The silver haze of my Spirit-Man form peeled away as my awareness funneled back into my body. I opened my eyes slowly, catching the flicker of campfire light and the faint scent of roasting meat.
Felicity was there, seated beside me with frost rapier, or the ''Whispering Thorn rapier" resting across her lap. Her gaze was just as sharp, as she scanned over the trees. She didn't speak—just gave me a short nod to show nothing had disturbed us. I rolled my shoulders, the heavy sensation of my physical body grounding me again.
The echoes of what I'd just seen still lingered—Elyahna's flawless ice execution, Vaylan's calculated shadow kills, and Dimitri's terrifying psychic flames tearing the Disaster Eye apart.
I exhaled slowly. They were all Impressive… but only one of them felt like a true threat to me.
Dimitri.
The way he'd fought wasn't just power—it was precision. Ruthless, calculated, deliberate precision. My thoughts drifted to my Spatial Ring, where the bundle of dark gear rested. The spoils of my ambush fight from earlier—a Black Cowl Clan assassin who would never stalk another target. I let my intent flow into the ring searching, selecting the armor set I pulled it out of the pocket Ring and into the physical world.
Piece by piece I unfolded and laid out the armor set before me. The blackened plates and cloth swallowed the light, the subtle stitchwork forming jagged shadows across its surface. Even without wearing it, I could feel the faint hum in the fabric—a stealth-enhancing weave. I disrobed and slipped the pieces on one by one.
I had just peeled off my travel-worn uwagi and zabons when Felicity's voice drifted in, smooth and sharp as her blade. "You know," she said, leaning back on one arm with a smirk, "most people buy me a drink before putting on a show like this." I glanced up at her, one brow arched. "Most people don't watch like they're grading a performance," I shot back.
Her grin widened. "Oh, I'm grading. Trust me—passing marks so far. But if that armor starts hugging you too well, I might get jealousy." I rolled my eyes, fastening the last strap, though the faint curl of amusement at the corner of my mouth betray my gruff. The armor molded itself against my frame as if it had been custom made for me.
I tightened the last buckle and flexed my fingers inside the dark gloves, the armor's faint, web-like etchings pulsing in time with my intent. "Alright, Felicity," I said, straightening. "I'm going to activate it. Tell me what you see… or don't see."
Her eyes lit with curiosity. "Oh, this should be good."
I let my intent flow into the Ninja Gear. At once, the black threads of the armor drank in the light, blurring my outline. My skin, the gear, even the faint gleam in my eyes seemed to dissolve. Felicity's brows shot up. "You're—" she blinked, leaning forward, "you're turning invisible!"
My outline shimmered faintly, then melted further from view. She let out a low whistle. "Just like they did… the Black Cowl assassins." Her tone shifted from impressed to mischievous. "Except you look better doing it. Even your aura is Cloaked"
I smirked faintly, though my face was now nothing but a wavering distortion in the air. I took a silent step to the left, then another—rolling his feet so lightly the grass barely whispered.
"Well?" His voice came from somewhere to Felicity's right. "Still see me?"
She narrowed her eyes, scanning the campfire glow. "Not a trace. And I've got good eyes, Sovereign-Slayer." I gave an invisibly grin. Perfect. I glided in a slow arc around her, testing how the armor handled tighter turns, even a quick dash. The weave swallowed the sound of my steps, my aura synchronizing with each movement until I was nothing but a ghost in the night.
By the time Felicity thought she'd pinned my voice's direction, I was already behind her. Without a word, I reached out and traced the back of my fingers along her cheek—cool, deliberate. Felicity didn't flinch.
She smirked instead, tilting her head slightly toward the touch. "Dangerous trick," she murmured. "Better make sure you only use it on me." I let the smirk carry into my voice, "Hey now, You better behave like a good girl."
Felicity gave a snort at this, " Oh Ash you big silly" She said with a certain naughtiness in her voice " You know I'm anything but a lady."
I reappeared in a casual blink, the stealth weave loosening its hold until my outline flowed back into visibility. I was already lowering myself beside Felicity, the faint scent of cooking meat mingling with the salt-laced ocean night air. We ate in companionable silence for a moment—Felicity tearing into a skewer of fire-roasted boar while I savored each bite with the measured calm of a man who knew what awaited after.
When the last bone was picked clean, I leaned back.
"Time to head in."
Felicity gave me a knowing nod, rising without question. Her body shimmered, dissolving into liquid silver before exploding outward into a swirl of razor-thin silver blooded tendrils. They snaked around me, coiling tight before seeping into the pores of my skin. I exhaled, feeling her presence settle into my bloodstream like a silent guardian.
The Ninja Gear responded the moment my intent surged through it—black fabric tightening, shadowed plates locking into place. My body blurred, then vanished, and a heartbeat later I was streaking through the night at impossible speeds. The world became a rush of wind and darkness. Each leap I took carried me hundreds of feet, the landscape flashing past in streaks of silver moonlight and shadow.
Mid-arc, my Raptor Feathers unfurled in subtle layers, compressing the air's raw breath into a denser, sharper energy—
Flight Essence.
I glided, almost weightless, before hitting the ground in another bounding sprint. As the horizon shifted, a thought tugged at me. The frozen region had remained untouched since the start of my journey here. I hadn't yet seen its secrets, its dangers… or its opportunities.
And if I was going to face the Psychic Fire Eye, something born of ice might be exactly what I needed. My grin was sharp and quiet as I veered north, the wind screaming past my ears, as I navigated over the terrain at super-human ability. The warmth of the island's jungle bled away into a creeping, brittle cold as I crossed the boundary into the frozen region. Frost crusted over the black stone ridges, and the moonlight fractured across jagged fields of ice.
My breath steamed in the frigid air, each exhale curling like ghostly fingers before vanishing into the darkness. It was silent—too silent.
I slowed my stride, letting the Ninja Gear drink the shadows until I was a whisper in the snow. The Raptor Feathers stayed folded, but my senses stretched outward, tasting the faint tremors beneath the ice. Something was moving below.
The ice cracked.
A hulking shape burst through the frost from beneath—a nightmare of wiry muscle and pale, sinewy limbs! Its head was long and low, with black glass eyes and a jaw lined with mismatched fangs. The Bandersnatch's back bristled with quills of frozen cartilage, each one steaming as it flexed.
It sniffed the air… and turned its head directly toward me. I realized with a cold certainty that even invisible, the thing could smell the heat of my blood. The creature crouched. The ice under its clawed feet groaned.
And then it was on me—moving faster than a beast its size had any right to!
I dove and rolled!
Sliding into a low pivot, the Bandersnatch's claws raking sparks off the frozen stone where I'd stood a moment before. My qi surged down into my legs and spine, propelling me into a shadow-quick counterstrike!
But the Bandersnatch didn't stop—it turned in mid-lunge, jaws snapping toward my torso with bone-breaking force! For one whole heartbeat I was there, and in the next I was a ripple in the cold, my Double Rise Cloud Step Technique carrying me up and out of the way. The Bandersnatch's jaws snapped on empty air, its fangs clicking together with a sound like breaking antlers.
Before it could adjust, I landed behind it, silent as frost forming. My ember alloy talons extended in a flash, curving like obsidian knives. The feathers at my forearms compressed the frigid wind, injecting a burst of flight essence into the swipe!
I struck.
"Claw Arc Nova!"
My claws sent out a raking wind slash across the back of the Bandersnatch's massive leg, severing tendons before vanishing again. The beast roared, its breath a plume of freezing mist, spinning in place as it clawed wildly at shadows. I reappeared above it, having vaulted off an ice pillar with predatory grace.
My intent surged, Solar Pyre Veins patterns igniting faintly along my skin as I let my weight and speed multiply in a controlled dive. The heel of my boot—sharpened by qi compression—hammered the base of the Bandersnatch's skull with 3500 kilograms of force!
The impact knocked it forward into the ice, cracks spiderwebbing from the crater its head made. I didn't linger. I was already gone, landing in the beast's blind spot. The predator had become the hunted. The Bandersnatch's tongue lashed again, this time grazing my ribs. A sharp clang rang out as my Spirit Crab Shell Armor flared into existence for a heartbeat, dispersing the impact before fading back into the ether. My eyes narrowed—because in that instant, something beyond the fight caught my attention.
Off to the side, a low, ghostly glow bled through the icy mist. A lake—no, a glowing lake—its surface smooth as glass, pulsing with untold Ice Essence. The very air around it stung with frozen spiritual energy. An idea flared to life in my mind. I vaulted backward, then sprang high, Raptor Feathers compressing the wind into a bone-rattling leap. I soared above the shimmering expanse, deliberately hanging in the Bandersnatch's line of sight.
The beast snarled at the aerial display, its quills bristling.
Then—thwip-thwip-thwip!—it unleashed a deadly salvo of razor-sharp spines, each one trailing vapor as it cut through the air!
Four seconds.
That's all I had, but thankfully that was all I needed. My Intent surged, my spirit form peeling away from my body. The world folded sideways. In that blur of spatial inversion, the Vorpal Switch technique snapped into place. Reality twisted. I was suddenly crouched on the ice where the Bandersnatch had been—and the Bandersnatch, mid-charge, found itself directly above the glowing lake.
Its claws scraped futilely at empty air before it plunged into the freezing spiritual waters. The moment its body broke the surface, a shockwave of ice erupted outward, jagged frost swallowing the beast whole!
I landed lightly on the bank, snow crunching beneath my Ninja Gear boots. The frozen carcass of the Bandersnatch was some distance out, sealed beneath a perfect casing of crystalline ice. I crouched, letting the frigid mist curl up around me, and inhaled deeply through my beast-enhanced senses.
The cold here wasn't ordinary—it was alive.
Threads of spiritual frost wove through the air like invisible serpents, each one carrying a pressure that bit into my bones. One wrong step into that lake, and I knew—instantly—my body would seize, my core would stall, and I'd be frozen into a decorative Ash-sicle.
I smirked anyway. "So, not a swimming kind of place… fine. Let's look deeper."
Closing my eyes, I pushed my intent outward, letting my spiritual senses flow through the icebound water. Layers upon layers of glacial essence pressed back, but I forced my way through, Circulating my Ember Coil Fire. The lake floor appeared to me like a phantom vision—crystal blue, still, and quiet.
Then I saw it.
A pulsing shape, nestled in the deepest trench of the lakebed—a stylized intricately wrought eye talisman, translucent ice, with streaks of pale blue light flickering inside like trapped lightning. The instant I touched its aura with my senses, a cold unlike anything else slashed through me, sharp and pure.
From within my bloodstream, Felicity's voice suddenly rang out, bright and urgent: "Master! It's a Glacial Soul Eye! That's a relic from the oldest ice titans! If you claim it… your frost resistance and qi freezing powers will skyrocket!"
My grin widened. "Then we're not leaving without it."