Chapter 197

“Ah, ugh!”

Lanes Malam groaned under the ferocious power of the Blessings.

The raging blizzard brushed against her skin, turning it purple as it began to necrotize.

A horrifying pain, as if being slashed by a sharp blade, tore through her body.

“…I don’t understand.”

Wolf Mask frowned as they watched Lanes groaning in pain.

“Why do you refuse the easier path?”

With the Magic Stone, controlling the power of the Blessings wouldn’t be difficult. She should know that.

After all, she had personally experienced that power.

But.

Why would she choose such a foolish path instead of the easier one?

“Do you doubt their power? If that’s the case, there are other ways…”

“No.”

Lanes squinted her eyes against the raging blizzard but continued in a low voice.

“I don’t know who you’re talking about… but I do know that the Magic Stone holds the power to control the Blessing of Frost.”

“Then why did you destroy the stone? If you didn’t want to come with me, you could have used its power to fight me, couldn’t you?”

Lanes knew better than anyone that, without the ability to control the Blessings, she couldn’t possibly win against him now.

“…You’re right.”

She knew well that using the power of the Magic Stone would have been the wiser choice to avoid being dragged away.

But.

“If I had done that, I wouldn’t have left the school in the first place.”

The power of the Magic Stone was impressive.

But it couldn’t compare to Dale’s ‘flame.’

Controlling the Blessings with Dale’s flame by her side was far easier than using the Magic Stone.

“Still… in the end, I have to overcome this on my own.”

Whether it’s Dale or the Magic Stone.

She couldn’t rely on others forever to control the Blessings.

With her own hands, her own strength.

If she couldn’t control the Blessings, she wouldn’t be able to stay with her comrades.

“Foolish.”

“I think so too. But…”

Lanes smiled faintly as she took a shaky step forward.

Whoooosh!

The raging blizzard tore through her body.

It hurts.

It’s cold.

Unbearably, painfully so.

And yet.

“I won’t give up.”

In the midst of the raging blizzard.

Her unwavering purple eyes stared straight at Wolf Mask.

“…Tch.”

Wolf Mask clicked their tongue as they looked at Lanes.

“It seems I need to revise the information about Lanes Malam’s personality.”

Fragile, timid, with low self-esteem and a high dependency on others… that was the previous information.

But now, standing firm in the midst of the raging blizzard, none of that information matched her.

“But before that… I need to take you to them!”

Thud!

Wolf Mask charged forward, their massive sword slicing through the blizzard as they swung it at her.

“Haap!”

Lanes let out a shout as she stretched out her hand.

The raging blizzard gathered, forming a wall.

It was precarious, on the verge of shattering, cracks already forming.

Craaack!

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The wall shattered as Wolf Mask’s massive sword struck it.

Ice shards flew in all directions, hitting both Wolf Mask and Lanes.

“Ugh!”

“Ah…!”

Groans escaped both of their mouths.

Though Lanes was hit by more ice shards due to the direction of the sword swing.

“Li-listen to me!”

Just before the hundreds of ice shards could tear through her body.

The shards stopped abruptly, right in front of her skin.

Lanes swung her hand down sharply toward Wolf Mask and shouted.

“Freeze!”

The unmoving ice shards.

Lanes continued to shout, refusing to give up.

“Freeze! Freeze! Please, freeze!!!”

Like a howl. Like a scream.

She poured her soul into her voice, chanting the spell.

“Do you think you can control the Blessings just by using force?”

Wolf Mask shook their head, looking at her with pity.

Crackle, crackle, crackle!

“…!”

As if the air itself had frozen, the hundreds of ice shards spread out wide.

The raging blizzard intertwined with the ice shards, blooming like flower petals.

It looked like…

“A snow… flower?”

A massive snow flower blooming in the air.

“Haa, haa, haa!”

Lanes panted heavily as she stared at the massive snow flower in the air.

Instinctively, she knew how to handle it.

“Bloom.”

Whoooosh!

The petals spread wide, and a fierce blizzard surged forth.

Ice shards rained down toward Wolf Mask.

Each shard carried an unbearable chill.

“Ugh…!”

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Wolf Mask spun their massive sword like a windmill, blocking the incoming ice shards.

But only for a moment.

The shards pierced through the sword, embedding themselves into their body.

“This… is going to be tough.”

Tch.

Wolf Mask clicked their tongue softly.

The moment they realized they couldn’t win against Lanes, they turned and fled without hesitation.

“Hey, stop…!”

Lanes tried to send ice shards after the retreating figure.

Crackle!

“Ah!”

The snow flower shattered.

The ice shards began to run wild, flying in all directions.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The ground froze white where the shards landed.

Then.

“Lanes!”

A familiar voice reached her ears.

“Ah…”

Lanes’ eyes widened.

Even though they hadn’t been apart for even a day, her heart raced just hearing his voice.

“…Dale.”

“Dammit! Stay right there!”

Dale approached her with an angry expression.

The ice shards flying in all directions turned toward him.

“Scram.”

Whoosh!

The fiercely burning Ash Fire instantly melted the ice shards.

Step, step.

Dale walked toward Lanes, melting the raging ice shards as he went.

Lanes bit her lip and shouted.

“D-don’t come!”

“No, I’m taking you back.”

Dale shook his head firmly and continued walking.

“N-no! That’s not what I meant! If Dale comes now… it’ll all be meaningless!”

“…What?”

Dale looked at Lanes with a puzzled expression.

Lanes clenched her fists and placed a hand on her chest.

“I can’t… rely on help!”

If she accepted Dale’s help, she could easily control the rampaging Blessings.

But if she did that.

It would mean she couldn’t control the Blessings without Dale.

To stay by his side.

To protect her precious comrades.

“I have to…! I have to succeed… on my own!”

She reached out toward the raging blizzard.

“Ah, ugh!”

Her outstretched hand turned blue and necrotized, sending a horrifying pain up her arm.

It hurts, it hurts, it hurts.

Even with Dale right in front of her, the pain filled her mind completely.

“Ahhhhhhh!!!”

“Lanes!”

When Dale couldn’t hold back and tried to approach her.

Thud!

A massive ice spear embedded itself in front of his feet.

“I can do it… on my own…!”

Lanes gritted her teeth and raised her necrotized hand again.

She could do it.

No, she had to.

‘Until now… I’ve only run away.’

That’s right.

Her life had always been about running away.

Running from her mother, who killed her father.

Running from the people who mocked her as a witch.

Even from the person she cherished most.

She ran away.

Closing her eyes, shutting her ears, suppressing her heart.

She thought that was the only way.

But.

“I don’t want… to run away anymore!”

The warmth she had finally grasped.

The happiness she had longed for all her life.

She didn’t want to ruin it with her own hands.

“I…!”

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The blizzard raged.

The Blessing of Frost ran wild, freezing the entire surrounding land.

Trees that had stood for decades, rocks as hard as steel, scattered leaves.

All of it froze and shattered.

A white snowy plain formed where the Blessing of Frost had swept through.

‘…Ah.’

Dale had told her.

He had wandered the continent, turned into a snowy plain by her power, searching for the Primordial Flame.

‘It was this cold… and scary place…’

For an unimaginably long time.

“……”

She didn’t know what kind of existence she had been in her past life.

Why she became the ‘Witch of the Night’ and slaughtered hundreds of thousands of people.

She didn’t know.

And she didn’t want to know.

‘But.’

Lanes knelt on one knee, placing her hand on the white snowy plain.

Haa.

Her breath froze as soon as she exhaled.

A bitterly cold, suffocatingly white world.

“Dale.”

Lanes smiled faintly and grabbed a handful of snow with her necrotized hand.

Slowly standing up, she pressed the snow to her left chest.

“Now… I won’t make you cold anymore.”

Just as Dale had taught her warmth.

Now it was her turn to give warmth to Dale.

Whoooosh!

The raging blizzard was sucked into Lanes’ Holy Mark.

The white snowy plain melted away in an instant, returning to green land.

“…Lanes.”

“Hehe. I did it.”

Lanes smiled brightly.

Thud.

Her body lost balance and collapsed.

“Lanes!”

Dale rushed forward and caught her falling body.

Even without using Ash Fire, a warm heat spread between them.

“Dale… I did it… on my own…”

“…Yeah.”

“Hehe. Did I do… well?”

“Yeah, you did great.”

Dale smiled faintly and patted Lanes’ back.

“So, you’re not dropping out now, right?”

“Ah…”

Only then did Lanes remember that she had been running away after dropping out without permission.

She buried her face in her hands, her face burning red.

“…I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

Dale gently lifted her chin and kissed her.

“Eh, eh?! D-D-Dale?! Wh-why are you suddenly k-kissing me?!”

Lanes’ eyes widened in shock.

Dale stifled a laugh as he looked at her flustered expression.

In the place where the blizzard had raged.

A warmth that defied the winter wrapped around them.