Ethan's pupils contracted sharply.

That low, eerie laughter still echoed from beyond the cave—

But he could feel it now.

The power. Drawing closer with every heartbeat.

The air trembled.

Even the stone walls began to shed dust and pebbles, shaken loose by the pressure.

A force beyond words punched through the energy barrier and slammed into his body, like a thousand-ton hammer rampaging through his insides.

"Shit…"

Ethan clenched his teeth, cold sweat sliding down his temple.

This wasn't ordinary pressure. It was a presence that could tear a soul apart.

A few seconds more, and his body would've ruptured under the sheer violence of it.

Instinct took over.

He thrust out both hands and unleashed his full power.

Auri and Idra's forms dissolved into twin streams of light—

Warm as starlight, they surged into his chest.

The boundaries of his soul melted away. Three distinct energies collided inside him, fusing in a storm of raw force.

In that instant, the world split open.

BOOM—!

The cave exploded into rubble.

A pillar of searing light shot skyward.

Stone shards and fire spiraled through the air like a meteor shower in reverse.

Ethan hovered in midair,

A massive halo of energy spinning around him,

Light and shadow roared at his back, writhing like living things.

And from the darkness beyond, the Archdemon Wyrmgod emerged.

Its colossal body dragged black fire in its wake, eyes like twin abysses.

When those eyes locked onto Ethan—

Its face—or rather, the scaled, demonic mask it wore—twisted in disbelief.

"Impossible!"

Its voice was a guttural snarl that cracked the air itself.

"How can you contain that power…? Dragon God essence? Fairy God resonance? And… so many elemental laws!"

Ethan's aura kept climbing.

Light rippled from beneath his feet, spreading like waves across a still lake.

He smiled faintly, voice calm to the point of cruelty. "My power was never meant to fit into one mold.

Dragon, fairy, or whatever hellspawn you are—

If it's power, I can devour it."

In that moment, his eyes burned like starlight in the night.

But deep down, he knew the truth.

—This thing was stronger than he'd imagined.

Even with Auri and Idra's souls fused into his own,

Even with every energy channel in his body boiling over,

That towering presence still loomed above him—

An ancient demon god, gazing down on all life.

Ethan froze.

That presence—closer now.

Like a storm awakened, surging from the far end of the abyss.

His heartbeat spiked.

Without thinking, he pulled his energy tight and blinked to the edge of the sky.

Behind him, the night tore open. Starlight was sucked into the churning current of power.

He raised his hand and summoned the weapon forged from his will—

The Scepter of the Fey Sovereign.

Emerald-gold light burst from its tip like a lightning strike, splitting the heavens wide.

At that moment—

The massive shadow in the distance stirred.

The Archdemon Wyrmgod's eyes flared blood-red, twin furnaces of hate.

A low, guttural growl rumbled from deep in its throat, like magma boiling beneath the earth.

Then, without warning, it reached into its own chest and tore something out—a blood-red orb, pulsing with a heartbeat that didn't belong to any living thing.

Condensed life. Pure malice. A core of wrath and vitality twisted into one.

With a cold, feral grin, the demon hurled it.

The orb streaked across the sky, trailing a crimson tail like a comet of blood.

The air warped in its wake. Space cracked and splintered, fracturing like shattered glass.

BOOM—!

BOOM—BOOM-BOOM—!

Ethan barely dodged in time.

His body blurred into a streak of motion, slipping through the shockwave as the explosion tore the sky apart.

Heat licked at his cloak, flames blooming around him like wildflowers in a storm.

"Too close…" he muttered through clenched teeth, then swept his arm forward.

The Scepter of the Fey Sovereign rang out with a thunderous hum.

Beams of energy laced the air, weaving into a radiant formation above him.

Then came the surge.

A force like collapsing stars erupted from within him, a tidal wave of gold and green that roared toward the Wyrmgod.

But the demon only tilted its head.

Its lips curled, revealing rows of jagged fangs.

"Foolish mortal—"

It stepped forward.

The ground split open beneath its foot.

From the void, black tendrils of energy slithered out, coiling around its legs like living things.

And then—

The coldest power erupted.

A force that devoured light itself.

In an instant, Ethan's energy tide was shredded, swallowed whole.

Space buckled and tore, black cracks spiderwebbing through the air like ripped cloth.

A deafening roar filled Ethan's ears.

The shockwave hurled him back hundreds of feet.

"Goddamn it—" he growled, breath ragged.

No time to hesitate.

He gathered his strength again.

Starlight pooled in his palm, condensing into a brilliant core of energy—

A glowing sphere, swelling fast, like a newborn star about to fall.

He flung it with a sharp thrust of his arm.

BOOM—!

The light sphere collided with the demon's black flame midair.

For a heartbeat, the world held its breath.

Then—

Detonation.

The explosion ripped the sky apart, a thunderclap that flattened mountaintops and set the air ablaze.

Ethan was thrown like a ragdoll, slammed backward by the shockwave.

He hit the rebound of the air current hard, barely managing to stabilize himself.

Chest heaving, he hovered in the scorched sky.

The scepter in his hand still glowed faintly.

He looked up—through smoke and ash—to the towering silhouette still standing.

A warning.

And a declaration.

This fight—

There was no turning back.

The air screamed as it tore open.

The Archdemon Wyrmgod's roar shattered the heavens.

Energy surged around its body, coalescing into a massive sword forged from blood and fire.

The blade radiated pure destruction as it came down, aimed straight at Ethan's scepter.

"—!"

The impact was deafening.

CRACK—CRASH—

Light and shadow collided, sparks flying in every direction.

The Scepter of the Fey Sovereign let out a mournful cry.

The weapon that had fought beside him through countless battles cracked at the tip—then split, then shattered completely.

It dissolved into a thousand motes of light, vanishing into the wind.

...