Three heroes facing each other on the training ground.
Bless, Snow Bell, and me.
While the rules of the three-way battle were being explained on the scoreboard, I quietly looked back and forth between the two people through the lens.
Snow Belle, the Snow Queen, has pale, white skin, a cold, expressionless beauty that makes her seem inhuman, and at the same time, powerful abilities that attract more female fans than men.
Bless, the name of a blessing like the sun, who smiles brightly and spreads smiles to people, in contrast to her cold and expressionless personality.
Even if I hadn't been there, it would have been an incredibly entertaining fight just to have two completely different opponents meet in the finals.
Is it really true that among these two there is a slaver's test subject?
“Both of you made it to the finals?”
I raised my head slightly at the sudden voice, and saw Bless holding out his right hand with a bright smile.
At her words, I chuckled and took the hand she extended.
“I saw the match. It was amazing.”
“Thank you! Let’s have a good match again this time.”
She smiled brightly and shook my hand vigorously, and I barely managed to resist the force of her shaking, almost falling over.
“Sorry. I didn’t realize it.”
“Oh, no.”
Even if I unconsciously stagger just from the force of her shaking, what would happen if I was hit by her brute strength as she charged at me with all her might?
“Snowdo, have a good match!”
Bless soon let go of her hand and approached Snow with her characteristically bright smile and friendliness, extending her hand.
“...”
Snow, who had been looking at her outstretched hand with a blank expression, soon looked at her quietly before turning his gaze in her direction.
"huh?"
She looked at me as if she was checking my reaction, and then, as if she had always done so, she met Bless's eyes in front of her and took her hand in hers, shaking it lightly.
As soon as I finished shaking hands with Bless, she immediately extended her hand to me as well.
“...”
Eyes that just stare at me without saying a word.
I just quietly met her outstretched hand and held it, her blue eyes, which I couldn't tell if they were made of contact lenses or if they were just that way from the start.
“Please take care of me.”
As a low, low voice came into my ears from red lips on pure white skin, my body shrank as if I had been hit by a sudden cold wind when opening a window in the middle of winter.
And then there was a brief yet long pause of a few seconds, just looking at each other in silence.
"Okay, each player. Please return to your original starting positions."
At the instruction of the referee, who was the event manager, Snow Bell slowly let go of my right hand, quietly turned around, and walked back to her original seat.
While I was staring at her slowly moving away, I quietly looked at my right hand, which had been shaking hands with her just a moment ago.
[That's her 3rd place in popularity rankings. What do you think? What's her impression?]
Ariel's playful voice was ringing in my ear, and I lightly squeezed the right hand I had just held with hers and gave a tired smirk.
"I don't know for sure, but I hope that woman isn't a Slaver test subject. I don't hope Bless is one either."
[I clearly stopped you. Now that you've been through this, don't act like you didn't stop me.]
“I know.”
Beep- beep-
The countdown to a slowly approaching beginning.
With a light deep breath, my heart rate, which had been pounding with tension, slowly came down.
Limiter Gauge: 50%
The limiter gauge is reduced, perhaps due to recovery during the short break.
It's been halved, but half still remains. Either way, we can't rest easy.
Since there is no pain ejector prepared by No. 5, there is no way to reduce the load on the gauge in the middle.
Beep-
Waaaa ...
The alarm for the start of the finals rang out, and the crowd erupted in cheers. And at the same time—
"-!"
Tsk tsk tsk-
A strong wind, swirling with cold air, blew from Snow Bell's outstretched left hand.
The strong wind rushed straight across the ground, creating a blizzard, and the blizzard turned into waves of ice along with the freezing air.
"shit!"
As soon as you start, are you targeting me first?
As soon as the attack started, the sensor reacted first, throwing my body to the side and rolling on the ground.
I sat up and turned my head slightly to the side, and saw that a wave of ice the size of a person was rising from the ground above the previously intact smokescreen.
"This is no joke."
Snow Bell's ability 'Absolute Zero'.
Among the abilities to manipulate water, I already knew about the ability to manipulate cold enough to instantly freeze gas and create ice in a place where there was nothing, as it had been introduced through news and various media.
However, the sight of someone freezing in front of their eyes with just the cold wind was a chilling sight for the enemy.
What about the system?
I looked at this scene before my eyes and hoped the stuntman system would react in some way, but the system didn't respond at all.
As expected.
Since I already had some prior knowledge of her abilities, I had some hope that I might be able to receive Snow Bell's abilities.
However, it seemed that the system didn't allow me to acquire abilities just because I knew about them.
As expected, the word 'role' is bothering me.
After keeping my mouth shut, I soon met Snow Bell's gaze as she stood there, watching my reaction.
"Isn't this too much all of a sudden?"
"..."
Unlike me, who was smiling under her mask, pretending to be relaxed, Snow Bell raised her hand with the same blank expression as before.
Snowflake
With a cold, low voice, a huge iceberg formed above her head, forming a snow-like crystal, and soon icicle-like thorns spread out around it.
"sleep-"
Before I could even shout the word "wait," the icicles immediately flew towards me.
The sight of the icicles pouring down like dozens of arrows warned my consciousness that I had to run away quickly.
But, the 'eyes' and the body were speaking.
That we can move forward.
Like that man who burned with fighting spirit in this crisis.
[Stunt Man System. The role is 'Jang Dok-ho.']
Hwaak-
Heat burst out as if it was exploding along with the system's voice ringing in my head.
"..."
Snow Bell's expressionless face grimaced slightly at the sudden burst of heat, and the icicles that had been flying in lost their strength and fell to the ground, shattering and soon turning into puddles.
The suit, which couldn't withstand high heat because it couldn't control the intensity of its power when I first used it, was now emitting heat in a red color that matched my skin as it heated up.
"Hahaha, as expected, it's the best! For ice powers, it's definitely fire!"
I raised my voice without realizing it, as an inexplicable feeling of elation boiled over me like a burning fire.
The heat radiating from my body, the steam hovering near Snowbell's feet, and the stars fluttering like decorations on her snow-white dress, were gradually spreading in a hazy manner.
"... hot."
She had been expressionless until just a moment ago, but when she frowned slightly and waved her hand, a strong cold wind once again blew towards me, turning into a wave of ice that slid across the ground.
The cold that had felt eerie until just a moment ago was now running towards me as if it was ridiculous.
"Haaaah-!"
The wave of ice that I had just escaped by running away from came crashing down on me.
The moment the waves of ice collide with my body heated by high fever,
bang-
The collision of heat and cold sent a shock wave and a burst of steam.
Snow Bell frowned for a moment as the steam burst like a smokescreen.
Yes, that's what it looks like.
I closed the distance between us in the mist of steam and reached out my palms, heated by fever, towards her, who was defenselessly covering her mouth and eyes.
Grab her defenseless body and burn her-
"-!"
In an instant, the sharp stab of life above my head stopped my movements.
at the same time-
A chunk of shattered smoke from the corner of the smoke tower flew into the mist-like vapor.
"Tch-!"
As my body, sensing danger, jumped back into the steam and rolled, the debris fell with a loud noise right where I had just been standing.
The moment I tried to get back up from the fall, an alarm sounded in my head again.
"Haaah-!"
As my body led me, I kicked the floor and bounced back, and as if filling the space, Bless's fist slammed down on the spot where I had just been.
bang-
His fist smashed into the cement of the smokescreen, leaving a spiderweb-like crack.
"This is-!"
The voice of announcer Cha Se-ri, who was relaying the news, rang out, and I landed, raised my head, and looked in front of me.
As I sat up, Bless and Snow Bell stood side by side, looking at me.
It's not like they're rivals fighting to win, but rather they're standing side by side as if they're one team.
"I expected this match to be a three-way battle, but what happened? Hero Bless and Snow Bell, join forces to face Vigilante!"
I was hoping for a little bit of booing from the audience, but what I heard was cheers from the audience who were excited about the exciting development.
I looked at Bless, who was smiling apologetically towards me, and Snow Bell, who was staring at me with the same cold, expressionless face as before, and I sighed under my mask and smiled and said.
"Is this true?"