'Cold… cold…'These were the thoughts filling Izel's mind.
She had barely endured the heat in the first stage, only to find herself here now.
Freezing inside this liquid… and as if that weren't enough, she was drowning, choking on the water.
She couldn't breathe.
Her mind knew that she wouldn't die here, that none of this was real—but the sensation was vivid, overwhelming.
Several times, she restrained herself from opening her mouth and taking a breath. She knew—
Instead of the air her mind demanded, water would rush in, freezing her internal organs.
'I need to endure… I can't retreat here… I don't want to lose again.'
Izel encouraged herself, trying to waste time and ignore the pain that seeped into her bones from the cold.
She wanted to scream more than once, but in the end, she managed to hold herself back.
It felt as though an eternity had passed while she was here, yet she knew it was nothing more than an illusion.
In reality, only a few seconds had gone by.
