CALAMITY : Legends Of The Chosen

"Black Tempest Rising"

The cracked sky rumbled like a throat about to scream.

Shojiro Momo and Karl Mitsubishi stood on the blood-slick ruins of the Akashi Bridge, their bodies trembling from exhaustion. The stench of burnt demon flesh clogged the air. The entire span of the bridge was painted in gore — a thousand corpses strewn across concrete and rusted steel.

Both warriors bled freely, their breath ragged.

1% Vythra.

That was all they had left.

Shojiro could barely keep his knees locked. Karl's mechanical limbs twitched with strain, sparks flaring at the joints.

And then…

the second Crack opened.

It tore the sky like paper soaked in oil, ripping sideways through reality with a glass-shattering screech. Black void leaked through but this wasn't like before.

Black-winged horrors spilled through. Shriekers with too many mouths and throats that screamed in reverse. Demonic wraiths, crawling upside-down through the air. Armored nightmares with blades for teeth and glowing joints that blinked like eyes.

The world groaned beneath their arrival.

Shojiro staggered back, fists raised in vain. His muscles were torn, his bones barely fused from the last onslaught.

Shojiro (hoarse):

"We're dead…"

Karl (checking his wrist launcher):

"No ammo. No charge. Not even a witty quote left."

Then the sky screamed.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOM.

A sonic cannon of thunder detonated directly above the Crack. The clouds were shredded apart as if peeled back by invisible hands.

Then

A streak of black lightning slammed down from the heavens like divine judgment, vaporizing ten flying demons mid-air. Their wings dissolved. Their screams were silenced.

The entire bridge shuddered under the impact. The air stank of ozone.

Shojiro (squinting into the storm):

"What the hell…?"

Karl (shielding his eyes):

"Wait a damn second…"

From the storm above, through the shredded clouds and electric fog, a figure descended.

Not flew

Descended.

Slowly. Deliberately. Like a god returning to Earth.

He wore a scorched trench coat, flapping violently in the storm winds. His hair blazed with static. And from both of his arms, lightning tendrils slithered like living whips.

The black lightning danced around his body like a storm had taken human form.

MAX CONRAD.

"Yo."

He landed with a CRACK of thunder, kneeling between Karl and Shojiro like a bolt of justice. The shockwave knocked back several of the incoming demons before they could even react.

Without looking, he raised his right hand.

A pulse of lightning erupted outward in a perfect arc — a chain reaction of electrical death that zapped through two dozen demons like dominoes. They turned to dust.

Then, with a snap of his fingers, he launched a spiraling bolt directly into the rift in the sky. The lightning tunneled into the Crack like a drill, destabilizing its dimensional hold.

RIDA (within Karl's HUD, glitching):

"Warning. Energy levels exceed recorded Chosen combat signatures. Unable to classify this combatant. He defies known parameters."

Max turned his gaze upward, eyes glowing silver and filled with skyfire.

He clenched his fist.

BOOM.

The Crack sealed shut.

Reality stitched itself back together.

The remaining demons shrieked and convulsed, violently combusting as residual static surged through their cores. One by one, they exploded into embers.

Silence followed.

The bridge, once teeming with hellspawn, now trembled under the weight of silence — broken only by the gentle patter of ash falling like snow.

Shojiro and Karl stared, stunned.

Max turned around slowly.

Max's Reveal

He walked toward them with casual ease, the wind parting around him. Sparks danced off his coat. His boots left scorched footprints in the concrete.

Scene: Storm Debrief — "Name, Class, Primordial."

The last of the static hissed away as Max cracked his knuckles, the lightning fading slowly from his fingertips. The air was still charged, but calmer now. Blackened clouds pulsed with retreating thunder far above.

Karl leaned back against a cracked support beam, nursing his cracked nanite gauntlet. Shojiro sat nearby, arms dangling over his knees, chest still heaving from the battle. Blood soaked his pants. Their faces were bruised, sweat-soaked.

Max, arms folded and eyes glowing faintly silver, paced before them calm, casual, but clearly observing.

Then he stopped.

Max:

"Alright. Before I throw my full trust into you two... I gotta ask."

He squatted down, elbows on his knees, staring at them dead-on.

Max:

"Are you guys Chosen? Or did I just save two nutcases trying to cosplay as apocalypse survivors?"

Shojiro blinked.

Karl sighed and nodded slowly.

Shojiro:

"...Yeah. Chosen."

Karl (wryly):

"If we weren't, we'd be demon chow hours ago."

Max chuckled softly and pointed a glowing finger at Shojiro.

Max:

"Name. Class. Primordial."

Shojiro paused, wiping his face on his forearm.

Shojiro (hoarsely):

"Shojiro Momo. Class: Brute.

Primordial... Kaiser. Strength."

That name lingered in the air. Even the sky seemed to rumble faintly at its utterance.

Max whistled.

Max:

"Kaiser? No wonder you were cracking skulls like coconuts. That's a heavy name. Big shoes."

He turned to Karl.

Max:

"And you?"

Karl (standing):

"Karl Mitsubishi. Class: Forger.

Primordial: Hephaestus — Lord of Creation."

Max's eyebrows rose.

Max:

"Hephaestus? The Tinkerer God?"

Karl shrugged, his expression neutral.

Karl:

"He made me a walking blueprint with a temper."

Shojiro grunted.

Max grinned.

He stood up, lightning flickering across his shoulders.

Max (mock salute):

"Max Conrad.

Class: Catalyst.

Primordial: Voltraeus — the Storm That Thinks."

He let the name settle like thunder on their shoulders.

Max (with a smirk):

"Guess we're all gods' leftovers walking around with grief and lightning bolts."

Shojiro (softly):

"You ever wonder why us?"

Max didn't answer right away. He glanced up at the dimming clouds, then down at the cracked concrete beneath their feet.

Max (quietly):

"Every god needs a sword they don't mind breaking."

They sat in silence for a moment.

Karl (after a pause):

"So... what now? You sticking with us?"

Max shrugged, letting the storm in his body pulse gently.

Max:

"I've been solo for months. Killing cracks. Shutting them down before the world splits open even more. But you two? You lasted a thousand-demon siege. On foot. With 1% left in the tank."

He looked them both in the eye.

Max (smiling faintly):

"Yeah. I think I'll stick around a while. Just don't get me killed."

Shojiro (smirking):

"No promises."

Karl (nodding):

"Welcome to the team, Thunderstrike."

Max:

"Dibs on group name."

Shojiro (disbelief):

"…Max? Max Conrad? Like, the guy who got deleted on national TV?"

Karl (gaping):

"Bro. You died. I watched that. You were… vaporized."

Max smirked. Lightning crawled across his knuckles, licking the air.

Max:

"Lightning didn't kill me.

It hired me."

He knelt beside them, casually reaching into a pouch to toss Karl a voltage-recharging capsule.

Max:

"Class: Catalyst.

Primordial: Voltraeus, Lord of the Storm.

Died in my element — screaming into a typhoon. Guess the storm screamed back."

His voice carried humor… but behind it was something darker. A hum of barely restrained chaos.

He looked at his hand pale, faintly glowing. The skin was stitched with lightning scars. You could see where his nerves had been burned away and replaced with lightning.

Max (quietly):

"You ever feel your flesh disintegrate? Not burn. Not melt. Shatter. Like your soul was made of glass and the sky punched through it."

Shojiro said nothing. Karl looked away.

Max (grinning again):

"But hey, now I can do this."

He raised both arms. The sky above rumbled on command. Clouds turned. Lightning obeyed.

Max:

"That rift you saw?

I've shut down three of those.

Solo."

Why It Matters

Shojiro, still kneeling, looked up at Max as if seeing the sky in human form.

Shojiro:

"You didn't save us. You… erased everything that was about to kill us."

Karl (in awe):

"You're like if Thor did cocaine and hosted a weather segment."

Max (laughing):

"Close. Except Thor never had to watch his own death replayed with YouTube ads."

He extended a hand. Shojiro took it.

Max:

"Get up. Rest's over. You're not the only ones fighting. Now you've got the storm on your side."

He turned, backlit by the raging clouds above.

And for the first time in hours

Shojiro and Karl breathed.