Eryndor's reflection was sent flying through the forest but before it could crash into the trees, it twisted its body in midair, caught its balance, and flipped sideways. Its feet landed against the trunk of a massive tree, leaving two deep impressions in the bark.
For a fraction of a second, it remained there. Then it pushed forward. The tree shattered behind it and the reflection shot toward Eryndor, its body accelerating as wind gathered around its limbs. Wind Grasp compressed the air around it, propelling it forward with enough force to tear through everything in its path.
Eryndor smiled. He pushed himself forward at the same time. The two collided. The reflection's right fist struck Eryndor across the face, turning his head to the side. Eryndor planted his right foot firmly into the ground, stopping his backward movement before it could carry him away.
Then he returned the favor. His fist struck the reflection's head. The impact drove it straight into the ground. The earth shattered beneath the reflection, sending cracks racing through the surrounding terrain. Before the dust could settle, its body dissolved into black liquid. Eryndor barely had time to straighten.
A flash of lightning appeared beside him. The reflection reformed and punched toward his face.
Eryndor raised his right hand to block. The collision forced him to slide sideways, his shoes carving two lines into the dirt. He looked at his reflection. Then he rolled his hands, loosening his shoulders. "I know it's been hours already, but I feel like I can still go on without any problem arising."
His breathing remained steady. He had been fighting for an absurd amount of time, yet the exhaustion he expected never seemed to arrive. His body was still responsive, his mind remained sharp, and the storm within him showed no signs of weakening.
Eryndor tilted his head.
"Is it because I'm fighting myself, the thing that represents my limit, or is it because I enjoy fighting?"
His smile widened. "Maybe it's both. It doesn't matter." He stepped forward. The reflection attacked. Its right leg swept toward Eryndor's head, but he leaned to the left and let the kick pass over him. His right fist immediately drove into the reflection's side.
The reflection twisted, bringing its leg down toward Eryndor's head. Eryndor moved with the attack. He flipped forward, using the momentum of the descending kick to carry himself through the air. His right leg rose above him before coming down in a powerful axe kick. The reflection's head was driven into the ground.
The impact shattered the earth beneath it. For a moment, its body remained motionless.
Then its face began to break apart. Black liquid spilled across the ground, gathering itself into a single mass before reconstructing the reflection's body. Eryndor landed and watched because something was different.
Usually, the reflection would reproduce his movements, adapting to whatever technique he used. It would meet his attacks with the same attacks, forcing him to overcome his own fighting style but this time, it didn't copy him. Instead, the black liquid spread. It surged toward Eryndor's feet.
His eyes narrowed. The substance climbed his shoes, attempting to envelop his legs. Eryndor immediately moved. Lightning flashed around his body. He escaped just as the black liquid surged upward, missing him by a fraction of a second. He landed several meters away.
The liquid continued moving. It gathered itself into the reflection's original form, but something about its behavior had changed. Rather than immediately reconstructing a humanoid body, it stretched across the ground like a living mass, reaching toward Eryndor from multiple directions.
Eryndor stared at it. "What the hell..." The black liquid suddenly contracted. Then it split into four separate masses. Each one transformed into a reflection of Eryndor. Four identical figures stood before him. Eryndor's smile disappeared. "Did it mutate?"
The four reflections attacked simultaneously. Eryndor moved. One came from the left. He dodged its punch, shifting his head just enough to let the fist pass beside him. Another appeared behind him. Eryndor flipped forward and drove his foot beneath its chin, sending it upward. A third attacked from the front.
Its leg swept across the ground, knocking Eryndor's feet out from under him. Before he could recover, the original reflection rushed forward and kicked him in the side. Eryndor was sent flying. He crashed through the forest, struck the ground, and rolled across the dirt before finally coming to a stop.
For several seconds, he remained still. Then he slowly stood. His breathing had become ragged. Blood ran from the corner of his mouth. He wiped it away with his thumb and looked toward the four figures approaching through the trees. One wrong move, and I'll be absorbed. The black liquid wasn't simply copying his abilities anymore.
It was using its original nature to overwhelm him. Every time he attacked, the liquid could spread, divide, or attempt to engulf him. And with four bodies attacking simultaneously, there was little room to make a mistake. Eryndor inhaled. Then he closed his eyes. The reflections accelerated.
He could hear them approaching. Their footsteps. The wind moving around their bodies. The subtle changes in the air as they prepared to attack but his attention drifted elsewhere. He remembered the first time Nocturne, the original God of the Black Sun, had appeared before him.
The ancient deity had spoken about the Storm. Not as a combination of Lightning and Wind. Not as a technique that could be activated through deliberate thought. Storm was something that had to flow naturally through the body. "If you want to master the Storm, you must let the energy flow throughout your body."
Eryndor remembered those words. He had understood them at the time but understanding something and truly embodying it were two different things. He had spent countless hours refining his control over Storm, learning to direct its power, compress it, and unleash it with precision.
Yet he had continued treating it as something he wielded. Something he activated. Something he controlled. Eryndor stood motionless. The four reflections rushed toward him.
He exhaled. Steam escaped from his mouth and without opening his eyes, he moved.
The first reflection punched toward his face. Eryndor tilted his head and the fist passed harmlessly beside him. The second attacked from behind. He shifted one foot and turned his body, allowing the strike to pass through the space he had occupied.
The third swung toward his ribs. Eryndor stepped forward. The fourth attempted to catch him as he moved. He lowered his shoulders and slipped between its arms. Four attacks. Four different angles. Not one touched him. His movements were effortless.
There was no hesitation, no conscious calculation, no need to identify each attack before responding. His body simply moved with the Storm. Then his hair began to change. The black strands gradually turned white. His eyes opened…They glowed with a pure, brilliant light.
The air fell silent. For a fraction of a second, the entire Lost Forest seemed to hold its breath. Then the sky changed. Black clouds gathered above the forest, spreading across the heavens at an impossible rate. Lightning flashed within them, illuminating the landscape beneath their enormous shadows.
The wind began to rise. At first, it moved through the trees. Then it swept across the ground.
Then it became something far greater. The entire Lost Forest trembled beneath the growing storm. Trees bent under the pressure. Clouds spiraled overhead, and the air itself seemed to vibrate with the force gathering above the battlefield.
Far away, Rein stopped walking. He looked toward the darkened sky. His smile faded into an expression of astonishment. "Eryndor..."
Elsewhere, Stellar, who had only recently regained consciousness, opened her eyes as the distant rumble reached her. Even Darius, still recovering from his battle, felt the immense presence spreading through the forest and beyond the Lost Forest, Var suddenly raised his head.
He had not been present during the battle.
Yet he could feel it. The sheer magnitude of the energy reached him from an extraordinary distance. Var's golden eyes narrowed. "That power..." He paused. Then a faint smile appeared on his face. "So he finally reached it."
Back in the Lost Forest, the four reflections stopped. They looked toward Eryndor.
Their bodies instinctively moved backward. They could see him. They could see his white hair and glowing eyes. They could see the immense storm gathering around him but something about his presence was impossible to comprehend.
It felt as though an endless depth of power existed within his body, stretching beyond anything they could measure. Eryndor slowly raised his head. His gaze settled on the reflections.
"Authority of the Black Sun — Storm Incarnation." He raised his hand.
Then, almost casually, he waved it toward them.
Nothing happened. For one second, the battlefield remained unchanged. The four reflections stood motionless. The trees swayed beneath the wind. Then the world disappeared.
Three of the reflections dissolved into nothingness. There was no explosion.
No dramatic collision. They simply ceased to exist beneath the force of the wind. Everything behind them was lifted from the ground. Trees, rocks, and enormous sections of earth rose into the air before being torn apart by the devastating currents. The wind swept across the landscape, stripping away everything in its path.
A massive stretch of land was exposed. Then the land itself began to break apart.
The storm continued expanding. Its winds tore through the terrain, reducing the battlefield to a vast expanse of shattered earth. Eryndor stood at the center of it all.
His expression remained calm. He took a step forward. Lightning struck the ground beneath his foot. He took another. Another bolt descended. Each step carried the storm with it. The remaining reflection stared at him. For the first time, it abandoned any attempt to fight.
It turned and ran.
Eryndor watched it retreat. Then he raised his right hand and pointed toward it.
Darkness emerged from every direction. It seized the reflection's hands. Its feet and Its neck.
The shadows spread across the ground and rose into the air, binding the black liquid before it could separate or escape.
The reflection struggled but the restraints held. Eryndor disappeared. He had moved so far beyond the limits of ordinary speed that the concept itself seemed meaningless. He appeared before the reflection in an instant. Distance was no longer an obstacle.
It was a choice. Eryndor raised his right hand. His index finger extended toward the red crystal embedded within the reflection's chest. The reflection attempted to move.
It couldn't. Eryndor's fingertip touched the crystal. A brilliant flash of lightning erupted.
The entire battlefield vanished beneath white light. The lightning obliterated everything in its path, sweeping across the Lost Forest with overwhelming force. The remaining reflection disappeared alongside the crystal, leaving nothing behind.
When the light finally faded, a massive white crater stretched across the forest. The surrounding land had been transformed. The trees were gone. The ground had been erased across an immense distance and at the center of the devastation, Eryndor stood alone.
His white hair slowly returned to black. The glow in his eyes faded. The storm began to dissipate.
Eryndor canceled his authority. For a moment, he remained suspended above the ground.
Then his strength finally gave out. He fell backward.
His body hit the ground and he stared up at the sky then he began laughing. It wasn't a laugh of triumph or relief. It was the laughter of someone who had just experienced something so extraordinary that he couldn't find any other way to express it.
Eryndor raised one hand over his face. "Ah... that was amazing." He continued laughing as the last traces of the storm disappeared above him. For the first time since entering the Lost Forest, the battlefield was completely silent.