Kira PoV
Lady Yukihina abandoned the rapier still embedded in Sir Vadim's side and twisted her body with that same unsettling, liquid grace from earlier to throw herself between me and her husband. In a single fluid motion, two daggers of compressed, diamond-hard frost condensed in her bare hands. She crossed them before her chest, catching the descending arc of my scythe inches from Sir Setsugen's neck.
The impact detonated, sending subzero mist and sharp crystalline shards flying across the frozen clay.
The clash sent a violent tremor straight through my wrists, the frostbite biting so deep I could barely feel my fingers around the haft. But I refused to let up.
"You're out of your depth, Kira," Yukihina said in the same stern yet soft tone she used whenever she was lecturing us younger kids back in Shirayuki. "You were gifted with powerful mana, but the recoil from it and your own gentle heart prevent you from ever becoming a true warrior."
