IMPERIAL PALACE, JAPAN

GLACE'S POV

Here I was once again in the gardens with Sapphire as she slid between the rows of spice and bamboo. While I did not want to admit it, she was beginning to frustrate me quite a bit.

"Mistress," I called out, "I believe we should return to your room. You are not safe here, not while the remnants of these invaders still travel around the world."

The female noble let me catch up to her, the black cocktail dress she was wearing untouched by the muddied plants she had shoved her way through. "Relax, Glace... I can take care of myself, you know."

I sighed, crossing my arms over the white leotard I wore. "Don't give me a reason to throw snowballs at you, mistress."

As she turned back around, my mistress was hit in the chest by a large ball of ice that sent her flying across the gardens into a small field of parsley. Turning, I quickly spotted the one responsible for this.

Wearing blue attire I clearly recognized as that of one of the ninja clans, the hair of this woman seemed to emanate pure ice vapor, the hair itself jagged and sharp. From her mask, puffs of similar vapor were emitted as she formed a dagger of ice in her hands, throwing it towards me as I ducked to avoid the strike.

In a flash, the air around both of us grew cold as my black pupils bored through the other woman, her blue eyes staring into my own white pair. "Who are you?"

The cold-artificing woman barely moved her torso as she and I circled one another. "I am Frost, and you are nothing more than a pathetic cryomancing copy!"

Crossing my arms, I cocked a blue-black eyebrow at Frost. "Excuse me? I've had these snow powers for a lot longer than you have, evidently. Now leave! You are not welcome in the Emperor's Imperial Gardens, especially not around his niece!"

Frost sneered at me, the cold air clearly emanating from her mask. "I do what I want, where I want, when I want, how I want, to whoever I want, and a pathetic worm like you isn't going to stop me."

I gave a slight nod before getting in a fighting stance. "Very well then."

Frost laughed as she produced a pair of ice daggers in her hands. It was clear to me that this would be a fight to the death on her part as snow began to build up around my fists, eventually forming into a very dense casing surrounding my hands as we advanced towards one another. Throwing one of the ice daggers at me, she formed another one in her hand as I swung at the overglorified icicle, shattering it with the dense snow surrounding my bludgeoning fists. Quickly surrounding myself with snow, I teleported to the other side of the cocky Cryomancer and reappeared in a swirl of flakes as I kidney-punched Frost, the snow surrounding my fists dissipating as I began to press on a nerve in her neck. Frost seemed to suffer a seizure of a sort before falling to the ground, the ice daggers formerly in her hands shattering upon impact with the dirt as she looked at me with a worried expression, the mask having fallen from her face.

"Please... Please don't kill me! I merely suffer from... Intermittent Explosive Disorder, that's it! I didn't willingly want to do anything to you!"

Stepping towards the fallen warrior, I slammed my foot down on her stomach, staring at her with the white irises of my apparently soulless eyes. "I'm not going to kill you. Simply get up and get out of my palace."

The ice ninja nodded and turned to leave, when Sapphire's dagger flew through the air, hitting her in the back. The poison barbs the jagged blade had put into it immediately began to work their toll on the Cryomancer, and Frost spasmed in death before lying motionless, her hair beginning to thaw as I turned to Sapphire. She stealthily dashed forward, retrieving her blade from in between Frost's shoulder blades before looking at me. I immediately noticed that her hands were bleeding, and quickly removed my armbands, tying them around my mistress's palms to stop the flow of blood. "What happened to you, mistress?"

"Nothing, Glace. I merely cut my hands on a piece of bamboo I grazed while running over here."

I crossed my arms. "Sapphire, I've been around you for long enough to tell when you are lying. Now sincerely, how did you hurt your hands?"

Scowling at me with a frustrated look, she answered truthfully from what I could tell. "I don't know, okay? Just get me a pair of gloves and I will use them to stop the bleeding."

Nodding, I quickly pressed my snowy white hands to her own, encasing them in a thin layer of snow that would numb and protect them while we went back to the palace to find a more permanent solution.

SERINA'S POV

As the snow ninja fought Frost, I watched as Nitya and Lamia stunned and restrained an unaware Sapphire. Looking at me, the princess watched as my appearance changed to that of her own, and though she tried to scream, Lamia stopped her.

"Now now, dear princess, you'll be among good company soon enough. Serina, you know what to do."

I nodded and turned towards the warring women before I felt something placed in my hand... It was a dagger. Turning, I spotted Nitya as she gave me a truly emotionless glare.

"Leave no one alive who could reveal our deception."

As my creator and the others returned to Outworld through a portal, I juggled the small blade a bit before throwing it between the shoulder blades of the retreating Frost. The Cryomancer's body trembled as she fell to the ground. Ignoring that, I extricated the poisoned dagger from her back.

As the two of us talked, we eventually decided that the best option would be to return to the Imperial Palace, in order to treat my 'injuries.' I knew, though, that they were less injuries and more a defect from my creation process. Though I was perfectly normal when I was in my original form, whenever I imitated someone, my hands would constantly be bloody. A lack of the sorceress's ability in my opinion, but then again, she had brought me to life with flesh, blood, and the soul of a woman.

As we walked through the rows of exotic and calming plants, a white collection of energy emerged from the ground directly in front of us. I and the snow ninja guarding me watched as within the beam, a figure began to form, one that solidified itself as a raven-haired woman wearing a noble's outfit. Glace immediately prepared to fight the mysterious stranger, but the woman raised her hand in a show of peace.

"Hold, Glace... I mean you and Sapphire no harm."

The snow ninja had no idea how the mysterious woman knew her name, and 'mine' as well, but this did not bother her. "Who are you, and what do you want?"

The magic noblewoman smiled. "I am Atraya, and I have come to gather together Earthrealm's defenders for the coming battle against the Forces of Darkness in Raiden's stead. Both of you are among them."

As Glace and Atraya talked, I mulled over this new information. "This is a new development... I will inform Nitya and Lamia when I get the opportunity to. Perhaps there is more to be learned from this..."

Turning my head towards the two other women, I broke up their conversation. "Well... Are we going to get back to the others now, or must I wait for both of you to finish talking?"

Glace gave me a surprised look as Atraya raised her hand. A large volume of white light surrounded the three of us as the gardens slowly faded away...

GLACE'S POV

As I watched, the surroundings changed from that of the Imperial Gardens to a dungeon. I was firmly surprised as myself, Sapphire, and the mysterious Atraya found ourselves standing in the remains of what I knew to be a Shokan. Spotting a bloody body shortly outside the circle of gore, I quickly ran to it, finding a warrior dressed in a karategi with a black belt.

"Raiden? What happened to your hat?"

Groaning, the young man got up, his attire splotched with speckles of blood. "Who's Raiden? I'm Parsek." He held a hand out to me, which I cautiously accepted.

"I'm Glace. This is my mistress, Sapphire. The woman in the noble's attire is named Atraya."

Atraya turned to eye both of us, and it was then that I noticed her completely white eyes. In the darkness of the gardens, she appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary human, but now that I saw her in the torchlight of the dungeon, I could tell she had some distinct differences. The blue-tinted skin gave me a possible idea as to what she was, but I would not bother asking her now.

"We must gather the surviving Earthrealm warriors. If we wish to have any chance of defeating the Forces of Darkness, all of us must make a stand here."

Focusing on Parsek, Atraya continued. "I know there are more warriors than merely this... Where are they?"

A ninja wearing full black attire spoke up. "One of them was taken to the camp of Empress Mileena. The other two are in the tunnels, eliminating members of the Black Dragon clan. The leader of this operation is one of the two in the tunnels, and if there are more warriors, she would know of them."

The mysterious woman turned and prepared to leave, but a yellow cyborg stopped her.

"If I may ask, where is Raiden? Was he not the one whose visions were to lead us against Outworld?"

Looking over her shoulder, Atraya quickly responded before disappearing.

"He is... around."