Ancestral Lineage-Chapter 225: Pandemonium of Frost. Emperor Realm.

"You even got the guts to faze out in enemy territory. You really underestimate me, Kael'Dri," Seraphis said coldly, her gaze sharp as the ice coating the ruins around her. The air around her shimmered with deadly frost, the temperature plummeting with every second.

Ethan exhaled, his breath visible in the sudden chill. He blinked once, shaking off the haze in his mind.

"Sorry about that, but I don't have time for this game anymore," he said, rolling his shoulders. Then, with a smirk, he added, "Are you going to keep acting like you've got a dildo stuck up your ass, or are you going to hug me?"

A dangerous silence followed.

"You—!" Seraphis seethed, but Ethan cut her off.

"Seraphis, there's no time for unnecessary banter," he said, his voice losing its playful edge. "You don't really know me—except through those visions. But let me make one thing clear: I don't take my soulmates for granted. I would do anything for them—as long as it's reasonable. And what you want is far from reasonable."

Her eyes darkened. "Then I can't accept you."

Ethan sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "This is no longer a choice, Seraphis. Will you step down from that fragile throne of ice, or should I come up there, carry you in my arms, and spoil you until you melt into a fire spirit?"

"That didn't move me one bit."

"It seems I failed." He feigned disappointment, then his expression turned unreadable. "How I wish your father was here… He's the cause of all this, isn't he?"

"Don't you dare—"

"Or what?"

BOOM!

The castle trembled as ice erupted outward in a violent storm. Spires of frost lanced toward Ethan, but he didn't flinch. Instead, he lazily snapped his fingers.

Golden energy exploded from his body, forming a massive barrier. The raw power surged outward, shielding the kneeling frost spirits as Seraphis' fury threatened to consume everything.

"You're being unreasonable, baby girl!" Ethan called over the storm, smirking.

"You talk too much."

"You already said that. Are you an NPC stuck in a dialogue loop?"

"What is an NPC?" she asked, her voice sharp.

"Not obliged to explain." He ran a hand through his hair, eyeing the frozen strands. "Just look at what you did to my hair."

"I have no recollection of that."

"It would be good if you did. I miss my red hair, damn it."

"Don't insult me, mortal."

Ethan paused, blinking at her. Then, his smirk widened. "Oh? Is this where we are now? Mortal? Me?"

Seraphis hesitated, her lips parting slightly as if she wanted to take it back.

"No... I—"

BOOM!

The sky cracked as another explosion of ice and power burst forth.

"Kaldaroth, protect the civilians!" Ethan commanded, his voice carrying the weight of authority. His coat burned away, revealing the intricate alchemic tattoos lining his arms, glowing with crimson light.

Seraphis glared, her entire form glowing with freezing energy.

"I guess I'll have to use force, then," Ethan muttered, exhaling. Smoke coiled from his body, mixing with golden fire.

Then—

PAH!

He vanished.

The shockwave from his movement was so violent that the barrier shook, and Kaldaroth, despite his immense power, barely managed to keep his footing.

He watched in stunned silence as Ethan shot toward Seraphis like a falling star, moving so fast that the ice around them cracked and melted simultaneously.

BOOM!

The moment Ethan closed the distance, Seraphis reacted, unleashing a storm of frozen lances. But they shattered before they could even touch him.

'He was holding back this whole time…' Kaldaroth realized, his hands trembling.

Above them—

The castle shattered.

Not just into pieces—but into grains of ice, dissolving into a frozen sandstorm, its very structure annihilated by the sheer force of their battle.

Seraphis shot through the air, her body a blur of frost and fury, her expression twisted in a mix of rage and something dangerously close to desperation. Ethan was right behind her, a streak of crimson smoke and burning gold, his very presence warping the atmosphere. The air cracked under the force of their movements, the frozen heavens above trembling from their clash.

The remnants of the castle, now nothing but dust and fractured ice, twisted into the sky like a vengeful blizzard, each shard reflecting Seraphis' wrath.

"You dare—!"

"Yeah, yeah, I dare. You're gonna keep repeating yourself, or actually do something, baby girl?"

Ethan's grin was sharp, and taunting, but his eyes were cold, calculating. He was baiting her, pushing her to the edge. He knew she was holding back, knew there was something deeper than rage fueling her madness.

Seraphis snarled, her breath coming out in sharp clouds of mist. Then—

SNAP.

The temperature plummeted. The world turned white.

Ethan barely had time to react before the air itself became solid, encasing his limbs in raw, living frost. It crept up his body, burying itself into his skin, seeping into his veins like venom. The moment was instant, merciless.

He exhaled, a plume of smoke escaping his lips. His body shuddered, his muscles screaming under the weight of absolute zero.

"Is this your answer?" he rasped.

Seraphis hovered above him, her silhouette outlined by the jagged remains of her ice throne. She looked divine—deadly. Her white hair billowed, her expression unreadable.

"You are a fool, Kael'Dri," she whispered, her voice void of emotion. "Did you think you could reach me?"

Ethan chuckled, his breath coming out in mist.

"Reach you?" His tattoos ignited, breaking through the ice with cracks of raw power. "Sweetheart, I wasn't trying to reach you."

And then—

B O O M.

The air combusted.

A pillar of golden flames and crimson smoke erupted around Ethan, shattering the ice in an instant. The very sky quaked, rippling outward like a divine heartbeat.

Seraphis' eyes widened. For the first time, she hesitated.

Too late.

Ethan moved.

His fist crashed into her gut before she could react, sending her spiraling through the frozen heavens. She gasped, the wind leaving her lungs, pain exploding through her body.

But Ethan wasn't done.

He was already there, above her.

His arms shifted, his body twisting—a downward strike.

Seraphis barely managed to raise a hand before—

C R A C K.

The force sent her plummeting like a fallen goddess, her body crashing into the frozen plains below. The ice beneath her shattered for miles, jagged spikes impaling the sky like ruined pillars of a forgotten kingdom.

Ethan landed a short distance away, rolling his shoulders. Smoke curled from his skin, the remains of his burned coat falling away, revealing the intricate alchemic runes beneath.

"Still think I'm a 'mortal'?" he asked, tilting his head.

Seraphis coughed, blood staining the frost beneath her. But her eyes...

Her eyes were still filled with defiance.

She wiped her lips, standing slowly, her body trembling but unbroken.

"You're still beneath me."

Ethan sighed, rubbing his temples.

"Right, I forgot. Ice queen complex."

And then—

She lunged.

...

As the frozen remnants of the castle crumbled into a whirlwind of ice and dust, Seraphis' body pulsed with an eerie glow. The frost around her surged, swallowing the sky in an abyss of endless winter.

Ethan barely landed on a floating ice shard before the entire world shifted.

The air cracked.

A haunting howl rippled through existence.

Seraphis' form broke apart like shattered glass—not from injury, but from an eerie, unnatural transformation. Her body dissolved into a mist of crystalline frost, reforming into something entirely different.

Her humanoid frame vanished, replaced by a towering entity of pure ice.

She had become her true form.

A spirit of absolute winter. A being of the Primordial Frost. The Frost Primogenitor.

Her new body stretched hundreds of feet tall, sculpted from the coldest ice in existence. Her hair, once snow white, now billowed like an aurora, reflecting the frozen cosmos. Her eyes were voids of endless winter, and jagged wings of crystalline frost unfurled from her back.

When she spoke, her voice was no longer a mere sound—it was a force that resonated through the frozen wasteland.

"Mortal-born godling… If you wish to claim me, you must first survive me."

BOOM!

The world itself trembled.

Ethan's breath came out in sharp gasps as the pressure tripled, then quadrupled. His barrier began to crack.

"Shit—"

Before he could even react, Seraphis moved.

Not teleported. Not flew. Moved.

One moment, she was hundreds of feet away. The next—

A frozen claw, the size of a cathedral, came crashing down.

Ethan barely had time to dodge. He twisted his body mid-air, the claw grazing past him, but the sheer force behind it sent him hurdling through the sky like a broken comet.

The impact shattered his ribs.

Blood spurted from his lips as he twisted mid-flight, stabilizing himself.

"Alright, that fucking hurt."

Seraphis wasn't done.

She flicked a finger.

A storm of absolute zero erupted around him.

The temperature dropped so low that even space itself seemed to distort.

Ethan gritted his teeth as his protective auras strained against the encroaching frost. His veins felt like they were freezing solid. His own energy was slowing down.

He couldn't afford to stall.

Seraphis raised her massive wings, and the frozen sky itself shattered like glass.

A rain of jagged ice spears, each the size of a mountain, plummeted toward him at impossible speeds.

Ethan forced his blood to boil.

This 𝓬ontent is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.

With a sharp inhale, he activated his alchemic tattoos, igniting his energy to counteract the suffocating frost.

Golden fire erupted from his body, his aura blasting outward.

Still—

The ice was winning.

His body felt sluggish, and heavy. His power was being suppressed.

Seraphis' domain was too strong.

"Not enough," Ethan muttered, his vision blurring. His body had already reached its limit—his foundation was at the peak of his current level.

But he needed more.

Something beyond.

Seraphis' eyes gleamed as she raised her hand for the final blow.

A spear of absolute frost formed in her palm—one powerful enough to end gods.

"This is your end, Kael'Dri. I hope you forgive me."

Ethan clenched his fists.

He felt it.

The edge of a breakthrough.

But he was still missing something.

Then, suddenly—

He let go.

He stopped resisting. Stopped holding back.

And—

His entire existence ignited.

BOOOOOOM!

A golden explosion tore through the frozen battlefield, a shockwave so immense it reversed the very storm that threatened to consume him.

The entire world trembled.

Ethan's aura expanded.

His body cracked apart—only to be reforged in the next instant.

His power, which had been on the verge of transcending, finally shattered through the boundary.

EMPEROR REALM.

A blinding pillar of golden-red energy shot into the heavens.

Seraphis flinched, for the first time since the battle began.

Ethan opened his eyes.

They burned like twin suns.

His aura, now divine, completely erased the lingering frost in the air. His wounds closed in an instant, and his power—unfathomable.

"Alright," he exhaled, rolling his shoulders. "Now let's even the playing field."

Seraphis roared, unwilling to surrender.

She swung her massive claw once more—

But this time—

Ethan caught it with one hand.

The collision rippled through reality. Ice and golden fire clashed violently, but this time, the frost couldn't suppress him.

Ethan smirked.

Then—

He moved.

Lightning-fast, he disappeared from her grasp, reappearing directly above her massive head.

BOOM!

With a single palm strike, he sent her crashing down through layers of ice and sky.

The entire landscape shattered.

Seraphis groaned, her massive form struggling to rise. The power she wielded, so overwhelming before, was now… overpowered. Subdued.

Ethan landed gently beside her, exhaling a slow breath.

"I told you," he muttered. "This was never a choice."

Seraphis growled, but there was no more rage in her voice.

Only resignation.

Ethan knelt, reaching forward. His fingers brushed against her crystalline forehead, his touch burning yet gentle.

Seraphis shuddered.

Then—

She bowed.

A mark of submission.

The storm ceased.

The ice that once consumed the sky vanished.

And with it—

Seraphis' massive form dissolved, shrinking back down.

When the light faded, she was kneeling before him in her humanoid form once more, her white hair cascading over her shoulders.

Her eyes, once cold and unyielding, were now filled with something else.

Ethan smiled.

"Now, let's go home, baby girl."