The New Arc: Shadow Shelter
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Chapter Eleven: "Ice Breathes, Lightning Unmasks"
Silence fell over the room as Iris, her body bursting with energy, hurtled toward Mont's room, like a meteor of icy light about to collide with the interior of the earth. She wasn't flying, but gliding through the air as if gravity had betrayed her for a moment, causing her to melt into the void. At the edge of the scene, Ethan stood, his eyelids twitching, his heart racing, opening a void portal behind her, pursuing her... but in vain. She was headed for something else... the closet.
The old closet that everyone had always ignored, dismissed as just a piece of furniture. But now... it screamed. Yes, like a groan from another time. It shattered, the wood scattering as if escaping something greater than itself. From its depths, the essence emerged... that frozen, alien entity that, as soon as it touched Iris's body, melted into each other... no, they united.
Ethan froze, sweat dripping down his forehead, and he asked in a trembling voice:
> "Is this... is this one of the legendary abilities? Oh my God... if so, we've been blessed beyond words!"
But another voice came from deep within the shadows. It was an old man's, his face etched with time like a map of torment.
> "You idiot... that's not a legendary ability... it's the Ice Queen's Bloodline."
Ethan gasped, but the old man continued, his tone foreboding:
> "The Ice Queen's Bloodline, Ethan, isn't just an ability. It's one of the greatest ancient secrets. A rare power... that makes your sister not an A or an S... but an SS... and above."
Iris opened her eyes, her gaze glassy, her body trembling, feeling conflicting energies raging inside her.
Ethan said to her calmly:
> "You have merged with the essence, but the power is not entirely yours. The ice within you is not your ice yet. It is... royal ice. Relentless ice."
And suddenly, as if reality weren't enough to make things even stranger, the mysterious child appeared. The one who had climbed the snowy mountain alone, very slowly... but he wasn't slow, he was... resisting something unseen.
The child said with strange calm:
> "Let me help her."
He stretched his hand over Iris's chest and began to speak in a language no one understood, as if the wind itself were whispering his words. Her body began to tremble, then calm down. The energies began to harmonize. A sacred harmony.
Ethan stood up and smiled at the child:
> "Thank you... you who I don't know who you are."
But time is unforgiving, and Ethan quickly decided to go to the most powerful refuge in A-State. He took the child with him, along with Iris, who was still adjusting. When they arrived, the guard greeted them at the back gate.
The guard said with disdain:
> "What are you doing here?"
Ethan replied:
> "We want to join."
The guard laughed sarcastically:
> "This way? The entrance for the commoners, gentlemen, is on the right."
But Ethan couldn't wait. He raised his hand and blew apart a giant rock lying next to the gate, leaving not a single shard behind.
The guard shouted, his expression changing:
> "Your level?!"
Ethan said:
> "B. My sister? V. She controls the ice shards. And the child? I don't know."
Ethan and Iris entered, but the child... was forced through the commoner entrance, leaving a scar on his heart.
As soon as Ethan entered, he felt something strange... as if something was watching him.
In the center of the hall stood a blond man, his eyes elongated by a black barrier, holding an axe bearing ancient symbols, symbols from an age forgotten by time.

The man said in a sharp voice:
> "Who are you?"
Ethan replied confidently:
> "Ethan Carawan. The possessor of the power of explosions."
The blond man said:
> "Zane Calvus. The Second General. The possessor of the power of survival. Will you accept the test?"
They were suddenly transported to the battlefield, no one knew how. Everything changed: the sand, the rocks, the sky.
The fight began.
Ethan attacked with explosions. Calvus faced him with his body alone. Absolute survival. But suddenly... a lightning bolt of black lightning. Shock.

> "Lightning? But it's not ordinary..." Ethan muttered, "It's violent... and it goes against the nature of lightning!"
Ethan leaped, powerlessly, behind Calvus. A sudden, controlled attack. But!
Ethan's spear stopped in mid-air. A hand grasped it. Another man, indescribable, could not be seen clearly.
He said in an unforgettable voice:
> "Stop. You're about to kill each other."
Time stood still. The spear was a millimeter from Kalvos's eye, while his axe was at Ethan's throat. Death was there... waiting.
Ethan asked:
> "Who are you?"
The man said:
> "I'm the leader of this Sanctuary... the Lightsaber."

Later, Ethan was given a private room for himself and his sister. But in the shadows of darkness, the child had crept in... He entered the room, trembling as he said:
> "The treatment here is bad... They're not as good as they claim."
But the real surprise was in Ethan's eyes. He remembered Black Lightning. It was impossible. Lightning couldn't be used with axes. No one could combine lightning's speed with force strikes.
> "Is he... a dual wielder?" he muttered anxiously.
Meanwhile, Calvus looks out his window, remembering how Ethan had teleported behind him in an instant.
> "That wasn't just speed... He broke the laws of time. Is he also a double?"
A day passes, and an urgent alert arrives: a legendary-level mission. All the top fighters are on the move. Calvus, Ethan, the Commander.
But this time... Iris doesn't come. She's still learning how to fight... with the power of royal ice.
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Chapter ends.