Mystic Calling：Stone of Glory

Chapter 1192: The Last Reserve

Ethan drew a deep breath.

The next second, he lifted his hand and slammed his palm hard against his own Powered Combat Armor.

Crack!

A dull, heavy click sounded from inside the armor.

The Powered Combat Armor clinging to Ethan began to change. Hairline seams split open across his chest, shoulders, back, and along his waist. A flood of compressed energy burst out through those gaps, swallowing Ethan whole in a surging cocoon of power.

When this suit had been developed, it had been built with a hidden backup power source.

An emergency reserve—meant for the kind of situation you prayed you’d never face.

Once that backup reserve was activated, the entire Powered Combat Armor was essentially being forced into overdraft. At best, it could support another half hour of sustained combat. After that, it would be completely scrapped—no repairs, no saving it.

But at this point, Ethan couldn’t afford to care.

He released every last drop of that hidden reserve.

Boom!

A terrifying force detonated out of the Powered Combat Armor like a dam finally breaking after holding back a raging river for far too long. Transparent lightning, golden runes, Primordial Core energy, and the armor’s stored backup power all churned together—then exploded outward in a sweeping wave that blotted out the world.

The power saturating the heavens and earth spiked to its absolute peak.

Space around Ethan compressed until it collapsed in a chain, one fold after another. Even the air under his feet fractured into concentric rings, split open by the violent pulse. Far off, both armies in the middle of their slaughter instinctively faltered, like something cold had just skimmed down their spines.

The sneer vanished from Azrakar’s face.

He stared at Ethan, and the fingers clenched around his golden greatsword tightened visibly.

This burst of power came with a pressure that felt like it could end the world—and it was several times stronger than Azrakar’s own aura.

Before Azrakar could even steady himself under that annihilating weight, Ethan was already in front of him.

The backup reserve inside Ethan’s Powered Combat Armor was still burning like madness. Every bit of stored power was being forcibly compressed into Ethan’s right fist. Transparent lightning coiled around the outside edge of his knuckles. Golden runes layered on, locking into place. And Primordial Core energy wrapped it all in a dense, crushing shell, so heavy the air itself screamed in a piercing shriek.

The fear on Azrakar’s face finally broke through.

He threw both arms up at once. The blue core in his abdomen flared violently, nirvana power blasting outward along the grooves of his Powered Combat Armor and condensing into a thick barrier in front of him.

The barrier had barely finished forming when Ethan’s fist crashed into it.

Boom!

It didn’t hold.

Transparent lightning tore a gap through the outer layer. The golden runes surged straight into the opening, shaking the structure of the nirvana power until it shattered. Ethan’s punch drove through in one brutal line, punching clean through Azrakar’s shoulder and blowing half his armor—and the flesh beneath—into fragments.

Azrakar screamed as he was launched backward.

Ethan didn’t give him so much as a breath.

Cold killing intent curved at the corner of Ethan’s mouth as he stuck to Azrakar like a shadow and kept pressing. The armor’s backup core thundered nonstop, like a bomb about to detonate at any second, shoving Ethan’s speed and strength higher and higher with every pulse.

The second punch smashed into Azrakar’s chest.

The third tore open the defenses around his abdominal core.

The fourth blew apart the nirvana light he’d just managed to gather again.

Azrakar’s brand-new Powered Combat Armor finally couldn’t take it. Great chunks of plating exploded outward in every direction. Nirvana power tried to repair it again—

But Ethan didn’t give it time to knit.

Transparent lightning spread into a net, dropping over Azrakar’s entire body. Then it drew tight, contracting inward.

Flesh, armor, and energy core ruptured at the same time.

Azrakar’s body was ripped into pieces.

His remaining soul—what little was left—burst out of the shredded gore, trailing a faint, dim strand of nirvana aura as it fled toward the high skies. The soul-shadow was so weak it could barely hold a shape anymore, yet it still struggled desperately, trying to escape Ethan’s reach.

Ethan lifted a hand and snatched at the air.

Transparent lightning whipped out and turned into chains, wrapping around what was left of Azrakar’s soul and yanking it back down out of the sky.

"Trying to run?"

Ethan’s fingers clenched.

Thunderlight erupted. Azrakar’s remaining soul blew apart inside the arcs—shredded into nothing, with not even the slightest chance of coming back.

Once Azrakar was finished, Ethan didn’t pause for even a second.

He looked up.

Lily was still fighting that towering figure high overhead. Snow-white lightning and the phoenix phantom kept slamming into each other, and the sky was already torn open with a dense web of cracks. At that level of power, every extra collision shaved away another sliver of this world’s stability.

Ethan shot forward.

With the armor’s hidden backup reserve activated, the strength he could unleash now was already close to Lily’s. If the two of them teamed up, maybe they could kill the bastard. And even if they couldn’t, they might at least be able to drive him out of this world.

When Ethan reached the edge of the battle zone, he didn’t hesitate.

He brought both hands together in front of him. Every last thread of backup energy still left in his Powered Combat Armor poured into his palms, condensing into a massive sphere of power. Lightning thrashed madly inside it. Golden runes rotated along the surface. Destruction compressed to the limit—then Ethan hurled it straight at the towering figure.

The sudden attack made the man glance over.

He tilted his head slightly, watching the energy sphere smash in from the side—then simply raised his palm and pressed down, almost lazily, in midair.

Ethan’s pupils shrank.

That sphere—formed from the armor’s backup reserve—stopped under the pressure of that hand.

The next instant, cracks spidered across its surface. A more bizarre, more "special" energy forced its way in and dismantled it from the inside out. Transparent lightning peeled away. Golden runes stripped off layer by layer. Even the Primordial Core aura got torn apart—until the whole thing collapsed in midair into scattered motes of light.

Too easy.

So easy it sent a chill straight through Ethan’s chest.

Lily flashed in front of him and shoved him back hard. Snow-white lightning spread along her arm, intercepting the casual aftershock the towering figure pressed down toward Ethan.

"This guy has one of the most special powers in the Infernal Abyss."

Lily’s voice was fast and cold, each word clipped like a blade.

"You’re not his opponent. Get out of the way—now!"

The moment she finished, Lily lunged straight back in.

Behind her, an enormous phoenix phantom rose into view. Snow-white thunderlight spread along its wings, feather by feather, until the entire silhouette looked like it was carved out of storm. The phantom flared its wings wide and slammed head-on into the nirvana phoenix the enemy had formed.

Two phoenixes crossed in the sky, ripping and biting at each other as they collided.

Lightning and nirvana flames detonated nonstop, bursting into the air in blinding, violent blooms.