Haurutsuki: Beautiful Snow

24. Frozen

Voices shouted nearby, "Hey, what's going on in there?" One asked. "FIRE!" Another cried, and the voices ran off to where the cries of panic were coming from.

"Looks like the distraction worked... Miyuki, are you ready for the mental images?" She tensed, frantically shaking her head. He gave her an unimpressed look, "Well, I'm sending it anyway." She deadpanned, being flooded with information on her task. "I was wrong. I can't do this." She stressed. "Come on, already. We don't have much time before the mist I created evaporates." Ryuu insisted. His new Fire Pillar Technique had descended onto the underground lake, creating a temporary fog. It gave the air enough moisture for their final jutsu. It also had the added benefit of luring everyone to it. "It's a jutsu from a clan our parents killed! I shouldn't use this kind of power." She insisted. "If we don't end this, hundreds of people will die." Katsu reminded her. She bit down the urge to protest. "Miyuki... We have to do this. We're all a part of the Yuki Clan. Just like mum was before the Mizukage had them destroyed." Ryuu added. "But it's Forbidden, even for them!" Ryuu let out a sharp sigh, "Think about Akio and our family. All the people we lost because of those kind of civil wars... We can't let them start another, or the cycle will never end. We need to break the cycle now."

She let out a sigh of defeat, "Okay. Send me everyone's locations... It's time." Her brothers nodded, "I'll be giving you a live feed. So, keep your eyes closed until it's over. Okay?" Katsu gently inquired. "Yeah... Let's end this, once and for all." With that, the two lowered their heads, and closed their eyes. "Can you see everyone?" Katsu asked through closed eyes. "Yeah. I can use the mist to help me finish this quicker." She replied. "Alright. It's all up to you. Ryuu, grab her shoulder. We'll need all the chakra we can get to keep things going." He nodded. "Right!" He gently placed his hand on her shoulder, closing his eyes too. An aura of purple came off him, and began encasing not only Miyuki, but his brother as well.

She began the technique, "Forbidden Ice Release..." The lightning under her eyelids intensified. The drips of water beneath them began to rise, as if suddenly unaffected by gravity. "Water Control..." The water around them spiked, and then splashed apart. Wails of agony and pain abruptly echoed throughout the cave. Within the cave, she had gained control of the water inside each and every droplet, no matter it's phase. The water near them even slashed at their skins, causing them to wince in pain. "I won't be able to control it! It's too powerful!" She cried through her shut eyes. The water droplets suddenly attached to them. Violently, it began attaching to each and every one in the caves, drowning them in a thin layer of water.

"We'll die!" She panicked. The droplets attached from their feet and climbed upwards. "Keep going!" Katsu insisted. "I'll protect us, just do it!" Ryuu added through the pain. He increased his warm and glowing chakra aura to protect them underneath the layer of water, trying to slow the process. She sucked in a breath, hating herself in the moment. "... Ice Formation!" The water around their feet froze instantly. The air grew cold throughout the caves, and she exhaled a cloud of white mist. She then took in a deep breath and focused on the targets, visualizing the dense air and causing it to freeze over. Where the droplets once gathered, frost appeared. It crept up everyone's skin, causing further screams of panic and mayhem. Instead of creating large projectiles of ice from the air, she was turning the people's bodies against them, forcing the water on the surface of their skin to freeze over with their last icy cries for help.

She stayed still, forcing herself to concentrate on freezing the victims as if they were only enemies, and not the people she devoted her life to protecting. Eighty-two people screamed in horror, terrified as they watched themselves freeze and turn to ice. Some shattered off their body parts in panic. But the ice kept creeping up them like an infection, until it covered them completely. Some even had the inside of their mouths frozen over. Many fell and shattered, while others stood as statues, plastered in their final moments of terror. Ryuu got chills, being able to see it in his mind's eye. He then realised he's trembling from the cold creeping up his body. "It's so cold." Katsu began to shiver out clouds of mist too. "It's done." Silence enveloped the caves. A howling wind and the stilling of water were the only sounds heard for miles. She slowly opened her burdened eyes. The ice was already at her waist. It didn't surprise her though. Nothing could now. She had just killed her comrades, and now? She was paying the price.