Eventually, after suffering some losses, they found Ymir. He looked pretty different from the last time they saw it, now he had a body made of flesh and bones, but he was also inside a thick armor made of very deep blue ice.

“It is quite weird to find an giant who doesn’t have confidence in their endurance,” Loki said.

            Instead of replying to that, Ymir only pointed a finger toward Loki, and he was covered by the same ice in the next instant. In the next moment, the ice was shattered, and everyone fell silent.

“Geez, no one likes to hear a joke these day,” Loki said when he appeared behind the army. “Still, thanks to letting me know that I can even fool the Legendary Ymir.”

            Once again, Ymir didn’t say anything, he just raised his arms, and several humans began to lose their powers. That was really troublesome, so the elder gods and everyone else bombarded the Ymir with their weapons. However, even though the ice was malleable enough to let Ymir move the way he saw fit, it didn’t get a single scratch. Not even from Femradiel’s Draconic Bow.

“No way…” Femradiel said in shock. “How many tricks do those guys have up their sleeve?”

  “Apollo, use your ordinary arrows!” Zeus shouted.

“I can only do so much without a sun nearby… but I suppose I can try,” Apollo said.

            Even without the sun nearby, Apollo could summon Solar arrows. The only difference is that he could only summon so much at a time. Apollo arrows hit the same spot over and over again, and he actually managed to damage the armor, but it quickly repaired itself.

            Isis joined the fray and fired Plasma Arrows. Still, as expected of the ice that could even absorb the damage of temporal arrows… it resisted like Isis was firing pebbles at it. A powerful armor of unknown ice and the ability to steal the abilities and status of many targets… Ymir was invincible.

              Femradiel bit her lips in exasperation. Why did things have to end like that as soon as things started to work out well for her? Ryan brought her back to life after he finally made up his mind about their relationship. She even was pregnant… She found a new place to call home after losing her previous home and even managed to defeat one of the three impossible enemies that destroyed her other home… so. Why?

          As if things weren’t bad enough, the world started to tremble, and the alliance members saw the whole ice of the world being controlled by Ymir. The powerful winds stopped blowing, but in exchange for that, a massive wall of ice appeared in all directions as if Ymir had created a prison or a coffin made of ice to kill everyone inside. Even the frozen dark clouds began to fall as well.

“Behold the true power of the true ice and despair,” Ymir said while showing a vicious smile.

“Everyone! Let’s focus our attacks right above us!” Isis shouted. “We should be able to open a hole in it and escape the attack.”

          The plan was simple and effective under the right circumstances. They had dozens of elder gods on their side, after all. However, those who could make the most difference were the humans, and with the exception of a few hundred, most of them have lost their powers.

              Even so, the group decided to try that. They pointed all their weapons skyward and used their most powerful skills. The massive beam of energy hit and pierced the dark frozen clouds in an instant, and for a moment, they saw the sky of that world. However, the dark clouds quickly regenerated themselves.

“All right… I am starting to get worried,” Loki said. 

              The elder gods who had enough mana tried to use Reset. Still, when they did it, the energy escaped from their bodies and flew to Ymir… which seemed like a technique Ymir had developed to use against Chronus.

              There must be a way out of that mess. Femradiel looked around frenetically. She tried to use Teleport and return to the Checkpoint, but the skill didn’t work. She suddenly recalled those barriers that Ryan got stuck sometimes… maybe the entire world was inside a barrier that negated the effects of time magic and some skills. Still, to be able to seal even time magic… that barrier should have some limitations…

            Femradiel looked toward the ice armor protecting Ymir, but she didn’t find anything special with it. It was just a thick barrier made of ice that had a lot of mana. Was that the secret to creating true ice? A massive concentration of mana?

            Femradiel suddenly tried to use Mana Manipulation to enhance an Ice spear and make it stronger as much as possible. Much to her surprise, she actually succeeded in making ice that seemed similar to Ymir armor… Was it really that simple, or was there something missing?

“I see now… we are inside a domain that cancels spells that cost a lot of mana and enhances ice magic,” Isis said.

“This seems too simple… what do you think, Poseidon?” Zeus asked.

              Poseidon tried to do the same as Femradiel, and while he needed some more seconds, he also pulled that off.

“It is true… ny magic is much more powerful,” Poseidon said.

“That is good and all, but we can’t defeat Ymir with his speciality,” Loki said.

“It is our only choice,” Isis said. “Let’s pass our mana to Femradiel and Poseidon, there are the strongest when it comes to ice magic.”

“… Let her do it,” Poseidon said after a long sigh. “It will be more efficient that way.”

            For a second, everyone looked at Poseidon in shock. He was too prideful to admit that, but he did it. However, they didn’t have time to waste with that, so they obeyed him. The few humans who still had mana touched the shoulders of the elder gods and passed their mana to them, and they did the same until they created a chain that both sides ended in Femradiel. She felt the energy of everyone making her shoulders feel warm, and she nodded after looking at them. Meanwhile, Ymir looked at them while smiling… it was useless.