Frost de Winter was like a statue made from a ten thousand year old glacier . Anything that dared to get near him was frozen solid . He was too strong . His presence alone filled the others with fear and made their hearts race . For Gabriel, Claudia and Drake this was their first time standing off against a master demonhunter . They felt hopeless against his indomitable power .

Were they just weak? No . Yet they were defeated in no time, with little effort!

Drake was already out of the fight . The blood he puked up was thick and mixed with flecks of ice . Puffs of steaming air fought through his clattering teeth . “f.u.c.k,” he said through mouthfuls of blood . “This a.s.shole is strong . ”

In fact, surviving a direct blow from Frost proved how tenacious the soldier’s body really was . Had it been Claudia or Gabriel in his position, things would have been much worse .

“You go . ” Cloudhawk helped Drake over to the other two . He turned to face Frost, pulling his sword free . It whipped threateningly through the air and he stood defiantly before the man with his sword pointed toward the ground . “I’ll hold him off . ”

Hold him off?

They wagered fighting the master demonhunter one on one gave Cloudhawk a twenty percent chance of surviving for any length of time, much less delaying him . Leaving him here was the same as leaving him to die . Neither Drake nor Gabriel would accept it, and the thought was completely out of the question for Claudia . Although her enmity for Cloudhawk ran deep, she wasn’t about to let someone she hated help her run .

“You’ve grown quickly . Were you not born to such… humble resources, perhaps you wouldn’t have lost so easily the last time we met . ” Frost ignored the other three . His piercing eyes were fixed solely on Cloudhawk, and he spoke with a voice cold as the grave . “No wonder my master and Selene look so highly upon you . Such a pity you were born in the wrong place, with no road to salvation . There is no place for someone like you in our holy domain . ”

“Chasing that nonsense is worth less than dogs.h.i.+t . Wait, let me rephrase; you and what you stand for are worth less than dogs.h.i.+t . ” Cloudhawk shot a glance toward the others, trying to get them to leave . It wasn’t some altruistic notion, just that he knew he was the one Frost was after . Perhaps he’d let them get away if Cloudhawk could keep his attention . He couldn’t hide from his past anymore . Cloudhawk wrapped his hands around the hilt of Quiet Carnage and dug his feet in against the chill wind . “Tell me what you think of my sword before you kill me . ”

“Still so chatty, even in the face of death . You haven’t changed at all . ”

Frost leapt forward amidst a surge of cold . The air became thick with swirling snowflakes and he charged at Cloudhawk like an avalanche . The knight commander swung his silvery spear through the air, which summoned a tornado of icy energy that tore toward his foe .

Frost was a different breed from others Cloudhawk fought . Most shot off at the mouth and kept a trick or two up their sleeves in a fight . Frost was a man of few words, and when he committed to a fight he came out with full force .

Cloudhawk planted his feet . Grains of yellow sand rose ten meters around, and with his left hand he guided them into a flurry . With his right hand, he hacked at the encroaching torrent of cold . It was obvious right away the difference between the two men . Frost’s power instantly overwhelmed Cloudhawk and all the sand around him was frozen into clumps . The tornado of icy fury charged at the wastelander .

“Die!”

Frost was right behind it, thrusting his spear toward Cloudhawk’s head .

Before Frost’s spear found its mark, and as the tornado of energy descended upon him, Cloudhawk’s body was already covered in a thin film of ice . It was getting more difficult to move, even shuffle his feet . He couldn’t protect himself if he could hardly lift his arms .

Cloudhawk didn’t know when he was going to die, but he was sure as h.e.l.l not going to let it be at this a.s.shole’s hands . The cold was creeping through him, so bad that his blood had started to stagnate in his veins . But in response, a power from in his blood broke free and got it moving again . Even though he was covered in ice, he did not feel it stifling him anymore . Trespa.s.ser, it had to be . Its effect on his body was growing more apparent, and this reaction specifically was new .

Although he didn’t like the idea of being any less than fully human, Cloudhawk had to acknowledge how useful the virus was . It gave him the time he needed to mount a defense . When he lifted his head, a crimson fire smoldered deep in his eyes . A sinister power slithered into Frost’s mind as they locked eyes, until those same fires flickered in Frost’s crystalline blue gaze .

This was a psychic attack!

Frost was distracted, blocking himself from the a.s.sault while Cloudhawk whipped Quiet Carnage at his spear . The knight commander was knocked back, landing several meters away and swaying unsteadily . For the briefest moment there was a shadow of doubt on Frost’s face .  What did I just see?

Cloudhawk was already breathing heavily . It all happened in seconds, but the toll was staggering . It was the same mental a.s.sault he’d used on Gabriel, but its effects were greatly diminished against Frost . Likely it was because of the great difference in their psychic capabilities .

Gabriel and Claudia stepped forward to join Cloudhawk by his side .

“Why didn’t you leave?”

“If we’re leaving, we leave together!”

Frost was still confident . He came at Cloudhawk again with another torrent of power . Though it was a surprise that the wastelander had warded him off before, Frost was sure he couldn’t use that power again so soon . He wasn’t going to give these heathens a moment’s rest . By the looks of things, there was no escape for Cloudhawk now . Together with Gabriel and Claudia they would fight Frost to the end . Three was always better than two .

Frost didn’t get in close this time . Instead, he jabbed his spear through the air a dozen times . Each thrust belched a spear of blue light, which would encase anything it touched in a prison of ice . It was too late for Cloudhawk to mount a defense, but just then the unexpected happened .

A simple bronze mirror appeared in front of them . It extruded a formless field of energy that engulfed Frost .

The knight commander grew sluggish like he was moving through mud . In that moment, a silvery scimitar appeared spinning through the air, cutting apart anything in its path . It was aimed right for Frost’s throat .

It all looked simple and straightforward, but the power behind that scimitar was undeniable .

Once the bronze mirror’s field of control had him, Frost had no option but to get out of the way . As the scimitar spun pa.s.sed Frost, a figure sprang into the air, and with dumbfounding speed, s.n.a.t.c.hed the blade mid-rotation . The stranger’s other hand bore a sword just the same as the first, and she used both to hack at Frost de Winter .

“f.u.c.k you!”

The young woman’s flurry of attacks was swift and fierce, but was still no match for the master demonhunter . With one thrust of his spear he knocked the scimitar away and countered without missing a beat . As the spear stabbed at her unprotected chest her eyes went wide, and then she vanished . The strange woman reappeared half a heartbeat later next to the sword Frost had knocked from her hand . She s.n.a.t.c.hed it back .

Frost descended on her like the shadow of death .

The woman crossed her scimitars before her, but would frozen dirge be so easily blocked? A gust of bone-chilling wind swept pa.s.sed her swords and engulfed her . Then, at this crucial moment, a pair of beads zipped by at the speed of sound . They struck Frost right in the center of his chest .

They were too sudden, and too fast for the knight commander to foresee . He staggered back and was forced to stop his a.s.sault .

Whoosh, whoos.h.!.+ Figures appeared all around .  

Felina, Caspian, Rohan, Veronika . It was Cloudhawk’s Tartarus Squad .

He gaped at their sudden appearance . “What are you doing?! I told you to stay back!”

“I heard what you said, Captain . You really hurt my feelings!” Caspian’s t.i.ttering voice whined at him, a sound that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end . “I can’t stand to see my captain in danger, even if he’s fighting the honorable Frost de Winter . ”

Felina flicked her wrist, shedding the frost that had covered her scimitars . The surprise had gone from her face, replaced by her usual sweet smile . She threw back her shoulders proudly . “I was worried about you, captain, so I told them all to come along . It looks like you’re lucky we did . ”

Veronika nodded, while Rohan’s face was bitter and resentful .  f.u.c.k f.u.c.k f.u.c.k . f.u.c.k! It’s Frost de Winter! We’re dead!

Seeing the forces arrayed against him, Frost scowled in irritation . He was strong enough to handle Cloudhawk and the other three without trouble, but with these new additions things became… troublesome . After all, these weren’t your average soldiers . Although none came even close to the rank of master demonhunter . At best one or two might be granted the rank of senior .

Felina was nicknamed the Demon Kitten for more than just her speed and savagery . She also commanded a unique relic . This pair of curved swords were called the ‘flickering blades’, a special set that could sense one another . When they were separated, so long as the bearer held one they could teleport instantly to the other . It lent her a speed few could match, so when Felina fought her swords flew all over the field . She would flicker from one to the other, so long as they remained within range . It made her incredible agile and hard to pin down .

 Caspian was also unique, in more than just his ambiguous gender and s.e.xuality . He bore two relics; one for attack, and one for defense . Both matched his water talent, and both were very high quality [1] . Water-talent was characterized by adaptation . It could flow as a river, rise as a fog, or fall as rain . It could also crash like the sea . Its abilities were boundless .

As for Veronika, she was the weakest in straight combat but was as helpful in this exchange as anyone else . Her relic was the ‘demon sealing mirror,’ a priceless treasure of her family . It was not an offensive tool, but could hinder and regulate its target . It also has the ability to sap the victim of mental energy while bolstering the user’s defense . In other words, with Veronika as support Frost’s strength was at least a third as threatening . He was weaker, in turn making her comrades more effective . The benefits were obvious .

Rohan’s relic was nothing special, but he wasn’t a pushover . He had psychic power to rival Gabriel’s, and was cunning in a fight . He was especially effective when making sneak-attacks in confused exchanges .

Cloudhawk had lived and suffered with these people for two months . Throughout that time they trained morning to night, which made them all very familiar with one another’s skills and fighting styles . Their cooperation in times of conflict was more than just pa.s.sable . Even against a foe like Frost de Winter, they had a grasp on how to approach the fight .

“f.u.c.k it . Ya’ll are in trouble now anyway, might as well make the most of it!” Cloudhawk wasn’t the sort to fear stirring things up, and even these high-brow n.o.bles were willing to cause some mischief . So what was he supposed to say? He ordered the unthinkable . “We’ll deal with this a.s.shole together . I want to see the look on Master Arcturus’ pride and joy when I stomp it beneath my boot . ” 

1 . Caspian’s effeminate nature and his talent for water-type relics is not random . The Chinese concept of Yin, '陰’, are many of the qualities Caspian displays: dark, flowing, cold, water, female, subservient . Remember not to attach negative or positive stigma to either yin or yang, because they’re two essential fragments of a unified whole – even though the author is clearly using him as a foil for comic relief and h.o.m.ophobia . You can see Caspian as the polar opposite of the man we met in the House of Demonhunters, Blaze 

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