Ability: Adrenaline

"Well?! Are you aware of how screwed you are yet, Corrupt Stone?" Zeal shouted out toward me.

Zeal put his weapon in his sheathe and turned around, facing towards the beach, and slowly walking back. By the looks of it, a stone is missing from the bunch. It completely glossed over my head, but somebody has control of this Ice and isn't showing themselves.

Demos, I believe. I haven't seen him yet, but I thought everybody was accounted for... that's not right either, there's one more White Stone I haven't seen either. Demos must have control of this ice sheet, but he can't kill me, can he? I thought about it over and over again as the White Stones beside me began to walk off of the ice sheet.

Again… I was powerless, left to only stand here as the five of them had a grip on me. I turned back to everybody around me, the cold breeze finally started to hit me. I kept watching their bodies sway back and forth as they proceeded forward, stuck in place. I thought to myself, 'how many times will this happen before you do something?'

Throwing all fear deep into the water below us, I sprinted over to the Fast Stone. Domin had taught me something the day we fought against that rabid deer… above all else, a person will always protect themselves over the other, and only put themselves in the way of danger if they knew they'd live. That's why Domin didn't interfere with that deer that day.

I took him for granted, every second he was alive. I underestimated his intelligence, I brought him along with me just because I didn't have the skills he had, and I would never forgive myself for that. Domin taught me a lot and I spent so long regretting that he couldn't teach me more, so I hope I can show off what I've learned in front of everybody.

I won't ever take any of my friends for granted again.

I jumped to the Fast Stone, reaching out for his legs mid-dive. He noticed what I was doing and side-stepped, avoiding my grasp.

"W-What? Get away from me!" He yelled out to me.

I drew my sword once again and slashed at his chest, cutting open his shirt. I was too far away to inflict real damage, but I could easily close this distance!

The training Ellie taught me didn't involve attacking, but I could disarm him if he were to attack me first. The problem with that is he can't attack me because he might kill me and corrupt his system, so the training means nothing at this point. I lifted my hand up with my sword, realizing the strain I put on my muscles. It began to hurt my shoulder, and on top of that, the floor beneath me vanished, plunging me into the cold water.

I kept my sword pointed up out of the water, hoping he couldn't close it on me. I heard mumbling above me, or what sounded like it, the sounds I heard underwater were muffled. They were doing a lot more than mumbling, was I making them nervous?

I put my hands up on the edge of the ice sheet and pushed my body up. I took a sharp breath inward, trying to combat my cold body temperature. On my way up, I noticed that old animal underwater with the scar was starting to swim underneath the sheet of ice.

I saw him inside of the pond while peering down into the depths beneath the Isle. Seeing him here was... surprising, considering how far away we were from that pond.

"Elo?! Are you okay?!" I looked up towards Zeal's concerned voice and realized Elo had fallen into another hole right beside me.

"I-I'm good! What about… never mind." Elo cut his sentence short after looking at me. I smiled at his disappointment that I wasn't dead.

"If you don't get out of here now, we're going to get involved!" Ullr shouted out.

"One hit with this weapon and the pain that follows would stun you, you couldn't face off against us, puny Arkian." Zeal called out. I held my hand out towards Ullr.

"Stay back… I don't want you guys to be involved with these sorry excuses for humans." I told Ullr. Both Zeal and Elo tilted their heads.

"Don't you dare insult us like that. We're Arkians. A-R-K-I-A-N-S. To be compared to those lowly humans is like corrupting your system, but I guess I shouldn't be too mad at you considering you don't know the difference." Zeal teased me.

"Why don't you show signs of being cold?" The Fast Stone asked me. I was cold right now, but this was a rare occurrence, as it was one of the only times I felt it.

"I never have felt cold going into the water, not that cold at least," I replied.

"It's something to do with his hormones, Zeal. The ice around him was melting as well." To my surprise, the final White Stone appeared walking out of the forest after explaining what was going on with me. Blood was leaking from his nose as if he was under some sort of stress.

"I didn't know anything about cooldowns with my abilities… that would've been nice to know… now, Corrupt Stone, let's see… your eye turns red thanks to corruption." He told me. I paused in place. I didn't like the sound of this. This guy seemed smart.

"Stealing weapons seems like your ability… or so I wanted to believe. But Elo, did you see strands come out of his hands?" I tightened my grip around the handle of my sword. My body began to shiver.

"I did, but I thought maybe it was because of my Strands left over on his body." I turned to the Fast Stone as he explained something weird to Demos.

"Strands? What are you guys talking about?" I asked them. My stone shifted back to the same, old color. I felt the fatigue from before, pushing me into the ice.

The second my knee hit the ice, I realized it was only a matter of time before his cooldown ended. He would collapse the ice underneath me once more. I went to ask for help, but my mouth wouldn't open, I was far too tired for it.

"I guess I shouldn't expect him to know… no matter. But what is it that your corrupt system does? Your general ability is pretty standard, not unlike anything I've noted from the other stones, but your corrupt stone makes this so much more interesting…" Demos said. He closed the distance and put his hand around my throat, lifting me off the ice.

"You put him down! We will shoot at you!" Dani pulled back her bowstring and aimed it right for Demos.

"I highly doubt you can handle the strain of killing somebody. As Zeal stated, you're a weak Arkian, somebody incapable of killing." Dani released the arrow, and it flew right into Demos' arm, dropping me to the ground.

That serves you right, dickhead.

"What the?- Damn... you little bitch... no matter." Demos commented.

I finally regained feeling in my body and picked my sword back up, waiting for his next attack.

"Adrenaline… isn't it? You produce far too much adrenaline that keeps you warm." Demos asked me.

[System Alert: Corruption Ability Unlocked!]

[Adrenaline Surge: Gain the ability to surge your adrenaline!]

"Well? That's right, isn't it? You're not much better than us after all, even when you play the dirtiest you can. You're just some weak White Stone. Don't worry, I'll end your suffering now. Zeal, Elo, retreat." Demos told his friends.