The chamber unfolded like a storm-scarred cathedral — vast, dark, and alive with crackling energy. At its center hovered the Fragmented Sigil, a shattered constellation of glowing runes suspended in a rotating sphere of storm-wracked light. It pulsed with chaotic power, fragments spinning erratically as if held together by sheer will. The air itself thrummed, every breath Indra took tasting like raw electricity.
But the Gauntlet was far from finished with its trial. From the fractured shadows emerged the Sigil Warden — a colossal entity forged of lightning and shattered code, its form constantly shifting between humanoid and monstrous. Its eyes burned with fierce intelligence and primal rage, twin storms swirling within their depths.
Indra's gaze locked with the Warden's as thunder echoed through the chamber. The battle ignited with a violent roar — the Warden's limbs crackled with storm energy as it slammed the ground, sending shockwaves that cracked the floor into glowing fissures. Indra leapt into motion, his body a blur of speed and raw power. Lightning surged from his palms, a whip of pure energy that lashed out, slicing through the Warden's shifting armor.
The Warden countered with a sweeping strike, a massive fist surrounded by spiraling storms. Indra dove beneath the blow, feeling the air roar past as the hammer smashed into shattered stone. Every movement was a dance of violence and precision — his storm-fueled senses mapping the Warden's unpredictable shifts, its fractal limbs reshaping and striking with terrifying speed.
As the fight escalated, Indra felt the Fragmented Sigil respond — shards of power leaking into the chamber, weaving around him like a chaotic symphony. His senses sharpened, the Mandate of Thunder now coursing through his veins with unrelenting force. He tapped into the Sigil's fractured essence, calling forth a storm of electric shards that rained down, piercing the Warden's form and forcing it into retreat.
The Warden roared, the room shaking with the fury of their clash. It summoned a storm cyclone, a swirling tempest of energy and shattered runes that threatened to consume Indra whole. Yet he stood firm, summoning every ounce of the storm within, countering with a blazing spear of lightning that shattered the cyclone and struck the Warden's core.
With a final, deafening explosion of crackling light, the Sigil Warden fractured — its form dissolving into countless shards of glowing code, scattering like stars across the dark void. The Fragmented Sigil above pulsed once more, stabilizing, its chaotic dance slowing into a harmonious glow.
Indra collapsed to one knee, breath ragged but victorious. The Sigil's secrets had been guarded fiercely — but now, a deeper understanding bloomed within him: the Gauntlet was not merely a test of strength, but a crucible to reshape the storm itself.
And Indra was beginning to see the true power hidden in the heart of the Sigil.