SSS-Ranked Evolution: Worlds Unbound-Chapter 22: Ren Vs. White Rose.

"Death is inevitable." the force of her weight on Reina, her target had been secured, and her master would be very pleased but just as Reina was succumbing to the pain, someone’s voice flew into her ears. She had heard that voice before. It sounded like...

"I dont think so!" With a powerful roar, Ren launched himself into the air, his body twisting mid-flight as his foot connected squarely with the masked assassin’s face. The impact was like thunder cracking the stillness of the frozen battlefield, sending White Rose hurtling backward. She crashed into the ground with a thud, rolling several feet before coming to a stop.

Ren wasted no time. He knelt beside Reina, whose arms were still pinned by White Rose’s daggers. Blood seeped steadily from the wounds, staining the ice-crusted ground beneath them. Without hesitation, he yanked the blades free, eliciting a sharp cry from Reina.

"Stay with me," Ren said firmly, ripping a strip of cloth from his tunic. He quickly wrapped it around her wounds, tightening it to slow the bleeding. "Take Rami and get out of here. I’ll hold her off."

Reina hesitated, her tear-filled eyes locking onto his. "But Ren—"

"Go! She will kill us if we don’t move fast enough! Get out of here!" he barked, his tone brooking no argument.

Reina nodded, scooping up the unconscious Rami and staggering toward safety.

By now, White Rose was back on her feet. Her mask was smeared with crimson, blood dripping from her nose and the corner of her mouth. She reached up, grabbed her jaw, and snapped it back into place with a sickening crack. The sound echoed like brittle ice breaking underfoot.

Her icy blue eyes locked onto Ren, the power radiating from her freezing the ground in a widening radius. Even through the haze of blood and pain, she exuded an aura of deadly precision. She slowly got into her battle stance, indicating that the fight was about to begin.

"You shouldn’t be here," Ren growled, he slowly mimicked her movement but in his mind, he knew he was the decoy, he needed to hold her back as much as possible.

"Neither should you."

Before he could respond, she vanished.

Ren’s instincts screamed at him. His body moved before his mind caught up, twisting just in time to block her blade with his own. The clash of steel sent sparks flying, illuminating the frost-covered trees in brief flashes.

She was relentless, her strikes swift and precise, each one testing his defences. Ren parried as best as he could, his twin blades moving in fluid arcs, but she was faster. Her attacks were like a blizzard, overwhelming and unyielding.

He leapt back to create space, but she anticipated the move. White Rose unleashed a storm of ice daggers, each one glinting like shards of death.

Ren roared, summoning a surge of energy that burst from his body in a wave. The two forces collided, creating a blinding explosion of smoke and frost.

For a moment, the battlefield was silent, the air thick with swirling mist.

Then she appeared.

Out of the smoke, White Rose dashed toward him, her blade raised for the kill. Time seemed to slow as their eyes locked—her icy blue gaze meeting his hazel one. Her expression was cold, merciless, and unflinching.

Ren reacted in the nick of time. He bent backward in a fluid, almost unnatural motion, her blade slicing through the air just inches above his face. The momentum carried her over him, her boots skidding on the frost as she landed a few feet away.

The space between them was fleeting. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Ren charged, his blade flashing in a series of quick, powerful strikes. Each swing was calculated, aimed to drive her back, but White Rose was like a shadow, slipping past his attacks with ease.

She ducked, twisted, and spun, her movements a masterclass in agility. With a sharp strike to his wrist, she sent his blade flying into the air.

But Ren didn’t falter.

His free hand balled into a fist, and he drove it into her stomach with enough force to make her stumble back. She groaned but quickly recovered, her cold breath visible in the freezing air.

Ren snatched his blade mid-air with his left hand—his dominant hand—and without hesitation, he plunged it into her shoulder.

White Rose let out a pained hiss, her knees buckling slightly as she clutched the blade.

"I will kill you!" Ren pressed his weight on her, in a desperate attempt to overpower her, but it seemed to amuse her instead.

"You think you can kill me? You can try." she taunted. Her icy blue eyes narrowed, and a cold, mirthless laugh escaped her lips. He twisted the blade to get her strength to falter.

She didn’t flinch. Instead, with a display of unnatural strength, she yanked the blade out of her shoulder, her blood staining the ice beneath her. She gripped the handle and, with a sharp swing, struck Ren across the face.

The hilt connected with his left eye, and pain exploded in his skull. Ren screamed, stumbling back as he clutched his bleeding eye. Warm blood seeped through his fingers, dripping onto the frost-bitten ground.

Through his blurred vision, he watched as White Rose froze her wound. Ice crept across her shoulder, sealing the injury and stopping the bleeding. Her calm, precise movements were a chilling reminder of her lethal nature.

"What the hell is she?" Ren’s breathing was ragged, his reaction time slowing from the injury. Just as despair threatened to creep in, a bolt of lightning tore through the air, crackling with raw energy.

White Rose tilted her head slightly, the lightning bolt almost grazing her cheek and slamming into a nearby tree. The impact set the tree ablaze, its flames flickering wildly against the icy landscape.

From the shadows, a figure stepped forward, her body crackling with electricity.

Luna.

She stood in front of Ren, her teeth bared in a feral snarl, her entire body radiating raw power. White Rose had another contender, and she was not going to allow her to get closer to Ren.

White Rose froze mid-movement, her icy blue eyes narrowing beneath her bloodied mask as she observed the beast. Her assassin instincts pieced together Ren’s identity. A Beast Tamer, she guessed. Unbranded, perhaps, but with power like this, it wouldn’t stay that way for long.

Without hesitation, White Rose dashed forward, her body a blur against the frost-covered ground. Luna reacted in kind, bounding toward her, lightning flickering dangerously along her fur. Sparks flew as Luna unleashed bolts of electricity, forcing White Rose to dart left and right, each step chilling the ground further, forming crystalline frost patterns in her wake.

Luna lunged, jaws snapping, but White Rose was prepared. A shimmering ice dagger materialized in her hand just in time for Luna’s teeth to sink into the frozen blade instead of her flesh. The impact sent shards of ice scattering like deadly snowflakes. White Rose twisted free, spinning gracefully as Luna growled, sparks crackling in frustration.

The instant Luna landed, Ren roared, charging toward White Rose with an energy sphere glowing ominously in his hand. She turned her gaze to him, a split-second too late to counter directly, but her reflexes saved her. In an elegant, almost ethereal motion, she flipped over Ren, twisting mid-air with the fluidity of a dancer and landing on her feet. Frost spread rapidly from where her boots struck the ground, leaving jagged ice formations in her wake.

But there was no time to celebrate her escape. Ren and Luna launched a combined assault, his energy sphere and her lightning bolts converging into a blindingly powerful attack. The explosion shook the forest, sending frost and debris flying. Smoke and icy mist billowed, obscuring everything.

For a moment, it seemed as though White Rose had been struck down, but as the haze cleared, her silhouette emerged, framed by a crystalline shield of intricate ice. The shield shimmered like a frozen spiderweb, untouched and unyielding.

Ren’s eyes widened in disbelief, but Luna’s low growl brought him back to focus. She howled, the sound electric, and Ren immediately knew it was the signal.

With a burst of speed, Ren charged again, this time abandoning his blade for hand-to-hand combat. White Rose met him head-on, their movements a deadly ballet. Blows and kicks were exchanged at lightning speed, her strikes hitting like a hammer, each one sending shockwaves of pain through his body. One punch to his jaw made him stagger, his teeth gritting against the pain. He tasted blood, but he couldn’t afford to stop.

This was exactly what he needed: time. Time for Luna to act.

Luna darted between trees, her movements deliberately chaotic as she unleashed bolt after bolt of lightning into the vegetation. The air grew hot where her strikes landed, and flames began to flicker to life, eating away at the icy terrain White Rose had created.

The sudden heat disrupted White Rose’s focus, her head snapping toward the burning trees. That moment of distraction was all Ren required. With a guttural yell, he charged his fist with energy and slammed it into her gut. The blow sent her flying backward, crashing through a brittle, frost-covered bush.

White Rose hit the ground hard, her mask cracking slightly under the impact. She groaned, pain radiating through her body as she blinked to clear her vision. When she opened her eyes again, Ren and Luna were gone.

All that remained was the inferno consuming the camp around her. The cold she had brought to the battlefield was rapidly retreating, replaced by the suffocating heat of flames licking at the edges of the previous sanctuary.

Her gaze fell to the ground, where Ren’s dagger glinted in the firelight. Slowly, she reached for it, her fingers trembling, not from weakness but from the sheer intensity of the fight she had endured.

She stared at the blade for a moment before gripping it tightly, "we will meet again, beast tamer."