Eleven: The Sequel of AlterMyth

And Hell Froze Over

Kronii's lips wrinkled.

"I thought you said that you would protect me." Mumei tested.

Kronii shuddered. She felt a chill running up her spine.

"When you comforted me over the phone that night - was that all a lie?" Mumei asked, watching Kronii with her glistening eyes, "Are you going to leave me like Lady Knowledge did too in the end?"

The minute hand of her headdress ticked ominously.

One minute left.

It was at that time that General Sparrowhawk's words echoed in Kronii's mind.

' Continue being the pillar that supports her. Stand at her side through hell and high water... just like how Lady Janus stayed by Lady Knowledge to the bitter end. '

To the bitter end, huh?

Kronii leaned towards Mumei and brought out her handkerchief. She wiped the tears from the owl-girl's eyes.

"For you, Mumei." Kronii started, "I'll do this for you."

Mumei managed to smile.

"That's all I ask of you, Kronii."

With that, Kronii let go of Mumei. The owl-girl was frozen in time once more. She felt the warmth of Mumei's tears on her hands - then she mixed them with her wisps of blue magic and transformed them into her twin blades.

Kronii turned her eyes towards Calliope Mori. She marched forward with shifting shadows over her bright blue eyes.

"Boros." Kronii whispered to the air.

At her command, the white, serpentine Guardian Spirit revealed himself in his full form.

"Warden." Boros dutifully answered her call, "What is your bidding?"

"Prepare your venom." Kronii commanded, showing him her minute-hand longsword, "We're going to bring Calliope Mori back in time - before she became a Grim Reaper." Her blue eyes sharpened, "Turn her mortal. Then it's off with her head."

"Are those your orders?" Boros asked. Then, he glanced at the time-frozen Mumei - then to the time-frozen Nephilim, "Are you absolutely certain this is what you desire?"

"I wouldn't have called you if they weren't." Kronii snapped, raising up her longsword.

"If you say so." Boros answered, "I shall do as you ask."

The tip of Kronii's longsword touched one of Boros' fangs. A potent, temporal venom emerged and coated the sword.

Kronii's headdress ticked once more.

Thirty seconds and counting.

"Let's do this!" Kronii cried.

Boros nodded. Then, the large serpent and the Warden of Time charged towards the unsuspecting, time-frozen Calliope Mori.

Kronii held her venom-coated longsword firmly. Her boots kicked up the bloodstained snow on the streets, but they too froze in time and were suspended in midair. Her shadow, just like the shadows of Irys and Mumei, shifted unnaturally ever so slightly. Boros, meanwhile, loomed over Calliope Mori like a tightening noose.

Kronii raised her sword and prepared to strike Calliope Mori down.

But she wouldn't get the chance.

All of a sudden, a war cry reached Kronii's ears in the time-frozen realm.

"KIKIRIKI!"

A wall of flame erupted from the snow in a straight line, like a sword-stroke. It rose as high as the tenements along the roads of Yekaterinburg and burned with intense, otherworldly heat. Kronii had to shield herself from the wall. Boros, meanwhile, was set ablaze and roared in agony.