Heavy storm clouds nearly touched the ground. Lightning flashed between the clouds, and violent winds howled across the sky and earth.
A blazing sun hung high overhead, as though it wanted to cover everything and destroy the entire world.
The ground, soaked by rain and stained dark, instead dried out and split apart, revealing countless cracks.
Beneath those thick cracks, colorful flowers, grass, and towering trees grew in an absurd display.
They surrounded the violent waves of desert sands, swaying wildly yet standing firm.
Weather elements that should have been completely incompatible appeared at the same time and merged together in an eerie harmony.
At this moment, Viktor stood within this chaos of elements, his two-toned coat flowing endlessly in the raging wind behind him.
He was like a pebble in the torrent of elemental forces, wrapped layer upon layer by the raging elements.
If not for the faint glow flowing across his coat, his figure would have been almost impossible to make out.
Even so, Viktor remained standing calmly in place, as though none of it affected him.
The golden bird-headed staff was driven deep into the damp, fractured earth, firmly supporting him.
Instead, both of his hands steadily held Erica in his arms.
When it came to spellcasting strength, Truth of Great Prosperity was nothing more than an iron rod for channeling mana.
Whether he had it or not made little difference to Viktor's spellcasting.
Its greater use was simply allowing Viktor to gain its tremendous mana conversion power.
And it was also very convenient for smashing people with.
As for a staff that could best amplify the source of his Calamity...
Viktor looked at Erica in his arms, feeling the increasingly powerful mana flowing within her at such close range.
He couldn't help wondering how he could use her as a staff while she was asleep without waking her up.
"Vega."
His voice echoed through the wind.
Hearing Viktor's voice, Vega circled once through the sky before complaining, "Seriously, in the end you still have to rely on me?"
It slowly drifted down from the sky and landed on Viktor's shoulder.
At the same time, a sapphire glow flashed through Vega's eye once more.
Like an endless source of mana, light seemed ready to burst from that pitch-black single eye.
Viktor, connected to it, underwent the same change.
His eyes were filled with brilliant blue, shining like gemstones.
In an instant, an ocean of mana...
No, something even more terrifying than an ocean of mana.
This mana was almost like an endless nebula world stretching countless miles into the depths.
Like a map of the starry sky, dazzling colors spread behind Viktor, painting a breathtaking scene.
The rolling mana carried overwhelming pressure the moment it appeared on the earth. Its vast, terrifying power seemed ready to crush everything nearby.
High above the center of the elemental storm stood that two-toned sacred tree, overflowing with wave after wave of mana.
The two-toned sacred tree was like a gigantic fountain of mana. As layer upon layer of mana gathered, the tree itself became increasingly chaotic.
Together, the two looked as though a land floating among the clouds had appeared out of nowhere.
The enormous radiant tree rooted itself within the land of mana, while terrifying magic continuously gathered within its crown.
Wave after wave of shockwaves spread outward, swallowing everything around them. The terrifying mana nearly covered the entire Central District.
Finally, mana lifted Erica's body high into the air, slowly raising her into the sky.
Viktor watched Erica in the sky as four different colors suddenly surged across the coat behind him.
The flowing lights of the four elements gradually merged into Erica's body.
At that moment, guided by multiple streams of mana, her body radiated magical power, and her long golden hair flowed behind her.
Bathed in sunlight, she reflected a starlike brilliance.
Meanwhile, Uranos and Guldon were still locked in fierce combat.
Neither noticed the increasingly chaotic weather around them, completely absorbed in their savage hand-to-hand battle.
Bang!
A massive boulder slammed into Guldon's body.
Its lava-covered crimson body staggered back several steps as lava splashed everywhere, its huge frame sinking into the ground.
The attack struck Guldon head-on, and it seemed noticeably stronger than before.
But that was only what Uranos thought.
In reality, with the addition of the Water element, heavy rain poured down and the air became damp.
Whenever the lava covering Guldon's body came into contact with the dense Water element, thick white steam burst out.
The crimson glow flowing over its body also darkened slightly.
That made Guldon feel uncomfortable.
Although the crimson sun still hung overhead, the endless rain left it constantly soaked, a feeling it found unbearable.
It felt as though ants were crawling all over its body.
That only made Guldon even angrier.
Watching Guldon's scorching heat cool somewhat, Uranos's six eyes flashed back and forth continuously.
Its enormous body remained motionless, as though deep in thought.
As the smartest Calamity, Uranos's clever stone brain had reached part of the answer.
The Guldon before it was no longer a threat.
Yet that only frustrated it more.
Because Uranos knew, although Guldon could never defeat it, it also had no way of defeating Guldon.
If they wanted to decide a winner, they would probably have to fight for dozens of days.
Unlike the hot-tempered Guldon, Uranos, being made of stone, was naturally calmer.
Because it was intelligent, and once its clever brain realized this, it no longer wanted to fight Guldon.
In the end, all six glowing eyes locked onto Viktor.
The six shining eyes once again focused on Viktor together.
After reaching that conclusion, Uranos slowly began to move.
It had decided to kill this human before it, insignificant as dust yet posing an enormous threat.
But just as Uranos moved, a terrifying bolt of lightning suddenly crashed down from the sky.
A thick purple-black lightning bolt struck directly in front of Uranos, and the terrifying impact brought its advance to a halt.
Faced with the sudden lightning strike, Uranos felt a trace of confusion.
Its six eyes flickered intermittently as it searched for the source of the attack.
At that moment, Guldon, buried deep in the earth, opened its jaws and blasted a pillar of blazing fire straight at the turning Uranos.
The pillar of fire itself wasn't much of a problem.
But just as the flames erupted, a chaotic hurricane suddenly swept through the sky.
The surging air currents carrying white dust instantly wrapped around the entire pillar of fire.
The expanding flames became even larger than before, and propelled by the wind, their speed increased severalfold.
The terrifying blaze tightly engulfed Uranos, baking the black rock covering its body until it glowed red.
Rain poured down from the sky onto Uranos. As it struck the glowing rocks, thick white smoke burst forth, accompanied by clouds of steam and loud hissing.
Uranos raised one of its slightly reddened stone arms to block the overwhelming flames while looking up toward the cloud-covered sky.
Facing threat after threat, confusion rose within Uranos once again.
There seemed to be... more than one existence carrying the same presence as itself.
So it raised its head and saw the two beings at the horizon.
Beneath the dark clouds, rays of light pierced through the skies from the eastern and western sides of the royal capital.
As the layers of clouds rolled, two dragons swam among them.
The first possessed a body surging with violent winds.
Its enormous, slender body covered in black scales twisted through the sky, stirring fierce storms all around it.
Beneath the heavy gloom appeared the furious eyes of a dragon.
[Wind Calamity: Doragon]
[Lv.60]
At the same time, the enormous body on the opposite side churned the clouds, revealing flashing lightning and the black dragon hidden within them.
The dragon with pitch-black wings swept through the clouds, stirring thunder of overwhelming power.
As the clouds surged, a pair of enormous eyes crackling with lightning slowly emerged from the chaotic sea of clouds.
Above the royal capital, it was as though a purple-blue spear had pierced through the clouds.
[Lightning Calamity: Riles]
[Lv.60]
With the arrival of these two Calamities, the sky grew even darker.
Terrifying natural disasters raged in every direction. Torrential rain continued to fall, and the air became increasingly oppressive.
Suddenly, a deep blue tidal wave tore through the heavy air as the terrifying force of raging water crashed down from the sky.
Tons of raging water crashed down onto Uranos's cracked body.
Fire and water collided, covering the Earth Calamity in thick white smoke.
Under the impact of extreme heat and sudden cooling, even the hardest rock became incredibly brittle.
Bang!
Uranos's enormous arm trembled slightly, but it remained raised in the air.
The rain fell even harder, and even the rain passing over the royal capital carried a hazy white mist.
Within that mist, a gigantic azure figure slowly appeared.
Its enormous fins seemed to beat against the air itself. Riding the rainstorm like a swimming fish, its massive blue body emerged.
"Woooo!"
A deep whale's cry echoed out, and terrifying shockwaves exploded through the surrounding air once again.
[Water Calamity: Dozale]
[Lv.60]
Under the fierce assault, Uranos's body trembled as sharp stone spikes erupted from the ground, trying to pierce the whale swimming through the sky.
But at that very moment, endless flowers and lush grass sprang from the dried earth.
Like a magnificent hanging garden, countless vines stretched upward and intercepted every stone spike in midair.
Beside Dozale, an enormous flower bud slowly rose from the ground, its giant petals gradually blooming outward.
From within the flower emerged a vibrant green body full of life.
Its compound eyes shimmered with emerald light as lush green vines overturned the surrounding earth.
[Wood Calamity: Druja]
[Lv.60]
The erupting vines quickly climbed over Uranos's body, wrapping around its limbs and restricting its movements.
At that moment, Guldon, buried in the ground, let out a roar as lava surged beneath its feet, lifting it out of the earth.
Its furious roar echoed in every direction. The flames covering its body burned even hotter, and the blazing sun above became even more chaotic.
The swirling flames completely ignited the vines wrapped around Uranos's body, triggering an even more terrifying explosion.
[Fire Calamity: Guldon]
[Lv.60]
When the smoke finally cleared, the towering Uranos stood wrapped in layer after layer of flames, its enormous body baked until it glowed bright red.
It remained standing firmly upon the earth, its six eyes flashing intermittently as it stared at the five colossal beasts before it, all born from the same source as itself.
Suddenly, another immense sandstorm swept up, the raging tide of sand and stone threatening to tear everything apart.
Covered in dust, Uranos's earth-brown body gleamed faintly under the grinding sandstorm.
The black rocks fused together even more tightly, becoming even harder to break.
At this moment, even the collision of flames and torrential rain seemed unable to do much harm to it.
By then, Erica in the sky seemed to have completed everything she needed to do.
The color gradually faded from her body as she slowly fell from the sky.
In the end, Viktor steadily caught her once more.
Holding the limp Erica in his arms, he looked up at the now even more powerful Uranos.
[Earth Calamity: Uranos]
[Lv.70]
[HP: 50%]
Looking at the opponent's long health bar, now reduced by half, as though victory had already been decided, the corner of his mouth curved upward.
"Why would you think..."
"...that in a battle where I can gang up on you,"
"I have to fight you one-on-one?"