"Hahahaha this is it. The might of a devil. Feel it, Vermin!"
Gretnat laughed crazily as his body deformed in a frightening manner. Fuyerhan stabbed her sword into the floor, releasing a powerful magic. Ice grew around the goblin only to be shattered the next moment. Yet it managed to slow down his transformation.
The nephilim looked around, anxiously watching the players. When her eyes fell on Watchful Eye, she almost wanted to vomit blood.
"What are you hesitating for?!"
The man grew even more suspicious but seeing how his friends had already done their parts, he didn't want to ruin the fun. He reluctantly complied with Fuyerhan.
As soon as all five icicles touched the floor, they began to swallow mana like five black holes. The entire island was affected.
Gretnat's transformation suddenly stopped. A black figure had begun to form behind his back, matching the black arms, but now it froze in place.
The temperature in the room dropped drastically. The first to suffer were the experimental subjects held in cages, their frail bodies succumbing to the cold.
"Expert, what's going on?!", sounded Cyclone's shocked voice as she found herself frozen.
Black ice began to form all over the room, even encasing the players' bodies.
"Dear viewers. Our party might have been tricked. Maybe this will be the last video I will ever release."
Fortune shivered, her teeth rattling, yet she didn't forget to add dramatic commentary.
Cyclone looked at her idol with shock, dreading the idea of never seeing a new video from Fortune, completely neglecting that they could simply respawn if they were to die here. She shouted at Liam while ice began to cover her legs:
"Expert, do something!"
Yet Liam shook his head with a sigh:
"You have made your choice. Now face the consequences."
Silver Blade chuckled, looking at Cyclone:
"Why are you so anxious now? Didn't you want to jump from Little Blue again?"
"Little...? Oh right! We can respawn."
Cyclone was visibly relieved. Suddenly she had the leisure to watch the show, focusing her eyes on Gretnat and Fuyerhan.
While the room slowly turned into a frozen palace the two NPCs faced each other. Fuyerhan clearly had the upper hand. Her sword had changed back to a wand which she pointed at Gretnat, directing black ice to grow on his body.
"Nephilim! How can you use the lord's black ice like that?! Stop! Stoop! What do you want?!"
The goblin was clearly panicking. He barely managed to hold on thanks to the black figure half-formed behind his back, its arms constantly shattering the black ice.
"What do I want? Only what everyone in this world desires!"
Fuyerhan gave a vague answer as she intensified her efforts. Soon a spot on the figure behind Gretnat took on a deeper dark colour.
Looking closely, one could see a flower of black ice growing on the shadowy figure causing this single spot to solidify. Fuyerhan's eyes lit up with determination. She suddenly flashed behind Gretnat and grabbed the solidified spot.
Horrific black magic assaulted the nephilim. Her sleeve got torn apart. Her veins were filled with dark magic, bulging like black snakes on her frail arm but not a word of pain came from her mouth.
Fuyerhan abruptly pulled her hand back. Gretnat screamed in despair as the nephilim ripped the black figure out of his body. Immediately the black ice overwhelmed him, sealing him away in a coffin.
Grinning brightly Fuyerhan played with an object in her hand which now took on the form of a black heart made from ice.
Finally, the scene calmed down. Fuyerhan put away the object in her hand as her gaze fell on the players.
"You lied to us! Damn you!", shouted Cyclone as she locked eyes with the NPC.
Yet Fuyerhan shook her head slowly.
"I didn't lie. I really am taking revenge."
As soon as she finished speaking the nephilim abruptly turned on the spot, swinging her wand. The weapon slammed into the ice coffin holding Gretnat with surprising power. The black ice shattered loudly, separating the goblin's body into pieces.
Luckily the black colour hid the sight of Gretnat's body.
Yet the players were shocked, knowing that they were similarly encased in ice. Cyclone looked at the NPC, her eyes blazing with fury:
"Noooo! My looot!"
Fortune narrowed her eyes. The ice already grew on her chest, but she had smartly raised her arms before they could be frozen. She immediately began to cast, gathering mana.
Only now did she realize that even the mana seemed to be frozen in the air, making her cast extremely tedious.
Suddenly the sound of something shattering could be heard. Fuyerhan glanced over her shoulder, noticing that Silver Blade surprisingly managed to break off some ice.
"Hmm. Maybe it is time for me to leave. Thank you for your help, adventurers. I'll be looking forward to working with you again."
Fuyerhan smiled without any mocking intent. Two majestic wings suddenly appeared from under her cloak, one white and one black. She flapped them with great strength, shooting out of the library and into the sky.
Immediately the guards of the island noticed her. Arrows surged towards the nephilim from all directions. But none of them managed to reach her. They got frozen in ice, falling to the ground, and shattering. The crisp sound resembled fragile glass panels.
Inside the library the ice had finally stopped growing leaving only five statues behind.
"Great, what do we do now?", asked Fortune with a sigh, getting an answer from Liam:
"I was prepared to wait but it was quite smart of you to protect your staff. You can just attack us."
The gorgeous mage gulped glancing at the remains of Gretnat. She was afraid of causing her friends to die an ugly death if she attacked.
Liam could guess her thoughts, reassuring her:
"Don't worry. Nothing will happen."
"Ok... on your responsibility..."
Fortune took a deep breath as she swung her wand. A small magical sphere shot towards Liam. Cyclone averted her head as a conspicuous sound of shattering ice echoed through the library.
Cyclone slowly turned her head back. She let out a sigh of relief when she found Liam unharmed with half of the ice broken.
Reassured, Fortune quickly attacked again, freeing Liam, who then helped his friends.
But as the veteran went to work, a rumble suddenly rang through the island, quickly followed by Seytor's voice:
"Adventurers, gather towards the castle!"
Liam immediately sped up his steps. Despite the icy, slippery floor he showed no signs of tripping as he broke the ice trapping his friends.
Soon all five of them were freed up, almost ready to go. But Cyclone remained indignant. She tried touching the pieces of ice containing Gretnat's body but there was no reaction.
"No! I won't go without my loot!"
Silver Blade was just about to attempt convincing her stubborn friend when a crisp sound of breaking ice echoed through the room.
"Here, catch!"
Everyone turned towards Liam. They watched as he grabbed one of the original five black icicles, throwing it towards Cyclone.
The mage was surprised, catching the item instinctively.
"Is this useful?", asked Silver Blade with a frown. She had already checked the item earlier, but it was a simple quest item without practical use elsewhere.
Yet as Cyclone now checked the item in her hand, its description said something else.
[Fuyerhan's Black Icicle
Category: Common
Effect: Freeze the area in a radius of 20m in indestructible ice. Everything, including you, will be immobilized. The ice has a duration of 10 seconds.
Charges: 3/3
Black Ice used by Fuyerhan to trap Gretnat. Was it intentionally left behind as a sign of good will? Or does it still hold danger?]
Cyclone hesitated upon reading the last sentence. However, eventually she couldn't waste a good item, so she carefully put the icicle in her inventory.
Afterwards the group quickly worked together to collect the other four icicles before finally heading towards the castle.
Getting closer they could feel the shockwaves spreading from a certain direction, indicating that the fight was quite fierce. The others also urged them in the party chat to hurry up and join the fight.
Finally, Liam's group came close enough to observe the situation. They found their allies fiercely clashing with someone.
It was a towering man in intimidating black armor, his square-shaped frame emitting pure power. The man had a human face, yet some black scales could be seen on his face. A tail was attached to his rear, stirring the air with every powerful swing.
Surprisingly the first Dark Herald turned out to be a beastkin of the dragon species, also called Draconian.
This was an increasingly rare species. Usually, they were extremely powerful but didn't often show themselves as they were generally disliked.
After all, Draconians are descendants of the worst kind of dragons, those that use their power to do as they please, even forcing themselves on others.
Born from such sinful relations Draconians experienced fear and disgust wherever they went. Only a few exceptions managed to carve out their own place in the world.