In just a second, he was immobilized, falling to the ground with his eyes nearly rolling back into his skull. He attempted to grab onto the surrounding brick walls from which he stalked us within the alleyway, but it was too late.
"Hmmmm… yeah, as I thought… I really don't like this place. The quincy is already watching us as if he's expecting us to come for him," I muttered as Wu quickly dashed into the alleyway, ready to fight.
"Huh? It's already over?" She pouted before disappointingly walking over to the unconscious body of the stalker watching us. We immediately unmasked him and saw that his horns had been sawed off by some kind of hot metal device… it was way too clean of a cut not to be.
"Where should we take him or should we just extract information from him now?" I asked, but Wu was already on it. A few runes underneath her cloak lit up a gentle purple before a liquid seeped into the man's mouth, traveling down into his stomach without any consent from his body. "What was that?"
"Truth serum… kekekeke…"
We waited for only a few minutes, but it wasn't long before the man woke up. He attempted to struggle against the ice which I used to bind his wrists and ankles, but to no avail, he didn't even make a crack. It was almost a bit pitiful seeing him struggle so hard yet do absolutely nothing.
"Okay, first of all, who sent you?" Wu asked kindly, bending down to his face and staring right into his soul. She looked and sounded kind, but there was a terrifying presence and motivation that was veiled by her shiny black eyes.
"Psh… you think I would answer you… just kill me. KILL ME!" The assassin shouted, ready to bite off his tongue. I looked at the woman who looked a bit confused as if she couldn't figure out as to why her god damn truth serum wasn't working.
"Wu… what happened?"
"U-Uhhhh… w-well, maybe it takes some time to kick in. Y'know, has to travel through his entire body and ummm…"
"We will have to wait an entire fucking day for that."
"It takes a day for that? Holy shit, I need to learn more about the body if I want to be a medicine in this world… Can you teach me?" Wu looked at me with eyes so pitiful you'd think she was just a straight up puppy.
"Absolutely not," I replied before watching the assassin slowly inch away from us. I already knew it, but he didn't have the conviction and determination to kill himself. But, why would a quincy allow such a person to be so close to him… was this a trap set by the quincy?
This could have been very well a trap set by the quincy. From what I've heard from witnesses, the quincy of the cold region is extremely sly. I needed to be careful in this area, but still… I needed this evolution material.
"Th-The… The quincy would like to talk to you…" The man muttered as soon as I stopped him by constricting the ice around his appendages even tighter. He groaned lightly as he waited for my response.
"You fucking-" Wu cocked her hand back, ready to beat the man to death, but I quickly stopped her by catching her punch. The assassin looked at me with a smirk, as if telling me to know my place, so I quickly kicked him in the nose, snapping it upwards.
"Ughhhh… you bitch! THAT FUCKING HURTS!"
"Yeah… I know it does… Anyways, we can't kill him. He's too stupid and powerless to have been sent here for a reason. I was going to meet up with the quincy anyway so I might as well get it over with now."
"Hehehehe… that's right. You can't kill me-"
The man wheezed as I kicked him in the family jewels. And as I brought my foot back, I looked down on him with a disgusted look. He looked back up at me with a horribly arrogant expression as well, but just the way he looks was… ugh… it was too gross for me to even describe.
…
Soon, I reached it. It was the place we were here for in the first place: the palace of the quincy of snow and ice… or something like that. I don't know, I didn't bother to remember. But since we were already here, there was no point in trying to remember it. I was here for a deal, not a name exchange.
As we entered the palace made completely of ice, we were led down various halls until we reached a massive throne room with a snow elf looking down on us from above. He sat on his throne of weapons and ice, looking down like we were nothing more than a pair of bugs before his eyes.
He had a royal ice crown, as if he thought he was the king of this place. I'm sure the demon lord had to put him in his place once in a while, otherwise he might try and start an uprising within this massive empire of war and bloodshed.
"I thought I was meeting a single girl… not some other skank. What… did you come here to beg for money or something? Shoo, I have no time to deal with you-"
Wu's bloodlust immediately exploded out, but before she could start running towards the man, I caught her and tied her down with ice. She attempted to worm her way out, but the way I tied it and froze to lock it… was impossible to escape without being stronger than me.
Wu was a strange character. I guess being a type of princess checks out for her massive ego and snappy attitude… but the way she immediately initiates attacks upon insult makes her seem like she is extremely strong. In reality, most attempt to calculate their situation, just to make sure they won't get packed as soon as they meet somebody new.
"I apologize for my friends outburst… but that's besides the point. I have come here to offer you a deal…"
"A deal?" The man's snow white ears perked up. "Proceed… I'd like to hear about this deal… especially since it's a deal coming from a girl blessed by my lord… it must be good. What is it?"
He leaned forward, long sharp and almost dagger like teeth gnashing against each other. And the way his eyes nearly rolled back into his head created an impression that almost made me feel like I was talking to a pervert. No, he was definitely a pervert. He was even blushing right now.
"Okay… well, ummm… I request a Snow Elf Tear in exchange for-"
FWOOSH
A single whip of ice lashed out towards me. I easily dodged it as not only was I expecting it, but it was pretty slow in general… it almost made me wonder if this man was really that strong. Could I… take the title of quincy right now?
My eyes glowed a chilling white aura, causing the woman tied up next to me to smile. She stopped struggling against the restraints and just watched as I took a single step forward. My pupils slivered into daggers before I took off.
SHING
"Tch… you're faster than I thought," I muttered, seeing the man shield his face with his forearm coated in chilling ice. But it was slow. So extremely slow that when my breathing guided by the breath of my ancestor began to slow the world around me… it looked as if his powers were barely doing a thing. "But… clearly, you're not fast enough."
"[Throne World: The Ice Queen's Cocoon]."
"[Throne World: Concentrated Capsule of Ice]."
Both of our domains of ice captured a different piece of ice. Mine was a clear white with hints of a bluish tint while his was a dark blue, possibly representing the coldest of nights. It had stars and glimpses of yellow flashes as it poured out beneath the throne he was on.
Two sides of the throne hall erupted with two overwhelming concentrates of freezing ice, but mine slowly dwindled down, allowing him to overwhelm the rest with one big push… yet, mine didn't really dwindle down and instead concentrated into my daggers now pushing into his ice reinforced forearm.
"Y-You bitch…" He muttered, pushing his throne world to engulf me from every angle. It pierced into my neck, my shoulders, my triceps, and then wormed its way down my back. It caused me to bleed exponentially while I pushed as hard as I could.
"ARGHHHHH!" I screamed, blood streaming from my eyes and then… KSH. A dagger of dark blue ice pierced through my head, ramming straight through my brain and coming out the other side. Everything went black.
"What an idiot…" A voice cackled from afar and as the quincy looked down from his throne, he felt my double lighten and then drift away into a gust of snow. "My new skill that I acquired from obtaining the blessing of a demon god. It unlocked a new path in the runes on my back… [Ghostly Double of Past Fates]."