The first waves of the Desert Storm struck like claws, raking across the ragged hills surrounding Kharzad. Wind howled through broken towers and crumbling walls, sweeping sand in torrents that turned the once-proud valley into a swirling battlefield of fire and grit.
The very sky trembled, darkened with the storm's rage, as if the heavens themselves had chosen to join the final battle.
Laverna stood at the edge of the dunes, her jamadhars pulsing with energy. Her orange hair whipped in the wind, and her eyes narrowed at the sight of the outpost's walls glowing red with Falzath corruption.
The vile energy pulsed like a heartbeat, sickening and furious. She could feel the storm inside her, matching the fury of the desert. Magic gathered at her fingertips, brimming with elemental fury.
"Now!" she commanded, her voice rising above the thunder of the sandstorm.
With that word, the rebellion charged.
Tessara took the lead, her form shimmering with silver light as she shifted into her fox form. Her illusions bled into the sand, cloaking the approaching rebels like a dream, confusing the sentries with phantom shapes and mirages that danced between shifting dunes. The very air bent to her will, twisting light and shadow.
A cultist scout shouted, panic cracking his voice. "We're surrounded! I see five, no, twenty of them!"
Maika moved like a comet behind him, her Taiyo no Men blazing with golden fire. Her blade cleaved through his neck before he finished the warning. She landed lightly beside Tessara, whose foxfire masked their presence. Together, they carved a path through the chaos.
Behind them, Zera's sword struck with sunbeam clarity, her blade a streak of blue light slicing through steel and bone. Each swing of her sword carved not just through bodies but the stone itself, walls splintering as her strikes shattered the enchanted barriers around the outpost. The earth trembled with each of her blows, and debris rained down like divine judgment.
Laverna raised her hands, and the storm answered. A cyclone of fire burst from her jamadhars, hurling itself into the enemy lines.
Cultists screamed as flames danced across the corrupted sand, incinerating everything in a brilliant, blinding wave. Then she pivoted and summoned ice, a spear of frost that ripped through the second tower's supports, sending it crashing down with a roar. The impact sent a shockwave across the battlefield, knocking enemies from their feet.
Shin moved within the chaos like a silent shadow. Each time one of the women faltered, he was there. A glaive carved a cultist apart who had crept too close to Tessara's flank.
A chained kusarigama lashed out, entangling a rogue Hi Okami assassin aiming for Maika's back. His fighting style had evolved, no longer just precise, but poetic.
Every step accounted for the battlefield's layout, every strike a shield for those he led. His weapons flowed from his crystal orb with deadly elegance: katana, naginata, bo staff, all used with breathtaking mastery.
The crest on his hand pulsed again, glowing brighter with each defensive maneuver. It was no longer a burden, but a beacon.
And from those very crests, a chorus of thoughts flowed into Shin.
Laverna, her eyes locked on the crumbling front lines, felt the heat of her devotion fueling her spells. I was once a slave to chains and despair... but now I live for him. For his dream. For our freedom.
Tessara, swirling illusions around the relic like threads of moonlight, whispered silently through the bond, His kindness saved me from isolation. He never once treated me like a tool. I follow him not just because of the crest... but because I love who I've become by his side.
Zera's heart pounded with each strike. As she split through a cultist's spear with her glowing blade, her thoughts rang clear and fierce. A Knight's sword must answer to justice... and he is justice. Even if I never say it aloud, I will protect him until my final breath.
And Maika, leaping through the firestorm with her time-touched grace, bore her father's memory in every motion. The Soma stood for honor. For hope. That legacy runs through his veins. I see it now, Father. That's why I follow him. That's why I serve.
Tessara, still in fox form, leapt over a collapsing barricade and landed beside the blackened Soma relic embedded in the temple's broken altar. Her body trembled. "It's here. The last node of corruption."
Maika joined her, sweat and blood streaking her cheeks. "Then we end this."
Tessara's crest surged, and silver lunar magic pooled from her palms. The relic hissed and screamed as if alive, the dark veins around it writhing.
"I'll hold it," Tessara whispered, teeth gritted as her vision blurred.
Maika stepped beside her and pressed her hand on the relic, her Taiyo no Men responding. Solar flares burst around them, forming a ring of radiant protection. Time seemed to slow. Blades moved like syrup. Screams stretched out like echoes underwater.
Zera saw an enemy bolt through the ring, a shadow-fox born of Falzath malice. She leapt and intercepted it midair, her blade striking with a thunderous clap. The explosion shattered a nearby arch, casting debris into the sand like meteor fragments. Sand whipped violently around her, forming a blinding tempest.
Meanwhile, Laverna danced among the collapsing structures. Her storm magic surged in waves, obliterating towers and walls alike.
Flames licked the skies, and shards of corrupted stone shattered from her strikes. When a fireball threatened to engulf a group of rebels, she redirected it with a sweep of her blades, launching it into a cultist summoning circle. The resulting explosion engulfed the entire sector, turning it into a blazing crater.
Shin stood in the center of the battlefield, surrounded by corpses. He panted, his chest rising with effort, the crest on his hand glowing furiously. But his exhaustion was lessened. His link with the women, his Servants, was stabilizing. Power flowed into him even as he gave. His aura surged, red lightning crackling around his body like a storm god.
He turned toward the altar.
Tessara was shaking, but still standing. "I need more time."
"You'll have it," Shin said.
He drew Yoshimatsu and slammed its point into the ground. The blade hummed, red lightning crackling in all directions. A wall of crimson light erupted around Tessara and Maika, shielding them from a barrage of arrows and void bolts.
More cultists charged. Dozens. Then hundreds. The storm turned black with their silhouettes. The sky churned with Falzath's malevolence.
"We hold!" Laverna shouted.
"To the end," Zera added, stepping forward, blade glowing.
Maika raised her arms, fire cascading from her crest like ribbons of sunlight. "For the fallen."
Tessara's foxfire ignited into a silver inferno, her body levitating slightly as divine magic surged from within.
And Shin… he didn't speak. He simply stepped forward, red lightning trailing from his blade like the tail of a vengeful comet, and met the onslaught head-on. Each step cracked the earth. Each swing of his blade tore open the sky.
They were the storm now.
Together, they would bring liberation.