Judas was looking at the woman standing in front of him.

Seraphina Frost. The Ice Witch. The anomaly who had rejected the Three Kings and turned the entire North District into a frozen wasteland.

She was tall, with skin as pale as fresh snow and hair the color of the deepest glacier ice—a vibrant, shifting blue that seemed to glow with its own internal light. Her eyes were kaleidoscopic mirrors of frost, beautiful and terrifying.

And she was smiling.

It was a soft, dopey, infatuated smile that looked completely out of place on her face.

She stood with her hands clasped behind her back, swaying slightly on her heels, staring at Judas as if he were the sun that had finally risen after a thousand-year winter.

"Warm..." she whispered, her breath misting in the air. She took a step closer, invading his personal space. "You are so warm."

Judas stiffened. He could feel the heat radiating from his back—specifically, from the five pairs of eyes drilling holes into his spine.

"Husband," Ezra's voice floated from behind him. It was calm. Too calm.

"I..." Judas started, raising a hand.

"She called him warm," Nina whispered loudly to Luna. "Does she want to snuggle?"

"It's not just snuggling," Summer sniffed, the vampire's red eyes narrowed in disdain. "I can smell her hormones from here. It's disgusting. She's in heat."

"A vampire, a beastkin, an elf, and a human," Nyx muttered, crossing her arms. The small girl in the black dress tapped her foot against the ice. "And now an Elemental conduit? Judas, your collection is becoming... eclectic. Are you trying to build a zoo?"

Judas ignored them for a moment, focusing on the immediate threat. He looked at Seraphina.

"Miss Frost," he said carefully. "I just broke down your door. I beat up your guards. I am technically invading your territory."

"Mmhmm," Seraphina hummed, nodding happily. She reached out a finger and poked his chest. "Solid. Hot. What did you say? My people?"

She shook her head. "I am alone." She shrugged.

[Target Identified: Seraphina Frost] [Attribute: Ice (Mutated - Absolute Zero)] [State: Mana Deficiency / Hypothermia of the Soul] [Affection: 20 (Intrigued)] [Analysis: The target possesses a body constitution that generates excessive Yin energy. She is perpetually freezing from the inside out. Your high Yang energy and the heat of your 'Lightning Sword Slash' have triggered a biological attraction response.]

Judas blinked at the blue screen. So it wasn't his charm. He was just a walking heater to her.

"I am taking this tower," Judas stated, trying to regain control of the situation. "My faction needs a base."

"Okay," Seraphina said immediately.

"I will be the leader."

"Okay."

"You... you will have to follow my orders."

"Okay." She took another step closer, her nose almost touching his chest. "Can I hug you now?"

Judas heard the sound of a bowstring being drawn behind him.

"Step back, you frozen harlot," Luna hissed, an arrow of pure mana nocked and aimed at Seraphina's forehead. "He is ours."

Seraphina finally tore her gaze away from Judas. She looked at Luna, then at the others. Her smile vanished instantly.

The temperature in the room dropped by fifty degrees in a nanosecond. Frost creeped rapidly across the floor, climbing the walls.

"Mine," Seraphina stated coldly. Her voice sounded like icebergs grinding together. "Find your own."

"Hah?" Summer stepped forward, her blood aura flaring red to combat the encroaching white. "Listen here, popsicle. We didn't trek through a blizzard just to hand him over to a woman who eats ice for breakfast."

Sparks flew. Mana clashed. The air shimmered with the volatile mix of Ice, Blood, Wind, and Spirit power.

Judas rubbed his temples. He had expected a boss fight. He had prepared for a grueling duel against a powerful mage. He had not prepared for a domestic dispute involving a nuclear-level ice user.

"Enough!"

The shout didn't come from Judas. It came from the shattered entrance of the tower.

Everyone turned.

Standing in the doorway, framed by the swirling snow outside, was a man. He was dressed in robes of shimmering red silk that seemed to burn with an inner fire. His hair was a violent crimson, and his face was twisted in a mask of pure rage.

Ignis Sol. The leader of the Gilded Fang.

Behind him stood a dozen elite mages, their staffs glowing with prepared spells.

Ignis looked at the scene before him. He saw the shattered doors. He saw the unconscious bodies of the Iron Legion recruits he had stepped over.

And he saw Seraphina Frost—the woman he had courted for two years, the woman who had frozen his flowers and broken his nose—standing inches away from a man in black robes, looking at him with a possessiveness she had never shown anyone.

Ignis felt a blood vessel pop in his eye.

"Seraphina!" Ignis roared, striding into the hall. His fire aura exploded outward, melting the frost on the floor in a hissing cloud of steam. "What is the meaning of this? Who is this... this peasant?"

He pointed a shaking finger at Judas.

Ignis decided, fuck this new guy.

Seraphina frowned. She looked at Ignis as if he were a particularly annoying fly.

"Noisy," she muttered. She waved her hand.

A wall of ice spikes erupted from the ground, rushing toward Ignis.

"You dare!" Ignis shouted. He slammed his staff down. "Flame Wall!"

A barrier of fire rose up, meeting the ice. Boom. Steam blasted through the hall, blinding everyone for a second.

When the steam cleared, Ignis was still standing, but he looked disheveled. His expensive robes were damp.

"I came to save you!" Ignis yelled, his ego bruising. "I heard the Iron Legion was attacking! I came to offer you protection! And I find you... fraternizing with this nobody?"

He sneered at Judas. "Boy. Do you know who I am?"

Judas sighed. He looked at Nyx. "Why are they always like this?"

Nyx shrugged, currently examining a crystal chandelier with the intent to steal it. "Humans have fragile hierarchies. He feels threatened because you have taken his desired mate."

"She's not my mate," Judas corrected.

"Yet," Summer whispered dangerously.

Judas stepped forward, placing himself between Seraphina and Ignis. Not to protect Seraphina—she clearly didn't need it—but to end this farce.

"I am Judas Iscariot," he said, his voice amplified by a sliver of mana. "And this is now my tower. You are trespassing."

Ignis laughed. It was a harsh, barking sound.

"Your tower? You think because you walked in here while she was distracted, you own the place? I am Ignis Sol! My father is a Duke of the Fire Kingdom! I am an Elite Dragon Rider!"

He raised his hand. A massive magic circle formed in the air above him, glowing orange and red.

"Summon: Volcanic Salamander!"

The air distorted. A tear in reality opened, and a massive creature clawed its way out. It looked like a lizard made of magma and obsidian, easily twenty feet long. Heat rolled off it in waves, scorching the ice pillars.

"Burn him!" Ignis commanded.

The Salamander opened its maw, preparing to unleash a torrent of liquid fire.

Judas didn't move. He simply looked at the creature.

"Nyx," Judas said softly.

"On it."

She simply turned her head and looked at the Salamander. She opened her mouth slightly.

"Kneel."

It wasn't a shout. It was a command spoken in Draconic, the language of the sovereigns of the sky. It carried the weight of a bloodline so pure and ancient it made the Salamander's ancestry look like a mud puddle.

The effect was instantaneous.

The Volcanic Salamander choked on its own fire. Its eyes bulged in sheer terror. It didn't just kneel; it slammed its body flat against the floor, whimpering like a kicked puppy. The fire on its back extinguished, leaving only cooling rock.

Ignis stared. His mouth hung open. "What... what did you do?"

"Your lizard has better manners than you," Judas said calmly.

He triggered [Dash].

All the riders were heavily dependent on their mounts. For a mage like Ignis, he prided himself on his firepower. He never expected an Initiate would dare to fight an Elite.

To Ignis, it looked like teleportation. One moment Judas was twenty meters away; the next, he was standing directly in front of the Fire Mage.

Ignis panicked. He tried to cast a shield spell, but he was too slow.

Judas grabbed Ignis by the throat and lifted him off the ground.

"Urgh..." Ignis clawed at Judas's hand, his legs kicking uselessly.

"Listen closely," Judas whispered, bringing his face close to the struggling noble. "I don't care who your father is. I don't care about your faction. This tower is mine. If you want it, come back when you learn how to train your pets."

He threw Ignis.

"Leave," Judas ordered.

The mages scrambled to their feet, dragging their groaning leader. They looked at the prostrate Salamander, then at the man who had terrified it, and finally at the Ice Witch who was watching the scene with a bored expression.

They chose life. They ran, abandoning the Salamander, which dissolved into light and returned to its summon dimension a second later.

Silence returned to the hall.

"That was hot," Seraphina said, breaking the quiet. She looked at Judas with even more intensity than before.

[Affection: 20 -> 35]

Judas ignored the notification. He turned to his wives. They were looking at him. Ezra had a small, proud smile on her face. Nina was cheering silently. Luna looked satisfied.

Summer, however, was tapping her foot.

"You handled the trash," Summer said. "Good. Now, handle the ice cube."

Judas turned back to Seraphina. She was still standing there, unbothered by the violence, waiting for... something.

"Seraphina," Judas said. "About your... condition."

"I'm cold," she said simply. "Always cold. My mana freezes my blood. But near you... it stops."

She reached out a hand again. "Can I stay? I won't eat much. Just... let me stand near you."

It was pitiful. The feared Ice Witch, reduced to a moth seeking a flame.

Judas furrowed his brows, thinking about the fight. Ignis seemed too weak for an Elite. It felt like he intentionally lost the fight.

Why was that?

He looked at Seraphina.

Something strange about this woman…

She felt nothing like a human.

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