NOVEL NEXT Chapter 112: The Fall Of Jean Frost!
"And you've lost your only chance to kill me."
The words landed like a blade.
Jean's heart cracked, quietly but completely. Her breath hitched, fingers trembling around the handle of her weapon as a cold, colder than anything she could ever conjure, spread through her chest. It wasn't fear. It wasn't pain. It wasn't shock.
It was despair.
A deep, suffocating despair that wrapped around her ribs like chains.
'I knew it would end like this... so why... why does it hurt this much?'
Her mind spiraled violently, emotions colliding and shattering inside her like broken ice.
'Why am I shaking? Why does my chest feel so hollow? Why does losing to him feel so, wrong? I'm a Frost. I should be calm... unshaken... dignified... So why does this feel like I'm being erased?'
Her vision blurred. Her pulse hammered against her throat. For a single heartbeat she felt small, fragile, like a thin branch under winter snow.
Then her eyes hardened.
Grinding her teeth, Jean surged forward with a roar ripped from the deepest part of her chest. Her double-ended sword spun around her in a furious arc, faster, sharper, more desperate than before. Frost howled through the air as her entire body poured itself into the cyclone of her technique.
The freezing vortex swallowed Bruce. The spinning blades carved at him, once, twice, dozens of times as the storm dragged him in and tore at him from every angle.
But this time...
The blades didn't cut.
Not a scratch.
Bruce walked through her technique as though she were tossing snowflakes at him. The storm that should have shredded steel broke harmlessly against his skin.
Jean's chest hollowed. Her heart skipped.
Her spin faltered.
Just half a heartbeat.
Then she roared again, louder, rawer, her voice cracking under the weight of everything she refused to accept. Frost pulsed wildly from her core, exploding through the earth.
BOOM! BOOM!! BOOM!!!
Dozens of ice lances erupted from the ground in a jagged forest of lethal spikes, all converging toward Bruce with killing intent. But they didn't pierce him.
They didn't even slow him.
Every lance shattered on contact, splintering into harmless fragments the moment they met his body. It was like stabbing a glacier with a snowflake.
Jean froze.
Her knees buckled beneath her as the truth hit with merciless clarity. Slowly, helplessly, she sank to the ground. Her sword dimmed in her hand, the brilliant glow fading into a dull, defeated blue.
Her head fell forward, breath trembling, eyes burning with tears she refused to shed.
'I tried everything… everything... How? How?! Why won't he go down?! How do you kill something like him?! How do you fight a monster who only grows stronger every time you hurt him?! How do i win against him... ?'
Her shoulders loosened. The fight drained out of her body, leaving only cold resignation behind.
For the first time in her life, Jean Frost accepted collapse.
Bruce exhaled softly, almost with pity, almost with respect.
Then he vanished.
SWOOSH!!
He reappeared in front of her before she could lift her head, palm already pressed gently against the center of her chest.
"Rest," he murmured.
White light pulsed from his hand.
Jean's eyes widened and dimmed.
Her body slumped sideways, falling from her knees with quiet grace. Her eyes remained open, still holding the fading shadow of despair in their frozen depths.
A cold notification shimmered before Bruce's eyes.
[CONGRATULATIONS!]
[You have killed JEAN FROST and claimed her points!]
The Vr trial world appeared again but this time… only two people saw the message.
Bruce Ackerman.
And Sophie Reign.
Bruce stood in the silence, watching the last glimmer of Jean's body fade from the battlefield. Frost scattered around his feet like dying starlight. He exhaled slowly, the sound quiet… almost satisfied.
"What a wonderful end to this trial," he said softly.
Elsewhere, far from the battlefield, deep inside her own secluded cave, Sophie opened her eyes.
The morning sun pierced the cracks above her, falling over her lashes and illuminating the serene, breathtaking calm on her face.
Her lips curved upward in a soft, beautiful smile.
"It's time."
....
Inside the real-world lobby room, silence hung like a heavy curtain.
Thirty pods lined the walls like cold metal coffins, and inside the vast circular chamber, the only movement came from flickering VR screens displaying the events of the trial. Every recruit except Bruce and Sophie had already been killed, each one a victim of Bruce's rampage, and now they stood here, shaken and ghost-pale, staring helplessly at the last two glowing screens.
One screen showed Bruce, standing calmly amid the fading frost of Jean's collapse, the battlefield littered with remnants of shattered ice.
The other showed Sophie Reign, rising from her meditation with a grace that did not belong in a death game, expression serene, unreadable, almost divine.
Lucen stood at the center of the room, arms crossed tightly over his chest, his jaw clenched. He inhaled slowly, exhaled even slower, as though forcing down a pressure building inside him.
"So those two… they're the last ones," he muttered, voice low with disbelief. A hollow laugh escaped him, devoid of humor.
His gaze on Bruce was filled with interest, 'So, What is he going to do now…?'
Every recruit in the room kept their eyes glued to the screens, caught between witnessing the calm aftermath of devastation on Bruce's side… and the quiet, rising composure of Sophie Reign on the other.
Silence stretched.
Then,
HISSSSS!!
A sound like metal sighing under pressure filled the room as a pod behind them unlocked. Steam erupted outward, rolling over the floor like a pale ghost.
Everyone turned at once.
A slender figure stepped out of the mist, brushing frost from her hair with slow, steady fingers before tying it neatly back. Even her movements felt cold.
Jean Frost.
Her face was pale, lips slightly colorless from the battle she had just endured, but her expression was composed. Controlled. That familiar Frost calm that hid everything she truly felt.