Maria, who seemed to have been possessed by something, immediately froze her surrounding, freezing both Kuina and Eri in the process; then she looked in a certain direction; someone was hiding.
The white-haired Maria chuckled; everything time she breathed, the surrounding temperature would decrease, becoming colder and colder; it had become an ice hell already.
Meanwhile, Shadow, who jumped back when she felt the change happening around, had her palms dripping with cold sweat, and her back started to ache. Shadow got chills and goosebumps from every nook and cranny in her body.
The thing before her slowly raised her head; there was a smile on her face that increased Shadow's goosebumps to a dreadful level. Then the white-haired girl lifted her right arm. Shadow slowly observed this simplistic movement. She, who has faced many enemies, facing many death and life situations, was feeling an inexplicable fear that surpassed everything she had ever felt until now.
'What the hell is this thing?' This question immediately popped into her mind; she didn't have the time to ponder about it before another question appeared.
'Why did such a fearsome thing appear here?'
Before she could further dwell on these questions, the white-haired Maria moved, no her hand moved so ever slowly that you would have mistaken it as if she was guiding an orchestra, however, this simple movement became Shadow nightmare, she saw this hand move so slowly that it felt close to eternity, facing this hand she couldn't muster any strength.
During that time, Shadow had envisioned something even she had never envisioned before. Her death, she saw herself dying dozens, hundreds, not thousands of times over in this brief moment.
Shadow's mind seemed to be about to collapse because she was too focused on the white-haired Maria's hand. She had overlooked her eyes; her icy blue eyes shone accompanied by the movement of her hand; it was this combination that did deadly damage to Shadow.
The white-haired Maria let a chuckle escape out of her white lips before she disappeared, and in the next moment, she was already before the frozen Shadow, then she put on her finger emitting bone-chilling cold against.
''I need you to forget something.'' A cold voice escaped from the white-haired Maria's mouth while Shadow's body suddenly shook as if something was wreaking havoc inside her body; it didn't last long before Shadow was sent flying far away, disappearing from the white haired Maria sight.
Crack!
Suddenly, many cracks appeared all over the white-haired Maria's body from which blood flowed out; simultaneously; her white hair began to regain its original color.
Seeing what was happening to this body, the white-haired Maria chuckled; she looked at the frozen Kuina and Eri; although they are frozen, something within them seemed to be in the process of awakening, even if it was forcibly. It is only natural, facing an uncommon enemy; when you have your back against the wall, your ultimate defensive mechanic would be activated. It was what was happening to those two right now, something within them was about to awaken, and the white-haired Maria couldn't let that happen not yet.
Flick!
She flicked her fingers, and the ice world receded like a joke, and both Eri and Kuina found themselves free; however, because the cold had put them into a stasis side, they couldn't regain their consciousness yet.
By now, the white-haired Maria hair had gotten almost black; the fearsome aura she was emitting was disappearing as well.
''Fuh! Hah! I hope that boy this foolish host couldn't be honest with is doing fine?" The white-haired Maria spat out while looking in a particular direction; strangely, this direction happened to be where Alex and Sakuya are. Then with a plop sound, Maria fell to the ground, losing consciousness; her almost broken body began to regenerate as the previous cold energy used to freeze the surrounding appeared in the form of a white crystal which began to float above Maria's body.
The faster this white crystal spin, the more cold energy was sent into Maria's body, repairing and strengthening her broken body; after what seemed to be an eternity, this white crystal, who had diminished from its initial volleyball size to tennis ball size, suddenly disappeared; however, Maria whose completion had gotten better showed no sign of waking up neither the other two.
Meanwhile, in another location, someone dressed in black was gasping for breath.
''Hu! Hu!!"
This person was none other than Shadow; when she came to her senses, she found herself on the ground sprawled as she had just woken up on an abandoned island.
Shadow's face behind the mask was contorted with confusion. What happened? She couldn't recall a thing, the only that came back was that she went out to watch some players whom the mayor had set his eyes on the fight, but to this point, nothing else appeared again.
Suddenly, a memory came rushing, making Shadow feel intense pain; she clutched her head until the pain faded away, and from this memory, she gained information. The result of the exchange between the three, the final winner was the Ice beauty, but she had suffered an injury.
Although Shadow found this sudden memory a bit unreliable, she didn't have the choice, so she cleared away her confusion, as the reason she was lying on the ground she didn't pay too much mind to this as she was known as someone eccentric, sometimes she did things even herself doesn't understand the reason behind this behavior she had.
"Let's head back and proceed with the plan,'' Shadow mumbled to herself as she stood up and departed; having been with the mayor for many years even before he got married, Shadow knew him better than anybody, and she was aware of what he had planned especially after seeing those three girl's strength.
However, the sudden thought of the plan made Shadow feel sudden anxiety, an unknown fear coming from the depth of her soul; however, Shadow discarded this feeling as feeling tired; she believed that everything would be fine. Everything is for the greater cause.