Surprised by this development, Zelta looked behind him and saw the girl who had previously spoken. She was standing on a part of the mountain even higher than the one with the cave, which he wasn't able to see at first. This person, who had a very chilly aura which was even colder than the weather, had casual clothing in the snow and looked like she was made to be in this kind of place: her hair was white with blue streaks, her eyes were light blue and showed curiosity and a bit of anger and the dress she was wearing was also azure, but it didn't completely cover her and it seemed suitable for high temperatures and not this kind of climate.
She looked back at the boy who was looking at her, raising an eyebrow. She didn't talk because it seemed like she was waiting for an explanation. "I am Zelta Haidenburg, a noble-class mage from Delmasia! Y-You, please, help me... this monster, it's going to kill me if you don't do anything!" He explained to her with a terrified face, but she didn't seem to be moving at all. Suddenly, the girl jumped on a ledge of the wall behind the blue-eyed sorcerer, letting her legs dangle as if she was chilling, watching a show.
It didn't take long for Zelta to realize that the Ice Mage had no intentions to help. She looked down on him like he was just entertainment -- still, he felt like he could maybe convince her.
"Please! My family is rich... we can pay you! There's so many things I can give you! If it's spells, I can give those, if it's money--" The desperate try of the mage was stopped by a cough from the Ice Mage, who showed that she wasn't interested. "Yeah, I definitely have a dire need for money, here, on top of a mountain, isolated from any kind of human life. Thanks, you're really helpful." She joked with a harsh tone, making him wince. "Rather, I'm curious, why did you come here? Perhaps, did you expect I'd be forced to help you kill that guy?" She smiled after saying that with a poisonous tone, because she knew that she had hit the right mark. He believed at first that the monster was too far for her to see, but he forgot that she was used to the cold weather and how little one can see in a snowfall -- her eyes, colored similarly to ice itself, worked perfectly in the storm.
Because the monster still wasn't moving from that spot, Zelta felt like he had time to explain himself. "Yes! B-but, it w-wasn't in my i-intentions to use you! I just wanted to live..." he explained. The girl's eyes brightened at that; it felt like the blue-haired mage had hit the right spot, changing her attitude completely. "I see. Well, that looks serious enough." She said as if the previous cold facade she held was nothing but a lie, then smiled widely in a way that looked angelic to the boy who could see her clearly through the snowfall.
"I'll deal with it."
"Hmm. Ice Blades." She said with no tone in her voice as she summoned nine blades behind her figure. They were up in the air, dancing, and more than blades they looked like stalactites that were pulled out from a cave, but had a different color: they were all dark blue, which wasn't the color of ice. The mage himself, feeling inexperienced in front of a person who could easily control nine weapons at once with magic and made them float, could only watch as the girl decided to strike first.
The ice blades, all together, attacked the monster in a way which could not be dodged. A few seconds later, the creature was on the ground, having been hit by all nine at once and its lack of expression was now turned into death. Zelta saw such a beautiful attack and was left incredibly surprised. "It's-- it's dead. It's really dead." He thought to himself, unable to believe it. His life was not in danger anymore -- or so he thought, before being forced to look at the person behind him by his mind. "Yeah. I'm still not out of danger." He muttered as he saw the Ice Mage jump flawlessly from the ledge to the mountain stone beneath her.
"Why?" He simply asked. "I don't know. I guess I value life highly." She said, more than towards him, towards herself. The blue-haired mage couldn't understand what she meant, so he just responded: "you value life so highly, but you killed it before it could even talk." That was what seemed so impossible in his eyes; a person that could kill so easily scared him, who felt like he'd have to gather all of his courage to even kill the most evil person in the world. "Maybe it's me, though. Maybe I'm being tricked by how it seems so human."
Zelta only realized the consequences of his actions a few seconds later, when he thought that he might have angered the Ice Mage, but as he looked up from the ground he was watching in respect he still saw a smiling girl, although less than before. "Yeah, in fact it's not dead." She just said. The mage immediately shuddered at such a thing and watched behind him, but he saw the beast who still hadn't moved an inch.
"That's not the real thing. Have you ever heard of the spell 'Clone Creator?'" The Ice Mage asked. "No, I've never heard of it." Zelta answered honestly, which didn't faze her. "I supposed that'd be the case. You don't look too old and this spell was created almost five hundred years ago." She joked, making Zelta wonder why this spell was not public, as most were. But the answer to his question was soon given: "I have created it. I don't share much of what I create, which is why you may not have heard of it. Anyway, a few people I knew five hundred years ago that knew about this spell, which is why I believe he has access to it." The Ice Mage explained.
"What do you mean, 'he'?" Zelta asked, wondering if she thought this was a person and not a monster. "Well, that's a clone. Clone Maker creates clones that do different tasks that can't be changed after you create them. This one's task was to scare people, not to hunt you in particular. Tonight it was bringing the fear it had collected to its master, not chasing you down, which is why it couldn't attack. It stopped because it had received no orders for this event." She explained. "So, there's someone even stronger than this creature." The blue-haired sorcerer thought to himself.
"It's been a while since I taught someone about magic. It's always fun." The white-haired mage said. "Also, the 'master' of this creature lies in this cave. He's going to come out at any moment now and is power is quite overwhelming, so I think you should hide if you don't want a heart attack." The Ice Mage joked again, making Zelta think to himself she was completely different than how she was pictured in myths; she didn't look like a solitary person at all and he didn't know why she'd choose to live alone.
"We may not meet again. In that case, don't talk to anyone about my existence. My name's Sae, I'm the Ice Mage your stories talk about." She finished and smiled again, this time in a way that was pained, making Zelta raise his eyebrow. It was then that he realized she told him to hide, so he left his questions, which were all running amok in his jumbled mind, for a later time and began running.
"Fear? What does it mean? Why would a person order his clones to kill people? If he has such an old spell, then is he also an immortal? Then why is he only attacking now?" Those were just a few of the questions that ran through the blue-haired sorcerer's mind, along with a newfound sense of inferiority and awe towards a mage that was simply a million times better than he was. He'd not speak about it at the capital, but this experience was definitely humbling.
"Who are you, little girl?" When the blue-eyed mage was almost out of hearing reach, he heard this and turned back, wanting to watch the show and help if needed, despite the fact that he could only bring little help to a fight between titans. Still, he felt like he understood Neitar now -- he thought, remembering the person who risked his life to save him despite the behavior he had towards him.
