Winter's crystalline form pulsed with an otherworldly glow as he faced the distant hill where No. 4 was perched. With a gesture that seemed almost casual, he created a path of ice that stretched toward her position, each step materializing instantly as he glided forward at incredible speed.
No. 4 scrambled to relocate, but Winter was already there. His presence brought a bone-chilling cold that made her fingers too stiff to properly grip her rifle.
"I always wondered why they called you No. 4," Winter mused, his voice carrying that same unsettling echo. "Was it because you needed to be at least four hundred meters away to feel safe?"
She drew a combat knife with trembling hands. "Stay back!"
"Or maybe," Winter continued, taking a step forward as sheets of black ice spread from his feet, "it's because that's how many seconds you have left."
No. 5's thunderous footsteps approached from behind, but Winter didn't even turn. A wall of ice erupted from the ground, trapping the larger assassin in a crystalline prison.
"One."
No. 4 slashed with her knife. The blade shattered against Winter's armor.
"Two."
She reached for a hidden pistol, but her holster was already sealed with frost.
"Three."
"Please," she whispered, backing away. "We were just following orders."
Winter's eyes flared with that eerie blue light. "So was I, once."
"Four."
The hill disappeared under a wave of black ice, leaving only silence in its wake. Winter turned to face No. 5, who had managed to crack his prison but couldn't break free.
"Now then," Winter said, approaching the trapped assassin. "About that honorable fight you wanted..."
Winter approached the trapped assassin, dark ice crackling with each step. No. 5's superhuman body had allowed him to partially break through his prison, but it wasn't enough to escape completely.
"You know what's interesting about you, No. 5?" Winter's ethereal voice echoed across the frozen landscape. "That reinforced skeleton of yours. The company's finest work, isn't it?"
No. 5 ceased his struggling, eyes narrowing. "What of it?"
"I have a... friend who could use a proper vessel." Winter raised his hand, causing the ice prison to constrict further around No. 5. "And you've proven yourself worthy of that honor."
"Whatever twisted plan you have, I won't—" No. 5's words cut off as black ice began creeping up his legs, different from the prison that held him. This ice seemed to pulse with an inner darkness.
"You wanted an honorable fight?" Winter's eyes blazed brighter. "Then die with honor, knowing your strength will serve a greater purpose."
The dark ice consumed No. 5's body entirely. His flesh began to dissolve, melting away like snow in spring, leaving only his enhanced skeleton outlined in a ghostly blue light. The skeleton remained suspended in the air, pristine and gleaming with an unnatural sheen.
"Welcome to your new vessel, Strider," Winter said, a genuine smile crossing his face for the first time.
The skeleton moved with an unnatural grace as Strider tested his new form. The enhanced bones provided the perfect framework for the frost spirit's power, ice forming and dissipating around him at will.
"This... this is more than adequate," Strider's voice emerged from between the skeletal jaws, carrying both an ethereal resonance and a metallic echo. "You've repaid your debt, Winter."
Winter nodded, his own ice armor beginning to recede. "Now we're even. Though I'm sure we'll be in touch."