The iridescent glow was dimming, replaced by the suffocating stench of the monsters it had coughed up into the valley.
"I... I understand. Also, my name is Elsa."
The silver-haired princess looked at the girl standing before her, feeling a pang of shame. She felt that, as the elder, she should have been the one protecting the girl. As Elsa spoke, she felt a strange, cold resonance within her soul; her own magic seemed to be reacting to the fading remnants of the light that had carried them. It was as if her power recognized the interdimensional energy and was trying to surge forth to meet it. She looked at Toph—this small, defiant figure who stood tall despite her blindness—and felt the first cracks in the icy walls she had built around her soul. If this girl could stand against these light-born nightmares with nothing but her bare fists, how could Elsa remain a prisoner of her own fear?
"Got it, Elsa. But are you a Bender too? You have a terrifying power inside you, but you don't seem to know how to use it. And what's with that rude look? I'm an adult, you know!"
Toph could sense it. The girl behind her possessed an incredible power—a force Toph had only ever sensed within the earth itself. She had never encountered a human who harbored such energy. Even the "spirit teachers" who claimed to be gods couldn't compare to the girl behind her.
Not even the Avatar.
The Avatar primarily borrowed power from Heaven and Earth, but this girl... it was as if she was Heaven and Earth herself.
However, this power was being suppressed—heavily. Yet, like a capped volcano, the suppression only made it more volatile and dangerous.
Elsa never imagined her deepest secret would be uncovered so easily. She looked at the young girl in a panic, trying to explain.
"Ah, this is... Magic. A very dangerous thing."
She loathed the magic within her. It had nearly killed her sister, it had been powerless to help her when she needed it most, and it had brought years of eternal winter to Arendelle. She hated this power, yet it was an inseparable part of her very being.
As Elsa spoke, countless obsidian monsters clawed their way out of the ground. They let out guttural roars, pulling their tentacle-filled maws from the earth before lunging toward the pair without hesitation. Elsa could see them clearly—these monsters born from the fading light were far larger and more ferocious than the first one.
Toph's ears twitched. Sensing the speed and power of the approaching horde through the vibrations, she grabbed Elsa's hand, attempting to force the older girl to tap into her massive reserves.
There was no other choice; if Elsa didn't unleash her power, they were both going to die.
"Well, right now, we need something dangerous! Let it go!"
Toph grabbed Elsa's hand and pulled her to the front, forcing her to face the oncoming monsters head-on.
"Aaaaaah!!!"
Facing the rows of jagged teeth and the tentacle-choked, slime-covered maws, Elsa let out a piercing scream and flailed her arms. In the next instant, a torrential surge of frost erupted from her palms. It didn't just flash-freeze every monster in their path; it crystallized into a massive glacial barrier between them and the horde.
The frozen monsters remained suspended in their grotesque lunges, trapped like macabre statues. Only when she felt the biting chill did Elsa dare to open her eyes. Staring at the horrific, immobile beasts, she asked instinctively:
"Did we win?"
Toph looked down at her own arm, which was also partially encased in ice, and found herself speechless. If not for the constant circulation of Qi within her body, she wouldn't have escaped being frozen solid herself.
More importantly...
"No!"
Sensing the violent vibrations resonating through the ice, Toph grabbed Elsa's arm without hesitation and began dragging her backward.
The vitality of these monsters was far more resilient than she had imagined. The moment she pulled Elsa away to retreat, the ice shattered into a thousand shards. Countless monsters roared, lunging at them once more.
The two began a frantic flight. Elsa allowed herself to be led by Toph, blindly reaching back with one hand to unleash continuous waves of frost.
Just as she successfully manifested a massive field of jagged ice spikes across the path, Toph—who was leading the charge—suddenly tripped and slammed into the ground.
Falling alongside her in a daze, Elsa finally remembered: Toph's eyes had no light in them.
Wait... was I really counting on a blind girl to lead me on a high-speed escape?!
Elsa had no time for further shock. The monsters were already upon them. She looked at the lunging beasts in terror and closed her eyes in despair.
In the next instant...
Li Ke's silhouette plummeted from the heavens. He slammed his foot onto a monster's head, violently interrupting its pounce and crushing its skull into the dirt.
He didn't stop there; his blade plunged deep into the creature's bone mask. As the steel pierced through, cracks spider-webbed across the mask until the beast dissolved into swirling black dust with a final, guttural wail.
Li Ke moved without a second of hesitation. During his high-speed descent, he had analyzed the situation: the girl named Toph could kill monsters easily by shattering their masks with her kicks, while Elsa's ice, though spectacular, lacked lethal force.
The moment his feet hit the ground, his brain issued the next command for slaughter.
Flames—wreathe my body!
Almost by instinct, mana-forged fire coiled around his longsword. As he swung in a wide horizontal sweep, the flames extended into a searing whip of fire!
At this peak moment, Li Ke pushed his Blood Secret Art to its limit. His reaction speed, already at the pinnacle of human potential thanks to the skill books from Ms. Song Hana (D.Va), surged even further. He felt his consciousness transcend his physical form.
The sharp blade, trailing its fiery whip, sliced through the masks of one monster after another. As the creatures vanished, a swirling fire tornado formed around the three of them, acting as a protective barrier that shredded the masks of dozens more encroaching beasts, turning them into void-black smoke.
Li Ke finally grasped the sheer power of Mana Burst (Flame). It required no complex incantations; he simply had to release the mana and will it to become fire.
However, sensing his rapidly draining mana reserves, Li Ke clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction. This single maneuver had nearly bottomed out his energy, and the long-distance sprint had already taxed his stamina significantly.
But the monsters were far from finished.
He raised his left hand, revealing a machine gun loaded with ammunition. Explosive tongues of fire spat from the black barrel. Though his marksmanship had suffered without the [System's] auto-assist, these monsters were slow-moving targets that barely dodged, allowing Li Ke to maintain lethal accuracy!
He wasn't the type to slack off on his training.
The violent suppressive fire forced the horde back, creating a temporary safe zone. With the perimeter secured, Li Ke turned his gaze toward the source of the eerie light—the very place the girls had been fleeing from.
The brilliance that had once enveloped the girls had completely faded, leaving behind ten more charging masked monsters and a staggering wave of hundreds of zombies.
While the masked beasts were a mystery to Li Ke, these zombies were a sight he knew all too well.
Observing their familiar rotting flesh and the frantic, explosive lunges they made at the sight of the living, Li Ke expertly adjusted his grip on his sword. Their appearance was just as physically revolting as the ones he had faced before.
To Li Ke, however, these creatures were no longer a source of terror; he had spent so much time among them that he could practically eat a meal while staring them in the face.
Fear? That had withered away long ago.
"Tch, you guys really are like a ghost that won't stop haunting me," he muttered.
He had truly believed he'd never have to lay eyes on these things again, yet here they were, manifesting even in this world.
Flickering embers, delicate as butterflies, began to spiral around his body before coiling tightly around his blade once more.
His remaining mana was low, and his Blood Energy was nearly depleted; he had to start rationing his output. After all, he still needed to find a way to integrate himself into this world once the dust settled.
Li Ke's gaze hardened. His remaining mana coalesced into a roaring blaze that poured into his longsword. Replicating the blade's form, one fiery sword after another manifested and drifted away from the physical steel.
These flaming swords gathered behind him and at his flanks, beginning a high-speed, rhythmic rotation.
A smile of pure, unadulterated excitement spread across Li Ke's face.
As the monsters closed the distance, Li Ke didn't retreat; he charged.
The searing flame-blades shot forward, piercing the masks of the oncoming monsters, while Li Ke himself lunged headlong into the horde of hundreds of zombies.
To him, it didn't feel like he was being surrounded at all.
"Is this all there is—"
With a single horizontal sweep, Li Ke decapitated two zombies, his expression twisted into a bloodthirsty grin.
"—It's not enough to even warm me up!"