Demon Commander Hotaka – a hulking figure with cracked skin but haunted human eyes – roared at Sanctuary's gate."For Hisoka's broken bones for our fallen kin!"
His forces weren't mindless beasts; they were desperate humans twisted by demonic bargains, their anguish clear even as they attacked.
Arisu, Yoshiro, and Kohaku formed a battered triangle. "Conserve energy!" Arisu panted, Ember Touch: Cauterize Stage 4 sealing a venom wound on a villager. "Help is coming!" Yoshiro's Stone Skin: Bastion Stage 5 deflected boulders as Kohaku used Wind Step: Mirage Stage 3 to confuse attackers. Sanctuary's healers worked frantically.
Hidden in the silent ash-grove, Tamotsu stirred. The ancient voice echoed: "You are the Combiner. Water's flow combined Air's freedom equals Ice's resolve. They fear your fusion." Unconsciously, frost coalesced not from his chest, but from the damp ash-air around him, forming intricate snowflakes.
As the gate groaned, the sky rippled:
Kaida, Flame Sovereign Stage 8 Descended like a meteor. "Inferno Sun: Annihilation!" A miniature sun ignited, vaporizing a demon platoon.
Mizuchi, Tidal Archon Stage 8 Rose from the earth itself. "Ocean's Grasp: Tsunami Coffin!" Liquid stone swallowed a dozen Forged. "Hold the line!"
Hayate, Sky Tyrant Stage 7 Rode a tornado. "Void Gale: Skyrend!" Wind-blades sliced through wings and weapons. "Weaklings!"
Kiri, Mist Phantom Stage 7 Materialized from fog. "Umbra Veil: Grand Deception!" An illusionary army appeared, flanking Hotaka's forces.
Hundreds of allied warriors surged behind them – Mist Stalkers, Ember Healers, Stone Wardens from distant villages. The tide turned instantly.
Hisoka knelt in the obsidian throne room, facing the swirling darkness.
Hisoka: "Master... the boy combines elements! Water and Air making Frost!"
[The Shadow Lord] "Frost? You mistake the symptom for the disease." A tendril of void lashed. "He fuses base elements. Primitive... but the potential. Fire with Earth equals Magma. Air with Void equals Storm. Imagine one who masters all combinations... a true ruler of Fusion. Retrieve him. Before he learns he is more than an icemaker."*
Cornered by Kaida's sun-fire, Hotaka roared, human despair beneath the demon cracks:
"We were promised power not slavery!"
Kaida hesitated, seeing the man beneath the magma. Mizuchi's tidal bind seized him. "Mercy comes after surrender, lost one."
As cheers rose, Tsuneo watched from the grove. Tamotsu's eyes snapped open – glowing not blue, but shifting silver. The snowflakes around him shattered, reforming instantly into razor-sharp crystalline.
He wasn't just combining elements... he was evolving them.