BOOM!!!

The sky split open with a thunderous crack, and from the gaping wound descended a colossal white phantom, its arrival shaking the very bones of the world.

FWIP! FWIP! FWIP! FWIP!

Ethan shot into the air, energy erupting from his body in a tidal wave of light.

Auri and Idra rose beside him, one on each flank.

Two small figures—yet they blazed like newborn stars going supernova.

They raised their hands in unison, each conjuring a massive sphere of energy, radiant and pulsing with raw power.

The light painted the entire space in a kaleidoscope of color.

Kaelira's scalp prickled.

These three—

They were going up against Vaedoroth. Together.

VMMM!!!

The moment Vaedoroth's form breached the space—

The trio moved as one.

Their combined power surged forward like three furious dragons slamming into a mountain.

BOOOOOOM——!!!

The impact lit the air with a blinding burst.

But—

It only sparked.

Just sparks.

Vaedoroth didn't budge.

Not a scratch on his massive form.

Not even a crack in his skin.

Kaelira's heart plummeted.

That wasn't just defense.

That was the world itself shielding him.

And now, Vaedoroth noticed them.

ROOOAAAARRR—!!

The roar exploded from his chest, a sound that shook the air like a collapsing cathedral.

It was fury. It was contempt.

It was a god waking up angry.

"Pathetic, crawling things…"

His voice was a hiss of frost and fire, like it had clawed its way up from the depths of Inferno.

"You dare trespass in my sanctum?"

"Then I will peel the flesh from your bones and leave you with one truth—"

"Destruction is the only gift I offer."

Kaelira instinctively stepped back.

That wasn't a threat.

It was a promise.

Vaedoroth's entire body began to glow with a ghastly white light.

Within that glow, a massive phantom began to take shape—its form indistinct, but the power radiating from it was enough to freeze the air solid.

The temperature plummeted.

Frost crept across the ground, the walls, even the air itself.

Everything slowed, as if time were freezing along with it.

Ethan looked up.

No fear in his eyes.

Only a calm, unshakable resolve.

He opened his arms wide, as if welcoming something ancient.

And in the next instant—

Auri and Idra dissolved into streams of soft, liquid light, flowing down his arms and into his body.

VMMM—!

Three forces collided inside him, fusing like galaxies crashing into one another.

The slaughter energy he'd absorbed earlier.

The primordial force of this world.

And the divine essence of Auri and Idra.

Together, they ignited.

Kaelira stared, stunned—

Ethan's Tier surged.

In a single breath, he broke through.

26 Tier. Early stage.

The air trembled under the weight of his power. Even Vaedoroth—this ancient, world-born terror—was forced to take a step back.

ROOOAAARR—!!

This time, there was something new in the sound.

Doubt.

"No… Impossible!"

Vaedoroth's voice scraped like metal on stone, laced with fury—and something else.

Panic.

"This is my birthplace! The core of my being! Only I can command the power here!"

"No creature can fuse with it without my will!"

For the first time—

He sounded afraid.

"You… What are you?"

Ethan didn't answer.

He simply brought his hands together, slowly, as if cradling something heavy and unseen.

Then he began to speak—low, rhythmic words in a language Kaelira didn't recognize. The syllables vibrated in the air, making it hum with tension.

VMMM—

A disc of pale white energy formed between his palms.

It spun fast—blindingly fast—its edges so sharp they seemed to slice through the very fabric of the world. Even Vaedoroth's monstrous aura wavered for a heartbeat.

BOOM!!

Vaedoroth erupted.

White energy exploded from his body in a furious wave. He'd been provoked—threatened—and now he struck back.

From deep within his chest, a massive sphere of slaughter energy condensed, then launched toward Ethan like a meteor.

The two forces collided.

Ethan's Energy Disc met the incoming sphere—

CRACK!

The impact shattered the air.

Space itself tore open in jagged lines, like glass under a hammer.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

Each clash was a hammerblow to the sky, and the space around them fractured into a web of glowing cracks.

Even the invisible barrier that had shielded Ethan earlier shattered into nothing.

Kaelira's heart skipped a beat.

Frost bloomed across her skin. Her breath turned to knives in her throat.

"This… this power…!"

She stumbled back, several steps at once, unable to get even an inch closer.

When she finally steadied herself—

Ethan and Vaedoroth were already locked in close combat.

No more distance. No more restraint.

Just raw, brutal force.

FWIP! FWIP! FWIP!

Energy Discs, light blades, searing spheres of power—dozens of attacks crisscrossed the space around them like two stars colliding in chaos.

SSSSHHHHHH—

The shriek of energy grinding against energy made Kaelira's skin crawl.

She clamped her hands over her ears and retreated to the outer edge of the battlefield, barely escaping the shockwaves.

She'd just caught her breath when—

BOOM!!!

The vortex at the end of the stone bridge exploded.

The entire cavern shook, walls cracking, ceiling groaning.

THOOM—!!!

RUMMMMMMBLE—!!!

From the abyss below, crimson energy surged upward like a volcanic eruption, bursting through the ground and flooding the bridge.

Kaelira's pupils shrank to pinpricks.

"What… what is this power?!"

This wasn't ordinary energy.

It was ancient. Twisted. Cataclysmic.

Every tendril of red light carried the weight to crush a monarch in a single breath.

If even one strand touched her—

She'd be vaporized.

FWIP—

She turned to flee—but something in the molten air caught her attention.

A flicker. A whisper.

That power…

She knew it.

It called to her. Not with words, but with something deeper—something that stirred in her bones.

She spun around, eyes wide, and raised her hands.

A soft pink-violet aura burst from her palms, colliding with the rising "lava" in midair.

VMMM—!

And then—

The crimson energy changed.

It shimmered, shifted—then bloomed into a glowing violet hue, identical to her own.

Kaelira froze.

"This… this energy…?"

Her voice trembled.

It wasn't just familiar.

It was hers.

A piece of her—long lost, long buried—was returning.

As if, in some forgotten age, her power had been torn away and sealed beneath the earth.

And now, it was coming home.

Violet runes surged across her skin like a tide, flowing over her shoulders, down her arms, across her back—

And then, at the center of her forehead—

A single violet eye opened.

FWIP. FWIP. FWIP.

The violet energy rushed into her like it had found its rightful master.

Each pulse lit her body from within.

Kaelira gasped.

It was too familiar. Too perfect.

Like rain falling on a land that had thirsted for centuries.

She didn't hesitate.

Didn't fear.

She leapt.

Straight into the violet "lava."

Because it wasn't lava anymore.

It was her sea of power.

...