A few minutes later, the final orc rushed me, twice the size of the others, massive, armored with ice like jagged crystal. It swung its double-bladed axe down in a roar. I caught the blow in my hands, my bare hands, and pushed back, Qi burning through me from Seraphine's resonance.
The orc staggered. I spun. Cut through its core. The creature fell to its knees, breath rattling out in a gust of freezing mist. Then it collapsed. Silence followed. The cavern floor was drenched in green blood. Shattered ice. Broken steel. Breathing bodies. Our breathing. Alive. So alive because of her. I looked at her, still standing in the center, aura gently fading, eyes opening like she had just woken from a nap. And though she was wrapped in my jacket, cheeks flushed from the cold…She looked like something terrifying. Something divine.
"Are you hurt?" I asked quietly.
She shook her head. "Just cold."
