Even in a bleak winter, there will always be that shining light that will penetrate the clouds.
A crystal streak of light travels through a seemingly endless, cloudy background. There was nothing but flakes of snow whizzing past, signifying that the streak was flying at a ridiculous speed no mortal eye could ever hope to see. It remained on its course, shining brightly as it continued to advance rapidly without fail.
It soon fiercely hits what seems to be dark blue metal, the shockwaves of it cracking its surface. Crystal shards and steel scraps fly around as the streak of light tears through, creating a giant, mangled slash on the metal's surface.
The snow around the streak of light fizzled, the wind roaring in its wake. The cloudy background soon fades as a snowy grove took its place, and among its barren trunks and crumpled, icy leaves, stood Park Jihyo, holding a crystalline blade glowing faintly on her hand.
General Khera backs away as she sees her armor get severely slashed away. Jihyo lunges to slash her again, and the ensuing clash causes shockwaves to ripple all over the area.
"Guh...!" Minji and the rest of the settlement resisted the strong winds created by the ferocious battle.
The two exchange blows, and Jihyo can now dish out the same damage as Khera.
The Koul'in general, in a stroke of luck, manages to push Jihyo out of melee range. She then uses her tendrils to wrap around some branches near her to launch herself upward into the air.
Batches of her hair then turn into massive, deadly tendrils that rain down on the talented TWICE member.
"Ivory Comet Shower!"
The tendrils sharpened as they advanced, and pelted the snowy ground with such strength and power that it shakes the ground around everyone.
Jihyo does not hesitate and takes the tendrils head-on. Glowing in a white crystalline aura with apricot lightning arcs flowing around her, she held her ground, slashing most tendrils that were falling toward her with incredible speed.
Jihyo then rushes towards Khera as she disappears in a streak of light, but even more, tendrils keep on blocking her path, hindering her from getting closer to Khera. And while Jihyo can now keep up with multiple tendrils at once due to her power-up, she realizes she needs to do something more to close into her again.
She backs and goes for a defensive maneuver to try to analyze the situation ahead.
"Seojun-nim taught me a total of four techniques to help me get familiarized with the Seraphim: Crystalline Blanket for a balance of offense and defense, Radiant Burst for faraway targets, Skyscraping Light for ranged defense, and Heaven's Descent for a powerful, single strike offense. He told me those were techniques that came straight from the very first wielder of the Seraphim, but he also said I could make my own. So I developed Sunset Lumina, derived from one of the songs I made back in the day. Yet... none of these techniques work against her entirely..."
Jihyo just glares at Khera as she continues dodging and slashing.
"So if none of them work, how about I just make a new one? Right! That should do the trick."
Jihyo keeps her pace and navigates herself around the attacking tendrils, still trying to observe Khera. Trying to see if she has patterns of attack. Anything that can give her an idea of how she can deal with her.
"But what could work? Come on, Jihyo. You're a world-class songwriter. Surely you can come up with something... An impromptu fighting technique isn't that hard to make, right...? Come on, brain, any idea is welcome now... fill me in..."
She gets hit by one of the tendrils due to a single misstep and gets rained down once again by more of them as she desperately tried to block with her blade.
"Ack...! Who am I kidding?! Developing fighting techniques in this situation is hard. Even Seojun-nim said it took him a few years to make one. It's not like I can make one in a flash... "
Jihyo's eyes widen, and a lightbulb moment occurs.
"...Flash. That's it. Flash!"
Jihyo breaks loose of her defensive stance, slashing off the tendrils that were attacking her. She was now finally ready to attack. Mustering all her remaining strength, she sprints towards the Koul'in general.
"If I could create an extremely bright light similar to a flashbang, it could blind Khera, and I could go full offensive!" Jihyo thought. "Hehe, I surprise myself sometimes. Park Jihyo, genius boss of technique making!"
She brandishes the Seraphim, as it glistens, and apricot-colored lighting arcs appear around it.
Jihyo then places her hand on the base of the blade as she gets closer and closer to the general again.
"What are you planning to do...?" Khera thought. "You've been trying to do a frontal assault for a while now, surely you know it doesn't do anything, right? It's for naught!" Khera said as she focused all her tendrils toward Jihyo.
"Now... I hope it works... Focus all your strength... into one, a big blast of light..."
"...Flash Burst Horizon!"
With a quick motion of her hand, Jihyo strikes her palm along the blade, like a match striking a matchbox. It creates a field of blinding, prismatic flash that renders Khera incapable of sight. The Koul'in general was dazed, only seeing nothing but dancing lights in her eyes, even when she closed them tightly. The tendrils all miss Jihyo as well.
"What the---I can't see...?!" Khera gasped.
Despite the strong blinding flash she just created, Jihyo is unaffected as she can still see what was going on. The Seraphim allows her to see even in the brightest of lights.
The settlement team behind the battle was slightly blinded by the flash as they all either closed their eyes or covered them.
"I... It's too bright...!" Zeke muttered as he closes his eyes. "What is going on...! That technique... I've never seen that before!"
"This is my chance, I'll strike her down!" Jihyo muttered as she waltzed quickly towards Khera.
"Where the hell are you, wield--"
SLASH!
Khera feels a sharp cut going down through her back. She blindly swings her tendrils in the direction of the attack, but she only hits cold air.
SLASH!
She gets struck on the shoulder this time, the armor on it crumbling. Her hair tendrils go around in a desperate attempt to find her but to no avail.
SLASH!
Another one comes for her leg, injuring her greatly as the shrapnel from her bent armor pierce through her soft, pale skin.
SLASH!
And another one in a different area of her body.
SLASH!
And another one.
SLASH!
And another.
SLASH!
SLASH!