Morvane studied Ethan’s features with real focus, like he was inspecting a prized piece in a collection he’d just acquired. After a moment, he smiled and nodded, clearly pleased.
The blood sword on his shoulder shifted—slow, deliberate.
Its edge settled beside Ethan’s shoulder, so close to his neck there was barely any space left.
All it would take was a small twist, one horizontal slice—
—and Ethan’s head would leave his body.
"Perfect."
Morvane’s grin widened.
"You really... satisfy me."
His thumb brushed lightly over Ethan’s cheek.
"So much that I almost don’t have the heart to kill you."
Ethan stared back at Morvane from inches away.
A bead of white energy had just started to bloom in his palm when Morvane reached out, clamped a hand around his wrist, and pressed the half-formed power back into Ethan’s body.
"Don’t rush."
Morvane lowered Ethan’s hand like he was putting away a toy.
"Let’s check on your companions first."
Ethan’s gaze was forced to turn.
In the distance, the flame shield had already been torn open with huge cracks by the swarming remnants. The outer fire sputtered on and off, and the holy power behind it was being drained nonstop. One more full, clean hit, and the entire barrier would vanish.
Bodies were everywhere around the shield.
Charred bones lay scattered in the mud. The stench left by souls burned by flame mixed with the cold Elowen had poured into the air, turning the whole battlefield into a choking, chaotic mess.
Lopsy and the Treant had reached the front of the barrier too, lining up beside Gravehook.
The number of loose souls in the area had visibly dropped.
Gravehook wasn’t smashing new lanterns anymore.
It gripped a chain in each hand and spun its two hooks at high speed on either side of its body. The blades dragged air and blood rain into tighter, sharper howls with every rotation.
Gravehook stepped forward and charged the shield.
Above Lopsy, fragments reassembled at her command.
One metal shard after another linked together, forming a massive greatsword. She grabbed the hilt with both hands, raised the blade high, and brought it down toward the people inside the shield.
The Treant drove both hands into the ground.
Thick roots plunged from its palms into the soil, splitting into dozens of underground routes. They surged from different directions toward the interior, aiming to burst up under the shield.
Inside, no one panicked.
They watched the three outside with cold eyes.
Because the moment the defense shattered—
was the moment the counterattack began.
Ethan stared at the scene ahead, then dragged his icy gaze back to Morvane.
If looks could kill, the King of Mournreach would’ve died a thousand times over already.
Morvane noticed.
He angled his face, meeting Ethan’s eyes calmly.
The blood sword crept a fraction closer to Ethan’s throat.
"What?" Morvane asked softly.
"Mad?"
Ethan didn’t answer.
His eyes said more than words ever could.
Morvane didn’t care.
A long time ago, people had looked at him that same way.
Those people were gone now.
Ethan couldn’t move on the outside, but inside, he wasn’t idle.
His consciousness was speaking to the sleeping Lily.
Poor Lily—getting dragged out to "receive guests" again.
At the front of the barrier, the two hooks struck first.
Boom!
The hook blades smashed into the flame surface already webbed with cracks.
The impact rippled outward across the shield, and the last intact structures collapsed under the shock. Flaming fragments sprayed into the air.
The flame shield vanished completely.
Lopsy’s greatsword came right after.
The huge blade dropped from above the group, a guillotine falling out of the sky.
At the same time, the underground roots broke through, ready to spear up from below and skewer everyone in one sweep.
Elira was the first to rise.
The wings of the Divine Sovereign Moth unfurled fully behind her. One rune-eye after another lit up across the membrane. Pink light streamed along the wing patterns toward the center, then condensed into a beam that fired straight into the descending greatsword.
Pink energy met metal.
A blinding flash burst overhead.
The greatsword’s drop slowed immediately. The beam shoved the blade off-angle, forcing the edge to drift to one side instead of staying lined up with the crowd below.
Queen Elowen and Namyanna also caught the movement underground.
Namyanna lifted her trident first.
The tip swept the ground, and water poured into existence, spreading fast beneath everyone’s feet. She flicked the trident upward—and the water surged like a living platform, lifting the whole group off the ground and dodging the first wave of roots bursting up.
They rose with the water layer, drifting into the air.
Queen Elowen moved too.
Ice-blue power gathered in her palm, forming a sphere that breathed cold. Moisture in the air frosted on contact, and rings of crystalline ice spun around the ball.
Elowen lowered her eyes, locking onto the spreading water below.
Then she let it drop.
The ice sphere fell through the gaps between allies and plunged straight into Namyanna’s water layer.
Cold exploded from the point of contact.
The moving water froze in an instant.
A white sheet of ice raced across the battlefield, sealing the newly emerged roots inside and giving the airborne group a new surface to land on.
The Treant saw what they were doing.
It yanked both hands out of the earth.
The roots it had hidden underground changed course. They surged out from its arms and palms instead, breaking free of the ice’s "lock" and stabbing straight toward the group before they could fully touch down.
The water had already turned to solid ice.
The group descended slowly, feet touching down one after another on the frozen surface.
Kaelira raised her right hand and shoved forward a purple-red energy sphere she’d been holding back for a long time.
The moment it left her palm, it swelled.
Violent power shot straight over the ice like a rail-fired projectile and slammed into the Treant’s thrusting branches. Purple-red light detonated from the impact point, shredding the foremost roots into splinters. The shockwave raced backward along the wood like a fuse.
Boom!
Wood chips and firelight burst into the air together.
The blast didn’t fully miss Elira above.
The wave of air slammed into the Divine Sovereign Moth’s wings and knocked her sideways. Her pink beam wavered, and the greatsword seized the opening, pressing down a few more inches.
Elira clenched her teeth and adjusted her wing angle again.
The rune-eyes flickered nonstop, dragging scattered pink power back into the beam’s core—but she was already struggling to hold the greatsword alone. Now, with Kaelira’s aftershock battering her too, her wings began to visibly tremble.
Worse—
Gravehook was still hanging overhead.
Its two hooks kept circling its skeletal body, and the blood-colored power on the blades had finished building. If Elira’s attention slipped even a little, those chains could swing past the greatsword and drop straight onto the people on the ice.
Ataneya finally recovered enough strength.
Twenty-four fox tails unfurled fully behind her, layering space itself in thick bands. Infernal energy flowed along the tails to their tips, igniting dark fire along each edge.
Twelve tails shot toward Elira first.
They curved around both sides of the greatsword and wrapped the massive blade and hilt, helping share the load with the pink beam. With multiple forces holding it up, the greatsword’s downward momentum finally stopped.
The remaining twelve tails went straight for Gravehook.
They closed in from different angles, sealing its routes—up, down, and to both sides.
Gravehook had still been studying the battlefield now that the shield was gone, but with the tails closing in, it had to abandon the idea of continuing its strike.
It snapped its chains and used the pull from the spinning hooks to yank itself backward.
The twelve tails didn’t let go.
When Gravehook slipped through the dead forest, they chased between the trunks. When it used the fog to change direction, the tails curved with it, staying tight on its heels. One fleeing, one hunting—they tore across the sky above the battlefield all the way toward the island’s edge.
Morvane watched, then nodded in satisfaction.
Then he turned his attention back to Ethan.
"So?" The blood sword was still resting beside Ethan’s throat.
"Did this little surprise scare you?"
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter