CHAPTER 744: WINGS OF LIGHT AND SHADOW

Wings unfurled behind him—massive, razor-edged things that shimmered with holy light, yet bled shadows as dark and heavy as sin. The feathers gleamed like blades, each one humming with a power that didn’t belong to any single realm.

Just standing there, he radiated a cold, bone-deep dread that gripped the hearts of even the bravest soldiers.

"You filthy lower creatures..." His voice was a snarl, barely human. "You dare return here?"

It rose into a roar. "Looking to die? This time, I’ll tear you apart with my own hands!"

His fury exploded outward, a shockwave of raw power that rippled through the air.

Then he raised one hand—and in it, energy compressed into a massive sphere, pulsing and unstable. It hovered above him, light swirling inside like a storm trapped in glass. The sky itself seemed to bend toward it, drawn by its gravity.

If that thing dropped—

The entire Emerald Castle army could be wiped out in an instant.

Ethan’s breath caught.

He knew this presence.

This was the same guardian who had driven them out of Sky Citadel all those years ago.

He was back.

Ethan inhaled slowly, forcing his mind into calm. Then he rose into the air, power surging from him in waves.

Idra and Auri stepped forward at the same time, their forms glowing as they merged into Ethan’s light.

Three forces intertwined, layered, and fused—until they became one.

In a flash, their combined aura surged to the peak of Tier 23.

Across from them, the Demon Angel froze. His eyes widened, stunned as if struck by lightning.

"You... you reached that level?!"

The shock lasted only a heartbeat. With a furious roar, he hurled the energy sphere down.

It fell like a star torn from the heavens, a force of pure annihilation.

Ethan didn’t flinch.

He summoned his own sphere, power coalescing in his hands. In perfect sync with Auri and Idra, he launched it upward to meet the incoming blast.

The two orbs collided—

Vmmm—!

The air warped like paper under strain. Fine cracks spidered across the sky above Sky Citadel, as if the heavens themselves were splintering.

At the center of the clash, energy twisted into a vortex, swallowing light, pulling the very air into its core.

Ethan triggered a system scan. Data flickered into view:

Tier: Mid-Tier 23

Race: Demon Angel

Traits: Berserker Instinct, Destructive Magic, Extreme Resistance to Backlash

A legendary hybrid—divine and demonic blood fused into one. A creature born for war, with no natural predator.

No wonder they’d been forced to retreat last time.

But this time...

The fusion of Ethan, Auri, and Idra had pushed their collective power just a tier above him.

Even so—

This was going to be brutal.

BOOM—!

The shockwaves came in relentless waves, each one shaking the 25th floor of Sky Citadel until it teetered on the edge of collapse.

Ethan’s power surged again and again, clashing head-on with the Demon Angel’s. Every impact fractured the space around them—cracks spreading like shattered glass, reality itself groaning under the strain.

And finally, in the Demon Angel’s eyes—fear.

Real, raw disbelief.

"This... this is impossible!" he howled. "You’re nothing but a worm crawling up from the dirt—how could you possibly wield this kind of power?!"

His voice tore through the air.

Then, with a snarl, he reached to his chest and pulled out a deep blue orb.

It spun wildly in his palm, radiating a light that made the soul recoil. Without hesitation, he hurled it at Ethan.

The energy it carried was twisted, sharp, unnatural.

Even a brush with it would be enough to erase someone completely—body, spirit, everything.

But Ethan didn’t even flinch.

He simply lifted a finger—and tapped.

The power within him surged like a tidal wave, crashing forward in an instant and slamming into the Demon Angel’s chest. The impact sent the creature hurtling backward, his wings folding in as he spiraled through the air.

At the same time—

The sapphire orb struck Ethan square in the shoulder.

And did nothing.

Not only was he unharmed, but the orb’s twisted energy was immediately swallowed by the aura surrounding him—contained, suppressed, unraveled.

The Demon Angel let out a furious, disbelieving snarl.

But Ethan was already inside the orb’s structure, dissecting its power from within.

There it was—that unmistakable trace of the Fey Sovereign’s essence.

And Auri, fused with him now, was a true Fairy God.

All it took was a flicker of her origin power, and the Fey Sovereign’s imprint inside the orb began to collapse—subdued, broken down, and finally devoured.

A heartbeat later, the orb’s light reversed course, flooding into Ethan’s body.

His power exploded.

Beams of energy tore skyward like spears of light ripping through the heavens. His aura surged so violently that the entire floor’s energy currents twisted out of alignment, as if the world itself was being pulled toward him.

The Demon Angel’s expression shifted from rage to horror.

Too late.

Ethan raised his hand.

Power gathered in his palm—spiraling, knotting, folding in on itself—until it formed a massive spear of pure force.

He hurled it.

Thoom—!

The spear tore through the air so fast it seemed to vanish.

BOOOOM—!!

The Demon Angel didn’t even have time to dodge.

The spear punched through his chest, detonating inside him. His body disintegrated in a flash of blinding light, reduced to ash before he could even scream.

Only cinders remained, drifting in the air.

Ethan landed softly, exhaling at last.

Last time, he’d barely escaped this creature with his life.

This time, he’d won—clean, decisive, absolute.

He turned, voice ringing out like a war drum:

"Warriors! We’ve taken most of Sky Citadel! The remaining floors hold no true threat! This time—we take it all!"

The army roared in answer, a tidal wave of battlelust that shook the very sky.

Then they surged into the 26th floor.

But—

It was empty.

No lord. No guards. Not even a flicker of ambient power. Just silence—cold, hollow, absolute. Like a world that had been drained dry.

Ethan’s brow furrowed.

Uneasy, but unwilling to halt, he pressed on.

The army advanced floor by floor—and the pattern held.

The 27th.

The 28th.

The 29th...

No one.

No resistance.

Not a trace of magic, not even the echo of a spell.

It was as if someone had swept through ahead of them, clearing everything out.

From the 26th floor onward, every level felt abandoned—silent, sterile, untouched for centuries.

"Something’s wrong..."

Ethan stopped, a chill crawling down his spine.

He realized—

Sky Citadel wasn’t weakening.

Something stronger was gathering its power above.

He opened his mouth to order a retreat—

And the sky trembled.

Like the surface of a lake touched by a fingertip, the air rippled.

Waves spread outward, slow and deliberate, one after another, layer upon layer.

...