"What...what's happening?" Sorah gasped, staring in dismay as intricate golden characters began spreading rapidly across his skin from the centre of his chest. The glowing markings wound down his arms before getting absorbed into Aoi’s staff.
The Rice Guru hopped over with a scrutinizing gaze fixed on the strange phenomenon closely. "Hmm, most intriguing! It seems interacting with that Sage Giant has left traces of the legendary curse now reawakening within you. Of course, only your father's staff can fully harness its arcane power."
He jabbed a wrinkled finger at the weapon. "This here Dawn Sky Crusher utilizes Aoi's rare Aether Crystal as a vessel to shape ethereal energy from the Sage Curse into devastating combat forms against the Titans."
Sorah tightened his grip on the inherited staff, feeling energy lines thrumming from the embedded gemstone.
"But heed me well, that magnificent stick comes with a deadly cost!" warned Rice Guru, wagging his finger severely. "The ancient curse cannot flow unchecked into mortal flesh for long without burning out one's lifeforce completely!"
He pointed at the glowing symbols which had spread across Sorah's shoulders and down his back. "We must return now to the Ascension Gauntlet and finish the remaining rituals before--"
"No...I cannot delay any longer..."
Sorah exhaled slowly, aura pulsing wildly as he felt power building steadily inside his aged body. For the first time, the withered martial arts master sensed boundless vitality flooding decades of fading strength and speed from wizening joints and weathered muscles. What unfathomable font had fate tapped granting such sudden transformative favour?
Gripping the Dawn Sky Crusher tightly, Sorah turned and began limping from the crystal shrines without heeding the Rice Guru's calls. He could not waste another second stranded here while innocent lives hung in the balance beyond this isolated haven. With each passing moment, vile Colonel Dravenik's forces routed across majestic Cloud Hamlet sowing cruelty and despair upon its vibrant paths. Sorah had sworn oaths to defend those scattered buds against existential storms...yet only now blossomed the tools to fulfil such duty with his own two palms.
None but he alone need carry the karmic weight this hour!
"Have you pruned wits from age-addled brains?" scolded the Rice Guru, scuttling quickly to block Sorah's path towards the vault exit. "Rushing foolishly out while steeped within unstable power will doom everything you hold dear!"
Sorah brushed aside the obstruction uncaringly. Strange emotion flooded him, an alien euphoria which drowned out all other voices and consequences. For the first time in forever, the disgraced outcast brimmed with conviction and authority. None would obstruct his crusade any longer!
"I care nothing for the power or its perils!" he declared haughtily, Sage Curse glyphs blazing within his eyes. "My very soul burns with purpose! Stand aside Rice Guru, else share the invaders' fate which I, reborn this hour as Aoi's legacy, now bring most terrible swift..."
Sorah raised the crackling Dawn Sky Crusher high and brought it crashing down towards the sealed gates which collapsed instantly from the unmatched kinetic force, completely demolished into splinters!
The Rice Guru wisely hopped clear from immediate obliteration just as Sorah strode past determinedly through swirling debris towards his nightmare destiny. Glancing back over the tragedy unfolding, he whispered regretfully.
"Thus fate bears witness on this solemn day a saviour’s noble serenity undone...May the gods have mercy my son Aoi, for none shall stem the path of your accursed lineage now so armed for retribution’s dance across the entire land.”
***
Miles away within Cloud Hamlet territories, a furious battle still raged between Colonel Dravenik's overwhelming forces against the cornered Aerithran defenders determined to protect their scattered villagers.
Flanked by his three gleefully cackling Ignis Generals who had melted from the frost, the ruthless Dravenik watched imperiously from atop a hovering dais while coordinating surrounding battalions to crush pockets of stubborn resistance. Below them, Quar’ellix accompanied by the hulking Varzik Titan Avatar continued battering all opposition from its twin lava arm cannons which spewed endless liquid death. Behind it lumbered dozens of smaller Titan shock troops slaughtering and burning everything in sight.
Elder Liu gritted his teeth bitterly seeing their valiant stand steadily collapsing despite reinforced numbers from Yanluo’s squads. Sheer attrition would soon obsolete courage alone against these seemingly inexhaustible armies! Lady Kaiya and her mystical hydromancy manipulation had already expended much strength slowing an earlier flank march costing them fifty Cloud Knights. And despite Elder Yanluo’s peerless thunderstorm abilities wreaking havoc on exposed battalions, Colonel Dravenik remorselessly fed more minions into the grinder by dozens.
There could exist no victory this day only dire reckoning...
Elder Liu glanced worriedly to judge their final gambit – three Sky Patrol Adepts struggled mightily atop the tallest Seed Shard maintaining a colossal vortex meant to tear free the entire Cloud Hamlet island network from its lifting matrix. This last resort aimed at sequestering everyone into emergency temporal envelopes buying time to evacuate populations across frigid Floating Leaf Peaks through hidden pathways towards Aerithra cities further west.
Of course successfully ripping multiple landmasses from ingeniously calibrated gravitational and elemental buoyancy forces might well fracture the Floating Leaf territory irreparably. None before now dared invoke the legendary Continuum Shift measure for fear of destroying their ancient celestial heritage completely. But options dwindled rapidly outweighed by Dravenik's overwhelming power.
"Your heads make fine ornaments for Varzik's throne, you Cloud vermin!" cackled Ignis General Pyranox mockingly seeing exhaustion take its toll. Beneath tinted faceplates, they awaited orders to finish off these stubborn fools personally for wasting their lord's precious campaigns. Varzik’s evening feast expected lavish entertainment from whatever surviving prisoners remained un-shattered.
Colonel Dravenik smirked coldly about to signal the slaughter when an unexpected gentle whisper drifted strangely audible across the smoke-filled ruins. "Waste no more lives today in hatred my brethren... all that unfolds was written so upon the Tapestry of Ages long ago..."
Time itself seemed to slow suddenly as combatants on both sides turned stunned towards the hazy silhouette approaching alone through raging battlefield chaos. There limped Sorah Kyoshin garbed in tattered training robe swirling with ethereal glyphs of the legendary Sage Curse itself! Amber power thrummed wildly from his frail body using Aoi’s esteemed Dawn Sky Crusher as support now to steady each arthritic step after opening the forbidden seal.
Dishevelled survivors and Cloud Guards all looked on incredulously. Yanluo and Kaiya both watched awestruck beholding the rarest cosmic forces answering this unremarkable senior they had always dismissed for mastering neither elements nor energy arts.
"By the gods Sorah... After all these years you’ve finally awoken your father’s gifts slumbering in your blood!" exclaimed Elder Liu most astonished by his sudden materialization from thin air amidst impossible odds. Proud tears misted seeing vindication for his long-time friend judged so mercilessly through ignorance and false pride over 50 long years. Had not he always said the stars themselves sung destiny’s refrain to rhythm beating inside Sorah’s chest alone?
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Colonel Dravenik snarled furiously, rising swiftly against this brazen newcomer who dared such arrogance before Varzik’s supreme might! "Old fool! I don’t know what forbidden magic sustains you this moment, but my Titan Avatar will pulp your bones all the same!"
He waved hand signs angrily, prompting chained obedience from his towering guardian whose colossal fist moved instantly to atomize Sorah for such defiant trespasses.
Whoosh!
Spectators on both sides cried warning of impending oblivion which Sorah ignored completely while continuing his strange lyrical chant towards looming calamity:
“Fear no darkness my children... dawn’s first light ever approaches destined across shade and pain to wash the world’s weeping horrors away upon seas of forgotten resolve renewed....”
Sorah halted several yards from the erupting energies, casting aside his staff abruptly. Incredulous eyes witnessed the ageing man raise one open hand gently like some cosmic deity to halt the gigantic molten fist just as it would have smeared him into the ravaged earth. Glowing runes manifested brighter as Sorah stood transfixed mentally wrestling the leviathan strength of an Overlord Titan using only shimmering bands of light wrapped around his extended forearm!
For several agonizing breaths, the colossal deadlock strained reality itself before Varzik suddenly withdrew its limb reeling backwards mutely. All spectators remained paralyzed by the inconceivable sight of Sorah alone forcing submission without counter blow or visible effort at all!
"Preposterous! Your magic tricks end now before Varzik's true power!" bellowed Colonel Dravenik, though uncertainty tainted his defiant words. How could this withered relic so easily halt his supreme guardian's lethal strike? Wasn’t he just a weak old man on the brink of death minutes ago?
The swirling Sage Curse glyphs granted Sorah strength belying his elderly frame. He took a deep breath, flourishing the Dawn Sky Crusher ceremoniously. "Witness righteous harmony between heaven and earth made manifest this hour!"
Sorah's aura intensified as he focused his inner chi to resonate with the staff's ancient power. Before the startled audience, sections of engraved timber began elongating, expanding wider and wider. In moments, the Dawn Sky Crusher transformed into a colossal oaken pillar rivalling the Cloud Hamlet's tallest spires!
“What in the Floating Leaves!”
“That’s one massive piece of stick!”
Soldiers nearby scrambled away fearfully from the exponentially swelling weapon. Sorah balanced atop the expanding shaft, guided by otherworldly reflexes. With a final resonant hum, the staff achieved mythic proportions - an epic wooden tower emblazoned with Aoi's heraldry!
"I don't believe it! The legendary staff's growth is unreal!" exclaimed Yanluo. Liu nodded appreciatively. "Now you see the peerless force shielding our people while Aoi walked among us. The Dawn Crusher has returned this dark hour!"
His words kindled defiant cheers across exhausted defenders, rallied by Sorah's miraculous manifestation.
Sorah brimmed with confidence, the staff was enhancing his abilities drastically. His blows could cleave mountains and block savage Titans now! With empowered hands, he manipulated the towering weapon effortlessly, guided by ancient instincts.
"Rain death upon my enemies, Dawn Sky Crusher!" Sorah bellowed. Weaving intricate motions, he hammered the colossal staff downwards through the air in a devastating arc towards clustered enemy battalions.
BOOM!
[200-Hit Combo!]
Screams erupted as the landscape exploded, battalions flung aside like insects by the sheer kinetic trauma. General Pyranox managed to erect hasty barriers to neutralize the worst shockwaves. They braced themselves warily against this unpredictable foe shattering expectations.
Varzik lumbered forward at Dravenik's command and started unleashing blistering salvos from its arm lava cannons. BAM! BAM! BAM! Searing projectiles bombarded Sorah's position, vaporizing rubble and soldiers caught unaware nearby.
Sorah retaliated instantly, angling the Dawn Sky Crusher sideways to intercept the raging meteors. Wood groaned loudly as a dozen molten spheres slammed head-on mid-flight into the staff’s frame harmlessly. With inhuman prowess, the grandmaster then whipped his weapon around for a brutal counter-swipe at the Titan Avatar.
WHAM!!!
Varzik's unstable footing collapsed under the resounding impact.
“Damn HIM!” General Pyranox quickly reinforced its stance with summoned barriers to keep the behemoth upright.
Dravenik seethed as Sorah pressed the assault, seeking to bash their champion flat against the ravaged plains! What profound trickery fuelled this withered antique beyond physical limits?!
Boom! Bam! Boom!
The staff met the Titan blow for blow, stonework fracturing beneath the intense clashes. Sorah spun and angled his weapon's reach flawlessly to deflect incoming projectiles with the reinforced timber, protecting nearby survivors. Sweat poured down his brow as he struggled against the unfathomably strong Varzik, but the Sage Curse glyphs burned brightly sustaining his tireless blows.
Seeing the stalemate continue despite their champion’s efforts, the Ignis Generals conferred urgently with Colonel Dravenik on how to shift the tide.
“My lord, Varzik weakens against this cursed phantom!” exclaimed General Pyranox. “We must enhance our summoning ritual and unlock the Titan Avatar’s final evolution!”
Dravenik considered deeply before drawing a glowing shard from his armour’s core compartment. Varzik’s head turned slowly, fixating his crimson eyes on the proffered shards engraved with Ignis runes.
“Of course... the Ignis Stone contains further reserves of our people’s harnessed Hellfire Aether Steam,” whispered Dravenik while caressing the crystals. “Fused completely with Varzik, we may indeed force the metamorphosis needed to crush this old upstart for good!”
He raised the burning fragments high, focusing volatile magics through his gauntlets while chanting the profane words of power. The Ignis Stone flared brighter in response, unleashing waves of intense heat washing across the land. Spectators on both sides recoiled from the blistering temperatures as reality itself appeared to groan under the uncontrolled reaction.
Varzik’s molten body began glowing violently, fiery flesh and armour warping into more demonic aspects beneath the exponential fusion. Lava tubes extended further along its spine and shoulders, venting scorching plasma uncontrollably. The colossal frame expanded taller and more muscular, dwarfing nearby structures completely now.
“GRAAAH!” With a deafening roar that sent shockwaves for miles, the mutated behemoth slammed both fists down, completely obliterating the ground around it, even the formidable Quar’ellix was reduced to Aether Steam.
“Kyah!” Sorah yelled with effort trying to brace the Dawn Sky Crusher against the impossible strength behind the mountain-shattering impacts.
Colonel Dravenik cackled victoriously as he looked at what their ultimate weapon achieved. "Yes! Varzik Darkfurnace arises! Nothing survives his Apocalypse VOLCANIX technique!"
The Ignis horror raised its elongated arms, gathering tainted elemental essence into swirling vortexes above each palm. A massive firestorm coalesced overhead, eclipsing daylight with its spinning fury. Sorah's expression paled realizing the surrounding regions faced complete immolation.
"Now my glorious champion...melt these insects from our sight!" proclaimed Dravenik. At his declaration, Varzik unleashed the blistering Apocalypse VOLCANIX barrage without restraint.
Boom! Boom!
Meteoric lava spheres bombarded the landscape relentlessly amidst cyclonic shockwaves tearing reality asunder. It was a vision of Armageddon itself.
Sorah moved instantly before the villagers, planting the expanded Dawn Sky Crusher firmly to bear the brunt of the literal hellfire. Searing pain lanced through his hands and arms from proximity to the Volcanix bombardment, but still he held firm.
The air rippled with heat as Sky Patrol Knights swooped down, hastily evoking protective wind barriers which barely diffused residual shockwaves ripping apart forests and mountainsides effortlessly further beyond.
[12-Hit Incurred!]
[23-Hit Incurred!]
[52-Hit Incurred!]
[60-Hit Incurred!]
“Ahh!”
Grunting painfully against the relentless strikes hammering his epic staff frame, Sorah silently thanked his ancestors for gifting this treasured heirloom against such merciless adversity. But even the Dawn Sky Crusher’s hallowed resilience strained dangerously close towards structural failure against the dark Titan’s corrupted power.
Seconds stretched agonizingly. The very skies above screamed unbearably against swirling venom spewed forth by Varzik’s blasphemous flames. Colonel Dravenik hovered protectively behind his monstrosity. His hands were gripped tightly lest control slipped from their desperate fusion. All semblance of subtlety burned away now before naked expansionism.
Gradually the ferocious Apocalypse Volcanix barrage subsided temporarily, though swirling embers promised swift resurgence. Gasping heavily against cracked skin from prolonged exposure, Sorah quickly tapped residual Sage Curse reserves to regenerate critical tissues across his blistered arms and hands. Smoking splinters fell from charred portions of his weapon’s frame that faithfully never failed till now.
Horrified gasps echoed from surviving Aerithran defenders rallying to protect Sorah’s flanks, having witnessed the enemy’s worst wrath unshackled. Varzik’s fires had permanently stained the skies a flickering crimson radiated outwards in all directions. Raging wildfires spanned the horizons unrelentingly, fed by the beast’s endless hatred.
“Yield before oblivion, worms!” bellowed the augmented Dravenik contemptuously. “Further struggle only prolongs how greatly my god-slaying Titan inflicts suffering!” Behind Varzik lumbered three more burning figures revealed to be the Ignis Generals summoned Titan Avatars physically manifested to support their masters in body and spirit.