Frozen Heart, Burning Heart (3)
The advantage of striking first is that you seize the initiative. You choose the target, the timing—even the method of attack.
The one forced to go second, by contrast, can be certain of nothing, and so has no choice but to move reactively.
The first-mover's edge is clear. But whether it could close an absolute gap in power... well, that was another question entirely.
"Let's see you give it your all."
Thud!
The heavy crack of a staff rang out. In the next instant the forest shuddered, and a barrier surged up between them, splitting the two apart.
A wall of absolute ice, harder than steel, rose before Ifrit. Yes—it was always this wall that had stopped her. She had never once been able to cross it.
A wall of despair I couldn't scale no matter how badly I wanted to, couldn't shatter no matter how hard I tried. But now...!!
Fwoosh!!
Flames surged. Bolstered by Zion's buff, Ifrit's fire scattered a heat beyond anything she had ever produced.
Even so, the gulf between the Ice Emperor and Wildfire was unmistakable. Without the buff, she wouldn't have lasted five minutes.
With Zion's buff, I can win. I know I can...!!
Her swelling power and confidence became kindling, and the flames roared higher—a heat so fierce that even the Ice Emperor's frost could not endure it.
The ice barrier he had been certain would never break crumbled in an instant, and El's eyes wavered.
The fire devoured even the last remaining shard of ice, then bared its scorching fangs toward its next prey.
A colossal wall of flame surged skyward. Yet even in the heart of that inferno, El's eyes remained cold and still.
It was remarkable growth, no question. But if he fell to something of this caliber, he wouldn't even qualify as a High Ranker—let alone one of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors.
The moment the Ice Emperor's hand touched the flames, that searing heat vanished as if it had never been.
"Is that all you've got?"
"As if."
A sneer ghosted across her lips. But her spirit remained unbroken. The brief silence shattered as fire and ice collided once more.
Watching from a short distance away, Rin found herself marveling once again at the sheer power of Zion's blessing.
The gulf between the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors and a High Ranker was greater even than the gap between a Ranker and a High Ranker. A sky above even the sky.
Even those paltry restrictions that wouldn't ordinarily qualify as a handicap are actually taking effect—and that's entirely thanks to Zion unnie's buff.
If Zion hadn't given her that buff, the fight would have been over from the start. The flames would never have crossed that wall. The Ice Emperor would have sat there and achieved his goal without the slightest difficulty. That was how absolute the gap had been.
And yet right now... that absolute gulf she had believed could never be closed had narrowed by a meaningful degree.
Even the Ice Emperor, one of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, could not deny it. El clicked his tongue.
"I figured you'd try some kind of trick... but I never expected this. It's like I'm looking at a different person."
"..."
"But that's exactly why you can feel it now, isn't it? The gap that will never close."
"Yeah. Damn it, you're right."
Zion had not only gone along with her unreasonable demand—she'd even given her an enormous buff. A debt Ifrit could never repay in a lifetime.
But it wasn't enough. If anything, the gulf between herself and the being standing before her was clearer now than it had ever been.
Even after all this, that cold wall showed no sign of yielding, and her heart threatened to break the way it used to.
But this time was different. She had been given too much to quit on her own terms. So she would see it through to the end.
"Yeah, the gap's still huge. But you know what?"
"...?"
"It's not unbeatable. If anything, this is way more doable than it used to be!"
That fighting spirit that refused to settle for the present and always reached for something higher—that was precisely why they were Rankers.
All this time, Ifrit had unconsciously held her flames in check, afraid of being consumed by her own fire. But she didn't need to anymore. Zion's buff had given her the defense to withstand her own flames.
Her fire answered her fighting spirit. She drew the flames she had been suppressing all the way to their limit. And the result was...
"...Blue fire?"
Blue Flame. The unstable, flickering crimson had been refined into something that could not even be compared—a flame that burned clean, true, and impossibly pure.
Cloaking her entire body in it like armor, Ifrit wrung out every last ounce of her remaining strength and charged at El.
An ice wall wouldn't stop this. The judgment had barely formed before a gauntlet of ice began to crystallize along El's left arm.
"Ice connected directly to my body is in a different league—in both cold and hardness. You already know that, don't you?"
"..."
"A pointless question."
There was no hesitation in those eyes. Confirming that, El clenched his fist and swung.
A colossal blast shook the golden forest to its roots.
Hissss.
The steam rising from the melting ice began to thin. Only then could Zion and Rin finally see.
The Ice Emperor, standing unshaken amid the rising heat. And Ifrit, collapsed cold upon the ground...
"...Don't tell me Ifrit lost?!"
"She didn't."
"What?"
"Look closely at the Ice Emperor's left hand."
Rin shifted her gaze to the Ice Emperor's left hand, just as Zion had said. And there it was—a faint wound on his palm.
Zion and Rin ran toward the fallen Ifrit. Even so, El made no move to stop them. He simply stared at the faint burn mark etched into his left palm. Zion looked at him and spoke.
"A distinguished member of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors wouldn't stoop to going back on his word, I trust?"
"...There's a thorn in your words."
"You did that to one of the few friends I have. Even someone as gentle as I am is bound to get angry."
A bright smile curved her lips, but her eyes were ice-cold. At that, El's own smile turned bitter.
"I'm glad she's found a good friend. Unlike her sorry excuse of a father."
"Rin, I'll leave Ifrit and Fafnir to you."
"Yes, Zion unnie. Leave it to me!!"
Fafnir, who didn't want to be separated from his mother, even shed tears as he tried to resist—but he was no match for Rin's strength.
Rin slung Ifrit over one shoulder, grabbed Fafnir by the scruff of the neck with her other hand, and headed out.
Now only two people remained in the golden forest: Zion and El. Only then did El open his tightly sealed lips.
"There's a saying that an adventurer who dies peacefully in bed isn't a real adventurer. I hate that saying more than anything."
"...So that's why you tried to drag Ifrit away by force? To keep her safe?"
"You already know, I assume. The guilds have been waging a fierce underground war over the Floor of Beginnings."
Wait, they have? I had no idea.
Zion knew nothing about the Tower's ecology or its political landscape, but she saw no reason to let that show. Fortunately, El didn't notice. He was simply staring at his burned hand with a bitter expression...
"I lost the wife I loved to the betrayal of a dear friend. I only wanted to protect my daughter so I wouldn't lose her too."
"..."
"...I never imagined that tiny child would have grown this much already."
"How could I possibly fathom a parent's desire to protect their child? However..."
"However?"
"Someone once told me that a child is not a parent's possession, but a companion walking the same path."
At first, he wanted to deny it. No—flaring up would be the more accurate word. A possession...? Who would ever do such a thing.
But the words wouldn't leave his lips. Under the conviction that he was right, he had forcibly suppressed his daughter's freedom. He had even tried to drag her away by force. Even if it had come from good intentions—could he really deny that those words were true?
"Of course, showing a child their mistakes is also a parent's duty... but hasn't she already proven herself firsthand?"
"..."
"Please... try to believe in her a little more."
"For all that, wasn't most of the power she just showed thanks to your buff?"
"Th-that's, well..."
"I'm joking."
Zion looked at El without a word. Reading the protest in her eyes, El found himself chuckling despite himself.
She still had a long way to go, of course... but even setting aside her companion's power, that last display—Blue Flame, was it? If she could fully master that, he might be able to rest a little easier. The road ahead was still long and hard.
But it would be all right. Because at that child's side were companions this strong, this worthy of trust.
Zion was startled. She had never expected him to bow his head and address her with such formal respect.
But in a way, it was only natural. Even if his methods had been wrong, he was still a parent.
A parent will do anything for their child.