Ethan slammed into the demon again, the impact detonating through the air like a thunderclap. The sky itself seemed to shudder. Space rippled and cracked around them, as if the world couldn't bear the weight of their clash.

Below, the old man's eyes burned with a fierce, unwavering light. His voice, low and rough with fury, cut through the chaos. "That damned demon… it's slaughtered so many of our kin. Drove us into the dirt, forced us to survive like rats in the dark. If we don't act now, even that pitiful existence will be gone."

He paused, then turned to the Fairies still kneeling in the dust. His gaze was hard, resolute—there was no room left for fear. "The Fairy God has returned. Now is the time. Give her everything you have!"

His jaw clenched, rage and resolve twisting in his expression. "Kill that thing. Make it pay. We can't let it keep tearing through our world."

The Fairies looked up, one by one. Their eyes met his—and in them, the same fire began to burn.

They knew the truth. There were only two paths left.

One: be devoured by the demon, their bodies torn apart, their essence consumed.

Two: keep hiding, keep running, until their strength ran dry and they withered away in silence.

Neither was acceptable.

"We're out of time," one Fairy growled, trembling with adrenaline. "If we're going to die, we'll die fighting!"

A ripple of resolve swept through the crowd. They rose—not with the strength of warriors, but with the fury of the desperate. Their power was small, but their will was iron.

BOOM.

BOOM.

The ground shook with their awakening. The air thickened, heavy with pressure.

Then, all at once, the Fairies unleashed their energy.

It surged upward in a single, blinding mass—a radiant sphere of light that shot into the sky like a comet, straight toward Ethan.

The moment it struck him, his body lit up.

The energy wrapped around him like wildfire, searing through every nerve. His skin burned, his blood boiled—he could feel it, every cell igniting with raw power.

But with the pain came strength. His muscles tightened, bones hardened, senses sharpened. He could feel himself expanding, evolving—becoming something more.

Above, the battle had reached its peak. Ethan and the demon were locked in a brutal dance, each blow shaking the heavens. Every strike bent the air, every clash sent shockwaves tearing through the valley.

It was a deadlock. One flicker of imbalance, one breath too slow, and it would all be over.

And then—just as Ethan felt himself slipping, the demon's force pressing down like a mountain—something surged inside him.

A flood of power, sudden and overwhelming. It hit like a second wind, but deeper, more primal. It wasn't his.

It was theirs.

The Fairies.

They were giving him everything.

He barely had time to process it before something else caught his eye—something that stopped his breath cold.

The Fairies weren't just channeling energy.

They were cutting themselves open.

One after another, they sliced their wrists, letting their lifeblood spill into the air. The blood didn't fall—it hovered, glowing, forming crimson orbs that shimmered with magic and sacrifice.

And then they hurled them skyward.

The blood spheres rose, burst into radiant motes, and sank into Ethan's body.

His power exploded.

It wasn't just a boost—it was transformation. His blood roared in his veins, his body thrummed with energy so dense it felt like it might tear him apart. His Tier—his very classification of power—shot upward, breaking through its previous limits like glass under a hammer.

He wasn't just stronger.

He was something else entirely.

BOOM!

The sky cracked open with the roar of Ethan's rising power. Energy surged through him like a tidal wave, building with every heartbeat, until it felt like the very air was buckling under the weight of it. No enemy could stand against this pressure—none.

The demon felt it too. Its eyes narrowed, a flicker of disdain passing through them before it let out a cold, mocking laugh.

"Well, well," it sneered. "Didn't think you had it in you. Getting those Fairies to bleed for you—literally. Not bad. Not bad at all."

Its voice dripped with sarcasm, but there was a sharp edge beneath the amusement.

"But," it continued, voice dropping to a chilling murmur, "let's see how strong you really become… once all that Fairy blood finishes fusing with you. And then—" the demon's grin widened, teeth gleaming like knives—"I'll devour you whole."

As the last word left its mouth, something pulsed in its chest.

A blood pearl—dark, pulsing, unnatural—emerged from the demon's sternum like a tumor. With a twisted smile, it reached up, plucked the orb from its own flesh, and crushed it in its clawed hand.

CRACK.

The pearl shattered with a low, thunderous boom, and a torrent of violent energy exploded outward, flooding back into the demon's body. Its aura swelled instantly, black energy surging like a tidal wave. The pressure it exuded became suffocating, the air around it warping with raw, chaotic force.

But just as it began to channel that power—

Ethan struck.

He shot forward like a bolt of lightning, his hand a blur of motion. With pinpoint precision, he drove his palm straight into the demon's chest—right where the blood pearl had been.

The wound was still fresh, the flesh split open like a door left ajar.

Ethan didn't hesitate. His hand plunged deep into the demon's body, and then—

He unleashed hell.

A blast of energy erupted from his palm, detonating inside the demon like a bomb.

"What?!"

The demon's eyes went wide with shock. It hadn't seen this coming—not this, not now.

The explosion inside it tore through its core, ripping its body apart from within.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

Each blast shattered more of the demon's form, chunks of its body flying in all directions, disintegrating midair in bursts of dark flame. Ethan didn't stop. He hunted down every fragment, every twitching piece of flesh, and obliterated it with ruthless precision.

Only when the last trace of the demon had turned to ash did he finally exhale.

But the battle wasn't over.

Not inside him.

The demon's power—its essence—was flooding into Ethan's body, mixing with the Fairy energy already coursing through him. His Tier surged upward, smashing through its previous ceiling and climbing into the early stages of 23Tier.

BOOM.

BOOM.

BOOM.

The sky trembled with each pulse of his power. The ground cracked. The air shimmered. It was as if a new sun had ignited in the heavens—one made not of light, but of raw, unfiltered force.

The Fairies below could only stare in awe. Then, as one, they dropped to their knees, bowing low before him.

In that moment, Ethan's power reached a terrifying crescendo. It swelled beyond control, spilling out of him in waves that devoured the landscape. The energy was too much—too vast, too wild.

And still, it kept coming.

The Fairies, once fragile and flickering, were now blazing with strength. Their bodies glowed, their eyes burned with purpose. They were feeding him everything they had.

But Ethan's face darkened.

He could feel it—what they were doing. This wasn't just support. It was sacrifice. They were burning their lives to fuel him.

"No!" he shouted, voice hoarse with urgency. "Stop!"

But no one listened.

They had made their choice.

One by one, they opened their veins, letting their blood rise into the air. It shimmered, coalesced into glowing orbs, and shot toward him.

Ethan clenched his fists, heart twisting with guilt. He couldn't let this continue.

He raised his hand—and released a pulse of energy, not to take, but to give.

A wave of power burst from him, laced with the divine resonance of the Fairy God and the savage fury of the Bloodfiend. It swept over the Fairies like a tide.

And something changed.

Their bodies began to glow—not with the light of death, but of awakening.

Their forms expanded, energy bursting from every cell. They weren't dying—they were evolving.

The old man watched, stunned, his voice barely a whisper. "You… how are you doing this? How are you pushing that power into us?"

Ethan didn't answer. He was still in the air, still channeling, still pouring energy into them.

With every motion of his hand, every breath, the Fairies grew stronger.

Moments later, they rose to their feet—no longer trembling, no longer weak.

They stood tall, eyes blazing, power radiating from their bodies like heat from a forge.

They were no longer prey.

They were warriors.

...