The cold air enveloping the Ice Clan Branch HQ was heavy with tension. A soldier marched through dimly lit halls, footsteps echoing against the icy floor. He approached a set of richly decorated double doors, inhaled deeply, and knocked twice.

  "Enter."

  The soldier began to walk, bowing deep before Trevor Cryoson, the branch head of the Ice Clan. Trevor sat at the head of an imposing frost-covered desk, his sharp eyes spearing anyone with his brand of intelligence and quiet menace.

  "Speak," Trevor commanded, his voice smooth and controlled.

  The soldier straightened. "Sir, we've confirmed that Lady Celine has escaped. The squad sent to retrieve her was ambushed by an unknown Pyrokinetic. All were incapacitated."

  Trevor was immovable. He leaned back in his chair, fingertips pressed together, thinking.

  "Pyrokinetic?" he murmured. "Interesting. Do we have an identity?"

  "Not yet, Sir. Witnesses only recall a sudden overwhelming fire attack."

  Trevor exhaled through his nose, his lips curving slightly. "Hmph. It appears my dear niece is more trouble than I anticipated."

  He stood up and walked over to a large window, looking down at the training grounds below. Soldiers sparred in the courtyard, their breath visible in the cold air.

  "Do you know why I wanted this marriage arranged?" Trevor asked, voice deceptively calm.

  The soldier hesitated before replying, "To strengthen ties with the V City Ice Clan, sir."

  Trevor smirked. "That is the surface reason. It is a fact that an arranged marriage would bring our survival. This alliance will become our shield, the benefit from our rivals. It's to support our economy and military. For if our clan was ever in decline, it would lift us back up. And all this offers... for one girl alone."

  He sighed dramatically as he shook his head. "It's unfortunate that stupid brother of mine had to die. Unlike him, I'm ready to sacrifice for the family even if it means sacrificing my own blood."

  The soldier swallowed hard and stood absolutely still. Trevor sat back down, fingers tapping against the armrest.

  "Order another search." His voice was low but very commanding. "I want her found. And this time, we won't rest until she is."

  The soldier bowed. "Understood, sir."

  As the soldier turned to leave, Trevor's cold chuckle echoed through the room.

  BANG!

  A deafening sound came in the dead of the morning. The wooden walls quivered from the force, which was then augmented by the heavy tread of the intruders.

  Kai's eyes flared open, and his instincts, already vigilant, acted upon him immediately. Celine, who was in the next room, also jerked up; her shaky breath accompanied it.

  "What in hell was that?" she muttered.

  Kai was already up; he hurried down to the succession of stairs. What he found there made his blood boil.

  Several Ice Clan soldiers stood in the wreckage of his living room, weapons drawn, breaths frosted in the cold air they carried with them. In their grasp-his father, Lucas Ciphera, struggling against their hold, a blade of ice pressed dangerously against his throat.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  "Get her!" one of the soldiers barked, pointing straight at Celine.

  Kai's eyes darkened. "No one-" his muscles tensed, his knuckles whitening, "-barges into my house and threatens my family!"

  In one explosive movement, he shot forward. The shockwave from his sheer speed blasted through the room as he punched the nearest soldier directly in his chest. The man didn't even have time to scream before it sent him flying through the front door and crashed onto the frozen ground outside with a sickening crunch.

  The remaining gave him scant time to react before Kai followed up, grabbing one by the skull and slamming his face into the wooden floorboards. Blood sprayed across the ground, mingling with the frost creeping in from outside.

  "Dad, Celine, get out through the back!" Kai barked as he crushed yet another soldier's throat with a devastating elbow strike.

  Lucas and Celine hesitated.

  "Now!" Kai roared, setting the air afire with the sheer force of his presence.

  Celine grabbed Lucas by the arm and dashed toward the back door. But the moment they stepped outside, more Ice Clan soldiers were waiting.

  "Found them! Take them both!"

  Celine shoved Lucas behind her with hands raised while a thin layer of ice coated her palms.

  "Stay behind me," she ordered.

  The first soldier lunged at her. Celine ducked under his blade of ice, twisting as she delivered a swift kick to his ribs. She summoned a shard of ice and drove it into the leg of another attacker, making him scream as he collapsed. But there were too many.

  She was fast.

  They were stronger.

  Inside, meanwhile, Kai was drenched in blood, hands slick with it as he crushed an Ice Clan soldier's head against the splintered remains of the dining table. The wooden shards impaled through the skull, eyes rolling back as the soldier slumped down to the floor. House tally: ruined, scorch marks, blood, shattered wood, and ice-covered walls. Kai had felt the boiling inside him rage and turned towards the back door. Celine was struggling. Lucas was not in a defensible position.

  Ice Clan soldiers were closing in.

  Not on his watch.

  "Duck!" Kai roared.

  Celine barely had time to react as he unleashed a hell storm of fire. Flames erupted from his hands, engulfing the Ice Clan soldiers in a fiery inferno. Their skins bubbled and peeled away to lie as smoldering husks. The air was soon filled with the sickening smell of burnt flesh.

  Kai stood there, chest heaving, his fists clenched so hard his knuckles cracked. Celine immediately coughed, fanning the smoke away from her face.

  "A little warning next time?" she muttered.

  Kai exhaled sharply. "This place isn't safe anymore."

  Lucas, still trembling, glanced at his son with suspicion. "Where are we supposed to go?"

  Kai wiped the blood off his face and sighed, "Somewhere, they won't find us."

  A few minutes passed, and soon, they found themselves sitting in a dimly lit hotel room on the city outskirts. The air was tense, mainly because Celine was staring at Kai, who was on the bed's edge, lost in his musings.

  After a long silence, he suddenly broke the quiet with, "Celine, that boyfriend of yours—where is he?"

  Celine flinched, "He's not my boyfriend!"

  Kai shot her a deadpan look. "Just answer the goddamn question."

  Celine huffed. "He's probably in Z City High School, Class-C. Why?"

  Kai leaned forward, fingers laced together. "I need all the help I can get. I can't fight them while protecting both you and my dad.

  "You want to find him?" Celine asked.

  Kai stood, reaching for his jacket. "Protect my dad while I go get him."

  Before Celine could argue, he was already out the door.