Volume II: Unforgiving Kingdom

Chapter XII: Ice Queen (Part I)

Location: West Abandoned Road, 12th Floor, Goldenia

"...and that's what left us in this current situation. We'd probably be goners if you guys hadn't shown up when you did."

A few minutes after their escape from the guards in the north, Ragna, Monika, Feena, and now joining them Grena, had made their way towards the western roads on the twelfth floor of Goldenia which is where the tunnel was located. Standing outside of the entrance hole that Ragna made, Feena had been explaining everything that happened from her fight with Grena, up to where the two of them were rescued by Ragna and Monika. Meanwhile as she told her story, Monika was working on healing up Grena's injuries she sustained during her battle with Feena.

"Is that seriously how all mercenaries live?" Monika asked. "I understand a little but that's not something I'd imagine someone would be willingly putting themselves into."

"Hey, it's hard trying to survive in this shit stained world." Grena commented, as thanks to Monika's healing she was now able to move more and sit up properly, as well as talk more than when she was injured. "It's not a nice way to live considering all the dirty missions and usual cases of assassination or something like that, but it keeps us alive. That's all that matters for a merc'."

"You're technically criminals." Ragna replied. "Of course it'll be like that, you're obviously just asking to be arrested."

"Not like they could ever accomplish that."

"A few minutes ago they almost did."

"Yeah. Whatever." Grena rolled her eyes but smile. "I owe you guys one though. I'll pay you back."

"That's not necessary. Honest." Monika said.

"I insist. You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. You guys need help escaping and it would be better to have two mercenaries that know a lot about this place than just one."

"Grena's right." Feena added. "As much as I try to, I can't do everything single handedly. We could use an ally wherever we can find them. And, she has a point. She knows the way in and out of this place as well as any expert mercenary."

"If it means we get out of here faster, then I won't oppose." Ragna agreed. "As long as she's serious about siding with us that is."

"I'll take that as a 'welcome to the team'!" Grena responded.

"And that should do it."

Soon, Monika was done working her magic and stepped. Grena quickly hopped back up to her feet, now feeling better than ever after Monika's healing.

"That should take care of all of injuries." Monika stated. "Especially any lethal ones."

Grena whistled impressively. "Alright, nice work healer. I feel like I'm five years younger!"

"Well with that settled, let's get a move on." Feena commented. "I think I've had enough of staying on this floor."

"Join the club." Ragna replied.

"You already dragged us all the way to the tunnel." Grena said as she walked off. "Let's go then. Tunnel's right here."

Grena latched her chains onto the top of the tunnel and lowered herself down.

"Well, looks like we're leaving." Monika said.

The other three didn't say much as they proceeded to jump down and follow after Grena in leaving. Finding themselves down in the next tunnel the group looked around them. It was much similar to the two previous ones from earlier as expected. Though their main goal was to make sure no one else was with them inside the tunnel.

"How far will this one take us?" Ragna asked.

"Seventh floor." Grena answered.

"This tunnel goes that far?" Monika asked in a surprised tone.

"This is probably the longest of the tunnels. Once we reach the seventh floor, then the next one should take us from the seventh floor to the fifth floor. Then another tunnel goes from the fifth floor to the fourth floor. From there, we're on our own."

"On our own?" Feena asked. "What about the other tunnels? There's one that'll lead from the fourth floor down to below the first floor."

"Destroyed."

"What?!"

"It's in ruins now. I don't know if you're aware of this, but there's been a frequent of earthquakes recently over the past ten years I think. The epicenter's supposed to be directly the center of Goldenia. Though considering how tall this whole kingdom is, all of the higher floors don't even feel them. Hell some people don't even know that they exist."

"But because they're low to the ground all the lower floors feel the complete impact of them and suffer, huh?" Ragna said. "And because of that, the earthquakes basically broke the tunnels and made them inaccessible."

"Well, they're still accessible." Grena folds her arms. "If you have a death wish."

"What caused the frequent earthquakes anyway?" Monika asked. "Has anyone figured that out yet?"

"Beats me." Grena chuckles. "It'd be funny if it were related to those old ghost stories I heard."

"Ghost stories...?" Ragna asked wearily.

"Alright, so get this. Rumor has it that the soul of a dead woman was buried deep into the ground. Somewhere that nobody would ever be able to disturb her. But the soul has been disturbed. And the woman has risen from the dead to wreak havoc upon all, with the intent of burying everyone underground. Trapping them in the earth to never been seen or heard from again. Many have tried to dig downward and find the soul... But none have ever return from their expedition."

Feena shivered for a moment as she heard this, while Monika merely rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Who the hell came up with that shit?" Feena asked.

"Crazy right?!" Grena said while laughed.

"Come on. Really." Monika sighed. "Some people really don't understand how souls operate. They believe this crap...? Then again I can't speak for the masses." Monika turned her head towards Ragna. "You agree though right Ragna?"

". . ."

"Ragna?"

"Yo! Big guy!"

Grena snapped her fingers, quickly getting Ragna's attention.

"H-Huh?! What?!" Ragna responded frantically.

"You listening?"

"O-Oh right! Your story! Yeah, totally not scary! N-Not at all!"

Grena raised a brow. "...? Wait a minute..."

Grena stared at the man as she stood in his face for a good minute. Suddenly she broke away and started.

"Oh my Gods, you're scared of ghosts aren't you?!" Grena laughed, which in return caused Feena and Monika to laugh also.

"Hey shut up!" Ragna responded.

"No way!" Feena said.

"Did that stupid ghost story really frighten you?" Monika laughed. "That's just adorable!"

"You dicks! Screw you three!"

Ragna groaned as he walked on ahead of the three girls, who continued to laugh as they walked off as well.

Location: Hallway, Castle Vallera

"And you believe that your new staff will be enough to give you the power to best them?"

Standing in the middle of a near empty hallway was one of the Prime Ministers, Aglovale to be exact. As he stood on the side of the hallway, in his hand he held a small crystal made entirely of ice. Looking closely, a young woman's face could be seen inside of the crystal.

"After all the people that you're going up against are no one to take likely." Aglovale continued to speak to the lady in the crystal. "Both Prime Ministers Alexiel and Vira were defeated by one of them. Do you truly believe that you'll be able to handle this by yourself."

"I do, my liege." The lady in the crystal responded. "The area that I have is most likely where they are, so I will have the element of surprise. Not to mention this area also permits me to easily entrap them within a field of ice. There was no known fire elementalist in that group of three according to the latest information that I've gathered, so there will be no need to expand too much energy on trying to combat fire. Even if there is, such a small area wouldn't be much comfort for their flames to burn without burning their other teammates of course."

"Very well. You seemed to have planned things out quite nicely, I see. Alright then. I shall not interfere with you, and will leave this matter in your hands my apprentice."

"Thank you, my liege. I will report soon with good news."

"Oh, but one more thing."

"Yes? Is there something else you wish to discuss my liege?"

"This place you mentioned... The one you thing the three of them will be heading for... Where exactly is it?"

". . . Forgive me, my liege. But I cannot disclose such information to anyone. I apologize for having to keep this secret from you, I truly am sorry for it."

"Hm... I see... Be glad that I have a high amount of faith in you. Otherwise, we may have a problem."

"I understand. I will do my best to make sure that you keep this faith."

"Very well. That is all."

The woman in the crystal bowed before vanishing. Soon the crystal dissolved and disappeared from Aglovale's hands. The Prime Minister sighed as he began to walk off.

"So that's how you contact your retainers."

Aglovale looked up in surprise and placed his hand on his sword, slightly drawing it as he turned around. However he soon started calming down as he saw that the person who was standing behind him was simply Alexiel who was leaning on the wall behind him.

"Oh... Alexiel." Aglovale said as he sheathed his sword. "It's only you."

"You're letting her handle this situation on her own?" Alexiel asked with her arms folded.

"Iska is a very capable woman mind you. Not to mention she was formerly a mercenary before I made her by retainer. Like one of our current targets, she'll be able to think like her and know where to strike."

"She said something about a special place they're heading for didn't she? From what I heard you're clueless as to what this place could be, aren't you?"

"You would be correct."

"And so you're just letting her operate on her own in such a place? For all we know she could be helping them escape."

"She has always been a loyal woman. Not to mention what reasons would she have that she would benefit from helping them?"

"You have an awfully high amount of faith in your retainer you know that?"

"I can tell you didn't come here to just question who I place trust in. Do you require something of me Alexiel?"

"No, nothing much." Alexiel stopped leaning on the wall and straightened up. "I just came to congratulate you."

"Congratulate me? For what?"

"You're the new head of the Prime Ministers now."

"What?!" Aglovale looked confused. "Are you stepping down from your position?"

"No. Not stepping down. Her Highness dismissed me from my position."

"What on earth for?!"

"She doesn't trust me to handle this situation anymore." Alexiel sighed. "But, then again, I don't blame her. I haven't been preforming quite well lately when it comes to taking care of simply three people."

"That's absurd!"

"It's not Aglovale, trust me! I've already been killed twice fighting against such a small group. If I can't handle them, then there isn't any reason at all for me to remain the head of the Prime Ministers. Simple enough, don't you think?"

"You've earned that position more than any of us. So what if you're struggling? We all do. You shouldn't let that stop you."

"I don't plan to. But at the same time, now I'm on my own in finding these three in order to take them in. That's the true reason why I came to you."

"Pardon?"

"I don't have any way of doing this on my own. So I need you to help me out here. Her Highness isn't going to let me go after them on my own or with any aid if I approach her. Therefore, I'm going to you and Vira to back me up on this without her finding out."

"I take it you intend to head out immediately?"

Alexiel starts to walk off. "Just in case your retainer doesn't preform well."

"Then that's when I'll aid you then."

Alexiel nodded as she and Aglovale walked off in different directions.

"I'm not going to let your orders stop me Freesia." Alexiel murmured to herself. "I will vanquish that demon. No matter what you say to me."

Location: Underground Tunnel between the 12th Floor and the 7th Floor

"Failure... that is non-affordable for me..."

Sitting atop a small frozen platform was a young woman. She had perrywinkle colored hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a short black and white-ish garment with several armbands around her arms up to her shoulders. She wore light blue pants and had on a pair of heels. In her hand she carried a staff that had a snowflake mounted on the top. The young woman stared into the area of the tunnel that was in front of her as she sat there talking to herself.

"Lord Aglovale has put a great deal of trust in me to allow me to do such a task..." She said to herself. "I cannot afford to lose here. The three of them must be taken down by me." The woman looked down at her staff that she held in her hand. "I have studied my three opponents and their fights with Prime Minister Alexiel, and Her Highness. I am well equipped to deal with any possible situation to secure victory, and I will not lose this fight. The odds are all in my favor."

Suddenly the woman looked up as she could hear people's voices in the distance. As the voices grew louder she knew that it was getting closer. She then hopped off her icy platform and readied herself.

"It's them. They're here."

The woman listened in as she did her best to hear their conversation.

-x-

"Aw, man... This is just too hilarious...!"

"Do you seriously intend to keep laughing at me the entire time?!"

With the now group of four, the chatter that could be heard was coming from Ragna and Grena going back and forth. Grena was still laughing after learning about Ragna's fear of ghosts, and Ragna was really getting annoyed by the mercenary's continued laughter over the subject. All the while Feena and Monika followed behind the two, forced to have to listen to this.

"The moment's passed dammit!" Ragna argued. "You can stop laughing at me now!"

"Aww but it's too hilarious!" Grena continued laughed. "The big bad criminal is afraid an itty-bitty ghost! Oh Gods, I never thought I'd hear anything like this in my life but now-" Grena interrupted herself with more laughter.

Ragna turns to Monika and Feena. "Can't we just ditch her and leave her here?"

"She'll stop eventually..." Monika sighed.

Ragna groaned in response.

". . .? Hm?" Feena suddenly looked around.

"Feena?" Monika asked. "What's wrong?"

"Did it... suddenly get colder in here, or is it just me?"

"It feels normal to me." Ragna replied.

"If it did, it's not a significant temperature change." Monika commented. "I feel the same as well."

"Hey! Laughs-a-lot! You cold?"

"Please, I'm a Fire Elemental." Grena smirked. "Like a little cold could affect-"

Grena was suddenly stopped mid sentence as a chill went through her body. Despite what she said about being a Fire Elemental, she couldn't help but start shaking as she held onto her arms. This cold feeling was clearly affecting the rest of the group as well. Monika was pulling her jacket around her tightly to try and stay warmth. Feena's entire body was shaking, as considering how lightly she dressed it was most likely that the cold was hitting her the hardest. Ragna was mostly okay due to being the most heavily dressed of the four, however even he was shaking somewhat in response.

"O-Okay..." Ragna stuttered to try and say. "Y-You can't tell m-me... You d-don't feel that...!"

"W-W-What the hell...?!" Grena exclaimed. "H-How am I c-c-cold?!"

"I-I knew it!" Feena said as she rubbed her arms and legs to try and warm herself due to the friction. "T-The temperature's d-d-dropped!"

"H-How?" Monika asked. "W-We shouldn't be affected b-b-by outside weather i-in h-here...!"

Feena attempted to create a veil of wind around herself to keep the cold air out. However she suddenly shrieked as the cold air only intensified, making her even colder.

"H-H-Hey! Ragna!" Feena yelled. "G-Gimme your jacket!"

"Wha-Seriously?!" Ragna asked. "W-Why the hell don't y-you have one?!"

"J-Just g-give it!"

Ragna sighed and took off his jacket as he handed it to Feena, who immediately wrapped herself up in the red coat. Thankfully for Ragna, he was wearing a long sleeve shirt under his jacket, Which manage to keep him a little warmer than the others.

"I-I-It's gotta be like b-below f-freezing in here!" Grena said. "H-How the h-hell is it s-s-so damn cold?!"

"Fascinating. I did not count on there being four of you."

"!"

Everyone looked around as they heard a woman's voice.

"W-W-Who's out there?!" Monika asked. "S-Show yours-s-self! Now!"

Everyone looked in front of them as they heard footsteps. From there, they could see a young woman with a staff walking up to them, having a stoic expression as if the cold did not bother her.

"A former airship commander and Lieutenant..." She started to say as she stared at Monika, Feena, and Ragna. "A mercenaries who quote-unquote 'joined' the Imperial Army of Goldenia. A red coat wearing demon as proved by the Head Prime Minister, who is ironically a redhead." The woman then turned over to Grena, who had a look of pain on her face. "And then there's you. The famous fire-wielding mercenary, the Crimson Chain. Grena, I believe you're called."

"Y-You gotta b-be. . . s-shitting on me r-right now..." Grena responded, dropping to her knees as she continued to shake from the cold.

"Grena!" Monika exclaimed.

"Nonetheless, you won't be much of a problem for me." The woman continued on. "You'll suffer the affect of Negative Zero, a skill I made to eliminate Fire Elemental should I ever need to fight them. Even at this temperature the flames that burn inside of your body would become your worst enemy, keeping you from trying to combat the ice with fire. All flames within range to try and harm me will simply become frozen. They'd make for an excellent ice sculpture while I'm on the subject-"

The woman jumped out of the way as a Dead Spike courtesy of Ragna came straight towards her.

"C-Cut the crap!" He responded. "Who t-the hell a-are you?!"

"W-Wait..." Feena said. "N-Negative Ze- You're-!"

"Y-You know h-her?" Monika asked.

"T-The Ice Queen. I. . . Iska."

The woman smiled with her eyes closed, confirming Feena's comment that she was indeed named Iska.

"You remember my fame well, I see." Iska chuckled.

"H-How the hell d-do you know her?" Ragna asked Feena.

"S-She used to be a famous m-mercenary, like Grena a-and myself." Feena explained while fighting the cold. "She made a l-legacy by killing off Fire Elementals like it w-was n-nothing. She defeated opponents t-that used the one element she's weak to the most... like it was a p-piece of cake..."

"W-Wait!" Monika exclaimed. "T-Then Grena!"

The three looked down at the woman who was still suffering more than ever. Grena had been forced to curl up in a ball due to the cold weather from Iska's spell.

"Most likely, the freezing temperature's will kill her far quicker than it will you three." Iska explained. "Once she's out of the way I can take you three in to the Imperial Army without issue."

"I-I-I-I ain't..." Grena struggled to speak. "D-Done... y-y-yet...!"

Grena attempted to ignite her chains, creating a small spark of flame from each of them. However she was lacking the energy needed to successfully ignite them, which caused the flame to disappear due to the cold weather..

"D-D-Dammit..."

"Quick!" Ragna said. "G-Give her my jacket!"

Feena nodded and took off the jacket, not caring for the cold. She handed it to Ragna who started to walk over to Grena. However, Iska suddenly held her staff out in front, preventing him from reaching her.

"This cannot be allowed I'm afraid." Iska said.

"What?!" Ragna asked angrily, his other hand on his sword.

"If I allow you to provide warmth to the woman, her body temperature may allow her to create fire and thus ruin my strategy because of her involvement. Therefore, the Crimson Chain must stay here and freeze to death, which is the only outcome that I will allow."

"If y-you don't move, I-I'll bulldoze your ass down!"

Ragna was about to rush at the woman but suddenly backed off as Iska pointed her staff at Grena.

"If you wish for my Negative Zero to end now, I can execute her on your behalf right now." Iska said while smiling. "Would that be pleasing to you? To me, it does not matter which way I kill her. Either-or is acceptable."

Ragna wanted to go ahead and rush down Iska, but knew if he took another step forward she wouldn't hesitate to kill Grena without a second. Monika and Feena both wanted to try something as well. However with the current situation, neither one of them could make a move to save Grena. Iska chuckled as a beam began to charge from the top of staff.

"Well then..." She said. "What shall it be for her fate? A quick death via my staff. Or shall hypothermia slowly make its way into her systems and finish her off?"

"H-Hey..." Monika said quietly. "What d-do we do...?"

Ragna and Feena were both unable to provide an answer. Both knew that they couldn't risk hurting Grena and also knew that they couldn't risk freezing to death.

"D-Dammit, I've g-got nothing..." Ragna responded.

"I-I'm o-out..." Feena said as well.

"I-I said. . . "

"...?!"

Iska suddenly looked down as she heard Grena's voice, low but audible. There, she saw the woman in question clenching her fists while shaking on the ground under her.

"I. . . ain't. . . DONE!"

"?! What?!"

Iska suddenly jumped back as Grena shot straight up to her feet. As the chained mercenary got back up, a large explosion occurred from each one of her chains, and from her own body. Ragna and the others all looked around as suddenly the tunnel had been lit ablaze in several places. While some of the flames were being put down with ease due to Iska's Negative Zero ability, some did not stop burning. Because of this, the temperature had began to even out. While it was still quite cold, the temperature was more bearable for the other three.

"H-Hey! It's warmed up a little!" Monika stated. "Wait, Grena!"

For the girl in question, Grena still stood there quite weakened. However she managed to muster up a chuckle as she walked over to the wall of the tunnel and sat down on the floor with her eyes closed.

"Kick her ass, will ya...?" Grena asked. "I did what I could right now..."

"You just try to recover." Ragna replied. "We'll deal with this woman."

Iska looked ahead of her as now Ragna, Monika, and Feena stood in her way, leaving her to fight all three of them on her own, and without her previous advantage.

"I did not account for the woman being able to power through my ability so easily..." Iska stated, holding her staff out in front of her. "However... That will not stop me, that I am certain of."

Ragna, Monika, and Feena all stood on one side of Iska, mainly to block her vision of a resting Grena. The ice elemental began charging a beam of ice from her staff and pointed it in the direction of the three of them.

"While Negative Zero would have finished this battle quickly, I am more than capable of defeating you using my own talent and my own power."

"We have you outnumbered and outmatched." Monika stated. "Turn around now and we'll let you go."

Iska smirked and chuckled as she fired a beam of ice at Monika. Before she could react Ragna stepped in, and shield her via his Azure's shield, negating the attack. Iska looked up in shock.

"What?!"

"Just because you have all your little information about us together doesn't mean shit to me." Ragna said. "You can know however much you want to know about us, but you still won't be able to defeat us."

Iska scoffed. "Don't make me laugh." She replied. "Without information, how can you hope to stand up to your opponent?!"

"It's called trial and error." Ragna answered, readying his sword.

"You're gonna have to go through a lot of that with us." Feena added on, loading her crossbow.

"And vice versa." Monika commented, unsheathing her sword.

A spear's tip made of ice appeared on the top of Iska's staff.

"Fine then."

Iska spun her staff-spear around and rushed at the group, Ragna in particular. She swung the tip of her weapon horizontally towards him, only for Ragna to block with his sword. Suddenly, she jumped back as his blade changed into a long scythe. While Iska was prepared to rush again she was put on the defensive as several arrows came in her direction, courtesy of Feena. The ice elemental spun of her staff around repeatedly to deflect the arrows, but soon went wide eyed as Monika took advantage of the fact that she left herself wide open. Monika managed to score in one diagonal slash across the chest before Iska managed to block her attacks. The ice elemental then formed a second spear of ice, and wrapped both around Monika's neck. Suddenly she spun around and flung Monika at Feena, knocking them both down. She then immediately went back and rushed at Ragna, her spear clashing with his scythe. Ragna fell backwards and brought her down with him, kicking her into the air behind them. Iska barely managed to land on her feet.

Before she could recover, she quickly turned around and avoided an attack from Monika, who managed to sneak around behind her after she stood back up. She clashed blades with Monika, who brought both weapons downward and spin kicked Iska in the face, sending her stumbling backwards as well as causing her to drop her weapon. As Ragna and Monika took advantage of this and rushed in to attack her, but were both repelled back as Iska sent out a wave of ice in all directions, repelling them away from her. As she went to get her weapon, Iska ducked as Feena had reached it before her and had used it herself. Feena sung the spear around horizontally for a second strike, which Iska managed to stop it by striking the pole of the weapon with her wrist. The ice elemental move in and struck Feena in the chin as she took her weapon back. While the mercenary was still dazed Iska wrapped around her and held her weapon at her neck, attempting to choke out Feena. However this was foiled by a headbutt from Feena, knocking her back and loosening the weapon's grip around her neck.

Iska attempts to charge Feena again, but was knocked down when Ragna's scythe caught her by the feet and tripped her. Feena pulled out her crossbow and fired another arrow down towards the ice elemental, who rolled out of the way before it could hit. Pulling herself back up to her feet, she had the blade on the end of the spear disappear, and prepared to use her staff to its normal potential. She banged her weapon on the ground and created several snowflake-shaped symbols on the ground below.

"The hell are these?" Ragna asked.

"Move!" Monika shouted.

Iska's staff began to glow, and suddenly large spikes began to pop up from the snowflakes. Hadn't Monika told the others to move, they may very well have been impaled to the roof of the tunnel by the ice spikes. Before anyone could react again, Iska held up her staff and caused smaller versions of the symbols to appear on the roof of the tunnel as the ice spikes vanished.

"Icicle Storm!"

Suddenly several icicles shot out from the wall and towards the group. Ragna pulled the girls behind him and moved in front of Grena as well. He then reactivated his shield of dark energy and held it out in front of the icicles. Because of this, he managed to keep the icicles from striking the three of them or Grena.

"You're pretty smart." Iska commented. "But not smart enough."

The icicles suddenly broke apart and exploded into smaller icicles. Immediately each one of them headed towards the group as well. In an effort to protect themselves and Grena, everyone swung their weapons around to counter the attack. While they had managed to keep Grena safe by gathering around her, the three of them had been struck in several places by the mini icicles.

"Dammit. I can't use this shield if they're going to keep getting smaller to where soon we won't be able to see them." Ragna groaned.

Feena held out her crossbow and fired several arrows at Iska. The ice elemental leaped over them and shot out several beams of ice at the group. Ragna quickly moved in front and parried the two beams onto the walls away from them. However, the moment he was left open Iska landed and fired a third one, catching him off guard. Feena quickly pulled out a small knife from her pocket and threw it between the two, causing the knife to take the blow from the ice beam and become frozen solid, breaking as it hit the ground. Iska swung her staff around her, and formed several more large icicles, flinging them at the group. As they dodged the first strike, the icicles split into millions of smaller icicles and went straight at the group. While the damage was minuscule, the fact that there was a whole bunch of them striking at once is what really harmed the three of them.

"Damn, she really is more skillful than she looks." Feena commented.

"Not to mention this is a closed area as well." Monika stated. "There aren't too many angles she can attack us from and there aren't too many directions that we can dodge in while were down here. This tunnel's working for and against us."

Monika and the others stepped out of the way as another ice beam came at them.

"You are correct." Iska answered. "Which is why I chose down here to fight you all." Iska spins her staff around and forms several ice spears in front of her. "Now you lose!"

Iska fired the ice spears forward at the group, which Ragna batted away using his sword. He then responded by dragging his sword along the ground and sending forth a beast's head made out of darkness towards Iska. The ice elemental raised her staff and formed an ice wall in front of her. However the explosion caused by Ragna's attack still broke through the wall, knocking Iska back a few feet. As she recovered she quickly held up her staff to block Ragna's blade from coming down on her vertically. Suddenly the spearhead reformed on the tip of her staff, in which Iska spun her weapon around to break free of her deadlock with Ragna. As they broke free, Monika rushed in swinging her blade left and right and forced Iska on the defensive with her spear. Spinning it around she blocked several of Monika's attacks until the girl suddenly jumped back. Upon doing so, Iska was sent flying via an explosive arrow courtesy of Feena. Immediately, the three of them chased after her, trying to keep the pressure on her as much as possible.

Iska planted the tip of her spear into the ground as she flew backwards, sliding along the ground until it finally broke. Iska tumbled over onto her back and slowly sat up. Looking in front of her, Ragna, Monika, and Feena had already caught up to her and were ready to go on the offensive at any time. Iska growled and quickly rolled backwards.

"How..." She said to herself. "How did my plans fail so easily...? Even without my Negative Zero advantage, I should NOT be on the losing side...!"

"It's game over Iska." Ragna said.

"I won't lose!"

Iska aimed her staff at the group as it began to glow furiously. Quickly Monika and Feena stood behind Ragna who activated his shield to protect all of them. From her staff, Iska fired out a torrent of icy winds, consuming the three as if they were trapped inside of a large blizzard. Ragna stood his ground and slowly walked forward towards Iska, while Monika and Feena did their best to control the icy winds around them to keep themselves from freezing in this attack. Eventually the attack was stopped as Ragna got close enough and smacked Iska's staff out of her hands with his shield. The girl stumbled backwards as this was done, though she managed to catch her staff as it fell. Soon however, Iska dropped to her knees.

"Looks like your fame isn't all it's cut out to be." Monika said in a mocking tone. "You've lost. Get out of our way."

Iska just chuckled.

"What's so funny?" Ragna asked.

"I doubt you would find it amusing." Iska answered. "I've simply shifted the playing field to my advantage, and I believe that is something that deserves a laugh or two."

The three were momentarily confused as to what Iska was referring to, but they soon understood as to why she laughed. The cold feeling in the air had return. Turning around they saw that Iska's attack had more range than they thought. The flames that were still burning from Grena's previous attack had been extinguished by Iska's final attack. Not to mention that the cold air that she blew out was now filling the tunnel, making the temperature drop as well. Ragna, Monika, and Feena could feel the temperature around them dropping. It was slower than before but they knew it would soon reach a point where they wouldn't be able to fight against Iska anymore.

"Shit, she played us!" Feena exclaimed.

"Wait a minute, what does this mean for Grena?!" Monika asked in a worried tone. "Is she alright?!"

The group turned their attention to the chained mercenary. They let out a small sigh of relief as Grena was still safe and alive. Though she was still unconscious, the woman had somehow managed to produce a small barrier of heat at a short range around herself. This kept the cold air from freezing her.

"Thank goodness." Monika said. "She's still alive."

"She will not be for long. And soon, neither will you."

The group turned around and saw Iska had her staff angled at them, glowing furiously. Suddenly a large barrage of ice shot out straight at them, enough that they wouldn't be able to dodge the attack. Ragna pushed the two girls behind them and activated his shield. While it took most of the attack, the impact was enough that it sent him flying upward to crash head first onto the ceiling before falling back down to the ground. Ragna groaned in pain as he attempted to stand back up."

"Ragna!" Both Monika and Feena called out.

"Watch your backs dammit!"

The girls turned around and were suddenly knocked back by two large icicles slamming into the chests. Monika was sent flying right behind Ragna while Feena crashed into the wall right beside the two. Iska laughed as she stood back up, using the cold temperatures and ice to help herself recover.

"You can't hope to win this back while you're in my territory." She boasted. "With the temperature rapidly dropping soon the three of you will be just as incapacitated as the Crimson Chain is. If you cannot fight, then you cannot escape. And if you cannot escape, then the only option that will be left is me capturing you and taking you to the Imperial Army, which all four of you are most likely to suffer the death penalty as the fate they decide for you."

Iska slowly began walking back towards the group, her staff at her side as several icicles surrounded her and were aimed at the three. The group were doing their best to try and remain ready to fight, but after being caught off guard, Iska's lucky shots did more damage than they expected it to do.

"Well..." Feena sighed. "Things don't look so good huh...?"

To Be Continued...