Tsuneo stared at the ice spikes, then at the exhausted Tamotsu. His masked face was unreadable, but his voice vibrated with intensity. "This power... it's beyond any soul warden . It's transcendent. While fire wardens burn and stone wardens harden, ice of wisdom chooses its wielder. The Vale itself gifts it. No training creates this. Only destiny." He knelt, a hand hovering near a spike. "Other elements have stages – Stone of Death, Flame's Heart, Wind's Edge. Powerful, yes. But this?" He tapped the ice. "This is Glacial Heart. Raw potential from the Grey Vale's core. An opportunity... or a curse."
Tamotsu, drained but not broken, drifted into uneasy sleep right there on the cold ash, the ice spikes his grim cradle.
Unseen in the swirling grey, the Flickering One watched. Not with the group scouting east. He lingered, a half-real shadow. He saw Tsuneo's awe, saw Tamotsu sleep. A low, distorted hiss escaped him, unheard by the others. Too dangerous. Too unpredictable. He dissolved into the ash, moving with silent purpose towards jagged
peaks where shadow pulsed.
Tamotsu dreamed of the star-city. The voice boomed: "Remember"
He woke to a guttural snarl and the smell of sulfur. Three figures lunged from the ash – Demon-Forged. Smaller than the bone-scythe brute, but fast. Skin cracked with angry red light, claws like obsidian shards. They aimed for the sleeping Tsuneo!
Tsuneo was already moving, a blur of black cloak. A long, dark blade appeared in his hand, etched with runes. "Stone of Death: Bedrock Skin!" His free arm hardened instantly, turning grey and craggy like mountain stone. A demon claw scraped harmlessly off it with a shower of sparks.
"Awake, Frost-Spawn!" Tsuneo roared, parrying another demon's strike with his runed blade.
Tamotsu scrambled up. A fourth demon, unnoticed, lunged at him from behind, claws aimed at his back! Still half-asleep, Tamotsu's ice power flared instinctively. "Hah!" Frost exploded from his palm, engulfing the demon's striking arm up to the shoulder in a thick shell of jagged ice. The demon shrieked, trapped and off-balance.
"Help Tsuneo!" Tamotsu yelled, more to himself. He focused, forming a crude ice dagger in his free hand. He lunged, not at the frozen demon, but at one harrying Tsuneo. His dagger scraped harmlessly off demon-hide, but it was a distraction. Tsuneo used the opening. "Stone of Death: Quake Fist!" His stone-armored fist slammed into the demon's chest. A visible shockwave pulsed outwards. The demon flew back, chest caved in.
But more shapes moved in the ash. Five, six... eight demons now, drawn by the commotion and the unique scent of Tamotsu's ice. They circled, snarling, cutting off escape. The flicker watched from a high rock, a barely visible smirk on his flickering face.
Panic clawed at Tamotsu. Trapped. Outnumbered. The icy power in his chest churned violently, reacting to his fear, his desperation to survive, his need to protect. Images flashed – the star-city, the voice, the cold void. It wasn't training. It was instinct. Vale-deep instinct.
He slammed his hands onto the ash-covered stone.The words tore from him, fueled by raw will and the surging Glacial Heart power.
A massive circle of blinding light, fifty meters across, etched itself onto the ground around Tamotsu, Tsuneo, and the demons. The air temperature plummeted instantly. Frost exploded across every surface.
"All Corners of Hell!" Tamotsu gasped, the name coming unbidden.
From the glowing circle's edge, thousands of razor-sharp ice spears erupted upwards like a frozen geyser. Simultaneously, from the ash-clouded sky above, thousands more ice daggers rained down like glacial hail. There was no escape. No cover. Only a maelstrom of frozen death filling the entire circle.
The sound was horrific – the piercing of hide, the shattering of bone, the choked cries of eight demons instantly turned into frozen, perforated statues. Then silence. The circle faded. Only ice statues remained, already crumbling into grey ash.
Tamotsu collapsed to his knees, utterly spent, the cold in his chest a dull, aching throb. Tsuneo stood amidst the frozen carnage, his stone skin fading, his runed blade lowered. He stared at Tamotsu, then at the dissolving demons, then at the circle's fading mark. Utterly stunned. "Glacial Heart... manifesting All Corners..." he breathed, awe and fear warring in his voice.
The Flicker didn't wait. The moment the ice daggers fell, his smirk vanished, replaced by pure terror. He blinked out of existence, fleeing faster than sight, streaking back towards the eastern ridges where the rest of the group was returning.
He materialized abruptly before them – the Stone Man, the Quick One, the Girl – panting, his form unstable. "Attacked!" he gasped, pointing back wildly. "Demons! Many! Tsuneo and the boy... overwhelmed!"
The Girl narrowed her eyes. "Flicker? Where were you? We sensed no large demon pack."
"No time!" the Flickering One snapped, fear making him rash. "We must flee! They're coming!" He lunged, not away, but towards the Quick One, shadowy claws forming. He needed them gone. Needed the Frost-Spawn isolated. Needed to contain the catastrophe he'd unleashed.
"Liar!" the Stone Man boomed, stepping forward, skin already hardening to granite. "Bedrock Skin!"
The Quick One's blades flashed. "Traitor!"
The Girl's hands sparked with unseen energy.
A desperate fight erupted on the ridge, the Flickering One lashing out against his former allies, his frantic attack confirming his betrayal just as the echoes of frozen annihilation faded in the distance.