The air reeked of smoke and ash when the academy bells tolled again. This wasn't a drill. This wasn't a test. The ground itself shook with the tremors of countless claws and fangs tearing through the ruined outskirts. From the shadows of the broken city came the new wave—no longer C-rank fodder, no longer disorganized swarms. These were hunters born of the abyss, coordinated, merciless, and led by something far worse.
Students scrambled along the ramparts, staring wide-eyed at the tide of beasts surging toward them. Their roars rattled windows, their claws ripped trenches into stone, and in the center of their advance loomed a colossal figure—horned, muscled, armored in shadow that dripped like tar. A B+ rank abyssal beast, taller than any tower, its crimson gaze swept the battlefield like a guillotine waiting to fall.
"Gods…" whispered one senior, his voice cracking. "If the last one was despair… what the hell is this?"
No one answered. Because all eyes had already shifted toward the broken gate, where one figure stood alone—Bolt. His fists sparked, arcs of lightning crawling up his arms and into the storming sky. His aura burned brighter than before, heavier, sharper, as though forged in the fire of the last battle.
And behind him stood his team—the Elemental Warborn.
Akane clenched her flaming fists, though her fire sputtered as fear coiled in her chest. Aether pressed a hand to the ground, his wind already swirling around him in cautious anticipation. Sylva felt the land itself crying beneath her feet, the soil withering from the abyssal corruption. Darian's calm composure cracked as he clutched at the flow of water, feeling it falter under the abyss's weight. Valea whispered a prayer, light flickering uncertainly around her trembling hands. Ren's blade was already drawn, his stance sharp though sweat beaded his brow. Damian stood half in shadow, but even his darkness recoiled from the deeper abyss. And Kaori, the youngest, froze—her eyes shimmering with tears as she whispered, "He's not just leading them. He's… controlling them."
Bolt exhaled slowly, his breath sparking like thunder. His voice cut sharp through the rising panic. "Formation. We hold the line."
The abyssal horde surged.
The first wave hit like a flood—B-rank beasts, hulking monstrosities armored in black chitin, their jaws wide enough to swallow men whole. The ground split beneath their charge. Their claws shredded stone.
Valea moved first, slamming her staff down. "Radiant Aegis!" A dome of golden light enveloped the Warborn. The first beasts smashed into it, claws screeching against holy radiance. Sparks flew. Cracks spider-webbed across the surface. But the wall held.
"Now!" Bolt roared.
Ren dashed past the barrier, his sword slashing clean through a beast's throat in one swift motion. Akane followed, her flames roaring into a blazing spiral as she engulfed two more. Aether's winds cut low across the battlefield, severing the legs of charging monstrosities, while Sylva summoned thick roots from the ground to bind another in place. Darian's water surged forward, crashing into a beast's chest like a tidal wave, slamming it into rubble. Damian's shadows coiled and struck, piercing joints and soft underbellies with surgical precision.
Kaori stood at the rear, her hands glowing faintly with spiritual aura, tracking the flow of the abyss through the horde. Her voice rang out, "Left flank! Two more coming!" Her warning saved Ren as he pivoted just in time, his blade slicing the incoming beast in half.
And then Bolt moved.
His fists blazed with lightning and fire as he erupted forward, his strike landing against a charging beast. Electricity exploded outward in a thunderclap that cracked the earth and sent the creature sprawling, its armored hide split and smoking.
The battlefield became chaos.
Beasts fell, but for every one cut down, two surged forward. Their roars shook the bones of even the strongest fighters. These weren't mindless fodder—they moved like an army, coordinated, calculating, their movements too unified to be natural.
And above it all, the B+ rank leader remained still, its crimson eyes glowing as it waited to descend.
"Bolt!" Valea shouted over the chaos. "They're adapting! Their movements—they're learning!"
Her warning cut off as a beast slammed into her barrier with a force that nearly shattered it. Valea staggered, coughing blood. Sylva immediately reinforced, pulling stone pillars from the earth to prop the dome up, but cracks spread faster than she could mend them.
Bolt grit his teeth. His veins burned. That familiar storm inside him screamed louder, demanding release.
Thirteen percent.
The words weren't spoken aloud, but he felt them, echoing through his bones, through the War God's blessing embedded in his soul. He hadn't dared to unleash it fully in training. But now—against this tide, against this abyss—there was no other path.
His eyes closed. Lightning surged violently through his body, splitting the ground beneath his feet. Fire roared across his skin without burning him, his soul igniting into something primal. His aura skyrocketed, pressure blasting outward like a tidal wave.
The beasts hesitated. Even the B+ rank tilted its head, its crimson gaze narrowing.
Bolt opened his eyes. They glowed pure white-blue, arcs of lightning bleeding from his gaze. His voice rolled like thunder across the battlefield.
"Thirteen percent—unlocked."
The sky split open.
Lightning hammered the earth in a storm of white fire. The air howled with cyclones, thunder deafening as Bolt moved. One instant he was standing at the gate—the next he was gone, reappearing inside the horde. His fist punched clean through a beast's skull, sparks exploding out the other side.
Every strike shattered the ground. Every movement left afterimages of fire and lightning. He was the storm incarnate, too fast to follow, too brutal to withstand. Beasts that had stood unbroken now shrieked as their hides cracked under his blows.
The Elemental Warborn rallied.
Akane's flames burned hotter, feeding on Bolt's storm until her firestorms scorched whole ranks. Aether's winds surged alongside him, amplifying every strike into a cyclone. Darian's water crashed into beasts Bolt stunned, freezing into spears that Sylva shattered into jagged traps. Valea's shield transformed into a shining wall of judgment, searing beasts that touched it. Ren's blade blazed with borrowed sparks as he cut a path through the chaos. Damian's shadows rode Bolt's lightning, striking beasts like living thunderbolts. And Kaori's voice guided them all, her aura sensing every shift in the tide, every opening the abyss left exposed.
Together, they carved into the horde.
The battlefield burned. The abyss screamed.
But then the leader moved.
The B+ rank stepped forward, every tremor of its colossal frame shaking the ruins. The horde parted instantly, beasts retreating to make room for their commander. Its crimson eyes fixed solely on Bolt, as though recognizing the storm as the only true threat.
It opened its maw.
A beam of abyssal energy surged forth, darker than night, heavier than despair itself.
Bolt's chest tightened as he looked up. Thirteen percent roared through his veins, but against this… was it enough?
His fists clenched. His aura blazed brighter.
"Elemental Warborn!" he roared. "With me!"
They didn't hesitate. Valea raised her shield, light blazing. Akane's flames roared. Aether's winds screamed. Darian's waters surged. Sylva's earth solidified beneath them. Ren's blade flashed, Damian's shadows struck, Kaori's spirit aura flared.
And Bolt braced himself, lightning and fire spiraling into his fists as the abyssal beam consumed the world.
The clash lit the battlefield brighter than the sun.
The storm me
t the abyss.
And the academy shook as though the heavens themselves were tearing apart.