The chamber trembled the moment Kaelus and Garron Vale moved.
No warning.
No countdown.
Just intent meeting intent.
Garron stepped forward—
—or rather, seemed to.
To the naked eye, he hadn't moved at all.
Yet the air detonated.
A fist appeared in front of Kaelus' face, wrapped in compressed earth mana so dense it bent light. The jab was perfect—short, efficient, transcendent. A strike meant to cave in a skull before thought could catch up.
But Kaelus was already moving.
His palm turned, wrist soft, elbow loose.
He redirected.
The force slammed downward into the floor instead of his head, shattering the stone beneath them as if a meteor had struck. Cracks spiderwebbed across the chamber, dust erupting in a violent plume.
Kaelus pivoted on the same breath.
His leg snapped upward toward Garron's temple—
Then twisted mid-arc.
A feint.
The kick shifted trajectory at the last instant, wind coiling around his ankle as it smashed into Garron's right foot.
BOOM.
The impact echoed like thunder.
Garron slid back half a step.
Half.
That alone would have killed most fighters.
But Garron didn't even grunt.
Earth surged over his body, plates of reinforcement forming beneath his skin, veins glowing with molten brown light. His stance never broke.
Kaelus landed lightly, eyes sharp.
"…Didn't even flinch," he muttered—then smiled.
"I guess you're my stepping stone."
He inhaled.
The world answered.
Wind flowed around him—not summoned, not forced, but welcomed. It wrapped his limbs, slipped beneath his skin, threaded through his breath and blood like it belonged there.
The mark of Azure Tempest stirred.
"Tempest."
Kaelus vanished.
Not speed—displacement.
One instant he stood before Garron.
The next—
His fist buried itself into Garron's back.
The impact detonated like a storm breaking inside a mountain.
Garron flew.
His body slammed into the tower wall hard enough to warp the dimensional structure, stone folding inward as the pocket space screamed in protest. Dust and mana erupted, the sigils on the walls flickering violently.
Garron dropped to one knee.
Then stood.
Earth flowed over him again, sealing fractures, reinforcing muscle and bone until he looked less like a man and more like a walking continent.
He stared at Kaelus, disbelief cracking his composure.
"…Impossible," Garron said slowly.
"How can your attacks hurt me?"
Kaelus rolled his shoulders, wind humming around him like a living thing.
"Shut your mouth," he said flatly.
"You don't fight with conviction. You hide behind defense—behind weight, behind durability, behind the planet itself."
His eyes sharpened, lightning-blue and merciless.
"So today," Kaelus continued, "I'll teach you something."
He raised his hand.
Wind condensed.
Spiraled.
A massive wind arrow formed—layers upon layers of compressed air rotating at violent speeds, its tip screaming as it tore at reality itself. The chamber groaned as pressure spiked, the arrow's presence alone threatening to rip the space apart.
"I'll break through everything."
Kaelus hurled it.
The arrow screamed across the chamber, a line of azure devastation.
Garron crossed his arms.
Earth erupted upward, forming a colossal barrier—stone upon stone, reinforced with planetary authority itself. The arrow struck.
The explosion shook Atlas.
Wind and earth collided in a catastrophic shockwave, the chamber buckling as if caught between tectonic plates. When the dust cleared—
Garron still stood.
His armor was cracked.
Blood ran from the corner of his mouth.
But he was smiling.
"…It seems I've underestimated you," Garron said, voice low and dangerous.
"I'll use my full strength from now on."
He straightened, earth authority surging outward, the core of Nohr itself answering his call for the briefest instant.
"What's your name, warrior?"
Kaelus stepped forward, wind howling behind him like a banner.
"I'm Kaelus Magna," he said clearly.
"Heir of the Wind God—Azure Tempest."
His gaze hardened.
"And I'll be the only thing you see before you die."
Garron laughed—deep, menacing, delighted.
"Come then," he said, spreading his arms as the ground roared beneath his feet.
"Heir of Azure."
And the battle escalated beyond restraint.