The Scrap Tamer - Chapter 161

Chapter 161: Out Of The Rift.
Reid standing outside the rift was getting worried as the seconds passed.

Since he gained Evo, he hadn’t felt this useless.

‘What if I—’ he started but Evo cut him off.

[It won’t work] she said, already knowing his line of thinking [while your Monarch form can cross dimensions, but you don’t have enough soul power to sustain the process—at least, not yet.]

He clenched his fists tighter as he heard Evo’s words. He hated this feeling. This helplessness.

But no matter how much he raged inside, there was nothing he could do right now. Nothing but wait.

That’s when Lisa gently grabbed his wrist.

He turned, slightly startled. She was looking at him, her eyes holding concern for him.

“You’re shaking,” she said.

Reid hadn’t noticed. He unclenched his hands, only to realize his palms were damp with sweat despite the cold wind that blew around them.

“She’ll be fine,” Lisa added. “She’s your mom. That means she’s more terrifying than anything in there.”

This successfully got a chuckle out of him, even if a half hearted one.

He continued waiting with his team and Commander Ajax while Commander Voss had returned back to base with the excuse of calming the alarm in there.

But Reid was having none of it. With a signal, Clara immediately understood what he wanted and she let her ferret attach to v Voss’s shadow while he returned.

This action was not missed by Commander Ajax but he chose to save his questions for later, which was a bit out of character for someone like him.

But they had an urgent situation at hand.

Besides, even he was suspicious of Voss—after all, the man had sent a group of newly promoted cadets into what should’ve been a death mission.

Most high-ranking officers wouldn’t have expected to come out alive, yet these kids did. So Ajax trusted them enough to overlook the fact that they had attached a spy to a commander’s shadow.

He, too, was curious about what Voss might be hiding and why his actions are constantly excused by the higher ups.

And his method of finding out… well, let’s just say it wasn’t exactly suitable or even a single bit subtle.

The wait continued for fifteen more minutes before a sudden change started happening to the rift.

Although it was just a crack in space and a mass of swirling energy, its edges suddenly started freezing.

‘What’s going on?’ Reid asked Evo, but she didn’t need to answer since his answer was soon in sight through the rift.

Moving at high speeds and heading straight for the rift was what looked like a white projectile of some sorts.

“Step back!” Commander Ajax barked an order and they immediately complied.

They stepped back just before the white projectile broke through the rift, freezing the layers of space that lay between.

The projectile stopped as soon as it exited the portal, allowing Ajax and the others a view of its form.

Standing… no, floating before them, was a figure made of white flames. But instead of the usual intense heat one would expect from fire, these flames radiated a bone-chilling cold.

They could feel the figure’s cold eyes scan each of them before finally resting on Reid.

“Mom?” Reid didn’t know why, but before he could think, the words had already left his mouth.

The others were equally surprised hearing his words but they soon saw who was encased in the flames.

The flames cleared up and revealed the person behind it and sure enough, it was Vivian.

The only difference was the her previously golden blonde hair was now snow white and her blue eyes had turned silver.

Also, she looked colder, almost detached.

But all that didn’t matter to Reidas he rushed in and enveloped her in a tight hug.

“You’re back” he muttered, his voice almost cracking.

That’s when something even the phoenix thought impossible happened.

The coldness crawling inside Vivian’s heart and her emotions that were being slowly sapped away?

All of it suddenly stopped and warmth slowly spread through her heart.

{How?} Was the only thing the phoenix could mutter.

Even though it was just a guide or simply a shard of the original Phoenix, it had every memory its original had.

Vivian emotions shouldn’t have stopped disappearing, not while she was in this form anyway.

Her transformation—the White Flame Rebirth—was supposed to consume her emotions. Freeze them, suppress them, until she became a being of pure calculating coldness.

That was the cost of tapping into the Absolute Zero Flame. And yet… here she was, clutching her son with trembling arms.

“Reid” Vivian muttered, her tone still cold but evidently warmer than before.

Reid just hugged her tighter, preferring to say nothing else after all, his friends were around and he couldn’t embarrass himself by crying.

“I’m here now,” she whispered, “I’m sorry for making you worry.”

She knew exactly how he felt right now, after all, she would be feeling the same if not worse if their situations were flipped.

That’s when she remembered, she was dragging the anchor with her.

Tapping Reid gently causing him to release her before she moved the net she had dragged her into sight.

Commander Ajax and the rest were surprised seeing a cloaked figure encased in ice, especially seeing the terror on their face, almost as if they were cut off mid scream.

“This is the anchor” she explained, “the rift’s connected to him and will only closed if he dies.”

Reid immediately understood, after all, he and Elizabeth had been in a similar situation when they faced the cult members in the city.

Vivian summoned her spear, ready to turn the cloaked figure into multiple shards of ice when Reid suddenly spoke up.

“Mom wait” which caused her to pause her actions and look at him.

“Beel” Reid just called, immediately summoning it from his inventory.

“Food!” Beel screamed as soon as it understood what Reid wanted but its hopes were soon dashed when it saw that its meal was encased in ice.

“Umm.. Grandma, can you remove the ice” Beel requested “I don’t like cold foods.”

Vivian just simply nodded. She hadn’t fully gotten used to the fact that a forged beast was calling her grandma but at the same time, it made her happy.

With a thought, the ice that encased the cloaked figure melted from his feet up before it finally completely set him free, allowing him to complete his previous scream.

“—GH!”