"Collapse."
The voice was soft.
So soft it didn't seem like a command.
Crack…
Crack…
Hiss-!
The battlefield groaned.
He turned.
And watched winter arrive without warning.
A single petal.
Small... Pale white.
It drifted past his cheek like a snowflake touched by sorrow, then thousands followed.
Ice petals, falling from the sky, they fluttered gently.
Softly.
Like a maiden's sigh after breaking your neck.
They didn't slash, they didn't explode.
They simply touched.
And where they touched...Stillness.
Hundreds of raiders that had been charging at Ranran stopped mid-motion.
Arms outstretched, mouths open.
Flesh turning blue, then white, then crystal.
All frozen.
Even those mid-leap froze, turned into shattered sculptures of malice.
A claw half an inch from Ranran's cheek never touched her.
It turned into ice-flesh, and crumbled at the joints.
[Thousand Petals of the Frozen Sky]
