While Ifrit was dealing the Ice Father Porkcupine, Shiva was walking up the steps appreciating the scenery around her while watching her half brained brother beating the crap out of the poor giant beast.
She was sure that all he wanted was a bit of fun before going back to his cramped space and be revered as a god for his followers.
But the steps to reach the throne chair became even more cumbersome as Shiva witnessed a thick layer of ice was being created right above her. She deduced that Queen Mab had decided to change the playing field once more and that’s if Shiva managed to reach the top.
Spears, Swords and other sorts of weapons were created from Mab’s ice magic and being thrown towards Shiva while she climbed the stairs. Needless to say, it was more of a hassle for her rather than those ice weapons serving its purpose.
However, the Queen of Winter Court was not done with the ‘harassment’ as she created replicas of Valgs with her ice magic and sent them to rush against Shiva from climbing the spiralling stairs the Shaitan had built.
“Now it felt like Mab’s the kid, throwing all sort of weird shit at me instead of letting me climb the stairs properly,” Shiva said as she compared her to her daughter, Maeve.
“Hey at least, that means that she is afraid of you…maybe at the same time, she had the feeling that you are not worthy of her true magic? Or her emotions are conflicted? Could be a long time since she fought a worthy adversary, but that’s just my guess” Frost Echo said his thoughts through Shiva’s mind.
“Huh? So, in short, she is panicking?” Shiva placed her hand into a charging Valg, grabbing its spine with her bare hands before throwing it off the stairs and into the barren winter wasteland. The Ice Valg fell flat like a rock, whimpering and squirming a little for its last breath as Shiva continued to walk upwards without care to it.
“Ehhh, I guess you can interpret her actions that way too…” Frost Echo decided to keep quiet instead.
Soon, she arrived at the top of the ice block where it connects the giant sheet of ice she saw while climbing up. To Shiva, it looked like an open space arena with Queen Mab at the end of the ice sheet. But right in front of her was something that Shiva did not expect. The scale, the immense details as well as its liveliness.
It was an entire army made out of ice.
Archers, Cavalry, Swordsmen, Spearmen, Axemen, Knights…whatever Shiva could see was merely the frontline. There were hundreds if not thousands spanning across the ever growing floating ice sheet to accommodate Queen Mab’s Winter Army.
Not to mentioned, she made sure that each and every ice figure she created was imbued with both offensive and defensive magic. Ice barriers were floating on every soldier, and they even had a petite ice pixie accompanying each and every one of them to regenerate any damage taken for a short duration of time.
“Huh. So, those Ice Valgs and those weapons were merely a distraction…” Shiva shook her head in dismay.
When both Shiva and Frost Echo saw the magnitude of the army, they clearly knew that Queen Mab was faking her reactions during the stairs up to the floating ice sheet. The Orc King guessed that Mab wanted to manipulate the perception of the Ice Shaitan so that she would lower her guard.
“It worked. I am mildly surprised by this whole arrangement.” Shiva said her thoughts to Frost Echo as she stared blankly at Queen Mab, who was smiling evilly at the change of events.
“You wanted to see the extent of my powers, right? THIS IS MY TRUE POWER!” Queen Mab answered with a twisted look in her face. She was delirious to be able to portray the extent of her powers to a fellow Ice User even though the latter continued to remain quiet.
“Why? Too shocked? Is this too overwhelming for you? Oh and just before you think of breaking this sheet of ice with an attack and hoped to shatter the ice, I trust that you are making a mistake. But please, be my guest and try.” Queen Mab returned to a more composed expression as she calmly sat on the throne chair.
“I shall then.” Shiva lifted both her hands and subsequently went to a stance as if she was imitating crocodile’s head opening its mouth. Immediately, a series of ice shards lined up in front of the ice sheet like the fangs of a crocodile. The same happened at the bottom of the ice sheet as well with these shards being at least the size of a football field each in length and width, aiming at the ice sheet.
Like a kindergarten kid playing as the villainous crocodile biting the soft tender meat of the innocent deer, Shiva closed the jaws by clasping her hands together. Sure enough, the ice shards followed suit as it fell straight to the ice sheet.
But a psychic barrier appeared the moment the Ice Shards came close to the sheet of ice. Like a turtle, the barrier deflected each and every shard like it was the hardest thing the crocodile could have ever bitten.
Shiva retracted the shards and tried again, this time with more force, but it was futile as the barrier broke all the shards into multiple pieces. Queen Mab was very confident that her barrier could not be destroyed and Shiva was trapped in it as well.
The next step was to physically break the ice sheet with force similar to an earthquake tremor. But the piece of ice sheet reemerged itself once again. The Ice Shaitan deduced that the Queen fo Winter Courts had dynamic kinetic barriers and eyes on her battlefield to ensure that its area of play would sustained attacks. Since both had the power to make ice to bend on their will, Shiva guessed that the only way to escape from this was to retreat, die or kill Queen Mab.
But like her dimwit brother, Shiva’s thirst for battle merely increased.
On the other hand, the Winter Fey was very confident there was little or no chance to overcome her superior psychic barrier and believed that her command of ice was clearly superior
Shiva sighed as she looked at the enemy, all ready to charge towards her and trample her to death. All it takes was just the ‘go’ signal from their Queen. The Ice Shaitan could fight the entire army, but it was troublesome, and she suspected that the fight would not stop until either one of them back down.
Not to mention, the strain on Frost Echo would be potentially immense, and the subsequent backlash would definitely do a number on him,
“Heh. You are forgetting something, Herald of Winter.” Frost Echo smirked as he opened the System Channel via his thoughts. “To all Orcs listening in, this is your King speaking. I invoke the sacred duty of every abled body Orc who can hear this. Defend your King at this instant. To all Shiva Worshippers, your God demands your presence by her side without fail. This is the time to show your devotion.”
The moment Frost Echo finished his order, a loud synchronised stomp could be heard behind Shiva. Without looking back, the Ice Shaitan put on a smug face when she noticed a crack in Queen Mab’s sly smile.
Queen Mab could not believe her eyes when she saw a series of portals opening and out came thousands of Orc troops marching in to defend their Majesty and one of their God Incarnates.
“Now this matchup is pretty even.” Shiva licked the side of lips, almost tempted to praise her Avatar for the quick witted thinking.
