UPDATE (2/7/2016): Additional edits and corrections.

"Well she couldn't have just 'run off'!" Takara protested as she risked unfurling her wings to hover around the area again. "I mean…she can't move that fast normally! Definitely not in this snow!"

Takeshi had followed a short trail, but then it stopped. He pointed downward. "Here are her tracks…and they stop right here." He leveled a glare at Jiro. "Just 'vanished in the snow'. You sure that hime of yours is really so nice?"

Jiro didn't answer. He didn't even give a glare. He had already taken off into the sky as well and was looking around too. However, just as Takeshi said, she was gone. He couldn't believe it. How could she have just slipped away so easily? Were they all so distracted?

Were they all so upset with him?

Satoru let out a jingle. To accent the fact, he made another statue of sand, this time only of the snowman.

Nobuyuki pointed at it. "Very good point. Osamu is missing as well."

"Well, no offense…but he sticks out a bit more than Akiko." Takara shrugged as she came in for a landing. The frigid air was too much for her wings for very long. "Even if he is made of snow."

"Perhaps he found some way to carry her, yes? As I recall, he does not leave tracks in the snow himself. Being one with it perhaps…"

Takeshi looked up to Jiro again. "Maybe we all shouldn't be worried since she has her power so much under control…"

Jiro gave him a dark look. "And maybe if you wouldn't have kept talking about hurting her sister she wouldn't have run off! Look, it's no big deal." He pointed ahead. "She's not much farther. All we have to do is go around this…bit of…"

He trailed off. The others looked toward the rock formation and saw the reason. A cloud of powder was arising from the ledge. It was growing larger by the moment. Noises began to echo through the icy pass. The sound of hoofbeats; large ones and numerous.

"…Horses?" Takara asked as she lowered.

"But…all horses were back in Arender-ken…" Nobuyuki answered.

Jiro lowered to the ground as well. Even as he did, the source came around the bend. To his surprise, they looked like the snow oni from before only vastly improved. They were all now humanoid, and all were perched on flawless horses made of ice just like them. Their weapons, armor, and bodies were more perfect and deadly than ever before. In all honesty, they were beautiful. He hadn't seen such a splendid retinue of samurai in all his life. However, he somehow doubted his appreciation of them would last much longer. As soon as they rounded the bend, they began to fan out and spread in perfect ranks; making straight for the Jido no Hogu-sha.

The pale young man, with the others, stared silently as he saw the twenty fully armed and armored ice samurai bear down on them, clearly gearing up for another fight. It sounded almost like rolling thunder, as perfectly as they rode.

After a moment, Takeshi's surprised look resumed being a frown.

"…Nice job 'teaching her to use her power', kenshusei. Now these things are bigger and more lethal than ever. We couldn't even kill one of them before. Now what?"

Takara deeply gulped. "Um…everyone? I don't think I can hit them in the teeth so easily this time…"

Nobuyuki looked to the ground. "Satoru?"

The small man nodded, and immediately slammed his palms together. He held a moment before ripping them out and aiming his fingers at the incoming warriors. Ribbons of golden moth scales exploded from them and lashed out like snakes. Jiro hadn't seen him use his power this long range in a while, but it shouldn't have lessened the impact. On reaching them, the gold spread out and diffused rapidly, sending a dusty cloud over all of them. The sand slowly rested on their bodies…

And failed to make them even slow down.

Satoru's pupils shrank, before he let out a very slow and nervous-sounding jingle.

"What do you mean 'more intelligent'?!" Takeshi nearly outburst.

"You mean she didn't just make them physically better, but mentally and spiritually better too?" Takara yelped.

Nobuyuki muttered a yokai prayer as he began to go for his swords. Jiro went open-mouthed, having no idea that Eiko could do that. He remembered that he had told himself at one point that she had no limit to her power. And now it looked like she was pushing those limits and they were about to suffer for it.

Getting out his kunai, Takeshi grit his teeth and hissed at Jiro. "We get out of this alive, kenshusei, I'm going to kill you. If you're thinking of taking her side, you better do it now and save me the trouble of waiting."

Jiro actually hesitated. The rest of the Jido no Hogu-sha began to draw their weapons. Their looks turned fierce, but all of them were genuinely nervous this time. Yet none looked to him. They all had that same air about them: one of betrayal. How he had possibly doomed them all by his negligence at best and his blatant treachery at worse. And yet, in spite of all that, in spite of having his only friends react to him that way…what made it even worse was that a small part of Jiro wanted to go on Eiko's side. However, he shook that off. He had to help them…and prove to them, and himself, whose side he was really on. With that in mind, he braced his own staff.

As the ice horses neared, beginning to slow...thankfully not going to trample them, it seemed…another echo came up. This one from behind them. One of Takeshi's ears twitched, angling around, and his head followed soon after.

"Damn it all… Don't tell me we've got more of these things flanking us?"

Nobuyuki also looked behind them, while Takara, Jiro, and Satoru remained focused on the incoming warriors. The Jolly Bear gave a grunt.

"Flanking, yes…but not from more of these things."

Hearing that, the others risked a peek behind them. Sure enough, another cloud of snow was rising and with it came the sound of more hoofbeats. Yet it wasn't as large or as lock step as the ones in front of them this time. This was more disjointed and "normal". They soon saw forms emerging from the snow. Ones bearing the standards of Arender-ken and of the shogunate himself.

"Lord Nakamura's men…possibly him himself." Takara mentioned.

"Not waiting for us to come down and become enemies of the emperor properly, eh?" Takeshi snorted bitterly. "This day just keeps getting better and better. Even if Eiko gets through today alive, we might not… After all of this hiking and cold we're far from 'fighting form'…"

"Only a coward rolls over and dies at a time like this." Nobuyuki answered as he forced his swords out, already his body beginning to ripple as the muscle built up in it. The humans were still closing, but the group focused their attention ahead on the ice samurai. They were much closer and, frankly, far more formidable foes. They were continuing to slow their horses, but they were also going for their swords and drawing them. The group felt their burning "flame" eyes all on them.

Finally, as they neared range where the finest details on the armor could be made out, they descended into a trot and then pulled their reins to a halt. In spite of being made of ice, they moved as smoothly as the fabric of Eiko's dress.

Something more unexpected resulted. One of them called out.

"Intruders into the domain of the Yuki no Hime…turn back at once and we will not have to injure you."

The five were stunned. Gone was the thunderous, booming voice of the snow ogres with the small vocabulary. Sure enough, these voices were still loud, strong, and resounding, but they were mild enough to come from a nine-foot human and not a monster. What more, they were highly eloquent. Satoru was right, Jiro realized. They were smarter…which was a bad thing. Talented opponents who were also powerful always were.

"Lady Eiko must answer for her crimes against the shogun and the people of Areder-ken." Nobuyuki responded, even as he continued to bulge in muscle and started to grow fur, his voice beginning to distort. "The code of Bushido…demands it…"

"Lady Eiko will appear before the shogun when she feels it is necessary to do so. Until then," He pointed his sword ahead at them. "Leave now or you take your lives into your own hands."

Jiro hesitated only a little more, and then made a move. He knew this would make things even worse for him but he had to try. If he could diffuse this situation, it would be worth a few dark stares. He suddenly shot forward ahead of the others, standing in front of them. The four turned their looks to him, but before any of them could think or accuse him of treachery he spoke out.

"Please…we don't mean any harm. They're with me. They're my friends. Come on, cut us some slack, will you? You know me! You guys carried me and Eiko up that snowy mountain at least a dozen times and watched our snowball fights, didn't you?"

The other members of the Jido no Hogu-sha were justly surprised on hearing this. They knew he had been with Eiko, but they didn't know he had gone that far with "being friends". However, the ice samurai did not hesitate.

"I am sorry, Lord Jiro, but you must either stand to one side or be counted among these enemies of Lady Eiko."

Takara grimaced. "…Tell me they didn't just call you 'Lord Jiro'."

Takeshi merely let out a growl.

Jiro, desperate to not let things go any more south while, at the same time, realizing that he was to blame for how powerful the warriors had become, didn't waste any more time. Immediately, he aimed his staff forward and whipped out his master stroke; summoning his power into him and letting loose with a blast of icy energy at close range.

The horse panicked just like a real one as the beam slammed into the ice samurai on the back, yanking him off in a flash and coating him with thick ice as he was shoved into the snow for a hard impact. It continued to rake him along the ground even after that, but Jiro didn't have time to waste looking at him for very long. The other ice samurai, seeing that the fight was on, quickly charged, staying on their horses and getting ready to both trample and slash the Jido no Hogu-sha.

They didn't get too far before a massive body lunged over the other four members, bellowing a terrible roar. Nobuyuki, in full bear form, landed on the ground with a thunderous echo, both of his swords brandished, and swung to smash through two of them, slicing horse and rider alike into pieces and sending the remains flying. Yet the rest of the warriors were too smart for that, changing their position to ride around him at a wider angle, and then coming in toward the other four on both sides. The group sprung into action. Takeshi tapped his foot and flung his kunai as he fell into the ground in a hole he made. Both Takara and Jiro took to the sky, the Tooth Dragon only reluctantly unfurling her wings again while he was far more eager. That left Satoru behind, who used his small size to simply pivot and let one of the horses run right over him rather than trample him, passing in between its legs. He, in turn, snapped out a fresh scale whip and ripped the samurai and rider stem to stern from behind before deploying a second.

Jiro felt a bit regretful about this but he had little choice. He wanted to show that he was part of the group. And to that end, once above, he immediately fired out another blast at one of the other samurai. But much to his surprise, the warrior actually leapt off and to the ground, going for a tumble roll, and let the blast hit mostly the horse rather than the target. What more, four of them spun around and, seemingly out of nowhere, grew bows with already knocked arrows out of their hands, took aim, and fired. Jiro had little time to wonder how ice could be elastic before he had to bring his staff about and deflect the incoming shots. At first, this seemed like it would be a slower attack than the other day, but such wasn't the case. New arrows sprouted from their hands as soon as they fired the old ones, and the young man was soon struggling not only against their speed but power. They were larger than before, after all, and had more "oomph" to them from their mass and momentum. They were firing so quick that even he couldn't keep up without feeling his arms being jarred and his body being forced backward. Gritting his teeth, he suddenly went into a spin and rotated out of the path of fire, and then counterattacked by filling the ground around the riders with sharp icicles out and at an angle. The horses pierced them, giving out snorts and whinnies, but no cries of pain. They were just as immune to trauma as the samurai. However, they did throw their riders and for a moment the young man rejoiced; until he saw each one land, go into a graceful somersault to roll out of their impact and then rise again to resume shooting without missing a beat. He had to suppress the urge to swallow as he put up more speed.

Nobuyuki was just as wild and savage as before, once again hacking away with blows that would have torn the old snow oni to pieces. In fact, he seemed even more savage now, swinging away at his opponents left and right as he charged into the thick of them. Unfortunately, aside from his opening strike, he didn't get too far. His opponents remained on horses, and the riders and their mounts alike seemed good enough to stay out of his reach, letting him hit only air or the ground with each titanic blow. The few that got in close enough to risk taking a swipe at him made sure to block his blows with glancing movements, causing him to divert his powerful hits to one side and leaving them untouched or even pushing them away. Seeing this, Nobuyuki put even more power into his next strikes. To his surprise, their swords actually held together well for being ice against tempered steel, but he finally managed to crack their blades, and then cut straight through one of them, slicing deep into the ice samurai on the other side. And yet, he paid a price for that. He had to put so much power into the blow that he left his back wide open, and an ice samurai on horseback went by and quickly slashed into him. To Jiro's shock, it stained the snow red. Their blades were now so fine that the edge was the width of a single water atom. Even Nobuyuki's skin couldn't protect him anymore. And if that wasn't enough, the ice samurai he cleaved almost immediately healed his wound and regenerated his sword, pressing the advantage.

Satoru did well…at least at first. Once again his kusarigamas came out, and he went to town slicing and slashing into everything around him. Yet he only managed to cut two of them before the other warriors backed off, giving him a berth, and making it so that he couldn't hit two at once. What ones did get hit leapt back as they did so, taking them away from the slice so they were merely cut instead of separated. Doing so let them regenerate far more quickly. After a moment, five of them dismounted their horses. While the ones attacked and cut fell back, these ones seemed to make large shields pop out of nowhere and hoisted them with ease. It was likely this region of Japan had never seen a tower shield, but had they done so they would have been forced to conclude this was the like. As the scythes cut into them, they shattered and diced them but the ice was so thick that it wasn't enough to take them out all together. What more, they quickly began to regenerate as well as the ice warriors got nearer. Satoru actually looked a little nervous, before he got a bigger shock when one ice samurai suddenly generated a lance and threw it at him from behind, trying to nail him in between the shoulder blades. For a moment, it looked like it would hit for sure, before the Sand Moth pivoted and swerved out of the way just in time, only getting slashed on his arm. Yet as his own golden blood fell to the snow, his attack was interrupted, and quickly the warriors charged in on him from all sides. His eyes went wide and he gasped silently, lapsing into a panicked struggle to keep them away…

Unfortunately, these three were doing the best. Takeshi sprouted out of a hole, meaning to get his kunai as it sliced through a warrior, only to have the ice samurai slash out and perfectly deflect it, knocking it aside, while another swung around in a spin to slice for his head. He went a wide eyed before dropping down again and popping out of another hole, only to see another ice samurai already bearing down on him with sword drawn. He tried popping out again, but then had to flee once more as another samurai tried to grab him from behind. It wasn't just that the warriors were now faster and smarter. This fight was taking place later in the day than their last. There were fewer shadows here, and fewer places for Takeshi to make holes without being seen. As he popped out of a fourth hole, he had one of the soldiers driving a sword right for his gut. Quickly, he used his other power, leaping into the air and holding out his hand for his kunai. It rose and returned to his grip just in time to be used to deflect a chop aimed for his shoulder from another warrior. He tried to aim a counter-kick, but these blades were thin and sharp. He couldn't risk lashing out for them. Instead, he leapt off of the blade, backflipped through the air, and landed at a distance. He spread his fingers out, turning his one kunai into ten, touched his other hand to it, turning the ten into twenty, and then began to throw out a flurry of blades at the warriors who were facing him. Two caught them in the eyes and joints but they rapidly adapted, growing shields of their own or, much to the Ghost Hare's shock, even deflecting the knives with their armor and blades. Yet he got into real trouble when one of them suddenly snapped out his own hand...and a moment later Takeshi cried in pain as a kunai of ice lodged in one of his throwing hands, piercing it in the palm. Blood flowed from his hand to the snow, but more importantly his multitude of kunais became one again and the ice samurai charged at him to take advantage.

Takara was the worst. Her wings cold and stiff, she could barely fly as expertly as she used to. That was bad timing because the ice samurai were lunging at her stronger and faster than ever. After shooting several ice arrows at her to bring her down to their elevation, they began to lash out at her with the swords. They were nimble, acrobatic, and strong. She deflected one blow only to have another slide in and try to stab her from the side, forcing her to fly back and quickly swing her jitte around to guard the blade. Even so, she cried out in pain from the force of the strike. Yet even then, another samurai moved in from behind and tried to stab her in the back while she was pinned. Sweating a bit, she quickly shoved the sword to one side, spun around, and deflected the blade; but since it was an overhead chop she found herself pinned to the ground and straining under greater power. Her wings flapped as hard as they could for more strength, but to no avail. Hardly giving her a chance to breathe, another ice warrior leapt into the air, blade brought over for a stabbing downward thrust, and moved to drive the weapon into her. Takara's face tensed, seeing herself totally trapped. Finally, with a grunt, she managed to roll out of the way in mid-air, sliding out of the blade and just getting grazed by the stabbing sword. Instantly, as the ice samurai landed, she shot back and drove her jitte for his facemask, trying to hit through to the teeth beyond. But to her horror, the mask was so sturdy that the blow, which could have shattered a wooden beam or dented any other armor, only made the tiniest crack on it. Their weakness was no more. Not only that, but the ice samurai soon snapped up, smacked her jitte away, and nearly stabbed her again, forcing her to shoot back.

Jiro grit his teeth as he fired another blast. It managed to catch one of the shooters, and he quickly poured on more force to try and rip him apart and freeze his remains to keep him from reforming. However, his partners quickly upped their own ante, forcing him to break off. The partially frozen ice samurai quickly broke loose and resumed shooting again, and as for Jiro, he only got a progressively worsening headache from using his "trump card" repeatedly.

Damn it…Eiko is a lot better than I thought. I don't think we can beat these guys… They've already shown they're better than most of our best…

Now what do we do?

Nakamura had mostly been "riding hard", not only to get to Eiko and Akiko, but now in a charge on seeing the ice warriors up ahead coming down to meet them. Although the other men had been filled with shock and terror, and he had to admit he felt much the same, he kept to his code and planned to meet them head on in battle. However, running a bit closer, meaning to break through and beyond to the daimyo, he got a bit of a surprise. It seemed the Jido no Hogu-sha were indeed there. But unlike his suspicions that they were either dead or had aligned with the witch, they appeared to still be on their side…for all the good it was doing them. They drew the full attention of the ice samurai and, to his astonishment, they were not doing well against them.

These monsters were nothing like the ones he heard reported before. They were flawless, perfect, towering samurai; stronger, faster, and more agile than any human being. Fierce, mighty, able to pull weapons out of nowhere, and healing instantly from being hacked to pieces, he felt his own heart sink in fear to see them. He slowed his horse as the rest of his men stared agape. How could they possibly fight such monsters when even the yokai could not?

"Lord Nakamura! Look!"

Hachiro's call out made the lord turn to him, and saw he was pointing to the rock pinnacle behind the battle. He noticed that there was a pathway beyond. Based on the number of tracks that were on the ground, he realized that the ice samurai and their horses had to have come from there.

"We can get by them! They're preoccupied with the Jido no Hogu-sha!"

As much as he couldn't believe himself, Nakamura hesitated on hearing that news. He looked to the five and saw that they were barely holding their own against opponents who looked both powerful and incapable of being hurt. He may not have had much regard for the Jido no Hogu-sha, but he did have honor, unlike the daimyo and men the yokai had been fighting until now. And he had brought them in to do this task. It was because of him that they were even here, fighting out what was looking like a losing battle...

However, he decided his loyalty was to the princess first, and she wasn't with them. It couldn't be much farther to Eiko herself. He might never get another chance to deal with her. The storm was broken, the warriors were preoccupied…he couldn't afford to let it slip. Besides, stopping her might end the rest of the downstream effects. With that in mind, he gestured forward.

"Move by them! On to the daimyo!"

He snapped his own reins, putting his horse into a gallop again. It took a bit of work to get it going past the intimidating ice warriors, but it did so and the rest of the men soon fell in behind him and rushed toward the small pathway.

Perhaps Akiko wasn't as overwhelmed as Jiro was, but that didn't make the pagoda any less incredible to her. She only slowly walked inside once she finally got through the main gates, looking about her in awed wonder. Everything about it was perfect. It was cold, to be sure, but not as bad as outside. Besides, everything looking so clear, blue, and pristine was too much for her to focus on the temperature. In spite of her sense of urgency, she found herself slowing down as she walked in, moving out of the threshold and toward the main hall, taking in everything around her.

This place is even more beautiful on the inside…and it's so…I don't know…"complex"… How long did it take Eiko to make this? Our own castle took close to 100 years…

"We're here!" Osamu suddenly cried, having just finished smoothing his body out after being squished in the door, and beginning to waddle ahead excitedly. "Lady Eiko! I'm back!" He cheered out loud, sounding his voice through the rather silent palace and letting it echo throughout the entire structure.

It was so loud that Akiko actually grimaced and shrank back. In spite of her optimism, it almost intimidated her to speak out loud. Yet after only a few moments, she heard a clicking of footsteps.

"...Osamu? Is that you?"

Akiko raised her head. That was unmistakably Eiko's voice. A moment later, she saw the woman herself as she walked out of one of the side halls. To her amazement, her older sister had changed quite a bit. Before she always used to "drown" herself in her kimono and other clothing, keeping her hands concealed by long sleeves and dressed as conservative as possible. This new kimono she wore was more close fitting and accented her body a bit more, and kept her hands exposed as she walked out into the hall. At any rate, she didn't notice Akiko at first, and didn't seem to catch the first "we" that the snowman had stated. She had a look of relief on her face as she looked to the snowman.

"Osamu, you're back. I was starting to get worried that something happened after you went out a couple days ago." She paused after saying this, forming an uneasy look. "I'm…I'm sorry. I should have sent one of the others out after you. I don't know what I was thinking. I guess I was too focused on myself over the past few days…"

"Aw, that's alright." Osamu cheerily responded. "I had a lot of fun and I made some new-"

The daimyo held up her hands in a stopping gesture. "Wait, hang on. I've got something I want to give you first."

Akiko wondered what that meant, but she didn't have to wait long before Eiko held up her hands in front of her and made a gesture. As Osamu looked curiously around, he saw a spiral of snowflakes or ice crystals (Akiko couldn't tell) rise up and begin to spin around him. A moment later Akiko let out a quiet gasp.

The flakes went in and began to carve away at Osamu, working like tiny ice sculptors. They shaved and dug at parts of his physiology all over, took what came off, placed it elsewhere, and then reformed it. Not only that, but the flakes seemed to move against his "skin" and compress and polish it to a nice shine and density. When they finished sculpting him, they began to join together and form around him in what Akiko realized was an ice imitation of fabric. This helped her realize that Eiko's own kimono was the exact same thing: ice. She had no idea how that managed to work out, but she was too transfixed on Osamu to care.

Moments later, it was done. Osamu was no longer a "snowman" so much as a "snow man". To Akiko's surprise, he was perfectly shaped like a young man fully clothed like a royal courtier. His body was the shape of a human's and all of his features moved as if they were real muscle and bone. Most of his body had been condensed and refracted the light in such a way that, although he was entirely white and icy blue, he actually had coloration to him. He looked more like a strange pale human now rather than a snowman. He scanned himself over and seemed overjoyed.

"Aw…look! I have toes! Fingernails! A waistline! Hips! Oh great…now I'm going to have to work harder than ever to keep up my figure…"

Eiko smiled a bit at that. It looked like she nearly laughed too, but in the end she put a hand to her mouth and stopped herself. She grew a bit more uncomfortable-looking, similar to how Akiko knew her best. She decided that now was as good a time as any to speak up.

"Eiko?"

The daimyo instantly snapped her head up, looking not only surprised at the sound of the voice but who was making it. She even looked a tad anxious…or fearfu. She blinked a moment later, and then fully recognized who was there. When that happened she relaxed a bit but still seemed to marvel. As for Akiko, she made a hesitant smile and began to walk forward.

"Akiko…"

"Uh…hey, big sis." The younger noblewoman said as she stepped a bit closer before halting at a distance. Osamu, on his part, patiently stayed quiet for now and looked to both of them, seeming to expect an immediate embrace and reunion. Instead, they both held their ground as Eiko grew more amazed.

"What…what are you doing here? Why aren't you in Arender-ken?"

Akiko sighed. "Come on, Eiko. After all that, you expected me to just let you go off by yourself? I stayed back for a little while because I thought you'd come back or this would blow over, but when I thought you were in danger-"

"Me in danger?" Eiko cut off incredulously. She groaned. "Akiko…do you know in how many different ways you could have died coming up to see me? You could have frozen, starved, passed out from lack of air, fallen into a snow-covered crevasse…"

"Hey, I made it, didn't I?" The younger sister shrugged. "Besides, I had help. Anyway…Eiko, come on. We need to go back to Arender-ken right now."

"What?" She echoed back. A moment later, she shook her head. "No…no, Akiko. Not yet."

The young noblewoman's look immediately tensed. "Um…no, Eiko, I'm pretty sure now is the best time." She began to advance again, her hand starting to reach out. "Things are getting a little serious out there…"

The daimyo spotted Akiko coming in, and immediately she drew back, as if a hot iron was being offered to her. It was so abrupt that it made the younger sister pause in mid-step again, although still fairly far away. The older sister exhaled and calmed soon after.

"I'm aware of that, Akiko. I know that my power is…out of control. I know it's freezing Arender-ken."

Akiko lowered her hand as she spoke. Eiko, on her part, exhaled and put her arms at her side.

"That's why I've been staying up here. I didn't mean to run away after what happened…but…you saw what was going on, didn't you? How I was so out of control I was hurting people on instinct? You can't expect me to go back like this. I need to learn to control my power. Once that's done, I'll return. I mean…look…" She gestured past Akiko and outside. "If I'm locking Arender-ken in eternal winter now, how bad will it be if I try to go back scared half to death of what's going to happen to me?"

Akiko's look didn't ebb too much. "That may be a chance we're going to have to take, Eiko…because the Jido no Hogu-sha are almost knocking on the front doors of your palace and if you don't surrender when they get here things are going to get pretty bad."

"Don't worry about them." Eiko responded, drawing herself up and turning to start heading back the way she came. "I hit them pretty 'hard' a few days ago. They had to turn around and go back to Arender-ken."

The young noblewoman looked confused.

"Um…they did?" She paused, her look turning uneasy. "Just…out of curiosity…who told you that?"

Eiko had only taken a step away from Akiko when she stopped. She turned back slowly.

"One of them did. Jiro the 'Laughing Frost'. He's the one who's been up here helping me learn to use my power."

Akiko looked rather uncomfortable now, gritting her teeth and glancing to one side.

The older sister didn't like the look of that. "What's with that look, Akiko? What's going on?"

She hesitated a moment longer, but then exhaled.

"…The Jido no Hogu-sha are here, Eiko. I said they're about to come through your front door because they are about to come through your front door. That's the whole reason I got here. They helped me along the way."

A moment of silence passed. Akiko saw a change slowly come over Eiko. One moment, she was calm and yet had a probing look about her…but in the next moment her face began to look fearful and confused once again.

"What...?"

Akiko felt a small wind start to blow around her. A few flakes were on it. Nevertheless, she went on.

"I went with them because Lord Nakamura said they had been told to bring you in dead or alive, and…I wanted to make sure they'd bring you in alive. But you had to surrender first so I wanted a chance to get you to stand down…"

"But…" Eiko began to answer as the wind picked up around her, carrying a few more flakes. Akiko was beginning to feel a bit of a sting in spite of her own numbed skin. "But…Jiro…he…he told me that they turned back…"

Although she was growing nervous about the build-up in the area, Akiko went on. "He just ran into us a little while ago. He said the reason he went with you was so that he could...learn your weaknesses…"

Instantly, the wind halted and the snow dropped to the ground like stones.

Eiko's face, if possible, seemed to lose even more of its color. She held a hand to her chest; her face looking as if she had just been stabbed in the back. Her mouth loosened and then quivered for a moment. Her eyes weren't filled with her normal "horror"…just hurt. Her head slowly bowed as she shifted to grasp her chest region, but she kept her eyes looking out into space. She was quiet.

But after a moment, a tear rolled from her eye.

Osamu blinked and became concerned. "Eiko? What's wrong?"

Akiko, noticing this change, grew a bit uneasy herself. While she didn't trust the Jido no Hogu-sha not to "attack first and ask questions later", she still thought they were good and decent people. The main reason she ran ahead was to tell Eiko to stand down and then she figured everything would be alright. Yet she began to realize as she stood there that she may have just said the wrong thing. Confessing what Jiro was up to probably ruined any form of trust she was going to have of any of them. And the fact that Akiko was crying…

Did…she and Jiro really get close?

She swallowed and tried forming an innocent smile. "Um…look, in spite of all that, they really are nice people! I…know how bad that sounds right now…but they're honorable! Just put your hands up and go outside and I'm sure that-"

Suddenly, a pounding was heard echoing through the castle. At once, Akiko and Osamu turned around and looked while Eiko kept her head to the ground, another tear rolling down her other cheek. The two found the front doors were still closed. The sound was coming from further away: the gates outside. They began to hear muffled shouting, followed by more pounding. Rather intensely too. Akiko couldn't make out most of the words, but one thing soon was clear.

"That doesn't really sound like Nobuyuki and the others…" Osamu observed. "Sounds more like a group of angry guys…"

"It sounds…like Nakamura…" Akiko answered. Her unease grew. "Oh no…Takeshi said the Jido no Hogu-sha only had three days… If that's true, then… But…how did they get up here so fast?"

"Isn't that what all those ice guys on horseback were for?" Osamu shrugged. "Wouldn't they be going out to stop guys like them?" He hesitated, then suddenly looked like he had a "eureka" moment. "Wait, I know! The Jido no Hogu-sha are tying them up and keeping them busy while the others go to kill Eiko! Yay!"

He froze.

"Wait…no, Not-Yay. That's really bad…"

The younger sister swallowed, and began to turn back. "Eik-"

She cut herself off a moment later. She felt a sudden sharp chill from Eiko's direction; the temperature dropping dramatically. It was so cold that even her own numbed face felt the bite. But she noticed something else. The palace was growing darker. It wasn't from her, however. Rather, the sky outside was growing dark, causing less light to refract through the whole palace. When Akiko looked up, she could just manage to see through the ice ceiling that clouds were beginning to gather overhead, turning the world dark and gray…as well as dropping the temperature. Swallowing, she looked back down to Eiko.

The woman had changed. She was sniffling a bit, and wiping the tears from her eyes…but snow had sprung up around her. It didn't fill the room as before. Rather, it encircled her in twin bands, and she seemed to be breathing in and out quite a bit, doing some sort of exercise to maintain control. However, her face, still stinging from hurt, was rapidly filling with fury. Her blue eyes started to blaze as she looked forward. She no longer saw Akiko or Osamu. She was staring beyond them at the doors. After a moment, she lowered her hands to her side and balled both into fists. Small patches of ice begin to form underneath them.

"Akiko…stay in here." She simply said. "Do not leave the palace for anything. Osamu, make sure she doesn't."

Osamu looked rather tense at that prospect, but, naturally, it was Akiko who was even more shocked as Eiko began to walk forward, focusing on the door and looking to move right by her. "Wait, Eiko what are you doing?" She began to approach again.

Immediately, Eiko turned to her and held up a hand in a stopping gesture. As if by instinct, the snow around her began to swirl more violently, and the flakes started to turn to crystals.

"Just stay away from me, Akiko." She told her sternly. "Don't come near me when I'm like this. Stay in here where it's safe."

The young noblewoman didn't like the sound of that. "Safe? Eiko, what are you doing? You're not actually thinking of going out there and fighting them, are you?"

"Just…stay here." Eiko flatly answered, then turned and kept walking.

However, once she had passed, Akiko readily began to move after her, and Osamu as well. "You can't do that! Eiko, just surrender! Then you can go back to Arender-ken peacefully!"

The woman slowed to a halt and let out a large exhale, before whirling around. "Akiko, look at what's happening!" She shouted, her snow picking up speed again, this time making it begin to throw flakes up in the room as well. "Look at them! They don't care if I surrender! No one does! To everyone, I'm just a monster! Everyone just wants me dead! And the more they do this, the more my power is going to be harder to control! If they want to make me into a monster, then I'm going to give them something to be scared of! I'm going to make sure they never try to come after me again after this…"

She muttered this last part as she turned and kept walking.

Osamu was rather fearful now, not knowing what to say as he looked to Akiko. The young noble moved in again. "No! This is only going to make things worse! I know what happened was an accident!"

Eiko slowed again, bowing her head a bit this time, but didn't stop walking.

"…You're the only one who cares, Akiko."

"Um…I care too!" Osamu called out uneasily. "If…uh…that helps…"

"Eiko, I can't let you do this! There's still a chance! There's still hope!"

No sooner had she gotten this out, however, than she gave a gasp and recoiled…for thick bars of ice sprang out of the ground right in front of her and extended all the way to the ceiling before locking in. The result separated her from the door, and from the older sister. Her face tightening in anger, Akiko ran up and grabbed them, but she didn't have nearly the strength to break them or the size to squeeze through.

"Eiko! Don't! Please!"

The woman was at the door now and reaching out to open it. She sighed one more time, and then spoke behind her without turning.

"When this is over, go back to Arender-ken and don't come up after me again…even if you never see me again. Osamu, I charge you as your hime not to let Akiko through these doors no matter what."

With that, she pushed the door open and stepped outside, leaving Akiko to furiously pull at the bars to no avail.

"Again! Keep at it!" Nakamura shouted.

"It's no good, my lord!" One of the samurai at the towering ice doors shouted, panting from having smashed against them with all of his might with his own axe, only to have barely begun to chip anything away. "It's solid ice! If we keep this up, the weapons will dull!"

"We have to get in there! This is our only chance!"

The group had been more than a little stunned to see such a magnificent ice palace awaiting them on the other side of the rock pinnacle. It was a testament to just how powerful the daimyo was. However, the warriors had been far more intimidating, and Nakamura himself didn't care if there was an entire kingdom built out of ice on the other side of the rock. He had to get in there. There was no sign of Akiko anywhere and this would be the only opportunity they would have. He realized now that if the queen had generated such formidable warriors and was freezing the entire country, then soon there would be nothing stopping her from conquering it completely. He couldn't allow that to happen. Unfortunately, there were gates of ice barring his way. And though the three men who had heavier weapons among them had dismounted, gone up to them, and began to batter away, it was no good. They held as solidly as trying to break apart an iceberg.

Yet as they beat away at it, Nakamura used the opportunity to look over to Itachitoko. He looked just as eager as the rest of them to get in, even if he was holding off behind them in what he assumed was fear. However, this only puzzled the man more. After the power he displayed earlier, he wasn't even making a suggestion for getting inside. Raw magma would definitely get through this obstacle but now he seemed to just be eagerly waiting for them to break open the gate…

Hachiro finally let out an exhale of disgust. "It's no use. We have to go over the wall. Maybe we can fire an arrow with a rope attached…"

Nakamura was about to respond, when he froze while the men hacking away at the gates stepped back in alarm. To the sound of an immense groaning, and to everyone's surprise, the massive gates, barely chipped and scratched from the assault, slowly began to open up of their own accord.

The horses that had been dismounted panicked at this and began to move back. They didn't run off all together, but they did keep their distance. Again, Nakamura had to fight to keep his own under control. However, it wasn't just the gates causing them to react that way. As they pulled back, he noticed the sun overhead suddenly dimmed. Both he and the others saw clouds seem to stream out from a central point over the main ice pagoda. They spread thick, ominous, and quickly around the entire sky. As they blotted out the sun and filled the air with darkness, the temperature dropped sharply and snow began to fall once again. The men were silent, and stiffened. Some of them trembled and looked around. As for the gates, they finished opening and locked in place; revealing an empty courtyard leading up to the front gates of the pagoda itself. The snow continued to slowly fall harder as the wind and cold picked up.

This was dangerous. Based on the reports, the weather was turning into the same situation that the first group encountered who went out, and they were stopped long before getting this far. Nakamura thought it might have been wise to pull back, but he realized he couldn't afford that. They'd never get this close again, especially if she was building an army. With that in mind, he inhaled sharply, put his hand on his own sword, and gave the call.

"Move in."

More than a few of the men hesitated. Some swallowed. Others clearly showed their fear and lack of resolve. However, Nakamura showed nothing but bravery, and Hachiro was readily at his side. With those two showing no fear or hesitation, it was enough to strengthen the others into steeling themselves, readying their own weapons, and advancing as well. Soon, even the ones who had lost their mounts were advancing through the gates. The only one to still hold back was Itachitoko. Had others been looking to him, they would have seen his previous grouchy and stern look had grown rather afraid, and he was sinking against his mount both from growing cold as well as fear. Yet somehow, he managed to slowly bring up the distant rear.

The group slowly crossed the threshold, each one gripping their weapons progressively tighter. The archers among them had gotten out their bows and knocked arrows. As it grew darker and colder yet, as dark as anyone would expect from the worst storm, with the wind picking up and getting more sharp and biting, they didn't necessarily expect Eiko herself to spring out and jump them, but seeing the courtyard filled with snow and ice made them rather nervous that more monsters were lurking about. Besides, it was very quiet on entering. Through the walls of the gate, one couldn't even hear the sound of the fighting on the other side of the rock pinnacle, and the natural solitude and environment made things naturally still…but that silence only made things even more unnerving. Nakamura alone kept his eyes ahead. Even Hachiro looked around uncomfortably.

Itachitoko was even more flighty and nervous looking as he finally crossed under the threshold. And he was also the only one to react a moment later as the massive ice doors began to close behind them. He snapped around in a flash, and barely kept himself from being able to turn his horse around and spur it on. Yet none of the other warriors noticed. They all came to a halt and stared ahead at a new sight.

As the gates closed behind them, the doors to the palace opened up…and out came Lady Eiko.

Nakamura saw how much she had changed. She almost looked like a different woman from the daimyo he had seen at the ascension. She had an air of nobility and raw power about her. Her kimono seemed to be made of pure ice and her hair was in a totally different style. Her hands, before concealed under great sleeves, were now exposed.

The lord happened to remember that from before; how the power seemed to stream from them. Therefore, as she came out, he quickly muttered around him.

"If you go for a body part, forget the vitals. Go for her hands."

Eiko herself had a rather stern and cold look about her. It was intimidating even to them. Only Nakamura managed to look at it without balking. As she exited the doors and they shut behind her, she advanced a few steps; causing the ground in the courtyard to start emitting a crinkling sound of ice freezing. The snow started to gather, beginning to form ice crystals around it in random intervals. Several were happening in between Nakamura and Eiko herself. And all of them were becoming long and deadly as the ice picked up…

"I told you when I fled Arender-ken to stay away from me. And when you tried to come after me, I warned those people to stay away too. Yet you keep coming here and risking your lives..."

"I am loyal to the Emperor and the Shogun, Lady Eiko." Nakamura retorted sharply, calling over the rising wind to make sure she heard. "And the law demands that you answer for your crimes. You are guilty of murder and must pay for it. If you insist you are not a demon, then prove it by ending your winter you are bringing upon the land below and come back quietly to face your punishment honorably."

Eiko only frowned more. "You aren't interested in my 'coming back quietly', only in killing me outright. That's why you sent assassins after me to begin with. All of you called me 'monster', 'witch', and 'demon' that night when I fled. You don't care to let me ever come before the shogun or the emperor…only to 'slay the monster' in front of you. I fled north to try and spare you my wrath. I'm not about to go back and make things worse for my people."

"I did not come here to negotiate." Nakamura began to draw his own sword. "I came here to give you an order on behalf of the Shogun and to recover Lady Akiko, who you have endangered by your actions. Where is she?"

"My sister is perfectly safe, no thanks to you. Using her as bait to try and draw me out…or as a weapon to play on my emotions."

"Enough." Nakamura snorted. "You are a daimyo of the emperor and you owe him your unquestioned allegiance, and as his representative I order you to surrender and come to the capitol to face your punishment for your crimes. Defy it, and you will henceforth be branded a traitor to the kingdom as well as a radical, a witch, and a demon. Don't be foolish enough to dig your own grave, Lady Eiko."

The hands of the woman balled into fists. By now, the ever-growing ice crystals were waist high and suddenly grew faster and sharper as she bowed her head and grit her teeth.

"…Time and time again, I try to warn you all to leave me alone. That you're only scaring me more the more you try to bring me back...and that's only making this winter worse…and yet you won't leave me in peace…"

She looked up a moment later, eyes blazing.

"If you won't leave me be then I don't have any choice but to make sure that you never try again."

Her hands opened up again, and for a moment Nakamura saw what looked like diamond mist shoot out from them. He braced himself for the worst, as they all did…only to get a different reaction. To his shock, the ice crystals around them suddenly expanded dramatically, shooting dozens of feet in the air and spreading out wide and thick. As they drew together to brace for an attack, fearing the ice would spring around them, they saw the entire courtyard filled with tall, sharp, and dangerous crystals. In moments, they couldn't see anything in the courtyard around them. They were surrounded by pinnacles of ice.

The group looked around a moment before the temperature plunged again. Sharp, icy wind picked up about them, and it was enough to make even Nakamura shrink back in pain and cold. To his fear, he realized she was creating a maze. She now had plenty of cover. And the environment was getting worse. That meant they'd soon all keel over from freezing. He turned around to see quickly if they had an exit route. He actually wanted to send a fistful of men out before the horses grew too panicked, for his own mount was beginning to buckle, not liking the change in weather or the sudden appearance of the ice.

To his fear, he saw the doors were already shut. But worse than that, there was no sign of Itachitoko.

Coward… He hissed. He spun around to the men.

"Fan out! Archers, get some cover and wait for a shot! Everyone else, pair off in groups of three! We need to take the fight to her or we'll be doomed!"

As reckless as that course of action seemed, Nakamura knew it was the only possibility. Lady Eiko, while at a distance, could freeze them at her leisure. Only when they were in the inexperienced-with-combat woman's face did they have a chance of having her make a mistake and strike her down. Five archers soon began to fan out, rapidly running into the maze of ice, pressing against the crystals and vanishing. The remaining fifteen, Nakamura and Hachiro included, quickly began to break up after dismounting. In these close quarters, the horses would only be a detriment. Hachiro took two and the lord took two, with the other nine splitting into three groups. With that done, they didn't stay in one place any longer. They each began to spread out into the ice as well. Nakamura himself went right for the throat; headed in the straightest path he could.

It turned out not being as easy as he thought. Although he bravely went in and the men behind him stayed as bold as they could in the process, weaving around the cruel and deadly ice was not a simple task. He actually had to weave and move about quite a bit, all the while as his men spread out. With as wide as he had to go, he realized that the ice wasn't just providing cover. It was creating a maze of sorts that would slow them down and give them more exposure to the ice and snow. Yet he kept moving fast and tried to ignore the bitter cold as he moved on.

Finally, the ice broke ahead of him, exposing the front of the pagoda. He caught a glimpse of the roof at first, and used that time to lean in close to the ice pillars and advance a bit more slowly. The men with him followed his lead, and after a moment they got to the edge and sprang around.

Unfortunately, as he had thought would happen, Eiko was nowhere to be seen. She had used the moment to move. And the blowing snow had covered up her tracks. He grit his teeth in response.

"Ack-"

A moment later, he snapped his head to the source of a sound over the wind and echoing through the ice spires: a cry that had been aborted. It was rather sharp and silenced far too quickly for his tastes. It sent a chill through him not from physical cold. He recognized the sound too; one of the archers in his group. A moment later, he gestured to the others and charged out back into the ice maze to go after the source.

Not long after doing so, he found it far harder to navigate. Going forth was easy enough, but he couldn't figure out where the sound had come from this time. It resounded and echoed through all of the ice around them. And soon, weaving into the maze, it grew harder than ever to echo locate.

"No!"

The lord froze as did the men with him and snapped his head around. Another cry had gone out…this time from behind them. At least, it seemed to the way it echoed. Again, the sound of an archer. This began to make him nervous. He had hoped the archers would be able to succeed while he and the swordsmen kept her busy. Instead she was going after the archers first. The woman was smart; smarter than he thought when it came to tactics.

Quickly, turning about, he charged in a new direction. He ran this time. He couldn't afford to take it slow again. He had to hurry and get to wherever this was coming from. Yet once again, he found himself wandering through the ice maze, and this time he was beginning to grow a bit nervous about being here in the first place. He started to dread what would happen if he ran into Eiko…or if he'd be able to react in time. It began to occur to them that, for all his bravery, he was dealing with a demon who was essentially a god of winter. There was only so much bravery could do against that…

Finally, there was a break up ahead. It wasn't out into the clear, but it was out from a larger opening. Nakamura almost led his group right into it, but then halted a moment later when, suddenly, one of the trios popped out of the side and ran into it. Thinking at first it was Eiko, he thought she was running into the open. Yet on seeing his comrades, he relaxed and nearly went forward again...

When he saw the men staring out to one side and their faces turn to shock. They went for their weapons but, before his eyes, streams of icy mist shot out and caused massive ice crystals to grow out of the ground and wrap around all three of them individually, then solidify to immobilize them. Only their heads and extremities pointed out, gazing at the source in fear and unable to move a muscle.

Quickly, Nakamura recoiled, lest the source of this see their group. By now, even he was having a hard time not showing fear. His men, on the other hand, were far more petrified. The only reason they didn't turn and bolt was due to Nakamura's own presence at what they saw. With such power and speed, their weapons were all but useless. The only chance they had was if they got behind Eiko and struck her when she wasn't expecting it. But in quarters like this, there was only a random chance of that happening. And they couldn't afford to draw this out and lie in wait. Already, the man began to shiver from the temperature drop. Soon it would be too cold to function or fight in the first place.

This may have been suicide...

"Ugh!"

Akiko shouted in frustration as she kicked at the ice bars but it was totally useless. These weren't brittle at all. They were solid and formidable. She tried to squeeze herself through afterward, but still didn't have any luck. Her face tight with fury, she pulled away and punched one of the bars, only to let out a yelp and recoil her hand in pain.

Osamu watched this all uncomfortably from a distance. He clearly didn't like to see the two sisters at odds with each other, and the whole situation with Eiko going out was making him uncomfortable too, although he remained obedient. "Akiko, maybe Eiko is right… Maybe we should just stay here until she's done outside…"

Akiko rubbed her hand a bit more as her anger returned. "No, Osamu! She's out there using her power to attack Nakamura and his men! She said she was going to do something to make them never come back!"

The snowman shrugged. "But…isn't that good?"

"It's terrible! They'll only think she's evil more than ever even if she does drive them off! Even if she does learn to control her power, she'll never be able to claim everything was an accident! I got to stop her being ice-crazy and just get back to Arender-ken!" She kicked the bars one more time, again to no avail, and then turned to Osamu. "Isn't there another way to get out of the pagoda?"

"Well, yeah. Of course. But I can't show you! Eiko said I couldn't!"

Akiko grit her teeth and stamped her foot in frustration...but only for a moment. She suddenly cracked a smile as she got an idea, looking to the snowman craftily.

"Actually, Osamu…she only said not to let me through these doors no matter what, right?"

He crossed his arms, rubbed his chin, and thought about that for a moment.

"So…that means you could take me out another way no problem, right?

Osamu thought a moment longer, then suddenly let in a sharp inhale. "Oh…oh yeah! That's right! I could…yeah!" He said excitedly. "Alright then! Come on!" He turned and beckoned to her. "Right this way! We got to get upstairs!"

As Osamu ran on, Akiko grinned as well before following as fast as she could.

What could they do against these foes?

Jiro didn't know but as he narrowly dodged an ice arrow taking off his ear, he realized time was running out. Not just because those soldiers had gone by them and not just because the five of them were finding themselves totally outmatched for a change. It was because the sky was growing dark and cold again, and once more dumping snow upon them…

Jiro was able to keep clear using his free-flying style, but he found himself having to rely more and more on the wind to blow him around to avoid the arrows. More than that, he had already used at least half of his stamina, if not more, trying to counter with ice blasts. It was no use. These warriors were too strong. Even when he encased them in ice or blew them apart and then encased them in ice, they kept breaking free afterward. They responded to every trick he made. Unable to keep the blasts up, he tried shooting out with ice for their feet to trip them up or slow them down at least, so he could move in and try to get more in their face. Yet it only stunned them for a moment before they adapted their own feet to have cleats to dig into the ice. When he got down on their level and tried using his staff as a bo, his blows did next to nothing to them when hitting them in their thick armor. Their own weapons, on the other hand, jarred his arms painfully, each one being physically stronger than him in spite of his natural strength. They also tried to move around him and surround him continuously, forcing him to once again his use free-movement to pull back and around from the attackers. Yet that was only barely keeping him safe from their assault; forcing him to eventually take to the sky again. The only thing he could do was try to run interference now, and he wasn't succeeding at that.

Nobuyuki was still doing the best, but that was relative. By now, the ice samurai weren't even trying to get in his face anymore. They were keeping him surrounded on all four sides and only moving in whenever there was an opening, and every time they did they made sure to keep him occupied while they landed a hit on wherever he was exposed. Occasionally, he managed to get a blow in, but it wasn't doing any good. The ice samurai always rebuilt themselves instantly. They were doing so even quicker this time than the last, not at all miffed by his own punishing blows shattering them apart. Finally, he realized that in spite of the strength of his bear form, it wasn't protecting him and was slowing him down. When two of the warriors tried to corner him, he reverted; snapping back into his smaller, human form. While doing so, he took the moment to rush forward, using his unexpected speed to slice out for one of the ice samurai. He landed his blow against his neck and cleaved all the way through, severing it from his body. He knew it would last only a moment, but the intention was to slow him down long enough to break out of the loop while he still had strength for a few moments to keep lifting his swords. Sure enough, the other warriors were left behind and he tried to rush past…only for the headless body to lash out and nail him in the stomach with an armored kick. The solid blows weren't nearly strong enough to stop him, even as he turned back into human form, but it did catch him and stun him long enough for the ice warrior, still headless, to snap out an ice knife and try to drive it into his side. Unable to guard against these, he had to snap back but in the process lost so much of his strength he had to release his swords to get out of range. Even so, he still gave a cry again as the knife sliced through his chest.

Takeshi was doing much worse. He kept springing out of one hole after another, struggling to keep away from the ice samurai. Yet they seemed so keen that they managed to nearly slash him at every turn. And when he did manage to spring out and drive his knife into their backs or across their necks, it was meaningless. Being made of ice, they didn't even react in pain and whirled around to try and take his head off, forcing him to run again. Finally, after popping out of one location, he leapt into the air, tucked his legs up, and kicked both in front and behind him, letting his powerful limbs smash one in the face hard enough to fracture their mask and the other to snap his neck as he tried to come in from behind. Stowing his knife, he quickly leapt into the ground again, popped out of another shadow, and then swung his leg out to shatter the ankles of another ice samurai, making him collapse. He dropped down again, and then leapt again in front of another and double kicked him under the chin to take off his head and send it flying. Another enemy tried to come in behind, and he meant to slip into the ground again to avoid it, only to fail. He had only a moment to gasp as he realized the clouds gathering overhead blotted out the sun...eliminating shadows. To Jiro's horror, as well as everyone else's, a sword flew out and, in spite of his attempt to avoid it, Takeshi cried as a slice was opened across his back. It wasn't fatal but with one hand already hurt, it had to be crippling...

Satoru was fighting as hard as he could, practically a blur as his kusarigamas danced around him. Yet the ice warriors weren't so easily swayed this time. The continued to press on him with those thick shields, no longer moving in slow but charging straight at him. And the power of the Sand Moth lay in his ability to attack at distance, not in maneuvering when they came at him. He managed to slash apart one shield and expose the ice samurai beyond only to have his partner come in from behind. Quickly, he spun around and slashed out with both scythes, cutting through the shield and into the warrior beyond enough to stop his charge, but it left him open to the original opponent coming forth, now unimpeded, and trying to drive his sword into his head. He managed to move his skull to one side but a slash still went against his scalp, causing a "pained" jingle followed by gold blood staining his hair. Staggering from the blow, Satoru seemed easy prey as two more warriors came in for the kill. Right before they could land, he managed to swing his whips around and lash out both together, cutting through one…but leaving the other open. A moment later, he charged into him and checked him. Satoru stopped his weapon, but the warrior still crashed into the small man and sent him staggering back. He actually faltered to one knee, looking pained, and warriors around him again charged in to try and finish him. Gritting his teeth, he raised his kusarigamas, switched to the other side, and began to swing around the hammers instead, flinging them about more furiously than before. They had so much power this time they managed to rip through the shields and smack the ice constructs on the other side with shattering power, but quickly they started to adapt…

Takara was in serious trouble. It was simply growing too cold for her to fly any more. She had to go on the ground. She tried to dodge and move around from there, using her natural agility rather than flight. But it had been a while since she had been confined to the ground. The heavier hitters of the samurai didn't give her a break. Ones with axes came against her and swung their weapons down. Quickly, she backpedaled, leaping in retreat and using her footwork to get away from them, but they relentlessly followed again and again. Some of them leapt over each other's shoulders with weapons extended, trying to cut her in two. They attacked so fast and with such reach that Takara couldn't even try to go for their teeth anymore. It didn't matter if she did. The Tooth Dragon didn't have the power to break their facemasks without the power of her wings giving her extra force, and when she raised her jitte to defend herself, she gave a cry from the sheer power of the blow hammering down on her. It nearly disarmed her, leaving her open for another warrior moving in swinging his axe out for her. It was only because she was nimble enough to do a side cartwheel that she didn't get hacked and slashed. However, seeing this made Jiro tense up more than ever. Takara was already shivering all over. The cold was doing murder to her body.

She couldn't take it much longer…and following her would be Satoru…then Takeshi…

They were definitely in deep trouble. What more, they were wasting time with this. Eiko was getting more and more out of control while they were struggling with these things.

Takeshi, trying to use the intact hand to weakly fling his kunai out, managed to get the latest ice warrior coming in inside his eyes, blinding him, but more were right behind.

"Nobuyuki! It's time!"

The Jolly Bear caught one ice blade in his bare hands, held a moment as the ice samurai tried to push it in, then gave a grunt as he snapped the blade in his bare palm and punched the warrior in the face, sending him staggering back.

"Time for what?"

"You know what! Your spheres!"

"I only have one left! It will take me twenty years to make another!" Nobuyuki shouted back as he continued to fight bare-handed.

"We either use it now or we're all dead! And so is the rest of Japan!"

Nobuyuki, in spite of the tension of the battle, gave a sigh as he backhanded another foe away. But on seeing all of his opponents simply springing back and launching at him again, he finally broke. "Everyone! To me at the count of three!"

In spite of the tension of the battle, the other members of the Jido no Hogu-sha heard the call. And they knew, based on what Takeshi had shouted, what was coming. It was actually a good thing they did so now. Jiro knew they didn't have much strength left for a burst to get them close to Nobuyuki. He readied his own power again, summoning the force and focusing it into his staff once again. He had to try and give the others an opening.

As for the big man, he reached into his vest while giving a shout. "One!"

A moment later, everyone got a "second wind". Jiro aimed his staff down and proceeded to burn off another quarter of his total power by discharging the biggest and fastest blast of ice he could manage, firing it not at his attackers, but those between the others and Nobuyuki. He couldn't hit everywhere, but his own opponents were only interested in keeping him from attacking them; not in stopping attacks like this. His beam slammed around the warriors and locked four of them in place as they were smashed to the ground and coated with ice. At the same time, Satoru wound both of his kusarigama chains around him and whirled them about furiously, turning him into a small, golden cyclone who quickly charged in. Takara, gritting her teeth, forced her wings to unfurl and, with all the strength she could put into them, made them flap as hard as possible to launch her off the ground and right for her foes. The power was considerable. She actually managed to break through the torso of the first one. Takeshi himself leapt over a stab meant for him and landed on the shoulders of his own opponent, then began to dash over him.

Nobuyuki yanked his hand out, his massive fist clasped around a sphere. "Two!"

Jiro immediately dove for the ground, ignoring the arrows lapping at his heels and slashing at his clothes. His long scarf was caught by one and ripped off, but he let it go as he went down. Everyone was now bursting through to unite with Nobuyuki, as he exposed his hand and what was inside of it: what looked like a glass, or crystal, sphere that appeared to be filled with sparkling snow.

However, this wasn't cold-based like with Jiro or Eiko. Nobuyuki was a bear yokai, but not just any kind of bear. A polar bear, a creature that lived very far from this latitude. And his family being from those northern lands, he had a bit of "northern magic" in him. Not a whole lot, but enough to where he could condense it and collect it from the energy that came from the ions of the Northern Lights into packets such as this, and then manifest it in the form of these spheres. It allowed what amounted to the same as Takeshi's power: teleportation by opening a door in reality. The only problem was that Nobuyuki wasted his only long range one two years ago. It would take him a hundred years to make another. Smaller ones such as the one he was holding weren't nearly as effective but he could use it to get them away from this…and get them all to Eiko's pagoda.

He held the sphere and waited for the group to come in a tad closer. The ice warriors, spotting this, spun around and began to charge at them, but it was too late.

"Three!" He shouted as he slammed the sphere down and shattered it against the ground.

Immediately, a flash of multi-colored light erupted from it, like a slice of the Auroras that were seen far to the north. At the same time, it seemed to make a part of the snow around them collapse; revealing a ring of the same multi-colored light. Not only that, but it opened not into the underground but into some sort of ice-filled courtyard. Jiro recognized it as Eiko's castle.

Quickly, Nobuyuki leapt inside. Takeshi followed soon after, followed by Takara flying inside, cutting off her wings to let herself fall in. Lastly, Jiro shot by and, as he did, lashed out with the crook of his staff. It snagged Satoru as he came up, exiting his spin but looking rather dizzy, yanking him into the hole along with the ice wielder.

It collapsed right behind them only an instant later, leaving the ice samurai standing there dumbfounded. For a moment, they paused and looked about themselves.

Yet that didn't last long. Giving a whistle for their mounts, they began to get back on their horses, reorganize, and then turn to start heading back to the pagoda.

Jiro, being one of the last to come through, and rather sloppily, almost tumbled out of the portal, cut off his flight, and as a result spilled to the snowy ground along with Satoru. The others weren't much better. Takara had her arms wrapped around herself and was shivering, Takeshi was too sore to stand up, and only Nobuyuki was already on his feet. However, as the young man blinked and got his bearings, looking around himself, he almost thought they had ended up in the wrong spot…

This seemed to be Eiko's courtyard, but it was radically different. The place was nothing more than one deadly-looking spire of ice and snow after another. Each one was cruel and jagged; the like of which Jiro hadn't seen since he had first met Eiko when her power was nearly out of her control. And it filled up everything, making a deadly, razor-sharp maze throughout the area. From where they were it looked as if they were on the other side of the front gates themselves, which had been closed once again. Ahead of them, they saw only spires of ice and the pagoda looming over it.

Slowly, Jiro grunted and got to his feet. In spite of his own pain, Takeshi, his hood pulled back and revealing his ears, yet too sore to put it back on, rose as well. He was followed by Satoru, who joined Takara at her side. For a moment, the five looked about in awe and fear at the sight about them. Satoru raised a hand and pointed. The others followed suit, and noticed something they hadn't seen before.

Some of the cruel ice wasn't meant as a blockade, but had enveloped what looked like three of the samurai. Only their heads, necks, and hands were sticking out. However, they looked to be in serious danger. Not surprising, considering they were covered with ice. They were already shivering uncontrollably and probably descending into hypothermia. In this weather and in their current situation, it wouldn't be long before they froze to death. And as they stood there looking at them, they heard another cry of alarm. The five snapped their heads forward and realized the sound was coming from the other side of the ice walls.

Jiro, realizing that his lessons had made Eiko more capable of bringing death than ever by teaching her control, was horrified. For once, the cocky young man's face was full of fear. No longer his smug self or casual attitude, he took off, rushing for the source of the cry.

The others paused only a moment before forcing themselves to go along. Sore, injured, and weak as they were, they couldn't help it now. Eiko was here. The only chance they had of stopping this was by stopping her and they had to hurry. The wind was raging, the storm flying, and the cold biting. Goodness knew if she had already killed the other men, or when the ice samurai would arrive to finish the job. They plunged into the ice maze right after Jiro.

There were a few twists and turns, but not many of them. The voices they heard crying out rapidly got larger, as they saw an archer or two on the ground, also mostly encased in ice. They thought of freeing them, but they couldn't yet. They had to stop Eiko first and then go back for them. They would only be a hindrance otherwise. Although the five were naturally fast, it turned out it didn't take even that long to come to a clearing right in front of the pagoda. They slowed in alarm at the sight.

The first figure they saw was a pale-blond woman with a kimono made out of ice standing with her back to the icy maze. They emerged at her back and she didn't notice them. Around her the ice towered tall and thick, surrounding the area in front of the pagoda. The castle itself was to her right with the bulk of the ice maze on her left. However, what caught the bulk of their attention was that there were three men before her.

One of whom was Nakamura.

From their position, it seemed Nakamura didn't notice them either. He and his men were too focused on Eiko. Each one of them had weapons drawn, but were tense and nervous as she stood before them, both of her hands extended, her fingers out, and ready to use her power. A moment later, one of them tried breaking off, at least making more targets for her. He didn't get far. With a single gesture, chains of ice formed out of the ground, lashed forward, and snagged around his limbs and neck with such weight and force that he gagged before he was yanked to the ground. They quickly retracted and held him there. Another warrior tried using the chance to move in, but Eiko answered by extending her other hand. Spires of ice, each one sharp as a needle and thick as a gibbet, erupted from the ground and sliced through the clothing on his limbs, leaving him suspended in midair and letting his hands snap and dangle, dropping his weapon to the ground.

Nakamura was left alone. And in spite of the bravery and honor of the man, and his best attempt to look determined…there was fear in his eyes. He stood off before Eiko for a moment, as the woman, her own icy blue eyes burning, focused on him and started to advance. He clearly didn't know what to do. He couldn't let her get close, but he couldn't make a move without a reaction.

Finally, he tried to go for it. He turned to one side to run, and a wall of ice lined with spikes to pop up in his face. He barely halted before he ran on them. Digging his feet in, he tried to spring back and retreat the other way only for another wall of ice with spikes erupted. A third popped in behind him, and soon he found himself trapped in a deadly box. The only opening was one that led him right to Eiko.

The daimyo continued to glare as she kept her hands aimed at him, still approaching.

"Swear you'll leave me alone and never come back or send anyone else in your stead." She stated. "Then I'll let you and your men go."

Nakamura looked about a bit, but then wheeled back on Eiko. His fear only lasted a moment before a fire lit in his eyes.

"Never."

Eiko grit her teeth. "Don't be an idiot, Lord Nakamura! Just walk away!"

"I owe loyalty to the emperor and the shogun, not you!" Nakamura retorted, growing bolder. "I won't dishonor it by running away in cowardice from a woman!"

"You fool!" Eiko retorted, sounding genuinely angry and bitter at that; causing her power to swell. "Why aren't any of you understanding?! I don't want to hurt you! Don't make me! Give up your stupid pride!"

"It's called honor, demon." He coldly retorted. "Something a spineless fugitive like you would know absolutely nothing about!"

Jiro knew that had hit a nerve. Unable to see Eiko's face, he could tell it was filling with uncontrollable fury. The storm raged harder around her, the snow whipping up stronger and more fierce. The ground began to form ice about it in her wake. He didn't think she wanted to hurt Nakamura, but her emotions were totally out of control again. There was little telling what she would do.

Therefore, instead of trying to sneak attack, before any of the others could draw a bead or strike on her, he found himself shouting.

"Eiko! Don't!"

There was a split second where he saw the woman freeze. For a moment, the snow around her fell, the wind ebbed, and her hands faltered, clearly from recognition and a sudden calmness…

Yet it didn't last. She was quiet and still, but as she remained there she traced something with one finger, and made a fourth spiked wall erupt around Nakamura, completing the box and holding him in place…

Then, eyes filled with passion and fury as well as hurt, she whirled around, aimed both of her palms at Jiro and the Jido no Hogu-sha, and let out an ice beam attack far larger and more dramatic than anything the ice user himself had ever managed.

It was only because Nobuyuki's hand reached out, seized him by his clothes, and threw him to one side before dashing as well that he was able to evade it. The others scattered too, and a good thing too as the raw power of the beam smashed through the ice wall behind it and tore it to splinters. Not only that, but massive, sharp crystals of ice were mixed in with it, and they flew through the air with such force that on colliding into the ice wall they further demolished it; all while jagged spikes erupted from the ground and tried to impale whoever was there.

To Jiro's shock, that hadn't been an incapacitation move.

It had gone for the kill.

At this point, he and Nobuyuki were on one side of the destruction and the others were on the opposite. They all turned and looked to her, but while most of them were fearful and gearing up for more, Jiro was motionless.

"Eiko, what are you doing?"

However, the woman's fury hadn't changed as she clenched her teeth and glared at him. A moment later, her hands extended again and showers of deadly icicles ripped out of them, aimed not only at Jiro but at the others. Quickly, they went on the defensive. Takeshi couldn't teleport, so he grabbed the flightless Takara and leapt for it while Satoru swung his kusarigama around again to start knocking the ice from the air. Nobuyuki himself flexed and gave a yell, turning himself into a living shield. But although the ice shattered against him, he grimaced from each blow. As for Jiro, seeing the deadly shards incoming, he held until one tore his clothing and opened a bloody slash under his robe. "Snapped awake" by the sudden pain, he had no choice but to take off into the air, but she immediately fired at him from there too.

"You!" She shouted, as Jiro was just able to see tears forming in her eyes. "I trusted you! Damn it…I was such an idiot! I should have known all along you only wanted to kill me!"

Flexing her fingers, the ice darts suddenly grew larger. Satoru, in spite of his best efforts, couldn't stop them now, and one smashed into his head and sent him sprawling back with a splurt of golden blood behind it. Takeshi got raked by one over his existing wound, causing him to cry out as he just managed to yank himself and Takara behind an ice wall for cover. Nobuyuki grit his teeth through the increased pain, but was pushed back by the sheer force. As for Jiro, he had to bring his staff around and start guarding himself with counter-strikes.

"That's not true!"

"You're lying!" Eiko bitterly retorted. "Akiko told me! You lied about the Jido no Hogu-sha! You lied about wanting to train me! You lied about caring about me! You lied about how you thought I was special or beautiful! You lied about EVERYTHING!"

Suddenly, she snapped her hands forward with a few gestures and, in response, the ice went from being shards to turning into huge, curved, cruel scythe blades. Nobuyuki cried out as one smashed into him, for it managed to draw blood from a wound in his side and knocked him clean off his feet and backward. The wall Takara and Takeshi had hidden behind suddenly shattered from the raw power. As for Jiro, he tried to deflect it while getting out of the way, but failed on both accounts. The power was too great. It smashed into his shoulder and torso and left a rather bad cut but mostly physical trauma as he was smashed so hard he went into a spiral. Losing his grip on his staff and his focus, he was knocked clean out of the sky and fell like a stone; right for the ice pillars. He wasn't hit in the head, so he managed to orientate his body around the worst parts, but he still slammed into the sharp ice a moment later, the pain digging deep into him from impact and leaving him stunned.

Grunting, he tried to rise, but only got his head up at first. When he did, he realized something. Satoru was still up. The little man managed to duck under the scythe meant for him, and when Eiko followed up with a second, he lashed out with his kusarigamas, wrapped them around it, and then yanked off of the object coming for him to get his body up, into the air, and sail over it. He landed a moment later, now in range, and kept charging forward as he lashed out with the kusarigama blades. They were both surrounded with powder; intending to put her to sleep even if they missed.

Eiko only balked at this for a second before she tightened up and swung her hand out, sending a wave of cold air over the extended weapons, freezing them solid and locking them as well as their powder in an ice lattice. Too large and awkward to control, Satoru showed surprise as they fell and hit the ground, shattering on landing. He slowed but didn't get the chance to stop before Eiko swung her hand forward again; causing a solid column of ice to form out of the ground and shoot straight for the Sand Moth. It was large enough to envelop his whole body. On impact it caused more blood to fly from his injuries before he crumpled up around the full-body collision, and was batted back through the air like a rag doll. If that wasn't enough, Eiko swept her arm up and a second column shot out in Satoru's path and smashed into him again. Even from a distance, Jiro thought he could hear bones break as Satoru was sent straight up into the sky from the momentum.

He came down a moment later, limp…either unconscious or worse…and looked to make another horrible impact. Jiro heard a flitting of wings and, in spite of the cold and energy drain it was taking her, Takara shot out from cover and flew into the air right for his path to intercept him. She managed to reach him about ten feet before impact, snatching him from the sky. Yet the weight was too much for her own weakened body, and she soon fell down as well.

Jiro grit his teeth and began to get up, as did Nobuyuki, still shaking his head. "Eiko, are you out of your mind?! You could have killed him!"

"That's not stopping any of you from trying to kill me, is it?!" She shot back bitterly. "None of you care if you 'kill the monster'! That's all I am to you! Something to slay! None of you will leave me be! None of you will just let me live here alone! And the more you come at me with your lies and murder attempts…" She grit her teeth in fury and reached for her head, grabbing it and seizing in frustration. "…the worse you make everything! I don't want to hurt anyone! But you aren't giving me a choice!"

Abruptly, Takeshi leapt out from behind one of the ice walls, shooting for another, and as he did he snapped his hand out and flung his kunai at her. It instantly split into ten of them; each one spreading out to take a different part of her body. She snapped to this in alarm but, luckily for her, Takeshi was just far enough away where she had time to cast a wall of ice around her, intercepting each and every blade before it could land. Still, some of the blades poked through the other side, indicating she had barely managed to stop them. Concealed behind the ice wall, Takeshi waved his hand, making each knife vanish except one, which immediately returned to him. A moment later, he leapt out of another wall and threw the kunais once more. Jiro could do nothing either to contribute or stop this, still trying to get up. He slowly pried himself off the ice and began to grasp his staff again.

As for Eiko, she kept a shield around one part of her body now, letting the ice shell intercept the knives this time. However, they nearly shattered it to get through to her on this one, and it was only by pouring more power into the defensive move and thickening it that she could stop it. As she did, she caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of her eye. She turned just slightly and saw that Takara had to be using whatever power her wings had regained to launch her in a lunge right for her exposed side, her jitte already out and aimed for her teeth.

She never reached her. The Tooth Dragon was moving fast and accurate, and yet Eiko didn't react with panic. Instead, she brought up another hand and shot out some ice streams, causing snow to materialize out of thin air and pack around both of Takara's wings. Both unable to move them now as well as weighed down, her face twisted in shock before she collapsed; the jitte going way too low and missing her entirely. She sidestepped one way, letting Takara's body fly by and crash right into the ground. Keeping the shield up with one arm, Eiko waved the other hand at her and soon Takara was enveloped in ice and immobilized as well.

Eiko looked back up, expecting another attack from Takeshi, only to get a thunderous roar instead. She actually loosened her shield in alarm as she saw Nobuyuki, fully in bear form, nearly foaming at the mouth in rage, barreling straight for her. There wasn't a single ice weapon that Eiko could throw at him to get him to stop. She stared at him a moment as he charged, showing distinct fear. But then, even as Jiro began to get his feet under him, he saw something that turned his stomach. She inhaled and exhaled, calming herself, before swinging her arm out at Nobuyuki instead.

The Jolly Bear had been prepared to slam through whatever attack she could produce...which was why he was rather shocked when it was his vision that went dim. A blast of cold air had immediately frozen the moisture on his eyes, rendering him blind. He inhaled sharply as a result, only to find himself being choked. Eiko had supercooled the air around his head that he was breathing in to practically freeze the air itself; freezing his lungs as well. Blind and distracted, Nobuyuki shot right by Eiko, who took a page from Jiro and slid on a sheet of ice she made under her feet to get out of the way, leaving him to crash headfirst into another wall of ice. His impact smashed it utterly and brought it down on top of him. A tremendous cacophony resulted as it buried him in an instant and sent an echo out for miles around.

Yet a moment later, the debris burst and the raging bear came forth from it, roaring again, his lungs obviously having thawed, and spinning around in rage to Eiko. Before he could even take a step, the woman made another gesture at him...

And, to the shock of anyone still conscious, Nobuyuki instantly collapsed like a stone.

Jiro was now getting highly nervous. His training had made Eiko deadlier, all right. She had pulled off something even he couldn't do. She had chilled Nobuyuki's very blood in his arteries headed for his brain, causing it to slow and give it a lack of oxygen. As a result, he had passed out. Her control was getting better in spite of her rage and the side effects…

Takeshi leapt out again, once more planning on flinging a knife at Eiko. She snapped to him in surprise, looking caught off guard, when something odd happened. It was the Ghost Hare who actually hesitated. Jiro couldn't see it that well from his position, but he managed to catch a glimpse when he turned in the light just right. To his amazement, from Takeshi's point of view, he saw not one but at least four Eikos. The ice-wielding daimyo had actually orientated every flake of snow and ice she was blowing around, and made them reflect her, causing illusionary images. Takeshi could still make out the real one but not instantly. And his moment's hesitation cost him as Eiko snapped her hand out and gestured at him. Immediately, a much longer and thicker chain of ice than the one that had immobilized the samurai before lashed out, shot through the air, and smashed its heavy end right into the Ghost Hare while he was still moving between spots. The end result made him cry in pain as he felt the solid blow strike him, bending him around the length of chain, before it expanded to attach to him. Immediately, it yanked backward when Eiko pulled an arm back, causing the chain to recoil and draw toward her. As it did, she held her other hand in a fist, gathering more of that cold energy into it, and then raised it to fire as he came in like a fish on a hook…

When, abruptly, Jiro slammed down in the ground in front of her. She gasped on seeing him, losing control of her power, and releasing both the chain and energy she was gathering, causing Takeshi to snap through the air and crash into another ice wall, but at least not get killed outright. As he slumped to the ground, Jiro swung his bo staff up to respond to the woman, who was raising her hands to aim at him and fire. A moment later, the staff forced her wrists and hands into the air, just as she let out a blast of icy energy into the sky. As for Jiro, he focused his own power, and quickly put ice shackles of his own on her wrists and his bo, attaching her to the staff. Gritting her teeth, Eiko immediately tried to break loose. Yet the young man merely glared at her and held on, keeping her arms up and away from hitting anyone else.

"Stop it right now, Eiko! Did you forget what I told you?! You were going to try and hit him with your energy directly! Keep this up and you're going to kill somebody!"

"What does it matter to you? You think I'm a monster no matter what I do! Just like everyone else! You'd feel better if I was dead!"

"No, I wouldn't!"

"Liar!"

Eiko's hands flared again; this time shooting out cords of ice. In a flash, they whipped out and off of her palms, swung through the air, and lashed around Jiro's neck, instantly pulling tight. To his shock, not only did they choke him, but they soon tightened to try and cut off his carotids. He realized if that happened he'd be down in seconds. He couldn't risk that but he was still attached to Eiko. Reluctantly, he broke off his attack, swung his bo loose to remove the shackles, and broke the cords around his neck. As for Eiko, she used her freedom to start throwing ice darts at him at close range. Quickly, the young man backed up after freeing himself, swinging his staff around in circles to deflect the attacks. After a few blows, they were both at a distance from each other…and both glaring at each other hard with their respective weapons ready. A moment of silence passed.

Finally, Jiro, panting a bit, exhaled and spoke more quietly.

"Alright…I admit it. I did try to trick you at first. I pretended to surrender and lied about the Jido no Hogu-sha so I could catch you off guard and knock you out, then take you back to Arender-ken. And that's all."

"You honestly expect me to believe that? You expect me to believe anything anymore? Every time I try and trust someone or take them at face value I either end up hurting them or they hurt me!"

She flung her hands out again, this time firing lances of ice at Jiro. He struggled to deflect them again but it wasn't so easy this time. He was already nearing his limit from using too many ice beams, and each blow hurt him and pushed him back more and more. Some of the lances came close to hitting him in his fingers, and if they pierced those...

Over the din and the sounds of ice colliding and crashing, however, he forced himself to shout.

"Fine! If you want to hate me, hate me! If you don't want to trust me, then don't trust me! But at least calm down and stop this! No matter what you say or what you're feeling, I know you well enough now to know you don't want to become a killer! And that's what you're risking the longer you draw this out!"

"Why should I listen to anything you have to say to me?" Eiko retorted as she pushed even harder and faster, making the lances bigger and causing Jiro to strain and buckle even more. "Why should I trust a single word of yours now or ever again?"

"Because you're smart enough to know it's true even without me telling you!" Jiro shot back as he continued to feel his arms ache and weaken. "Because you don't need anyone to tell you what you're feeling! You're intelligent enough to already know! And you're scaring yourself right now with every move you're making!"

Gritting her teeth even more fiercely than before, Eiko paused in her attacks just for a moment to bring her hands together, forming a large and highly irregular and jagged ice crystal, before launching it with the same velocity as the spears at Jiro. His eyes widened, and he tried to bring his staff to block, even bringing some power out to do it, but it didn't come fast enough. He was too drained. Instead, on hitting him, it smashed into his staff and knocked it aside, then crashed into the rest of him with enough force to make him loosen his grip. He cursed to himself mentally as the staff came tumbling out of it, again removing the bulk of whatever power he had left. Yet Eiko, not satisfied with that, made another gesture. As he went flying back into one of the remaining intact ice walls, sharp poles of ice ripped out of the ground and went through the clothes around his limbs, proceeding to pin him to it the second he slammed into it. None of them were too gentle, going through his skin and slicing his flesh as well, but he grit his teeth and bore through the pain, even as he now found himself immobilized and helpless.

Forcing it down, he began to speak again.

"You're afraid…" He managed, even as Eiko kept her hands aimed at him and started to advance. "You're afraid of everyone hating you…of branding you as something terrible… You're scared that that's all you're ever going to become… You want to drive people away from you…but it's getting to be too much for you, isn't it? The more power you put out, the closer you're coming to killing again… And that scares you, doesn't it? Because you're not a demon…and you don't want to kill like one…"

Eiko slowed a bit in her step, but her look was still fierce as she closed the rest of the distance to Jiro. Managing to swallow back the pain, he raised his head and looked at her. In moments, she was nearly face to face with him. He swallowed.

"Eiko…I meant what I said…how you're going to make something beautiful one-"

A loud smacking sound rang through the entire ice maze as Jiro's head went to one side. Having cut off her power momentarily, Eiko extended her hand instead to slap him across the face. Her own expression tightened in fury as tears started to well up again.

"Shut up…shut up…shut up!" She choked out. "More lies! All you can do is lie!"

In spite of the shame he was feeling and the situation, Jiro snapped his head back around and looked at her just as fiercely.

"It's not a lie!"

It was so sharp, so serious...more than any words Jiro could ever recall saying...it actually caused Eiko to be silent recoil a bit. Her look to ebbed ever so slightly.

"I told you that I wanted to find your weakness at first, and that's the truth…but so is everything else! You're a smart woman! Don't you think that if I really wanted to hurt you I would have done so? Do you think I didn't have dozens of chances? Yes, I thought you were a monster or a demon at first because that's all anyone had told me! But when I met you and talked to you I realized just how great of a woman you were! How strong you were! How intelligent! How you were dealing with a problem too large for any one person to face and trying to tackle it all by yourself! How you were doing the best you could to try and protect people! How everything you've done to yourself and all the personal torture and isolation was because you couldn't stand to hurt other people!"

As the woman listened, her anger slowly began to subside. It remained somewhat but as Jiro spoke the tightness in her face slowly eased, and her scowl slowly loosened. Her eyes, previously filled with fury, began to soften. The tears that had been forming before remained present, but her hand slowly relaxed…and even lowered…

"Eiko, you're one of the greatest women I've ever met! You're a wise and capable ruler and you have the power to bring the same magic you've brought to yourself here to everyone! You're smart enough to realize everything else so be smart enough to realize that! That there's good and potential in your power! If you want to destroy me for what I've done, then go ahead and do it because I deserve it! But please…stop this after you're finished! Not only are you not a demon, you were never meant to be a demon! You were meant to be a goddess!"

By now, Eiko's look has softened quite a bit. But on hearing that last phrase…Jiro could actually hear her gasp. Her hand pulled back and closer to her as she stared in stunned silence at what she heard.

"What…did you call me…?"

To be honest, Jiro didn't know why he said that…only that his heart told him to. And right now, he was too caught in the moment to stop talking. And as he went on, not only did Eiko calm down but the storm began to lessen. The temperature started to rise slightly again. It stayed freezing, but no longer the deathly cold.

"Eiko… I believe in you. I really do with all my heart. It is not your fate to do what you're doing now. To live alone and afraid all the time. To be something hated and terrifying. Even if no one else in this world believes in you, please…believe in yourself. Because I know that faith is justified. I'm more certain of that than anything else in this world. You weren't given this power as a curse but as a gift. Let people see it like that. And please…believe me when I say that. I have nothing else. No defenses. No power. I'm totally at your mercy…and I'm saying that if it takes you killing me to let you know that I'm telling you the truth about this then go ahead. In fact, if it will make you believe that…then I beg of you."

Jiro almost wasn't sure what he was saying. He had never talked that way before in his life. This wasn't like him. And yet…seeing her like this…seeing her face filled with rage and anger and yet seeing such terrible pain beyond it…he realized he wasn't just saying whatever emotion was in his heart. He was saying desires. He truly didn't care if he died if it made Eiko show who she was. Someone precious…someone who didn't deserve to die…

Wait…deserve to die…?

Again, as Jiro thought this, he felt his heart aching as it had that morning. Once more, the tears began to form in his own eyes. And for a moment…

For just a brief moment…

He realized that he had seen Eiko before the other day.

One of his forgotten memories slowly leaked its way out…and he realized he knew her for years.

But…how…?

"No! Akiko, look out!"

For an instant, Jiro finally experienced something he had longed for during the past two years; one of his memories slowly coming back to him. He realized he was regaining what he had forgotten. But a mere moment before he could fully remember it, it was gone again when he heard a young woman shouting. It wasn't Eiko. On the contrary, she snapped her own head up in alarm along with Jiro and turned to the source.

Unknown to Jiro…or Eiko for that matter…there had been four archers, and she had only disabled three of them. One of them had managed to get in close, hiding behind the walls of ice, but had been too scared to move in due to the power she threw about. But now that she was calming down he decided to take his shot, now or never.

Yet unknown to him as well…during this exchange Osamu had led Akiko to the window on the second floor, out to the balcony, and then out and down the side of the pagoda. With plenty of soft snow underneath, she landed easily, got up, and ran into the ice maze with everyone else. Between all of the yelling and carrying on that was taking place, it took no time at all for her to track down Eiko just as she finished pinning Jiro to the wall. On walking in on the scene she was honestly rather horrified to see how the Jido no Hogu-sha had been brutalized by her and her power. It made her a little afraid, but she forgot about that when she saw the one archer moving in. On seeing him moments from taking the shot, she had sounded out her alarm. Yet she wasn't happy with that alone. She immediately rushed forward to personally stop it.

As for Eiko, on seeing an archer an instant from shooting her, she quickly reacted by holding up her hand, taking aim, and letting a freezing beam of ice shoot from it, intending to freeze the arrow and bow to the point of shattering after being bent. Yet even as she loosed it, Akiko reached the man and crashed full speed into him, knocking him away and to the ground, jarring his aim and his bow and sending the arrow harmlessly off in one direction…

And also putting her perfectly in the path of Eiko's ice; getting struck right in the center of the chest.

Jiro saw it…and his normally white skin turned even paler.

No…

Akiko's own face contorted in pain as she clutched for her chest and she let out a moan before falling to the ground, collapsing behind the ice wall. Osamu, who had fallen far behind due to shorter legs, let out a gasp and charged out in the open to go for her. Yet in spite of that, the area was silent as the grave.

Eiko's own look had lost all remaining sternness. Now, she stared totally aghast and unable to move. Her arms had begun to draw in, her hands reaching for her lips in total horror. She froze before she reached there. She merely stared out, still as a statue, unable to move a muscle. Her eyes shimmered, filled with nothing but horror. Her lips trembled. Her mind forgot everything Jiro had said. She merely stood there terrified.

After a time, Jiro looked down to her. He could see only the back of her head. He watched as she slowly raised her hands a bit more, turned them over, and looked at them. He couldn't see her face but he dreaded the look as he knew she was staring at her own hands in horror.

"I hit her…" He heard her practically whisper. "I…I am a monster…"

Jiro immediately tried to speak. "Eiko…"

A second later, she turned to him, holding up her hands. For a moment, he thought an attack was coming, but it didn't. It was purely a stopping gesture. Not only that, but he saw her face for a brief second.

Tears were pouring from her eyes.

"Stay away…everyone, please just stay away from me! Don't come near me!"

The darker persona was finally gone but Jiro felt no comfort at all from it. Only horror at seeing Eiko devastated. He tried to stop her by shouting, but his attempt to call out to her went unheeded. Immediately, she took off back for the front of her pagoda. She didn't hesitate for a moment as she made the doors fly open, ran inside, and then not only shut them behind her but quickly coated them with thick, irregular ice. Not only that…but ice quickly began to fill every last window and entryway into the pagoda, sealing it off all together. Even as it did, the storm grew more biting and cold overhead once again; the end result of Eiko's emotions flaring out of control yet again.

Jiro was left hanging there no longer caring about his cuts and injuries. His eyes were on the sealing doors, his own look full of pain and hurt, but more at Eiko's suffering than anything else. And this time, he could see no way to ease it for her.

To be continued...