The ancient symbols continued glowing.
Ryuzen stood in the middle of the stone platform, staring at the pillars around him.
The rain had stopped.
But the sky above Thunder Mountain remained dark.
Clouds twisted around the summit like enormous black serpents.
Lightning flashed inside them.
Ryuzen slowly looked at his hand.
Blue sparks moved across his fingers.
His Electric Eel was reacting again.
“What are you trying to tell me?”
The mountain gave no answer.
Instead—
BOOM!
A powerful thunderclap shook the entire platform.
The ancient pillars trembled.
Ryuzen immediately lowered his body.
His hand moved toward his weighted whip.
Then everything became silent.
Too silent.
The wind stopped.
The thunder disappeared.
Even the clouds seemed frozen.
Ryuzen looked around.
“What’s happening?”
A thin mist began spreading across the platform.
It moved around his feet.
Ryuzen stepped backward.
The mist followed.
His instincts screamed at him.
Something was wrong.
He reached for his whip.
But before his fingers touched it—
The world changed.
Ryuzen suddenly stood in a completely different place.
He was no longer on Thunder Mountain.
He was standing inside the royal palace of Kryptoria.
His eyes widened.
“No…”
The palace halls were exactly as he remembered them.
The massive golden pillars.
The red carpets.
The royal banners.
The throne room.
Everything.
But there was something strange.
There was no one around.
Ryuzen slowly walked forward.
His footsteps echoed through the empty hall.
“Is this…”
He stopped.
A voice came from behind him.
“Ryuzen.”
His body stiffened.
He knew that voice.
He turned.
His father stood at the end of the hall.
The King of Kryptoria.
The Torch Dragon king.
Ryuzen’s fists tightened.
“You.”
His father stared at him.
But this time, there was no anger in his eyes.
Instead, there was disappointment.
“You were always a failure.”
Ryuzen’s jaw tightened.
“I know what you think of me.”
“You embarrassed this family.”
The words echoed through the hall.
“You were born with an Inner Beast that everyone considered worthless.”
Ryuzen said nothing.
His father stepped closer.
“Your brothers became warriors.”
Images appeared behind him.
Kaizen.
Raikou.
Darius.
Aster.
Zayden.
Each stood proudly with their Inner Beast powers.
Then Ryuzen saw himself.
Alone.
Weak.
Covered in bruises.
His father pointed at the image.
“That is what you were.”
Ryuzen’s eyes hardened.
“Was.”
His father stopped.
Ryuzen took a step forward.
“I was that person.”
The illusion changed.
Suddenly Ryuzen was back at the palace courtyard.
He was fifteen again.
His father stood before him.
The entire royal family watched.
The words came again.
“You are no longer my son.”
Ryuzen felt something twist inside his chest.
He remembered that day.
The humiliation.
The anger.
The pain.
The feeling of being unwanted.
His fists trembled.
Then another voice came.
“Do you still want revenge?”
Ryuzen looked around.
Nobody was there.
The voice continued.
“Do you want to return to Kryptoria and make them kneel?”
Ryuzen’s eyes narrowed.
For a moment, he imagined it.
Returning.
Standing before his family.
Showing them his power.
Watching their shocked expressions.
Making his father regret every word.
Making Kaizen understand what he had thrown away.
Ryuzen’s thunder began appearing around his body.
Blue lightning crawled across his arms.
The illusion whispered again.
A sword appeared before him.
Ancient.
Beautiful.
Powerful.
“If you wield it, you can make everyone who rejected you regret it.”
Ryuzen stared at the sword.
His hand slowly moved toward it.
Then he stopped.
“No.”
The illusion became darker.
“Why?”
Ryuzen lowered his hand.
“Because that’s not why I came here.”
The sword disappeared.
The palace vanished.
Ryuzen opened his eyes.
He was standing on the stone platform again.
He was breathing heavily.
His forehead was covered in sweat.
“What…”
He looked around.
The ancient pillars were still there.
The mist was gone.
Ryuzen touched his chest.
His heart was beating rapidly.
“That was an illusion.”
A voice answered from the mountain.
“YES.”
Ryuzen froze.
He looked upward.
“Who said that?”
No answer came.
Instead, the ground beneath him began glowing.
A massive circular symbol appeared.
Ryuzen stepped backward.
The symbol expanded.
Then—
CRACK!
The stone beneath him broke.
Ryuzen dropped.
“WHOA!”
He fell through darkness.
He tried grabbing the edge.
His fingers caught the stone.
His body swung beneath the platform.
“Not again!”
His arms shook.
The weighted whip pulled against his waist.
Ryuzen gritted his teeth.
He remembered his training.
Don’t fight the weight.
Move with it.
He released one hand.
His other hand grabbed the whip.
With a controlled motion, he swung it around a stone pillar.
The whip wrapped around it.
Ryuzen pulled.
His body rose.
He landed on a narrow ledge.
He breathed heavily.
“That mountain really wants to kill me.”
A faint rumble answered.
Ryuzen looked ahead.
A path had appeared.
It led upward.
He stood.
“Fine.”
He continued climbing.
The higher he went, the stranger the mountain became.
There were no more trees.
No animals.
No birds.
Only ancient stone.
Ryuzen passed broken statues whose faces had been destroyed.
He saw old weapons buried inside the rocks.
Some were covered in rust.
Others looked untouched by time.
Then he found something unusual.
A stone wall.
At its center was an ancient drawing.
Ryuzen stepped closer.
It showed a warrior holding a sword.
Lightning surrounded the warrior.
But beneath him were people.
The warrior was standing between them and a giant shadow.
Ryuzen studied the image.
“The sword…”
He touched the drawing.
The ancient symbols glowed.
Then another illusion began.
The warrior disappeared.
The people disappeared.
Only the giant shadow remained.
Ryuzen suddenly found himself standing in darkness.
A massive creature appeared before him.
Its body was made from shadows.
Its eyes glowed red.
Ryuzen immediately reached for his whip.
The creature attacked.
Ryuzen jumped aside.
BOOM!
The ground exploded.
Ryuzen rolled away.
Another attack came.
He blocked with his whip.
The force threw him backward.
He crashed into the ground.
“Ugh!”
The creature charged.
Ryuzen pushed himself up.
Blue thunder exploded from his body.
He struck forward.
BANG!
His fist hit the creature.
But his attack passed through it.
Ryuzen froze.
“What?”
Ryuzen dodged.
He struck again.
Nothing.
He tried the whip.
Nothing.
Thunder.
Nothing.
The creature could not be physically damaged.
Ryuzen realized what was happening.
“This isn’t a real battle.”
The creature stopped.
Its red eyes stared at him.
Then the voice returned.
“WHAT DO YOU SEEK?”
Ryuzen looked at it.
“The sword.”
“WHY?”
Ryuzen answered immediately.
“To become stronger.”
The creature remained silent.
Ryuzen frowned.
Then it asked again.
“WHY?”
Ryuzen hesitated.
He remembered his father.
His brothers.
The palace.
His childhood.
Then he remembered the villagers.
The monsters.
The people who had been helpless.
The times he had been injured but continued fighting.
“I want strength…”
He clenched his fist.
“…so I can protect people.”
The creature moved closer.
“AND IF POWER CAN GIVE YOU REVENGE?”
Ryuzen’s eyes hardened.
“I don’t need revenge.”
The darkness shook.
“YOU ARE LYING.”
Ryuzen’s heart jumped.
The creature suddenly showed him his family again.
His father.
His mother.
Kaizen.
All of them laughing at him.
Ryuzen’s breathing became heavier.
His thunder began growing stronger.
The creature whispered.
“MAKE THEM PAY.”
Ryuzen closed his eyes.
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Then he opened them.
“I won’t.”
The creature attacked.
Ryuzen didn’t move.
The enormous shadow passed through him.
Nothing happened.
Ryuzen understood.
It wasn’t testing his strength.
It was testing his heart.
He turned toward the darkness.
“I can’t change what they did.”
His voice was calm.
“I can’t change the past.”
His blue thunder faded.
“But I can decide what kind of person I become.”
The creature slowly disappeared.
The darkness shattered.
Ryuzen opened his eyes.
He was standing before an enormous stone staircase.
At the top stood a massive ancient gate.
Beyond it, he could feel something.
Something powerful.
Something old.
Something calling to his soul.
Ryuzen walked toward the stairs.
Step by step.
His legs were exhausted.
His body hurt.
But he continued.
When he reached the top, the gate began opening.
GRRRRRR…
Ancient dust fell from the ceiling.
A golden light appeared beyond the gate.
Ryuzen stopped.
His eyes widened.
He could see the silhouette of something floating inside.
A sword.
The weapon Eldran had spoken about.
The weapon created by the Master of Souls.
Ryuzen took one step forward.
Then another.
But before he could enter—
The entire mountain exploded with thunder.
BOOOOOOM!
Ryuzen was thrown backward.
He slammed into the stone.
His ears rang.
Lightning began gathering above the summit.
Thousands of bolts twisted together.
Ryuzen stared upward.
“What is happening?”
The sword inside the chamber began glowing.
The ancient symbols across the mountain lit up one after another.
Ryuzen slowly stood.
His Electric Eel roared inside his soul.
For the first time, he could feel something beyond ordinary thunder.
Something enormous.
Something that seemed to be descending from the heavens.
Ryuzen raised his head.
The clouds above Thunder Mountain began turning blue.
Then—
A single massive bolt of lightning formed directly above him.
Ryuzen’s eyes widened.
“That can’t be…”
The lightning descended.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
And the entire summit disappeared beneath a sea of thunder.