The portal of red and white collapsed behind when the figure came out of it, scattering red and white sparks that hissed in the rain.

The air trembled from the heat he brought with him, steam rising from the puddles around his legs as he touched the ground.

Adrien blinked hard, forcing his vision to clear. His lungs burned. His tactical vest felt like it weighed a hundred kilos.

But he still managed to lift his head.

Billy coughed violently then rolling onto his side, his throat throbbing from the crushing grip. His eyes widened at the sight before him.

The figure in red and black stood between them and the storm being.

He was solid and sharp. His body coated in red and black scales that gleamed like molten metal. Horn-like shapes curved from his head, faintly flickering with red veins of light. Lightning crackled across his shoulders, mixing with drifting fire that danced along his arms.

Adrien frowned. "Is that…?"

Billy squinted through the stinging rain. "Huh, finally."

Before either of them could finish their thought, the storm being roared and charged at the newcomer.

The scaled figure met him immediately without hesitation.

Fire erupted around his fist, swirling together with bright blue lightning.

BOOM!

The clash shook the entire field once again. Fire twisting with electricity in a violent spiral that pushed the storm being backward.

Lightning burst outward, carving a crater beneath their feet.

The storm being swinging again, electricity crackling along his arm.

But the red-scaled figure ducked under it and fired a knee into his gut. Flames detonated point-blank.

The storm being stumbled, coughing out sparks of energy.

He tried to counterattack and unleash a blast of lightning.

The scaled figure raised his arm and lightning bent toward him instead of away.

Flames surged up the scaled warrior's legs, and with a step, he vanished in a burst of red light.

He reappeared above the storm being and slammed both heels down onto his shoulders. Thunder cracked from the impact.

The storm being dropped to one knee, the ground fracturing under him.

The five candidates in the distance could only stare in disbelief. Why did an unknown creature suddenly appear and help them?

"That's not a human," Cody whispered.

"Is that another creature from the Magic world? But why is he helping us?" the short-haired woman muttered, her voice shaking.

The scaled figure grabbed the storm god by the neck and swung him like a rag doll, smashing him into the mud, then dragging him several meters before hurling him upward.

Fire and lightning exploded from his palm as he sent a wave of devastating light that blasted the storm being in the chest while he was in the air.

The ancient being landed hard and skidded across the ground. The rain hissing on his cracked and smoking skin.

The red-scaled man walked forward slowly, each step leaving glowing patches of steam on the soaked earth.

The storm being rose again with another roar. But the figure in red and black was already on him, flames swirling around one fist, lightning wrapped around the other.

The red-scaled figure tightened his fists, lightning crawling up his arms. His breath steamed in the rain as he stepped toward the fallen storm being.

Of course it was Erend.

Just minutes earlier—on the other side of reality—he, Eccar, and Aesa had finally torn open a stable portal.

Zerathul's ruined world still groaned and shifted behind them like a cracked hellscape trying to swallow them whole.

They had worked for hours, burning Magic energy and strength just to keep the dimensional portal open long enough to escape.

The moment the portal stabilized, Erend felt two pulls in his chest.

One was the fear for Arty, his little sister who was with Sylmira in another world. They must be facing another of the twisted forces Zerathul created.

The other was the problem in the human world, the unmistakable clash between the creature with Adrien and Billy, in the facility.

He stood between two worlds, fists shaking, his scales flickering in and out as his emotions spiraled.

"Erend," Eccar had said at that time, gripping his shoulder. "You go to your world. They need you now. I will go to Arty's world. I promised you I would protect her if anything happened."

Erend hesitated. The portal behind them stretched thin. They didn't have long.

Aesa added, "If the storm being killing your comrades and spreading the Magic energy in that world… the implications for your world will be catastrophic. We'll deal with Arty's side. Trust us."

Eccar shoved him toward the left portal. "Go!"

Erend didn't think. He leapt.

The rift swallowed him and then he burst into existence above a battlefield soaked in rain, where Adrien and Billy were being crushed under a storm god's rage.

He didn't even look at his surroundings before attacking.

Now, back in the present battlefield, Erend lunged again.

The storm being roared and tried to rise, lightning flaring erratically.

But Erend was done holding back. His red and black scales flared brighter. Fire swirling behind him like a ripping comet tail.

He flashed forward.

A palm strike full of lightning slammed into the storm being's chest.

The ancient creature lurched and snarling. Electricity spraying wildly.

Erend followed with a spinning kick, flames spiraling out in a blazing arc that smashed into the storm god's face and sent him tumbling.

In that moment, Erend felt no hesitation or confusion, only purpose.

He needs to end this before something worse happens.

The storm being struggled to stand. Erend appeared in front of him in a flash of heat.

His hand changed shape slightly, claws forming over his fingertips.

He drove his arm into the storm being's side.

A wet, shattering crunch sounds followed.

A chunk of glowing blue-white essence—somewhere between flesh and condensed lightning—ripped free in his hand.

The storm being howled, arcs of wild electricity bursting in all directions.

Erend jumped back and landed heavily. Steam rising from his legs.

The storm god collapsed to the ground, twitching, still alive but crippled.

Blue lightning sputtered weakly from the gash Erend left. Rain hissed on the broken, glowing wound.

Adrien and Billy stared, barely breathing.

The red-scaled Erend didn't answer them yet.

He stepped forward, lightning and fire still swirling violently around him. His eyes locked on the wounded ancient being.

He wasn't planning to let it rise again. But he needs to ask some questions.

Erend slowed his steps as he reached the fallen storm being.

The creature's chest rose and fell in ragged and uneven breaths. His cracked skin flickered with dying currents of blue lightning. Mud and rain pooled beneath its broken body.

He lifted his head when Erend approached.

Those eyes burned with wild, unfocused, primal fury. No clarity or thought or identity. Just rage shaped into a body.

Erend stared into those furious eyes and felt a hollow pain in his chest.

He sensed nothing human or divine. Nothing sentient.

Only a beast that had been twisted and puppeted. He was just another victim of Zerathul's cruelty.

He crouched slightly, claws still dripping with fire.

"Who are you?" Erend asked. His voice rumbled. "What did he do to you? How can I save you?"

The storm god only bared his teeth and let out a broken snarl. Lightning sputtered from his throat, but the sound was more like a wounded animal than a deity.

There was no answer. There was no mind left to give one.

Erend waited a few moments longer, searching desperately for any flicker of consciousness or any sign that this being still had a will of his own.

But there was nothing.

He closed his eyes for a brief second.

"I'm sorry."

He raised his hand and fire exploded from his palm, swirling into a torrent of red heat. It engulfed the storm being's body, flames roaring higher than the trees around them.

Thunder cracked overhead like one final and desperate surge of power from the dying god.

His screams echoed across the field for a few heartbeats.

Then they faded.

And after a few seconds, everything fell silent.

The fire died down. The rain doused the last embers.

What remained of the storm being's body turned into fading sparks of blue light, dissolving into the storm clouds above as if returning to whatever it once was before Zerathul's corruption.

Erend drew a long breath and let the scales recede.

The red and black armor of his body softened and shrank, melting back into his skin. His horns withdrew.

The glow vanished. Steam curled off him as the last traces of his battle form disappeared.

And then the candidates finally saw him as Erend, in his human shape.

Their eyes widened in shock and disbelief. None of them had ever imagined that their sergeant could turn into something like that.

"That's… no way," one of them whispered.

Cody's jaw hung open. "That was… sergeant Erend? How the hell did he do that?"

Adrien clutched his chest. He could only stare at him.

Billy exhaled slowly, still on the ground. "Damn, man… you took your time."

"Sorry," Erend said gloomily. "There were a lot of things happening back then. And… we failed."

—