The system's mathematical interface instantly flickered to life in the upper corner of my vision, recalibrating my physical load against my storage constraints.
Because I had violently deployed those five chemical-grade tear gas flasks during the dogfight, my inventory had shed a solid chunk of weight, leaving me at exactly 17 kg / 25 kg of holding capacity. I stepped forward through the shifting snowdrifts, my newly restored right hand gripping the hilt of the Demon Valkyrie Longsword and hoisting its 4 kg frame from the permafrost before sliding it cleanly into the digital spatial matrix. Next, I leaned down and retrieved the severed, ash-dusted head of the Triangulum-class fallen angel, its 3 kg mass vanishing into the inventory lock right alongside the blade.
Finally, I reached down and picked up Elicia's ornate academy staff, its reinforced 1kg frame dissolving into light as I stored it away.
[Inventory Ring 17 kg / 25 kg]
[Death Chant Shotgun 5kg]
[Death Chant Tommy Gun 6kg]
[Tear Gas (x20) 4 kg]
[Purse 2 kg]
The ledger was perfectly balanced. With my spatial inventory entirely maxed out to the absolute decimal, I turned back toward my big sister.
Utilizing the peak physical parameters of my current status… my body completely unburdened by scars, my muscle tissue fully repaired, and my nervous system humming with revitalized strength… I dropped low into the snowbanks directly in front of her.
"Hold on tight, Elicia," I murmured, my newly restored tongue easily forming the words.
Elicia leaned forward, her arms wrapping securely around my neck as I hoisted her 5'8" frame effortlessly onto my back. Her paralyzed legs hung securely over my hips, her breathing shallow but steady against my shoulder. Adjusting her weight against my center of gravity, I flexed my shoulders, ensuring the massive demonic wings hidden beneath my tattered crimson trench coat remained completely suppressed so as not to jostle her.
With the evidence secured and the Principal of Sisiphon safe in my grip, I broke into a powerful, rapid sprint, cutting straight through the blinding northern blizzard toward the southern districts before the capital's purge units could close the net.
"You've become so incredibly strong, Eirene, Back then... back in Town Allure, you only had a basic appraisal skill. The bureau forced you to just sit behind a desk and become a common appraiser. Seeing your current stats now, after everything that happened since I left the town... I was honestly shocked." Elicia whispered against my shoulder, her voice muffled slightly by the tattered wool of my collar as I sprinted effortlessly through the sub-zero gale. I could feel the gentle rise and fall of her chest against my back, her paralyzed lower half perfectly stable under my enhanced grip.
I adjusted her weight slightly, my boots breaking through the thick sheets of permafrost with mechanical precision.
"No worries, big sister, I did what I had to do to survive the dark. But I'm okay now. I have you."
I carried Elicia all the way over to the exact coordinates where the final execution had taken place. There, dusting over with a light layer of fresh powder, lay the severed head of the fallen angel and the magnificent, glowing hilt of the Demon Valkyrie Longsword still embedded in the crimson ice.
Kneeling down slightly while keeping Elicia securely balanced on my back, I extended my right hand. The dimensional matrix of my inventory ring flared with a silent, hummed resonance, drawing both the 3 kg head and the heavy 4 kg blade straight into the digital spatial locks, maximizing my load to that perfect 25 kg threshold.
A thrill of cold, tactical satisfaction ran down my spine as the weapon's parameters registered in my mind. I could make incredible use of this blade in the future; it was completely overpowered. The dual attributes alone… the necrotic anti-heal effect that capped recovery at a miserable 30%, and the spectral mist trait that allowed the edge to bypass physical and magical defenses completely… made it an absolute apex-tier artifact.
Theoretically, standard protocol dictated that I should confiscate this high-tier anomaly gear and hand it over directly to the Bureau's administrative offices to prove the kill validation. But the Bureau had done nothing but treat me like a disposable, mutated hunting hound. They didn't deserve a masterpiece like this. I was going to keep it hidden away in the static of my spatial storage, permanently adopting the fallen angel's signature weapon into my own personal arsenal for the cold wars ahead.
Elicia's breath against my neck grew shallower, her exhales turning into rapid, ragged puffs of white vapor. I felt a sudden, violent tremor ripple through her entire 5'8" frame, her arms tightening around my shoulders not out of affection, but from raw, involuntary muscle spasms.
"Are you cold, big sister?" I asked, slowing my pace slightly as the northern blizzard roared with renewed fury, pelting us with shards of jagged ice.
"Don't worry, Eirene... I'm fine," she murmured, her teeth visibly chattering against my tattered collar.
She was lying. My dual-colored eyes, sharp and freshly regenerated, could easily read the physical reality of her condition. Without a single drop of mana left in her Level 8 reservoir, her passive thermal barriers had completely collapsed. Her god-tier Divine Regeneration was offline. Right now, the prestigious Academy Principal was as fragile as any commoner back in Town Allure, utterly defenseless against the sub-zero temperatures of the mountain pass.
Seeing her suffer in the frost triggered something deep inside me. My five months of brutal, isolated survival on the run instantly kicked in. I knew exactly how fast the cold could blacken skin and stop a heart.
I spun around, stepping over the frozen permafrost toward the snowdrifts where the fallen knights of Branch 1 lay. Working with rapid, cold-blooded efficiency, I laid Elicia gently against a sheltered rock face for just a moment. I systematically approached the corpses of the vanguard, unbuckling the heavy, fur-lined white-and-scarlet military cloaks from one fallen paladin after another.
Once I had stripped three of the thickest, insulated cloaks from the vanguards, I rushed back to Elicia. I wrapped the heavy fabrics around her shivering shoulders, layering them one over the other until she was completely insulated in a thick, protective cocoon of wool and enchanted lining.
"Wear all of them, You'll get a cold if you try to act tough out here. You saved my life, Elicia… let me take care of you now."
Wrapped in the stolen cloaks, her shivering slowly began to ease as my enhanced, sixth-evolution demonic body heat radiated backward, shielding her from the biting wind as we pushed south into the dark.
"Thanks, Eirene," Elicia whispered, her voice a little warmer now as she buried her face deeper into the triple layer of stolen paladin cloaks.
I nodded, taking a few heavy paces forward and leaving the blood-slicked wreckage of the Branch 1 carriage behind us in the dark. With the iron-reinforced bone of my Leech's Hollow Mask completely shattered into dust, the freezing mountain wind slapped directly against my bare skin. There was no more hiding. No more porcelain facade to filter the world. From this moment on, my true, unblemished face… and my heterochromic jade and crimson eyes… would be completely exposed to the elements.
But the northern blizzard was only growing more hostile, the sub-zero tempests threatening to freeze the very breath in Elicia's lungs despite the heavy wool. I could feel her shivering violently against my spine. Running on foot through the mountain passes would take too long, and time was a luxury the capital's monitoring systems wouldn't grant us.
"Clasp both of your limbs together, We're flying." commanded softly, my voice firm and steady against the gale.
Elicia didn't argue. Understanding the absolute urgency of the situation, she shifted her weight, locking her arms and her paralyzed legs tightly around my 5'5" petite, slender frame. As her little sister, carrying a 5'8" woman with a staggeringly voluptuous, G-cup build clinging directly to my back made for a remarkably heavy, top-heavy load. Physically, she was surprisingly denser and heavier than me… but comparing my current, newly restored sixth-evolution stats to her completely depleted mana pool, I could handle her absolute mass with effortless, mechanical ease.
I took a few explosive steps backward, clearing a radius in the thick snow banks.
FWOOOOOOSH!
With a sudden, violent flex of my spine, I fully deployed my massive, leathery demonic wings. The dark, spanning membranes erupted outward into the twilight, cutting through the swirling snow like twin blades of midnight.
Elicia let out a soft, involuntary gasp as the sheer scale of my appendages unfurled around her.
"You really look like a creature of the abyss, Ren… A beautiful, terrifying demon."
"Just hold on," I said.
I bent my knees, ignited the raw kinetic parameters in my thighs, and kicked off the permafrost with a deafening CRACK. The ground shattered beneath my boots as my powerful wings beat against the freezing air currents, propelling us straight up into the stormy sky. The crimson-stained graveyard of Branch 1 rapidly shrank into a tiny, insignificant speck below us as we tore through the clouds, leaving the northern border behind as I set our trajectory due south… flying at breakneck speeds toward the safety of Caria.