Mother of a thousand spawn,
Power beyond mortal grasp,
I call upon our bond.
My strength to yours is nothing,
But my soul to yours demands,
Fulfill the oath we made as one,
And come to my command!
Seiryu, I summon you!”
The entire chamber vibrated.
The room flooded with the power of air and ice.
And, at Sera’s command, Seiryu the God Serpent, her final summoned monster, appeared.
It was a rampart of glistening scales of the brightest blue, its coiled form filling nearly every available inch of the chamber. It was not the full size I had seen before. Even with her enhanced mana, Sera could not have hoped to summon Seiryu at its full strength.
But this…
In Seiryu’s presence, I could do nothing but stare. Even just the aura around it was oppressive, overwhelming — and stark blue. Sapphire.
Derek, it seemed, was less impressed.
He jabbed an elbow backward, and as Jin staggered, he spun and struck Jin across the face. Jin fell backward, collapsing on the stairs.
And Sera, coughing, fell from the sky.
Seiryu moved ever-so-slightly as Sera fell, catching her atop its serpentine head. She landed hard, coughing again, but righted herself.
Even from a distance, I could see that the glow in her eyes was fading.
“Seiryu,” she pointed a hand at Derek, “Freeze that man.”
And with that, she collapsed against the serpent’s head.
Derek drew his second sword, facing the god beast head on with a look of grim determination.
Seiryu took a deep breath.
And, realizing what was about to happen, I pushed myself off the stairway.
I hit the floor just before Seiryu exhaled. My back screamed in agony, but the ring flared to keep me conscious.
The blast of permafrost from Seiryu’s jaws spread across a quarter of the room. The sole pillar that was caught in the blast cracked and fractured, and even from the floor, I felt a numbness sweep across my entire body. My barrier flickered into place, then cracked completely apart as the ice continued to slowly spread across the room.
And the breath was still going, the ice still spreading.
In a moment of clarity, I managed to reach into my backpack and pull out the cloak, awkwardly dragging it over the top of my body before the next pulse of cold washed over me.
My legs, fortunately, were already so numb from pain that I barely felt them freeze.
The cloak’s magic offered precious little protection, but it was enough to keep me conscious through the blast.
And as the cold gradually seeped away, I realized that I might have been the only one still awake and aware.
Aside from the giant god beast, of course.
I carefully extracted myself from the cloak, dragging it over my legs and feeling it begin to melt the thin layer of ice away.
Sera had slipped off the creature’s head and fallen to the floor.
Derek was still standing, frozen inside a massive block of ice that enveloped nearly that entire quarter of the chamber.
Within the clear ice, I could still see his flaming sword burning. I could still see his Emerald aura burning bright.
And I could see the ice around beginning to shiver and crack.
You have to be kidding me.
Shivering, I turned my head toward Seiryu. “Uh, Seiryu. Hi.”
The vast god beast turned its head toward me, eyes narrowing.
“I’m Corin, your Summoner’s brother. And ally, just to be clear. Since she’s out cold, I’d hope you’d be willing to help me.”
“State your will, brother of my Summoner.”
The chamber shuddered as the god beast spoke, and I trembled along with it.
“That guy she asked you to freeze is actually one of our friends, and he’s being controlled by the ring on his right hand. Any chance you could remove it and free him?”
“I can sense the ring, but it is too small. You must remove it. I will clear the necessary ice.”
A moment later, I was floating toward the frozen section of the room, and a section of ice began to visibly melt away.
That meant that the ice around Derek was cracking faster, too.
Seiryu levitated me right next to the Derek’s hand. He tried to twist it free to take a swing, but for once, I was faster.
I reached out and yanked the ring off Derek’s hand.
Derek shivered and his Emerald aura flared out.
The ice around him cracked and shattered.
And, now cleared from the ice, he turned his head toward me.
“Th—thanks.”
And with that, his aura vanished, and he fell flat on his face.
I didn’t even try to catch him. I was too startled.
With that resolved, I turned toward Seiryu. “Thank you, truly, Great One. I don’t suppose you could summon Katashi to help us sort this situation out?”
“No, that is not among my abilities.”
I nodded. “Sera — your Summoner — is she okay? Can you heal her?”
“Her condition worsens every moment I remain here.”
The creature’s face twisted into something that I assumed had to be a frown.
“I will grant her a fraction of my strength to sustain her, and then I must go.”
I nodded. “Thank you, Great One.”
The god beast’s eyes met mine. “Do not thank me. It has been centuries since a Summoner as weak as she was brave enough to approach me. I preserve my own.”
With that, the beast turned its gaze toward Sera. And then, with an almost loving motion, it nudged her with its nose and breathed outward again. There was no feeling of cold this time. From my position, I could feel only a surge of energy, almost electrical, in the air.
I saw Sera, still prone on the floor, take in a gasp of breath — and then shiver for an instant before going still.
“It is done.”
Seiryu took one final glance in my direction, dipped its head in something resembling a nod, and then vanished into nothing.
And finally, I felt like I could breathe again.
The first thing I did was crawl over to where I’d dropped my cloak when Seiryu had levitated me.
Then, with my arms sore from effort, I crawled over to Sera and draped the cloak over to her.
“It’s finally over,” I mumbled, carefully pulling fragments of ice out of Sera’s hair.
“It is.” Jin’s voice. He stood Vera, shaking his head.
I was glad to see that he was looking better. He’d wiped the blood off his nose, and though he looked a little shaky, he didn’t seem to have any other obvious injuries.
He turned his head toward me, smiling sadly. “I’m afraid I’m not going to be able to make that date for the winter ball, Corin.”
And then Jin fired two bullets into Vera’s back.
Chapter XXIII — Finishing Moves
I leveled my gauntlet at Jin and fired a blast of transference mana immediately, but he just stepped out of the way and shook his head.
“I really am sorry about this.” He turned his gun back to her and pulled the trigger again — only to hear a click. With a shrug, he discarded the empty gun and drew a dagger from inside his coat.
I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know what was happening.
So I fought.
I fired again, this time managing to graze his shoulder and knock him back a few steps.
“Irritating,” he said. “But you can’t stop me. If she’s not already dead, I’ll finish it soon. Don’t worry; I have no interest in hurting you.”
“What are you doing? Stop!” I tried my legs again. The ring had been doing great work. I made it to a half-standing position before my legs collapsed under me again.