Teacher by day, Farmer by passion
Chapter 270 - 270: Backstab [7]

Icehart pointed at Betty as he yelled.

"They were meant to be controlled. Now we've lost the artifact and it's your fault."

Betty laughed, her laughter like bells in a burning cathedral. "Mine? You were the one who couldn't even hold onto two half-dead girls. You blame me for your failure?"

Flames surged behind her like wings.

"Oh but you're right, I let them go because I'm setting the bait for someone else," she continued, voice lower now, nearly a whisper. "Someone more important than your little tantrums."

Icehart narrowed his eyes. "Who?"

She smiled, and for a moment, the fire behind her flickered like a halo of divine judgment.

"The swordswoman," she whispered. "The one your ice could never touch."

Icehart stares and spoke no more. Her words had struck a nerve.

He struck first.

A blur of pale frost, his blade aimed straight for Betty's throat.

She tilted her head, just enough.

The tip of the blade kissed the air beside her cheek, carving a strand of her golden hair.

Before her foot even landed from the evasive shift, Icehart twisted his body, spun low, and swept the sword in a rising arc toward her midsection.

Betty stepped back sharply, her robes fluttering, a clean dodge.

He advanced again, relentless.

A thrust to the chest, deflected by a twist of her wrist.

A horizontal slash to the ribs, ducked.

A downward cleave meant to pin her, narrowly evaded as she leapt back, landing on the edge of the frozen rock behind her.

The air crackled around them, Icehart's ice aura thickening.

The cobblestones frosted over, trees turned brittle and gray.

Cold surged out with each movement, precise, suffocating.

Betty narrowed her eyes.

She tried to raise a hand and instantly he moved in, sword flicking toward her wrist to interrupt the motion.

She turned her arm, parried with her bare hand, flames flickering faintly around her fingertips.

But still, no counter attack.

He wasn't giving her the time.

Another step. Another cut. He aimed for her legs now.. forceful low slashes to ruin her stance.

Betty jumped.

Mid-air, she snapped her fingers, a single breath of flame igniting as her first counterattack sparked to life.

It shot toward him in a lazy, radiant arc but Icehart leapt aside, skating over the ice he had conjured across the floor.

She landed lightly, breath caught.... but a chill ran down her spine. He was already behind her.

A deep cut raked across her side.

She hissed, staggering. Blood seeped down her robe, melting into the frost below.

"Still not attacking?" he growled.

Betty clicked her tongue. "I could say the same — not aiming to kill, are you?"

His grip tightened.

"I don't need to kill you," Icehart said coldly, eyes like frozen steel. "Just shut that mouth."

Betty smirked through the blood at the corner of her lips.

"You've improved," she admitted, rolling her shoulder. "But you're not the only one with tricks."

She planted her heel down.

The shadow at her feet twitched.

Then—

Boom.

A radiant pulse burst out from under her, fire roaring up like a geyser.

Icehart was thrown back, crashing into a stone pillar that shattered from the impact.

As the smoke cleared, Betty stepped forward slowly, clothes torn, blood drying on her ribs, flames now steadily burning around her arms.

Her golden phoenix mark shimmered on her forehead again.

"I was just letting you dance," she said, voice low, fire curling around her. "Now, prepare yourself... It's my turn."

Betty stepped forward.

The ground scorched beneath her heels, stone bubbling from the radiant heat she exuded.

Her hair whipped wildly, eyes aglow with the Phoenix flame.

Icehart wiped the blood from his lips and raised his blade.

She vanished in a flicker of flame.

Crack!

Her fist collided with his jaw from the left, a searing blow that singed his skin and sent him skidding across the ground.

He barely found footing when another burst of flame exploded beside him, she appeared midair, spinning like a wheel of fire.

Her heel came down in a burning arc.

He raised his sword just in time.

Clang!

The blade caught the kick but the force behind it sent shockwaves through his arms, numbing his grip.

She landed, flames wrapping around her legs.

Without pause, she drove forward, punches and kicks enhanced with fiery bursts at every angle.

Left jab, right elbow, a spinning back kick with fire spiraling from her heel.

Icehart fell into a full retreat, parrying, dodging, his ice forming thin shields with each movement.

Shhhtk!

A fiery palm met one of his barriers, melted clean through it, forcing him to leap away.

He raised his arm and a wall of ice rose to block her next strike.

Boom!

It shattered instantly under the pressure of her radiant punch.

Betty grinned, wild and sharp. "You thought pressure alone would work against me? Ice slows, fire consumes."

He was breathing harder now.

She moved again, a low sweep at his knees. He jumped, but a tongue of flame lashed up toward his chest.

He twisted midair, sword drawn across his body to shield himself, it worked, mostly.

The blade caught the fire but it singed his tunic, burned through the sleeve, searing the skin beneath.

He landed on one knee. His knee screamed in protest, balance wavering. But his grip never loosened

Betty gave him no time.

She stomped, and a pillar of flame erupted beneath him.

He rolled aside, barely escaping as it roared skyward, scorching the night air.

He retaliated by thrusting his palm to the ground.

The earth exploded upward, jagged ice spears forming and shooting toward her.

They came from all sides like a blooming lotus of frost.

She inhaled.

Fwooom.

A pulse of golden fire radiated outward, vaporizing the ice in midair.

Steam burst everywhere.

She dashed through it, her body a silhouette in the mist and then came the strike.

A clean elbow to his chest.

He grunted, armor cracking. He stumbled.

A spinning heel kick to his ribs followed... crack. A rib, maybe two.

He hit the ground hard, sliding across the frozen courtyard, leaving a trail of blood.

Still, he stood.

Ice coiled around him, armor forming tighter, colder. He raised his sword again, panting, blue mist swirling from his lips.

Betty strode toward him slowly now.

"I told you, monkey," she said, voice low and amused, "don't bark unless you're ready to be burned."

Icehart said nothing.

But even as he bled, he took his stance again.

Shaking.

Frost still swirling.

Clap. Clap. Clap.

The crisp sound of applause echoed through the scorched and frozen clearing, sharp and deliberate.

Slow and mocking. Just in time, like the measured ticking of a deathwatch clock.

Both Betty and Icehart froze mid-motion, tension crackling between them like the aftermath of their clash.

A ripple shimmered in the air.

From the distortion, two figures emerged, Liu Mei stepped out first, her hands still raised in a lazy clap, a sly grin playing on her lips.

Beside her, Yuu followed, expression unreadable, eyes flicking between the two combatants.

For a brief moment, the world held its breath.

Flames dimmed. Frost stilled. Silence reigned.

Betty and Icehart stared back, neither one of them spoke.