Chapter 311: Ten Minutes

The enormous lightning formation filled the sky. Sera raised her shield. Raze gripped Ruinbreaker. Mira readied her weapon. Lily watched the network readings, Elden activating emergency defenses in sequence.

Then Kai noticed something wrong. The lightning wasn’t moving toward the city at large.

It was moving toward him.

"...It’s coming here," he said.

"What?" Sera followed his gaze upward, the enormous formation bending slightly, tracking his position.

"You are the target," Tiamat said.

His expression sharpened. "The City Leader."

"Yes."

He looked at the hunters around him. "Everyone, move!"

They scattered instantly. Sera dragged an injured hunter clear. Raze leaped backward. Mira retreated toward the nearest defensive zone.

Kai stayed put. The lightning descended.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The entire district vanished beneath crimson light.

For several seconds nobody could see anything through it. "Kai!" Sera shouted.

The light faded slowly, revealing a massive crater, smoke rolling off shattered stone. A figure walked out of it. Kai, clothes torn, one shoulder scorched, blood running down his arm.

Standing.

Sera exhaled. "You’re alive."

He looked down at himself. "Apparently."

"You were struck directly," Tiamat said.

"I noticed."

"You should have moved."

"I didn’t exactly have time."

"You had enough."

He laughed. "I’ll remember that next time."

"There will be a next time in approximately three seconds."

His smile vanished. "...What?"

Another bolt formed overhead, bending toward him immediately.

"...You’re kidding."

BOOM!

He Air Stepped clear, the strike hitting empty street. He reappeared several meters away, and another bolt formed instantly.

BOOM!

Another.

BOOM!

Another. He kept moving, Air Step, dodge, leap, slide, the lightning crashing behind him every time.

Raze watched from a defensive position. "Is it actually chasing him?"

"Looks like it," Mira said.

"That’s insane."

"It’s not funny," Sera said, worried.

Raze’s smile disappeared. "...Yeah."

Kai realized it mid-dodge, stopping cold, and the next bolt changed direction to compensate. "It really is following me."

"The City Leader is the anchor," Tiamat said.

"So if I’m the target, the storm isn’t attacking the others as much."

"Correct."

He smiled. "Then I know what to do."

"Lily."

"I’m here."

"The storm is following me."

"We’ve noticed."

"Then use me. Draw the major strikes away from the city."

She understood instantly. "You want to bait it."

"Exactly."

He started running through the streets deliberately, guiding it toward heavily fortified sectors, then empty lots, then already-damaged districts, keeping the strongest hits away from anything that mattered.

"He’s redirecting the storm," Lily said, watching.

"He’s turning himself into a moving target," Elden said.

"And keeping the strongest attacks away from the city," Mira added.

"That’s dangerous," Sera said quietly.

"Very," Lily agreed.

BOOM!

A bolt tore through the street behind Kai.

"Missed," he called out.

"Barely," Tiamat said.

"Barely still counts."

He stopped suddenly, something feeling wrong. The air beside him bent, a tiny crimson crack forming.

"...What?"

SHING!

A thin crimson lightning spear pierced through it, and he twisted, narrowly avoiding his own chest. Another crack opened behind him. He ducked. A third formed underfoot, and he jumped clear as it tore through the pavement.

"It can do that?"

"The weaker attacks can pierce space."

"The weaker attacks?"

"Yes."

He laughed. "...Great."

More cracks opened, one near his head, one at his back, two overhead, three along the street, none of them tracking him directly.

Predicting him.

"It’s predicting me," he said.

"Then stop being predictable."

He grinned. "That’s something I’m good at."

He broke his own rhythm, turning suddenly, jumping, stopping, sidestepping, Distortion pulling him subtly toward the safest paths. Attacks kept appearing where he would have been, missing every time.

"There."

Another appeared, and he ducked. Another, and he twisted. Another, and he raised the Fractured Blade.

CLANG!

The crimson spear split apart.

He stared at the blade. "...I can cut them."

"Obviously."

He sighed. "You really need to work on how you explain things."

He stopped just surviving and started attacking outright. A crack opened.

SLASH!

Destroyed. Another.

SLASH!

Another.

SLASH!

His movements grew controlled, precise, Distortion guiding his sword toward the weakest point of each strike.

"He’s getting used to it," Sera said.

"Fast," Mira added.

"That’s Kai," Raze laughed.

A much larger attack formed, and Kai raised his hand, Storm Authority activating, wind spiraling around him. He didn’t try to destroy this one, bending the air around it instead, the bolt curving away and crashing into an empty section of the city.

BOOM!

"That worked."

"Barely."

"Still worked."

"You are forcing the Authority."

"I’m learning."

"Slowly."

He laughed. "I’ll take it."

While he kept drawing fire, the city held. "Major strike concentration around Kai is seventy percent," Lily reported.

"And the city is holding," Elden confirmed.

"Injuries only in the outer sectors," Mira added.

"Healers keeping pace," Sera said.

Lily checked the report.

[City Infrastructure Integrity: 91%.]

She smiled. "We’re doing better than expected."

"Because the system’s working," Elden said.

"Because everyone is," Lily corrected.

The storm’s aim started sharpening.

"It is adapting," Tiamat said.

"Then I’ll change again."

Kai stopped moving entirely. The storm prepared to strike, and a crack opened. He moved toward it deliberately, the attack missing, twisting around it before cutting it apart.

Tiamat went quiet.

"Got you."

Another appeared, and he moved differently again, Distortion pulling him through, the storm missing once more. He kept breaking his own pattern faster than it could adapt to.

The clouds compressed further, the wind intensifying.

[Environmental Stabilization — 89% Load.]

Then [93%.]

Then [95%.]

Lily’s eyes widened. "It’s getting stronger."

"How long?" Elden asked.

She checked the timer.

[Red Storm Duration: 8:42.]

"Less than two minutes."

"Then we survive two more minutes."

"...I hope that’s enough."

Across the city, exhausted hunters held their positions, barriers cracked, relays running hot. "How long?" one asked.

"A little over a minute."

"We can do a minute."

"We’ve done worse."

Raze called out, "Everyone still alive?"

"Mostly!" someone shouted back.

"Good enough!"

"Don’t encourage them," Mira said, shaking her head.

Kai looked up, and the whole sky had turned crimson, spatial cracks opening everywhere at once, hundreds of them.

"...That’s a lot."

"This is the final surge," Tiamat said.

"How bad?"

"Bad."

"Helpful."

Crimson spears rained from every direction. He moved through them, Air Step, slash, dodge, Storm Authority, blade, Distortion, his movements blurring together. One clipped his shoulder, blood spraying. Another tore across his side.

"Tch."

"You’re slowing."

"Then I need to stop wasting movement."

He shifted tactics again, activating Storm Authority fully, a wind spiral pulling several attacks onto the same trajectory at once, then swinging.

SLASH!

Multiple attacks destroyed in one motion. Another cluster formed, and Distortion pulled him through the optimal gap.

SLASH!

SLASH!

The numbers dropped fast.

"He’s clearing them," Sera said.

"Better," Tiamat said quietly.

"Was that a compliment?"

"Don’t get used to it."

He laughed.

[9:30.]

Kai was breathing hard, clothes torn, blood along his side, still standing.

"Thirty seconds," Lily called.

He looked at the city. Damaged. Standing.

"Everyone. Thirty seconds."

"WE CAN DO THAT!"

"HOLD!"

Weapons raised across every district.

The final attacks came faster.

9:51. Slash.

9:52. Dodge.

9:53. Block.

9:54. Air Step.

9:55. Storm Authority.

9:56. Slash.

9:57. Another crack, cut clean.

9:58. The sky screamed.

9:59. He looked up.

[10:00.]

Everything stopped. The wind died. The lightning vanished. The clouds began dissolving.

Kai stood motionless, then lowered his sword slowly.

"...It’s over."

The crimson faded, sunlight returning. Silence held over the whole city for a long moment.

Then one hunter dropped to his knees. "...We survived."

Another laughed. "We survived!"

"RED STORM IS OVER!"

Cheers spread through the streets, small at first, relief more than celebration, hunters hugging teammates, sitting down where they stood, some just closing their eyes.

Kai walked through Mythal afterward. The damage wasn’t catastrophic, nowhere near what the simulations had predicted. But the storm had left its mark, crimson scars across the roads, burn lines along the walls, deep cracks running through several streets, a few relay towers damaged, a handful of barriers shattered outright.

He touched one crimson mark. It felt strangely warm.

"Those marks will remain for some time," Tiamat said.

"A reminder."

"Perhaps."

He looked across the city. "We survived."

"One."

He looked toward the sky. "Five left."

[Calamity One: Red Storm — Survived.]

[City Leader Survival Condition: Satisfied.]

[Calamity Duration: 10 Minutes.]

Mira exhaled. "One down."

Raze dropped onto a piece of rubble. "Five to go."

"You could sound a little happier," Sera said.

"I’m happy." He grinned. "I’m also tired."

Sera laughed.

Lily and Elden arrived a moment later, Lily already checking her readouts. "We lost several relay nodes."

"But the backup network kept it from becoming catastrophic," Elden said.

"Injuries, but the survival rate’s high," Mira reported.

"Same here," Gabriel said, approaching from the Church’s side.

Kai looked around. Nobody looked happy. Nobody looked defeated either.

They looked like people who’d just survived something enormous.

"Rest while we can," he said.

"You think the next one’s coming soon?" Lily asked.

He looked toward the horizon. "I don’t know."

"Neither do I," Tiamat said quietly.

His expression sobered. "Then we stay ready."

Mythal was already moving again, healers working, engineers repairing towers, hunters checking gear. Nobody celebrated yet, not truly.

Everyone knew Red Storm had only been the first.

Kai looked up at the clear sky, knowing it wouldn’t stay that way.

"Five more."

"Yes."

He smiled faintly. "Then let’s survive the next one."