The wind still howled.

Scorching sand whipped into spirals, swirling around Ethan like a living thing.

He hovered high above the battlefield, golden-red light streaming from his palm—the last of his power, drawn tight and burning hot.

The Lizardman staggered in the distance.

His armor was cracked all over, lightning flickering through the fractures like dying serpents writhing in their final throes.

He gasped for breath, chest heaving, the light in his eyes beginning to flicker.

Ethan's gaze was ice.

"So this… is your limit."

He raised the Scepter of the Fey Sovereign.

A low hum answered.

The runes etched along the staff flared to life, dozens of beams weaving together midair, forming a radiant bow. The string pulsed like a heartbeat, tugging at the air with a shrill, vibrating whine.

This time, Ethan didn't hesitate.

He drew the bow—energy surged into the arrow like a tide crashing backward.

The air thickened with golden-red mist, heat shimmering through it. Flame born of blood and spirit.

"Fwoosh—!"

The arrow tore through the sky like a meteor.

The Lizardman roared, raising both axes to block—but this time, his strength couldn't keep up.

BOOM.

Light and thunder collided, swallowing him whole.

The air detonated into concentric rings, the shockwave ripping across the desert in a roaring tide of sand.

When the dust finally cleared, the Lizardman's body had been hurled hundreds of feet.

Crack—crack—

His armor shattered completely, breaking into a rain of metal shards that clattered down from the sky.

He screamed—a raw, ragged sound that the wind shredded to pieces.

His exposed flesh gleamed wet and strange under the sun.

Ethan didn't stop.

In a blink, he was there—right in front of him.

"This ends now."

His fist came down.

WHAM—!

No flash, no flourish—just raw, crushing force, like a mountain collapsing.

The impact kicked up a tidal wave of sand, the air itself warping from the pressure.

The Lizardman's body was launched like a ragdoll, slammed deep into the dunes.

The ground caved in, forming a massive crater. Dust exploded upward in a towering plume.

Ethan hovered above it all, eyes cold as forged steel.

"To me, you were nothing but a grain of sand in this desert.

From the moment you appeared, your fate was sealed."

He extended a hand.

Golden runes flowed from his palm.

"Die."

BOOM.

A flash of light.

The Lizardman's body exploded instantly—flesh and bone turned to ash, scattered on the wind.

And with it came a surge of energy, rushing into Ethan's core—the victor's reward.

His blood roared in his veins. His power climbed another half-step.

Ethan drifted down to the ground, exhaling slowly.

The hot wind hit him full in the face, carrying the scent of rust and blood.

He turned to the army behind him.

"Form ranks," he said quietly. "We're leaving."

The soldiers moved at once. The dust in the air began to settle.

But just as Ethan turned—

The ground trembled.

Boom… boom… BOOM—

A vast, indescribable force stirred beneath the sea of sand.

Grains lifted into the air by the millions, swirling, spinning, coalescing.

In seconds, the sky darkened beneath a massive shadow.

A Sand Colossus.

Its body was made of living sand, constantly shifting, reshaping itself with every breath.

Its eyes—if they could be called that—were hollow, pitch-black voids, bottomless and still.

The earth groaned beneath it.

BOOM—RUMBLE RUMBLE—

The desert rolled like an ocean, and the sky tore open under the weight of rising dust.

The sound came from deep below, low and thunderous, carrying the weight of something ancient and unstoppable.

Ethan looked up—and his pupils contracted sharply.

From the heart of the desert, a mountain was rising.

No… not a mountain.

A man.

A giant, forged from sand, shattered stone, and flowing light, slowly taking shape.

It had no bones, no flesh—only sand, breathing like a living thing.

With every breath, the air itself trembled.

—The Sand Colossus.

Ethan's throat tightened.

"All units, fall back!" he barked.

Dozens of figures scattered at once—Fairies, Dragonkin, and others moving in perfect sync.

But just as they began to retreat—

Space collapsed.

The air crumpled like paper in a giant's fist. The boundary between sky and sand cracked with faint golden fissures.

Their escape route was gone.

Ethan's brow furrowed.

"Spatial lock…"

He looked up at the towering shadow of sand.

The Sand Colossus loomed silently over them, faceless, eyeless.

Its presence alone felt like a world without mercy.

"It's not alive," Ethan murmured.

"But it moves—like the will of Layer 21 itself."

Elira stepped forward, eyes steady.

"Let me try."

Before Ethan could stop her, she spread her wings.

Behind her, the phantom of the Skytear Demon Moth unfurled, vast and luminous.

It dissolved into a swarm of butterflies made of light, streaking toward the sky.

For a moment, the world was bathed in violet-gold brilliance.

But then—

WHUMP—!

No clash. No resistance.

The light vanished the instant it touched the giant's chest—swallowed whole, without a trace.

Not even an afterimage remained.

Elira was hurled back hundreds of feet, crashing hard into the sand. Her face had gone pale.

Ethan caught her mid-fall, his eyes flashing cold.

"That's enough."

His voice was iron.

"This thing isn't a creature. It's the core of this layer's world. Only I can face it."

He set her down gently, then swept his gaze across the battlefield.

"All units—hold position. No one approaches without my command."

He raised the Scepter of the Fey Sovereign.

Light gathered in his palm, gold and crimson energy surging along his veins.

And then—

Ethan became a streak of light, shooting skyward.

Straight at the Sand Colossus.

As he neared the towering form, the air around him warped violently.

A repulsion field.

Anything that came close was flung away by space itself.

Ethan grunted, his body jolted backward by the force.

He forced himself upright, gripping the scepter with both hands.

Energy condensed into a furious sphere.

BOOM—!

The golden-red orb slammed into the sand barrier like a meteor.

Air detonated. The desert roared.

The repulsion field shattered into a web of glowing cracks.

Ethan surged forward, piercing into the giant's chest.

And in an instant—he was somewhere else entirely.

Walls of flowing sand surrounded him.

Light fractured into a thousand shards.

Every grain pulsed with energy, each one a tiny sun.

This wasn't a body.

It was a world.

A system window blinked into view:

[Target: Sand Colossus]

[Status: Primordial Force Aggregate]

[Warning: This entity has absorbed all energy from Layer 21. Structural stability—98%.]

...