The freezing hail stung Ed's face as he made his way forward on the slippery ice. Not even his purple water could protect him completely from the extreme weather. Before long, he reached the center of the icy tundra.

The same ice giant as before stood with its two-handed sword embedded in the ground. It was easily five times the size of Ed. Its icy body was smooth, as if it was made of mirrors. Its glowing eyes opened, staring at him. Small chunks of ice bounced against the floor as it lifted its sword from the ground and pointed it forward.

Scales covered Ed's entire body as he prepared to fight. 'Everything in this world has a limit. I'd like to see just how many ice giants this training room can make.' He shot his arm forward, a sharp stream of purple water firing forth from his hand like an arrow leaving the bow.

The ice giant hurriedly used its thick sword like a shield to attempt blocking the attack, but the water arrow broke straight through, penetrating its chest. Surprisingly, the ice giant still stood tall, though it now wielded a half-sword and had a giant hole in its body. However, both the sword and hole quickly expanded with ice, healing completely.

"Tsk." Ed clicked his tongue. 'I didn't notice last time but looks like I have to melt them completely.' He waved both hands forward, sending a tall wave of purple water over the ice. The ice giant melted nearly instantly, vanishing into the icy floor.

Suddenly, over a dozen new ice giants rose from the ice to replace them. "No. Purple. Element." Their voices echoed like a chorus. "Cheating. Means. No. Exit. Must. Use. Path. Escape." They simultaneously pointed their swords towards the snowy area from which Ed had come. "Leave."

Not waiting for them to finish speaking, Ed sent waves in all directions. The ice giants quickly melted again, only to be replaced by 100 more. "Leave." They demanded. "Come. Back. Two. Days."

"I've heard it before!" Ed shouted as he sent more waves out. He could no longer kill them all at once, forcing him to focus his firepower into a single area at a time. After sending a large tidal wave in one direction, he slowly turned and repeated the process. Once again, he easily melted them all.

Shockingly, an uncountable number of ice giants rose from the ice. There seemed to be no end of them in sight, their towering bodies blocking everything. Their collective voice now sounded like a roaring hymn. "LEAVE!" The voice echoed from all directions, bouncing off the ice and repeating itself like a shout in the mountains.

Ed felt a bit dizzy from the sound and cold sweat covered his back. 'Going to have to change combat styles...' He knew he didn't have unlimited purple mana. It was much more limited than his usual fighting style. He would have no choice but to fight conservatively and efficiently in an attempt to save as much mana as possible. He took up a defensive stance, planning to drag the fight out while only fighting those that came close.

The first group of ice giants rushed forward. With their humongous bodies, only three or four would be able to attack him at once. They didn't seem to have any type of special combat style, just swinging their swords crudely like barbarians.

Four two-handed swords came swinging down towards Ed's head. He hurriedly sent out four thin wire-like blades of purple water, severing the ice giant's hands, causing them to drop their swords. He controlled the threads to repeatedly dance back-and-forth, dicing the ice giants into hundreds of pieces. He watched the chunks of collapsed ice, hoping his plan would work. But he was soon disappointed, as the chunks of ice began reforming into ice giants. 'Damn, I really do need to melt them entirely.' He sent a wave of purple water swirling in a circle around him, melting the collapsed chunk of the giants. 'Still, this'll help conserve mana at least.' He opted to no longer send attacks away from his body, as it was a waste of mana. He would chop and dice them up before cleaning up with the same wave over and over again.

The ice giants' stomps thudded against the ice as they moved forward in waves. Some swung their swords from up high. Others swung from the side. Interestingly, some even abandoned their swords and jumped at him with their giant feet.

Ed's thread became a butcher's knife as he repeatedly chopped the ice giants to bits and pieces. Occasionally, one would break past his defensive line, forcing him to block the blow with his body. Fortunately, the wounds taken from doing so were minor at best.

...

Time continued to pass as Ed defended against the waves. 'That's 500.' He thought as he diced another one. His breathing was growing heavier, and his wounds were starting to accumulate. Even a small scratch could become deadly when received enough times. Fortunately, he still had plenty of mana remaining.

...

Ed's concentration slipped for a moment, allowing four two-handed swords to cleave down towards his head. He forcefully blocked the attack with his arms, causing small gashes in his arms which bled lightly. Half-panicked, he hurriedly sent out a dome of purple water in all directions, eliminating dozens of the ice giants waiting their turn to fight. "FUCK!" He cursed aloud in anger. 'That was what, 2,000?' He was beginning to lose track as he grew more and more tired.

...

His mana starting to run low, Ed could no longer sit still. He was forced to weave and dodge within the mass of ice giants, like a ship trying to avoid icebergs in the northern seas. He relied on his bat wings to continuously block attacks. His thread continually cut any ice giants that got close, but he didn't finish them off. Instead, he had to wait until he recovered enough mana to create a wave large enough to melt him. "Huff. Huff." His breathing grew even rougher. 'That's 5,000.' He eyed the remaining ice giants. 'About 5,000 left?'

...

Ed's entire body was covered in dark red blood. Some blood even looked black as it froze solid on his body. The only good thing was the freezing weather slowing his bleeding. He had completely lost track of the number of minor wounds he had suffered, but he was starting to look reminiscent of the old days when he had just survived Luny's lab experiments. It was hard to tell he was even human between the blood, torn wings, and broken scales.

In front of him stood only a single ice giant. But even facing just one felt like an exhausting endeavor at this point. He forced his little remaining purple mana out, his body aching and burning as he did so. A purple thread of water split the ice giant in half down the middle, each half of its crystal-like body falling to the ground. A small ball of water appeared in his hand and he tossed it forward. The ball rapidly spun on the ice, moving across it like a spinning top. Wherever it passed, the ice giant's body melted, and soon, it was completely gone.

"Finally... done..." He sighed in relief, feeling himself ready to collapse atop the ice. He felt his vision swaying, likely due to blood loss. Only his fear of another soul takeover allowed him to forcefully stay awake. 'This should've been enough, right?' He wondered as he looked over the vast ice. No new ice giants were spawning, so it appeared he had finally won. 'So, the limit is 10,000. I got lucky. Any more and I'd be finished.' Disappointment flashed in his eyes. 'Even after reaching the limit, there's no exit?'

Suddenly, the entire icy tundra began to tremble and shake. The movement was so bad that even Ed couldn't keep his balance, causing him to collapse to his knees. He hissed in pain as his bloodied knees came in contact with the ice. 'What's happening?!' He hurriedly looked around. 'Is the training room destabilizing? Or maybe a boss ice giant of some type is spawning?' He forced himself to stand back up despite the quakes increasingly growing in intensity.

After several minutes, the trembling finally stopped. Everything grew eerily calm, nothing looking out of place from before. Ed frowned. "The hell was that ab-" His words stopped as he immediately went speechless. A sight far more terrifying than any new type of ice giant ever could be appeared. He couldn't even find the will to curse aloud at what he saw.

Once again, countless ice giants spawned from the icy tundra. However, there were even more than the previous time. If before they were like a sea of towers blocking sight, then now they were like the world itself. They stretched to the horizon and beyond, seeming to be the only thing to exist within the icy tundra.

Ed gulped, cold sweat covering his back. 'It started with one... then went to over a dozen... then a hundred... followed by around ten-thousand.' He didn't wish to believe it, but following the line of common sense, the answer seemed obvious. 'One-million ice giants.' Despair appeared in his eyes as he looked towards the direction of the snowy area he had come from. He couldn't return even if he wished to now. Even if he wanted to propel himself into the air with purple water, he simply didn't have enough mana remaining to do so.

A thin thread of purple water appeared in Ed's hands again. Even doing that much caused jolts of pain to travel through his entire body. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. 'I'll just have to improve as I go.' He attempted to fool himself. When he reopened his eyes, only determination could be seen.

The first ice giant rushed towards him, using the same crude combat style he had literally faced thousands of times. He hurriedly dodged to the left and sent out the purple water thread, bisecting the ice giant's waist while also cutting off its hands and feet. He didn't even attempt finishing it off as he moved on to the next ice giant. He no longer waited for them to come to him and surround him. Instead, he attempted forging a path towards the snowy tundra. No matter how desperate a plan it was, it was still better than no plan.

The thread of purple water flashed in all directions as he jumped to-and-fro through the horde. Each ice giant healed completely soon after, but he couldn't be bothered with them. At first, he made good progress. He knew the ice giant's attack patterns in-and-out, allowing him to fight cleanly and efficiently. However, his body could no longer keep up with his mind. A brief delay here or slight stumble there caused his wounds to grow even worse. Things were growing increasingly desperate.

Suddenly, an ice giant's sword swung at just the right angle. Ed didn't even notice it until the last moment, but it was too late. The sword cleaved into his left ankle, severing his Achilles tendon.

"Fuck!" He stumbled, falling to the ground.

The ice giants didn't let the opportunity go to waste as they hurriedly closed in and swung their swords.

Ed sent his thread shooting out, hurriedly cutting their swords in half. He still took a couple hits, but greatly reduced the damage taken. He forcefully stood up, the purple water thread swimming around him. "Tsss." He hissed as he tried putting pressure on his left foot. It couldn't support any weight at all. He had lost any opportunity for escaping by foot.

'Not good.' He frowned at he once again cut the ice giants surrounding him. He couldn't even tell how far he had left to go, let alone how to escape. All he could do was forcefully defend himself from the never-ending waves of attacks.

...

Time dragged on, but each minute felt like days as Ed struggled. He was so exhausted that it hurt to even breath heavily, causing him to constantly be out of breath. His injuries had only worsened, and he had even lost his right arm. His vision grew increasingly hazy, and his eyes turned dull. He was like a machine at this point, operating on nothing but instinct. He had fought the ice giants enough to fight them on auto-pilot, and he was actually taking less injuries now that he deferred to his instincts.

'So cold.' Ed thought as an ice giant was cut to pieces. He was like a ghost spectating himself in third-person. He felt detached from himself, not even feeling the pain anymore. Only an infinite coldness seemed to invade him without end.

Suddenly, Ed's body got into a bad position. An ice giant's sword came cleaving down, cutting off his remaining arm. He didn't scream or yell, nor did he react in any way one would expect. Instead, his eyes remained dull as his purple water thread diced the ice giant to pieces. 'Who cares.' He thought as he glanced at the fallen arm. 'I can make as many new ones as I want.'

The rubble of ice continued to pile up as the fight continued. Another blow cut a large chunk from Ed's rib cage. Yet another slammed into his back, managing to even explode one of his three hearts. 'None of this really matters...' He thought as he watched. 'In the end, this was just as far as I could go along the paths. I have no regrets about the path I chose.' He closed his eyes, but his body kept fighting on its own.

...

A dark void. Mayor Mick was there, but Ed completely ignored him, treating him as less than air. Interestingly, he felt something calling for him from the paths. But it wasn't like the usual strong and intense calling. Instead, it was indifferent, as if it didn't really care whether he came or not. Instinctively, he followed the calling.

A stream of blue water appeared in front of him. Suddenly, it transformed into humanoid-shaped ice, mirroring Ed's looks exactly. It had no expression as it reached towards him, placing its hand on his chest. Ice spread over Ed's soul body as the humanoid ice shrunk in size. Soon, the ice vanished entirely, leaving only Ed's soul body behind.

'So, this is the power of the path of blue water.' He thought as he stared at his soul body's hands, which were now covered in an icy blue glow. 'Well, whatever.' He lowered his hands, seemingly having no intention to return to his body. 'Whatever happens will happen.' He thought as he sat down in the center of the paths.

Suddenly, a shattering sound rang out. The cracks all over Ed's soul body increased greatly in number. There wasn't even a single patch of pristine surface remaining. He looked like glass that had already shattered, only being held together by a vague outline of a humanoid shape.

The shock of the blow caused Ed's eyes to return to normal. Unbearable pain ravaged his soul. It was so bad that he even contemplated suicide, not that there was a way to kill himself in his soul form. An unknown period of time passed as his soul body writhed in pain and agony. When he finally calmed down from the pain, panic took over. 'FUCK!' Forgetting about his soul damage momentarily, he hurriedly returned to his body.

...

Ed awoke to the sight of the endless ice giants and the icy tundra, the wind howling in his ears. Each piece of hail that struck him felt like a thousand needles being jammed into his body. Amidst the icy wastelands, a splotch of bright red blood stood out just beneath his body. Looking down, Ed saw both his arms were gone. His left leg was essentially useless. He had several gashes in his stomach, chest, and back that bled heavily. Unbearable pain in his chest came from his broken left heart. It took a moment for him to realize that he couldn't see as well as usual. It seemed he had even lost an eye with his face becoming disfigured.

Rage appeared in his remaining eye as he glared at the endless ice giants. He had no purple mana to utilize, but he had plenty of water mana. Especially since he had already unlocked the hidden water storage meridian. His blue mana came to the surface of his body, freezing shut any wounds he had. Hard ice covered his body as an ice dragon shot out from his back. The ice dragon rapidly grew in size, destroying dozens of ice giants in the area. It circled protectively around him, like a divine beast guarding its master.

'Time to leave.' His eyes hardened with resolution as he readied himself for destroying whatever remained of the one-million ice giants.