The blizzard swallowed the entire valley.
There was no sky.
No sense of direction.
Only endless white madness.
WHOOOOOSHHHHHH!!
The wind carved across their faces like thousands of icy blades.
Blue lightning ripped through the swirling black clouds.
CRAAAAACK!!
Every flash revealed a frozen hell.
At the heart of the storm—
the Ice Core Manifestation stood like a god of destruction.
Its crystalline body was covered in fractures.
Brilliant blue light poured from every crack like the blood of living energy.
Its eyes burned intensely.
But its voice—
AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!
It wasn't a battle cry.
It was the scream of a creature being torn apart from within.
Standing before it—
the Ice Guardian remained unmoving.
The colossal white beast planted its paws firmly into the frozen earth, holding back the storm with its own body.
Its thick fur was coated in frost.
Blue blood dripped from its shoulder.
Yet it refused to fall.
GRRRRRRRRRR!!
Bimo stared in disbelief.
"He's... still standing?"
Kai answered quietly,
"Because it's his duty."
On the opposite side of the valley—
the Dominion generator roared even louder.
WHOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMM!!
Blue energy conduits pierced through the blizzard, relentlessly draining power from the Core.
Farhan stared at his laptop, his face drained of color.
"The Core fracture has reached eighty-seven percent!"
Lila turned pale.
"What happens if it reaches one hundred?"
Farhan could barely force the words out.
"The entire northern region..."
"...will freeze forever."
Silence swept through the team.
Not one city.
Not one country.
The entire North.
The Dominion Commander stood beside the generator.
His black suit fluttered like a living shadow in the storm.
A faint smile spread across his face.
"Magnificent."
He watched the Core Manifestation's agonized screams with the fascination of a scientist observing a successful experiment.
"From destruction..."
"...comes the greatest source of energy."
Bimo clenched his fists.
"I hate that guy."
Sinta stepped forward.
"We destroy it now!"
"Bimo! Dika! Tono—with me!"
They charged into the storm.
WHOOSH!!
The Dominion turrets activated instantly.
ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!
Energy blasts tore across the snow.
Ice exploded before their feet.
Tono leaped from a massive ice boulder.
CRASH!!
A spinning kick smashed one of the turrets into pieces.
Dika slipped around from the left flank.
Meanwhile, Bimo charged forward with a massive steel pole resting on his shoulder.
"Expensive machine!"
"I'm coming for you!"
Suddenly—
the blizzard became even more violent.
The Core Manifestation slowly raised both hands.
Hundreds of ice spears materialized across the sky.
Sinta shouted,
"GET DOWN!"
BOOOOOOOOOOM!!
The frozen spears rained across the valley.
The ground shattered.
Boulders exploded.
An icy crater erupted only meters away from Bimo.
Behind them—
Arga stood motionless.
The MBG Lunchbox in his hands vibrated violently.
The sixteen glowing grains of rice spun faster and faster.
He looked at the Core Manifestation.
He felt everything.
Its fear.
Its loneliness.
Its suffering across thousands of years.
It didn't want to destroy the world.
It had simply awakened...
into a world that immediately began hurting it.
Frozen tears formed upon Arga's cheeks.
"Why..."
Kai looked toward him.
"Arga?"
Arga gripped the lunchbox until blood seeped from between his fingers.
"Why is it..."
"...that every Guardian who awakens must suffer because of humanity?"
Golden light erupted from the lunchbox.
WHOOOOOOM!!
The storm retreated several meters away from him.
Farhan stared at his screen.
"The resonance is rising!"
Lila cried out,
"A new formation is appearing!"
At the center of the sixteen glowing grains—
a tiny spark emerged.
Then it grew brighter.
The seventeenth grain of rice.
But the instant it was born—
blue veins spread across Arga's arm.
He collapsed onto one knee.
"ARGA!"
Kai rushed forward and caught him.
A layer of ice spread from Arga's left hand all the way to his shoulder.
Farhan's face turned pale.
"The seventeenth grain's energy is too powerful!"
Lila whispered,
"His body can't withstand it..."
Arga's entire body trembled violently.
His breathing became ragged.
Yet he forced himself back to his feet.
"I'm..."
"...not finished yet."
He took one step forward.
The ice beneath his feet cracked.
A second step.
Drops of blood stained the snow.
A third.
The Core Manifestation slowly turned toward him.
Its agonized scream weakened.
AAAAAAAA...
The Ice Guardian looked at Arga.
Then at the Dominion generator.
And for the very first time—
it made a choice.
It turned away from the Core.
Then charged straight at the Dominion generator alone.
ROOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!!
BOOOOOOOOOOM!!
Its colossal body slammed into the armored machinery like a falling white meteor.
Steel was hurled through the air.
Turrets shattered.
Control panels exploded into fragments.
The Dominion Commander took a single step backward.
His eyes narrowed.
"Interesting."
Then he raised the device in his hand.
A spear of blue energy materialized before him.
Without hesitation—
he hurled it straight at the Ice Guardian's chest.
ZAAAAAP!!
The spear pierced through the Guardian's shoulder.
Blue blood sprayed across the snow.
Bimo froze.
"No..."
The Ice Guardian staggered.
But...
it did not fall.
With a gaping wound carved into its body, it raised both massive forelegs—
and slammed into the generator once more.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!
The machine split apart.
Nearly half of its structure collapsed.
Farhan shouted,
"Just a little more!"
The Dominion Commander reached for his device again—
But someone was already standing behind him.
Pak Rahmat.
No one had seen him arrive.
Hidden within the blizzard.
Silent as death itself.
His hand gripped the Dominion Commander's wrist.
Firmly.
Unshakably.
The Commander spun around.
For the first time—
his expression changed.
"...You?"
Pak Rahmat looked at him with an icy stare.
A gaze colder than the frozen valley itself.
"I warned you."
His voice was low.
Calm.
Terrifying.
"Never awaken what was meant to remain asleep."
His fingers tightened.
CRACK.
The device shattered in the Commander's hand.
Bimo stared with his mouth hanging open.
"Who..."
"...is that old man?"
But there was no time for answers.
Arga raised the MBG Lunchbox high above his head.
The seventeenth grain spun wildly.
Golden light pierced through the storm.
"BE STILL!"
WHOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!
A wave of warmth swept across the valley.
The countless ice spears crumbled into dust.
The raging wind shattered apart.
The storm clouds split open.
The Core Manifestation stood frozen in place.
Its luminous eyes remained fixed on Arga.
Then—
slowly...
it knelt.
The storm stopped.
Silence.
Only the sound of everyone's breathing echoed across the valley.
Bimo let out a weak laugh.
"We..."
"...won?"
Then—
a crack echoed beneath their feet.
CRACK.
Everyone looked down.
The entire valley was now covered with enormous fractures.
Farhan stared blankly at his screen.
His face turned pale.
"No..."
Lila whispered,
"What now...?"
Farhan slowly stepped backward.
"The storm stopped..."
"...because all of its energy has sunk underground."
Pak Rahmat's head snapped toward the massive fissure.
For the first time—
panic entered his voice.
"Everyone, get back!"
Too late.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
The entire floor of the valley collapsed.
And from the endless darkness beneath the ice—
a single colossal eye opened.
Larger than the Ice Guardian.
Older than the Core itself.
Colder than death.
Pak Rahmat whispered, his voice trembling,
"The prison..."
"...has been opened."