Lightning clawed the sky as Matt stepped through the newly awakened Star Gate. The air shrieked with static.
One blink—no ground beneath him.
He fell.
The world fractured around him. Sky shattered into floating isles suspended in an eternal storm. Broken ruins orbited a monolithic obsidian spire. Arcs of electric fire licked the air. Every wind gust howled like an angry god.
Stormvault.
A realm sealed by the Enternals. Forgotten. Forbidden.
Matt twisted mid-air, igniting Void beneath his boots, and landed on a circular platform circled by levitating monoliths. Sigils flared—forming a temporary bridge.
He ran.
A growl rolled through the clouds.
Something massive moved.
Skybeasts.
Golden-boned leviathans. Wingless. Mouths of pure lightning. War-forged eels of the sky.
Three descended.
Matt didn't run.
The first—he leapt, drove the Shadowsidian Blade into its spine, and rode it downward. It erupted into sparks.
The second:
Void Technique: Rift Fang.
A chain of light lashed from his palm. He yanked. Crashed the beast into runic glass.
Silence.
Then—
"Who dares walk the skies of kings?"
Thunder split the sky.
The obsidian spire's crown parted—lightning forming a throne-cage. Within:
Eight feet tall.
Skin like storm-forged bronze.
Stormfire eyes.
Armor of plated thunder.
Myuthor—King of Thunder.
He didn't move.
Then turned.
"Flame... Reborn."
Matt gripped his sword. "You know me."
"Only your wrath. Only your betrayal. I remember the Exiled Flame. The god who promised freedom. The fool who died."
"I'm not dead."
"Then you're late."
The cage shattered.
The storm king attacked.
---
Combat Sequence: Duels and Memory
Myuthor hit like a falling god.
Matt blocked—barely. His blade sang but did not cut.
Every counter was met with thunder and dominance.
Matt bled.
Void Level: Rising. Corruption: 42%.
The voice whispered: "Let go. Burn the sky."
Void Surge Activated: Phase Shift.
Time fractured.
Matt reappeared mid-air.
Void Technique: Starfall Execution.
He fell like a comet.
His blade pierced stormsteel.
Myuthor bled—not lightning, but blood.
"You're still him," Myuthor whispered. "But angrier."
He grabbed Matt and hurled him skyward.
They clashed above the isles—axe versus blade, Void versus thunder.
They fell. Together.
And crashed into the Stormheart.
---
Resolution: Mercy in the Ash
Both lay bleeding.
Matt rose first.
"I came to awaken you. Not kill you."
Myuthor blinked.
"Mercy… to a traitor?"
"I know what it's like to be betrayed by gods."
The storm king knelt.
"I will follow the flame again. One last time."
---
Unlocks + Transitions
Stormvault Unlocked.
Thunder King Awakened.
New Technique: Stormpulse Core.
Starmap Update:
A sea of molten bones.
Namgari – King of Fire.
And the Void whispered:
"Your throne draws near."