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Darkness.
That's the first thing Kayden noticed as the simulation chamber twisted his reality. One blink and the training dome vanished. The next moment, he was falling—free-falling—through a sky split in half by storm clouds and raging lightning. Wind howled in his ears like a banshee, and the air burned with static. No ground in sight. Just clouds. Chaos. A heartbeat stretched into eternity.
Then—
BOOM!
He slammed into the cracked surface of a broken plateau, sending fragments of stone into the air. The impact knocked the wind from his lungs. He coughed, rolled to his knees, and spat blood.
"What the hell...?" he muttered, rising unsteadily.
The world around him was raw and feral. The sky spun like a giant storm vortex above. Lightning struck randomly across the horizon. The land was nothing but sharp rocks, molten crevices, and shattered stone pillars. It felt like a world that had ended in rage and was still screaming.
He stood fully, fists clenched, senses on edge.
No countdown. No instructor.
Just instinct.
Then the ground quaked.
It started as a rumble, soft and deep, then escalated into a violent tremor. Stones rolled, fissures split the earth, and Kayden braced himself.
And then he saw them.
Six beasts, rising from the broken earth like titans. Towering golems, fused with stone and molten iron. They had arms like tree trunks and glowing cores pulsing in their chests. Their heads were jagged helmets of obsidian, and they moved with purpose—straight toward him.
One roared, and it shook the very sky.
Kayden exhaled sharply. "Alright. Guess we're doing this the hard way."
With a steady breath, he summoned his soul armor.
Blue electricity crackled around his body, forming lines that traced up his arms, over his shoulders, across his chest. Metal plates forged from his inner storm wrapped around him like a second skin. His eyes sparked faintly with soul energy.
Then, with a raised hand, he called it—the soul weapon bonded to his soul since awakening.
A bolt of pure lightning streaked down from the heavens and exploded into his grip.
There it was.
A massive war hammer, taller than his torso, glowing with storm energy. Its head was etched with lightning runes that pulsed with raw power. Every swing promised destruction.
And the beasts were already charging.
The first golem lunged, swinging a burning metal arm. Kayden met it head-on, ducking and smashing the hammer into its side. The thunderous impact launched the beast into a rock wall. Stone shattered.
Another golem came from behind. Kayden turned just in time and blocked with his hammer, absorbing the blow with a surge of energy, then countered with a wild uppercut that sent shockwaves up the golem's chest.
But they kept coming.
Three more surrounded him. One leapt from above, and Kayden rolled. Another struck his shoulder mid-roll, sending him flying.
He crashed into a rock spire, his armor flickering.
Blood trickled from his lip. He spat it out, growling.
"Damn... it."
He rose again. Muscles aching. Vision blurring. But his heart?
It was calm.
He remembered Leo's voice in training:
"A soul weapon is just a tool until you connect with it. When you do… you don't just fight with it. You unleash what you are."
He stopped running.
Instead, he closed his eyes and reached inward.
Into the core of his soul.
He saw it—his soul sphere—a spinning orb of lightning and storm clouds inside his spirit. He grasped it—not physically, but with intention. He drew energy out, connected it with his weapon.
He visualized.
A hammer that wasn't just a weapon—it was the storm itself.
He released.
Kayden's eyes snapped open. Thunder screamed. Lightning surged down from the sky, not randomly—but summoned. Called.
His hammer glowed with blinding light.
He gritted his teeth, raised it high—and slammed it into the ground.
"STORM BREAKER!"
The ground shattered in a ring of blinding blue energy. Lightning erupted outward like a supernova. The wave hit all the golems at once, slicing through stone and soul. They didn't even have time to scream.
When the light faded, nothing remained but smoke and ash.
The storm cleared, revealing Kayden standing alone—hammer planted in the earth, electricity still crackling across his body, eyes glowing faintly.
He exhaled, smiling.
"That's my soul skill…" he said quietly.
"Storm Breaker."
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