Mystic Calling：Stone of Glory

Chapter 1206: After the Empress

The Abyssal Empress’s breathing had turned ragged—so fast it was almost frantic.

Half her body had already been smashed to pieces by Ethan’s relentless blows. The blood-red gem in her chest flickered like a dying candle. The energy constructs she’d been using to patch herself up were long gone, burned clean. What little power she had left could barely keep her from plummeting out of the sky.

For the first time, she truly didn’t know what to do.

Ethan didn’t give her a chance to say another word.

One energy sphere after another came crashing down from above. Transparent lightning coiled around each one, and inside was a brutal mix—Primordial Core power compressed together with the stench of the Infernal Abyss. Every time one of those spheres slammed into the Abyssal Empress, her already-ruined body tore open even more.

Her defenses shattered first.

Then her flesh blew apart.

And finally, even her soul was ripped out by that transparent lightning—dragged into the crackling glow and detonated into nothing.

When the last wave of impact faded, the Abyssal Empress no longer had anything resembling a complete form. All that remained was a nearly transparent mass of energy, floating in the broken sky, its surface stained with the faintest trace of Infernal Abyss aura.

Ethan stared at that translucent remnant, eyes ice-cold.

He wasn’t leaving behind a single loose end.

Transparent lightning erupted from within him again, weaving into a tight net that wrapped the energy mass completely. The lightning contracted inward—sharp, merciless—and the last scraps of transparent energy were blown into fragments, scattering and vanishing into the high sky.

The Abyssal Empress was gone.

Completely.

In that instant, the entire battlefield shifted.

The enemy forces—still attacking like mad only moments ago—visibly faltered. Many of those ghostlike figures had blue gems in their chests that flickered on and off, as if they’d suddenly lost whatever had been holding them up. On Emerald Castle’s side, it was the opposite. Everyone had seen Ethan kill the Abyssal Empress with their own eyes, and their morale shot straight through the roof.

Ethan hung in the air, dragging in breath with what felt like his last strength, and lifted a hand.

A massive golden dragon silhouette condensed above the battlefield.

It coiled up behind him, its claws tearing through the cloud layer as it gathered the remnants of his power into its open jaws. Then Ethan’s arm dropped.

The golden dragon dove—straight into the densest cluster of enemies.

Boom!

The dragon phantom smashed into their ranks, and golden energy detonated outward in all directions. Enemy after enemy was swallowed whole—chest gems cracking, semi-transparent bodies shattering into drifting motes that fell like broken starlight. That single strike erased more than half of them.

With the balance instantly tipping, Emerald Castle’s army didn’t hesitate.

The Fallen Star Guard closed in from both sides. Soldiers in Powered Combat Armor charged into the enemy line with battered plating, refusing to slow down. Above them, the Sky Fortress rained down relentless fire.

It didn’t take long.

The remaining enemy army was wiped clean.

The battlefield finally, finally grew quieter.

Ethan was at his limit.

He hovered in the sky, gulping air, his chest heaving hard. The fight had nearly hollowed him out—his flesh and meridians mangled, damage stacked on damage. If he hadn’t forcibly absorbed so many energy cores earlier—if not for the lingering healing power inside that special crystal embedded in him—he probably wouldn’t even be able to stay conscious right now.

Even so, he was barely holding on.

Just as Ethan prepared to descend—

A strange figure appeared in the deepest part of the sky.

Violent energy spilled from that body, sweeping over the battlefield that had only just calmed. The air trembled again, and the spatial rifts they’d forced shut began to spread open once more.

Ethan’s pupils tightened.

If another enemy showed up now...

He’d die here.

At this point, he didn’t have a choice. He yanked out a pile of energy cores and slammed them into his body again. Rampaging power flooded his flesh. His already-broken body responded with a fine, horrifying crackle—as if something inside him was splintering.

But his aura still, forcibly, climbed.

The next second, the newcomer came fully into view.

The energy pouring off him was absurdly violent. Set into his chest was a transparent object—like a glass-cast container. Inside that container floated a round little sphere, its surface rippling with intense light. The pressure rolling off it was so domineering the surrounding space actually shuddered.

Ethan steadied his breathing, forcing the churning injuries inside him down.

He lifted his hand. The last of his strength gathered in the sky, condensing into a huge energy sphere. It formed unsteadily, arcs of electricity on its surface flickering between strong and weak, but it still hung there—between him and the stranger like a shield.

"What are you?" Ethan demanded.

His voice was still commanding, but the weakness underneath bled through no matter how hard he tried to hide it.

"What are you doing here?"

The man across from him glanced over, expression cold—and didn’t answer.

Instead, he unleashed his power fully. The transparent container in his chest flared with blinding light. The sphere inside spun violently, and a terrifying force poured out, condensing into an energy ball in the newcomer’s palm.

Then he raised his hand and hurled it straight at Ethan.

Ethan’s gaze snapped sharp.

He hadn’t expected the guy to attack without even speaking.

There was no time to think. He shoved his own energy sphere forward.

The two spheres collided midair.

Rumble—!

A violent might exploded in an instant, and the entire sky shattered again. Space—only barely stabilized—was ripped open, countless cracks spiderwebbing outward from the collision point. Turbulent currents roared out of the fractures, scouring across the battlefield below—over rubble, blood mist, and wrecked armor.

The shockwave drove Ethan backward. His chest tightened, nausea rising.

And right then—

A fiery red figure slammed in from the side.

It moved unbelievably fast, wrapped in Infernal Abyss flame energy, and crashed straight into the newcomer. The moment they made contact, scarlet fire erupted, and the man was sent flying back, forcibly knocked away.

Ataneya had appeared at the front of the battlefield without anyone noticing.

She planted herself in front of Ethan, flames roaring around her. Crimson energy twisted together with a Shadow aura, scorching the nearby space into a ring of warped distortion.

The newcomer’s expression finally changed.

He clearly hadn’t expected anyone this powerful to still be here.

Now he didn’t dare underestimate them. He lifted a hand to his chest, grabbed the transparent container, and tore it free. Then he opened it and took out the sphere inside—a red orb.

That thing looked alive.

Its surface pulsed gently, blood-red light flowing within. Each contraction released pure Infernal Abyss energy. It was so dense—so saturated—that if it fully erupted, the result would be terrifying.

Ethan’s breathing hitched.

He’d never seen an energy form this bizarre.

Watching Ataneya step in head-on, his heart tightened.

But Ataneya didn’t even consider backing off.

The tail behind her swung with overwhelming force, and a tide of crimson Infernal Abyss flames poured out across the sky. The fire pressed down from above, sealing off the man’s retreat first—then, along the flow of energy leaking from that red orb, it burned backward toward him like it was tracking the source.

The man instantly threw up a defense.

The red orb’s power slammed into Ataneya’s flames, and the sky erupted into waves of intertwined scarlet and blood-red light. The two forces tore at each other, the blast zone expanding again and again until the remaining spatial turbulence around them was burned clean.

In the span of a few breaths, Ataneya had matched him evenly.

No—

As the clash continued, she began to edge ahead.

Ethan watched, eyes shaking.

In his current state, even he might not be able to steadily suppress this new enemy. Yet Ataneya’s flames kept eating away at the man’s power. With every collision, the red orb’s glow stuttered—brief, chaotic distortions flashing across its surface.

What the hell was going on?

Ethan steadied himself and immediately opened the system, scanning the enemy.

A result flashed back almost instantly.

The power on that man’s body...

It was Sylvan Magic.

No wonder Ataneya had him pinned down so hard.