When I heard the magical alarms activate, my body was still in pain.It felt as if my heart was about to explode inside my chest.
But I couldn't stay there.
As best as I could, I forced myself to stand and ran toward the courtyard.
Mikhail and Eleonor had already gone out.
When I arrived, what I saw froze my blood.
Sergei and Anton's bodies lay on the ground, motionless.
For a moment my mind refused to accept what I was seeing.
Then it happened.
I saw a tentacle pierce through Eleonor's back.
Everything happened in a second.
And yet, for me, time seemed to stop.
It was like going back to that moment twelve years ago.
The moment when I saw my father die.
The same feeling.The same helplessness.The same rage.
Then something changed inside me.
I felt a wind run through my body, as if an icy current passed through every one of my magical circuits.
The pain vanished for a moment.
When I lifted my gaze, I saw it.
A massive spear of ice floated in front of me.
There was no time to think.
I grabbed it.
And threw it with all my strength at the Claimoor that was about to finish Eleonor.
The Claimoor froze instantly.
Ice covered it as if winter itself had fallen upon it.
A second later its body exploded into hundreds of fragments.
I ran as fast as I could toward Eleonor.
Her shoulder showed a massive wound.
The tentacle had pierced straight through her and the blood kept pouring out.
"Freeze the wound!" she shouted. "Stop the bleeding!"
She tried to lift her hand, but the pain made her tremble.
"I can't…" she murmured through clenched teeth. "The pain won't let me focus my magic."
At that moment a blue beam passed right beside my head.
A Claimoor exploded just a few steps away from us.
Two more fell immediately after.
"Noah, hurry! We've got you covered!" I heard a voice shout.
I turned my head for a moment.
It was Sophie and Irina, firing their magical weapons.
Behind them a group of the mansion guards was advancing into the courtyard, engaging the Claimoor that kept pouring in.
I looked back at Eleonor's wound.
The blood wouldn't stop flowing.
I extended my hand.
The cold answered immediately.
But I hesitated for a second.
If I froze too much… I could destroy the flesh.
If I didn't…
Eleonor would bleed out right there.
I took a deep breath.
Then I let the ice flow.
The cold spread from my hand to the wound.
The blood began to harden.
Ice sealed the torn flesh.
Eleonor clenched her teeth hard.
Her fingers dug into the stone ground.
She didn't scream.
But her breathing became uneven.
The ice finally closed the wound.
When I pulled my hand away, the bleeding had stopped.
I looked straight into her eyes.
"You have to survive," I told her.
My voice barely left my throat.
"You can't die here."
Eleonor didn't answer immediately.
Her breathing was still uneven, but the bleeding had stopped. The ice kept the wound sealed.
A roar shook the courtyard.
I lifted my head.
The battle was still raging all around us.
The Claimoor kept pouring through the breach in the outer wall.
And in the middle of the chaos, Mikhail was still fighting.
Mikhail never stopped moving.
Cold swirled around him like a living storm.
He extended his hand and the courtyard floor was instantly covered in frost. Three Claimoor were trapped inside a layer of ice that closed around them like a prison.
A second later the ice contracted.
The creatures' bodies shattered with a dry cracking sound.
Beside him, the spectral tiger roared and leapt into another group of monsters. Its energy claws pierced the torso of a Claimoor and hurled it violently against the courtyard wall.
But more were coming.
Distorted shadows kept crossing the breach in the outer wall.
Mikhail raised another wall of ice, blocking the path of two more creatures.
Then it happened.
He felt a sudden cold run through the air.
It was not his.
It was deeper.
Denser.
For a moment his own breath froze in front of his face.
Mikhail stopped.
For someone who had mastered ice magic for decades, the sensation was unsettling.
It was as if winter itself had descended upon the courtyard.
He turned his head.
And then he saw him.
Noah stood in front of Eleonor.
The Claimoor that had tried to finish her hung frozen in the air, trapped inside a mass of crystal ice.
A second later the monster's body exploded into fragments that scattered across the courtyard floor.
Mikhail watched the scene in silence.
His spectral tiger continued tearing apart the enemies trying to advance.
But for a moment all his attention was fixed on Noah.
The air around the young man still vibrated with a freezing energy that Mikhail had never felt before.
And for the first time since the attack had begun, he understood something unsettling.
The power of the bearer was awakening.
And perhaps… it was far greater than any of them had imagined.