Signification #3

Hazle's expression shifted. His eyes widened, and the air around him began to tremble. "You're lying…"

"Of course not." Velyra stepped back. "Now you know. But can you save him in time?"

Hazle suddenly turned away, intending to run—but the ground beneath him solidified, locking his feet in place. Shadowy chains burst from the earth. Velyra laughed again.

"Not that easy, Wind Hero."

Meanwhile, on the other side of the battle, Zeco and Charlotte faced Joker, who stood calmly atop the rubble. The wind carried tension in its whisper. Charlotte had already loaded her slingshot, gripping a thorn-shaped pellet tinged pink.

"Hey, you old purple-haired freak! What shampoo do you use?! Smells like gunpowder or bottled-up grudges?" Charlotte shouted.

Joker merely raised an eyebrow before flicking his hand. A wave of compressed air slammed into them, sending Charlotte flying. Zeco blocked with his katana, but the impact still forced him back several steps.

"You're weak, boy," Joker muttered.

Zeco grinned, blood trickling from his lip. "But I'm not alone."

Charlotte appeared behind Joker, launching a pellet that burst into a net of lightning. Joker deflected it, but his body faltered for a brief second. Zeco saw the opening and struck from the front, his katana slicing through the air.

The battle began to even out. Charlotte kept firing her trap pellets—sleep gas, metal nets, even a gleaming orb that exploded into thick black fog.

"If we die, at least we die in style!" she yelled.

In the distance, Dr. Albert stood atop a cliff, breath still heavy from the evacuation. His eyes were fixed southward, where the sounds of blasts grew louder—not from the sea, but from the land.

He squinted. Smoke was rising. The clang of metal, the clash of weapons, and the roar of war rang clearer with each moment.

"This… is a ground war," he murmured. He glanced around—all the civilians had been saved.