Being half-frozen in place by this woman, BronzeHammer realized that ForstNova was not as weak as he thought she would be. He didn't even realize that he was trapped until it was too late. The coldness from this black ice that was around his lower part sent chills into his bones.

This was no normal Ice Arts.

Then he noticed that the ice was slowly crawling upon him. Adrenaline started to be pumped into his veins. His heart's beat quickened and his muscles tensed. With how tensed his muscles were, the ice around his leg shattered, freeing him from his frozen prison. Being free, he jumped away from them, giving him some space to breathe.

And just in time.

In the place where he stood just now, icicles formed from the ground and were about to stab him.

If he had been just a few seconds slower, he would have become a bear on a stick. He liked his body not being impaled by sharp ices.

… She was no normal caster.

He did not see any hand moment or hear any incantation for her.

He had never seen a caster like her before. Using Arts like it was as easy as breathing. Even the way that she carried herself was different. She did not have any har armour on her that most casters would use to defend themself. With her holding a knife in her hand, she must fight at close range and with her Arts she could attack from afar.

He then noticed the other people started to get back up and went behind the woman.

"...Okay, I have to admit that I underestimated you a little bit," BronzeHammer stood up slowly, "You are indeed a very powerful person. I have never seen a caster like you before. Well, tell me your name. After I kill you, I can remember it."

FrostNova did not bother answering him. However, Zane was more than happy to respond to her.

"Shut up, bastard," Zane cursed at him, "You'll be dead so just shut up."

"Shush now, brat," BronzeHammer glanced at him, "If it weren't for the woman by your side to protect you, you would have died a minute ago."

"You-!" Zane wanted to yell back but he couldn't. He knew exactly how big the gap between his strength and that of BronzeHammer was. If it wasn't for FrostNova protecting him, he would be dead by now.

"Zane," Seeing Zane quieted down, FrostNova walked in front of him, "Don't waste your time talking to him. Hurry up and leave. Take the rest with you."

"... Leave?" Zane was stunned. When he finally understood what she meant, he became anxious, "Big Sis, your body-."

"It's okay," Both BronzeHammer and her were observing each other, waiting for either to make the first move. From what she had seen how this man acted, FrostNova had a better understanding of what this man was, "He is a person that was trained to deal with casters. From how he carried himself, I am willing to bet that he used to work under the emperor. I have to use all of my strength to be able to take him down."

FrostNova's words surprised BronzeHammer.

"You even know my division of mine when I worked in the army? That is not an easy feat to do. I am impressed," BromzeHammer said, "Hey, lady. How do you know all of that? Did you know anyone that used to be in the army before?"

"... A traitor maybe?"

The words of BronzeHammer made FrostNova's eyes become colder.

"Shut up or I'll freeze your mouth shut for you," FrostNova raised her hand. Following this, the temperature in the bar dropped rapidly. The world around her started to freeze.

Even the members of the Yetis felt that the cold was a little unbearable. In this cold, FrostNova glared at the man in front of her, "You are not qualified to talk about my father like that."

"Big Sis!" Zane wanted to say something, but when he saw FrostNova's eyes, he knew that he had no way to stop her. Seeing this, he could only grit his teeth. They would only be a burden for her if they stayed. "... Be careful. we're doing it."

With that, he led the rest out of the bar.

When they finally left, only he and FrostNova were left in the bar.

The temperature continued to drop.

Seeing that they were left, Bronze could hold back and laugh at what just happened.

He thought that the reason why she ordered them to leave was that they were scared of how strong he was. She will fight him alone and buy them time to escape.

Oh, how wrong was him.

With how he could feel the air getting colder by the second, he knew why she ordered them to retreat.

She wanted them to leave because they would be a burden to her.

The team that was supposed to help was limiting herself if they stayed.

He then stopped his laugh when he noticed that the air was still getting colder and it didn't look like it would stop. He was puffing out white mist now.

He needed to act fast or else he would be frozen to death. He couldn't afford to drag this any further.

With that, he took a deep breath and clenched his teeth.

What followed was his body starting to grow in size and he was heating up. The air around him started to move violently. His body was getting so hot that every time frost was about to form on his body, it would immediately turn into vapour. As the frost was

He was not able to say words. What came out of his mouth were only growls.

He picked up his hammer that he felt weighed almost nothing and rushed to FrostNova with the intention of killing her as fast as possible.

FrostNova's eyes glared at the man charging straight at her. She raised her hand, and countless ice shards appeared above her. Then she threw her hand towards him, the ice shards rocketed at him.

BronzeHammer, seeing the icicles nearing him, did not slow down. He raised his hammer and swung it in front of him, shattering every last ice that was about to stab him in an instant.

He was getting closer to his target, FrostNova.

Seeing the man getting near her, FrsotNova took action. She took the knife that she was holding, reversed her grip around it, and then stabbed it into the floor below her.

Frost was forming around where the knife stabbed.

BronzeHammer knew she was about to trap him again. However, she was too late. Casters need time to cast their spell, no matter how strong they are. He was about a few feet away from her.

He lifted his hammer above her head and with a roar he brought it down on her. If this attack is connected, her head will be nothing but mush meat.

As his hammer was nearing her, she did not even look like she was about to move.

Good! Accept your fate!

Just as the hammer was about to fall on FrostNova's head, a powerful cold gush of air burst from the ground from where she stabbed.

Frozen mist surrounded both of them.

As the mist slowly settled down, FrostNova could be seen staring at the hammer floating just a few inches above her head. The handle of the hammer was frozen in place in a pillar of black ice. There was a hand frozen with it. She looked above and found her attacker.

BronzeHammer could be found being embedded in the ceiling. He could see one of his hands gone.

However, it did not take long before gravity took effect on him and pulled him down. With a crash, he landed face-first onto the ground not far from where FrostNova stood.

He tried to get up but the damage that his body had just taken was too much for him to handle. He was able to just lift his head up and stare at her in disbelief. Then he saw the scene in front of him, making his mouth grasp.

"... What fucking power was that?"

The whole bar was turned into some sort of black winter wonderland.

And in the middle of this back frozen kingdom, there stood FrostNova. Her gaze was as cold as the bar. Maybe even more.

"It's over," FrostNova muttered loud enough for him to hear.

At that moment, BronzeHammer felt dread. This woman was not a caster. No caster could ever in their life be able to create something like this with almost no time needed. The copper hammer jerked back.

Just as FrostNova slowly took a step forward, in the next second, she fell on her knees to the ground. She clutched her chest tightly, and her face was getting pale.

{Rhodes Island's Psychologist}

Draft: Jaq

Proofread: jaq

Edit: Jaq