Shangri La Pt. 1

118: Fire and Ice

The second his hand turned into a fist, that something inside of him decided to start showing through his body. The entire room suddenly became cold as cold steam started to grow out from the ground and give everyone a chill. 

"Hmph– Seems she didn't want to fight back, how smart." 

"Let... go..." a faint voice spoke, catching the King's attention. Kuro casually turned back around to see Shoto still lying on the ground with all the guards on him and he smiled. 

"Eh~? I didn't hear that quite right? What did you say?" 

In an instant, the entire floor turned into ice and shards of sharp ice sprung off the ground and froze the guards holding the Young Prince down. 

"What? What did you just–" 

"Let. Her. Go." Shoto growled as he slowly rose up from the floor and walked towards the King.

Seeing the fire and fury in the Young Prince's eyes shook the King to his core, as he was reminded of a certain man who said these very same words to him a very long time ago. It wasn't until the King felt a grab and tug on his collar did he realize how furious the Young Prince truly was, as he was not playing nice. 

"Get her out of that tank, now." Shoto demanded, and fear seeped into the King's mind. 

"I-I– I-I can't, n-no one can." 

"Why can't you?" 

"Your Majesty, no one in this room can free the Princess!" Zeri exclaimed, catching the Prince's attention. 

"What do you mean?"

"Everyone in this room can swim in saltwater, but we will drown if we are in freshwater!" Zeri explained. 

"So even if I forced you to, you'd die too." Shoto muttered. 

"Y-Yes, s-so please just l-let me go!" Kuro begged.

Without even wasting a second, Shoto released the King as he dropped to the ground and he turned to face the tank. He glanced down at his hand as cold steam was floating off his skin and that's when he remembered what Zeri tried to tell him the previous night. 

"Your father; the King, carries the Ruby Clan's bloodline–which uses fire–and your mother carries the Diamond Clan's–which uses ice." 

'This all makes sense now... Father tried to force me to awaken any fire powers I had, but I never could. And now it's all because I never had them... I always had my mother's powers, but I could never use them because I was forcing the wrong thing. Then if I can use ice...' Shoto thought as he paused to reach his hand out and rest it onto the tank. 

'This should be enough to freeze it and shatter it.'

Within seconds, the cold steam grew off his hands and onto the large tank until it eventually made the glass start to break. And after a few seconds of waiting, the entire tank shattered before them and all the water inside splashed out and into the room. 

Shoto froze his feet to the ground just in time, as he managed to reach his hands out and grab the unconscious Princess before she was swept away. Everyone behind him sprawled out of the way just so they wouldn't get touched by the frozen water. 

It wasn't until after all the water splashed out of the main hall did everyone manage to look up and see the Young Prince carrying his Princess in his arms. Her pale skin turned whiter than before–almost to blue–and her body was slightly shaking that it was almost unclear if she was truly alive at this point.

'Momo...' 

"Set her down." Zeri commanded just as she approached him. Shoto did what he was told and carefully set the Princess down onto the floor for the doctor to look at her.