A few days passed within the Varavium headquarters. The lingering air of grief and exhaustion gradually gave way to the steady rhythm of training footsteps.
On the stone courtyard behind the compound, the clashing of weapons pierced the crisp morning air. Arthur Eint stood quietly at the edge, observing Veylin and young Raina as they sparred fiercely against magical shadow illusions generated by Arthur. Veylin darted with agile precision, dual daggers glinting as her sharp Tactigaze analyzed every opening. Beside her, little Raina channeled thin streams of frost magic from her palms, constantly slowing their foes' movements.
Along the perimeter, Leon, Kazan, Nix, Zephyr, and Elliot sat watching the session unfold.
A leisurely set of footsteps approached. Xuánhú casually entered the training grounds. His nine tails had restored their full, majestic fluff, radiating a soft, ambient glow—a clear sign he had completely recovered from his injuries at Nocturne's End.
"Oho, quite fascinating," Xuánhú hummed, flicking his tails gently. His gaze drifted toward Sylphine, who stood a short distance away wearing her Mysterious X mask.
"Angel Girl," Xuánhú called out casually, gesturing toward Sylphine with the tip of one tail. "Come here. Join them."
Sylphine startled slightly beneath her mask. "Me?"
Xuánhú offered a faint smile. "That mask you wear is truly remarkable. The old isolation magic imbued within it sealed away your faint angelic bloodline so thoroughly during yesterday's meeting. Had I not observed you from this close, I wouldn't have realized the very target being hunted was standing right beside me all along."
Sylphine bowed with deep reverence. "Thank you for the compliment, Ancestor Xuánhú. But... truth be told, I had no idea this mask possessed aura-concealing properties. I simply purchased it from an ordinary secondhand merchant in the lower city market."
"Luck is also a form of strength, young lady," Xuánhú chuckled. He stepped into the center of the arena, taking the place of Arthur's shadow illusions. "Now then! Since I have time to spare and am fully healed, let us test the true potential of you three!"
The training commenced.
Sylphine, Veylin, and Raina exchanged glances before lunging forward simultaneously from three distinct angles! Veylin moved like a shadow, her Tactigaze reading Xuánhú's movements; Sylphine leaped into the air, unleashing high-speed lightning slashes; and Raina fired a volley of razor-sharp ice spears along the ground.
Yet Xuánhú shifted like smoke.
Without summoning any weapon, he fluidly swayed his body with effortless grace. Every cut from Veylin struck only the lingering afterimage of his tail. Sylphine's lightning slash was parried simply by the flick of his sleeve, while Raina's ice spears shattered into dust before even brushing against the Fox Ancestor's skin.
"Is that all?" Xuánhú teased, folding his arms. "Come now, don't hold back!"
For tens of minutes, wave after wave of attacks hit the arena. The ground cracked, froze, and lay in ruins. Yet not a single combined effort forced Xuánhú to take them seriously.
Noticing the three girls gasping for breath and draining their mana, Xuánhú's expression grew cold. He deliberately hurled harsh words at them.
"Utterly disappointing," Xuánhú mocked with a disdainful tone. "You claim you wish to protect those you love? With such crude, naive power, you wouldn't survive five seconds against an enemy army. You would be better off going home and hiding beneath your blankets."
The words struck deep into Veylin and Sylphine's pride!
Flushed with burning indignation, Veylin's eyes flared brightly. Sylphine let out a low growl as her energy surged. The two launched into the most lethal coordinated strike they had ever produced!
Xuánhú's eyes flickered—pleased to see the sudden spark of emotion. However, the gulf in their experience remained vast. With three lightning-fast, precise motions, Xuánhú parried Veylin's daggers, forced Sylphine back, and released a dense wave of dark violet spiritual energy straight toward them!
The energy wave radiated raw force capable of crushing bone!
"Wait! That's too dangerous!" Kazan yelled, abruptly springing up to leap into the arena and intercept the hit.
Grip! Arthur's hand firmly caught Kazan's shoulder, holding him back. "Do not interfere, Kazan. Stay where you are."
"But Arthur, that attack—!"
"This is defensive training," Arthur interrupted coldly without turning his head. "If they always expect someone to jump in and save them during critical moments, they will never survive a true battlefield."
Just as the lethal energy wave hovered inches from Sylphine and Veylin's faces—
BZZZZT!
An intensely freezing mist exploded out from the side!
A figure leaped directly between Xuánhú's attack and the two girls. The purple energy slammed into a thick wall of ice that materialized out of nowhere. BANG! With a single touch from the figure's hand, Xuánhú's devastating blast instantly froze into transparent ice crystal, then shattered into a cascade of glittering snow dust!
Everyone at the edge of the field stared in utter disbelief.
From behind the falling ice crystals emerged an elegant yet terrifying adult woman.
Her face possessed sharp, refined contours with high cheekbones. Her deep pink eyes were completely vacant—looking as though she recognized no one around her. Long white eyelashes were coated in fine frost. Her lips were a pale, icy blue, devoid of any smile.
Her straight white hair flowed down to her waist, adorned naturally at the tips with shimmering ice crystals that hung like fine jewelry. Two white fox ears tipped with light blue stood erect atop her head, twitching sharply to detect the faintest sound. Behind her, a thick, lush tail waved gracefully like that of a full-grown snow fox.
Her body was encased in transparent armor formed purely from pale blue ice crystals, wrapping around her like a battle gown.
CRACK!
The temperature across the training field plummeted violently! Leaves on the surrounding trees withered and froze instantly. Leon and the others shivered violently, exhaling thick clouds of frost.
Xuánhú's eyes widened, and a broad grin spread across his face, ignited by battle thrill. "Oho! Extraordinary! Now this is getting interesting! Show me what you've got!"
The ice-visaged woman took a step forward. Her movements produced no sound—as if floating over deep snow. Frosty air drifted from her breaths. Frost spread across the stone with every footprint, while tiny ice crystals hovered around her body.
"As cold as death..." the woman whispered in a deep, hushed, emotionless voice.
BOOM!
A high-level clash erupted instantly!
Xuánhú fought with everything he had against the ice-fox woman. Every time she moved, trails of ice crystals lingered in the air. The impact between Xuánhú's magic and the woman's absolute frost aura shook the very foundation of Varavium.
The duel raged on fiercely. Xuánhú's excitement soared, realizing that holding back his signature weapon would be an insult to an opponent of this caliber.
Xuánhú extended his hand toward the sky. "Heed my call!"
A burst of purplish light exploded from his palm. From the light emerged his unique weapon—an intricately decorated Rope Dart.
With the Rope Dart in hand, Xuánhú's combat rhythm skyrocketed! The chained blade lunged like a venomous serpent, weaving past her ice barriers and beginning to push the ice-fox woman onto the defensive.
Sensing a gap in his opponent's exhausting defense, Xuánhú leaped high and launched a sonic-speed fatal thrust with his Rope Dart!
CLANG!
Suddenly, Arthur Eint appeared in the middle of the arena, deflecting Xuánhú's chained blade using only his scabbard.
"Enough, Xuánhú!" Arthur stated firmly.
Before Xuánhú could protest, a shocking scene unfolded before their eyes.
The absolute ice armor encasing the adult woman abruptly cracked. Her form shrank rapidly, her freezing aura dissipated into thin air, and within the blink of an eye... the majestic woman reverted back into little Raina!
The child's limp body collapsed toward the ground, unconscious.
"Raina!" Leon dashed like lightning, catching Raina before she hit the stone floor.
However, the moment Leon's fingers touched her skin, he recoiled. Her skin felt as frigid as mountain ice! Raina shivered violently in her unconscious state, her lips turned deep blue, and her breathing was dangerously faint.
"Panicking won't help! Nix, hurry!" Leon shouted.
Nix rushed over instantly. Placing her palm against Raina's forehead, Nix's face turned pale. "Her body temperature is dropping to a fatal level!"
Nix immediately enveloped Raina's small body with her warm healing fire magic to prevent her internal organs from freezing. "Help me bring her to the infirmary right now!" Nix called out, lifting Raina and rushing inside the building.
Everyone who witnessed the scene stood rooted to the spot, overwhelmed by confusion and shock.
A short while later, Nix stepped out of the infirmary, wiping sweat from her forehead. Leon, who was waiting outside, immediately approached her. "How is Raina's condition, Nix? What on earth happened to her?!"
Nix shook her head, her face filled with perplexity. "I managed to stabilize her body temperature with my fire magic, but... to be honest, I don't understand the phenomenon that just occurred within her body."
"I know what happened to her," Xuánhú's voice interrupted from behind with an exceptionally solemn tone—devoid of his usual playful humor.
All eyes shifted toward the Fox Ancestor.
"What do you mean, Xuánhú?" Kazan asked firmly.
Xuánhú exhaled a long breath. "What Raina just performed was an ancient forbidden technique of high-ranking fox races... known as the Heart of Ice Transformation."
He stepped closer and explained, "Raina consciously or unconsciously concentrated her immense ice magic directly into her heart. She encased her heart in an extremely fine layer of ice—not to pierce it, but to lock her heartbeat into a dangerously slow, stable rhythm. The effect? Her body was forcibly mutated temporarily into her perfect ice form to draw out 100% of her combat potential."
Leon clenched his fists. "Then why are the side effects this severe?"
"Because her small body is currently incapable of handling that volume of mana," Xuánhú answered sharply. "The side effect is that ice poison from deep within her soul leaks outward. If she uses it frequently, or if left untreated... that ice layer will never melt. Gradually, her internal organs will permanently freeze, leading to death."
Panic swept through Leon and everyone present. "Is there a way to cure her?!" Leon pressed.
"The primary way is for Raina to grow stronger naturally and never touch that technique again. But... the lingering ice poison from earlier has already settled inside her chest. Unless..." Xuánhú trailed off.
"Unless what?!" Kazan demanded.
"...Unless she consumes a specialized medicine crafted from two of the world's rarest medicinal plants, processed into a neutralizing pill," Xuánhú continued.
"What plants are they? Tell me!" Leon interrupted without hesitation.
Xuánhú met Leon's eyes. "The first is Solaris Ignis. This flower has no ordinary petals, but rather hard, shimmering protective leaves shaped like heated gold arranged in a cone. At its center are glowing stamens that radiate heat like a miniature ember. It blooms exclusively under direct, scorching sunlight at the peak of an active volcano, absorbing geothermal and solar heat to survive. It carries an aroma of warm wood and heated stone."
"And the second?"
"Luna Glacies," Xuánhú added. "This flower possesses thin, transparent petals like ice crystals that refract light like a prism, with a deep indigo core. It crystallizes perfectly on the coldest nights upon high mountain slopes perpetually blanketed in freezing mist. Its scent resembles mint and crisp snow air. The slightest touch of excess warmth will instantly cause it to shatter into dust."
Xuánhú looked at them with a heavy gaze. "Yet the hardest part isn't merely finding their locations... but the method of harvesting them."
"What do you mean?" Veylin asked in confusion.
"Those two plants exist at the absolute extremes of pure elements. To pick them without destroying the plants or killing the harvester requires someone who has mastered high-tier Fire and Ice magic simultaneously—someone capable of condensing their mana to perfectly coat their body with both elements interchangeably. Without that dual protection, anyone who touches Solaris Ignis will instantly burn to ash, while anyone touching Luna Glacies will freeze into an ice statue in a heartbeat."
A suffocating silence descended upon the room.
Leon stood speechless, his mind racing. Mastering both high-tier Fire and Ice magic within a single body? Those were absolute opposing elements. Even among ancient demon races or dragonkin, possessing two opposite elements within one individual was nearly unheard of.
Suddenly, Arthur Eint broke the silence.
"I have heard of such a person," Arthur remarked softly.
Leon looked up, his eyes shining with hope. "Is that true, Arthur?! Where is this person now?!"
Arthur let out a quiet sigh. "He is a human born with a rare anomaly—an innate ability to command both Fire and Ice elements simultaneously. He currently lives isolated in a certain city. However... finding him will not be easy. He is deeply reclusive and ostracized by his community because his power is viewed as a curse."
Leon was beyond shocked. "A curse?! How could such an extraordinary and rare ability be considered a curse?! Isn't that an incredible, genius talent?!"
Kazan sighed, answering Leon's question with a tone forged from dark human experience.
"To demon races or beings like you, it might be considered a talent, Leon," Kazan said softly. "But among humans... and even within the doctrines of certain Holy Races... possessing opposing elements is viewed as a taboo impurity. They see it as a brazen attempt to mimic the domain of the gods. People like that are often branded as calamity-bringing monsters, forced into exile, or hunted down to be eliminated."
Leon's face contorted with anger. His jaw clenched tightly, and his knuckles turned white.
"Absurd rules made by the gods once again...!" Leon growled in a low, bitter voice.
Taking a deep breath, Leon gazed at the infirmary door where Raina lay rest. He then turned to face Arthur and Xuánhú, his eyes burning with unshakeable resolve.
"I don't care how isolated he is, or how difficult the path may be," Leon declared firmly. "I promise... I will find this person, bring him with us, and obtain those two plants to heal Raina completely!"
=== CHAPTER 57 END ===