Chapter 53: Silence in the Snow

"Silence snows in, in her wintery chill..."

"Squad D4! Beowolves, east!" the huntress—which he learned was Robyn—screamed. "Nevermores ahead! Squad F1!"

Hrunting folded downwards, howling. It blasted a crater into a Beowolf's chest.

Nex growled as another one lunged at him, blurring out of an alley. It crashed against his shield. He swayed on his feet, launching it back with a twist of his hip.

Squelch.

A bolt gouged out its eye.

Fiona's crossbow gave a quiet little creak as she tugged at the spring.

"Nice shot," Nex said. "Only a hundred more to go or something."

The past two hours had been spent fighting off Grimm and searching every nook and cranny of the place. They made their way across the flaming district, helping whatever civilians they could find. Only a hundred of them kicked the metaphorical bucket—out of a thousand or so. Well, as far as he knew. The poor bastards, snatched away by the Nevermores and no doubt eaten alive somewhere. Flaring their aura could only help so much when the Grimm outnumbered them by the dozen.

"We'll make it out of this," Fiona whispered, shooting down the last Beowolf. "We always do."

"So, what's your story?" Blake said, clutching her semi-automatic.

Squad D4 was made up of him, Fiona, Blake, and Ruby. A tactical blend of a dust mage, two marksmen, and a heavy hitter. Assigning Weiss to them as well would have been a waste of another perfectly capable dust mage.

"My—my story?" Fiona said, stammering. "Oh, it's, uh... Nothing special really."

Ruby grinned and nudged the sheep's arm. "C'mon. Everyone's special, Fiona."

"Squad E6! Griffons, flank!" Robyn screamed. "Squad C3! Keep Nevermores off!"

"I have these... ears," Fiona said, fidgeting with her crossbow. "I also live in... uh, the Bone Alley. I guess those are the only things, uh, special about me?"

"Squad D4! B5! Mines!" Robyn said. "Scout the path!"

Nex nodded as they broke off their vanguard, another squad filling the gap.

"Oh! Robyn's so confident..." Fiona said, strapping another mag to her crossbow. She almost tripped over a fallen post. "Sorry! Ugh..." she muttered. "How can you be so clumsy, Fiona?"

The steel and fires of sector thirteen gave way to blackened snow and vegetation, the dust mines lying ahead. No one seemed to be present. The miners probably rushed off the moment the Grimm came, leaving their equipment behind.

Nex snorted. Showed just how much the SDC's people cared for the company.

Or, well, maybe they did give two shits and the situation was worse. Maybe they were all dead. In that case, they were probably digesting in some Griffon's belly already, as morbid as the thought was.

"Nex!" Weiss said, prying him away from his thoughts. She stood with four familiar faces—students from Atlas Primary. She sighed as they formed a loose triangle and fanned out into the beaten, downhill path. "You're not injured, are you?"

Nex shrugged as she patted some snow off his shoulder. "Nope. Good as new. Worried?"

"For you? No. I wasn't worried at all," Weiss said, smirking. "I just wanted to know whether I had to take care of you or not." She winked and lowered her voice. "You can even call me Nurse Weiss."

"Cough kinky cough," Blake muttered. "Cough get a room cough."

Nex groaned. The image of Weiss in nothing but a nurse's gown—tending to his needs—sparked more fires in his stomach than he cared to admit.

Pareidolia poked the back of his skull.

Growls.

The bushes rustled, a breeze sending shivers through his arm.

"Company," Nex said, gripping his sword tighter. "Watch the bushes—"

A green-looking huntsman shrieked when the Ursa Major barrelled into his chest, tackling him against a mound of snow.

"I got you!" Fiona raised her crossbow.

Too late.

His semblance saw it in perfect, crystalline motion.

Blood spurted from the huntsman's headless body.

The Ursa Major lifted its head and roared at the ashen sky.

Pareidolia seared the image into his brain—just another one of the things he saw when he closed his eyes.

Sometimes, his semblance was more of a curse than a blessing.

Fiona's crossbow quivered. "No..." she mumbled. Her eyes scrunched half-shut. She snarled and placed a shot into the Ursa's chest.

Nex had to look away as Vigilance caught a Beowolf's claw. His eyes narrowed. He spun into its guard, Hrunting tearing out its neck.

Two blurs of white and black streaked around the Ursa. Blake and Weiss. Their semblances—together—kept it off-balanced. Fiona's bolts poked out of its hide. Blood dripped along their wooden shafts, leaving little stains on the snow.

Good.

Maybe the trio could kill it while they dealt with the small fry.

"On your left!" Ruby said, her scythe gutting a Boarbatusk.

Squad B5's other huntress—a woman with dark-blue hair—nodded. She leapt at a Beowolf with her twin swords, wind swirling around her.

The skirmish raged on, even as the vanguard caught up with them. More huntsmen and huntresses meant the swarm died quicker. And die they did. By the end of it, he must have killed at least ten Beowolves and three Boarbatusks, their red bits caking his pants. He flicked them off as best as he could.

"It's sad that it's come to this," Robyn said, kneeling before a fallen huntsman. She reached into his pocket and pulled out a scroll, tossing it into her sack. "You know how the Grimm got us so easily?"

"Who, me?" Nex said. "Maybe. I've got a few guesses."

"It's because of the damn council," Robyn said. "Someone spills wine and security doesn't get fixed. Useless politics, all of it."

The other huntsmen around them murmured.

"She's right," a huntress said, her eyes fixed on Weiss. "What's 'em mighty Atlesians doing now, huh? Sitting on their asses and drinking hot tea?"

Nex grunted. He shuffled in front of Weiss, meeting the huntress' stare with one of his own.

"Calm down, babe," a huntsman said, planting his pike into the snow. "My cousin says they're still dealing with the White Fang."

"Fuck your cousin," the huntress said as she looked away. "We're dealing with monsters here, not idiots with dumb masks."

Nex snorted. "What's the plan, Robyn?"

"Half of us will stay and guard the front," Robyn said. "Half of the remaining half will go out and search for more supplies and survivors. The other half will scout the rest of the mine and make sure it's safe."

"Really?" another huntsman said, crossing his arms. "Ever play Survivalcraft?"

"Ooohhh..." Ruby whispered behind him. "Survivalcraft."

"Everyone! Listen up!" Robyn said, waving her spear. "We don't know how long this incursion will last! We don't know when Atlas will clean up its mess! So from now on, here's what we're gonna do..."

"I remember," Weiss said, an orange glyph spinning on the tip of her index. "I was thirteen when my father took me here."

They took a fork leading deeper into the mine, pickaxes and dust crystals littering the shaft. The ice seemed to sing as stalactites shimmered under the roof. It was the reason why a dark blue glyph spun above them like an umbrella, giving off a faint light. Or, at least, fainter than the one from Weiss' flaming glyph.

"Looking back," Weiss muttered, "I still can't believe myself."

Nex hummed, keeping a hand on his sword. "Can't believe?"

"I asked hundreds of questions about the dust," Weiss said. "I didn't care one bit about the miners."

"Heh," Nex said, chuckling. "You weren't exactly the picture of empathy."

"Did you know that the White Fang attempted a raid?" Weiss said as the path began sloping downwards. "I was... Well, scared. Angry. As far as I was concerned, they were outlaws and criminals."

Nex shrugged. "Well, they are."

Not that he was any better.

They delved deeper into the shaft.

The room at the bottom looked like the place where the miners ate. A long wooden table sat on a corner. The miners probably had to take turns judging from how there were only ten seats. Aside from the chairs and the tables, there was a line of cabinets and fur mats littering the floor.

"They sleep here?" Weiss said, her nose wrinkling. She nudged a tattered pillow with the tip of her boot. "Just how hygienic is this?"

"Not very," Nex said, eyeing the mites buzzing around it. "But you make do with what you have in Mantle. A thousand lien says half of them don't even have homes."

"How can you be so sure?" Weiss said. "Have you..." She flushed. "Right. Nevermind. I suppose it's another one of those things you know because you're a spy."

Nex tapped the icy wall. "Should we go back? See if Rubes and the others found something tasty?"

"You know the provisions are for the civilians first," Weiss said. "As long as we keep our aura up, we don't need as much food as them."

"Whatever you say," Nex said, smirking as he stepped into her bubble. His lips grazed her chin, her skin tingling. Hot. "I happen to have the only food I need right here."

Weiss giggled as she cupped his cheek. She sat on the table, her heel poking his thigh. "Really? Right now? We're in the middle of a mission, Mr Shade."

Pareidolia mewled, casting its field of awareness around them. Nothing. Only the hundred other huntsmen combing the tunnels above, below, and to the sides, their footsteps rumbling through the walls. The room they were in could possibly be the safest place in the entire mine.

"Miss Schnee. My semblance can see the future," Nex whispered, crawling over her. His weight pinned her against the aged wood. "It says we're on the right track."

"Five minutes," Weiss said, grinning as she poked his nose. "I suppose Robyn won't fault us if we ran into a little diversion."

He leaned down, moulding his lips around hers—in the way he knew she loved. A heady blend of vanilla and wine smothered his nose. Exquisite. Warm. Beautiful. Something he had never tasted before. Not even with all his years mixing drinks behind a counter.

Nex growled, trailing kisses down the crook of her neck. He cupped her mounds through her jacket. His palms kneaded her supple flesh like dough, drawing a soft moan from her reddening lips.

"Nex..." Weiss murmured, her fingers tangled with his hair. Her thighs ground against his leg, her knee brushing his crotch. "Don't... don't stop."

Nex smirked, drinking in the sight of an utterly flushed Weiss Schnee as he pulled away, beads of sweat snaking down her cheeks. "I dunno. Maybe we should be getting back."

Weiss tugged at his hair, pulling him down into another searing kiss. She broke it off after a few moments, huffing for air. "You should take responsibility for this."

"I will," Nex said, laughing as he rolled off her. "Promise."

Their backs rested on the table, the ice shimmering above them.

"It's so peaceful here," Weiss said, staring at the mirror. "It's like we're the only ones who exist."

"Uhuh," Nex said as she plopped her head on his shoulder. "We can go to Vacuo. Leave everything behind."

Weiss chortled. "No way. Vacuo's too hot."

"Mistral then," Nex said. "There's a manor there with my name on it."

"Oh? Are you seriously asking me to run off with you?" Weiss said, her fingers drumming his chest. "As tempting as it may be, we have duties to uphold, you and I."

"Yep, I know," Nex said, heaving a short sigh. "I have something to tell you."

This was it. The moment he had resigned himself to. Ever since that night. Ever since they returned to Atlas. Maybe even ever since he let her into his life—and into the shadows of his past.

"What is it?" Weiss said. "You know you can tell me anything."

"It's..." Nex licked his lips. "I'm not who you think I am."

"You mean you're not Nexus Shade?" Weiss said. "The boy I love? Even if he"—she giggled—"really gets on my nerves sometimes."

"I'm a thief," Nex whispered. "A rogue. A criminal."

Weiss arched an eyebrow, peering at him through her tousled locks.

Gods only knew what was running through her brain right now.

Still, there was no stopping the thunder rushing through his veins. Nor the words spilling from his mouth. He finally told her. He really did. It was probably the bravest thing he had done his entire life.

"Been a rat ever since I was a kid," Nex said. "Still am. From pickpocketing to corporate heists, I've done it all. I've worked with bad guys all over Remnant." He stroked her brow, his thumb drifting over her scar. "Hell. The underworld even has a nickname for me. The Artificer. Yep. That one. Funny title, huh? Straight out of the fairy tales."

Weiss hummed. She snuggled deeper against him, draping her leg over his.

"You're not saying anything," Nex mumbled. "Please say something."

"You sure know how to treat a girl on her birthday, don't you?" Weiss said.

"I'm sorry." Nex grimaced, salt stinging the back of his nose. "I guess that's it, huh?"

Weiss frowned, her eyebrows creasing into a thin line. "Do you really think I'm that heartless?"

She inched away from him. For a moment, it was almost like she was leaving. Never to come back. Never to return. And he could have lived with it. Maybe build a shack somewhere in the wastelands of Vacuo, never to show his face again. Screw Nexus Shade. Screw the Artificer. He would have given it all up just for a little bit of rain to wash the dirt from his eyes.

But no.

That future never came.

Weiss Schnee straddled him, her hands pressing down on his shoulders. She mashed her lips against his, the trembling of her arms betraying a primal need. A fiery need. A need he was all too willing to fulfil as she sank against him—an ocean of white mired in ice. Burning. Melting. Just for him and him alone.

"Take it off," Weiss said, a purr scratching at the walls of her throat. She grabbed his hands and placed them on her jacket, just shy of her taut breasts. "Make love to me."

"But—" Nex stuttered, the heat surging from his stomach. "Here? Are you—"

"Shhhh." Weiss locked one hand around his wrists.

She laid the other one on Myrtenaster, brown glyphs tinkling at the mouth of their shaft.

A thick wall of stone sprang from the floor, stopping against the roof.

"Any more pressing concerns?" Weiss grinned.

Nex shook his head.

The next twenty minutes came as a blur of tangled limbs and hushed words. Words whispered as she rode him raw, the flashes of white strung into one starburst of ecstasy. Somewhere along the way, the table must have cracked under them. He lay on the wood with her stretched on his chest, his coat concealing the view in the mirror.

"No more secrets," Weiss said, tracing circles around his stomach. She beamed as their foreheads touched, sweat running in rivers down her nose. "For real this time. Promise me."

Nex chuckled, grinning and stealing a quick kiss. "No more secrets then. Promise."

And it was a promise he would keep. It was a matter of principle, after all.

"Did you really think that I'd leave you?" Weiss said. "After you finally, finally poured your heart out?"

Nex licked his lips. "Well, I dunno. I've done some pretty messed up things."

"Such as?" Weiss said.

"Off the top of my head," Nex said, "I stole a lot of expensive stuff, helped heist some murderbots, developed a worm to crack the military's systems—"

"But you're also working for Ironwood," Weiss said.

"Yep," Nex said. "I guess I'm just the guy caught in the middle of things, huh?"

"That's..." Weiss trailed off. "Certainly one way of putting it."

"I'm not a wordsmith," Nex said. "I'm an artificer. The Artificer."

"What does that even mean?" Weiss said.

Nex winked. "Guess."

"Hmmm..." Weiss pursed her lips. "You make things?"

"Kinda. I'm primarily an informant," Nex said. "You want something figured out, and it's not exactly legal, then I'm the guy you go to."

"Your semblance," Weiss said. "But you could do so many good things with it."

"Like what?" Nex said. "What can a guy like me do?" He sighed. "Sorry. It's simply hard to think about doing good things when the world's out to get you."

"The world isn't out to get you," Weiss said.

"Maybe it is. Maybe it isn't. I mean, I've got an extra pair of ears and plenty of red on my ledger," Nex said. "At some point, a man's simply gotta admit that he's a bad person."

"You're not a bad person," Weiss said, rubbing his extra pair of ears. "I don't think a bad person would catch a bullhead for me."

"As I said. I'm a pretty selfish guy." Nex chuckled. "I... I just can't bear losing you."

Nothing but the truth. Even his semblance seemed quiet about it, keeping vigil across the shaft.

"Yet you risked everything by telling me, instead of keeping me in the dark." Weiss pecked his lips. "That's not being selfish at all."

"Yes it is."

"No, it isn't."

"Yes, it is."

"No, it isn't."

"Yes it—" Nex groaned. "Have I ever mentioned how stubborn you are?"

Weiss curled her pinkie around his, whispering, "I love you."

Nex blinked. "Even if I'm..."

"Nexus Shade." Weiss plastered a scowl on her face. "Do you really think I'd have sex with just any random guy?"

"I, uh, no." Nex quivered. "Sorry."

"You better be," Weiss said, peeling herself off him.

There was no helping his eyes as they lingered on every line and curve of her petite frame. She looked like glass chiselled by the glow of winter. Dust crystals. Hard light. Casting luminous rays upon the woman he loved.

"Stop staring, lover boy," Weiss said, snickering as she put her clothes on.

Nex grinned. He stood up and slipped into his duds. "You think they ran into Grimm?"

Not that his semblance found any signs that the others had. But still. Maybe she heard something.

"I don't think so," Weiss said. "Let's find out, shall we?"

She flicked Myrtenaster towards the wall of stone, thunder tearing it into chunks.

Nexus Shade and Weiss Schnee exchanged grins as they emerged from the tunnel. They slipped into the throng of civilians, nodding at the huntsmen stationed outside.

"What took you so long?" Robyn said when they reached her at the mouth of the mine. "Did you run into Grimm?"

"The shaft was tighter than expected," Nex said. He flashed his partner a cheeky smile—and she giggled, pink dusting her skin. "But nope. No Grimm."

"Finally, some good news," Robyn said. "Come with. We'll get you two up to speed."

She led them to a group of huntsmen, far away from the civilians sitting on boulders and whatever equipment they could find, some of them lurking in vacant, dimly lit shafts guarded by a squad or two.

"We don't want to alarm anyone," Robyn said. "But Fiona found something weird."

"Oh! There were these red lines in the ice," Fiona said, scratching her temple. "They felt wrong. Like—"

"Grimm," Nex said, laying a hand on his sword. "Which shaft was it?"

"You've seen these things before." Robyn nodded. "What do they do?"

Nex frowned, his semblance spitting out an answer. "The veins somehow make more Grimm."

After all, if that one unknown Grimm in Mantle had simply been hiding in the sewage, then Pareidolia would have detected it long before it emerged. But no. It came without warning. Not even a slight shift on the water's edge. Which meant... It meant that it was probably created on the spot. Instantaneously. Even more damning was their presence inside the corpses. It was probably what turned them into Grimm—inside and out.

"Great," Robyn said. "As if we didn't have enough problems already."

He was inclined to agree.

"That's impossible though," Weiss said. "You can't create something out of thin air."

"Where do Grimm come from then, princess?" Robyn said. "They don't make babies, that's for sure."

Weiss coughed.

Nex coughed too, his extra pair of ears twitching. "We don't have time for this. We need to blow them up."

"Blow them up?" Weiss hissed. "Are you insane?"

"You could bring the whole place down," Robyn said. "We'd be back to square one."

"The mine isn't safe if we don't," Nex said. "You do have people watching the shaft, right?"

Even his semblance had no way of knowing when the Grimm would appear. Almost like magic. Damn. If only Pareidolia could make sense of it all, just like it did with everything else.

"A pair," Robyn said. "It's all we can—"

A scream.

Nex growled, dashing through the crowd. He shoved a man away, drawing his weapon and aiming it at the cloud of black smoke.

The ghost almost made it out of the wall before Hrunting and Vigilance fried it with a bolt of thunder.

"Stay clear of the walls!" Nex said, more black clouds seeping through the stone and ice.

Negative emotions. Shit. Aside from him and his partner, everyone else was probably drowning in negativity.

Spectre-bait. The mine just turned from a defensible position into a death trap. Not good at all.

"Ready up!" Robyn said as the civvies scurried about like rats, their screams filling the mine. "Mages! Deal with the Spectres! Everyone else! Flare your aura! Draw them off the civilians!"

Blood splattered the snow.

Nex found himself beside Weiss. They slung frost and thunder at the ghostly Grimm. They looked like nimbus clouds, but with bone-white masks and serrated claws.

Classical Grimm Studies 101. Spectres were gaseous, almost incorporeal, their anatomies poorly understood. The only thing capable of hurting them were the elements. Or a lucky stab through their masks when they swooped in for the kill.

Nex did just that, plunging his sword into a Spectre right when it was about to flank Weiss.

"More Grimm outside!" Fiona yelled, her voice rising above the orchestra of steel and rabid, fevered growls. "It's another horde!"

Fuckity fuck. Was it too late to go for Atlas instead? Or maybe even a run to Mantle?

"If we die here today, lover boy." Weiss huffed, grinning as she shot him a glance. "At least we're not virgins anymore, right?"

Nex grunted. A Spectre's claw bounced off his arm, midnight blue flickering. He blasted it with a gout of thunder.

"We're not dying here today," Nex whispered back. "My semblance can see the future, remember?"

Weiss summoned three glyphs, the orange snowflakes spitting out a barrage of fireballs. The explosions found their mark as she said, "No. It really can't."

"I see a picket fence," Nex said, lightning coating Hrunting and Vigilance. He stabbed a Spectre's mask, Weiss twirling around him as they traded places. "A little girl running everywhere."

"Oh? And who says she can't be a boy?" Weiss said, Myrtenaster sinking into a Spectre's eye.

"I dunno," Nex said, blurring around Weiss. He locked blades with a Beowolf, bone-white claws pressing against Hrunting and Vigilance. "I don't think she's gonna be a boy."

He growled and pushed the wolf back. Its arms flailed. And it was all he needed to sheathe his sword in its stomach, red gushing as he pulled it out and kicked the wolf away.

"She's a girl then." Weiss panted, ice shards zooming over his head and turning a Spectre into pincushion. "With her father's extra pair of ears."

"She'll have her mom's eyes," Nex said. He broke Hrunting and Vigilance apart, a Boarbatusk spinning off his shield as it expanded. "She'll sing like her too."

Weiss peppered the Boarbatusk with ice, the sharp pieces gutting its entrails out. "She'll handle a sword and shield just as well as her father."

Nex chuckled. "She'll be her own person—"

"Bomber!" Robyn screamed over the clash of bone and steel. "Take it out!"

"Shit." Nex glared at the fat blob of Grimm as it wriggled into the mine, inch by inch. He smoked another Spectre and said, "That thing's gonna blow us up if we don't blow it up."

Dozens of huntsmen charged at it. Only to be met with a wall of Beowolves and Ursa, the Grimm crashing into them like a flood of darkness.

"You have a plan?" Weiss said, glyphs spiralling around them.

Nex jammed Hrunting into Vigilance. Gears spun and clicked, the barrels sinking down the sheath. He smirked at his partner.

"It's never too late to fly," Nex said.

Weiss grinned. "Cheap words coming from someone with a hoverboard."

Purple glyphs spun at their feet.

Weiss winked as she wrapped her arms around his stomach, her chin digging into his shoulder.

They bounced into the air, soaring over the wall of Grimm and weaving around the cloud of Spectres. Black and purple glyphs tinkled as they reach the apex of chamber, the Bomber writhing below.

It bowled over a huntress. Her screams pierced the air, the squishing of flesh slamming into his ears.

The Bomber began expanding, the blob wiggling and sizzling.

Damn it.

Nex aimed Hrunting and Vigilance at the blob. An orb of thunder coalesced on the tip, his weapon vibrating.

"Nex!" Weiss gasped, her chest shaking against his back. "You'll hit her!"

Nex muttered a quick apology—for the huntress trapped under the Grimm.

Hrunting howled.

Gold lit the chamber.

He had to turn away. From the crunch, the shrill shriek, and the putrid, black mist spreading across the mine.

"You killed her," Weiss mumbled, whisking him along a string of glyphs. "Just like that."

Nex winced, his eyes darting to the murder weapon. "It was either her or everyone else. I simply chose everyone else."

Weiss swallowed. "We could have tried—"

"Saving her?" Nex said, his voice rasping. "Stop. She was done for. Bombers have acid ducts under them. They move like slugs and go kaboom. Classical Grimm Studies 101."

Weiss said nothing as they landed. She simply drew Myrtenaster and leapt into the fight, snarling as she turned a Beowolf into pincushion.

"You're not angry at me, are you?" Nex said, shielding her from a volley of black plumes—and she riddled the offending Nevermore with ice.

Weiss breathed a soft sigh as they dashed to the mouth of the mine, the other huntsmen rallying around them and driving the stragglers back.

"I'm not angry at you, lover boy," Weiss said. "You did what you had to do."

To protect me went unspoken. Just like at Atlas Primary. Just like with Roman. Just like all the other times he stuck his neck out for her.

If anything, it only proved how selfish he really was. How selfish he still was. But maybe Weiss had a point. Was it even selfishness if he was doing it for someone else? Or a lot of someone elses?

Nex shook his head, the smoke clouding his eyes. The huntsmen and the civilians cheered as the last vestiges of the Grimm scattered. But their voices never reached the ears of the corpses lying on the snow. Or the bits of bone and red staining the white.

"Only the living know victory," Nex whispered.

He let his weapon rest by his side.

Nexus Shade stared at the bullheads sweeping over the city—at the blood and fire running through Mantle's streets.

Same old crap.

Fun Trivia: The title of this chapter, Silence in the Snow, directly references a Perk from Fiona Schnee–Shade's runebow—lovingly named Skadi—in Guardians of the Unknowing. Here's what Observe tells us.

Skadi — Personal Unique

A multi-action variable dust recurve ensorcelled with a myriad of useful enchantments. Handcrafted by Fiona Schnee of Remnant A-404 with the aid of her parents—a final birthday gift. Modified by an older and more jaded Fiona to assume the form of a buckler and a wrist-mounted automatic crossbow.

INT 1 (per level)

Silence In The Snow (Unique): Schnee Glyphs do not make their signature tinkling sound, rendering them more effective while in stealth.

Snøfall (Unique): Skadi generates magical ice arrows without any MP cost. Other types of arrows drain a small amount of MP. Grants access to Artificial Affinity: Ice.

Until The World Goes Cold (Unique): Skadi bears the essence of ice, chilling its enemies. Ice-based spells are absorbed and converted to MP while in Weapon Form: Buckler.

Equip Requirement(s): Archery {S}, Bow Mastery {S}, Magical Proficiency {A}, Ranged Proficiency {A}

Owner: Fiona Schnee — Remnant A-404