Each motion had purpose. Small adjustments to airflow, subtle pivots, footwork timed with pressure changes. The technique relied on flow more than force, threading movement through the environment instead of pushing against it. Kei absorbed every detail, silently storing it away for later use.
Below, the Apex Boss raid had entered a new phase.
In front of the Ravager, Jin and Jenny stood ready at the frontline. Kei's eyes settled on Jenny. Her scythe no longer flared with energy, and from her posture, he could tell her kinetic reserves had been spent.
He leaned slightly forward, lips pressed in thought, then sent out a silent offering.
A strong breeze rose from the forest’s edge, funneling around Jenny like a spiral drawn by instinct. The wind formed a small cyclone centered on her, controlled and channeled by Kei’s guidance from above.
Jenny adjusted her glasses, immediately sensing the shift in air pressure. A controlled cyclone spiraled around her—wind drawn in from the forest’s edge, guided by Kei’s influence from above. She didn’t question its origin. Instead, she raised her scythe, the tip angled into the center of the storm. She didn’t look up, but Kei could tell—she understood. She accepted.
Aether pulsed through the weapon.
The cyclone compressed, and the wind vanished into the blade.
Unlike before, when her kinetic force could only be stored in her own body for one-time use, her scythe—crafted by Kei—allowed her to preserve signatures. Not just raw energy, but qualities of motion. Essence.
The stormwind joined the crimson fire she’d taken earlier, both now encoded within the scythe’s matrix. She could draw from them at any time. Again and again. Permanent additions to her arsenal.
As the winds died down, she placed her hand lightly against her chest.
The lingering force from the Ravager’s earlier roar still hung in the air—violent, pressure-heavy, the remnants of a world-shaking bellow.
This one she stored in herself.
The kinetic shockwave was folded inward, pressed into her body’s temporary reserve. A tool to be used once, burned entirely in a single motion when the moment came.
Her stance shifted. The scythe thrummed with contained power.
Crimson flame.
Stormwind.
And one sealed burst of force coiled in her core.
Everything was in place.
Jin gently tapped the ground with the ball of his foot. Aether pulsed faintly through the leg guards, activating their internal anchoring effect. The distribution in his lower body locked into place—agility, balance, and control stabilized in perfect sync with his intent.
He gave Jenny a subtle glance. That was all she needed.
Leaping, Jin soared over her.
In one seamless motion, Jenny rotated her scythe, shifting the weapon to expose the flat of the blade. Jin landed on it without a single wobble—his balance unshaken, his weight perfectly centered thanks to the leg guards.
Jenny smiled.
Boom.
The stored shockwave kinetic energy in her core detonated, firing upward through the scythe like a coiled spring let loose. The force launched Jin at breakneck speed—a silver blur ripping through the air.
To most of the raid party, he vanished.
To the Ravager, he arrived.
Mid-flight, Jin's eyes narrowed. The silver rings spun faster around his irises. His vision locked onto the weakest point in the Ravager’s new earthen armor, just above the shoulder joint.
With the leg guards still active, Jin’s posture held firm midair. His body remained aligned—streamlined and controlled—his core locked into the precise configuration needed for the strike.
Then, with a sudden push—
The air screamed.
So did the Ravager.
Fractures spiderwebbed across its newly formed armor, thin cracks spreading from the point of impact like stress lines through shattered stone.
Jin didn’t hesitate.
He unleashed a flurry of kicks in rapid succession, each one driving deeper into the Ravager’s defenses. The second effect of his leg guards activated—upon chaining combos, his locked stat distribution received a slight amplification. The longer the combo continued, the sharper his movements became.
Kick.
Strike.
Pivot.
Kick again.
Each blow landed harder than the last, battering the beast’s armored frame with unrelenting rhythm. The final strike came in the form of a devastating axe kick, Jin’s leg cutting down like a falling blade. The impact drove the Ravager’s head downward—and in the space that opened, Jin flipped away.
And just as the beast looked up—
A half-moon arc flashed through the air.
Kaito’s shortsword descended in silence, carving cleanly through the already-damaged plating. Before the Ravager could react, his longsword followed the same curved path, slashing deeper into the open wound. A burst of blood sprayed from the gash, staining the broken ground below.
The Ravager howled, buckling from the twin assault.
By the time it turned to retaliate, Jin had already landed, crouched at a safe distance—breathing calm, eyes focused.
Kaito was gone.
His steps left no trace.
The Lunar Reaver had already vanished into the shifting shadows of the battlefield.
And with that, the Ravager’s wounds began to heal—visibly, unnaturally fast. Flesh knitted. Cracked armor shifted back into place. Its rage intensified with each second, shaking the air with low, rumbling growls.
More furious than ever, the Apex Beast prepared to retaliate.
Leading the next assault was Tarek Vol—his Stormborne Juggernaut class on full display as he charged forward like a wind-armored tank. Each step shattered stone beneath his boots, momentum building with aether-infused force as he slammed into the Ravager head-on, drawing its aggro through sheer presence and impact.
Above and to the right, Gale Veyron, the Typhoon Dancer, raised his arms in a sweeping motion. Dozens of curved wind blades spiraled into being, each one sharpened by cyclone pressure. They surged forward in a rapid flurry, carving across the Ravager’s rock-plated hide in staggered waves, chipping through the armor with relentless tempo.
To the rear, Darius Hallowbrand, the Flame Warden, stepped forward with a calm chant. Rings of fire bloomed around the Ravager like ritual brands. With a single snap of his fingers, the symbols ignited, unleashing a torrent of fire that engulfed the beast in a roaring inferno.
Watching the scene unfold, Lisa narrowed her eyes.
She reached deep into her Sound Force, her aether control slipping beneath the surface of the flame. Her perception stretched thin, fine-tuning the vibration patterns within the fire itself—its rhythm, its crackle, the heartbeat of combustion.
Then she shifted it.
She amplified the resonant frequency of the flames, syncing it with the Ravager’s armor and flesh.
The fire roared higher, hotter.
The heat intensified with pinpoint precision, searing through even the hardened rock plating.
The Ravager buckled, briefly—but its fury only grew.
Opening one eye from his cultivation, watching the boar be bombared Kei started to feel bad for it “its just getting ganged up on, poor guy was minding it business being all destructive………….. all right we couldn’t let continue but still”
With a fierce stomp, the Ironsworn Ravager unleashed chaos.
The earth split beneath it—multiple earthquakes rippled outward as jagged spikes erupted from the cracked terrain. The ground became a killing field, rupturing in chaotic bursts, tearing through stone and soil alike. The battlefield turned into a bloody nightmare.
Like a charging siege engine, the Ravager barreled forward—its focus locked onto Jin and Jenny.
They had only seconds to react.
But someone else moved first.
Lisa's aether control surged. Her Sound Force pulsed beneath the charging beast’s feet in a cascade of harmonic disruptions. Bursts of sonic pressure triggered beneath its limbs, throwing its momentum off. One particularly focused blast struck the Ravager’s right leg, forcing it upward, disrupting its balance mid-charge.
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Seizing the opportunity, Lisa reached for the carving tool Kei had made her—one tuned specifically for channeling sound.
She flooded it with aether.
A deep resonance built at its edge—then with a swift slice, she released it.
A massive sound blade tore forward, crashing into the Ravager’s exposed underbelly. The outer shell cracked, but the true damage happened inside. Vibrations from the attack amplified upon impact—shaking the beast's internal organs like a struck drum.
The Ravager howled, staggering.
Before it could recover, a flurry of fire dragon heads slammed into its side—each one crashing like a meteor. Draggbane’s assault was unrelenting, the flames coiling and erupting across the creature's flank.
Through the smoke, arrows streaked in.
Each shot was crafted by Kei—refined and reactive. With every blast that struck the Ravager, the next arrow became faster, more forceful. The vector redirection enchantments layered on them responded in perfect sync with the shifting momentum.
Two arrows in particular cut through the chaos.
Their paths remained straight. Their speed, however, was unnatural—so fast they were nearly invisible. They tore through the flames and embedded deep into the Ravager’s underbelly, striking just moments after Lisa’s blade had softened the armor.
The creature let out a scream that shook the battlefield.
And still—it did not fall.
Weaving through the chaos of spells and elemental strikes, Jenny surged forward atop a mud wave, riding its crest with perfect balance. Someone else had summoned it, but she made it hers—crimson flames spiraling around the blade of her scythe as she closed in.
Just before the wave crashed into the Ravager, she launched herself skyward, spinning midair. The wind she'd stored earlier surged to the surface, its kinetic energy amplifying the flames coiled around her weapon. The fire expanded violently—no longer just a stream, but a towering inferno clinging to steel.
The blade grew—frightening in size, terrifying in weight.
Jenny brought it down.
A thunderous cleave tore through the Ravager’s outer armor, shearing off layers of hardened earth. Chunks of stone exploded outward with the force of the strike.
She landed in a slide beneath the beast’s body, momentum unbroken. Her footwork moved with practiced rhythm, a dancer’s grace honed in battle. Her scythe carved upward in wide arcs, slicing along the Ravager’s vulnerable underbelly—shaving off plated chunks with every pass.
“Don’t worry about me, keep attacking!” she called out, voice light and carefree despite the chaos. Her tone carried no fear—only focus and fluid confidence.
She spun beneath another tremor, ducking the Ravager’s tail as it slammed the ground behind her.
Kaito swept in through the opening she'd created.
His shortsword and longsword danced in tandem, striking with surgical precision. Every gap Jenny carved open, he exploited. Twin crescent slashes followed his movements, arcs of silvery light cleaving across the Ravager’s flanks.
Together, the two moved like twin moons—the Dancer and the Reaver, relentless and in sync.
With a powerful upward swing, Jenny’s scythe embedded itself deep into the Ravager’s side. The strike landed clean—but this time, something was wrong.
She tried to pull it free.
Once.
Twice.
A third time, harder.
The blade refused to budge. It was stuck—wedged too deep in layers of reinforced stone and shifting earth.
Before she could try again, the ground beneath her trembled.
A jagged spike shot up from below—forcing her to retreat. She twisted back just in time, abandoning the weapon as she evaded the rising pillar of rock. Her boots scraped the cracked earth as she landed a short distance away, unarmed and exposed.
The Ravager turned—its molten eyes locking onto her.
Without hesitation, it raised one massive leg.
The intent was clear.
Crush her.
Jenny tensed, jaw clenching. For the first time since the battle began, her confidence wavered.
Then—
BANG.
A thunderous crack echoed across the battlefield.
BANG. BANG.
Two more followed—three total, rapid and heavy.
Bolts of electricity punched through the Ravager’s raised leg. Not surface grazes—clean drills, tearing clean through stone and sinew. Sparks scattered from the impact sites, followed by violent arcs of lightning coursing through the beast’s frame.
The Ravager staggered, its leg dropping short of its target.
Up in the trees, Kei sat, arm extended from the throw. His cloak fluttered softly in the wind, eyes narrowed with calm focus.
The throwing projectiles still shimmered faintly where they struck—thin, jagged rods of forged steel crackling with lingering static. Each one was handcrafted, aether-conductive, and tuned with his own modifications.
And they weren’t just normal weapons.
Kei had drawn upon the Thunder Force—the one he'd acquired after forming a brief connection bond with the Thunder Hare. He hadn’t wielded it much since.
Until now.
Lightning danced around his fingertips as he relaxed his gaze, watching the electricity coil inside the Ravager’s armor, disrupting the internal charge of its reconstructed plating.
Jenny looked up at the impact, breathing hard.
She smiled.
A few days before the Apex Boss raid—just before he began crafting for Kaito and the others—Kei found himself standing at a crossroads.
His skill, Advanced Projectile Mastery, had reached the threshold for evolution. When the system offered him upgrade paths, he examined each with care.
One focused on Phantom Breeze, granting complete silence and concealment to his throws.
Another emphasized ricochet mastery, turning his projectiles into instruments of chaos and rebound.
Others offered tracking, fragmentation, even mid-air duplications.
He declined them all.
What Kei learned, however, was more important than the paths themselves—skills could evolve along unique routes, not just the ones predetermined by the system. They could be forged.
So, he forged his own.
[Skill Name]: Shinma Edgecraft: Stormpiercer Ascendant
“Strike with elegance. Shatter with force.”
Description:
You’ve taken the destructive art of projectile mastery and refined it through the lens of elemental purity. Inspired by a small bird you befriended during your early days in Japan—a rare Shinma Enaga, native to the mountain ranges of Japan—you forged a new path. Your throws now embody not just precision, but a kind of divine elegance. Each strike is a storm-sculpted miracle: radiant, swift, and devastating.
Upgraded Effects
- Celestial Infusion (Replaces Overcharged Aether Infusion)
- Projectiles may now be infused with dual-elemental force signatures (e.g., Thunder + Wind), creating powerful hybrid effects.
- Infusion capacity is greatly increased, though Aether consumption scales with elemental complexity.
- Lethal Bloom (Replaces Explosive Impact)
- Upon impact, infused projectiles blossom into a storm of elemental feathers or petals, unique to their elements.
- Wind petals slice with precision. Thunder blooms chain to nearby enemies.
- Each bloom scales with infusion depth and is influenced by Kei’s throwing angle and rotation speed.
- Armorbreak Crescendo
- Every projectile now strikes in three timed phases:
- Initial rupture – weakens defenses.
- Pierce – bypasses armor to hit raw tissue.
- Detonation – releases stored energy in a focused burst.
- Effectiveness increased by 50% against reinforced, crystalline, or layered defenses.
- Divine Aftershock (Enhanced Passive)
- A fully infused projectile leaves behind a lingering echo of divine force.
- This echo pulses outward in a circular wave, dealing force damage and staggering nearby enemies.
- Visually manifests as shimmering feathers, lightning song arcs, or radiant light.
- Shinma Force Sync (Unique)
- Projectiles infused with specific elements gain specialized effects:
- Thunder: Unleashes a chain-lightning wingbeat that arcs between enemies and applies a brief stun.
- Wind: Generates a feather trail of controlled gusts, knocking enemies back in bursts along its path.
Bonus Trait – Wings of Ruin (Unlocked Later)
Once per battle, Kei can launch three infused projectiles in succession, each spiraling with hybrid elemental energy.
Mid-air, they converge into a Shinma-shaped explosion, forming the silhouette of a diving Enaga.
- Deals massive AoE damage.
- Temporarily weakens enemy elemental resistances in the blast zone.
- Leaves behind glowing motes of aether that regenerate 10% of Kei’s spent Aether if retrieved.
For all the raw, chaotic power that Zeph had accumulated—especially with the infusion of Kei’s blood enhancing its zephyr-aligned abilities—it still paled in comparison to Kei’s growth.
Zeph was a force of nature in its own right.
A living storm.
Fast, unpredictable as wind, and capable of turning the battlefield into a chaotic mess of gales and pressure bursts.
But even that wasn’t enough.
When the two had chosen to spar at full force, no holding back, no safeguards—Zeph charged in with unrelenting ferocity, a whirling tempest of claws and compressed gusts.
And still, it found itself slammed into the dirt.
Chains of lightning—fast, elegant, and devastating—shot out from Kei’s hand, locking Zeph’s limbs mid-motion. Before the monkey could twist free or redirect with a burst of wind, the lightning pulsed again, disorienting it and locking its aether channels down entirely.
It couldn’t even move.
Not against that.
That was the moment Zeph understood.
The one it followed wasn’t just its master.
He was becoming something else entirely.
That sparring match became the inspiration behind Kei’s next crafting binge. When he received the newest shipment of rare ores, his mind went to work. He crafted a variety of specialized projectiles:
- Rod-like needles, thin and conductive, for channeling infused elemental force.
- Weighted spheres, each designed to store storm, thunder, or wind for mid-air detonation.
- Compact channeling rods, tuned to his aether signature, capable of carrying dual-force infusions.
Every piece was slotted into the custom arm sleeves he’d engineered—a slick, low-profile mechanism that let him draw and throw in an instant. Efficient. Streamlined. Deadly.
Each weapon, each throw, each arc in the air carried the same philosophy:
Strike with elegance. Break with certainty.
And that was exactly what the Ravager—an Apex-class monster—had just experienced.
Just like Zeph before it, the beast had tasted the force of Kei’s evolved skill: precise, overwhelming, and impossible to predict. With a quiet breath, Kei closed his eyes once more, withdrawing from the chaos. From his perch in the trees, he resumed focusing on the minor Wind Force he'd detected earlier, keen on extracting every nuance from its movements.
Down on the battlefield, Jin Saito took center stage once again.
The silver rings in his eyes spun faster—future paths unfolding with each breath, each twitch of muscle. His stat configuration adapted mid-movement, aligning power and agility into perfect balance.
Then he moved.
His strikes came like thunder—punches, slams, spinning kicks. Each attack carried the weight of a sledgehammer, shattering layers of the Ravager’s rock armor, blow by blow. The sound of impact was deafening.
Those still healing off to the side turned pale just watching it.
Reinhardt and Draggbane, fighting side-by-side, exchanged knowing glances as the boar reeled under Jin’s unrelenting assault.
This was why the system ranked Jin #1.
And just behind him, Kaito was right where he belonged—#2, and rightfully so.
Sleek and silent, Kaito’s Lunar Reaver class let him cut between the Ravager’s defenses like moonlight itself. As Jin uppercut the boar, sending its head reeling upward, Kaito was already airborne.
His shortsword descended first, cleaving into the damaged neck plating.
Then his longsword followed, deeper, dragging along the wound to widen it further.
Blood gushed from the twin strikes, and Kaito vanished into the haze before the beast could retaliate—silent as a ghost.
Then came Kai.
Bursting forward from the side, Adrenaline Force surging, he vaulted upward. His body was already coursing with controlled, violent energy. Catching the Ravager just as its head dipped again, Kai drove his spear down, punching through flesh and forcing the beast’s skull back into the dirt.
Owen met it there.
The shield strike came hard—a full-body bludgeon to the snout, driving the beast’s head even deeper into the ground. From the left, Talia zipped in, blades flashing. She slashed across both eyes in one pass, stealing the creature’s vision and forcing it to reel backward.
As it stumbled, Owen’s contracted creature—the Boulder-Veined Bear—rose behind it. Spikes of earth surged up in synchronized pulses, trying to pierce the underside. The Ravager’s defenses held—but it staggered, just enough.
And through that space, Jenny descended.
Her scythe spun in an elegant spiral, Wind Force gathered along its edge, blending perfectly with her momentum. She passed through the gap Kaito had carved into the neck.
And with a single, fluid arc, she sliced straight through.
The wind screamed.
The Ravager howled.
And Jenny landed behind it without a word, the scythe still glowing.