His chance came on the 22nd floor.
Ace pushed the heavy fire doors open, and a blast of freezing air hit him in the face. His breath plumed in the dim light. The hallway carpet was frozen solid, crunching under his Waraji Striders. Jagged spikes of black ice grew out of the drywall.
He tracked the freezing aura down the corridor and pushed through a set of double doors into the corporate Cafeteria. It was a massive, wide-open space, easily the size of a gymnasium. Overturned tables, shattered sneeze guards, and food stations were encased in thick, jagged glaciers of black ice.
In the center of the room, kneeling over a frozen, half-eaten corpse, was a new variant. It was humanoid, but its skin was translucent, crystalline blue, radiating a localized blizzard that distorted the air around it.
An Ice Variant.
Ace's predatory smirk returned. He looked at the massive, open expanse of the cafeteria. It was the perfect arena for a God of War style boss fight.
He didn't reach for Rebellion. He didn't draw Ebony & Ivory. Instead, he tapped into his Genesis Gate. The air on either side of his forearms distorted, rippling outward like a stone dropped in a glowing crimson lake. Two distinct, red circular portals opened in reality.
From the glowing ripples of the gates, heavy, molten chains shot forward, wrapping tightly around the leather of his sleeves, dropping down to connect to two jagged, heavily serrated blades that immediately began to drip with liquid fire.
The Ice Variant stood up, screeching as the sudden, intense heat began to aggressively melt the frost across the room. Puddles of water instantly formed at Ace's feet.
Ace gripped the handles of the Blades of Chaos, spinning them once at his sides, leaving trails of roaring fire in the freezing air. It was time to get his chain blades up to speed.
How would you like to open the offensive? Should Ace launch the blades forward to grapple the Ice Variant, or does he start with a massive, fiery AOE sweep to clear the frozen tables out of the way?
Chapter 16: The Descent
The Ice Variant stood up in the center of the frozen cafeteria. Its translucent, crystalline blue skin radiated a localized blizzard that immediately began fighting back against the heat of Ace's manifested blades. It unhinged its jaw, letting out an ear-piercing, dual-toned screech that shattered the remaining frosted glass in the room.
Ace didn't flinch. He rested the heavy, molten chains of the Blades of Chaos over his crimson leather sleeves, his raven hair blowing in the clash of extreme temperatures. A wide, effortlessly arrogant smirk spread across his face.
"You know, usually when someone gives me the cold shoulder, they at least offer to buy me a drink first," Ace mocked, his voice dripping with legendary Devil Hunter bravado. "Let's warm things up."
He didn't wait for a response. Ace ripped his arms outward, the heavy chains going taut. He spun like a top, unleashing a massive, fiery AOE sweep.
The centrifugal force turned him into a localized firestorm. The serrated blades carved a massive circle through the cafeteria, unleashing a wave of roaring flames that violently collided with the ambient frost. The black glaciers encasing the overturned tables and food stations shattered and flash-boiled into thick, hissing steam. The AOE completely cleared the center of the room, creating a perfect, open arena.
The Ice Variant lunged through the steam, its arm morphing into a massive, jagged icicle spear.
Ace sidestepped with a blur of Shunpo, snapping his wrists forward. The chains cracked like whips. The Blades of Chaos slammed into the variant's chest in a rapid, flaming, four-hit combo. CLANG. CLANG. CLANG. CLANG. The strikes hit with the force of a wrecking ball, immediately overpowering the creature and knocking it back ten feet. But as Ace pulled the chains back, he narrowed his eyes.
The variant was sliding backward on its feet, but it wasn't dead. Its endurance was absolutely absurd. The ice armor coating its body was incredibly dense; while the ambient heat of the blades melted the room, the fiery slashes had barely chipped the creature's physical carapace. It needed concentrated, close-quarters blunt-force trauma to break that kind of defense, not wide, sweeping slashes.
"Too wide," Ace muttered, his smirk sharpening into something dangerous. "Time to get hands-on."
He let go of the chains. The Blades of Chaos instantly dissolved into golden motes, retreating back into his soul.
He tapped into his Genesis Gate. The air around his forearms and shins distorted, rippling outward in glowing crimson circles like stones dropped in a lake of blood. From the Gates of Babylon-style portals, new armor locked onto his limbs with heavy, mechanical clacks.
He had manifested Balrog.
Heavy, spiked demonic gauntlets encased his hands and forearms, while matching armored greaves locked over the lower half of his white hakama and boots. The armor possessed mechanical exhaust ports that glowed with a furious, internal heat.
"Ignition," Ace commanded.
The gauntlets and greaves revved like a high-performance motorcycle engine, venting jets of concentrated, roaring fire. Ace raised his fists, settling into a tight, bouncing boxer's weave. Blow Mode.
The Ice Variant roared, charging forward with both arms raised to impale him.
Ace slipped the attack. He ducked under the right frozen claw, pivoted on his fiery greave, and unleashed a blindingly fast barrage of flaming jabs directly into the creature's ribs. The sheer kinetic force, combined with the point-blank, concentrated heat of the Balrog gauntlets, created localized thermal shock.
Crack. Crack. Shatter.
The unyielding ice armor began to splinter. Ace didn't give it a chance to recover. He threw a devastating right uppercut that caught the variant under the jaw, lifting its feet off the ground, followed by a left hook that sent it spinning.
Before the creature could hit the floor, Ace seamlessly shifted his stance. He dropped his hands and widened his footwork, the exhaust ports on his legs flaring as he switched to Kick Mode.
He launched into a flurry of capoeira and taekwondo-style strikes. He swept the creature's legs out with a low, spinning sweep of fire, then launched himself backward into a massive, flaming backflip kick. His spiked greave caught the variant square in the chest with the force of a localized meteor strike.
The impact completely shattered the crystalline armor. The Ice Variant's torso caved in, and the creature exploded into a shower of harmless, melting ice shards.
Ace landed gracefully on his feet, the Balrog gauntlets venting a final hiss of steam. He crossed his arms, looking at the melting remains.
"Too easy," he scoffed, dismissing the gauntlets. The demonic armor dissolved back into the crimson ripples of his Genesis Gate.
From the center of the melting puddle, a deep, shimmering aura pulsed. It wasn't the standard glowing dust of a basic variant. A solid, crystalline core the size of his fist floated upward, radiating a pristine, freezing mist.
The system UI immediately overrode his vision with stark, objective text.
> [HIGH-VALUE TARGET ELIMINATED: Tier 4 Cryo-Variant]
> [LOOT ACQUIRED: Elemental Core (Ice)]
> [SYSTEM PROMPT]
> Compatible Matrix Core detected. The Host may choose one of the following actions:
> [ABSORB]: Integrate the Core to unlock a permanent [Frost Affinity] in the final Matrix slot.
> [CONVERT]: Exchange the Core for +150 UP.
>
Ace stared at the glowing prompt. One hundred and fifty Upgrade Points was a massive payout. It was enough to soulbind Rebellion or heavily upgrade his physical attributes.
But as he looked at the glowing blue core, he felt the empty, third slot in his Matrix Core humming. He already had the heavy, spiritual crushing power of reiryoku, and the wild, explosive ballistics of his demonic energy.
A Frost Affinity would give him complete elemental crowd control. And more importantly, he already had the absolute perfect weapon sitting in his localized spatial storage, waiting to be awakened.
"Absorb," Ace commanded.
The blue core shot forward, sinking directly into his chest. A wave of absolute zero temperature washed through his veins, perfectly balancing out the violent demonic heat of his guns. His breath plumed white in the warm cafeteria air.
He raised his right hand, the air rippling into a crimson portal. He reached his hand into the Gate and pulled out a sleek, elegant katana with a star-shaped tsuba and a light blue hilt.
Hyorinmaru. The most powerful ice-element Zanpakuto in the Soul Society.
Ace smiled, feeling the dormant, freezing dragon slumbering within the blade responding to his newly acquired Frost Affinity. The descent into the lower floors was about to get a lot colder.