The battlefield was not one city, but two.
Rio and Berlin—thousands of miles apart—yet tonight, the rifts opened in both skies at once. And as if fate itself had chosen, Maria Torres stood in Rio's broken streets while Klaus Weber stood atop Berlin's ruins.
Their eyes never met, but their auras reached for one another. The storm sought the wind. The wind answered.
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The Demons' Onslaught
From the Rio rift poured chaos:
Tharos, the Vulture of Ash (Low-Rank).
Skill: Ash Gale — black winds carrying burning cinders.
Drovek, the Horned Serpent (Low-Rank).
Skill: Venom Cyclone — toxic whirlwinds of acid.
And in Berlin:
Kragnor, the Iron Ogre (Low-Rank).
Skill: Steel Quake — stomps that shattered stone into blades.
Valith, the Howling Shade (Low-Rank).
Skill: Soul Wail — screams that froze aura flow.
But worst of all, both rifts birthed one Mid-Rank together, a rare coordination:
Zelkor, the Sky Ravager.
A winged demon spanning both horizons, its colossal form existing through both rifts at once—half in Rio, half in Berlin.
Skill: World Rend — storms of black wind tearing cities apart.
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The Storm and the Wind
Maria clenched her fists as Rio trembled.
Klaus narrowed his eyes as Berlin shook.
And across the distance, their voices overlapped, carried by their auras.
Maria whispered, "Storms don't ask permission."
Klaus answered, "And the wind bows to none."
Their auras ignited at once. Lightning surged in Rio. Cyclones howled in Berlin.
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Clash Against the Ravager
Zelkor roared, its wings tearing clouds from both skies.
"World Rend!"
Black winds tore through Rio and Berlin simultaneously, splitting buildings apart, ripping rivers from their banks, hurling cars like toys.
Maria raised her arms, sparks crackling.
"Tempest Spiral!"
A tornado of lightning rose, clashing against the black winds, holding them at bay.
Klaus leapt from a skyscraper, aura bursting.
"Gale Divider!"
He sliced the air itself, splitting the black gale into two harmless streams.
For a moment, storm and wind carved order into chaos.
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Flashback – Klaus's Awakening
Years ago, Klaus Weber had been a military cadet. Discipline was his life. Orders his faith.
One training exercise put his squad in a wind tunnel meant to simulate extreme conditions. The machines malfunctioned. Blades snapped. The tunnel became a coffin of steel and air.
Cadets screamed as they were pulled into the maelstrom. Klaus moved without thinking. He shielded them with his body—then felt something break open inside.
The wind bent around him, obeying. It carried him, carried them, out of the tunnel alive.
That was the day Klaus awakened. Not as a soldier, but as a wielder. And he carried that squad's lives on his shoulders ever since.
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The Combined Assault
In the present, Klaus landed beside Maria—not in body, but in spirit, his aura reaching across the continents.
Maria smirked faintly, lightning sparking in her hair.
"About time the wind showed up."
Klaus's voice was calm, though the storm roared behind it.
"You'll burn out without me."
Together, they struck.
"Twin Tempest Strike!"
Maria hurled a spear of lightning. Klaus carried it with a gale. The bolt traveled faster than sight, piercing Zelkor's wing. The beast roared, half its form collapsing in both skies.
But the other demons pressed harder. Tharos's ash gales blinded Rio. Kragnor's quakes shattered Berlin.
Still, Maria and Klaus moved in rhythm, each step echoing the other. Storm and wind. Lightning and gale.
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The Cost
Blood dripped from Maria's lip. Her knees buckled as her storm grew too wild. Klaus's vision blurred, his chest heaving from the strain of splitting winds across two cities.
Zelkor shrieked, its colossal body reforming. The rifts pulsed stronger, darker.
Maria gasped. "Klaus… it's too much."
Klaus's jaw tightened. His coat fluttered though no wind blew.
"Then we give it everything. Together."
Their auras flared brighter than ever.
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End of Chapter
Above Rio and Berlin, stormclouds gathered. Lightning danced. Gales howled. The people looked up and saw not wielders, but a tempest brewing to consume the skies.
The Last Tempest had begun.