The temperature plummeted.
The moisture in the air froze into a swirling vortex around her, an expanding storm ring of razor snow and compressed ice shards rotating at lethal velocity. The two Golems pushed through it, armor grinding, shields raised, but their movements slowed measurably, each step costing more than the last.
The Core pulsed again. Red light deepened in their eyes. The frost around them cracked and flaked away as their internal heat surged, the Labyrinth pouring energy into its defenders like bellows feeding a forge.
They roared, not in panic, but in defiance.
Isolde's expression hardened. "Then let's see whose winter this truly is."
The ice beneath the Golems' feet softened suddenly. Not melting, liquefying into a treacherous semi-solid under precise temperature manipulation. The shield Golem's footing slipped for half a fraction of a second.
That was enough.
