Chapter 21: The Silent Frost

The world was white.

Not from the snow, but from the breath of winter bleeding into the land like spilled paint. The cold crept under Raymond's skin, humming in his veins, coiling through every nerve like a second heartbeat.

He knelt beside a stream, the water black and glassy under a film of ice. His reflection stared back at him—sharp jaw, shadowed eyes, a pale smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. Frost clung to his lashes like tiny shards of glass. His fingers trailed across the surface, and the water stiffened instantly, freezing solid with a brittle crack.

Control. That was everything.

The forest behind him groaned under the weight of frost spreading across its roots. Each step he took left a silent print in the snow. His breath hung in the air like a ghost.

[Xue: Vitality stable. Color flow optimal.]

[Xue: remain alive— would you.]

Raymond smiled faintly at the words only he could hear.

"As if I needed the reminder."

He had been here for two weeks, and already the exam had peeled away what little softness remained in him. Out here, hesitation was death. Mercy was death. Everything bled down to instinct, and his instinct was sharp as the blade at his hip, fortunately enough, he was transported with his beloved sword.

A sound broke the silence—a wet, ragged snarl from deep within the trees.

Raymond didn't move.

The abomination lurched into view, a grotesque fusion of muscle and frostbitten flesh, eyes glowing like coals in a dead furnace. Its breath steamed into the cold as it dragged claws through the snow.

Raymond rose slowly, his boots crunching softly on frost. His pulse didn't quicken. His breath didn't hitch. If anything, the corners of his lips curled higher.

He whispered, almost lovingly.

"ICED WATER PAINTING: FROZEN MAW."

The air cracked.

Moisture ripped from the very breath of the beast as the world stilled. Snow exploded upward in a spiraling bloom, forming spears of glistening ice that hovered like the fangs of a predator poised to strike.

The beast lunged.

The spears fell.

A sickening shnk-shnk-shnk filled the silence as the ice tore through flesh, pinning the creature mid-air like a grotesque ornament. Its howl strangled into a gurgle, breath frosting over its jaws as cold bled through its veins. Within seconds, its movements slowed…then stopped. Its body crystallized into an icy statue—beautiful in a way only death could be.

Raymond stepped closer, watching frost lace over the beast's staring eyes. His hand hovered briefly before shattering its head with a casual flick of his wrist. The shards scattered across the ground like broken mirrors.

He crouched, fingers brushing over its stiffened hide, drawing in its fading essence. His Xue Sense flared faintly—streams of color pulsing through his body like deep ocean currents. It was cold. Heavy. Perfect.

He stood in silence for a long moment, listening to the way the frost hummed beneath his skin. Then he turned, his gaze slicing through the curtain of falling snow.

That's when he felt it.

A shift. A pulse in the air like a distant heartbeat. Heavy enough to make the trees tremble. The wind screamed suddenly, carrying with it the scent of blood.

His eyes narrowed.

[Xue: Alert. Ability signature detected. Hazard escalating.]

[Xue: Vital threat approaching.]

"Always stating the obvious." He grumbled.

The storm bloomed like an ink spill, swallowing the horizon. Snow twisted into a frenzy, stinging his skin like a thousand tiny knives. The temperature plunged so violently the frost on the ground fractured with sharp, echoing cracks.

And through the blizzard, he saw them.

Two figures clashing in a storm of steel and blood. The snow around them was painted red, footprints gouged deep into the earth. One moved with elegance, her crimson hair a banner of chaos. The other—a dark phantom swathed in shadow.

Raymond tilted his head, gray eyes glinting with something like curiosity.

"Candidates," he murmured, voice soft as frost. His fingers tightened around the hilt of his saber. Thin veils of ice rippled across the blade like water caught mid-freeze.

He stepped forward, boots crunching softly, the storm peeling away around him as if afraid to touch him.

"Finally…something interesting."

And with that, the snow swallowed him whole.