The explosion wasn't fire and chaos.

  That would have been too crude, too obvious.

  No—this was a masterpiece of precision. The detonation sequence unfolded with mathematical perfection: first the northeastern pillar, then the southwestern arch, each blast timed to amplify the next in a cascading symphony of destruction. The chapel didn't so much collapse as *deconstruct* itself, every stone and beam obeying my pre-placed runes like obedient soldiers.

  **[Kael, Internal Monologue]** *Yield: 138% of projections. Acceptable margin.*

  I'd spent three days preparing this moment. Three separate nights etching frost runes into the chapel's foundations, each one carefully calibrated to respond only to my unique Chrono device from Count Pera treasure vault. The beauty was in the delayed activation—they lay dormant until the precise moment I needed them, invisible to even the most thorough magical scans.

  Darien's ice spear shattered mid-lunge as the first shockwave hit. His eyes—those glacial blue pools of death—widened a fraction before the frozen maelstrom swallowed him whole.

  ---

  **Count's Private Study – Three days Earlier**

  The ledger glowed faintly under my fingers as I altered another entry.

  **[Kael, Internal Monologue]** *Fourth requisition order modified. Materials diverted.*

  The forgery was flawless. To any observer, it would appear the chapel's restoration had been officially sanctioned, with all the proper permits and material allocations. In reality, every third shipment of enchanted stone had been rerouted to my private workshop, where I'd infused them with carefully crafted destruction runes before having them returned.

  A drop of sweat traced down my temple as I worked. The Count's private study was warded with enough detection spells to give a master thief nightmares, but I'd mapped every one just by a glance.

  **[Kael, Internal Monologue]** *Guard rotation in 47 seconds.*

  My fingers danced across the page, subtly altering dates and signatures. The changes were minor—a delivery date pushed back here, an inspection record altered there—but together they created the perfect paper trail.

  By the time I slipped back into the shadows, the chapel's fate had been sealed.

  Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

  ---

  **Chapel Ruins – Present**

  Darien emerged from the frost vortex like a vengeful god.

  His coat hung in tatters, revealing skin etched with glowing blue sigils I'd never seen before. The air around him *crystallized*, freezing mid-fall as snowflakes became deadly shards hovering in stasis.

  **[Darien]** "You planned this."

  Not a question. A statement of fact.

  I adjusted my cuffs, brushing ice particles from the fabric.

  **[Kael]** "Obviously. Though I'll admit—" A glance at the devastation. "—the yield exceeded expectations."

  His glacial eyes tracked my every micro expression.

  **[Darien]** "All this... to manipulate the Count?"

  **[Kael]** "Oh, Darien." I shook my head. "I'm not *manipulating* the Count."

  The second set of runes flared beneath his feet.

  **[Kael]** "I'm demonstrating why he's obsolete."

  The ground erupted.

  ---

  *** Kael's First and Last Fight***

  The chapel was silent, its crumbling stone walls holding their breath as frost crept along the floor. Kael, a novice swordsman with more courage than skill, clutched his broken rib from his body that look like blade with trembling hands. Opposite him stood Darien, the *Ice Chrono Executioner*, his very presence making the air shudder with cold.

  Kael had never been in a real fight before. He had swung at straw dummies, practiced forms in the dirt, dreamed of glory but this? This was different.

  Darien didn't even draw his weapon. He simply watched, his breath misting in the frozen air, his eyes like chips of glacial ice.

  **"Run,"** Darien said, his voice slow and deliberate, as if speaking through layers of time. **"You dont belong here."**

  Kael's pride flared. **"II wont back down!"** He lunged, his amateurish slash aimed at Darien's shoulder.

  Darien sighed.

  A flick of his wrist.

  **Time stopped.**

  The world froze dust hung motionless in the air, the candle flames became solid sculptures of light, and Kael's body locked in mid-swing, his expression still etched with determination.

  Darien stepped around him, examining the boys stance, his grip, the way his boots were planted wrong. He almost pitied him.

  Then time resumed.

  Kael stumbled forward, his sword cutting nothing but air. Confusion flashed across his face until he felt the cold.

  **Ice**crawling up his legs, his arms, his chest. He looked down in horror as frost encased his limbs, locking him in place. His fingers turned blue, his breath came in ragged, panicked gasps.

  **"W-what?"**

  Darien stood before him now, close enough to see the fear in Kael's eyes. **"You were brave,"** he murmured. **"But bravery without skill is just a slower way to die."**

  **Final Moments**

  The pain was—

  —*crystalline*—

  Every nerve ending firing in perfect sequence as the cold spread from my extremities inward. Fingers first, blackening and shattering like glass. Then arms, legs, torso—each cell bursting from within as the frost claimed it.

  Darien watched with glacial indifference as I collapsed to my knees.

  **[Darien]** "You killed my wolf."

  **[Darien]** "Now feel its death."

  He placed a single finger against Kael's forehead.

  A **crack**like shattering glass.

  Kael's frozen body exploded into a thousand glittering shards, scattering across the chapel floor like fallen stars.

  The candles flickered.

  Darien exhaled, watching his breath curl in the air before turning away.

  Another life, erased without effort.

  Another lesson unlearned.

  ---

  **Elsewhere**

  A pocket watch clicked open.

  The hands began moving backward.

  ---

  **TO BE CONTINUED**