Chapter 1230: The Black Axe Wakes
Ethan joined the fight, too.
He rose from the mountaintop and floated into the air, the power of the four little girls inside him spinning up at the same time. Different auras braided together deep in his body—no clashes, no backlash. Each one slid neatly into the position it belonged, steadying him like a perfectly balanced framework.
In his left hand, white lightning gathered slowly.
To his right, a gray-blue sphere of light hovered in silence.
The surface of that sphere was almost unnervingly smooth, but inside, layers of heavy force rolled and circulated with a sluggish, crushing rhythm. Ethan looked down at the bottom of the pit. The massive goat was still thrashing, roaring at the sky, magma-breath blasting from its mouth and nostrils as its huge forelimbs clawed at the crater walls, trying to haul itself out.
It managed to climb a short distance—
And the ground around it suddenly heaved and folded back in, as if some invisible hand had decided the pit should close.
Thick rock strata pressed in from every direction, sealing off its route and forcing it back down.
Ethan chuckled and lifted his left hand, tossing the white lightning downward.
There was no spectacle. No wasted overflow. The bolt didn’t flare or crackle.
It fell like a thin, white needle of thread dropped from the sky—silent, precise—slipping through a gap in the rock and drilling straight into the goat’s enormous body.
Orun’s movement stuttered.
Then it let out an even more violent roar and started slamming itself against the surrounding stone again.
Ethan didn’t pause. He drew the gray-blue sphere into his body. The moment it sank into his chest, that heavy power spread through him in a wave. His frame expanded—bones and muscle stretching and stacking under the energy’s support—until, in the blink of an eye, he was towering above the pit, hanging in the air directly over the struggling shadow below.
He looked down once, then flicked his hand.
Hmmm.
Hmmm.
Hmmm.
Three heavy vibrations rolled through the air like pressure drums.
A huge hill abruptly formed above Orun’s head. The instant it took shape, it dragged the surrounding air downward, casting a massive shadow that swallowed the entire crater. Gray-blue light flowed between its stones—proof that the whole thing was already under Ethan’s control.
Seraphina swept up into the sky, her enormous wings spread wide.
She circled once, then dove.
The Dragon God’s massive body dropped with brutal wind pressure as she slammed onto the hilltop, driving one claw down hard and forcing the entire mountain to sink. As it descended, rings of compressed air exploded outward again and again, rippling across the landscape.
Still not enough.
Seraphina opened her jaws, dangerous light pooling deep in her throat.
The next moment, Primordial Venomstorm blasted out and poured straight into the crushed-down hill. The venomous, ancient force seeped along the rock fissures and pressed down with the mountain, continuing to corrode Orun where it was trapped underneath.
Andona refused to be outdone.
She drew back her blades and tipped her head up. Golden light rose from her wings and assembled into a radiant formation in midair. Once it stabilized, it dropped directly into the sinking mountain. Then she slashed again—holy wind roaring off her edge, cutting through the rock and drilling downward, plunging into the depths like a spear of judgment.
At the same time, Auri’s power appeared.
Around the crater, the land that had been destroyed by magma and shockwaves began to recover. The charred ground cracked open. Blades of grass pushed up through the soil. Roots raced through the dirt, new green branches unfurling upward. Places that had been wiped clean were rapidly covered again—flowers, shrubs, young trees, life rushing back like it had been holding its breath.
After that round of "cleanup," the jagged rim of the pit didn’t even look like a battlefield anymore.
It looked like a lush forest plain.
Everyone thought the crisis was over.
Only deep underground, Orun was furious.
Its voice punched through the mountain from below, rolling up from the depths and making the newborn blades of grass tremble.
"How is this possible?! How do you have my power? I am Orun—master of the earth and mountains! You—impossible!"
The rage in that voice was long and booming. By the time it reached the surface, even the surrounding peaks were shivering.
Ethan heard it and—yeah, the reaction made sense. Still, he couldn’t help being a little surprised.
Master of the earth?
Big talk. Figures.
Ethan lifted a hand and casually kneaded a white sphere of light into existence. Instead of detonating outward, it slipped through the mountain range, slid into the cracks between layers of rock, and sank underground like a tiny eye—peering down at Orun Stonehoof.
A moment later, Ethan saw what was happening below.
Orun had a massive hammer in one hand and an anvil in the other—both absurdly huge. As it moved, the underground hollow was forced wider, expanding under brute pressure. The hammer rose and fell again and again, smashing the anvil with deep, pounding thuds.
Each strike made strange light burst from the anvil’s surface.
Ethan’s expression shifted.
"A blacksmith. Damn—what a blacksmith!" He snapped his head up. "Seraphina, move this. That’s good stuff!"
Seraphina was just about to fly to the center of the mountain and hook her hind claws into it to drag it away—
When a beam of holy light shot out without warning.
The impact slammed into the mountain and blew it apart on the spot.
Rock fragments sprayed in every direction. The shockwave shoved Seraphina backward through the air.
She steadied herself, anger flashing as she turned toward Angel Andona, about to demand an explanation—
But then her attention got yanked away by a terrifying surge rising from below.
Down underground, Orun had already put the anvil away.
It lowered its head to admire what it had made, then threw back its head and laughed.
"Hahahaha! The divine weapon is complete—now die!"
A pitch-black giant axe appeared in its hand.
Dark-gold sheen flowed inside the blade. The fire-red haft looked like it had been tempered in magma for years, radiating a heat so intense it forcibly warped the space around it. The power was so heavy that even time nearby seemed to slow, as if the world itself had to brace.
Andona’s strike had been meant to interrupt the forging process.
It hadn’t worked.
Ethan didn’t really care.
Of course she’d take a shot. He just watched calmly as Orun began to climb out of the earth.
Orun stood again, its enormous body slowly forcing the rock layers apart. It swung the black giant axe, magma rolling off its skin and hissing where it hit the ground. Then it raised its head, red eyes locking onto Ethan like hooks.
"You’re all going to die! And you—thief!" Orun’s voice thundered through the forest. "You dared steal my power—have you ever felt what it’s like to be crushed by mountains?"
With that, Orun leaped.
Its body blotted out the sky. The giant axe lifted high, carrying a force that could collapse the whole forest, and chopped down toward these ungrateful thieves—
And at the same time, the mountains and running water around them began to tremble.
The surrounding ranges began a Sluggish Movement.
They didn’t move fast, but they moved with unbearable weight. Peaks shifted little by little, closing in to form a massive arena, trapping Ethan and the others inside. Then a violent torrent surged out from between the mountains. The flow condensed into a sharp shape—like a blade made of water—shooting straight toward Ethan’s group.
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