I set my feet, felt the land under the boots, and let the clearing shrink down to a small circle of focus.
The forty statues spread in the clearing like a bad harvest, people frozen in ice, heartbeats still deep in their chests. I tasted the plan in my mouth: clean strikes, no collateral, one heart at a time.
Billion watched from the edge of the ring. He had arranged them, obeying my order, and he kept a small distance. Everything else was empty: just me, the targets, and the thin air that held all my resolve.
I started with the first cluster.
Eight bodies, spaced and waiting.
I activated [Blade Rush].
My body blurred forward, steps snapping across the ground faster than I could track. The first ice statue loomed.
I gripped the right blade tighter and let [Two Step Edge] flow from my limbs. My right hand shot down, carving a tiny channel into the ice over the heart. My left hand followed instantly, aiming to pierce cleanly.
The ice cracked violently under my strike, shards exploding outward, and... the heart shattered in a burst of crimson.
I stopped. Not clean. Not precise. One strike done. Seven to go.
I adjusted my stance, feeling the wind curl around my body.
"[Veil Point]" I muttered.
My muscles coiled, every fiber screaming for precision. I dove toward the second statue, moving slower this time, letting the ice settle under my gaze.
The tip found the seam I had prepared, slipping past brittle edges. The heartbeat faltered for a fraction of a second... then skipped with a jagged crack. Another failure.
The third target I approached again with the same strategy.
My eyes tracked every micro-fracture in the ice, every glint of bone beneath. This time I tapped into my law of Compression and Momentum. A tiny spall flew from the edge, clipping the outer rib. Not fatal, but wrong. I clenched my teeth. Control, North. Precision. The quest demanded it.
I took a deep breath and activated [Hidden Cleave]. The world slowed around me, but my body moved faster than ever. I stepped forward, blades in hand, eyes locked on the next ice statue.
I swung the right blade toward the heart, careful not to crack the ice around it.
My left followed, aiming to pierce the heart cleanly. The ice resisted, trembling under the strike. Tiny cracks ran along the surface. I felt the vibration through my hands, almost perfect, but not quite.
A small burst of blood spurted, and the heart splintered instead of piercing neatly. I cursed under my breath and stepped back.
The next statue didn’t wait for me to recover. I spun, sliding through the air with [Blade Shift], the wind carrying me past the shattered ice from before.
My right blade tapped the shell, carving a narrow path. My left stabbed. The ice cracked again, jagged and uneven. Another failure.
By the sixth, I moved slower, feeling each breath, each step. The tip of my blade found the tiny gap I had prepared. The heart gave a single, clean thump before stilling. Finally, one perfect hit.
And I continued.
Soon the first cluster ended. One success. Seven failures. My chest heaved, exhaustion biting at my ribs, but I lifted my gaze. Billion stood at the edge of the clearing smiling.
"You could do better." he said simply.
I nodded. One strike done. And yet... I could feel it, the edge of understanding sharpening in my bones.
I stepped back and exhaled, letting my mind slip into the familiar rhythm. It was time to go beyond speed. I activated [Hidden Cleave] again.
The world slowed around me, the air thick with anticipation. I could feel the wind bending to my will, guiding my blades like extensions of my own body.
I focused on the next cluster. Eight ice statues, lined up, chest visible through the translucent shell. I raised both blades, feeling the subtle pull of the [Law of Compression] in my veins. Tiny currents of pressure wrapped around each blade, amplifying the precision of every strike.
The first statue shivered under my touch. I let [Veil Point] guide my right hand. The blade stabbed forward, not a crack in the ice, not a shard out of place and pierced the heart cleanly. A soft thump, then silence. One down.
I slid forward, my left blade already tracing the contours of the next statue. Compression hummed through my fingers, the shell yielding exactly where it needed to. Veil Point carried the strike, and the heart still. Two down.
The third and fourth followed in a blur. I spun, shifted, tapped, and stabbed. Green light flickered across the ice as my blades moved, reflecting my relentless rhythm. The statues didn’t resist, didn’t move but momentum was high and they cracked.
Half a minute passed before the second cluster of eight was done. I’d managed only three successful hits. The reason was simple, my speed. I wasn’t fast enough to adjust the pressure between each strike. But I didn’t stop to think about it.
I rushed toward the next cluster, my feet sliding over the cleared ground. For a brief moment, I looked at Billion. His eyes followed my every move, calm but watchful. When our gazes met, a small smile crept across my face.
This time, I wanted to push further, to try the technique Dante had once warned me about. The reason the Hidden Cleave Art was feared, even among assassins.
I lowered my stance, drawing one blade behind me while pointing the other ahead. Essence swirled in front of me, twisting with wind until the air hummed.
"[Hidden Art: Flash of Eternity]," I whispered.
My heart beat once.
And the world stopped.
Everything around me froze in place, colors stretching into faint trails of green and white. My perception shifted into another layer of awareness, one where I could see only Essence and life force. The humans in front of me glowed faintly, their hearts pulsing like lanterns in a storm.
I took a step forward. The ground didn’t move beneath me, yet I slid through space as if carried by invisible currents. I became wind.
My blades moved before thought could catch up.
One heartbeat. One strike. Another. Then Another.
Each pulse of motion left faint trails of green light in the air. I didn’t count the swings consciously; I just followed the rhythm of those glowing hearts.
One.
I felt a twinge in my legs.
Three.
A sting in my arm.
Twelve.
A sharp pain near my ribs.
Twenty-three.
A deep ache ran through my chest, and the world began to tilt.
The frozen glow of Essence turned red, the flow twisting violently before snapping back into normal color. My senses collided at once, sight, sound, breath. And then everything went black.
I didn’t even feel myself falling until the crash came. My body slammed into one of the ice statues, shattering its lower half. The sound echoed around the clearing. I tumbled, rolled, and came to a stop face-down on the frozen dust.
For a long moment, there was nothing but darkness and the dull ringing in my ears.
Then I heard him.
"North. North, can you hear me?"
His voice was worried. I tried to answer, but my tongue felt heavy, my body numb.
"Dammit," Billion’s voice came again, louder this time, closer. "What were you doing?"
I felt his hand press against my forehead, warmth flooding through me like liquid fire.
"Verdant Extraction."
Light pulsed behind my eyelids and I felt fresh life breath in my body. The pain in my limbs began to fade, slowly at first, then all at once, like ice melting under sunlight. My breathing steadied, and my heart no longer felt like it was about to burst.
I blinked a few times. My vision cleared, and the blurry outline in front of me sharpened.
Billion’s face hovered just above mine, eyes narrowed, his expression caught between anger and relief.