You grimaced as you felt spit get on your face from the monsters roar. Realistically you weren't actually sure you grimaced in the first place with how stiff you were right now. When you noticed it getting ready to swing its fist that's when you finally moved, you rolled out of the way and glanced at where his fist landed to see a small crater had formed there. 

When it got ready to swing again you quickly brought your sword up and blocked it with a grunt. You pushed against it and finally got it to raise its fist again, you got up before it could hit and held your sword in front of you. 

Before it charged towards you, you took a glance at your surroundings and noticed one of the swords a skeleton was clutching had patterns you recognized from somewhere. Thinking back you remembered some of the treasure from dungeons happened to be magical weapons. Hopefully, that sword would help you, but with the monster not leaving you alone you wouldn't have much of an opening.

Unless...

You glanced down at your hand and held it out, smiling at the small, white magic circle forming. Your summoning was interrupted, however, when you felt the monster slam into your sword. You grunted and tried keeping your ground, even as your bare feet slid against the cold ground. You winced and pushed back, ignoring your numb feet. 

You held your hand out again and watched as the circle slowly began to grow. "C'mon, C'mon," you grunted, feeling the hand clutching the sword faltering slightly. 

You groaned, "hurry it up!" You yelled, your hand finally giving in to the weight. You brought your hands up to shield yourself as you fell to the ground, feeling nothing you removed them to see an all too familiar animal. You sighed in relief and stood up, "keep him busy," you ordered.

You ran towards the sword and grabbed it, examining it. You swung it and watched as flames came from the swing, you smirked. You charged at it and swung with expertise as its leg. It stumbled back with a couple of steps and almost fell when your bear bit at its hand. 

It roared and tried ripping your bear from its arm before it could you swung at it again and sliced off his hand. Your bear and the monster stared at its hand, it growled in anger. You smirked and backed away from it, you took a running start and used your bear to propel yourself up to the monster's head. 

Once there you raised the sword covered in flames and thrusted it into its head. The monster roared as it began to melt into a puddle, you fell down into the puddle with a small grunt. Amidst the water and ice, you noticed a key floating there. You grabbed it and examined, you guessed it would be important and spent a minute trying to find a way to put it in your dress (you managed to make a pocket).

You sighed and glanced down at your sword, then at your numb feet. You lit the sword again and moved it near your feet to warm up. You managed not to flinch when you first looked at your feet. You felt a nudge against your side and noticed the bear with its snout near you. You smiled and laid a hand in its head, "thank you."

The bear gave you a small lick and laid down behind you. With the same smile, you laid back down against it and felt your eyes droop. You supposed a small nap would be fine. 

~~

Kougyoku huffed and held her practice sword in front of her, glaring at the dummy in front of her. She lunged and nicked its arm. It felt harder to practice without an actual moving target. She sighed and shook her head, she had to practice no matter what. Kougyoku wanted you to see how much had improved in these last two months. Which is why she kept going and swinging her sword at the dummy. 

While practicing she didn't pay notice to Kouen walking by and stopping to see her practicing. However, one person who did notice was Ka Koubun, who was busy smirking. 'This is perfect,' he thought to himself, 'at this rate Kouen will surely see that I would be far better suited at a higher rank.'

'Then before you know I'll be the new Emperor of the Kou Empire.' He continued laughing manically to himself, giving himself small praises. During that whole ordeal, he hadn't even noticed Kouen was walking down to where Kougyoku was. 

Kougyoku didn't even seem to notice either as she was too emersed in her practice. When she finally did, she almost swung her sword at his goatee, lucky for her, he stopped with his hand. "Careful where you swing that," he said. 

She nodded and let her gaze fall to the ground, red coloring her cheeks. She felt him walk past her and heard a sword being unsheathed. Looking up she noticed he had gotten into a stance, "well? What are you waiting for?" He asked, "playing around with  a dummy will get you nowhere."

Kougyoku smiled and got into her own stance, "right."

During their practice, Ka Koubun had lost track of time and hadn't even noticed the two of them had spent a couple of hours perfecting techniques. Kouen felt a small inkling of pride in his chest when he recognized some of your own techniques in her fighting style. After having stopped their practice, Kouen laid a hand on her shoulder. 

"You're going to be a great warrior," he said, "keep practicing."

With that said, he walked away, leaving a beaming Kougyoku and an elated Ka Koubon. 

~~

One way Kouen usually liked to unwind after a long day was to sit in his study and read. So, that's exactly what he did after he took a bath and put on his white robe. After getting comfortable in his chair and taking out a scroll he started to read. He was so immersed in reading that he hadn't realized a servant walked in with a tray of tea. 

"Good evening, my prince."

Kouen nodded and didn't bother looking up, too focused on reading. The only noise that could be heard between the two was the tea being poured. He heard a small sigh and the cup being put down, glancing up he recognized it was Kazue. 

"She told me you liked your tea like this," he said. 

Kouen took a small sip and nodded. 

Kazue gave a small laugh, "she never forgets those little details about some people," he said softly, "she even knows how I enjoy my tea." He let out another small laugh and picked up the tray, walking towards the door. 

"She'll be fine."

Kazue turned to Kouen after hearing him speak. "She's strong enough to survive that dungeon on her own," continued Kouen, putting down his scroll to look at Kazue's eyes. 

The only response he got from Kazue was a scoff, "you don't think I know that?" He asked, "I raised her to be that way."

Kouen could only muster a small laugh as Kazue walked out of the room. He hoped the first person you'd see would be Kazue instead of, he deserved that much after you left without saying goodbye. 

~~~

You rubbed your eyes as you began to wake up and let your eyes glance down to your feet. They seemed better than before but still felt cold. You looked to the bear and noticed it had been awake for probably longer than you. You stood up, motioning for the bear to do the same. 

You placed a hesitant hand on its back as if asking to ride it. When the bear didn't move and kept gazing forward you took it as a yes and mounted it. You rubbed its neck, "thank you," you said, "you can walk now."

That was essentially the routine you followed throughout the dungeon. Finding several ways to warm up your feet, summoning the bear again and riding it, and fighting whatever monsters crossed your path. The bear helped too. What felt like several days passed by quick enough when you fell asleep nuzzled against the bear's warm fur. 

Unbeknownst to you, when you woke up with your face covered in fur you hadn't realized it would end up being your last day in the dungeon. You got up and wiped the fur from your face, you nudged the bear awake and looked as dazed eyes met yours. You smiled and rubbed its ear, "after this, I'll be sure to let you rest."

The bear seemed to like the idea of that as it got up and waited for you to get on. Once you did it began to move, as it did things were getting significantly colder causing you to snuggle closer to its fur. You looked ahead and noticed snow began to fall along with a giant door appearing in the distance. You perked up at the sight of it and motioned for the bear to go faster. 

It ran and quickly stopped right near the door. You got off, ignoring your chilling feet, and noticed a keyhole. You rummaged through the skirt of your dress and finally managed to find it. You had used two both hands to fit into the keyhole, once it fit you turned it. The doors began to open without you even needing to push them. When they opened fully you were enveloped by a bright light and used your arms to shield yourself. 

When you opened your eyes again you noticed everything, even the floor, and walls, were made from ice. However, it didn't feel as cold as it should have. It felt surprisingly nice against your skin. Looking around the room you noticed a silver ring with a red gem in the middle. You walked forward and picked it up, blue smoke came out of it until a djinn came out. 

You almost fell back on your butt at the size of her. Her skin was blue, obviously, with wings, you were pretty sure were made of ice. Her hair is white with blue horns coming out the side of her head. She was wearing a white and ice blue leotard with a long v neck that showed off her cleavage and stomach. At the end of the v-neck rested a blue gem, matching the one on the middle of her collarbone. If you squinted you could've sworn you noticed a white tail behind her as well. 

She yawned as if she had been resting for thousand's of years, which in her case was probably accurate. Her eyes landed on you after gazing around her treasure room. "Ah, so, you're my king," she said, her eyes sparkled with excitement. 

You nodded, you've seen two other djinn's, but as you stared at this one, it felt so long ago. "I'm guessing your power is ice," you said warily, not knowing if you were right or not.  

She nodded, "yes, my name is Beleth. Djinn of curiosity and bravery," she said, "which makes you perfect for me."

Your eyes widened, "really?" You asked in disbelief. 

Beleth laughed as she nodded again, "despite all of your trials and tribulations you managed to make it through," she explained, "you proved yourself victorious, be proud."

You smiled and felt a nose on your hand, it was your bear. "Well, I had some help," you said, a smile on your face. 

Beleth's eyebrows furrowed, "you truly are a special one to have been granted such a power," she acknowledged. A power like that hasn't been seen in a long while, she smiled at the old memories still running through her head. 

Meanwhile, you were confused as to what she was referring to. Not to mention, your djinn was starting to blush. "Um, are you alright?" You asked, raising a brow.

She got out of her trance, "o-oh... Right... Yes, I'm fine," she said while laughing nervously. 

You decided to let that go. "Anyway, what do you mean special?" You asked, "what is this power?" 

Beleth thought for a moment and stayed quiet. "I'm sorry. I can't say," she said, "anyway, let's get you out of here!" 

"Hey, wait-!"

*~*~*

Before you could even finish you found yourself with a face full of dirt in a huge hole where the dungeon used to be. You shakily stood up and felt a small weight on your right middle finger, the ring your djinn was in was there. You ran your thumb over the gem and felt it was a bit cold. 

You searched around the treasure and noticed your bear was gone, you deduced it must've disappeared. You let out a sigh of relief and gave yourself a small moment to sit, you fought the urge to close your eyes. You looked up and noticed there were guards standing by outside the hole, you must've been really tired because you could barely anything of what they were saying. 

You let yourself fall asleep. 

*~*~*

The next time you peeled your eyes open you were in a carriage and let yourself fall asleep again. 

*~*~*

When you finally opened your eyes after a full rest you noticed you were in a white robe in your shared room with Kouen. You felt a tad upset when you realized the dress you wore was probably done for after all the dirt and rips on it. You yawned and stood up, you felt your legs give out from under you and gripped onto your nightstand. 

You let out a small sigh of relief when you noticed the hair stick was there. You wrapped a small blanket around your shoulders and walked outside, wanting to go find Kazue. 

~~~~~~~~~

A/N: And so the dungeon is complete! We might reach the canon story pretty soon, get excited! 

Thank you for reading, see you again~!