Naruto: Chill of Eternity

Nyx moved through the darkness with purpose, her footsteps barely audible as the frost-coated ground cracked beneath her weight. The air was cold, and her breath hung in pale wisps before her. The remnants of her encounter with Kisame and the night spent with Konan were still fresh in her mind, but she had no time to dwell on them. Her path was set, and the next step lay ahead. The Akatsuki was a threat that needed to be dismantled piece by piece, and she was prepared to see it through. Her target this time was none other than Deidara, the explosive artist of the Akatsuki. His mastery of clay-based explosives and long-range techniques made him a dangerous opponent, but Nyx's calm determination would be her weapon against him.

It was early morning by the time she reached the outskirts of the forest where Deidara was last known to be operating. The rising sun filtered through the canopy, casting faint beams of light onto the frost-covered ground. Despite the beauty of the surroundings, there was an ominous air that clung to the area, as though death itself was looming close by. Nyx paused, her senses attuned to the chakra signatures nearby. There, faintly masked by the foliage, she could sense a presence that was unmistakably Deidara's.

She moved with quiet precision, weaving through the trees as she approached the edge of a clearing where the artist was stationed. He stood a few meters away, his back turned to her as he seemed preoccupied with molding clay in his hands, shaping it into one of his signature explosive birds. Deidara was speaking aloud to himself, seemingly engrossed in the process.

"Art is an explosion!" he declared, his voice echoing through the clearing. "A fleeting moment of beauty, gone in a flash! That's true art!" His laughter was that of a madman, filled with both pride and mania.

Nyx's gaze remained unyielding as she stepped forward, her voice cold and clear. "Then let's see how you handle a masterpiece that doesn't vanish in a mere second," she challenged, her presence suddenly making itself known.

Deidara spun around, his eyes widening in surprise. "Well, well, if it isn't Kisame's little ice princess," he sneered, his grin wide as he quickly finished forming his clay bird. "I heard you gave him quite a fight. But you won't get that chance with me, hm." Without wasting another moment, he threw the bird into the air, performing a hand seal as it expanded rapidly, hovering above them.

"C1!" Deidara shouted, and the bird exploded into a cloud of smaller birds that began to dive toward Nyx, each one filled with enough explosive power to obliterate her on contact.

With a single breath, Nyx activated her Kōrimeigan, her vision shifting to see the subtle flow of chakra within the birds. She could see the explosive chakra laced throughout the clay, and as they drew closer, she moved her hands in a graceful series of signs. "Frozen Reflection!" she murmured, and the air before her shimmered as a barrier of ice formed in the shape of a mirror. The birds collided with the icy surface, and in that instant, the explosion was redirected back toward Deidara, transformed into jagged shards of frozen debris that tore through the air.

Deidara leaped back, cursing under his breath. "You think your little ice tricks are going to stop me?" he taunted, his hands already reaching into his clay pouch to form another creation. "I've faced your kind before. I know how to deal with a Kōrimeigan user." He sculpted a pair of clay spiders, sending them scuttling across the ground toward Nyx.

She watched their approach with a calm detachment, her Kōrimeigan allowing her to trace the explosive chakra within each spider. The chakra flowed like a network of icy veins, ready to detonate. With a subtle movement of her hand, she channeled her energy, freezing the ground beneath the spiders. The frost surged upward, encasing the clay creatures in a layer of solid ice before they could get any closer. Nyx clenched her fist, and the spiders shattered into countless shards, their explosive power rendered useless.

Deidara's expression twisted with frustration as he launched himself into the air, using one of his clay birds for flight. "You're more annoying than I thought!" he yelled, a vein in his forehead throbbing. "But let's see you handle this! C2!" He molded a massive clay dragon, and it hovered above him with its maw wide open, ready to unleash a torrent of explosive projectiles.

Nyx's eyes narrowed, the Kōrimeigan's crystalline pattern shimmering in the cold morning light. As the dragon loomed over her, its first projectile launched, an orb of clay hurtling down with destructive intent. She sidestepped, but the explosion ripped through the ground, sending chunks of frozen earth flying. She had to stay focused, or else the barrage would overwhelm her.

Raising her hands once more, she called upon one of the most challenging abilities of her Kōrimeigan. "Absolute Stasis," she breathed, and the air around her seemed to freeze, not just in temperature but in time itself. The dragon's next projectile halted mid-flight, immobilized by her power, as if caught in a web of ice. Deidara, hovering above, felt the chill creeping over him, the sluggishness in the movement of his dragon.

He scowled, his voice filled with anger. "What did you do, you witch?!" He willed the dragon to launch more projectiles, but they moved slower, affected by the lingering stasis.

Nyx wasted no time. She thrust her hand forward, channeling her chakra into the immobilized projectile, converting its energy into frost. The orb crackled, turning into a solid sphere of ice before dropping to the ground and shattering. She turned her gaze back up to Deidara. "You call your art fleeting," she said, her voice cold as the wind itself. "But I will show you the permanence of true stillness."

Before Deidara could react, she leaped into the air, her short blade glistening with a layer of frost as she aimed straight for the dragon's underbelly. With a swift motion, she sliced through the icy air, the blade cutting deep into the clay creature's body. Frost spread rapidly from the wound, consuming the dragon's structure in an instant, turning it into a frozen statue.

As Nyx landed gracefully on the ground, the dragon shattered behind her, its frozen fragments falling like snow. Deidara's bird struggled to stay aloft as he directed it to retreat higher into the sky. His breath was heavy, his frustration evident as he reached into his clay pouch once more. "I'm done playing around!" he shouted, pulling out a large chunk of clay. "If you want to see real art, I'll show you my C4—Karura!"

The clay took shape, expanding into a giant humanoid figure that towered above them, pulsating with chakra. "You won't be able to freeze this one!" Deidara declared as the massive figure disintegrated into microscopic explosives, scattering into the air. "Inhale these, and your insides will be nothing but dust!"

Nyx could sense the chakra particles permeating the air around her. The threat was real, but she remained calm, the cold radiating from her intensifying. "Eternal Frost," she whispered, and the temperature around her plummeted. A wave of frigid air swept outward from her body, creating an aura of absolute cold that permeated every inch of space. The tiny explosives, caught in the drastic drop in temperature, began to crystallize and fall harmlessly to the ground.

Deidara's eyes widened in disbelief. "Impossible!" he shouted. "C4 is supposed to be unstoppable!"

But Nyx wasn't done yet. She reached out with her Kōrimeigan, channeling its energy through the frozen particles scattered on the ground. The crystallized remnants of Deidara's technique resonated with her power, forming icy chains that shot upward, wrapping around the explosive artist and pulling him from his airborne perch. Deidara struggled, his arms pinned to his sides by the chains of ice. "You think this is enough to hold me?!" he growled, struggling against the binding.

Nyx stepped forward, her expression as cold and unforgiving as the frost around them. "You've made a mistake, Deidara," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "You thought art was fleeting, that it was born and died in a single moment." She tightened her grip on the chains, pulling Deidara closer until he was face-to-face with her. "But the truth is… some things last forever."

Before he could react, she drove her short blade into his chest, the frost spreading from the wound as his body began to crystallize. His expression contorted into a mix of shock and fury, but he had no time to voice his anger as the cold consumed him. In seconds, Deidara was nothing but a frozen statue, his face forever frozen in his final moment.

Nyx withdrew her blade and stepped back, her breath misting in the cold air. The frost-covered ground around her was eerily silent, the only sound being the faint crackling of ice. She had once again emerged victorious, her mission one step closer to completion. But even as she turned away from the frozen remains of her opponent, the weight of the path she walked lingered. Each victory brought her closer to the end, but at what cost?

As she left the clearing, she glanced back one last time. Deidara's statue stood as a monument to the coldness that had become her world, a reminder of the eternity she embraced. The hunt continued, and the chill of death followed in her wake.