A massive mountain stretched high into the sky, its jagged peak piercing the clouds under the eerie glow of the Blood Moon and the first light of the rising sun. The rocky ground around it was scarred and cleaved, as though carved by an ancient, titanic sword. Every boulder, every ridge, every crack on the mountain's face bore the unmistakable marks of slashes.
From a distance, the entire mountain resembled a sword embedded into the earth.
"The stories were true," said Nezru, a dark-skinned man from the Golden Continent, his eyes fixed on the majestic sight as he hovered in the air. "The mountain really does look like a sword."
Taka, standing beside him—a lighter-skinned man from the continent of Athia—shook his head slightly. "It's not the mountain's shape," he said quietly. "It's the energy radiating from it. The pressure—it tricks the mind into seeing a sword."
Nezru nodded. "The Wind Sword Master's power… Just living here for a hundred years changed this place completely."
Taka let out a long breath. "Yeah… When will we ever reach that level?"
Nezru's expression turned contemplative. "We're only Spirit Lords. To even get close to his strength, we'd need to break through to the Spirit King Realm. Then comprehend an elemental rule… form over ninety spiritual runes…"
He trailed off, the weight of that path clear in his tone.
Taka's gaze fell to the ground. It had been twenty years since he reached the Spirit Lord Realm, and yet, he'd only formed forty-five dark elemental runes in his spiritual space. He still needed sixteen more just to attempt the breakthrough to Spirit King. And the deeper he tried to understand the dark element, the more elusive it became—its true nature hidden beneath layers of obscurity.
As if reading his thoughts, Nezru remained silent.
Then Taka's eyes shifted westward, narrowing. He had sensed something.
"Elemental fluctuations," he murmured.
Nezru followed his gaze. "Looks like the war's begun."
Taka nodded. "Let's go. Riku's defending the node—she'll need backup."
The two men shot off into the sky, flying westward at full speed.
Far to the west, near a winding river, the battlefield had already descended into chaos. The army of the Greyrose Circus had launched a full assault on a fortified town. Screams and clashes echoed as both sides fought with desperate fury—one to defend, the other to conquer.
But amidst the carnage, the anomaly was clear: the Spirit Realm cultivators.
Though they battled ferociously, their gazes flicked constantly upward—toward the sky where the true war was unfolding.
Riku floated above the river, her clothes torn and scorched, her breath steady but sharp. She faced two Spirit Lords from the Greyrose Circus. One was a pale-skinned woman with stitches crisscrossing her body like a broken doll, and the other, a hulking Grey Rock Ape, its massive arms rippling with stone-like muscle.
A beam of grey light shot toward her from the stitched woman. Riku reacted instantly, conjuring a barrier of swirling water that blocked the blast. At the same time, the Rock Ape lunged with a thunderous punch—but Riku twisted away midair, narrowly dodging the blow.
Muttering under her breath, she flicked her fingers—and from the nearby river, four water tendrils surged upward. They whipped around the Rock Ape, binding its limbs mid-flight and yanking it down toward the river's surface.
The ape roared, struggling violently.
Before it could break free, Riku raised her hand again. A lightning spear formed, crackling with power. With a sharp motion, she hurled it toward the trapped beast.
The Rock Ape barely flinched. Its body, hardened like ancient stone, was nearly immune to lightning. Instead, it focused all its might on tearing apart the deceptively fragile-looking water ropes. But the elemental energy within them made them far stronger than they appeared.
Then, just as the spear was about to hit, something strange happened—the ends of the water ropes still connected to the river snapped of their own accord. The sudden release sent the ape lurching forward, its balance lost for a split second.
That was all Riku needed.
The detached ends of the water ropes curled and twisted, wrapping around the ape's body like serpents. In an instant, a sphere of churning water formed around him, locking him inside. The lightning spear pierced the sphere—and the entire water ball flashed with electric fury.
The calm river below reflected the pulsing light as the ball turned into a thunder cage. A roar of pain tore from the ape's mouth as the electricity surged through him.
But at that very moment, a grey streak cut across the sky.
Thud.
Riku staggered, her breath caught in her throat. A grey arrow had pierced her side, shot cleanly by the pale woman below.
Blood blossomed across her robes.
Her eyes widened—but her grip on her power never wavered.
She had sensed the incoming attack. But to dodge or block it would've meant losing her chance to take down the Grey Rock Ape. So, she endured it.
The arrow dissolved into mist, leaving a gaping hole in her chest—through which the faint, rhythmic beating of her heart could be seen. The wound writhed unnaturally as strands of grey energy leaked out. Then, almost as if rejecting the foreign aura, her flesh pulled together, knitting itself shut.
The ape, still trapped in the thunder-infused water sphere, began to fall toward the battlefield. Smoke rose from his scorched body, his howls fading into a low, broken groan.
Riku turned her attention to the pale woman.
The air was trembling around her. A powerful spell was gathering, elemental fluctuations warping the sky. The spell was nearly complete—and Riku didn't have enough time to stop it.
She raised her hand and conjured a shimmering water shield. But before she could even brace herself, grey thunderclouds rolled in overhead, casting the battlefield in a suffocating gloom. A despairing weight settled over the world, pressing down on spirits and souls alike.
Then she saw it—a shape forming within the clouds.
Riku shifted the shield from in front of her to above her just as a massive thunder beast, shaped like a unicorn and pulsing with crackling grey lightning, tore from the sky with a shriek of wrath.
It slammed into her shield with a deafening boom—light flashing, water hissing, and the shockwave flattening trees and soldiers alike beneath the battle in the sky.
As the grey thunderclouds formed above, the Grey Rock Ape continued plummeting toward the ground, unable to stop his fall—his body still paralyzed by Riku's earlier attack.
On the battlefield below, soldiers from both sides scattered, clearing a space beneath the falling beast. The earth trembled from the impact already promised in the sky.
Just before the ape struck the ground, two figures appeared—Nezru and Taka.
Nezru dropped down, planting both palms against the earth. With a metallic hum, razor-sharp metal spikes burst from the ground directly beneath the falling ape.
Beside him, Taka—his light skin gleaming with sweat—began chanting under his breath, gathering energy for a finishing strike.
"Riku might need help," Nezru muttered, his eyes flicking to the sky where the grey thunder unicorn charged at her.
Taka, focused on the target before them, replied calmly, "That spell might injure her, but it won't kill her. Right now, we can't lose the chance to kill the ape."
Then, almost too softly to hear, he added, "And if she dies... it's fate."
A thunderous boom echoed overhead, but neither man looked up.
Their eyes were fixed on the ape.
The metal spikes speared through its falling body, impaling it mid-air. Blood sprayed. Holes punched through its thick grey hide, and it let out a broken, guttural roar.
Then—the shadows moved.
Every shadow on the battlefield twisted unnaturally, slithering like serpents, racing toward the ape's suspended, broken body. The spikes retracted, and the corpse fell the last few feet to the ground.
The shadows surged upward, seeping through every wound, hole, and crack in the creature's flesh.
A moment passed.
Then—BOOM!
The ape's body explodes into blackened chunks and vapor, scattered like ash on the wind.
Then, Nezru and Taka raise their heads. High above, Riku falls, her arms severed, her body streaked with blood. From the faint energy still pulsing from her, they can tell she's alive—but not for long.
As the grey thunderclouds fade, the pale woman lifts her hand, and a grey spear forms, catching the light of both the Blood Moon and the rising sun with a metallic gleam.
Nezru and Taka exchange a glance and nod.
Taka's shadow squirms beneath his feet, swallowing him whole as he vanishes. Nezru raises his palm, conjuring a flurry of metal arrows that whistle through the air, raining down on the pale woman. She halts her casting, forced to summon a barrier to shield herself from the onslaught.
Taka appears below Riku just in time, catching her mid-fall. Cradling her against his chest, he feels her labored breathing.
"Are you okay?" he asks.
Riku, barely conscious, nods. Her voice is strained but firm. "Leave me. Go… kill her."
Taka nods, gently lays her on the ground, and takes off.
He rejoins Nezru in the sky, the two of them pressing the attack together. Slowly, they begin to overpower the pale woman.
But then it happens—grey energy surges from the woman's body, curling around her like smoke. Both men curse.
"She's using her phantasm," Nezru mutters.
They can't match it. They became Spirit Lords after the war began and haven't had the time to create phantasms of their own.
The grey mist rumbles like thunder. A massive paw emerges, tipped with dark metallic claws. Then, a screech—eagle-like—cuts through the sky. The mist collapses inward, revealing a monstrous beast with the head and wings of an eagle and the muscular body of a tiger.
It lets out another cry, then charges. No spells. No tricks.
The woman knows: with its body alone, it can crush them.
For the next five minutes, Taka and Nezru do nothing but struggle to stay alive. The beast's power is overwhelming—each swipe of its claws forces them to dodge, each roar shakes the sky.
Unseen by them, storm clouds begin to gather overhead, blanketing the battlefield. Rain begins to fall—first a drizzle, then a sudden downpour. But the battle doesn't stop, neither in the sky nor on the ground.
Then, something changes.
A single golden droplet falls from the clouds, landing on a monster from the Greyrose Circus below. The creature lets out a piercing scream as the droplet burns a hole clean through its body—its flesh melts like wax.
More golden rain begins to fall.
Where it touches the bodies of the Greyrose Circus beasts, they melt and shriek, disintegrating into black sludge. But when it touches the wounded human defenders, their injuries close, their spirits surge, and golden energy begins to rise from their cores.
At first, the battle in the sky continues unchanged—until all the rain turns golden.
Taka and Nezru feel their strength returning. Wounds vanish. Power floods back into them.
But the pale woman's phantasm begins to melt, its form unraveling under the sacred rain. It tries to flee upward, but twin ropes—one of shadow and one of metal—lash out from Taka and Nezru's hands, wrapping around the beast. The phantasm thrashes violently, trying to break free.
Suddenly, the woman bursts out from within its chest, abandoning her phantasm. She flies, fleeing the rain that burns her skin like acid.
The ropes vanish as Taka and Nezru give chase.
But she's fast—faster than they can match. In seconds, she's nearing the edge of the storm, almost free.
Then a golden jet shoots up from the earth, piercing her mid-flight.
She screams as it drills through her chest, and thunder cracks around her. The light swallows her.
A moment later, her body bursts into mist—flesh and blood scattered on the wind. Nothing remains.
Taka and Nezru halt mid-air, stunned.
Their eyes follow the golden jet's path back to the ground.
There, standing beneath the rain, is Riku.
Golden light swirls around her, and the unmistakable aura of a Spirit King rises from her body.