When she came to, Emilia stood within a foreign place. It was like the throne room of a castle, and the cold air around her stung at her skin, making her shiver.
'Where… where am I? What is this place? It's so cold,' she questioned as her eyes navigated her surrounding, noticing a man sitting on a throne with a banner of a polar bear surrounded by a thorny crown of white roses atop it.
The man, sitting cross-legged with his head rested on his hand, was dressed in pure white. It was noble clothing that was embroidered with blue ornaments.
He had short white hair and a youthful face of someone barely in their mid-twenties. And as his eyes opened, their blue yet cold glow were filled with such blood-chilling intensity that it made it hard to breathe.
With a low and cold voice that made Emilia paralyzed from the sheer pressure, he expressed himself.
"Who goes there?"
"Who dares interrupt my slumber?" the man added. "Know that I do not forgive impertinent creatures who know not their place. Begone from my sight this instant."
A spear of ice formed in the air, thrown straight at her without mercy.
Before the spear reached Emilia's heart, the man noticed a fluctuating energy around her shoulder that made him stop his attack.
'What is this? Who is that man? I'm scared. I can't move. I can't breathe. It's like the very air is heavy. What's… what's happening?' thought Emilia, her eyes filled with terror, yet her body was completely unable to move or even tremble.
She simply watched as the man rose from his throne, approaching her closer and closer with footsteps that were like a roaring thunder in her ears. When he stood in front of her, he uttered a single order which Emilia obeyed with no second thoughts or resistance.
"Raise your head, lesser," his eyes were like an abyss that could crush a soul just by being in their line of sight.
Emilia's breath became heavier and ragged as the man's presence was slowly crushing her mind.
"Well, would you look at that," the man said, his tone carrying a hint of amusement and curiosity. "It would seem that you were touched by the King?"
'Touched? King? What… what is he saying?' Emilia wondered, cold sweat running down her face uncontrollably.
"Truly interesting," the man said, slowly walking back towards his throne while Emilia felt a burden lifting from her shoulders, but her breath still caught in her throat.
'I need to get out of here, but my legs won't move. They're frozen in place," she thought looking down at her legs as she desperately tried to make them move or even twitch at the very least.
As the man sat back down on his throne, he observed Emilia before expressing himself again.
"I'll lend you my power, so entertain me, Little Queen," as he said those words, Emilia felt a sudden thrust in her chest.
As she spewed out blood from her mouth, her gaze lowered only to find a sword etched into her chest, her feet drowning in the pool of her blood.
'W-what? How did this happen?' she asked internally, her gaze becoming hazier as the image of the man smirking and chuckling in amusement in the meantime was replaced by deep darkness.
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Back in the area where Emilia and the twins were facing off, the cold breath settled, giving way to a landscape of ice which unfolded before Isaac and Theodore's eyes who were dumbfounded at the sight in front of them.
The trees, the ground, even the droplets of rain themselves were frozen, creating an ice sculpture like no other. And at the epicenter of the mana outburst, Emilia had a transformed appearance.
She had long, light blue hair and wore a combat outfit of white color and blue linings which included: a white chest plate with thin blue ornaments which formed a blue rose, high heels which complemented her white, knee-high tights, and a mid-long, white slit skirt with blue linings at its edges.
But before this white maiden, the twins felt dread knowing that whatever this form was, it would sign their defeat if they didn't deal with it.
Meanwhile, Emilia seemed to be in a trance. Her hazy and dazed blue eyes didn't even seem to notice the twins that were standing in proximity to her. While hugging herself by the arms, with an almost innocent yet unsettling gentle smile, Emilia only giggled as her thoughts focused on one thing:
"It's so refreshing. This power… It feels so good~!"
As if sensing the danger instinctually, the twins took defensive positions and then launched attacks on her.
"Oh!" exclaimed Emilia, tilting her head as she sensed the incoming attacks with an innocent and surprised expression akin to an ignorant child's which quickly shifted to a sweet yet menacing smile.
And as if in response to this, Isaac's attack was frozen on the spot while Theodore's attack was blocked by a thick block of ice.
"Shit!" cursed Isaac. "I wouldn't mind having one of your brilliant plans right about now, Theo."
"Shut up! I'm thinking about it," replied Theodore, his thoughts considering any possibility. 'I say that, but it's obvious that something's changed. At this point, the only realistic thing to do is…'
"Isaac! Combo attack! Now!" suggested Theodore while Isaac agreed with a nod, their anxious expression reflecting their desperation.
Isaac created a giant spike which he polished while rotating it faster and faster like a drill. During that time, Theodore applied wind magic to increase the maximum speed of the spike while also compressing the wind at one point of its base for more propulsive power.
In the meantime, still giggling as if she faced no danger, Emilia, with a single yet graceful and beautiful gesture of the hand, made a thin column of ice emerge from the frozen ground.
And as she grabbed it with her hand, the excess ice fell off from it, creating a small and thin double-edged sword resembling a rapier with a mixed white and blue colors.
Resembling a speed bullet that was fired from a canon, Isaac and Theodore launched the attack straight at Emilia at such impressive speed that it would have been difficult to follow it with the naked eye.
Unfortunately for them, still giggling in her own dazed yet amused state, Emilia raised her sword, a powerful yet beautiful blue aura surging and surrounding her before it started converging towards her sword.
And as the twin's attack closed in on her, she swung it down, releasing a massive cold blizzard that froze and stopped their attack while also heading straight for them.
"Fuck it," cursed Theodore under his breath while Isaac only muttered a single line.
"Guess we've lost."
As the attack hit them with the fury of an avalanche, only a giant glacier was formed with no sign of them whatsoever, the only confirmation of their defeat being the announcement that came afterwards.
"One participant has been eliminated!"
"One participant has been eliminated!"