Cross slowly forced himself to his feet as the newcomer lifted a gloved hand up to his chin and appraised the scene. His eyes rested on each of them before landing on the fallen behemoth. A small sigh escaped his lips and he shook his head.

"Quite a mess you have made,” he said the words lightly. “Are any of my men still alive?”

“Lord Frederick” Safir lifted up his head and reached his hand towards the lord. “They have her. The Goddess. She is here.”

"Is she now. That is an unexpected development,” Frederick said, tilting his head to look around Lexi and at Makina. “This entire night has been quite unexpected, to be truthful. I assume it was you that started the fire?”

“It was.” Lexi said, taking a small step forward.

“I see.” Frederick nodded. “I take it you have no intentions of handing the girl over peacefully?”

“We are leaving with her and her family.”

“I thought as much. What an unfortunate delusion.” He waved his hand and the squad of Son's behind him lifted their bows and angled them towards Cross "Despite the trouble you have caused, you have brought the Spirit Goddess back and saved me a considerable amount of trouble. For that, I shall offer you a deal. You hand over our dear little Spirit Goddess, and I'll allow your friend to live. If you don't, I shall have him killed, here and now, and then we can try again with someone else."

Lexi didn't move, her eyes flicking from Cross to Frederick, gauging the distance.

"You can't make that,” Romeo said quietly, his fingers twitching ever so slightly over his bomb belt.

Frederick noticed.

"Ah yes, you there.” Frederick pointed his cane at Romeo. "Please, keep your hands where I can see them. While I am more than a little interested in your weapons, I would rather not see them in action right now. So if you wouldn't mind, kindly remove them."

Romeo grit his teeth, but slowly lifted his arms up and slipped his final belt off his shoulder. Looking away from Frederick he let it drop to the ground at his feet.

"Thank you! Now then, the Spirit Goddess, if you would?" Frederick asked, tapping his cane neatly against the ground. When no one moved he sighed and lifted his hand.

Cross let out a hiss of pain as a crossbow bolt pierced through his left leg. He managed to hold himself up for a moment before, with a curse, his leg buckled. He crashed to the floor, his face twisting in pain as he grasped at his leg.

Behind Banksy's arm, Makina cried out his name.

"Now you see, I'm being more than polite. I even gave you a warning shot. Considering what you have done to my men, I should not have even done that much,” Frederick said as the Son reloaded his weapon and the others kept theirs trained on Cross. "I am going to ask you one more time to give me the girl. There will not be a second warning shot. Please, believe me when I say, they will not miss, and you will watch him die. You can prevent this by simply giving me the girl. I swear, no further harm will come to you.”

"I will kill you," Lexi breathed, her hands shaking ever so slightly. “I swear it.”

Frederick clicked his tongue and lifted his hand again. "That's the wrong answer, I'm afraid.”

"Wait!" Makina yelled, slipping out of Banksy's grasp and pushing passed Lexi.

The shadow mage lunged for her but she was already too far away. Frederick’s face split into a smile and he held out his hand expectantly.

"Makina, don't!" Cross roared, stopping the girl in her tracks halfway between Lexi and Frederick. She turned and stared at him through bleary eyes.

"Cross."

"Don't." Cross pressed his forehead against the ground and tried to push himself back to his feet, but his hand, slick with his own blood, only slid out from under him and he fell back to the floor. Teeth bared against the pain he forced his head up to meet Makina’s eyes "Don't!"

"Cross… You’ll die…" Makina shook her head, tears beginning to fall. “I can’t.”

“We have a contract.” Cross slammed his fist down against the ground as Makina took another step forward. “We have a contract and if you take another step I will dissolve it. I promised you, didn’t I. I'll keep that promise. I'll save them. All of them. I swear it. So don’t!”

Makina wavered before taking an unsteady step back. Behind her Lexi was already reaching out.

"Enough of this," Frederick sighed and pointed at Cross. "Kill the noisy one already."

Two crossbows fired.

Helpless on the floor Cross could do nothing. His eyes moved to Lexi and his shoulders slumped as he gave her the faintest smile.

"Cross!" Lexi screamed, her voice echoing with Banksy and Romeo.

"No! Please, stop it!" Makina screamed as she brought her hands over her mouth before throwing them out towards Cross.

As though they had struck a solid wall, the bolts came to a quivering stop only inches from Cross's chest. He stared at them, shocked, before turning to look at Makina. She stared back at him, but it wasn't through the same eyes he had grown so accustomed to.

A storm of ice and fury had been unleashed.

"Makina..."

The air in the room grew frigid as Makina turned back to the Sons who had fired on Cross. Whipping her arm towards them, the bolts flipped around and whistled through the air before impaling each Son through the chest. Without a sound they dropped down to the floor.

Makina's tiny shoulders heaved as she sucked in deep breaths of the frozen air before turning her icy gaze on Frederick who stared at her with wide, fearful eyes. The room was deathly silent, as the air grew ever colder. The pools of blood staining the ground froze solid and delicate tendrils of ice snaked across the floor and up the walls.

"I am Makina, Spirit Goddess of the Northern Winter Winds." Makina spoke softly, but her voice easily echoed in the silent room. “You have injured my servant, you have hurt my friends, and you have stolen my family. I shall see you pay for these transgressions."

"No!" Safir roughly pushed himself from the ground, blood seeping from his wound. A long knife appeared in his hand and he staggered towards Makina. "I will not allow you to rise again. Not after all I, all we, have given. Your time has come to an end!”

"Be silent.” Makina lifted up her hand. A large spike of ice materialized in front of her palm and shot across the room. It slammed into Safir's stomach, piecing through his armour as though it weren't there. Two more followed, sending him hurtling back against the wall.

"Impossible," Safir whispered as his body began to freeze from the inside out. His fair skin turned a sickly blue and he clawed as his chest as the blood turned to ice in his veins. Unable to even cry out, completely frozen, he fell forward for the last time.

Makina stared at Safir's corpse for a moment before turning back to Frederick.

“Shoot her!”

Bolts flew through the air, but not a one came close to striking the Goddess. The air whipped around the room, sending the pieces of metal spinning harmlessly to the ground.

“Pathetic.” Makina’s lip curled as she took a step towards Frederick. Her hand came up before she suddenly staggered to the side. Blinking rapidly, she just managed to catch herself before she fell. Again her hand came up, but her arm shook violently. Another spike of ice materialized, but only for a moment before it shattered into nothing as Makina’s hand dropped limply down to her sides.

Dropping to her knees, she turned she turned her head towards Cross as her eyes returned to their familiar soft blue.

"I’m sorry,” Makina whispered before her eyes closed and she dropped to the ground. “I…”

Almost immediately, the temperature in the room returned to normal.

"Well, it would seem you have reached your limit." Frederick sniffed as he composed himself, staring down at Makina. "I'm embarrassed to admit, I was worried for a moment there."

"You should have been!" Romeo shouted as he kicked the entire bomb belt towards Frederick. The belt detonated in the air, filing the room with thick, black smoke.

Lexi was on them in a heartbeat.

As though she were made of smoke and shadow, she slipped through the remaining Son's as they vainly tried to draw their weapons to defend themselves. Nightmare flashed and blood spattered. When the smoke settled, only Lexi was left standing with her blade pressed against Frederick's chest.

"Wait!" Frederick’s eyes went wide as he searched for help but only found the corpses of his men. "You saw. You saw what she just did. They were even more powerful before. She is too dangerous to exist. They all are. They are monsters.”

Lexi pressed her blade deeper, breaking the skin. “I only see one monster.”

“We only wanted to save his world. To help.” Frederick whimpered as blood began to stain his shirt. “Please. I am unarmed. You must show me mercy.”

"Mercy?" Lexi stepped forward and plunged Nightmare deep into Frederick's chest. He lifted up his hand and grasped weakly at the blade only to let out a fresh cry as spikes of shadow burst forth along Nightmare's blade, piercing through his hand and inside his chest. “You forfeited my mercy the moment you harmed him.”

Though the blood pounded in her ears and her body threatened to collapse, Lexi held the spell for a moment longer, forcing the thorns bursting from Nightmare to grow longer and longer, tearing through Frederick, before finally allowing the shadows to fade away. Stepping back she wrenched Nightmare free.

She did not flinch as the fresh blood splattered along her face.