System, please just shut up

The cold bit into his skin like tiny daggers.

Kael lay in silence, buried beneath a thick slope of snow, eyes fixed on the group of monstrous snowmen just a few meters away.

Not the jolly, carrot-nose kind. These ones had jagged blade-arms, mouths lined with razor teeth, and eyes that glowed with unnatural frostlight.

Beside him, Seraphina didn't move a muscle.

They'd been there for fifteen minutes. Watching. Waiting.

A normal person would've frozen solid. But thanks to his uniform, which always kept his body at a regular temperature—and the fact that he was now kind of addicted to combat, Kael was just... twitchy.

'Come on… someone split off already...'

And then, finally, it happened.

One of the snow beasts wandered away from the pack, trailing off toward the edge of the frozen glade, its spiky arms twitching as it scanned the wind for prey.

Kael didn't wait for anyone to tell him.

He rose slowly, brushing snow off his coat, his breath clouding in front of him.

Seraphina's whisper slid into the air behind him. "Don't take too long."

He nodded once, then took off, his new blade, Umbracrescent, already in hand.

The wind howled as Kael slowly trailed the solitary snowman. He had to ensure enough distance between it and its 'village' to avoid attracting unwanted attention.

So he kept following in the distance until he was certain their small fight wouldn't alert the others.

Kael exhaled slowly, a frosty cloud, as he stepped into its line of sight. The cold slipped into his lungs, sharp and biting. His fingers twitched around the grip of his sword—not from fear, but anticipation.

He stepped out from behind the snowdrift.

The snowman, twice his size and three times as broad, turned. Its head jerked unnaturally, glowing frostlight spilling from its jagged mouth. The arms it raised weren't arms anymore. They were icicle-blades fused to its shoulders, honed by nature, edged by magic.

Kael said nothing.

He let his breath fall into rhythm—in through the nose, out through the mouth. His left foot slid forward, planting into the snow with a soft crunch.

The right followed, his center of gravity low, knees slightly bent.

His sword lifted. Not with a flourish, but with purpose.

The blade angled downward. Tip just off the ground.

A basic stance. A swordsman's neutral.

The beast shrieked at the sight of an unknown intruder. Then it came charging in without hesitation. It moved like a living avalanche.

The first swing carved through the air—an overhead smash that would've split Kael in two. But he was already moving.

Left step. Pivot. Twist.

His shoulder rolled under the swing, snow spraying as he ducked. As the beast's arm slammed into the ground beside him, Kael snapped up—not with raw force, but precise timing.

His sword followed the arc of his shoulder, rising diagonally across the beast's torso.

Schhhk—!

The edge bit through snow-flesh. Not deep. But enough.

Kael backed off two paces, blade steady in both hands, his breathing still sharp and focused. The monster shrieked again, a grating sound like ice grinding on stone.

Kael adjusted his grip—right hand slightly lower, left hand looser, letting the blade breathe.

This time, the beast lunged. He let it. Then sidestepped at the last second—one foot backward, torso twisted, blade tucked inward.

As it stumbled past him, he rotated his hips and brought the sword around in a tight, horizontal arc—a sweeping slash aimed just beneath the ribs.

The edge scraped hard. Sparks flew from frozen hide.

Kael's arms jolted with impact, but he didn't drop form.

Instead, he flowed with the motion, stepping back again, keeping the blade a silent barrier between him and the beast. It was like dancing—but with teeth and tension.

By the third exchange, Kael felt it.

That pull in his chest.

That addictive sensation of rhythm—the kind only someone who'd trained long enough to recognize the silence between strikes could feel.

The beast charged again.

Kael didn't move. Not at first. He waited—waited until he could feel the swing coming like a vibration in the air. Then—

Side step. Shoulder twist. Tight inside cut.

The blade came up under the beast's swinging arm and carved into its flank.

The momentum nearly threw him off, but he rolled with it, dragging the sword free in a controlled sweep. His breathing was heavier now, visible in short, fogged bursts.

But his smile was wider.

He adjusted his footing. Gave the sword a quick spin—not to show off, just to loosen the tension in his wrist. Then he turned to face the creature again.

It hesitated. So did he.

Then he stepped forward and tapped the flat of his blade against its knee.

"Come on," he whispered. "Don't make me beg."

The snowman shrieked again as its hesitation flew out the window and it attacked.

Kael rolled beneath the strike. Came up on one knee. Blade reversed. And stabbed upward. It wasn't perfect. The angle was off. He scraped the side of its torso instead of the core. But it staggered anyway.

Kael rose to his feet, circling the beast slowly now. He wasn't breathing hard anymore. The blade spun lazily in his grip, glinting in the pale light.

He took a small hop back, then forward, then back again. Like he was teasing it.

The snowman—if it even understood seemed to hesitate.

Its body trembled. Shards of ice flaked from its shoulders.

Then—

"Just kill it already." Seraphina's voice was ice in the wind, sharp enough to cut through the blizzard.

Kael paused. "Already? I feel like we were really connecting."

"Kael."

"Fine, fine. I'll kill it."

His foot slid forward.

His stance tightened. He exhaled once, focused—and shot forward with a burst of speed that almost looked like teleportation.

A clean, diagonal slash—hip to shoulder—followed by a tight spin that brought the sword into a finishing arc. The blade passed through the snowman like it was air.

A beat of silence. Then—

CRACK.

The creature fractured. Then exploded into fine, glittering shards, dissolving into the swirling snow.

Snow settled. Kael stood there, blade held loose in his grip.

He wiped the blade on his coat and sheathed it with a soft click.

Then turned back to Seraphina.

"See? Quick, efficient, and only mildly theatrical."

She walked past him without a word.

Kael shrugged with a grin. 'She totally loved it.'