The battlefield shook as the B+ rank Abyssal Beast clawed its way from the rift, its grotesque form blotting out the moonlight. Its body looked like a fusion of scaled armor and void-born tendrils, its eyes burning with a hunger that seemed eternal. A suffocating pressure blanketed the ground, warping the air as if reality itself recoiled from its presence.
Bolt stood at the front of Celestial Tempest, his fists trembling—not from fear, but from the storm raging inside him. The earlier beasts they had slain now seemed like child's play. This was a predator born of the abyss, a monster whose very existence mocked life itself.
Akane's flames sparked desperately across her palms, but the heat seemed swallowed whole by the beast's aura. Aether tried to keep his breathing steady, calling the wind to his side, but even the air twisted unnaturally in the beast's proximity. Darian, Sylva, Valea, Ren, Damian, Kaori—they all felt the same sinking realization: this was no ordinary fight. This was a trial meant to break them.
The beast's roar ripped across the battlefield, tearing apart trees and shattering stone with raw force. The sound alone nearly buckled their knees.
"Bolt," Valea whispered, her light flickering. "This… this is beyond us."
Bolt's teeth ground together. He could feel the weight of her fear, the team's hesitation clawing at the edges of their resolve. But deep within him, another fire burned—no, not fire, not lightning—something else, something larger. The memory of the Oracle's words echoed inside his mind: You will unlock 25% in battle against Kairos… but the path begins in training. Struggle. Break. Rise.
His chest tightened as arcs of blue lightning snapped along his arms, dancing across his skin like veins of living fury. He could feel the second element—water—flowing faintly beneath the storm, tugging at the remnants of rain left on the ground. He hadn't yet mastered it fully, but it stirred in answer to his rage.
The beast lunged.
Its claw, the size of a boulder, streaked down toward them. Ren stepped forward with his blade, deflecting the strike just enough to redirect its killing path, but the impact still sent him flying back. Darian's water shot out in a desperate wave, cushioning Ren's fall before he could be crushed by rubble.
"Stay sharp!" Bolt shouted, his voice cutting like thunder through the chaos. "We can't falter now! Not here!"
He surged forward, lightning propelling his legs faster than thought. His fist collided with the beast's arm, discharging a violent crackle of energy that split the night. For the first time, the Abyssal monster staggered.
But it wasn't enough.
The beast howled, its abyss-forged hide steaming but not breaking. With terrifying speed, it swung its other arm, backhanding Bolt across the battlefield. His body smashed into a crumbled wall, the stone exploding outward in a cloud of dust. Blood streamed down his forehead as he staggered back to his feet, his breath ragged.
Akane screamed his name, fire bursting around her as she launched a desperate barrage at the beast. Flames spiraled upward, engulfing its torso in a brilliant inferno. For a moment, it looked as though the fire might hold—until the monster tore through the blaze, its tendrils whipping like blades.
Aether and Sylva acted in tandem, earth rising as a barrier while wind pushed against the beast's limbs, slowing its momentum. But cracks spiderwebbed across Sylva's wall instantly, the raw force of the Abyss tearing through their combined might.
Bolt wiped blood from his lips, his vision narrowing on his friends. Every one of them was giving everything they had. And still, it wasn't enough.
They're fighting because they believe in me. They've stood by me since the beginning. I swore to protect them…
His fists clenched so hard arcs of lightning erupted uncontrollably, burning the ground beneath him. He could hear his heartbeat pounding like a war drum. The fear, the desperation, the weight of his promise—it all ignited into one undeniable truth.
I cannot fail here.
The beast reared back, charging an abyssal blast within its gaping maw, shadows condensing into a sphere of annihilation. The pressure of it was so suffocating that Kaori collapsed to her knees, her spirit energy screaming in resistance.
Bolt stepped forward.
His voice, steady and sharp as steel, cut through the battlefield. "I am the one who carries this storm. If this power isn't enough—then I'll break past my limits again!"
Lightning howled around him, but it wasn't alone. The ground trembled as water surged upward from the shattered soil, coiling around his frame like liquid armor. Frost laced across his fists, ice forming jagged spikes as the temperature plummeted. His lightning fused with the torrent, crackling through every drop, transforming the storm into something far more dangerous.
His aura exploded outward, blasting debris in every direction. The sheer pressure of it made even his allies stagger. Valea's eyes widened, tears streaking her face as she whispered, "He's… he's unlocking it. He's climbing higher."
The beast unleashed its abyssal blast. A catastrophic wave of darkness shot forward, tearing through the land like a hurricane of shadow.
Bolt didn't flinch.
He drew in every drop of water, every spark of lightning, every shard of ice—and with a roar that shook the heavens, he unleashed it all at once.
"THIRTEEN PERCENT—STORM ASCENT!"
A colossal torrent surged from his body, a storm of lightning-infused water and glacial shards that swallowed the abyssal blast whole. The collision split the sky, light and dark tearing at each other in a cataclysm that made the earth quake. The shockwave hurled everyone backward, forcing even the beast to recoil.
When the dust cleared, Bolt stood tall in the center of the battlefield, his body radiating with an aura that was no longer merely lightning—it was a storm incarnate. The ground beneath his feet froze solid, yet arcs of electricity danced across it, sending steam rising into the air. His eyes glowed with determination, his very presence burning into the hearts of everyone who looked upon him.
The Abyssal Beast growled, its void-born hunger flaring hotter, but for the first time, it hesitated.
Celestial Tempest stared in awe. Akane's trembling flame steadied, Darian's water surged with renewed strength, Sylva's earth hummed beneath her feet, Valea's light steadied, Aether's wind sharpened, Damian's shadows coiled in readiness, Ren's blade steadied, and Kaori's spirit energy flared.
Because in that moment, they saw it clearly—
Their leader was rising.
Bolt's voice boomed across the battlefield, steady and resolute.
"This ends now."
The beast roared back, charging once more. But the chapter closed there, the final image burned into every heart: Bolt, glowing with his 13% mastery, storm and frost dancing violently across his frame, ready to meet the Abyss head-on.