The Ice Stanza

We ran towards the castle, Agnes, Helia, Rita and me. A new sword in my hand, ready to end these villains once and for all.

And all the time, noticing that he had frozen the entire town, I thought about the power of this surgeon. Even more after Rita told us what happened.

“In one instant, the two appeared. The doctor and Amaru, wearing his mask. All the Paladins attacked at the same time, and all were frozen in a second.”

“How can he be so powerful?” I asked. “Each Paladin is supposed to have the strength of a top tier Hero.”

“I don’t know, but Master Gengis ordered me to escape to warn you about his powers.”

When we finally reached the gates we saw him, with Brita right in front of the surgeon and her tribe in a circle around. The doctor looked calm and cold, almost bored, while Brita was the opposite.

She charged at him with her sword and shield, covered in ice. Her movements were relentless.

She swung her sword again and again, each attack creating huge spikes of ice.

Fritzroy simply moved out of the way. He was holding his ice scalpel in hand but was not using it to attack.

Brita kept her barrage, the ground beneath her feet cracked from the force of her attacks. She was clearly faster and stronger physically, but Fritzroy kept his posture, analyzing her.

“Stop running away!” Brita shouted.

“I was just waiting to see the famous Ice Stanza of the north. I have to be honest, I’m not impressed.”

She roared at his face, raised her sword and a massive amount of ice gathered around the blade. Once she was bringing it down, he simply raised one hand. That was all and she stopped.

Her sword was still raised above her head, the pose was the same, after all she had become an ice statue.

“Brita!”

I ran forward but Agnes grabbed my arm.

“Wait!”

The four of us watched in confusion. The ice wasn't coming from Fritzroy. It came from inside Brita, frozen her entire body in instants.

Her expression was still full of determination, she hadn't even had time to react.

“A beautiful statue at least,” he said bored.

“What... did he do?” Helia asked.

Before we could understand, Brita’s tribe screamed and started using their own elemental power to attack Fritzroy. One with purple runes was the next frozen, another made a giant raven, and both became more statues. Another just attacked with an axe and the doctor dodged and cut him with his scalpel, this time the ice didn’t come from inside, but from the cut.

A few seconds after the entire tribe was either frozen in ice or sliced on the floor.

“And we are going to stay here just watching?” asked Helia.

“It happens when we use our Stanzas,” I told them.

“What?” Agnes stared at me.

“Using a Stanza against him… makes us freeze.”

For the first time, I saw a small smile on his face.

“You noticed.”

My hand moved toward my sword. For the first time, I felt afraid to use my own Stanza in a battle.

“That is how he defeated the Paladins so easily!” concluded Rita.

“But how do we fight him?” Agnes asked.

“You don’t, I do.” I pointed my katana at him without using any power.

“Reikokuna Takai, son of Reikokuna Atsu. Former member of the Flame Swordsfolk, you actively stopped using your Fire Stanza and started using the Ice Stanza. Remarkable. You even have a Hybrid Stanza now.”

“I don’t want your compliments!”

“You should, I do not give them to anyone. You saw the beauty in the Ice Stanza and you grabbed it. If you want to become my apprentice, I have lots that I can teach you.”

I responded with an attack from my katana. He blocked with his scalpel. The impact sent cold through my body. I wanted to use my Fire Stanza, but I knew it would be my end.

I kept attacking, but he was not weak. My blade almost touched his face, but he made a cut on my arm that started freezing my body. I understanded that each extra second that passed the more Fritzroy chances to win rose.

The surgeon blocked each of my attacks and did counters. Each of the cuts were superficial, but the area they struck got covered in ice. My body started to shake.

The girls were watching me and none of them would have any chance against the doctor without using their Stanzas.

Another cut, this time on my knee, making me fall to the ground.

“Takai!” Agnes shouted.

I raised my katana.

“Don't worry!” I said as I forced myself to stand.

Fritzroy walked toward me.

“You are interesting, Takai.”

“I don't want to hear it.”

“You abandoned the Fire Stanza because you thought it made you toxic to the other.” He raised his scalpel. “But you still haven't understood the Ice Stanza either.”

Before he could end me I felt as cold as I did when facing the Cyan Demon. The Paladins, Brita and their man, all then frozen. In statis. And the words of the Ice Stanza came back to me.

I

There is snow under the window,

And the world waits still under the ice.

I think before opening the door,

Because there are thousands of ways to fall,

A thousand mistakes I can avoid.

A thousand ways to make everything perfect

II

If I wait, it might become perfect.

I can stay inside the ice.

Maybe never cross the door,

Just watching the snow fall.

My reflection is looking back at me.

III

Maybe it never was perfect.

But behind the door there is a

crack.

Never ready, never perfect

IV - Envoi

The door is open

The window is open

The world keeps waiting

I waited until the cold

knew my name

I don’t have fear of fall anymore

Beyond the window, I look at something

There is someone looking back.

An ice statue.

He felt like the perfect example of an Ice Stanza user. But I was something different. Like Nina Nune I still didn’t know everything about myself, how Fire and Ice could coexist inside me. But I knew that just restraint was not the way I wanted to live.

I looked at my companions and smiled at them.

“I will leave the rest to you.”

“Oh, are you feeling brave?” the doctor asked.

“You think you know a lot of me, but you should know that letting you hit me that much without using my Stanza back… well, I have a lot of passion to let out.”

The cyan flames covered my body. They were not hot, but they did free me from the ice cuts. I knew it would only take a second for I get frozen again, this time, completely, but a second was all I needed.

The cyan flames did not only cover the surgeon, but also cover the entire town as well with my signature. Destroying the golems and making people without Stanza powers thaw out.

But then I felt my entire body getting cold again as the signature of Fritzroy and everything turned black.

(…)

We ran to Takai and immediately Rita started using the healing powers of her Stanza to save Takai.

“He is alive! But it will take time to bring him back safely.”

Despite our shred of hope, Fritzroy started laughing on the ground. While his body was being consumed by cyan flames he told us his last words.

“Killing me means nothing. I did my magnum opus in there. It’s just a shame that I didn’t have the Original Poem of the Sky, but what I did to that man will blow your minds.”

We felt the entire city shaking under us.

“What have you done?” Helia asked to the dying doctor.

“I told you: my magnum opus. I took out the Stanzas of Amaru, who kept alive thanks to the power of the Original Poem. The Original Poems of Fire and Alchemy are sustaining his immortality. With this, only the Void Stanza remained for him. Of course, with the other Poems, we connected the Paladins’ Stanzas with him, so the only power he is missing is the Sky Stanza. And to complete it, we fused the Original Poem of the Void with him, making him the Gray Demon, like what we did with Elvira.”

The crazed man kept laughing, as a huge hole emerged in the castle. There was a person flying. He wore his creepy mask, but this time with demon horns coming from his head and a gray glow in his chest. Around him, seven bubbles were orbiting, they were translucent, but inside each of them was one of the Original Poems.

Without any second to lose, he summoned again the seven Elemental Demons. And, this time, with the city no longer frozen, we heard the scream of thousands of people watching what looked like the end of the world.