The moment Cassia pulled the sword out of the pedestal, her crimson eyes immediately responded, a small, faint glow of pale blue glowing in the middle, a stark contrast to the bloody color that surrounded it.

Her armor itself also responded; from the hand that grasped her sword, frost began to crawl upwards like vines, covering her entire body in frost.

Cassia stood confused for a moment, unsure of how to react.

But when she was about to ask Uriel what was going on...

CRACK!

The ice surrounding her immediately exploded outwards, and from it, revealing a completely different armor than what she had worn before.

The moment the ice shattered, Cassia staggered back, instinctively raising Winterfang as the frost dispersed in glittering shards around her.

Her breath hitched.

Her armor.

Had now changed.

Where metal once had weight, now frost flowed like living cloth. Plates of translucent ice overlapped seamlessly across her limbs, carved with runes that pulsed like a heartbeat. A cloak formed of drifting snowflakes draped over her shoulders before solidifying into a mantle of shimmering frost.

Her gauntlets had changed as well, no longer simple steel, but sleek, carved from condensed winter, each fingertip leaving faint wisps of cold in the air.

Even her hair was modified, the pale white now mixed with sky blue hues; she was now the embodiment of frost itself.

The complete opposite of Ilmund.

Cassia stared down at herself, speechless.

"What… in the gods' names…?"

Winterfang hummed in her grasp, the snow-storming lights inside its blade swirling faster, responding to her heartbeat.

Uriel's spirit let out a low whistle.

"Well," he rumbled, "that's new."

Cassia whipped her head toward him. "New?! How is this new?! Aren't you the one who wielded this thing?"

Uriel crossed his arms, beard twitching with amusement.

"When I wielded Winterfang, it didn't dress me up like a bride being prepared for a ceremony."

Cassia sputtered. "Why would— That's NOT—!"

Uriel ignored her fluster entirely.

"It seems the sword likes you more than it liked me. Hmph. Figures."

Cassia blinked rapidly, still processing the cold energy flowing under her skin. She didn't feel numb. She didn't feel frozen. She felt… stronger. Sharper. As if every instinct she had honed through years of training had crystallized into something precise, something primal.

"Congratulations, daughter-in-law, you are now an arcanist with Northros' divine magic flowing through you."

"Lord Northros!?"

Cassia gasped in surprise. She expected a legendary and powerful sword, yes, but to become an arcanist... that was unprecedented.

"Poetic, isn't it? Doesn't your father worship the same god?"

"How do you even know so much about my father... You died before he was even born..."

Uriel laughed. "Everyone given Lord Northros' gift is connected, and since your father is one of his particular favorite mortals, I happen to be able to visit him from time to time."

"So you're a stalker?" Cassia replied.

Uriel blinked twice at her comparison, grinning. "Starting to joke now, eh? Glad to see you're finally getting used to my presence."

"Anyways... how am I supposed to leave this place? Has the strange magic encasing the ruin finally gone?"

"No... and it seems like the cause of that same strange magic is here to welcome your new abilities."

From the entrance of the huge chamber itself was a huge groan, the same groan of that same draugr that Cassia had defeated.

But it seemed like it had survived; the void only likely stalling it for a while until it managed to claw itself out to take revenge on Cassia.

"Moon... born... snow... KIN!"

The draugr groaned, its body language clearly enraged for having been defeated in such a cowardly and unwarriorlike way.

"Eyvor... as persistent as he is in undeath as he was in the living."

Uriel muttered, looking back at Cassia.

Cassia tightened her grip on Winterfang as Eyvor dragged himself into the chamber, each step shaking frost loose from the ceiling. His body was cracked from the fall, bones jutting out at angles even undeath struggled to maintain. His glowing tattoos flickered violently, reacting to the overwhelming divine frost surrounding Cassia.

Uriel placed a hand over his chest, bowing his head slightly, though his tone remained casual.

"Do me a favor and make sure he stays down this time. He's been a pain in my ass even after death."

Cassia's armor flared, the runes across her chest and shoulders lighting up in response to the draugr's fury. Winterfang hummed, eager, hungry, even, like the storm locked inside it finally wanted to breathe.

Eyvor snarled, icicles clattering from his jawbone.

"Wielder of frost… unworthy… die!"

He lowered himself like a beast about to pounce.

Cassia inhaled.

Her breath came out as mist, mist that crystallized in the air.

She stepped forward, frost cracking under her boots with each stride.

"Uriel," she whispered, not looking back, "this armor… this power… I don't know how to use any of it."

"You'll learn," Uriel replied. "Preferably before he rips your arms off."

"How... reassuring."

Eyvor lunged.

Cassia barely had time to raise Winterfang before he slammed into her, strength enough to shatter boulders, now clashing with divine frost. Sparks of ice and necrotic energy burst outward on impact.

But this time.

Cassia didn't skid back, tremble, nor did her sword break.

She had stood her ground. The frost around her legs rooted her in place, anchoring her like a living glacier.

Her eyes widened.

"I… held that?"

Cassia whispered to herself, before steeling her eyes, she could now fight back.

FWISH!

She managed to overpower the undead Eyvor, his arms flailing as he struggled to defend against Cassia's powerful flurries. They were now equal in strength and skill.

But the difference was... Cassia was now an arcanist.

"íssbrandr!"

The incantation came to her naturally, the sword in her hand responding to her words as it began to cloak itself with a controlled winter storm.

CLASH!

Cassia and Eyvor's blades once more, but unlike before, the new cloak of frost that surrounded her blade had made the draugr's sword brittle and useless.

Completely turning it into ice the moment it made contact, completely breaking into shards as the draugr's glowing lights for eyes dimmed for a slight second.

"Daughter of... bear?"

The draugr groaned in confusion, and that was enough for Cassia to deliver the final blow.

A decapitation, the only way to kill draugr in old myths, at least... to some interpretations, but if the legends were literally standing before her as a guardian of a tomb, also from myth.

Then it didn't matter what interpretation she was using to kill the draugr.

As long as it was able to kill it.

SLASH!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.