The temperature dropped steadily as Zephyr approached the cyclone of ice and mana. Frost clung to the air, each breath sharpening like tiny daggers. Near the vortex's perimeter, ice elementals trudged forward, their forms jagged and gleaming, unperturbed by the frigid deathscape swirling behind them. Narrowing his eyes, Zephyr noticed something unsettling—their numbers were increasing with each passing moment.
Such is the power of a rank 6 beast, he mused. It's creating more creatures from raw mana, infused with its essence and will.
Hovering a few feet from the edge of the storm, Zephyr extended his mana sense to its utmost limit. His vision pierced through the whirling chaos of deep blue and brilliant white, fixing on the storm's core. There, gliding effortlessly within the tempest, was the giant avian beast. Its crystalline feathers shimmered with unnatural cold, and its glowing yellow eyes burned with predatory malice.
As though sensing his scrutiny, the creature let out a shriek that tore through the air like shattered glass. In response, a massive cone of dark blue ice shot toward Zephyr at blinding speed.
Zephyr smirked, sidestepping the projectile with a fluid shift of light that left a faint shimmer in the air. Raising his right hand, palm outstretched toward the cyclone, he muttered, "Can't let you get close to the base. So please, sleep."
A glowing magic circle formed before his palm, its intricate glyphs flaring with brilliance. With a burst of energy, a pillar of pure white light erupted from the circle, cutting a path straight into the storm. The beam's radius was several meters wide, and its destructive force obliterated everything in its trajectory, tearing through the raging vortex and striking the beast dead center.
As the light faded, a gaping hole was revealed, carved cleanly through both the storm and the creature's body. For a brief moment, silence reigned. But then, the fragments of the beast's crystalline form began to draw together, mending themselves as if time rewound. The hole in the storm followed suit, closing seamlessly until it raged as fiercely as before.
Zephyr's smirk turned into a grimace. "So, you're an elemental as well. This is going to be annoying."
Clicking his tongue, he dropped his hands to his sides. Twin blades of solidified red light flickered into existence, each two meters long, their surfaces pulsing with raw energy. The weapons cast an ominous glow across his face, now split by a vicious grin.
Without warning, Zephyr spun on his heel, transforming into a miniature tornado of red light. The beast wasn't idle either; its wings beat with fury, conjuring colossal cones of ice hundreds of meters wide and hurling them in his direction.
The red whirlwind surged forward, angling toward the storm and its incoming projectiles. The massive ice constructs shattered on impact, obliterated by the sheer force of his spinning blades. The storm itself recoiled under the assault, retreating momentarily as Zephyr drilled his way toward the beast's core.
His goal was clear—to dismantle the creature piece by piece, rendering it nothing more than a fragile memory. But his advance was violently interrupted as massive pillars of dark blue ice, each wider than a few yards, erupted from the ground below. They slammed into him with bone-rattling force, shattering his blades into glowing shards.
Zephyr barely managed to blink away before the crushing force could deal further damage. Reappearing a short distance away, he staggered slightly, his breath coming in short bursts.
Now unrestrained, the storm closed in on him with renewed fury. Shards of hail and tendrils of mana lashed at him from every direction, biting into his defenses. The relentless assault slowed his movements, sapping his mana with each passing second.
The very concept of someone interfering with his mana flow drew a mad, uncontrollable laughter from Zephyr, his voice a discordant melody against the storm's relentless barrage. As the laughter subsided, a multicolored aura began to shimmer around him, each hue blending and shifting like a living rainbow. The manic grin faded from his face, replaced by a cold, unwavering focus as he locked eyes with the hulking elemental avian.
In a flash of light, he materialized beside the creature, his hands outstretched and his voice cutting through the chaos like a blade. "Vanish."
From his palms erupted a cone of radiant, kaleidoscopic light, expanding rapidly until it consumed the avian's massive form, carving deep into the frozen earth below. When the light finally blinked out, the aftermath was unmistakable—a colossal cone-shaped void had been carved into the storm itself, along with a disintegrated swath of ground.
"Well met, beast," Zephyr declared, his voice steady as he surveyed the aftermath, waiting for the storm to collapse so he could clear the area of the rank 4 elementals still prowling. Yet something felt off. No matter the creature's strength, the storm should have dissipated the instant its core was destroyed.
A puzzled expression crept onto Zephyr's face as he watched the storm slowly mend the massive hole, ice and mana knitting themselves back together with eerie precision. What the hell?
His thought barely had time to settle before a voice reverberated through the storm, echoing from all directions at once.
"Not bad, human, but you made a mistake. My core is the storm."
Zephyr tensed, bracing for an attack. Yet nothing came. The storm continued to heal itself, growing colder, denser, and darker. His visibility shrank to mere feet as the swirling chaos raged on.
Is it toying with me?
Clenching his fists, he shut his eyes briefly, checking his reserves. A deep frown etched itself across his face—his mana was down to a meager twenty percent.
The beast did not reappear. Instead, the storm grew more ferocious. Projectiles of black crystalline ice sliced through the air, faster and sharper than before. Encasing himself in the radiant glow of his multicolored aura, Zephyr braced as the shards pummeled his form, each impact resonating with dark energy. The fragments didn't dissipate; instead, they began circling within the storm, creating a deadly, spiraling lattice of ice.
Zephyr prepared to carve a path of light through the chaos when a chilling realization struck him. This isn't right. No rank 6 beast should be able to command an entire storm as its body.
Focusing his mana sense, he scanned the turbulent energy around him. His eyes narrowed as he felt it—a dark attunement interwoven with the ice, a corruption far beyond the capabilities of a rank 6.
His suspicions solidified, and he yelled into the storm, "You're not rank 6, are you?"
The storm's icy winds carried a voice back to him, deceptively calm and laced with mockery. "I never claimed to be one."
Zephyr cursed under his breath, the truth crashing down on him. This was no rank 6. He was facing the power of a rank 7, a force he had only encountered once before—a memory he would rather have buried.
This is bad. If this thing reaches the second base, it might wipe out the other rank 6s. And everyone below them? They wouldn't stand a chance.
For the first time in what felt like an eternity, Zephyr felt despair—a deep, icy despair that coiled around his heart like a viper. Memories he had sealed away surged to the surface, each more agonizing than the last. Broken promises. Shattered dreams. Failures that had left scars no amount of time could heal.
Lost in his own torment, he failed to notice the beast's cunning trap. Its dark ice amplified the shadows in his heart, feeding off his buried anguish and regrets.
But Zephyr was not entirely alone in his struggle. Luxarus, ever vigilant, sent urgent mental messages, her voice sharp and clear as she fought to break the creature's hold. Yet even she knew the darkness within him was vast, and now, it was being weaponized against him.
Zephyr's consciousness drifted through a lake of icy black, an oppressive void that seemed to leech away the last vestiges of feeling from his body. In this abyss, the warm orange visages of his long-lost friends and family began to manifest, their forms glowing softly as if carved from light itself. They reached out to him, their gestures filled with gentle insistence, beckoning him to join them. Their unspoken words whispered through his mind: Let go. Rest. You've done enough.
A fragile smile flickered across Zephyr's lips as his arms, trembling with weakness, began to reach toward them. He longed to grasp their hands, to feel the warmth of what he had lost, to surrender to the peace they offered and finally abandon the decades-long struggle that had consumed his life.
Meanwhile, his physical body floated listlessly in the raging storm of black ice, utterly still. The creature's voice echoed through the maelstrom, carrying a cold certainty. "Your core is bursting with essence, yet you hold it back from ascending." There was a pause, filled with the faint crackling of ice forming around Zephyr's form, before the creature continued. "No matter. You've made my job easier. With so little mana spent dealing with you, the others will fall even faster."
Black crystalline shards began to form, jagged and deadly, hovering with sinister intent around Zephyr's body. They moved closer, poised to pierce his heart.
And then time seemed to freeze.
Zephyr, who had been so close to embracing the light of his lost family and friends, stopped. The endless rivers of black around him were suddenly illuminated by scattered beacons of light, like stars piercing a suffocating void. Each light represented a student—a life he had touched, trained, or promised to guide. For the empire. For humanity. And, in truth, to atone for his past failures.
The realization hit him like a tidal wave, cutting through the fog in his mind. The visages of his family and friends, their faces now tinged with sorrow, began to dim. Their glowing forms fractured, fading into motes of light that drifted away.
A somber smile crossed Zephyr's face as he whispered, "Sorry, guys. You'll have to wait a little longer for me." He paused, his expression softening as the smile became genuine. "I can't let my students down, can I?" He scratched the back of his head, an awkward habit resurfacing in the moment. "Not that I interact with them much—frontline duty and all—but I think they'll grow strong enough to find their way here someday."
The words felt heavy yet liberating, like chains falling away. Zephyr realized, for the first time in what felt like eons, that he truly believed in something again. A puzzle piece clicked into place within him, settling deep in his mind and soul.
Rays of light burst outward, piercing the oppressive darkness. The black void dissolved, consumed by an all-encompassing radiance that left no shadow behind.
Outside, where time resumed its flow, Zephyr's glowing body hung suspended in the air, his multicolored hair pulsing with ethereal energy. A brilliant sphere of light expanded from him, engulfing the entire storm in its radiance. It spanned kilometers in every direction, its edges shimmering with untamed power. As it reached its zenith, the sphere collapsed upward, unleashing a massive pillar of light that seemed to pierce the heavens. The air thrummed with the sound of crackling lightning and a low, resonant hum.
When the pillar finally dissipated, a figure floated upright at its center, glowing with quiet, overwhelming power. On that day, the empire of Veyloria witnessed the birth of its second rank 7.
The storm, nearly obliterated by the light, began to reform. Winds howled, and ice churned once more, struggling to regain its strength. Zephyr smiled faintly as seven spectral clones of himself materialized around him, each with a faintly colored hue. The clones raised their hands skyward in unison.
"How dare you!" the creature's voice boomed, though it was faint, its power diminished along with the storm.
Zephyr and his clones looked upward, their voices echoing as one. "Thanks, creature. Goodbye."
Above them, a massive magical circle materialized, its seven segments glowing with distinct, vibrant colors. Zephyr cast one final glance at the battlefield below, his expression resolute as he muttered softly, "Light of Starfall."
For the second time that day, a pillar of multicolored light descended, spanning kilometers in radius. The radiant cascade consumed everything in its path, obliterating the battlefield with such finality that even the storm's remnants were no more.