The Angel of Frost

XII.

Hasuma wrapped her arms around herself as she stared at the shattered city, her former home. The city had never been this cold until the tower of ice had appeared. The chilling aura it emanated continued to seep into her bones.

She stiffed as she felt a current of cold water brush against her. It was too quick and sudden to be normal, and she stretched out her arms. Her palms opened, and she began to channel the power of the river into her veins to defend herself.

It turned out she didn't need to. The water in front of her swirled, and Levi materialized in front of her.

"Oh," she said as her body relaxed, "Levi."

His look of concern made Hasuma want to blush. He looked so cute with his face scrunched up like that. "You shouldn't have come here, Hasuma. What if Lissandra saw you? You saw her corrupt an angel. There's no knowing what she would do to you."

For a moment, Hasuma's cheeks puffed up, then she laughed in Levi's face. He frowned deeper and folded his arms.

"Hasuma, this isn't funny."

"I know," she said as she laughed again. "But Levi, I'm not a little girl anymore. I can take care of myself. And besides, since when did you demons start being concerned for anyone?"

"Tell me, how can you defend yourself against a skilled sorceress? By manipulating her emotions, just like what you did to me and Glaucus last time?"

Hasuma hung her head. "That was unintentional, Levi. Believe me. If you felt violated, I'm sorry."

Levi rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Let's get out of here before you get--"

His words were choked off by a ring of water squeezing his neck. For a moment, he was worried that Lissandra was here, but as he glanced around, he saw no demonized nymph queens nearby. He realized who was attacking him.

"If you think I can't defend myself, then see if you can escape that," Hasuma said. She grinned as she closed her palm in a fist, tightening the ring.

She's good, Levi thought as he struggled to break the ring, without success, but hell, is she trying to kill me? He decided to retaliate. If Hasuma wanted to fight, he was going to play along. His hands opened as he palmed a ball of pressured water. He increased the pressure on the ball until its force was equal to a tsunami.

He relaxed as he released the ball. His demonic face grinned as he watched Hasuma being fired across the river like an arrow at full speed. The ring loosened, and it faded as Levi broke it.

No sooner than Levi had broken the ring, another appeared in its place. He frowned. How could Hasuma control even a drop of water from such a distance?

His eyes widened as he saw Hasuma rocket through the water towards him, entirely unfazed. Okay, she's better than I thought, he thought.

"That ominous ball of water you were forming in your right palm was quite obvious," she said. Her grin was one of victory.

Levi could have laughed, were it not for the annoying ring of water tightening around his neck. That single ball of water was his most basic move. Now he wanted to see how Hasuma would react to another one of his weakest moves.

If there had been anyone else in the river, they would have stared in awe as Levi slowly raised a part of the river to form a wave without lifiting even a finger, but Levi himself would have been bored to death. Slowly, he shaped the wave into a fist with his mind.

Hasuma, still grinning, did not notice the strong current as it crashed into her. The fist was three times as strong as the simple yet powerful ball of water earlier, and Levi could feel Hasuma's consciousness fading. He broke through the ring of water again and charged across the water to catch her.

He caught the nymph in his arms and carried her as he willed the force of the water to disappear. His face was about to stretch into a victorious grin when he felt something tightening around his neck. Again.

Hasuma was asleep, and he knew that his suspicions had been confirmed. Only one other nymph could have been in Namanta right now.

"I can't believe how lucky I've been today. First an angel, now the two of you? You walked right into my hands," the distorted voice of a nymph said.

*

Deep in the bowels of Hell, Glaucus sat on a throne of brimstone.

A demon knelt before him, wearing nothing but a belt from which different weapons and tools of tortune hung.

It, like the rest of its disgusting kind, was a scarred, pitiful thing with deformed limbs and uneven horns. Their apparent disability, however, disguised a bloodthirsty desire to murder that was revealed only when it was too late for its victim.

"My lord," it slurred, spilling a few drops of sulfuric drool on the volcanic floor. "I apologize for the conditions. No part in Hell can escape its core's heat, I'm afraid."

Glaucus, or Siberius as he called himself now, looked down at the demon, completely aware that it was secretly mumbling complaints about his demands. While as an angel, he had been tolerant, now he allowed no stain of insubordination to taint his legion's ranks.

Without a reply, he raised his hand and fired an icicle straight at the demon's bald skull, between its horns. The ice was as black as his fallen wings.

It impaled its head before it could even react, then shot through its skull, spilling blobs of brain tissue on the floor. Black ice sprouted in a tree of spikes from the holes the projectile made.

He stared in disdain at the mess and to some guards nearby said, "Clean it all up, and dispose of his body in the Lake."

Then he turned to Lucifer, who entered from the shadows he hid in. "Impressed? I can do more, if you wish."

Lucifer cackled. "No, no, you have done more than enough."

"Then release the demon you've been creating."

The lord of demons laughed. "Patience, Siberius. The demon isn't of a physical nature, like the ones in your army. It's designed to possess and contol the nymph Hasuma before she becomes too dangerous. She has a strong will, and will not be taken over easily."

"Do what you must. Remember, if Hasuma learns of her true lineage, she will become unstoppable. We'll need to curb her will."

Deep inside his soul, an enraged Glaucus pounded on the bars of cell, screaming in outrage at Lucifer's haughty plans. It was all he could do, though, for the devil himself was his jailer.