The cliffs screamed.
Wind tore across the ridgeline like a living beast, roaring through fissures and scattering stones into the abyss below. The world here was pure motion—untamed, endless, and alive. Hunnt stepped into it with quiet steps, his cloak snapping behind him, eyes sharp and calm.
It had been weeks since the silence of his plateau training. Now the land itself challenged him to prove what he had learned.
The smell of ozone and scorched rock filled the air. Feathers of dust drifted in the sunlight, rising and falling like tiny storms. Hunnt could feel it—the rhythm beneath the chaos. Every gust had a pulse. Every silence, a warning.
He exhaled slowly, letting the wind brush his face. "So this is where you hide," he murmured.
A shriek split the horizon.
A shape burst from the clouds above—massive, glinting, alive with fury. The creature's wings stretched wider than the cliffs themselves, each flap carving thunder from the air. Its scales shimmered with a pale metallic sheen, its body built to rule the sky. Every movement bent the wind around it, twisting pressure into violence.
Apex.
The name didn't need to be spoken. Its presence said enough.
Hunnt smiled faintly. "Perfect."
The beast dove.
The air shattered around him. Observation Haki flared, his senses exploding into clarity. The world slowed to heartbeats and rhythm; each gust, each twist of air carried intent. Hunnt vanished from sight—Soru—reappearing on a higher ledge just as claws tore through the ground where he had stood. Stone erupted in shards. The cliff cracked like thunder.
Hunnt steadied himself, feet spreading with subtle shifts of weight—Anchor Step—his balance immovable even as the shockwave rolled past.
The creature turned, its wings spreading with a hiss that pulled the very air from the ground. Its eyes locked onto him, cold and furious. It screamed, and the wind screamed with it.
Hunnt raised his fists, stance low. "Come on then."
The monster lunged, claws raking forward in a flash of metal and stormlight. Hunnt didn't retreat—he moved with the motion, shoulder rotating, elbow pivoting. The air hit him and flowed past instead of striking. Redirect. He slipped along the creature's momentum and struck, his fist driving into the foreleg with a short, explosive burst. Pulse Drive.
The blow landed clean, sending a ripple through the beast's limb, but it wasn't enough. The monster's muscles tensed; it roared and whipped its tail, striking like a hammer. Hunnt crossed his arms, his body turning to iron—Tekkai—and took the hit. The force sent him skidding backward, boots carving furrows through the rock. He gritted his teeth, grounding his breath.
When the second strike came, he didn't block. He jumped.
The world fell away beneath him. The wind caught his cloak as he shot upward—Geppo. His feet stamped against the empty air, each impact echoing like a drumbeat. He rose higher, chasing the storm that had birthed his opponent.
The Apex followed, wings snapping wide, fury glowing in its eyes.
Up there, the world was all light and noise. Clouds spun around them, gray and white and red. Lightning crawled through the storm walls, illuminating the beast's silhouette. Hunnt moved through it like water through stone, his form flowing between gusts.
The creature struck again, claws slicing arcs through the air. Observation Haki pulsed outward, tracing the motion before it came. Hunnt bent backward, body loose as silk—Kami-e—the attack sliding past inches from his chest.
He countered instantly. His right hand twisted, his body turning with it. A short, focused breath. A compact burst. Pulse Drive.
The sound cracked through the storm. The creature's shoulder shuddered; scales fractured, scattering fragments like glass. It reeled back, wings beating hard to regain balance.
Hunnt didn't relent. His eyes narrowed, his breath syncing with the gale. Each motion was rhythm. Step, pivot, twist. Soru carried him forward, Geppo lifted him higher, Redirect guided his flow, and Pulse Drive became the exclamation point at every turn.
The sky itself seemed to bend around their movement.
Wind roared in spirals, every clash creating bursts of shockwaves that carved rings through the storm clouds. The world below disappeared beneath a veil of vapor and lightning.
The Apex swung wide, wings cutting the air into blades. Hunnt read the pressure before it formed; his Observation Haki showed the path the gusts would take. He shifted, twisting between them. His steps left faint bursts of displaced air.
Then he struck again.
His fist crashed against the monster's chest, Armament coating his knuckles in dull black light. The impact shook both of them. For an instant, the air stopped moving—frozen between breaths. Then the pressure broke like a dam.
A spiral of wind exploded outward, scattering clouds and tearing a crater through the storm.
Hunnt's breath came ragged. The recoil burned through his arms. But he held firm, expression calm. He could feel the tremor of the creature's heart through the shockwave—a rhythm, wild and furious, matching the storm's pulse.
"You're faster," he said under his breath, "but I'm steadier."
The Apex roared and dove again, mouth opening wide. The sound was more than noise—it was force. Wind twisted around the scream, pushing everything outward. Hunnt crossed his forearms, planting his feet in midair, bracing against the pressure. The wind slammed into him like a wall, but his stance held. Anchor Step in the sky.
He moved before the roar faded, vanishing again—Soru—appearing above the creature's left wing. The air split beneath his heel as he kicked down, a burst of Armament flashing for an instant. The strike connected; the wing faltered, folding for a heartbeat.
The monster spiraled, tumbling through its own storm. Hunnt followed, diving alongside it. The air screamed past his face; the world blurred.
Every second stretched.
Every breath counted.
He twisted his body, drawing his arm back, breath gathering deep in his lungs. When the creature tried to recover, he struck—fist driving into its ribs.
The impact detonated. Wind shattered around them both, scattering clouds into ribbons of light.
Hunnt was thrown back, tumbling through the explosion of air. He spun once, twice, then stamped downward—Geppo—stabilizing himself before he could fall. The Apex roared somewhere within the mist, rising again.
Hunnt's hair whipped across his face, his chest rising and falling fast. His arms ached, but his stance didn't falter.
He grinned faintly, sweat and rain mixing across his jaw.
"This… this is what I trained for."
Lightning flashed, painting the sky white.
The monster shot upward, wings cutting through the light, and Hunnt followed, both figures swallowed by the storm once more.