The members of the Dark Oath squad hadn't anticipated that Jack Harper's ice seal would do more than preserve the lives of a dozen Claymore warriors—it also triggered a transformation deep within himself.
Frostless Fist
This technique was one of the rare silver-tier martial arts that followed a pure ice-based path. Even at entry level, it allowed the user to condense water into ice and shape it into blades—sharp and deadly. Its ninth and highest tier was known as the "Glacial Apex." The cultivation method was unusual: one had to seal all ice-type inner energy into the Ren and Du meridians, then enter a state of suspended animation. If the practitioner could awaken within two hours, the compressed frost energy would flood the body like an avalanche, instantly multiplying their power tenfold. They'd be able to freeze air into blades, summon snow in midsummer, and seal a ten-mile radius in ice. The technique held countless other secrets and was considered peerless in power. But failure to awaken meant death—true death.
Jack Harper had originally planned to attempt this final step only after reaching the peak of Tier Eight. For most, the suspended animation phase was extremely dangerous. But for Jack, it was different. He had survived ten years in the Ice Prison—a decade of near-death hibernation. He was already accustomed to it. Waking up was never a problem.
Yet in the final moments of the battle at Piet Town, as he triggered the massive Ice Mountain Transmutation Array and sealed the entire city in frost, something stirred within him. He instinctively channeled all his Tier Seven ice-type inner energy into the Ren and Du meridians. Finding it insufficient, he drew upon his innate ice mutation to supplement the flow. Then, his body entered suspended animation once more.
During this frozen slumber, his mutated ice energy continued to seep into the meridians, compressing slowly but steadily. The pressure from the hundred-meter glacier above ensured the process never stopped.
Normally, the Frostless Fist's Tier Eight peak would compress the inner energy once, then allow it to transform gradually during hibernation. Upon awakening, it would evolve into a colder, stronger form of true energy. But Jack's method was different. He kept compressing the energy within the meridians. His mutated ice power was already several times colder than the Frostless Fist's standard output. Once the compression passed a certain threshold, the inner energy began to assimilate, transforming into something even the technique's creator had never imagined.
The color shifted—from colorless to crystalline white, then pale blue, then deep blue, and finally into a near-black midnight blue, like the void of space.
Twenty-three days passed.
That was the time from Jack Harper's ice seal at Piet Town to the mission's conclusion. The Reincarnation Space determined that Jack had completed the objective—saving fourteen Claymore warriors—and rewarded him accordingly. A beam of white light enveloped him, pulling him out of the Claymore world.
And at that exact moment, Jack Harper awoke from his frozen slumber.
The changes were immediate.
Frost energy surged through his meridians like streams of black diamonds—crystalline, translucent, and endlessly flowing.
"Huh… the true energy is forming vortex-like halos as it circulates through my meridians. This… this isn't just the Glacial Apex. It's the Apex Perfected?"
Jack could feel the transformation of his Frostless Fist energy and was genuinely surprised. He had only hoped to reach the threshold of Tier Nine. Instead, by accident, he had pushed the technique to its absolute peak—a level even its creator had never achieved. The perfected Glacial Apex compressed frost energy into diamond-like crystals that, when circulated, created aurora-like spiral halos. Its power now rivaled the Triple Element Finger.
The mutated true energy also gave Jack a massive boost in strength. The original Frostless Fist was designed for ordinary humans. No matter how cold the energy, it couldn't drop below minus 100 degrees Celsius. Without moisture in the air, it couldn't form ice weapons, forcing users to rely on their own blood to condense blades. But Jack's frost energy now exceeded minus 200 degrees. Even in dry air, he could extract oxygen and nitrogen to form ice—completely free from environmental limitations.
And during the brief post-mission summary, Jack received another piece of good news.
"Due to the curse of 'Styx Blood Vengeance,' the rest period between mission worlds has been canceled. Both cursed parties will be sent directly into the next mission."
This was a huge relief for Jack Harper. It meant the Dark Oath squad couldn't contact their organization or receive support. Otherwise, even without new recruits, they could easily acquire gold-tier item cards and crush him.
Fortunately, his body—enhanced by the Hulk's life energy—was recovering well. The scar on his face was already fading.
Jack redeemed a black eyepatch from the Reincarnation Book, covered his left eye, and waited for the darkness to fade as he entered the next mission world.
When he landed in a forest, the Reincarnation Book displayed the name of the new world:
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
The moment he saw the title, Jack Harper felt a wave of emotion.
Finally… a world he actually knew.
Back when Final Fantasy VII first launched, Jack hadn't yet been imprisoned. He had access to the latest Japanese games and remembered the story vividly. After his release from the Ice Prison, he learned there was a sequel and immediately sought it out. He was well-versed in the plot.
The 3D animated film Advent Children was a side story to the game Final Fantasy VII. Without knowledge of the game, the movie's plot was hard to follow.
The game's story took place on a near-future planet also called Earth. With conventional energy sources depleted, a company named Shinra developed a technology to extract the planet's life force and convert it into "Mako" energy. Shinra monopolized the global energy market, built a massive mechanical metropolis, and formed a private military to protect its interests.
Opposing them was a resistance group called Avalanche—essentially a terrorist organization—who fought against Shinra's exploitation of the planet. The protagonist, Cloud, joined Avalanche as a mercenary. His childhood friend Tifa was also a member.
But Shinra wasn't the game's final boss.
To create powerful soldiers, Shinra bathed humans in Mako, enhancing their abilities. Later, led by Professor Hojo, they used cells from an ancient alien lifeform unearthed deep within the planet's crust to create genetically engineered warriors capable of withstanding high concentrations of Mako. The first and strongest of these was a silver-haired, long-sword-wielding, strikingly handsome young warrior named Sephiroth.
The apex of the entire game.
The most iconic final boss in gaming history.
The One-Winged Angel, worshipped by countless Final Fantasy fans.
The tragic Sephiroth.
Born without family or love, raised in isolation, molded into a hero by the organization—yet inwardly hollow and lost.
Eventually, during a Mako incident investigation, Sephiroth discovered his origins. After a long journey, he learned that his cells came from an alien lifeform that had crossed the universe, seeking to devour planetary life. Though it resembled a virus, it possessed collective intelligence and a singular mission: consume the planet.
This entity had arrived via meteorite, and the ancient civilization sacrificed itself to seal it within a female body, burying it underground. Shinra later unearthed this corpse and named it Jenova.
Compared to the cold, ruthless human world and Shinra's cruelty, Sephiroth embraced Jenova's call, becoming its new core. He cast the ultimate black magic, summoning a massive meteor from space to crash into the planet, intending to absorb all life and ascend to godhood.
Among the protagonist's allies was Aerith, a descendant of the ancient race that once sealed Jenova. Guided by ancestral knowledge, she attempted to counter Sephiroth's meteor with the ultimate white magic—but was killed by Sephiroth before she could complete the spell. Though suppressed, the magic lingered. As the story progressed, the truth unraveled. In the end, the heroes defeated Sephiroth before the meteor struck. Aerith's magic and the planet's life force combined to stop the apocalypse.
Shinra collapsed.
Peace returned…
…or so it seemed.
If peace had truly come, what would Advent Children be about? A party?
Of course not.
Though Sephiroth died, his spirit merged with the planet's life stream, gradually spreading across the world. After two years of silence, he gathered enough strength to split off three fragments of his consciousness, combining them with Mako energy to form physical vessels—three "Remnants" carrying fragments of his memory.
He sent them to find Jenova's head, the only part of the corpse with intact cells. The rest had been damaged by Aerith's magic. Only the original cells could create a body strong enough to host Sephiroth's spirit and allow his resurrection.
The rest of the plot was straightforward. The Remnants, though handsome, were dim-witted and emotionally stunted. They wandered aimlessly, manipulated by Shinra's surviving president Rufus. Not only did they fail to find Jenova's head, they provoked all of Cloud's former allies.Once Rufus saw Cloud's team fully assembled, he threw out Jenova's head, triggering a battle between Cloud and the Remnants. Shinra's remaining forces took advantage of the chaos, severely injuring two of the Remnants. The last one, Kadaj, was cornered and desperate.
In a final act of desperation, Kadaj forcibly fused with Jenova's head, allowing Sephiroth to resurrect through his wounded body—albeit hastily and imperfectly.
Even so, the legendary final boss returned in full splendor, throwing the planet into turmoil once again. Though his body was weak and his energy reserves low, he still possessed unmatched swordsmanship and combat experience. For most of the fight, Sephiroth overwhelmed Cloud, leaving him battered and bloodied.
But protagonist plot armor is invincible.
With the planet's life force backing him, Cloud unleashed his ultimate technique—"Omnislash Version 5"—a flurry of strikes that finally defeated Sephiroth, sending him back into the Lifestream to gather strength once more.
And then, peace returned…
…or so they say.
The story didn't end there. In fact, it had multiple sequels.
But for now, those tales were irrelevant.
Jack Harper checked his mission details, and his expression froze.
World:Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (Near-Future / Fantasy) Challenge Rating: Upper Silver Tier Objectives:
Survive for three days. Reward: 1,000 survival points.Assist Sephiroth in destroying the world. Failure Conditions: a. Sephiroth fails to descend. b. Sephiroth's vessel dies. Reward: One silver-tier card, 10,000 survival points. Penalty for Failure: One silver-tier card deducted, 20,000 survival points deducted.
"…What kind of mission is this?" Jack Harper's face darkened.
Assist Sephiroth in destroying the world?
Sure, Jack had once admired Sephiroth—his cool demeanor, his strength, his iconic Masamune blade, and his tragic backstory. But admiration didn't mean he wanted to help him wipe out humanity.
Still, this was a mission world. Jack could easily guess: if he'd been assigned to aid Sephiroth, then the Dark Oath squad had likely been tasked with helping the protagonists save the world. In other words, a death match.
Jack had no choice.
Even if he resolved to help Sephiroth, the plan itself was riddled with problems. The odds were grim. Never mind the Remnants' childish minds and constant blunders—even if they succeeded and Sephiroth descended in perfect form, the situation wouldn't necessarily improve.
After all, Aerith—though physically dead—had merged with the planet's Lifestream. Unlike Sephiroth, who was essentially an invasive spirit, Aerith was the planet's chosen representative. Her bloodline and her role in activating the ultimate white magic made her the embodiment of the planet's will. She could command the Lifestream and was omnipresent.
And the planet's will wasn't some passive pushover.
When Jenova first arrived via meteorite, the planet created four powerful Weapon-class lifeforms to eliminate the threat. Though the ancient civilization sealed Jenova before they could be deployed, the Weapons remained. In the original game, they appeared as hidden bosses—each capable of leveling Shinra's metropolis. According to Reincarnation Space's power scale, they were at least gold-tier threats.
So even if Sephiroth managed to kill Cloud and his allies, he'd still have to face the planet's full wrath.
"What the hell am I supposed to do?" Jack Harper felt a headache coming on.