Tamotsu's silver eyes snapped open. The world… shifted. No longer solid matter, but a tapestry of elemental threads, vibrant and alive:
A terrifying understanding flooded him. He could touch them. Twist them. Fuse them.
Elsewhere – The Battlefield Rampage
Tsuneo fought like a force of nature, his stone blades carving arcs of destruction alongside the Stage Seven and Eight Commanders against Hotaka's surging demon horde.
Commander Kaida, a pillar of solar fury, raised her hands. The air itself screamed. "Inferno Sun: Annihilation! Sido 9!" A miniature star, blindingly white, collapsed in her grasp – vaporizing thirty demons in an instant, leaving only scorched outlines on the earth.
Beside her, Commander Mizuchi, her aura
like a deep ocean trench, swept her arms wide. "Abyssal Tsunami! Sido 10!" A wave of liquid obsidian, heavy and crushing, surged forth, drowning dozens more in its suffocating, corrosive embrace.
"It's been decades since we fought side-by-side, Mizuchi!" Tsuneo roared, his blades shattering demon-forged flesh like rotten wood. Sweat and ash streaked his face. "But that boy... Tamotsu! He's the true fusion! The key!"
Hisoka paused, nostrils flaring. He sniffed the chaotic air, his scarred face twitching like a bloodhound's. There. Tamotsu's trail cut through the stench of battle: Cold ozone. Silver wind. And beneath it… something new. Ancient. Wrong. He followed footprints burning faintly in the ash, a cold smile twisting his lips. "You can't hide, little boy. Not from me."
Alone in a shattered grove, Tamotsu reached out. Not with hands, but with will. He grabbed the threads.
Frozen thorns, sharp as shattered glass, erupted from the ground, impaling trees.
A fist-sized orb of molten lava formed in his palm, radiating blistering heat.
A cloud of acid steambillowed, instantly melting a granite boulder into toxic sludge.
Above him, the sky tore open. A localized apocalypse exploded:
Acid Rain: Searing droplets melted ash into rivers of poison.
Lava Hail: Fist-sized burning stones shattered ancient trees like kindling.
Silver Lightning: Jagged bolts scarred the earth with lines of incandescent energy.
Miles away, Kaida, Mizuchi, and Hayate froze mid-swing. The sheer wrongness of the atmospheric rupture hit them like a physical blow.
Kaida paled. "That's no natural storm! What Sido level could cause that?!"
Mizuchi shuddered, her connection to water screaming. "The elements themselves are howling! Who is twistingthem?!"
Hayate's eyes widened, her wind-sense recoiling. "It's the boy... Tamotsu... but this energy... it feels... primal. Unchained!"
Hisoka lunged from the swirling chaos of the storm-shadows, crimson claws aimed to shred Tamotsu's spine—
—And froze. Tamotsu stood behind him, untouched, his silver eyes glowing like captured lightning in the gloom. His voice echoed, layered with power that vibrated the very air. "Hey." A chilling calm. "You look... different. Broken."
Hisoka snarled, whirling, fear warring with fury. "You have no idea what you're playing with, child! That power doesn't belong to you! It belongs to—"
From the high walls of Sanctuary, Tsuneo saw the apocalyptic storm blooming over the distant grove. His face hardened into granite. No. He couldn't reach them in time… not physically. Veins bulged on his temples, burning with liquid gold light. He slammed his palms together with earth-shattering force.
"SIDO 12: Temporal Perfection"
Reality stuttered. Stopped.
On the battlefield below:
Demons mid-roar, frozen.
Acid rain droplets, hanging suspended.
Falling debris, locked in mid-air.
Like grotesque insects trapped in amber.
Only Tsuneo moved. A blur of impossible speed. Stone blades became extensions of his wrath. In the frozen span of three heartbeats, forty-seven demon heads tumbled from paralyzed bodies.
Time snapped back.
A grotesque chorus of wet thuds echoed as headless demon bodies collapsed simultaneously. Rain fell. Debris crashed. The stunned Commanders stared, momentarily paralyzed by the horrific display of temporal power.
Tsuneo didn't pause. Blood dripped from his blades, steam rising where it met the acid rain. His roar shook the fortress stones: "Go! The grove now!"