The wind blew fiercely over the towering Valley, carrying the smell of sulfur and raw mana. At the center of island, a large black stone platform hovered, carved with crimson runes that pulsed like a beating heart. In the center stood the glowing Mana Stone, emitting a blood-red light that pulsed in slow, ominous waves.
Today was the day the portal to be open for the Demon Lord's can enter Zerath World.
The Ritual Begins
Commander Zephyros, cloak fluttering wildly, observed the runes with a calculating gaze.
"Five hours," he muttered. "The ritual needs five hours of uninterrupted channeling. Strengthen the guard. No one steps near this platform."
Beside him stood Demon General Xyron Inferno, his aura simmering with quiet menace.
"The Mana Stone is stable. Once the portal forms, our lord will finally descend."
Behind them, one figures stood at attention...elite guardians of the Demon Beast Race.
He was a towering male with dark scales crawling up his neck and arms...Dracx. His yellow eyes gleamed with savage pride.
He were the Demon General's most trusted enforcers.
Zephyros glanced at Dracx. "And the intruder from earlier?"
Greed smirked. "Dead. I threw him into the valley myself. No creature survives that depth."
Zephyros shot him a cold glare. "Have you ever descended into that valley? Do you even know what sleeps down there? Don't assume survival is impossible."
Dracx's expression hardened, but before they could argue further, Demon General Xyron lifted a hand.
"Enough. Focus on the ritual. We cannot afford distractions."
All voices fell silent as the Mana Stone flared...the runes lighting up one by one, forming a massive circular gateway. A deep hum vibrated through the air.
The portal had begun.
Just as the energy reached full resonance....
SHHHHHHH...CRACK!
A brilliant beam of icy blue light shot across the sky like a meteor. It struck the platform with explosive force. Stone ruptured. Runes flickered. The entire structure trembled violently, nearly tearing apart.
Dracx screamed, "The platform...it's breaking!"
Zephyros reacted instantly : Elemental Cyclone(Ascension Cycle).
"Cyclone Dominion: Boundary Seal!"
A spiraling vortex of wind enveloped the platform, stabilizing the Mana Stone and sealing the fractures.
His eyes blazed with fury.
"A sniper… from long range. Someone's interfering with the ritual."
Voltraz narrowed his eyes.
"Hmph. As I thought...Zero didn't die so easily."
When everyone from the land looked towards the coming attack, a giant warship pierced the sky, its armored hull glowing with arcane runes.
The air quaked from its descent, and atop it stood Master Sylver, Zero and all his Apprentice.
Beside him stood his disciple Lyther, the one who had released the devastating shot. His bow still crackled with residual energy.
Master Sylver nodded approvingly.
"He fused Elemental Ice with Inner Force… A technique even elites struggle to achieve. His brother would be proud."
Zero stood beside them, silent, eyes fixed on the distant platform.
"It begins," Master Sylver said. "Are you ready?"
Zero clenched his fists.
"I didn't survive that Valley to run again."
A powerfull power erupted from the ritual platform, Voltraz soaring into the sky with blazing fire-lightning wings.
He appeared before Zero in a flash.
"So you live," Voltraz said, voice cold. "Good. Our battle was never meant to end yet."
Voltraz didn't wait.
His right arm snapped up...
and the sky exploded into light.
Fire roared from his palm, blood-red and raging like a living sun. Lightning spiraled around it, blue arcs twisting violently, tearing the air apart with a shriek of raw energy. The two elements clashed, fused, and compressed into a single devastating spear of destruction.
The ground cracked.
The atmosphere rippled.
Even the clouds above ignited at the edges.
Voltraz make a smile that curved into a savage grin.
"Let's burn that warship with the people on it."
He thrust his arm upward....
VVVRRRRROOOOOOM!!!
A colossal beam of Fire-Lightning Fusion surged toward the descending warship, the force so intense that the entire battlefield lit up in a blinding white flare. Soldiers ducked. Commanders braced. The warship's hull trembled, alarms screaming as the beam tore through the upper layers of the atmosphere.
The shockwave alone split the air like a thunderclap from hell.
But before the beam could strike...
A shadow rippled.
A presence cut through the battlefield like a silent knife.
Zero.
His eyes sharpened.
His aura spiked.
Dark fragments swirled around him like black stars forming a constellation of death.
"Too far, Voltraz," Zero growled under his breath.
SHADOW STEP.
Zero vanished...
leaving only a distortion of darkness behind.
In the time it took for Voltraz's beam to blink, Zero reappeared right in front of it, arm raised, dark aura surging violently.
Inner Force ignited within his veins...
and the Elemental Dark Fragments roared to life, swirling around his arm in a spiral of shadow.
The two forces collided.
KRAAAAASSSSHHH!!!
Zero's counterstrike erupted outward, a black shockwave infused with crushing inner strength. The collision ripped the sky with a deafening roar as darkness devoured the outer layers of Voltraz's beam, bending and distorting its path.
The battlefield shook.
The sky warped.
The warship's alarm lights flickered under the redirected force.
Zero's boots dug into the fractured earth as he held the attack back, shadows spiraling violently around him, cloak flapping like it wanted to tear itself apart.
He glared at Voltraz, voice low and deadly.
"Try that again," Zero said, "and I'll cut off your arm."
Voltraz smirked, lightning dancing across his face.
"Well," he said softly, "it looks like you're still alive after receiving the attack."
Zero stepped forward, undaunted.
"If you want to continue that battle, then choose the place. I want a battlefield large enough… so nothing interferes."
Voltraz smirked.
"A wise choice."
Both warriors burst into the sky, leaving shockwaves behind as they vanished toward a wider field.
Back at the ritual platform, Zephyros suddenly halted mid-step. His eyes narrowed.
"This aura… That old man from a years ago. He's here."
Talrik, Captain of Division 5, stepped beside him.
"Commander, do we engage?"
"Yes. Prepare yourself. That man isn't someone you face lightly."
Meanwhile, far from the ritual, Commander Ignarion from Division 1 was get ready for the battle. Flames and lightning licked the ground beneath his feet as he moved with purpose.
At the abandoned base camp of Division 4, the Division Commander arrived, only to find the place emptied.
"Serena… and the others… gone?"
His voice trembled between anger and concern.
He sensed a huge surge of mana from a far.
"So the portal ritual has begun."
Without hesitation, he launched himself toward the battlefield.
On the Warship overlooking the ritual, Master Sylver placed a hand on one of his disciples Lyther, a boy whose brother was killed in the Great War.
"The one who took your brother's life is there," Sylver said softly.
"I'm giving you this chance."
Lyther nodded, eyes brimming with rage and determination.
Blue mana exploded from his body...Elemental Ice(LV2) erupting in a cyclone of frost.
He launched forward, leaping through the air...
"THIS IS FOR MY BROTHER!"
A massive blade of condensed ice spiraled toward Zephyros, roaring with deadly force.
Zephyros didn't flinch.
"Cyclone Dominion: Shatter Barrier."
A swirling shield of razor sharp wind materialized, crashing into the ice blade as the two forces collided in a blinding explosion of light.
Frost and wind clashed violently.
The battlefield had finally ignited.