FWOOSH

A blast of flames erupted from the ground, and I shaped them all into a myriad of weapons that rained down on the mammoth, just barely penetrating its skin.

Small wounds were left under my fiery weapons, but it would've done much more damage if the empress hadn't wrapped an invisible layer of ice over my entire body.

Geez… Fine then.

I don't know why you want me to use my ice powers, but I'm not giving you what you want… if you want to see, them, come down and fight me.

[Crown of Flames]

A crown of green flames appeared behind me, rivers of blood and vines flowing down it, creating an eerie sight that made the mammoth before me shiver.

"Seriously, folding under just this," I muttered and then melted the thin layer of ice folding along my body.

Instead of water or a liquid, particles of icy magic began to disintegrate from my body, leaving me a bit confused, but nonetheless, I continued.

FWOOSH

After gathering a mass of green flames that were now shimmering like a bright rainbow, I sent it flying towards the mammoth, and it completely negated all of its attacks.

The pillars of ice were melted into nothing, the spears of ice had cracked and shattered, and finally, the icy domain beneath my feet had completely disappeared.

Seemingly, the mammoth tried to let out a loud roar, but nothing came out of its mouth as there was a massive hole in its stomach.

My flames had melted through, revealing not only its intestines but also its skeletal system that was crumbling to ash right before my very eyes.

"Oh my… That doesn't look too good,"

And with the ringing of the system giving me a notification, the battle had ended… but it seems the empress wasn't satisfied.

I had been chained up, and just as I was about to exit the arena while being boosted by the cheery cries of the spectators, the empress called out.

"Wait," She ordered, her voice booming through the colosseum and leaving everybody completely silent.

As if time itself had slowed down due to her very presence, the light snowfall seemingly froze, and I could barely move.

Does she have some sort of authority over my race? Is that why I can't do shit before her… and is that also the reason why everybody else is completely frozen?

"Uhh… Hello? Is there something you need?" I asked the woman who I now realized towered over me.

She might've even been taller than Mia which I initially thought was impossible…

She didn't reply as she continued to walk forward, her head tilted upwards and her eyes looking down at me arrogantly.

It was a slow approach, but as soon as she stepped within a one-meter radius of me, she flashes stepped and grabbed my cheeks before bringing me in.

"Where is it?" She asked, her lips practically about to touch mine, but instead of a warm and fluffy situation, her cold glaring eyes made it not so welcoming.

"Is this how you treat your guest?" I chuckled a bit, but her grasp on my soft pale cheeks made me shut up immediately.

Goddamn… This is one strong ass woman… Is she even stronger than Mia? Well, I guess there is a reason as to why she is the empress.

"You're just a slave, don't try and act higher than you really are… And answer my question. Where is it?" She asked once again, but I had already understood what she meant the first time, and that was…

"I don't know. Somewhere," I said before smirking at her as even though she had authority over me, I wasn't about to give out these secrets.

Plus… I feel like I've connected all the dots. I just need a bit more time to tighten and confirm them because I don't want to make any loose decisions.

"Tch… Don't make me torture it out of you, kid," She said, trying to be as threatening as possible, but when you know the threat isn't really there, it's hard to be scared.

"I'm tryna eat my steak, so if you could kindly let go of my face, that would be amazing,"

"*sigh*... What a foolish little girl… Fine, I see what game you're playing because it seems you've already figured out that I can't harm you… to a certain extent," She smirked before working her hand down my neck and then to my shoulder, where she crushed it completely.

It was as if she had taken a hammer and bashed the shoulder into shards, leaving my arm to limply hang as there wasn't much else to support it.

I winced in pain a bit, but this pain wasn't as bad as some other things I've experienced… and now that I think back on it, I bet that training Tiana put us through was also to fill some of her sadistic desires.

"Crazy bitch," I muttered under my breath, but it was not only to fire at the dead Tiana but also the empress before me.

"I am the empress of your race. If I choose for you to die, you die. If I choose for you to live, you live," She said and ranted on about how powerful and above she is.

Even the guards that were frozen still felt a bit awkward as she listened to herself practically suck her own dick… wait, let's rephrase that… Stroke her own ego. Yeah, that's it.

"Alright, I get it. Damn, can't you shut up for just a few seconds,"

And it seems my words were the breaking point as she suddenly released a wave of bloodlust that knocked the guards around me unconscious.

But, it practically just deflected off of me as I stood casually before her.

Surprised, she tried to release another wave of bloodlust, but since my body and mind had already been forged with the highest degrees of bloodlust, this amount wasn't going to do anything.

This was probably the only thing I was confident that I could beat the empress in.

"Fine… I'll admit you're strong, but we'll so how long you'll last with holding back so much power… Well, it's not even yours," She smirked once again before disappearing.

It felt as if a weight had been lifted off my chest after seeing her completely phase out of my vision.

"Geez… this is going to be harder than I thought it would be," I muttered to myself before walking back to my cell.

What awaited me there was a pitch-black longsword, and the blade was a bit thicker than usual, but as soon as I picked it up, I realized it was offset the balance.

By making the blade heavier, you could build up more momentum and ultimately do much more damage.

Then there was the juicy steak I had been waiting for… but before that, we had to check up on something.

I sat down on the ground of my cell and leaned against the wall before completely passing out, thus swapping my vision with one of my undead rat friends.

Just like I thought… she was here.

It looked and felt as if the empress had teleported out of the colosseum, but in reality, she just teleported back to her booth, where her servants and knights packed up her stuff.

I followed them down a long hallway that led directly to a few carriages being pulled by beautiful blue unicorns who were massive.

They were double the height of the empress, but their soul and attitude were just as graceful and gentle as mine… just kidding.

Anyways, that's beside the point.

I hopped onto the footstep to get into the carriage as soon as it looked like they were about to leave and made sure to crawl up the step and under the carriage where a few pipes were.

I had the rat cling onto them and make sure they weren't discovered as this was a crucial part of my plan, and if it messed up, I'd probably have to wait another month or so to see her here again.

And who's to know I'll still be alive?

She clearly wasn't bluffing with that last statement of seeing how much longer I'll survive because the gladiators deeper in the prison… well, let's just say they were monstrous and way too out of my league.

Plus, I can't even level up to gain more stat points, so the only way that I can beat them now… is to either use my ice powers which is still kind of iffy as even they might not help me much… or work on my core foundation: weapons and close combat.

I haven't had much training with the sword, but it felt like I was getting the hang of it slowly, though it was nowhere near the skill level of Aria and Amanda.

Dammit… I wish I had them as my teachers.

After complaining and working on a new plan within my head, a few hours of staying as this little rat had passed, and we were finally at a massive palace of ice.

I could only think of one thing, and that was:

Beautiful.

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