Ethan saw it instantly—

The Bloodfiend wreathed in crimson flame carried Fairy energy deep inside him.

But that power was shackled, buried so far down it didn't dare rise.

"Not fully fused," Ethan thought, eyes narrowing.

"He's afraid of losing control."

A cold smile tugged at his lips.

"Fool."

He stepped forward.

The ground cracked beneath his foot.

Behind him, golden light surged upward, coalescing into the silhouette of a dragon—massive, radiant, and unlike anything born of a single race.

Its wings were alien, not belonging to any known species. Each scale shimmered with a different rune:

Fey. Bloodfiend. Dragon. Human…

All the symbols of power, woven together into a strange, majestic order.

Ethan's voice rang out, cold as forged steel:

"Every Bloodfiend in this city is an insect to me.

Kneel. Serve me.

Or I'll drain your souls dry."

The air itself seemed to freeze under the weight of his words.

The Bloodfiend hesitated—visibly shaken.

He tried to strike back, but the Fairy energy inside him flared, unstable, clashing violently with his Bloodfiend core.

His body began to tremble, spasming under the internal conflict.

Ethan didn't wait.

He shot forward like lightning, palm slamming into the Bloodfiend's chest.

A surge of devouring force exploded outward.

BOOM—

Gold and crimson light collided midair, a blinding burst.

Seconds later, the Bloodfiend's massive frame began to wither, collapsing inward like a beast hide left too long in fire.

The ground cratered beneath them.

His body crumbled to ash, leaving only a low, guttural hiss that scattered on the wind.

Ethan lowered his hand, gaze cutting toward the looming castle.

The Bloodfiends inside had just burst through the gates—only to see their leader reduced to dust.

They froze mid-charge.

And in that heartbeat of silence, the Fairy army behind Ethan unfurled their wings in unison.

A thousand points of light soared skyward, forming a sea of gold and emerald.

"For our kin!" someone shouted.

"For freedom!" another voice roared.

"Charge!"

Light and blood surged into the sky together.

And beneath the shattered towers of the city, the two forces finally collided—

The impact shook the heavens.

Whether it was Ethan's presence or something else, the Fairies fought like they'd been unshackled. Their power surged, fierce and unrelenting. In no time, they'd stormed the gates.

Ethan's face lit with a flicker of excitement.

And a touch of regret.

If he'd known it would be this easy, he would've brought the entire Emerald Castle army and farmed this dungeon properly.

His own power burst forth, and he dove into the fray.

Since merging with Bloodfiend energy, something in him had turned sharper, more ruthless. He didn't hold back—every strike shattered a Bloodfiend into chunks of meat.

Under Ethan and Feylora's lead, the Fairy army surged through the ruined gates like a tidal wave.

Wings beat the air with thunderous rhythm, and the sky bloomed with a storm of light and blood.

They pushed forward, deeper into the heart of the castle.

Ahead, the Bloodfiend banner flapped in the wind—a symbol of oppression.

If they could tear it down, the order of the Feywild would be rewritten forever.

But just as victory seemed within reach, the sky darkened.

A thunderclap split the clouds, and a bolt of blood-red lightning crashed down, dragging a thick fog in its wake.

The shockwave kicked up dust and grit, forcing the Fairies to stumble back a step.

Then, from the swirling mist, a massive figure emerged.

His skin gleamed like polished metal. His wings were neither the bony spines of a Bloodfiend nor the radiant arcs of a Fairy—they were chaos incarnate, forged from the tangled fusion of both elements.

Each breath he took sent ripples through the air, a resonance of blood energy and arcane light.

"You insects, crawling in from the outside…"

His voice was low and rasping, edged with the screech of grinding steel.

"You dare meddle in this world? Your very existence is filth.

We Bloodfiends are the rightful rulers of this land. These Fairies… are nothing but food."

His words carried a curse-like weight, making the air itself tremble.

Ethan looked up, calm on the surface, but his mind was already racing.

This one's power—balanced.

No longer the wild, unstable blood energy. No longer the fragile light of the Fey.

He'd found the key to merging them.

"So this… is the real trial," Ethan murmured.

He raised his hand. Energy bloomed in his palm, expanding into a sphere.

The golden radiance of the Dragon God swirled with the emerald glow of the Fey Sovereign, forming a spiraling vortex.

At the same time, Feylora rose into the air.

Her bow shimmered into existence mid-flight, but the string held no arrow—only a stream of pure energy, born from the resonance of Fairy life and blood power.

They struck in unison.

Fwoosh—

Two streaks of light—one gold, one green—cut through the sky, screaming toward the towering Bloodfiend.

His pupils shrank.

He hadn't expected this—two forces, perfectly balanced, no rejection, no conflict.

The very stability he'd chased for decades…

Now realized in his enemies.

Rage surged, tangled with fear.

He clenched his jaw and summoned every ounce of power, forming a pitch-black barrier around him. Blood energy and Fey light flowed across its surface, pulsing in rhythm like breath.

"Break!" he roared.

But when Ethan and Feylora's attacks struck—

The shield didn't explode. It didn't even crack.

Instead—

It absorbed the energy.

Like water swallowing light, it drank it in without a ripple.

For a moment, silence.

Then the Bloodfiend's expression shifted—from triumph to confusion.

He could feel it. The energy hadn't been stopped.

It was flowing backward—into him.

"What… what is this—?"

His body locked up.

In the next instant, Ethan and Feylora were already at his sides.

Each placed a hand on his shoulders.

Their palms flared with gravitational force, and the hybrid energy inside him began to unravel—ripped from his core and drawn into their bodies as streams of light.

The air howled.

It was the sound of power being torn away, like fire being sucked into a storm, leaving only scorched ash behind.

The Bloodfiend convulsed, thrashing wildly.

But Ethan could feel it now—this so-called "balance" was a lie.

It wasn't true fusion.

It was segregation.

The two energies had been forcibly partitioned, like prisoners in neighboring cells—quiet on the surface, but seething underneath.

"I see…" Ethan muttered.

"You didn't merge them. You just locked them in separate rooms."

Feylora's voice was ice: "Which means you never really controlled it."

They tightened their grip.

Light exploded.

The Bloodfiend's energy was ripped out completely.

His body unraveled midair, disintegrating into a cloud of crimson dust that scattered on the wind.

Ethan landed softly, his gaze hard.

"What a waste. I thought I'd learn something about true fusion.

Turns out he was just a stitched-together shell."

Feylora descended beside him, her eyes still glowing faintly, breath steady.

"But…" Ethan glanced at his palm, where gold and red light still flickered.

A slow smile curved his lips.

"His energy wasn't bad. Pretty nourishing, actually."

The wind swept across the battlefield again.

The stench of blood began to fade.

A sliver of cold blue sky broke through the clouds.

All around them, the Fairies stared at Ethan and Feylora—

As if looking at gods.

The power they'd unleashed was staggering. Most of the remaining Bloodfiends had already been wiped out. The few survivors huddled in corners, trembling.

...