Whiteout is a phenomenon where the horizon disappears from view while the sky and landscape appear featureless, leaving no points of visual reference by which to navigate.
And her ability takes the same logic as that. By creating snow explosion that blinds everyone. Making the eyes affected by it to see nothing but white cloud. And since it's not a magic, there's nothing they can do to dispell it.
Laiz however, despite losing his sight he's able to defend himself against her attacks, while all of his men already downed with severed limbs. Seeing him fighting so well, makes Clara a bit intrigued, since she's used to end her fight quickly.
Their swords clashing, despite having all the advantages, none of her strikes getting him. Not even traps making him fumble.
Swordmaster is a tier between swordsman, a state where they can see without their eyes, hear without their ears and smell without their nose. A stage where they moves solely by their senses and the mana around them.
"Hyah!!." He shout while swinging his sword horizontally.
Clara steping back to avoid it and watch him still trying to clear his sight.
"You little bitch! Fight me like a real swordsman!." He says frustratingly.
This is a new learning experience for Clara. To finally understand what Nein's meant by the enemies here is different from what on earth.
"Just surrender. You can't win this." Her tone flat as she suggesting.
"Heh, don't look down on me kid. Screw bringing you to Ruffen, I'll kill you for this humiliation."
He changes his posture, holding his sword lower and leaning back slightly as he starting to chant a spell. His blade begins to coated in fire.
She saw that and takes her own stance. She lower her body while holding her sword by her waist, mimicking a sheathing stances but without the scabbard.
"[Raging flame], burn to ash!!" He charges toward her with his flaming sword.
Clara remain still as she waits. Her eyes closed, the air calmed, time as if slowed. And with his sword almost landing on her neck, she finally moves.
"{Freezing point}"
SHING!
She appear behind him. Standing straight with her sword steady by her side. She squeeze the hilt and whisper.
"[Shatter]"
Along with her sword broke to pieces, Laiz arms were cut off from his body. He fell to his knees, perplexed by what just happened in a blink second. He stares at his arms laying on the snow and slowly bleeds.
"You... little...bi.. -"
He passed out from shock. For swordsman, losing an arm means losing their lives. But Clara care less about it and went to check for what really is inside the wagon.
Back to Kvas. Both Nein and Nivalis were sitting in a bar and eating. It was Nivalis idea since he's bored and want to walk around again. Nein's a bit taken but agreed, since Nivalis won't drag much attention.
"I thought a guardian can't leave their domain." Nein asked while eating.
"Indeed. But Kvas, in fact still considered a part of my domain. I used to stroll around many times before getting sealed you know?. I'm a guardian of endless snowfields so as long as there's snowfields, I'm guarding it." He answers with a jest.
"Make sense. Silva also told me that, but I'm not quite understand from how she explain it to me. Thanks for clarifying it."
Nivalis nods curtly before eating his food. The ambience feels comfy now with less people inside the bar. While the Duke and duchess is busy with their problem, they simply enjoying their time.
"Speaking of which. May I ask more about your... ability?. It caught my interest the more I see it."
"My arts? Well...of course. It's not really a secret. I'll explain it with my terms so...feel free to ask after I finished."
"Please, do tell me, Nein."
And with that, Nein begin to explain how his arts works. Nivalis is captivating by it and start taking notes in his head. The air inside the bar is warm despite the snow outside.
Meanwhile, Clara's busy with what should she do with thirty peoples she freed from the wagon. She's planning to ask the downed men around her but they already dead.
She begin to ask for the captive and found out they're were a slaves. It makes her pondering and send a message to Nein through the pigeon she made from snow to ask him what to do next.
She back to the captive and is curious. There's ten adults man, fifteen adults woman and five childrens, all having animal feature on them. Their fluffy ears and tail makes her starring intensified.
She approach them to speak. The group noticed her presence and turning around to see her. But instead of gratefulness, they look at her with fear, especially with the bodies losing their limbs freezing in the snow.
"So what's your plan now that you're free?." She ask immediately.
Her direct question caught them off and makes them fidgeting. One man decided to talk after being pushed by the others.
"We... we're planning to go home..." He says hesitating.
"I see. So you guys still have something." She says with a sigh.
Hearing that, they begin to panicked thinking she won't let them go or worse. But the truth is, she's just a bit disappointed by the fact she can't take them into her small organization.
Everyone attention shifted toward the man suddenly appear from the sky, it was Nein. Wearing his mask just in case as he approaching Clara.
"I've heard the news. Good job Clara."
He says casually while approaching them. Seeing him like that, makes the beastfolks even more terrified. Their instinct keep telling them to run, sensing the two as a predator. They're trembling from fear, thinking they'll ended up worse than a slave.
"Stop cowering all of you." A girl voice suddenly appear.
She take a step forward past the group and reveal herself. A girl with a pair of horns and spiky tails. Her yellow eyes brave despite being scared.
Nein finally noticed something wrong. He saw the way they looking at him and Clara. He smiles and release the mask to reveal his warm smile to them.
"I'm sorry for scaring you. We're not gonna hurt you, it's fine." His smile's friendly to the group.
His words manage to make them a bit less scared. He look at the brave girl and bend down to speak to her.
"Thank you for your bravery little miss." He says with a smile.
"It...it's nothing..." The girl said nervously.
"Brother, they say they want to go back home." Clara says immediately.
Nein straighten up and thinking. Unlike Clara, he knows more about the beastfolks already, especially the history of how human in this world perceive them due to what happened in past.
"I see... Then you're all free to go."
His approval makes them surprised and relieved. Without knowing Nein intentions of simply abandoning them. The south part of Terra were mostly covered in snowy terrain except for the north part that's slightly warmer.
And since they're in-between Kvas and Pluvia territory, they'll need at most one week walking to reach that warm place. Asking for help also not a good idea and he can't carry thirty peoples while swinging in the air. But he trust them with their ability to survive.
"Thank you kind sir!." The girl bow down happily.
And with that, everyone begin to walk away from them. He simply smile and wave to the retreating group.
"Fluffy..." Clara suddenly speaks her mind.
Hearing that, he can't help but chuckles softly. He understands how she feels, the urge to pet that fluffy parts also familiar to him. He decided to tease her.
"Don't worry. It's nothing different that petting a cat."
"How do you know?"
"Because I know someone with much more fluffy tails compared to them."
He told her about Sylva and makes her jealous. She turn around sharply and leave immediately to continue her task. He simply watch and laugh fondly.
"Hehe, don't worry Clara. I'll make sure to let you see her someday." He say to himself.
His eyes fixed to the ring and smiles warmly. He look around him and begin to cleaning the mess. Using {fog of oblivion} he erase everything and leaving nothing but snow behind.
"Oh yeah, there's Nivalis. I should ask him to help those guys with their travel."
And with everything's done, he swings back to Kvas.