Shadow Re: Slave

But then, a furious voice exploded across the great hall.

"What the fuck is going on?!"

All heads turned toward the entrance.

Tessai had arrived.

His eyes were wide with rage. His expression twisted into something feral.

He pointed a trembling, accusatory finger at Gunlaug, not yet realizing the man was no longer even alive.

"You senile idiot! You're handing over the Great Castle to this girl? This… bitch?! She'll lead us all to doom!"

He turned toward Nephis, his lips curling in disgust.

"She's weaker than me—than all of us! What has she done to deserve the throne?! If you're stepping down, I should rule!"

The crowd went silent. Even those who had just been cheering fell still.

Tessai's outburst hung in the air like a storm cloud about to burst.

In the center of the room, Seishan stepped calmly behind Sunny, an indifferent smile playing on her lips. She leaned against a pillar, observing the confrontation as if it were a routine performance.

Gemma, still standing tall and composed, spoke in a clear voice:

"Ah, Tessai. We were expecting you. And you're right—we knew you'd protest. But we're not tyrants."

He gestured between Tessai and Nephis.

"If you think you're more worthy, then prove it. Face her in a fair fight. If you win, the throne is yours."

A murmur ran through the hall.

Nephis stepped forward without a word, eyes cold and resolute. She met Tessai's hateful stare with calm defiance.

The great hall was hushed, all eyes fixed on the sudden confrontation.

Tessai's voice still echoed as he stepped forward, fury burning in his eyes.

"You've all lost your minds," he growled, glaring at Gemma, Kido, and then Nephis. "She doesn't deserve to rule. I do."

He took another step, his shoulders squaring, a cold aura starting to bleed from his body. His voice dropped into a snarl:

"If she wants the throne, she'll have to freeze in hell first."

Tessai didn't hesitate.

The air in the hall shifted as a wave of cold swept outward from his body. Frost slithered across the marble tiles beneath his feet. The temperature plummeted. Tiny snowflakes began to drift lazily from thin air, catching in the golden beams of light falling through high windows.

His skin changed, turning a pale blue as an invisible layer of ice armor encased him. The surface shimmered like crystal beneath his clothes.

Across from him, Nephis remained perfectly still.

Then she stepped forward. Her eyes burned with calm fire. Her soul flared.

And suddenly, a searing wave of heat burst out from her body. Flames licked up her arms, wreathing her sword in brilliant radiance.

The fire clashed with the frost.

Where Tessai's cold pushed out, Nephis's flames surged to meet it.

The stone floor beneath their feet cracked from the temperature shift.

And then—

They clashed.

Tessai struck first, fast and brutal. His ice-covered fists were like hammers, every swing creating a shockwave of cold. Nephis moved to evade, but she could feel it already—her limbs were growing heavier, stiffer. His Aspect slowed her, sapped the heat from her blood, weighed down her flames.

He smirked.

"Feeling it yet? You're not burning your way out of this one."

But Nephis didn't reply.

Instead, she parried one of his strikes, spun to the side, and delivered a shallow slash across his ribs. Steam exploded from the wound as flame met enchanted flesh.

Tessai hissed in pain, and the cold flared outward again, snow swirling violently around them now in a mini blizzard. The floor became slick. Nephis slipped slightly and narrowly avoided a crushing punch to her face.

She was losing ground.

But she remembered her training. Sunny's voice echoed in her mind:

"Don't match brute force with brute force. Control the tempo. Make the battlefield yours."

So she did.

She baited Tessai into overextending. Used small bursts of flame—not to burn him, but to melt the ice beneath his feet. When he lunged, he slid.

And when he slid—

She struck.

A sharp horizontal slash severed the tendons in his thigh.

He roared, stumbling.

She ducked under his backhand swing, turned her blade, and drove it into his exposed flank. The heat flash-boiled the moisture around the wound, and his icy armor shattered in a burst of frost and mist.

He staggered.

"Still think I'm weak?" she asked coldly.

Tessai screamed in rage, raising his hand to freeze the entire hall.

But Nephis had already moved.

One final step. One clean swing.

His head hit the stone with a dull thud.

And the flames around her dimmed.

⸻

The hall was silent.

Then the cheering erupted again.

Cheers for Changing Star from the Imortal Flame Clan—for the flame that had extinguished even winter's wrath.