back toward the Mercenary Guild. The streets were calmer now, the neon glow of the Pixel Colosseum fading behind them as Corr rolled along beside the others in her wheeled chair‑desk combo, humming to herself while organizing her disks.
Hope stretched her arms behind her head. "Man, that was fun. Corr, you're officially the coolest person we've met today."
Corr beamed. "Thank you! I try to be at least top five coolest people per day."
Camelio groaned. "I still have pixel confetti in my hair."
William patted his shoulder. "It suits you."
Gudan walked quietly, frost still faintly clinging to his nails. He kept glancing at Corr's chair, fascinated by how she maneuvered it so smoothly over uneven cobblestone.
Sys, however, had been silent for several minutes.
Hope noticed first. "Sys? You okay?"
Sys stopped walking.
His eyes widened slightly — a rare expression for him.
"We forgot something."
Camelio froze. "What? Did we leave Corr's ink bottle behind? Did I leave my wallet? Did—"
Sys shook his head. "The mission."
William blinked. "What mission?"
Sys turned slowly toward them. "The noise complaint."
Everyone stared.
Hope slapped her forehead. "OH COME ON. We got so distracted by the disco rave girl—"
Corr raised her hand. "That's me!"
"—that we forgot the actual job!"
Camelio panicked. "We're gonna get yelled at. We're gonna get fined. We're gonna get—"
Sys suddenly lifted a hand.
"Stop."
The air around them shifted.
Cold.
Sharp.
Wrong.
Gudan stiffened immediately. His frost reacted, shimmering brighter.
Hope's expression hardened. "Sys… what is that?"
Sys's voice dropped to a low, focused tone. "A presence. Strong. Approaching."
Corr rolled closer to William instinctively. "Uh… is this normal?"
William raised his shield. "Unfortunately, yes."
A gust of icy wind swept through the alley, chilling the air so fast that frost formed on the brick walls. The temperature plummeted. Breath turned to mist.
Then a voice echoed through the cold.
Smooth. Mocking. Echoing like wind through a frozen canyon.
"For the desert grounds… well played."
Hope's eyes widened. "Desert grounds? That was—"
Gudan finished quietly. "The last demon we fought."
A figure materialized ahead of them — tall, elegant, draped in flowing white robes that fluttered like snow in a storm. Her skin was pale as frost, her hair long and shimmering like icicles. Her eyes glowed a haunting blue.
She smiled.
"I am the Seventh Demon."
She lifted a hand, and snowflakes spiraled around her fingers.
"Yuki‑Onna."
Camelio whispered, "Ice demon…? Oh that's just perfect."
Gudan's frost pulsed violently, reacting to her presence. He clenched his fists, trying to suppress it.
Yuki‑Onna tilted her head. "Ah… the vessel. How delightful."
Hope stepped forward, drawing her weapon. "Back off, Elsa."
Yuki‑Onna smirked. "Cute."
The temperature dropped again — so fast the ground cracked with ice.
Sys didn't hesitate.
Hope nodded instantly. "On it."
The two launched forward at the same time — Sys with mechanical precision, Hope with explosive speed.
Yuki‑Onna flicked her wrist.
A wall of ice erupted from the ground.
Sys shattered it with a single strike.
Hope leapt over the shards, swinging down—
But Yuki‑Onna vanished in a swirl of snow, reappearing behind them.
"Too slow."
She unleashed a blast of freezing wind.
Sys blocked with an energy barrier.
Hope rolled aside, frost forming on her boots.
Gudan turned to Camelio. "We flank."
Camelio nodded, pulling out his ranged weapon. "Left or right?"
"Both."
They split instantly — Gudan to the right, Camelio to the left, circling the demon.
William planted his shield in the ground. "Everyone behind me!"
Corr rolled behind him, gripping her ink bottle. "Okay okay okay— think, Corr, think—"
She dipped her brush into the ink and splattered it onto the ground.
The ink rippled.
Shifted.
Formed into dozens of tiny black ants with glowing pixel eyes.
They saluted.
"MARCH, COLONY!"
Corr pointed dramatically. "Go get her!"
The ants charged forward in a tiny, determined swarm.
Camelio fired a shot from the left.
Gudan fired from the right.
Hope and Sys attacked from the front.
William held the defensive line.
Corr's ants swarmed from below.
Yuki‑Onna smiled.
"Adorable."
She raised both hands.
A blizzard exploded outward.
Hope was blown back, skidding across the ice.
Sys dug his heels in, shielding her.
Camelio's shot froze mid‑air.
Corr's ants turned into tiny ice sculptures.
William's shield frosted over.
And Gudan—
Gudan's frost surged uncontrollably.
Yuki‑Onna's eyes locked onto him.
"There you are."
Gudan gritted his teeth. "Stay out of my head."
She extended a hand toward him. "You carry his winter. You cannot hide it."
Gudan's breath came out in a cloud of cold mist. His body trembled.
Camelio shouted, "Gudan! Snap out of it!"
But Gudan didn't hesitate.
He sprinted forward.
Hope yelled, "Gudan, WAIT—!"
He slammed into Yuki‑Onna with a burst of explosive frost.
A suicide boom.
The shockwave blasted outward, shaking the entire street.
Ice shattered.
Snow exploded.
Yuki‑Onna was thrown back, crashing into a wall of frozen brick.
Gudan's body crumpled to the ground—
shattered into icy fragments.
Corr gasped. "GUDAN?!"
Camelio screamed, "NO—!"
But the frost on the ground began to glow.
The shards pulled together.
Reforming.
Rebuilding.
Regenerating.
Gudan rose from the ice, breathing heavily, frost swirling around him like a storm.
Hope exhaled shakily. "You idiot… don't scare us like that."
Yuki‑Onna stood, brushing frost from her robes. She looked amused.
"Regeneration. How quaint."
Sys stepped forward. "She's testing us."
Hope cracked her knuckles. "Then let's pass."
Corr dipped her brush again. "Colony, REFORM!"
The ants thawed and stood back up, saluting again.
"MARCH, COLONY!"
William raised his shield. "Everyone regroup!"
Gudan wiped frost from his face. "We end this now."
Yuki‑Onna smiled, cold and cruel.
"Then come, little mercenaries."
She spread her arms.
"Let me show you winter."