The Vice Commander was the first to regain control of himself. A sharp tension tightened through his hands, creaking the leather of his gauntlets as his grip on the sword hilt hardened beneath the freezing air filling the corridor.
"Form up!" he barked, his voice cutting through the unnatural cold as the command echoed across the hallway, pulling the remaining soldiers back into motion. "He's a corpse that hasn't realized it's dead yet! Move!"
The order spread immediately. A surge of nervous determination rushed through the soldiers as two of them lunged forward together, leveling their halberds toward the gaps in Alexander's armor while the steel spearheads aimed directly for his throat and armpits.
Alexander did not evade the attack.
The collision arrived a heartbeat later. A heavy force slammed into his armor and exposed skin, driving the halberd tips forward as a dull metallic thud tore through the corridor, bending the weapon shafts under the pressure while the soldiers poured their full weight into the strike.
Alexander remained completely still.
Strain continued building. A grinding creak traveled through the wooden shafts as the soldiers pushed harder against him, forcing the weapons deeper while the stone beneath Alexander's boots cracked faintly from the transferred pressure.
Then Alexander moved.
A rush of freezing air swept through the corridor, crackling frost across the weapon shafts as his left hand closed around both halberds at once, locking them in place beneath a coating of white ice.
He pulled backward.
The momentum reversed instantly. A violent jerk ripped through the hallway, dragging both soldiers off their feet as their boots scraped across the blood-covered stone while their bodies were pulled directly toward him.
Alexander swung.
A wave of freezing wind cut through the corridor as his broadsword carved a low horizontal arc, sending a sharp metallic shriek through the air while steel sliced through armor, leather, and bone in a single devastating motion.
Both soldiers collapsed heavily into the blood pooling across the floor.
"Archon..."
Alexander's voice finally broke the silence.
A cold rasp drifted through the hallway, carrying a grinding sound beneath every word as thick white mist rolled from his mouth, spreading across the floor before dissolving into the freezing air.
"Archon is in the throne room,"
Vice Commander replied, his eyes tracking the icy-blue veins spreading across Alexander's face as they branched upward like frost crawling across glass.
"And you will not leave this hallway."
The Vice Commander lowered his stance immediately. A calculated tension settled through his body as he leveled his blade toward Alexander's chest, recalling the ancient records hidden within the Pandemonium archives.
The Cold Vent.
Condition would eventually destroy Alexander from the inside.
He did not need to overpower him.
He only needed to outlast him.
"Surround him!" the Vice Commander ordered.
The formation shifted at once. Boots splashed through blood as the remaining soldiers spread across both flanks, circling Alexander while steel weapons reflected the flickering torchlight.
Alexander never looked at them.
His gaze remained fixed on the great oak doors standing at the end of the corridor.
The throne room.
The king and queen.
One soldier attacked from behind.
Mace descended with brutal force. A powerful impact crashed into the back of Alexander's knee, denting the armor as a metallic crack tore through the corridor while the transferred force traveled directly into the stone floor.
The floor fractured, Alexander did not move an inch and slowly, he turned his head.
A suffocating dread settled over the soldier as Alexander's face came into view, revealing lifeless eyes set within skin that looked more like carved marble than flesh.
Alexander reached forward.
A burst of freezing air rushed outward as his hand closed around the soldier's throat, instantly frosting the metal gorget while the grip lifted the fully armored man from the ground.
The soldier kicked wildly.
His boots hammered against Alexander's armor.
Nothing happened.
"Get away from him!" another soldier shouted.
Sword thrust arrived immediately afterward. A sharp force drove the blade into the exposed gap in Alexander's side, piercing several inches into his flank before the weapon stopped completely.
Soldier tried to pull it free the blade refused to move.
The hyper-dense muscle had compressed around the steel, locking it in place as though it had been embedded inside solid iron.
Alexander never acknowledged the attack.
His broadsword descended.
A crushing impact exploded through the corridor as steel buried itself into the shoulder of the soldier he was holding, driving the armored body into the stone floor beneath him and ending the struggle instantly.
Then Alexander raised his eyes toward the Vice Commander.
The temperature dropped again.
A wave of unnatural cold spread through the corridor, shrinking the torch flames while thick mist rolled from Alexander's armor, covering the floor around him like a blanket of fog.
The remaining soldiers broke.
Fear spread through them faster than any command could stop it, forcing them to abandon their weapons as they turned and fled put the entrance, their retreating footsteps echoing through the castle.
Only the Vice Commander remained.
"You're a monster," he whispered, watching the bloodless knight advance through the freezing mist. "You're already dead."
"The king..."
Alexander's voice drifted through the corridor as his frozen boots crunched against broken stone.
The sword lodged in his side remained motionless.
No blood emerged from the wound.
A layer of frost had already sealed it shut, coating the exposed metal in pale blue ice.
"The king..."
Alexander took another step forward.
"...is safe."
Cold deepened the mist thickened and Alexander raised his sword.
The Vice Commander did not retreat.
He was a veteran of a dozen campaigns across the burning wastes of Pandemonium, a man who had carved his way through legions of monsters and men alike to earn the crest on his armor.
Terror tightened through his chest as he looked upon Alexander's transformed state, but years of battle hardened that fear into focus as his grip tightened around the hilt of his sword.
"We will see what freezes first," the Vice Commander hissed, his voice cutting through the crackling air as the freezing mist rolled through the corridor around them. "Your blood, or my blade."
The attack came instantly.
A burst of speed ripped through the hallway as the Vice Commander launched himself forward, driving through the freezing fog while his sword carved a brilliant silver arc toward Alexander's exposed face.
Blade sliced through the mist with a sharp metallic whistle, aiming directly for the eye in a strike designed to bypass armor entirely and pierce the brain in a single motion.
Alexander remained completely still as the attack closed the final distance, lowering his chin slightly while the freezing air drifted around his pale face.
The impact landed immediately.
A violent force slammed through the corridor as the sword point struck the center of Alexander's forehead, releasing a deafening
CLANG
That exploded through the hallway while a shockwave blasted the surrounding mist outward in every direction.
The kinetic force would have shattered a normal man's skull and broken his neck.
Instead, Alexander's frame absorbed the impact completely.
Blade scraped across the hyper-dense bone beneath his skin, producing a grinding metallic screech as it slid harmlessly upward, leaving behind only a thin bloodless scratch across his marble-pale forehead.
The feedback traveled instantly.
A painful vibration rushed through the Vice Commander's weapon as the shock transferred directly into his wrists, rattling the bones in his forearms and forcing his muscles to tense from the recoil.
Alexander moved.
A surge of freezing air swept through the corridor as his left hand shot through the fog, reaching for the Vice Commander while frost crackled across the stone floor beneath his boots.
The Vice Commander reacted immediately.
Momentum shifted through his body as he pivoted on his heel and slipped past the grasping fingers, skimming across the blood-covered stones before delivering a powerful two-handed slash toward the back of Alexander's exposed thigh.
The strike connected.
A sharp impact tore through the mail as the blade sliced through leather straps beneath the armor, sending fragments of frozen material scattering across the floor.
Then the weapon stopped.
Hyper-contracted muscle beneath the armor seized around the blade edge instantly, locking the steel in place exactly as the tissue inside Alexander's flank had done earlier.
"Tsk—!"
The Vice Commander abandoned the sword immediately.
A burst of motion carried him backward as he released the trapped weapon and drew a heavy black-iron dagger from behind his waist, settling into a lower stance while frost drifted between them.
"You really are just a walking block of stone."
Alexander never turned toward him.
The pressure of The Cold Vent continued building throughout his body as the icy-blue veins spreading beneath his skin pulsed with a faint luminescent glow, casting pale light across his deathly white face while every breath left his mouth as crystallized frost.
A metallic screech echoed through the corridor.
A violent strain pulled through Alexander's body as he ripped the blade from his own flank, drawing the steel free while frozen tissue cracked around the wound.
No blood emerged.
The injury had become a cavity of dark frozen flesh sealed completely by the sub-zero temperatures raging throughout his body.
Alexander now held his own broadsword in one hand and the stolen Pandemonium blade in the other as he slowly turned toward the Vice Commander.
The atmosphere shifted immediately.
A wave of suffocating cold rolled through the corridor as the temperature dropped even further, freezing the moisture around the Vice Commander's collar while every breath became harder to draw into his lungs.
"You have... five seconds," Alexander rasped.
The words rolled through the hallway with a deep hollow weight, resonating through the freezing air while white frost drifted from his lips.
"I don't need five."
The Vice Commander lunged again.
A rush of movement swept across the corridor as he stayed low beneath the blanket of fog, masking his approach while the black-iron dagger drove toward the exposed gap beneath Alexander's chin.
Alexander met the attack directly.
A violent collision erupted between them as he threw his body forward into the strike, closing the distance before the Vice Commander could react.
The dagger struck first.
A heavy impact traveled through the weapon as the blade sank into the side of Alexander's neck, producing the harsh sound of steel chiseling into granite instead of flesh.
The weapon entered.
The weapon locked.
At the same moment, Alexander released both swords.
A crushing force slammed into the Vice Commander's shoulders as Alexander's frost-covered gauntlets crashed down onto him, sending a freezing shock throughout the armor while metal groaned beneath the sudden temperature shift.
The cold spread instantly.
A wave of ice raced through the armor joints as trapped moisture froze solid between the plates, locking the entire suit into place while white frost crawled across the black steel.
"What..."
Terror surged through the Vice Commander as he struggled against the immobilized armor, watching frost spread upward across his chest while the steel gradually transformed into a brittle layer of pale white ice.
Alexander looked down at him.
The dying orange light from the corridor fires reflected across his empty eyes while the pale skin of his face remained motionless beneath the spreading frost.
"The throne room," Alexander muttered.
Pressure gathered throughout his arm.
Icy-blue veins across his knuckles brightened suddenly as a violent pulse traveled through the muscles and sent a sharp crack racing down the length of his forearm.
"Is closed."
Alexander drove his fist downward.
The impact detonated through the corridor.
A devastating force erupted through the Vice Commander's helmet as the iron shattered apart like brittle glass, releasing a thunderous shockwave that blasted the surrounding fog outward and shattered every remaining window along the hallway.
The Vice Commander never left Alexander's grip.
The crushing momentum traveled directly downward as the kinetic force collapsed his chest plate inward and drove his body straight into the stone beneath him.
The floor finally broke.
A violent tremor ripped through the corridor as the stone collapsed into a spiderweb of deep craters, spreading fractures outward beneath both men while debris exploded across the hallway.
Then everything became still.
Alexander released his grip.
The Vice Commander slumped into the shattered rubble beneath him, motionless among the fractured stone and frozen debris.
Silence settled across the corridor.
A slow wave of freezing mist rolled back through the devastation, covering the fallen Pandemonium soldiers while Alexander stood alone at the center of the destruction, his breathing steady as white frost drifted from his lips.
His eyes settled upon the great oak doors at the end of the hallway.
Twenty paces remained.
Alexander stepped forward.
His boot touched the stone with a softer sound this time as the pressure throughout his body began weakening, allowing the luminescent blue veins beneath his skin to fade gradually into a dark bruised violet.
The Cold Vent was beginning to close as the hyper-dense muscle fibers slowly released their cellular lock, allowing the accumulated strain throughout his body to finally surface beneath the fading frost.
The toll arrived immediately.
A dark droplet of blood escaped from the wound in his neck and traced a slow path across his pale skin before disappearing beneath his armor.
Alexander ignored it.
His attention remained fixed on the throne room doors where his king still waited beyond the corridor.
"Just... a little further," he whispered.
A scraping sound followed him through the hallway as the tip of his broadsword dragged across the frost-covered stone, carving a jagged line through the ice while the knight continued moving toward his king.