The students had finally arrived in the heart of the desert. It was the only part of the Desert Continent that had not had its forest life restored because no one ventured there due to the rumours of that area being subject to frequent sandstorms. The good news was that the forest that surrounded the boundaries of that area would limit the movements of any sandstorm generated by Aeros to the lands within the Desert Continent. This was to a large extent due to the now moist soil held together by the roots of the plants and shaded by the plants. It could not however limit Aeros if he intended to attack as a force of wind.
That was why the Masters headed into the heart of the continent to attack Aeros. It was in order to keep him confined to the heart of the Desert Continent.
When the Students finally arrived at the heart of the Desert Continent, they beheld a horror in the form of a gigantic twister. The Masters noticed their presence.
"Is Aeros within that twister?" Estelle asked.
"No…Aeros is that twister" Master Fencer said grimly.
"How do we stop something like this? At least Apollo, Anubis, Gargolem and Aesakal had corporeal forms and could be attacked. Aeros is a raw force of nature" Jason said.
"When this battle began, that twister was a giant twisting pillar of sand. Thanks to Master Andrea's thunderstorm however, we were able to limit damage to ourselves by drenching the sand but to be honest, even I have no idea of how we're going to deal with Aeros. Any element we hurl at him could potentially turn the twister into a storm of that element's attribute" Master Fencer said.
"You mean if we attacked him with fire, we run the risk of transforming it into a firestorm?" Buern asked.
"Exactly, and it's the same with any other element. To top it off, its powerful spin could hurl any element we hurl at it right back at us" Master Kyem said.
"We thought we could light it up with flame element and contain it within your dome till it burned itself out. The catch is, Aeros is made out of air and I find it hard to believe we could trap all of it with your dome. A wisp could escape and start a storm elsewhere" Master Fencer said.
"So far, we've been trying to keep it trapped here" Master Ayumi said.
"It appears you've been quite successful. How did you do it?" Buern asked.
"The only thing we could do was draw its attention. The generals consider us Masters their mortal foe so it wasn't a hard thing to do and it was especially easy because Aeros clearly has the advantage" Master Pheisl said.
"Do we have any alternatives?" Josec asked.
"We have two other alternatives actually but none of them guarantee success. For the first, we could have someone with powerful flame abilities fly into the eye of the twister and release a powerful explosive force in an attempt to disrupt its spin but if that fails, we could run the risk of transforming the twister into a firestorm and that would be much more dangerous than a simple storm or a sandstorm. It could jeopardize all we've tried to do here" Master Fencer said as he pointed to the forests.
"What is the second alternative?" Harry asked.
"We could have someone with powerful wind abilities create a twister of his own and attempt to neutralize Aeros' storm with a counter spin of equal or greater force" Master Fencer said.
"I think that's a good idea. Perhaps we should all try this together. If we all switch to improvs of the wind attribute, we could try generating our own storm with a counter spin to Aeros'" Harry said.
"Easier said than done. For us all to generate a twister with exactly the same spin and intensity would imply that we'd have to be in perfect sync with one another. If even one of us is out of sync, the storm will collapse in on itself. To top it off, you students may not have realized it yet because we have never really spoken much about it however each of the Masters possess their own unique fighting styles. It's different amongst you Students. Fundamentally, even if your fighting styles are different, your powers all stem from the same Jo-lan but amongst us Masters, our powers though ultimately from the same source flow through different channels. We termed them all Jo-lan because it was the only way you could relate" Master Fencer said.
"What do you mean?" Buern asked.
"Don't you recall what the four serpents said about me?" Master Fencer asked.
"They said you possessed no psychorage but how is that possible if you are a Jo-lan warrior and more importantly a Jo-lan Master? All Jo-lan warriors draw their strength from psychorages" Josec said.
"Yet, they also called me the great anomaly. Josec, you should have begun to realize it as well that it isn't exactly 'normal' for a Jo-lan warrior to fight with 'will'. Normal Jo-lan warriors fight with 'joki' plus your psychorage hasn't communicated with you ever since you became a Jo-lan warrior so what makes you think you draw your power from a psychorage in the first place?" Master Fencer asked.
"What are you trying to say?" Buern asked.
"Nothing much, just that this world is a much bigger place than we give it credit for" Master Fencer said.
"Is this in some way connected to why we may not be in perfect sync?" Harry asked.
"Yes, Master Kyem and Master Luna may be able to sync with you because their powers flow from the Jo-lan you are familiar with but I draw my strength from the coral necklace hanging around my neck. The other Masters draw their strength from various sources as well and some of them have strengths that are firmly entrenched in one regard. In simple terms, not all of the Masters can utilize multiple elements like you can" Master Fencer said plainly.
The students were shocked by this discovery.
"Then how have we been utilizing fused psychorages if we were not in perfect sync?" Harry asked.
"That was a resonance of another nature. We synced our souls to one another. I do admit that resonating souls does strengthen the ability to sync strengths but you need to realize that every individual has inherent strengths and weaknesses. Every individual is unique. Even in resonating souls with one another, one cannot give what they do not have. The requirement for fused psychorages was that we acknowledged that duality. That unity and at the same time, that singularity, that uniqueness" Master Luna explained.
"I see" Josec admitted.
"It makes sense" Buern admitted.
"Well, if we're going to sync abilities, we need to assemble those with similar abilities. Kyem, Luna and I can utilize the Psychorage Improv. Masters Pheisl, and Andrea can utilize elements of a stormy nature as well. Masters Ayumi and Colette's abilities however would not be suited to generating stormy elements though under the right conditions, Master Ayumi's abilities could serve as a catalyst to a storm. You should try syncing with these Masters. To an extent, the ability to sync souls does imply an affinity for one another" Master Fencer said.
Meanwhile, the twister, Aeros raged mindlessly below them.
"Ok, let's begin by creating our own spin. It must be a counter spin to Aeros'" Master Fencer said.
"Begin by assuming Wind Improvs. Harry, your psychorage allows you to utilize all the elements so there is no need for you to assume an improv. from now on unless you wish to conserve energy" Master Pheisl advised.
Harry nodded. The Masters and Students formed a circle and while the Students assumed their improvs, Masters Fencer, Kyem, Pheisl, Andrea and Luna stretched their arms forward and began to generate a counter spin to Aeros'. They focused on maintaining a spin of constant speed and force.
"We're ready" the students said after assuming their improvs except for Harry who was in his psychoraged form.
"Now listen closely. If any of you flow in a wind with greater force than the spin can sustain, our spin will collapse. Begin by flowing in a wind with lesser force than the spin we've generated. The force of our spin should be sustained and this should allow you to get a feel for the force of our spin. Once we're all in sync with relation to our spin, we can begin to build up intensity" Master Andrea advised.
"Something tells me Aeros is not just going to stand there watching us build up our spin into a twister" Harry said with a smirk.
"That certainly is true. That is why we'll…" Master Fencer said with a smirk.
"God Weapon Rai, human form!" Master Andrea called and her sword transformed into a Silver Warrior.
In the next instant, terrifying flashes of lightning struck the ground and a fierce wind raised a sandstorm that engulfed the Masters and Students. When the Sandstorm died down, the Masters and Students were nowhere to be seen.
Aeros stared around in anger and surprise.
"It appears they've fled" he thought. "However…that doesn't explain why I can still feel their presence hanging about in the air" he said.
"Aeros has completely stopped moving" Harry noted.
"It appears he can still slightly detect our presence but he is unsure of whether we're still in the area or have fled" Master Fencer explained.
"You mean he can't see us?" Jason asked.
"Not with the barriers Josec currently has raised. I asked Josec to raise up his Labyrinth of the Defender however this time, the barriers raised were not made of a transparent material but rather a highly reflective one creating the illusion of invisibility through the reflection and dispersion of light" Master Fencer explained.
"I see. So that's what these shields are for" Jason noted.
The Students stretched their hands forward and began to flow a weak wind into the swirling spiral of wind the Masters had generated. Their wind flowed with the Masters' and they began to get a sense of the strength of the Masters' wind.
"This is quite similar to learning to dance by dancing on the feet of a parent or instructor" Estelle noted.
"I get what you mean" Buern said.
"Yeah, I'm beginning to sense the rotation speed and intensity of the wind" Jason said.
"Good, now you can begin to build up intensity. Try to keep your wind at about just a level less intense than ours until you completely grasp the intensity of our wind" Master Andrea advised.
The Students agreed and they all began to build up their twister's intensity.
"In a sense, this is quite similar to a psychorage fusion" Harry noted.
Josec nodded.
The twister they generated grew in size and strength. The Masters put their all into building up intensity while sustaining rotation speed and form. When the force of wind the Masters were generating surpassed all of the students' power, the students were allowed to go all out.
"You can forget about trying to match us in terms of intensity now. Focus instead on sustaining rotation speed" Master Luna advised.
The Students obeyed.
The force of the storm the Masters and Students were generating was now so strong Josec's shield began to tear. He also found it difficult to focus on sustaining rotation and intensity while maintaining the barrier. Aeros saw through the cracks in the barrier and beheld a great twister almost his size and with a counter spin.
"I see, so that's what they're up to. They intend to neutralize my spin by clashing their own twister with a counter spin into mine" Aeros noted.
"I suppose I'll oblige if only to teach them just how futile their efforts are" Aeros said and charged towards the Masters' and Students' twister.
The two twisters clashed and the friction caused by the clash of the two storms with opposing spins generated great sparks and flashes of lightning and thunder. Both Aeros and the Jo-lan warriors struggled to overpower one another. There was a mutual reduction in rotation speed caused by friction.
"Put all your strength into it! We've got to neutralize Aeros' spin or things could get really dangerous!" Master Fencer ordered.
Everyone focused on building and sustaining rotation speed and intensity.
"Wait a moment everyone! I sense another presence here!" Master Emma suddenly called to the others.
"What do you mean Emma?! Don't tell me there are people nearby!" Master Kyem said in dismay.
"No, that's not what I mean. The presence I'm talking about…I'm feeling it through our link and it seems to be coming from…" Master Emma paused.
Meanwhile, Josec was beholding another vision of Benedict's Ark.
ON BENEDICT'S ARK…
Ryu stood up from his throne.
"Josec, Harry and everyone else currently caught in battle with that great storm are in terrible danger!" Ryu exclaimed.
"Send any of us to aid them" the ancient spirits surrounding Ryu seemed to say.
"No…this time I will go myself…" Ryu said.
"You don't really intend to go personally do you Lord Ryuujinn. Your mere presence there could greatly alter their history" one ancient spirit said.
"Do not worry. I will limit my influence in their world. I will only use as much strength as it took me to defeat the Greater Twisting Devil from my homeworld" Ryu said with a confident smile.
ON THE BATTLEFIELD…
"The presence I'm talking about…I'm feeling it through our link and it seems to be coming from…Harry" Master Colette said.
Suddenly Harry opened his mouth and spoke as his eyes slowly shut. He was speaking in multiple voices now.
"JINN STATE LEVEL TWO CHAOS STATE! RYU AND HARRY FUSION!" Harry said as he opened his eyes.
They had assumed the likeness of a dragon's and were glowing with all the colours of the rainbow.
"Ryu?! Ryu is here?!" Josec exclaimed in shock.
Harry stretched his right hand forward and the twister of the Masters and Students suddenly quadrupled in strength.
Aeros was being pushed back and his twister was losing in both force and rotation speed. Then Harry clasped his stretched hand into a fist.
"WIND ELEMENT! STORM SILENCER JUTSU!!!" Harry roared and in the next instant, both twisters disappeared and an emerald like stone fell to the ground.
Harry descended and picked it up. The others descended as well. The Masters weren't really surprised but the students were shocked.
"Ryu?" Josec called but then Harry collapsed to the ground in an unconscious heap.
"That makes five generals so far" Master Fencer said.