Trapped in a raging snowstorm, the Blood Mutants struggled to make out where exactly on the mountaintop they were. Having overestimated their strength and underestimated the mountain’s weather conditions, the Mutants blindly walked themselves into a snowstorm with snow as thick as mud.
Although the mutants made sure to protect their bodies against the cold with fur coats, they still were not enough to shield them against the roaring, cold winds and subzero temperatures. The cold, and nearly blinding storm, caused two of the four Mutants to disappear. The other two, Ace and his sister Cherry, found themselves surrounded by four tall silhouettes running circles around them.
Cold, tired, and scared, Ace started to panic while thinking of ways to get himself and his sister out of this mess. Firstly, he needed to find an escape route from whatever these four beings were. Their speed alone was frightening, and even though he had not made out what they looked like, he could guess that they were dangerous and well-suited to survive in these harsh conditions.
"Don’t worry, Cherry. I’ll get us out of this." Using his blood bank reserves, Ace wrapped tendrils around his sister’s body which he then wrapped around himself so she’d not drift away in the snow. Further, he bit the tips of his fingers and extracted a string of his own blood.
Constantly shifting it so it wouldn’t freeze, he slowly activated the explosive blood technique in order to try something new.
’I hope this works.’ The explosive blood technique was a skill that allowed Ace to make his own blood to combust under intense heat and pressure. What he wanted to do at this moment was control the heat component of the skill.
If he could somehow make his own blood heat up, he’d be able to not only keep himself and his sister warm but also be able to weaponize it.
A small explosion occurred, forcing Ace to repeat the process again. While doing so, the silhouettes started closing in on him and his sister. Out of desperacy, Ace ended up draining an even larger amount of his own blood and created a large blood ring, using it to surround himself and his sister.
"P-p-please w-w-workkk...." He muttered, his teeth chattering and clacking while his body shook violently. With his hands stretched, the Mutant focused on the blood ring and watched as its red, dull color developed a pink, fluorescent glow.
The blood glowed brighter and brighter and just when it was about to explode, Ace forcefully canceled the heating component and tried shifting it to stop his blood from exploding.
"C-c-come on," he gritted his teeth angrily as he battled with his own blood to keep it from exploding. "W-w-workkkk...."
Clenching his fingers harder, Ace forcefully jerked them back and forth, shifting and forcing the heating component of his blood to remain stable. After attempting multiple times, Ace finally sheered as his blood finally caught fire.
A massive wall of blood-red pink flame surrounded the two Mutants, instantly melting the snow around them. The bright light, beaming gloriously, bounced off of Cherry’s eyes and woke her up from her cold-induced comma. Ace remained in awe at his new skill, something that would have probably taken him months to learn if he kept holding back.
"W-what happened?" Cherry asked, confused by the sudden appearance of flames in the middle of a snowstorm. Her brother remained quiet, clearly fascinated by what he made. "Did you make this?"
"Yes, but we don’t have much time." He answered as he took off the useless fur coats. "Outside of this wall are creatures surrounding us. We have to leave..."
"Wait, creatures? What creatures? Where are Anya and Jim?" Cherry panicked in confusion, not quite understanding what was going on. Ace silently held his sister by her shoulders and explained what had happened during her coma. Once that was cleared out of the way, the two Blood Mutant siblings readied themselves for a fight against creatures they hadn’t fully seen yet.
"When this is over," Cherry spoke, her back pressed against Ace’s, "You’ll have to teach me that move as well."
"Let’s first get out of here alive." Ace created a blood sword using his own blood and repeated the same move again, causing it to light up in flames. With their hands transformed into claws, the siblings prepared to attack whatever it was behind the firewall. "The wall’s dying down. Get ready!!"
Eventually, the flames burned out, allowing the Mutants to see what was beyond them. To their surprise, the silhouettes that once surrounded them were gone, leaving Ace to wonder if he scared them off with his flames or if it was just a hoax all along.
Either way, he was glad that they were no longer around, and now, he and his sister were able to move on with their journey. Fresh chapters posted on 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹✶𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗲✶𝗻𝗲𝘁
"Here, take this." Ace created another blood sword on fire and gave it to Cherry. "Keep it close to you and use it to melt the snow around. Let’s hurry back down, I’m sure we’ll find Jim and Anya.
"We won’t have to." Cherry responded as she pointed at a pair of footprints a few feet away from her. "Either they saw this as a sign to keep going or walked past us during the storm."
Skeptically, Ace and Cherry followed the trail of footprints through the storm, their flaming swords not only melting paths for them but also keeping their bodies warm. Eventually, the Mutants found themselves rising even further away from the storm and into a flat bed of rocks and loose snow illuminating under the Granian sun.
"We made it!!" Ace cheered, his eyes catching sight of Jim and Anya who were shivering under blankets. With them were Lord Grania and Helda standing next to a ship. The collars on their necks unlocked and fell off, allowing the Mutants to use their blood powers at their heart’s content.
[Congratulations. You successfully completed the Quest.]
[Rewards shall be granted.]