Chapter 712: Ice and Raging Waves
The giant wave was like a natural disaster bombarded from a cannon, ice carrying the momentum to destroy everything, crushing directly towards the Tōkoku Academy! The immense power within sought to completely erase this ancient academy and everything within it from the map!
At this critical juncture, the pale blue, semi-circular energy shield that enveloped Tōkoku Academy emitted an unprecedented hum! The runes on its surface spun furiously at an unprecedented speed, and the light intensified greatly, clearly having pushed its power to the extreme in an attempt to resist this terrifying physical impact!
However, just a moment before the giant wave violently struck the energy shield, an extreme chill, so potent it could freeze the soul, descended from nowhere without warning! This cold was so fierce that it instantly dispelled the humid, salty mist brought by the giant wave, replacing it with a bone-chilling frost that instantly lowered the surrounding temperature, as if one had traveled from the seaside to the polar ice fields!
Following this, the unstoppable, towering giant wave, its surging forward momentum, began to slow down in a way that defied the laws of physics, visible to the naked eye! The water at the foremost edge of the wave changed first. It was no longer flowing chaotically but solidified into clusters of white frost. This solidification spread backward madly like a plague, the ice thickened, emitting a teeth-grindingly “crackling” sound of freezing!
In mere seconds, the terrifying giant wave, capable of destroying half the city, was completely frozen into a colossal ice sculpture, perfectly preserving its raging wave shape and standing before Tōkoku Academy! Sunlight shone on the uneven ice shards, refracting a strange and dazzling light. Inside the ice sculpture, tumbling foam, wreckage of shattered ships, and twisted debris were even frozen. Time seemed to have been forcibly paused at this moment! This divine spectacle stunned everyone who witnessed it!
“*Phew… phew…*” Heavy breaths, tinged with clear exhaustion, rang out. Accompanied by a pervasive white mist of cold, a figure slowly emerged from the gradually dissipating ice crystal condensation. He wore the special combat uniform of the Kyoto Police Department, with what appeared to be a thicker, warmer coat over it. At this moment, his face was exceptionally pale, his lips even tinged with purple. This was Kitahara Itoru, the Director of the Second Special Abilities Department of the Kyoto Police Department!
His left arm trembled slightly, ice crystals that hadn’t completely solidified still scattering from his fingertips. Clearly, instantly freezing a giant wave of this magnitude was an immense burden for him, almost completely exhausting his abilities. Yet, he forced himself to stand tall. His eyes, frosted over from overuse of his abilities, were as sharp as knives, fixated on the front—the very crest of the giant ice wave!
Atop the frozen crest of the wave, at this moment, a figure had quietly appeared some time ago. The person wore a dark blue robe with enigmatic water patterns that flowed like living things under the faint light. They were tall, their skin possessing a strange, translucent quality, with faint, visible blue veins like water currents beneath their skin. Their disheveled gray-white hair hung loosely, and the water droplets falling from its tips vaporized instantly. Most unsettling were their eyes, completely devoid of pupils, made entirely of constantly swirling, deep blue water, gazing upon the world like two cold, oceanic vortices.
Beneath Kitahara Itoru, thick ice pillars instantly erupted from the ground, lifting him to the same height as the person on the wave crest. Cold air swirled around him. The white mist exhaled from his mouth was clearly visible, and his voice, carrying suppressed anger and icy killing intent, spoke: “You guy, you actually dared to come!” His voice was slightly hoarse from exhaustion and the cold, but his determination and hostility were undisguised.
The person standing on the wave crest did not seem surprised by Kitahara Itoru’s appearance. He tilted his head slightly, and the mocking curve of his lips became more pronounced. His voice, carrying an odd dampness, spoke with undisguised mockery: “Heh heh… It’s been so many years, and you’re still a guard dog for the Kyoto Police Department. You locked me up for so long; this return gift should naturally be delivered in person to show sincerity, don’t you think?” He lightly raised a hand that gleamed with a transparent light, dark blue water flowing like a poisonous snake around his fingertips: “Back then, Ryanozaki that old guy did this, I was going to find him to settle the score in person! What? You’re only brave enough to hide like a turtle now and send your disciple to die?”
“Dealing with you is enough for me!” Kitahara Itoru roared. Despite his arm trembling violently from overexertion, the cold energy around his body condensed furiously once more. The water in the air was instantly drawn out, forming countless sharp ice crystals that circled him.
“Seeking death? With you in this state?” [Raging Waves] let out a deep chuckle, like surging currents. “Still no improvement after all these years, truly Ryanozaki’s good disciple. You should have already become a ghost under my hand.”
Before his voice faded, from within the frozen giant wave beneath [Raging Waves]’s feet, dull, massive cracking sounds suddenly erupted! It was as if some colossal creature was awakening beneath the ice layer! The shipwrecks, metal containers, and even huge stones frozen within the ice wave were instantly covered with a strange, dark blue film of water. As if imbued with new life and terrifying power, they violently broke through the hard ice layer. Like weapons thrown by a deep-sea leviathan, they surged towards Kitahara Itoru in mid-air, carrying destructive kinetic energy and gleaming sharp ice crystals!
Simultaneously, [Raging Waves] transformed into a deep, ethereal water illusion, silently coiling and vanishing without a sound! Kitahara Itoru’s pupils constricted sharply, and he roared, “Useless!” He endured the tearing pain in his back and the weakness from his depleted body, pushing his palms forward forcefully, squeezing out the last of the cold energy within him!
“*Crack… crack… crack… shatter…*” An incredibly thick ice wall, gleaming with absolute zero cold light, instantly formed before him! The ice wall’s surface was covered with countless exceptionally sharp, constantly growing, colossal ice edges!
“*Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!*” The countless debris fragments, empowered by [Raging Waves]’s energy, violently collided with the ice wall, unleashing deafening roars! Ice shards and metal fragments scattered wildly. The colossal ice edges constantly cracked and then regenerated madly. The ice wall vibrated violently, its surface instantly covered in a spiderweb of cracks, yet it tenaciously resisted this wave of savage attack!
“*Phew… phew…*” Forcing himself to activate such a large-scale ability again placed a significant burden on Kitahara Itoru’s body. But what unsettled him even more was that [Raging Waves]’s true body had vanished! His opponent’s control over water was superior to his own. Even though his ice ability could counter water, ice itself was also transformed from water, so this kind of ability-countering relationship didn’t actually exist.
As expected, just as he was fully maintaining the chaotic collision of freezing energy—behind him, from within an ice pillar originally used to support him, an extremely faint, almost transparent dark blue water thread silently penetrated! The moment this water thread appeared, the surrounding temperature rose instead of falling. This meticulously compressed, slender water thread, at an imperceptible speed, shot out like a deep blue bullet, flying directly towards the back of Kitahara Itoru’s heart!
