The ice had begun to melt, droplets of water sliding down its surface.
They floated upward, rising toward the sky until they covered the only visible ray of sunlight in a horizon drowned in gray clouds.
The Emperor advanced toward the azure knight.
The flaming sword was reborn in the giant knight's hand.
Their weapons clashed—
and the ground itself cracked beneath the impact.
The wind grew stronger and stronger, until the trees began to reveal their roots.
The giants tried to escape, but were either burned alive by flames or frozen solid by ice.
Which death was worse: burning alive or freezing alive?
The dead city, devoured by nature and drenched in human and giant blood, was now split between fire and ice.
A battle so unbelievable it seemed torn from the pages of a high-fantasy novel—
for no human should have been capable of standing against an elemental giant.
"He… he is not human. He is a monster being born." the giant thought.
The impact threw both warriors back, their feet sliding across the shattered ground.
The giant, clad in his incandescent lapis-lazuli armor, glared at the Emperor.
The Emperor smiled—an excited, yet strangely enigmatic smile—
his hand lifting to his chin.
"Why… am I smiling?" he wondered.
His enemy charged at him, swinging his fierce blade.
The flame-forged weapon shifted, taking the shape of a dragon lunging at its prey.
The knight brought it down in a vertical arc, igniting the ground beneath it.
The Emperor dodged the blade—but not the fire.
Flames clung to his arm and continued to grow.
"Agh!"
Groans of pain escaped the Emperor's lips.
The ice on his body melted, yet suddenly he grinned.
Slowly, the flames began to die out. The smile he wore was… sinister.
The royal knight stared, disturbed by what he was witnessing.
The Emperor's ice twisted—tentacles writhing like living, parasitic extensions with thin red veins pulsating within.
That ice… was alive.
Alive like a parasite feeding on its host.
"Interesting," the knight said with excitement.
Poul cast a shadowed glare—then, with both arms limp and no stance at all, he vanished.
The Emperor of Ice moved like a shadow swallowed by the dusk.
Something cold—an icy wind—brushed behind the knight.
He froze.
His hair stood on end.
A small frozen hand struck his neck, hurling him backwards.
"What absurd strength!" the azure royal knight thought in shock.
"How can something so small possess such strength without enlarging its hand?"
The living ice tentacles wrapped around his incandescent armor, lifting him effortlessly—
as if he weighed nothing, despite being a creature of tons.
The Emperor's expression was pure madness.
His rationality had vanished.
Only destruction remained.
"Agh!"
The giant groaned as the freezing tendrils crushed his limbs.
A watery, reddish fluid slid down the tentacles.
Poul smiled.
A smile born from the sight of his enemy's blood.
"More. Squeeze harder. I want more blood." he laughed inwardly.
Until—
A sigh echoed in his mind.
He turned his attention toward the sound—
but saw nothing.
Only a white and black haze swirling together.
He looked back at his enemy hanging in the air.
"You truly lost yourself…"
A mysterious yet familiar voice echoed in Poul's mind, sighing again.
"You disappointed me, Poul."
Poul looked around—
no one was there.
"Am I… going insane?"
"No. You are not."
"Then how are you reading my thoughts?!"
The voice laughed.
"You truly forgot… I am Glaciei, your elemental spirit.
It's a pleasure to recognize you again, Fallen Star."
"Glaciei… that name feels so… so…"
Poul's eyes widened.
He had forgotten two things.
"How… could I forget Glaciei… and my…"
He inhaled sharply, his eyes trembling.
"…son!?" Poul whispered, as if speaking to an old friend.
"I have a son… no— I do have a son. I'm sure of it! His name was… hm…"
"Jay!"
Jay—yes, that was his son's name.
How could a father forget his own child?
That would make him a miserable father, wouldn't it?
And how could a son forget his mother and father?
That would make him a terrible son.
These thoughts crashed into Poul's mind, and he began to laugh.
A melancholic laugh—
a laugh disguised as a sob.
"I am both."
Yes.
He had forgotten the son he loved…
and the two people who had loved him until their last breath.
Poul had truly become a great—
"Fool."
The giant remained suspended in the air as the freezing tendrils squeezed tighter and tighter.
Seeing the Emperor laugh, fury erupted within the knight—
a flame spreading across his entire body.
Even the blood dripping down the tendrils transformed into blue fire.
His metallic lapis-lazuli shell deteriorated.
Not only his armor—
his very body was changing.
"My body… I feel it deteriorating. As if my fury is fading… and… and my soul is merging with the fire."
The thought came with a chaotic, burning clarity.
Unlike the Emperor's cold, eerie calm—
his calm was scorching, like a burn.
The fire became an organ.
Not an extension of his body—
but something essential to keep him alive.
His body evaporated completely.
The Emperor laughed at himself, chest aching from the absurdity.
But suddenly—
he felt nothing in his tendrils.
He glanced up at the gray sky.
The azure knight's body was gone.
A chill crawled down his spine.
A cold sweat—cold as his own ice.
"What the hell?! How did he escape?" Poul snarled.
Ice spread around him as the scent of flames and chaos fell from above.
The knight descended from the sky, riding a flaming horse.
Poul stared in disbelief.
Clenching his fist, gritting his teeth, he inhaled deeply.
The ice tentacles wrapped around his left arm again, melting into his skin.
A faint sting pulsed through him.
He stepped toward the knight—
the wind pulling at his frozen clothes and snow-white hair.
With a dark smile, he raised his head toward the giant above.
"Our meaningless, empty battle ends he—"
"You will die!"
The knight roared, voice unwavering—
as if even death itself could not shake his conviction.
The ice around Poul slowly gathered into a circle beneath his feet.
The ice lifted him upward toward the giant—
who charged forward atop his blazing steed.
Sword pointed forward—
"AAAAHHH!"
He roared like a warrior who had found his destined end.
Poul remained silent.
He had accepted his fate.
Live or die—
the ending was the same.
"Mother… Father… Jay… Maria… forgive me. I may die here."
He tightened his grip.
A blue blade formed in his hand.
An explosion followed.
Ice and fire tore the air apart.
Blood spilled from Poul's mouth.
"Maria… forgive your husband. I will fail to keep my promise."
He thought as he roared.
The city vanished—
all except the walls holding the compressed sphere of air.
The knight's eyes bled.
His voice faltered.
His weapons trembled.
The air sphere shrank—
smaller and smaller.
Veins bulged in Poul's arms.
His blade disintegrated.
The giant grinned as blood splattered—
but the grin vanished when he saw it was an arm.
Poul had thrown his arm against the flaming sword—
and it, too, began to disintegrate.
"AAAAAHHHHH!"
Poul screamed toward the giant.
His frozen armor turned into smoke.
The giant struck with his flaming arm—
but his metallic shell evaporated as well.
Bones cracked.
A small arm collided with a massive one.
The compressed sphere imploded.
Ice and fire exploded in all directions.
The air bubble collapsed.
Both were thrown in opposite directions.
Poul was swallowed by snow, blood scattered like crimson droplets in the air.
"I… failed! But I didn't lose. Maybe I won't die. Maybe I will still keep my promise."
Maria's promise.
But something else gnawed at him.
"Forgive me, Jay… I… I won't return home. Forgive me for being a failure… as a father."
The impact hurled him endlessly—
perhaps toward a lake, an ocean, a sea, a volcano…
anywhere.
He closed his eyes as tears fell.
His body grew lighter.
Poul opened his eyes.
A beautiful woman stood near a window—
silver hair fluttering in the wind, pointed ears catching the light.
She turned, emerald eyes meeting his.
But something bothered him.
He whispered:
"Who… am I?"