"What 'chu talkin' about, Winter? Aren't you the Betrayer? And what's with the horns?" Terry Dyingstar couldn't help but to ask in curiosity.
"The betrayer? That's funny. He is the most brilliant and loyal dragon-slayer the Lunargard has to offer. I tasked him to spy on a secret organization who's been silently observing our faction for a while now. There's no time. I want to get to the bottom of this before I die. Besides, don't you think Blaze and Alistein deserved to know the truth, Winter?" The Emperor said, ashamed. His hands were moving in jerks in agitation but his determined eyes weren't wavering to do what was right. A thing he was trying to do ever since but always failed to do.
"I hold the same sentiment, Emperor. But before that…"
Winter pointed the palm of his other hand at Blaze before he squeezed it.
Shards of ice began to appear on Blaze's skin and eventually enveloped her entire body inside a big pile of ice, prompting Colleen and Kaiser to take a step away from her.
[Second Skill is activated]
<Second Skill: Cryostasis (Active)]
- The caster can put any target in a deep-freeze state and the ability will heal the target from any type of inflicted mental and physical harm. While in this state, the receiver of the heal cannot do anything nor receive damage in any way.
Cast Time: 2 seconds
Cooldown: 10 minutes
Draconic Energy cost: High
"Winter. What did you do to her?" Colleen approached.
"I'd be delighted to heal the dragon-slayer who protected the Emperor from his stupid son while I'm not around. Don't worry Colleen, she will be back in her best condition after ten more minutes. And I must apologize…" Winter shifted his attention to Kingsley.
"You're beaten badly yourself, huh? I cannot do this again for a while and I don't know this ability back in the dungeon if in case you will ask. Please understand, my friend."
"It's fine. I'm starting to get used to this by now. You don't need to explain that much. It feels kinda strange when you do that, bro." Kingsley offered his fist and Winter bumped it with his own with a comforting smile.
"Nah. I prefer that side of you, Winter. I always misunderstood your intentions if you don't explain things before you act. And it's suspicious and annoying," Colleen butted in after she felt uncertain about what Winter did to Blaze.
"Can Blaze hear us, Winter?" The Emperor asked.
"She can, Emperor. She can't talk back though. But I prefer it this way." The corners of Winter's lip tilted slightly upward.
"So everything is in comfort now that you're here, is that it? Do you think you can stop me?" Alistein pulled Winter's collar with his other hand. The latter displayed the widest grin they had seen he made in his entire life in response, amused at Alistein's provocation. Winter stared right back at the former's eyes and removed his other hand from his uniform's collar, his now holding both of Alistein's wrists. He was suppressing the raging killing intent he had inside, ironic to his calm exterior demeanor.
"I would actually like to see you try," Winter simply responded. Alistein's face turned pallid for a moment, not expecting the bloodlust Winter has for him. But the accumulated anger he has was too much for him to back down.
"Oh yeah? I'll kill you myself after I recover my full strength. That is if Jargus hasn't killed you yet before me, my father's loyal dog!"
"Enough! Don't direct your hate towards the wrong people, Alistein," The Emperor spoke.
"To get to the bottom of this. I must tell Blaze everything about Batarak," The Emperor added.
"This love story is making me puke!" Alistein removed his arms from Winter's now weak grip but sat in front of his father to listen.
"I don't understand. I thought you and the patriarch of the Estereon Family had a close relationship. Batarak even deemed you, Emperor Azaron, as a more worthy individual to sit on the throne compared to him even if most of the committee were urging Batarak to take the position for himself. Why does everything seem pointing towards a bad relationship between you and Batarak? I don't quite follow, Emperor." Wave Clamory who was already a Warchief that time finally managed to speak after the air became calmer thanks to Winter watching Alistein instead of them.
"You're right. We had mutual respect as great warriors of this faction who stood side by side in our era. But Batarak chose not to sit on the throne because he thought I'm more worthy than him. Even though those words came out from his mouth, knowing him, I could tell that's just for formalities. He did that because the best of his interest is not about overseeing the faction at the moment. Because of the emergence of the dragons, he formulated his own martial art, the dragon slayer fist. And promised to travel the world to improve it by challenging various martial art grandmasters," explained the Emperor.
"What? So formulating a martial art is more important than to oversee the faction he was fighting for?" Warchief Dyingstar reiterated in confusion.
"No wonder the Dragon Slayer Fist has an arsenal of overpowered techniques," Warchief Hastamvide commented.
"Indeed!" Winter concurred. "Me and Blake joined him in some of his quests. If he wasn't overprotective with Blaze, he will bring her too. But if you look at it, Batarak was confident to pull that kind of stunt because he can trust Emperor Rahnggabat to a great extent if he was to leave despite wanting the throne. My master, Batarak Estereon, thought he's sacrificing himself to develop the strongest martial art he failed to finish. It was his way to ensure the faction's survival against the dragons."
"That's right. Batarak is a warrior through and through. He became too strong for his own good. He can't accept that a better way of fighting is not the answer to our current predicament. I discouraged him. I'm afraid I will fail if he's not on my side but he did otherwise.. It's his pride… It's his pride that won't let him accept that a human has no chance to beat stronger dragons even with dragon-slaying weapons," The Emperor clenched his fists, regretting every once of what had happened as the Ember Tribe's corpse flashed through his eyes.