Chapter 34

The moonlight refracts across spiraling frost towers. Lily and Astera, both cloaked in custom stealth gear laced with reflective silver, float silently down via controlled wind magic.

Astera
(whispers)
Windflow’s still. No detection spells triggered.

Lily
Spire wall’s ahead. That vent you mentioned.

Astera
Yeah. That slit, right under the balcony. Let’s phase in.

The two flicker with light magic and blink inside the narrow stone opening, barely wide enough for a body. They crawl for five meters in silence.

Lily
(low)
This reminds me of that one time in Sanguinoso.
We had to sneak past twenty guards just to grab Berwick’s dropped book.

Astera
That was your idea. You threw the book.

Lily
Strategically.

They emerge from the vent into a dark crystal hall. The frost lining the walls pulses with faint spiritual energy—clear signs of Givre’s fracture domain.

Astera
We’re inside. Inner sanctum should be—
(pointing left)
—past the Whispering Stairs.

Lily
Got it. Arcana concealment on three.

Both press glowing runes to their wrists and vanish from sight. They sprint low and silent, shadows flowing around marble-like floors. Reaching the stairwell, they pause—sensing an aura.

Astera
Up ahead. Left hall.

Lily
Can’t tell if it’s a sentinel… or him.

They slowly step into the throne corridor—an ornate chamber coated in a blend of black ice and cracked white marble. Sitting atop the icy throne is King Givre. His silver hair moves like liquid metal. One eye pure white, the other an abyss of frost.

King Givre
(quietly)
And so, the offspring of law and bloom arrive.
I wondered how long until the Universal Guard stopped sending messages… and started sending children.

Astera
(step forward, rune glowing)
I’m no child, and neither is she.

Lily
You fractured your way into power.
Let’s see how well you hold it when someone knocks.

They both activate their sigils. Lily’s body glows with a yin-yang brilliance, while Astera’s blooms with verdant silver and a fierce gold sparkle.

King Givre
(slow smile)
Then do try.
But know this—Raureif belongs to the cold now.
And you will shatter.

He lifts a hand and the entire throne room is consumed in swirling shards of frozen time. The battle begins.