whywhywhywhywhywhy

  ***

  Their eyes stared at mine, slowly inching closer to me as the freezing wind shook me awake.

  The already frozen snow below my palm bursts into a shockwave as the snow immediately evaporates into the air, slamming my body away.

  Gritting my teeth, I extended my arm towards the body of snow before breaking my fall.

  ‘For fuck's sake.’ I mumbled under my breath as I ignored the sharp pain from the explosion, quickly getting on my feet before forcing my fatigued leg to sprint.

  With my heart continuing to race endlessly, my premonition screamed at me to escape at this instant.

  “Halt!”

  One word.

  My entire body stopped.

  The step I was going to take didn't come.

  Though I used every inch of energy in my entire body to get even a centimeter away from them, it didn't listen to me. My body was being suppressed with one single word.

  Realizing the type of “opponents” I was against, if that thing could even be considered an opponent, I could only think of ways to escape the danger. Defeating them was practically impossible, not to mention my current state.

  Freezing for a moment, the stiff body twitched, budging for a moment before freeing itself from the restrictions. With all of my movement freed, my body swiftly turned around as I braced for another attack.

  The surrounding air rushed towards my face, thrusting between my hairs as I barely kept my eyelids from being shut.

  ‘?!’

  The wind spiraled around them, snow circling in the air as four crystal-clear spikes of ice floated above the frozen road.

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  Without a moment to process, an ice pillar pierced through the air and, in a split second, penetrated my right arm, tearing the already fragile flesh apart into two.

  The two large pieces of flesh hung from my shoulder, tangling by the muscle as an agonizing pain overwhelmed not just my arm but my entire body. The cold water that was the pillar immediately splashed on the wound.

  ***

  howlonghowlonghowlonghowlonghowlonghowlonghowlonghowlonghowlonghowlonghowlonghowlonghowlonghowlonghowlong

  ***

  ‘How?!’ One thought only remained in my mind, and without a chance to relieve the bleeding that drowned the snow below, another pillar descended.

  With no time to hesitate, I pushed through the pain before raising my left arm, twitching my fingers as I aimed towards the incoming pillar. It blitzed through the freezing air, a few centimeters away from splitting my left arm; thin mist replaced it.

  The bolting mist sliced tiny cuts into my cheeks as it disappeared into the air.

  Tiny cuts weren't the main issue; the problematic issue was my split arm.

  It kept pouring onto the now red snow, and it wasn't stopping anytime soon. Without any further spare time, Versile grouped up towards my arm before freezing the blood that rained down.

  Even if this wasn't the best option, I could only hope it would prolong my fate.

  With that out of the way, I turned my eyes towards them for a third time. After launching the second pillar, they pressed their fingers against their temple, rubbing silently as 2 blobs of water rained down on the snow, immediately turning into thin ice.

  Realizing an opportunity in front of me, my right arm dashed towards my pocket only to be greeted with an agonizing pain that spread across my entire body.

  ‘Ugh.’

  ***

  Ithurtsithurtsithurtsithurts

  ***

  An excruciating headache enveloped my brain, shocking me out of focus as they lunged with their entire body.

  Extending their hand, they reached for my throat before the thin skin around it reddened. Without a break in motion, my skull slammed into the snow, their body pressing me down as veins protruded out of my forehead.

  Without hesitating, my left hand clenched into a fist before bashing the face multiple times, and despite that, my view only grew more blurred. My hand only became more bruised the more I hit them, and in a desperate attempt, my eyes darted around the surroundings.

  A blue shade entered my view as my eyes lit up. My heart prayed for a miracle as my eyes landed on the snow.

  It sizzled as the snow evaporated in an instant. Without a second in between, their grip wrapped around my neck tightened. Even in the midst of my throat being strangled and my vision blurred to the point of being legally blind, the lights of red dripping from all openings of their body was no easy thing to miss.

  ***

  Fasterfasterfasterfasterfasterfasterfasterfasterfasterfasterfasterfasterfasterfasterfasterfasterfasterfasterfasterfasterfasterfasterfasterfasterfasterfasterfasterfasterfasterfasterfasterfasterfasterfasterfaster

  ***

  The pain of a hundred needles pierced through my brain as my already dimming focus wavered even more.

  Two internal thoughts conflicted with each other, contrasting with one another as they rampaged inside of my mind. Without a single clue as to what was going on, I could only endure the pain that covered my entire brain.

  ***

  PleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasePleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease

  ***

  …

  A fleeting flash of light bashed onto them without a single noise made; their grip immediately released as they rolled across the snow before digging their fingers into the snow, breaking the momentum as they pressed onto the ground.

  My eyes widened at the sudden intervention before my heart was set at ease. Yet, as my eyes rolled to the direction they had gone, my vision completely blackened along with a familiar feeling filling my chest.

  “MUSJI.” A groundbreaking shout vibrated my entire body and the air around it. And in an instant, multiple heavy noises banged in my ears. The snow below became colder as the wind passed violently with destructive speed, almost tearing my clothes apart.

  I grinned slightly, recognizing the voice.

  ***

  Staring at the corpse that lay against the wall, her eyes turned to Julo before examining him with worry in her eyes.

  ‘I got here just in time, huh.’ She mumbled faintly as her arms wrapped around his body.

  Using a time artifact, she barely managed to slow down time for him just to survive. But this couldn’t be used for long, as there was a high chance of Julo freezing in the icy snow.

  She carried him tightly to her chest; multiple versions of her returned to her in an instant as the snow below her heated up.

  In less than a millisecond, she vanished into thin air.