The air thickened the moment Indra crossed the shimmering threshold. The world behind him fractured, folding into nothingness like a burnt scroll. Ahead stretched the Abyssal Gauntlet — a labyrinth born of fractured code and raw storm essence, where time bent and space tore like ragged silk. The silence was immediate, oppressive — broken only by a mechanical growl that vibrated through the warped ground beneath his boots.
He moved forward, senses sharpening as an eerie luminescence pulsed from the walls. Shadows took form, twisting into grotesque shapes: numerical ogres, hulking monstrosities formed from tangled digits and glowing fractals, their faces shifting like broken screens. Their heavy footsteps reverberated through the gauntlet, each step a calculated crash of raw power.
Indra didn't hesitate. His fists ignited with electric fury, fingers crackling as he summoned the Mandate of Thunder deep within. Lightning snapped like a whip, carving through the ogres' fractured forms. The monsters howled — a cacophony of distorted static and primal rage — but with each strike, they fragmented and fizzled, digits falling away like dead code.
The gauntlet shifted.
From the shadows leapt the cyber jackals — sinewy beasts with limbs laced in steel cables and eyes flickering with data streams. They circled, snarling metallic teeth glinting. Indra's reflexes danced between lightning-fast strikes and calculated dodges, each movement a blur of storm-wracked grace. He could feel the pulse of the Storm Vein awakening within, amplifying his senses as the jackals snapped and clawed.
But the true nightmare lurked beyond the corridor's curve.
A monstrous roar shattered the labyrinth's eerie calm.
A towering king ogre emerged — a twisted behemoth wreathed in crackling energy, its skin a mosaic of shattered runes and corrupted code. Its eyes burned with cold calculation and brutal hunger. The ground trembled beneath its weight as it advanced, wielding a colossal hammer forged from lightning and shadow.
Indra's breath steadied.
He welcomed the storm within.
The battle ignited.
The king ogre's hammer crashed down with the force of thunderclaps, shaking the very air. Indra leapt, lightning arcing from his fingertips to meet the blow, their collision sparking a brilliant storm of energy. Each strike from the ogre was met with a torrent of thunder — raw power clashing against raw power in a dance of destruction.
He dodged a crushing blow, rolling beneath the giant's legs. His palms glowed white-hot as he unleashed a surge of energy, blasting the ogre's side. The beast snarled, swinging wildly, but Indra's storm was relentless — a symphony of crackling power and precision.
Every heartbeat carried the hum of electricity, every breath a charge building toward the inevitable crescendo.
Finally, with a roar that echoed through the fractured halls, Indra summoned a storm of lightning so pure and concentrated it tore through the king ogre's core. The beast shattered into shards of code and shattered rune fragments, collapsing into nothingness.
Silence fell once more — heavy, victorious.
Indra stood alone, chest heaving, eyes blazing with stormfire.
The Abyssal Gauntlet had tested him.
And he had become its thunder.
With each monstrous foe felled, Indra could feel his very essence expanding — his stats surged, unlocking newfound resilience and abilities. Recovery accelerated, stamina surged beyond limits, and a primal power awakened deep within him — a testament to his growing mastery of the storm's wrath.