Herbs grew at unimaginable speeds into a sprawling grove from beneath the bed of snow. Their prehensile bodies wrapped around the soldiers’ bodies and weapons, immobilizing them, smothering and even smacking them out of commission.

Snow whirled in torrents from both Above and Below into a blizzard, and collided against the soldiers with a physical force to break bones.

Sister only stood there, looking up at Lord Hebo.

He scowled. ‘Be careful! A god in her own domain has a lot of tricks up her sleeves! It’s like if you were to fight me in the Yellow River—no, in the River Palace!’

The pathetic groans of his subordinates filled the air as he spoke.

‘But she is ultimately no god of combat!’ he shouted with annoyance. ‘Persevere and we will triumph!’

‘I think we have chatted enough.’ Sister lightly clapped her hands, and tall pillars of snow rose behind her.

The snow condensed and solidified, becoming clearer, until the pillars turned into huge icicles, piercing out of the ground.

‘The tea has gone cold.’

The icicles burst forth, headed straight for Lord Hebo.

He manoeuvred with ease to dodge each one of them as they approached. The shards of ice flew lazily past him into empty space.

But before he could smirk, six icicles instantly merged into one behind Sister. The resulting ice blade propelled itself at a speed much greater than the ones from before.

He turned to evade it.

But icicles surrounded him on every side.

An explosive collision.

Icy vapor fogged the battlefield.

An inhuman figure stood where Lord Hebo had been in the mist.

One side of his body had transformed into draconic form, glowing in a red, fiery aura.

A gigantic claw had captured the largest ice pillar within its grip.

‘...Why... do you test... my good intentions?’ he grunted as he peered down at Sister.

‘Did you have good intentions for Yu’er as well?’

‘…Is that her name now?’ he scoffed. ‘And you think I’m the one at fault?’

Another ice pillar formed behind Sister’s glowing form.

‘She cried because of you.’

The fiery aura flared. ‘It is. Not. My fault!’ he roared ferociously, as he threw the mass of ice within his claw at the incoming ice pillar.

An explosive impact.

‘Seize her’, he said as the mist cleared.

The soldiers’ attacks intensified with that command, becoming fiercer, and less reserved. A fiery aura lit up in their eyes, and enveloped their weapons.

Sister’s powers yet far surpassed theirs, but their numbers were overwhelming.

‘Sister!’

‘Yu’er?’

I stood at the edge of the battlefield, planting my feet as firmly as I could in spite of the fear that threatened to possess me in shivers. A deep trail dragged on the bed of snow to a disproportionate block of wood on a handle behind me.

The surreal image captured the attention of a group of soldiers closest to me, and their eyes turned toward me like beasts to an easy piece of prey.

‘Well, now!’ ‘Nobody told us anything about this cutie!’ They were all humans, and none of them recognized me.

I gripped the handle of my mallet.

‘What are you going to do with that hammer? Give us a back massage?’ ‘Can you even lift that thing?’ ‘How about you come with us and we’ll show you the kind of toys a little girl like you really ought to be playing with?’

‘So what d’ya say?’

‘…’

‘…What was that?’

‘…I said, you’re all just cake batter!’

I swung my sweet Sixth-g at the soldier closest to me, sending him flying into the air.

Chaos stirred as he fell upon the crowd behind him.

Taking advantage of their confusion and disbelief, I smashed my way into the centre of the crowd.

Soldiers flew as I passed, and soon enough I was standing before Sister again.

‘What are you doing, Yu’er?’ she said with a note of exasperation.

‘You taught me math, Sister!’ I grinned. ‘So I figured, two is better than one! Besides, pounding was always my job.’

Sister sighed. ‘I taught you medicine before all, and more is not better—but you’re right, pounding is your chore.’

The soldiers regained their composure shortly, and approached us both with much greater caution. We pushed them back, but there was always more. Even with my help, I soon realized that we couldn’t last forever.

So I decided to do what I had meant to from the start.

‘LORD HEBOOO!’ I screamed at the top of my lungs, and captured the attention of everyone upon the scene.

‘…Xuanzan’, Lord Hebo said as he reverted into human form.

The sight of his beautiful face gave me hope that I could makes things right.

‘I beg you My Lord Hebo, please stop all of this madness! This is wrong, and you know it, Milord! But you can still change it—make things right! Please, recall your forces, and we can’—

‘Nobody tells me what to do!’ he shouted, fixing me with a hot fury like he had never done before.

‘Besides… I am not your Lord.’

I felt like a hole had opened within my chest at that moment.

With that comment, he descended back into the midst of his men. ‘I’ll wait for you to finish at the back.’

‘But Milord, what do we do with Lady Xuanzan?’

‘Do what you will!’

‘We don’t need to…spare her?’

‘…Leave her alive. I’m sure Lady Heng’e will want her pet.’

Even though…

Even though I had prepared myself—

Every word he said still made my heart feel like shattering.

I collapsed to my knees upon the snow, and the soldiers all inched in at the opportunity.

I had no strength to wield my weightless mallet.

They closed in upon me.

But Sister stood before them.

Waves of snow shoved them back upon every side, and the cold winds began blowing faster, as the blizzard tightened, shielding us.

She shook me strongly. ‘You have to snap out of it, Yu’er.’

‘I’m sorry, Sister… I didn’t know—I don’t know!’ I cried, choking.

‘It’s alright!’ she said as she embraced me, and I embraced her back.

We stayed in that cocoon of wind and snow, as the soldiers outside whittled away at it with their attacks.

The cocoon grew thinner, and the blizzard weaker.

Until there was nothing left between us and them.

A human sun priest stood before us, his eyes staring greedily at Sister as he reached to grab her hand.

‘Let’s get this over with!’ he said—

Before an arrow pierced into his arm, tearing it from his body and pinning it to the ground.

A figure in long robes appeared before us.

He pulled out another arrow from one of his sleeves.

Sister cried joyfully at the sight of him.

And in spite of everything I had experienced, I felt a bit glad to see him as well.