The smell of blood permeated all around. Pools of blood stained the white snow, while a large numbers of beast corpses were littering left and right.


    Nylon drew back his iron claw from the chest of massive bear and jumped down while kicking the beast.


    As the beast fell down, blood splattered everywhere in front of it.


    "This is never ending! Elliott, you''re still here?!"


    While wiping his forehead, he tried to look for Elliott, who disappeared inside the blizzard once the beasts showed themselves.


    "..."


    No answer. The wind was simply too loud, snuffing out any other sound.


    "Kh! Guess I''ll have to look for him. If I follow the smell of blood and the tracks, I sh-!"


    "KWAAAaaaA!"


    Moments after taking a few steps forward, a falcon the size of a small house fell on him. He jumped out of the way and prepared himself to fight.


    "Yes. How about you, holding on?"


    From the back of the beast, Elliott emerged. He walked on the squirming bird''s back, and cut its head clean off of its body. With a large *thump*, the head fell to the snow, making a big mess that scattered to the wind.


    "I am. Though I wasn''t expecting to see you fall from the sky."


    "That bird was useful to map the area."


    Surprised, Nylon wondered what he could have found.


    "As I thought, there''s nothing we can remotely use in the horizon. The whole country is completely cursed."


    "Cursed?"


    Elliott jumped from the falcon''s back and landed near Nylon. The wind battered his blonde hair in every direction, but he didn''t care.


    "That''s what you call such an element. A unrelenting snowstorm that never cleared. Even if it was by Nature''s will, if it isn''t a curse, I don''t know what that is."


    Nylon noticed the bitterness in words. He silently listened to Elliott, as he wasn''t prepared to anger the man.


    "She really hates the corruption."


    "Why didn''t she erased Miasma then? Even the Remnant of Life could have done something, no?"


    Instinctively, he thought of the most simple solution.


    "If that was that simple, then yes. Me and father, as well as the whole corruption would have ceased to exist the moment we threatened the continent. Alas, the laws of this world aren''t as simple as ''erasing'' an existence."


    "Why?"


    Elliott began to make his way past the bird''s corpse, leaving Nylon behind him.


    ''Shit, I need to follow him!''


    While he caught up and braved the blizzard alongside him, Elliott continued.


    "Nature doesn''t have control over who lives or who dies. ''She'' is a system. A system that regulate the workings of our world. The thin balance between each creatures, plants, and ecosystems. That''s what we know, at least."


    "Does she have an ego? Probably. Can she do more than regulate the ecosystems? Same answer. An entity like this is out of reach in terms of understanding, even for me."


    Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks.


    "This snow is really bothersome. Vanitas, create a barrier. Fifty meters around us on all sides. I''m sure you can break through."


    He tapped on Vanitas'' scabbard and smiled. As if answering him, the sword shone brightly.


    ''Fifty meters! Is this guy joking? I thought that blizzard was a curse?''


    ''Sure, I''m freezing, and I would rather like to be out of this terrible weather, but I remember him being unable to cut through the clouds earlier.''


    With a neutral expression, he stared at Elliott, observing quietly. He felt a blast of warm air rush past his face, forcing him to close his eyes instinctively.


    "Hmm~ That should do it."


    He heard Elliott happy tone, and when he opened his eyes, was met with an incredible sight.


    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    The first thing he noticed was the blizzard being contained fifty meters away on all sides, even above him. There was a lot of frozen trees around, surrounded by a layer of thick ice. They looked like crystallized trees.


    Then, he noticed a trail of blood next to his feet, coloring the snow. He followed it with his eyes, before taking a step back.


    "E-Elliott..."


    "What is it?"


    The man nonchalantly turned around after confirming that his barrier was holding on.


    "You... did all of that?"


    "Oh. I sure did. Why?"


    "Just asking."


    Forcing his gaze away as if he had seen nothing, Nylon turned around, leaving the gruesome scene of thousands of dead corrupted beasts behind him.


    He managed to fend off thirteen beasts while Elliott pulverized everything in the area. Nicely cut pieces of beasts were scattered everywhere, guts were frozen in the snow, and blood seeped every inches of the snow.


    A bloodbath. That was the only thought in Nylon''s head.


    This event was the first step for Elliott to recover his land. Even if it was contaminated by the blood of the corrupted, even if his mother died on this very land.


    ''I will reclaim it.''


    His vow was strong. An outsider would either consider his goal suicidal, or unconscious. Some would even say that it was useless, as no one would want to live in this place.


    Even if he managed to recover it, nothing would come of it. Yet, this was his own journey. To repair the harm his father brought to it in the past.


    His love for his homeland was still intact, even in this state.


    So, the first thing to do was to get rid of the filth encroached on the land; the corrupted beasts, and giants corrupted frozen all over the country.


    "Let''s continue. Our goal is to kill whatever comes near us."


    With the few steps he took, the barrier followed too. Nylon nodded and walked next to him. Without the icy wind and the snow, he could withstand the cold at last.


    Trudging through the snow that arrived half below their knees, Elliott thought of one of his many goals.


    ''With this, I hope I can find the thing that crashed here for Orion.''


    In his mind, he was half doing it from kindness, and half doing it to befriend Orion. He needed him for one of his goal after learning that he was a hero during their fight.


    ~


    A week went by quickly.


    Orion continued to improve the relationship he had with the girls, except May and Senia. Before he could bring Senia to his house, preparations needed to be done. For May, he wanted to resolve the vortex issue, or else she would worry about it.


    During this week, Amelia improved the whole house by adding another part to the first floor. The staircase was destroyed and rebuilt to accommodate the large area behind the house, built in a T-shape. The ground floor was empty for now, with only support beams inside, but would be transformed later on into rooms too.


    The first floor had now Orion, Amelia, Karteira, Olivia, and Stella''s rooms like before, with the addition of other rooms in the back.


    The twins room were located past Stella''s room. Orion and Amelia both approved the idea that they could decorate their room however they wanted, leading to a distinct noble room. Maybe because they lived as Queens until now, they needed a set of color an textures in their room to feel at ease.


    Refined wood and white curtains, and a silky smooth cover for their bed. With the obvious need for a bigger bed, of course. They both were inseparable, even at night. Their room was as big as Orion, because they were two.


    Next was Deveralna. Her room was on the opposite of the twins, next to Olivia''s. She was rather shy about decorating her room with Orion''s money, but after being pushed a little bit, she finally did it.


    Compared to her life in the palace, she looked rather relaxed in a dark room. She had most of her room painted in black, adding black curtains to make it darker too. Other than that, the rest was normal, nothing too extravagant for someone of her rank.


    She, was also a Queen. Yet, she simply refused to be treated as one. For that matter, she began to do something that she never thought capable of before; sewing. She was enjoying her days learning how to do basic things.


    In front of the twins was May''s room. It was finished and furnished, but the person herself was missing for now.


    The room in front of Deveralna was going to be Senia''s room, but there was a big caveat. Senia was a Siren, someone who can''t breathe out of water for too long. How could she even live in a house like everyone else?


    Orion could have simply ignored it and let her stay in the Siren Sea, but that felt too unfair to his taste, and refused to give up the idea. In the end, the best solution was to create a little biome in her room.


    With a lot of testing, Amelia managed to seal water in the room without it leaking out. It was a perfect cube of water where Senia would be able to live in. The rest would require Senia, since no one knew what kind of furnishing the Sirens used.


    And then, between those four rooms, at the end of the hallways, were two empty rooms. Those empty rooms became Henrietta and Tetra''s private rooms. Orion and Amelia recovered their own room at last. The two women took care of not bothering any of the belongings the two had, and only slept in the beds provided.


    Orion asked Henrietta if she needed to redecorate her room too, but she answered something that made him a little sad.


    "I''m fine with just a bed. Having a room was a luxury I never thought possible when I was in that sealed cave."


    Tetra, on the other hand, painted her room pink. Why?


    "That''s the color of love!"


    Concerning the previous residents of the house, nothing much changed. They became accustomed to their basic rooms, with no need to add anything.


    Only Olivia made a change, but it was by using her newly obtained dark magic. The darkness in her room was so prominent no one dared to enter. It felt like entering the den of a beast, where you could be attacked at any moment.


    Though, when confronted about it, she just stated that.


    "I don''t feel at ease when there''s light. I want to sleep in total darkness, that''s all."


    They all understood, it was her choice to do so.


    Stella refused to have a different room. She liked it as it was her first home, and couldn''t bring herself to change it.


    This made Orion happy, but sad at the same time. In the end, he was simply happy that the girl made her own choice. As a father, he accepted without putting it another thought.


    While the main house was being reworked by Amelia, Orion finished the guest house. Everything was wreaked and placed even further from the house, near the portal hub area. It was a better idea than placing it so far away from the entrance of Horizon.


    It had no particular differences, except the house was now separated between men and women. There would be no problem like this in case multiple people stayed in it.


    With all these big projects completed, all that left was the vortex above the Elemental Shrine.


    It was a day after everything was completed that someone entered Horizon. They stood still after passing through the portal, and stared at the vortex.


    "I can hear its voice."


    Said May, a frown on her face.