards the group. Ren, Tsubaki, and Zenon focused on casting their protection spells. Aki dodged past all of them, using the ice to skate freely. They closed in on Subzero while humming a song. The ice mage was barely able to dodge a thrust from Aki's knife. Yuka appeared behind him and attempted to ram her claws through his chest. Subzero skated away, only for Scimitar to stab him in the back.