Primordial Heir: Nine Stars

A pulse of dark flame radiated from his body, causing the frozen landscape to collapse further, frost turning to vapor in an instant.

Step.

He was gone.

BOOM—!

In a flash, he appeared right in front of her, teleporting with such unnatural speed that even her sharp eyes could barely follow. His leg was already in motion—a brutal, heavy roundhouse kick aimed directly at her chest.

Khione reacted on instinct.

"Ice Fortress!"

She summoned multiple layers of ice barriers between them in a split second, stacking thick glacial walls in his path. Simultaneously, she unfolded her wings of ice once more, wrapping them tightly around her body like a crystalline cocoon.

But it wasn't enough.

CRAAACK!!

The kick shattered the first two barriers instantly, and then the rest crumbled like brittle glass, splintering into the air. His leg, surrounded in flames, connected with her defensive wings. The impact was so intense, it rippled through her entire body.

SNAP!

Her arms cracked under the pressure, bones breaking as she was blasted away like a ragdoll.

She was launched more than thirty meters, her body tearing through the frozen trees, shattering trunks and uprooting roots like a falling comet.

BOOM!

She hit the ground hard, bouncing and skidding across the torn earth.

"Ghhah—!"

Her mouth opened against her will as she vomited a mouthful of blood mixed with bile. Steam rose from her burns, and her entire body twitched from the trauma. Her limbs were numb, her vision swam—and yet...

She was still alive.

Barely.

And in front of her, the monster in humanoid form stood tall, like a living calamity wreathed in flame, walking forward like a reaper made of fire and shadow.

The battle had entered its darkest phase.

The demonized knight, in his second form, strode forward slowly, his every step melting the frost-laced ground beneath him. Purple-black flames licked the air around his mutated frame, casting long, jagged shadows across the ruined battlefield.

Each of his heavy, deliberate steps echoed like the tolling of a funeral bell.

Step… step… step…

Khione, barely conscious, lay on her side amidst the shattered earth and broken ice. Her slender body trembled, her once-pristine uniform tattered and scorched, streaked with ashes and blood.

She tried to rise—but her legs buckled beneath her.

"Urgh—!"

She vomited a mouthful of blood, thick and crimson, splashing the snow below. Her lips quivered, her body twitching as spasms of pain surged through her. Blood had begun to seep from her forehead, running into her left eye, clouding her already blurry vision.

The world swam around her in a whirl of shadow, fire, and pain.

She bit her lip hard, drawing fresh blood to keep her mind anchored. She could feel unconsciousness looming, like a black veil ready to descend. But she refused. She would not fall.

With a ragged breath, she forced her trembling hand to reach toward her spatial ring. Her fingers were twisted, useless. Her arms hung limp and broken at her sides. Still, she tried.

'No... not like this...'

She tapped the ring's command with a flick of her soul.

In a faint shimmer of light, a small glass bottle appeared—glowing faintly red.

A medium-grade Healing Potion.

It fell from the air, landing with a soft clink on the frozen earth beside her.

Her arms were too damaged to lift it. Her bones cracked with every twitch, and she couldn't even feel her fingers. Gritting her teeth, she did the only thing she could.

Khione leaned down, dragging her bruised body across the ground and took the bottle into her mouth.

With a jerk of her jaw, she bit off the cork, spitting it aside. The acrid taste of metal and blood filled her mouth as she tilted the bottle upward.

The potion slid down her raw throat, warm and burning. As it entered her stomach, she felt the healing energy ignite like a soothing fire within her core, spreading through her veins.

Tsshhhhh...

Her torn muscles began to reknit, bruises faded, minor fractures fused, and the searing pain dulled slightly. Her body was pulled away from the brink—but only halfway. The potion's effect was strong, but not nearly enough.

She was at barely fifty percent—and that was pushing it.

Her breathing steadied slightly. She could stand now—maybe even move, but her arms were still broken, her magic reserves thinned, and the wounds inside her ran deeper than flesh.

She needed another potion to return to full fighting strength.

'But… I only have two more low-grade.'

Cadets were limited. Each carried only one medium-grade Healing Potion, and two low-grade ones meant only for emergencies. But now—there was no time.

The demon was approaching.

She lifted her gaze, her one clear eye locking onto the towering figure.

The demonized knight was just a dozen steps away now. The ghostly purple flames surrounding him writhed like serpents, drawn toward her by instinct, hungry for the kill. His eyes gleamed, void of reason—only bloodlust remained.

"Tch…"

Khione narrowed her eyes.

Her ice wings began to form again, jagged and flickering. Despite the pain, despite the fatigue, despite the despair clawing at the back of her mind—she would stand.

Even if the enemy was stronger. Even if she was dying.

'I won't die here.'

Khione's boots barely touched the ground as she tried to pull away, desperate to create distance—she needed time, even just a few seconds, to cast another spell.

But the demonized knight—his grotesque, flame-wreathed form seething with power—wasn't going to give her that chance.

Whoosh!

With a flick of his clawed hand, his ominous spear, still glowing with ghostly purple flame, ripped through the air and boomeranged back into his grip with a metallic clang. The moment it touched his hand, his body blurred—

Fwsshh!

—And he lunged, spear thrust forward like a venomous serpent striking at its prey.

Khione's breath caught in her throat.

"Tch—!"

She spun sideways, barely avoiding the death blow. The earth beneath her feet exploded in fire as the spear grazed the ground. Immediately, she raised her wand, slamming it into the ground as she shouted:

"Ice Wall!"

A thick ice barrier erupted between them, glimmering with runes—but it was instantly shattered by a flaming thrust, pieces of ice raining like broken glass around her.

She didn't stop.

One step, two steps, three—!

With every retreating motion, she conjured layer after layer of icy defenses. Ice walls. Spikes. Fog. Mist. Snowflakes that crystallized the very air.

But the demon would not stop chasing.

Like a vengeful beast, he tore through every obstacle she laid down. His purple flame roared, devouring her cold spells in a flash of heat. His monstrous steps shook the earth, his inhuman eyes locked onto her like prey.

Khione retaliated, flinging back spells as she ran—runes glowing bright blue as she whispered her incantations:

"Frozen Lances!"

"Frigid Vortex!"

"Piercing Snowfall!"

A rain of icicles showered upon him, a chilling blizzard swirled around, shards of snow slashed his body from above and below—but it wasn't enough. The spear spun, his tail lashed, and each attack she sent was either dodged, burned, or batted aside.

She gritted her teeth, the icy calm in her gaze beginning to crack.

Blood dripped from a fresh gash on her shoulder. Another cut bled down her thigh. Her breathing was sharp, shallow.

Still—she didn't stop moving.

Blue mist flared beneath her feet—an intricate ice glyph activating—then she vanished in a flicker of frost, reappearing behind a boulder meters away.

"Frost Step…!" she muttered, body trembling. (A/N: She decided to rename it because this current name is more fit.)

The demon twisted around almost instantly, swinging his spear through the air—BOOM!—obliterating the boulder she just landed on, forcing her to leap again, using the last fragments of her mobility spell.

She landed awkwardly, staggering. Her knees buckled.

'My prana… I'm almost out…'

She reached deep within her, scanning her core—only a third of her prana remained. That wasn't enough to keep this pace for long. She had to think. Fast.

But even as her mind raced, the demonized knight's heavy footfalls thundered ever closer. The pressure of his aura suffocated the battlefield, and the ground hissed where his flame touched it.

His voice echoed, deep and mocking:

"Run. Struggle. Freeze. It won't matter… I will burn you down."

Khione didn't reply. She stood still, wand trembling in her grip. Her chest rose and fell rapidly.

She knew this much—

'If I don't end this soon… I'll die.'

Her icy blue eyes sharpened like daggers.

She had one final plan.

The demonized knight grew impatient.

"Tch. Enough of this farce."

With a twisted smirk, he raised his flaming spear high, the purple fire coiling around it like a dragon. Space itself began to distort, the air shimmered unnaturally—reality warped.

Then—

WHOOOM!

A massive pillar of purple flame, shaped like a gigantic meteor, roared into existence and came barreling toward Khione, radiating a malevolent heat that could incinerate everything. It was no longer just a spear—it was annihilation incarnate.

She couldn't move.

Her feet were glued to the ground, not by magic, but by sheer instinctual terror. Her body screamed at her to run, but her limbs wouldn't budge.

'If that hits… I'll die.'

Her mind was clear, her heartbeat deafening in her ears.

'I have no choice.'

She inhaled sharply, trembling. Her body was already battered, her core on the brink. The spell she was about to use... wasn't ready, not stable, not finished.

But she didn't care anymore.

She lifted her wand, now cracking with frost, and with lips pale as snow, she whispered:

"Cocytus: Eternal Frost!"

In that instant—it was as if she had uttered the word of god.

CRACK!

Her core exploded in light, her remaining prana emptied in a flash, and cracks spread across the magic circuits inside her body. Her skin lost all color, and time itself halted.

The world... froze.

Shiiiiinnnn…!

A surreal white light swallowed the entire battlefield.

Everything was halted in place—the trees mid-sway, the insects in mid-flight, even the enormous flaming meteor froze mid-air, halted in an eternal moment.

The heat vanished.

All that remained was silence.

And cold.

So cold.

The demonized knight's eyes widened in horror. For the first time since his transformation, he felt fear. He tried to resist, tried to unleash more flame—

But it was too late.

The spell had invaded him.

It didn't attack from outside—it entered through his own vast reserves of prana. The stronger the enemy, the deadlier the spell. His body locked up, his muscles stiffened, and—

Crack… Crack… CRACK—!!

A sharp sound echoed as his body was frozen from the inside out, his organs, his blood, even his very soul.

In mere seconds, the once towering monster was encased in crystal-clear ice, his final expression twisted in fear and disbelief.

He was dead.

An immaculate ice statue stood where a monster once rampaged.

The battlefield was no longer a forest.

It had become a glacial wasteland—miles wide.

Every leaf, every tree, every rock had turned into a piece of white crystal. Even the sky above shimmered with frost, snowflakes dancing like glittering stars. The temperature had plummeted to deadly levels, even sound seemed muffled by the oppressive cold.

It was… hauntingly beautiful.

But the spell's price was heavy.

Khione's body collapsed.

She hit the frozen earth with a lifeless thud, her eyes rolling white, her limbs twitching once before going still. Her delicate form lay in the heart of her own frozen miracle, unmoving—unconscious.

She never saw the scene she had created.

The divine silence, the artistic ruin, the eternal frost that had swallowed the battlefield whole.