The sky looked darker than usual, as if bowing in reverence to something that was about to descend.
Hazle stood motionless, his body tense, both fists clenched, eyes fixed on the ground fractured by the force gathering around him.
"Do you know…" he whispered, his voice barely carried by the wind.
"…I'm sick of this. Wasn't I supposed to be by his side?!" he suddenly roared, his voice booming with the howl of a maddened storm.
"Why am I here?!"
The wind no longer merely blew. It screamed, deafening, tearing the air like a demonic hurricane. The earth trembled, trees were uprooted, and stones began to levitate without reason. Velyrra, who had stood with mocking ease, now flinched—her face drained of color.
"No… this… not now!" she shouted, leaping backward, casting shadow nets as barriers.
Hazle raised his face. His eyes began to fade—their color dissolving into an empty white, and then disappearing completely. No pupils. No irises. Only void. Eyes that no longer perceived the world as a human being.
His body began to lift from the ground. The wind carried him—not flying, but as if pulled by an unseen force. His cloak flared, dust swirling around him in an ever-expanding circle.
In the distance, Joker—mid-parry against Zeco—froze. His gaze shifted. His lips curled in a snarl, jaw clenched tight.
"Damn it…" he hissed.
Charlotte, just about to fire her slime projectile at Joker, flinched and nearly dropped her slingshot. "W-whoa… what is this…?"
Joker gritted his teeth. "This wasn't part of the plan. Why is he being so reckless?!"
Zeco stared up at the sky, his breath caught. "Hazle…"
"If an element wielder crosses their limit," Joker muttered again, "we're all finished. Those lunatics chosen by the elements… they weren't made to remain sane under that kind of power."
Beneath the swirling sky, Hazle's body began to glow faintly. The aura of wind formed an invisible shield, smashing everything around him. A whistling filled the air—not from lips, but from atmospheric pressure collapsing in on itself.
Velyrra was now utterly terrified. She ran, her body nearly lifted off the ground by the storm. "He's not human anymore… he's not…"
Sharp stones pierced the ground around Hazle, decaying structures were torn from their foundations and shattered by the furious wind.
Then Hazle opened his palm—and with a single gentle push, an invisible wave exploded outward in every direction.
That silent explosion didn't make a thunderous sound—but it was deadly. The entire battlefield shook. The ground split, trees were flattened, and enemy soldiers within range were flung away as if struck by a god.
Zeco shielded Charlotte with his body, bracing against the shock. "He's really crossed it…"
Charlotte, trembling, still managed to shout, "Okay that's… cool, but also terrifying?!"
Joker stepped back, eyes narrowing toward the heavens.
Hazle floated higher, expressionless, carrying only one goal within him—to obliterate everything in his path.