The feats that FrostNova showed to BronzeHammer were enough for him to know that she was no normal caster.

There was a reason why she was like this. At a young age, FrostNova was a master of her Arts. When she was good enough she was able to fight along with her father before they joined Reunion. When they did join, she did not stop fighting and improving herself.

With how long she was on the battlefield, she even had more experience in fighting than most of Ursus' soldiers. In all of her fights, she never lost. The closest that someone came to beating in a fight was Talulah.

With how much FrostNova had been through it was no surprise she was this strong.

However, like everything in this world, her power came with a price.

With how often she used her Arts, the spread of Oripathy in her body was more severer than most. If that to the point where it would be hard to breathe.

With how her condition was going, she would not be surprised that she would kick the bucket next year.

It looked like the effect of her condition came sooner than she expected. Her body felt heavy and she almost could not see anymore, everything was so hazy.

However, she could not go down just yet. Reunion was a mess, and she could not leave her team just yet.

And she still had a few things that she needed to do before she died.

One was to kill the one that was responsible for killing her family. She would be more than happy to kill Mephisto however he already died. The next best thing was to kill the other person who was as responsible as him, a man named Lin Ye.

If she did not kill him, she would never be at peace.

Therefore, even if her body was broken, FrostNovaStar was determined to finish what she should do before she fell completely.

Her next obstacle? To kill the man in front of her now. With him gone, she will give her team a place to stay, a headquarters.

One of the three things that she needed to do.

With a newfound determination, she pushed her body to stand again and let the Originium in her body do their work.

Her surroundings started to freeze.

However, no matter how she tried to hide it, BronzeHammer saw how her Arts was taking its toll on her.

With her being in pain, he managed to get himself up. He ripped parts of her clothes and bandage around his missing hand.

"... I see," BronzeHammer muttered as he stood up. He wiped off the blood that was dripping from his mouth and smiled, "Lady, you are going to die, right? I heard that if an Infected overused the originium in their body to use Arts the spread of Oripathy will worsen. Your time is almost up?"

FrostNova did not bother to say anything to him. She just pulled out the dagger that she stabbed on the floor out and pointed it toward him. Even if her body was aching all over, she did not show any emotion on her face as he slowly walked toward him.

Seeing that the man was able to stand, she guessed that he regained some of his stamina back. She missed the best opportunity of ending him. However, it didn't matter to her.

She knew for a fact that even if her body was slowly reaching its limit, she could easily kill the man countless times by now.

Even he knew this. Bronze Hammer knew how big the gap between their powers was from each other.

He could not act recklessly from now on. He was lucky he only lost a hand.

He needed to retreat. He knew that if he ran from this town, it was theirs. He did not care though. They can take the town for all he cared, his life was more precious than this town full of worthless people. However, seeing how the woman was glaring at him, she was not going to let him.

He needed a plan. He scanned the bar and noticed something that caught his eyes. His eyes widened and a smirk appeared on his face.

With a plan now in his mind, he just needed to execute it perfectly.

With his weapon now frozen in a block of ice, he left it be and made a hard dash to the side, where the back door was located.

While he was doing his escape, FrostNova was not being idle and acted.

She made a gesture with her hand and the door was completely covered with ice. However, this was not what he was targeted and he easily made a hard right turn towards where most of the fallen tables were.

Thinking nothing of it, FrotNova guided the frost to cathed the man.

When the frost was about to touch the man's feet, he turned around and shouted at her.
In his hand was something that made her eyes widen.

It was a young boy.

Aesop's consciousness was nowhere there as his body was limply held by his head by BronzeHammer.

He must be like this because he was caught up with the cold and his body forced itself to shut down.

"Don't move!" He ordered her, "Otherwise I'll squash this brat's head!"

The frost stopped just inches away from touching him.

"You are an Infected, right?" BronzeHammer said to her, "This young boy's sister is in the same boat as you. The reason why he was working here was that he needed the money for his family. I wonder what would happen to them if this boy died here. Don't test me. I'm serious."

While he said all of this, the truth of it, BronzeHammer was not as comfortable as he sounded. He was not sure whether FrostNova would care about this brat's well-being.

However, it was better than nothing.

After seeing the power that this woman had, he realized that if he was to face her in a real fight, he would die. His best choice was to get the hell away from here. The brat in his hand was just a tool for him to use to help him.

However, would a person that was a monster in strength care about this child?

He was about to get his answer.

After seeing Aesop in his hand, FrostNova was silent for a while and she actually put down her raised hand. The frost that was about to crawl over him slowly inched away from him.

BronzeHammer couldn't help being overjoyed.

This monster-like woman would stop her hands for the sake of this little child?

What a naive person.

"Let go of that kid," As FrostNova stared at him coldly, she spoke in an emotionless tone, "This is between you and me"

The man showed a grin at her, "You think I just follow along with you?"

"I'm not negotiating with you," FrostNova said, "I am ordering you. If you don't do as I tell, I'll kill you."

"Test me then." He dared her, "I will kill him"

FrostNova continued to glare at him.

She knew what was the most important thing that she needed to do. She needed to kill him now. The life of this child should come second to that.

He had nothing to do with her and the Yetis. His life should mean nothing to her. She should just view him as an obstacle that was getting in her way to get her family home for themselves. So the most logical thing that she needed to do was to ignore the boy to go kill the man.

As she was thinking all of this, her eyes landed on the child.

Should she endanger this child's life?

From what she had seen, this boy had done everything in his power to help his family to survive. Should this child die for just being on her way to achieving one of her lifelong goals?

If so, if she discarded this boy's life, she would be no different than every other Infected that terrorist people around the world. The people that made the Infected hated by the rest of the world.

She would be no different than Mephisto.

A face appeared in her mind.

… How could she face him if she let this child die?

Seeing that she was not attacking him, BronzeHammer spoke, "So how about to spare my life? You want this town, right? I can leave and never come back. You can have this dirt-like town."

This was good for her but she did not say anything back to him.

She knew that if she left this man alive, she would have another enemy to deal with in the future. When she heard all of this, she only stared at him.

Hearing no reply from her, BronzeHammer became nervous. The silence was unbearable for him.

"This is a good deal, isn't it?" He shouted at her, "A life for a life. As soon as I leave this bar,I will immediately let this brat go."

FrostNova did not even acknowledge him.

As she stared at him coldly, she was planning on how to deal with the situation that she was in now. She was trying to come up with a plan that will help her kill BronzeHammer while keeping Aesop safe.

Easier said than done though.

As she was thinking, he felt a sudden jolt of pain running through her whole body. The side effect of her using Arts was showing now. He could feel the Originium crystals on her body growing in size and piercing into her skin. She greeted her teeth to make the pain bearable. Even with how good she was, she could not hide that she was hurting now.

Seeing FrostNova in pain, BronzeHammer that was worried about his safety not a few seconds ago, eyes widened. As he saw blood dripping on the floor below her, he thought that was hope for him to get away from her alive and even killed this bitch. He knew that he did not even touch her so that meant that her being an Infected using Arts was taking its effect on her.

This made him excited again. Tossing the child that was in his hand, he smirked at her.

"Bitch, your time is almost up now!"

After that, the muscles on his body swelled up, growing in size. He was entering his previous form again. "Just in time, looks like I gained a bit of strength back."

The sound of wind swirling in his palm could be heard. When enough winds were around his first he charged to FrostNova.

Even though pain could be felt through her whole body, FrostNova was still able to gare at him coldly as she raised her hand to face him. However, with how severe her condition was now, if she used more Arts, she would possibly die.

With the thought in her mind, she still lowered the temperature around and frost appeared above her.

… Looks like I couldn't see you one last time.

As the distance between them was decreasing, FrostNova noticed that some debris was falling above them.

Seconds later, the roof above them collapses between them. What followed after was a figure coming out from the smoke and kicking BronzeHammer hard to his side.

With a cry of pain, the man was thrown to the side of the bar as a ragdoll and crash-landed on the wall of the bar.

Vomiting blood, he slowly raised his head to see you did this to him. He heard a woman's voice ring in his ears.

"Looks like I already found you," Her soft voice broke the silence, "Seems like I am getting extra money. I am on a tight schedule. Are you really worth it though?"

Grey-haired fluttered in front of them.

The woman then turned behind her to see FrostNova. Her eyes narrowed at her.

"Who are you?"

{Rhodes Island's Psychologist}

Draft: Jaq

Proofread: Jaq

Edit: Jaq