In the alliance, the more they attack me, the stronger I become!

Helplessly, Cheng Xiao took the initiative to let go and even used her other hand to pull the girl's fingers away.

"I think I really can't do anything this time... Let me help you one last time, Miss Ash."

"Although I've already said it once, this time... you really need to walk the road ahead on your own."

"Forget-me-not."

Cheng Xiao broke free from the girl's hand and threw the weapon in his hand towards Draclone behind her at the moment his body fell.

"No--!!"

Ashe watched Cheng Xiao falling down but was powerless to do anything.

At this moment, something seemed to be touched in her heart... She seemed to understand some emotion that she had never been able to understand.

Her eyes reddened again.

But she knew she must not cry.

She wiped her eyes hard before tears fell.

Cheng Xiao's will will be inherited by her here!

While the people behind her were dodging weapons and Dracon was chasing her, Ashe immediately turned around and rushed towards the grave.

This time, no one can stop her!

She finally touched the ice crystal longbow.

The last heir of Avarosa.

At this moment, she felt an unprecedented peace in her heart, and an extreme coldness spread through her fingertips and throughout her body - but she did not feel any pain.

She seemed to hear the whisper that spanned tens of millions of years...

Avarosa's voice.

[Ice does not bring pain...]

[…but surrender.]

Ashe picked up the longbow, and her face no longer had the tenderness of a girl, but only the determination of a queen.

She won't cry anymore.

"You are all going to die."

---------------------------------------------

Cheng Xiao saw everything while falling.

He saw that Ashe was about to cry, but then she forced her tears back, replacing them with determination and strength.

She is really strong.

To the point that he almost collapsed.

"It's really blanched..."

Bang!

Cheng Xiao's back touched the hard ice surface.

The fall from this height caused his brain to burst and his spine to shatter.

In the second before he lost consciousness, he had only one thought:

Please cry a little!!

Chapter 19: I cried, I wasn’t pretending

There was no time to mourn Cheng Xiao's departure, as the [Complete] Ashe immediately joined the battlefield.

The moment she touched the ice crystal longbow, she understood everything.

She understood her mother's persistence and perseverance, and also understood the Drakrons' efforts to stop her... and Cheng Xiao's determination to help her reach the top of the mountain at all costs.

This is not just a weapon.

Its very existence is the inheritance of Avarosa's will.

The extremely cold aura contained in the internal force, and the surging magic power as boundless as the sea... all of this is the true inheritance given to the ice bloodline.

Ashe wasn't sure if she was qualified enough to wield this power, but she knew that this power recognized her.

The legendary True Ice... the cold that freezes everything...

It all poured into her body.

At this moment, the severe cold of Freljord could no longer hurt her at all, and the endless wind and snow were just like soft bedding in a warm bed to her.

Her heart was as calm as water, allowing the inheritance and power spanning tens of millions of years to change her body.

She still looks like a girl, and her delicate features have not changed at all, but her temperament has changed from an ignorant girl to a resolute queen.

Her long golden hair, which symbolized liveliness and youth, gradually turned white under the influence of Zhenbing, and finally turned into a silver-white color like ice and snow.

She pulled off the torn section of her clothing and wrapped it around the handle of her longbow.

She looked at the group of wary Drakrons and placed one hand on the bowstring.

There is no arrow in the bow, but Zhenbing will give the answer.

"Listen up, witch's lackeys..."

Ashe took a deep breath, and a dazzling ice crystal arrow slowly emerged from between her two jade fingers that were hooked around the bowstring.

"The one before you is Glenna's daughter."

"He is the heir of Avarosa."

"He's the one who avenged Cheng Xiao."

"I'm Ashe..."

"I am the longbow."

call out--!

The hard bowstring rebounded with a powerful force carrying a terrifying aura of magic.

The ice crystal arrow made of magic power cut through the air, making a sharp sound.

The Drakrons saw it, felt it. That coldness... the unstoppable force of ice and the Dark Lady, the ice that brought submission.

They seemed to see the shadow of Lissandra in this girl.

Or rather... the shadow of the former "Three Sisters".

In just a moment, the extreme cold took away their will to fight.

They wanted to escape, they struggled to the side, and they spread out in an arc.

Ashe's arrows hit no one.

But no one could dodge this arrow.

Thick magic crystal arrows exploded on the ground, each icy dust carrying a chilling temperature that could freeze a person into an ice sculpture. The soft snow on the entire mountaintop hardened, and the exposed rocks were instantly coated in a coat of ice.

The ice is spreading.

From a tiny point, it spreads to the entire surface of the mountain top.

The Drakrons had to use all their means to freeze Cheng Xiao into an ice sculpture, but at this moment, Ashe only used one arrow to turn the entire mountain top into ice under her feet.

Everyone and everything turned to ice under this arrow.

The witch's minions were trapped in the ice for eternity, the expressions of surprise and fear on their faces stretching to the end of time.

An incredibly difficult battle... a journey that cost countless lives...

In the end it ended so simply.

A deep fatigue surged into her heart, and for a moment Ashe didn't know whether to cry or laugh.

Perhaps her greatest gain from this trip wasn't this ice crystal longbow, but...

She understood what it meant to love and be loved.

---------------------------------------------

The rising sun revealed the black cliffs, which looked like the arms and back of a mighty throne. The cairn was a memorial to a war fought in ancient times in this area.

I wonder if this cemetery is truly my mother's destination... if it is truly the throne of Avarosa.

All I know is that this is not my throne...

"Is all this really worth it..."

Ashe sat on the top of the mountain, squinting at the rising sun.

She had rested enough and could have gone down the mountain, but she didn't want to.

She sat here thinking about her deceased friends, and remembered that Cheng Xiao always said some strange words to her with a smile... It was so sad that she still couldn't understand what those words meant until now.

She stretched her lips, trying her best to smile—just like Cheng Xiao could smile no matter what danger she faced. But she couldn't. That forced smile was like a clown's mask, hypocritical and worthy of pity.

"Cheng Xiao..."

Ashe silently repeated the man's name again, and eventually she had to return to her tribe.

She struggled to get up and prepared to go back along the same path to find her people.

But at this moment, the shoulder bag swaying around her waist reminded her of something.

That was... the last thing Cheng Xiao left for her.

It was the food that accompanied her on her last journey.

She hadn't had time to eat it before, but now she can finally calm down and savor it carefully - there must still be the taste of Cheng Xiao on it.

"You are so hopelessly stupid..."

Ash finally smiled sincerely and reached into the slightly heavy bag.

She took out a small piece of dried meat from inside, and then felt something...hard?

what is that?

The girl opened the cloth bag in confusion, letting the sunlight illuminate the darkness inside.

Then she saw many stones, big and small.

A stone packed with what little is left.

The stone that makes this shriveled bag look plump...

For a moment, Ashe froze in place.

She suddenly remembered... Cheng Xiao always patted the bulging bag and said there was still a lot of food inside and not to worry.

She suddenly remembered that Cheng Xiao always hid in the corner to "eat" after giving her food...

She should have thought that the Drakon who came to hunt them would not be able to carry so much food...

She should have understood...

The once sweet memory suddenly turned into a sharp knife at this moment, piercing Ashe's heart without warning.

She felt dizzy and nearly fell.

The cloth bag fell to the ground and all the stones inside spilled out.

Those are the "delicacies" that Cheng Xiao eats alone...

Ashe almost lost the ability to think. Her intelligent brain, which had never been afraid even when facing a strong enemy, seemed to have turned into a mess at this moment.

She slumped to the ground, the ice crystal longbow, which everyone regarded as a treasure, thrown aside carelessly. She frantically picked up those worthless stones as if they were priceless treasures.

One by one... She was afraid that they would also be frozen into ice, so she nervously held all the stones against her chest, trying to find that familiar temperature with her heartbeat.