Since he was bound to Ethereal, Ethan could only see this entire situation as a kind of trial, something deliberately arranged to push him forward. That was the only explanation for why the system had interfered at all. It never acted without reason.

He suspected Morzan was behind it. That old geezer never did anything without purpose, and every move he made, no matter how cruel, always seemed to circle back to forcing Ethan to grow stronger.

Yurix was closing in fast.

Ethan remained where he was, head tilted slightly upward as he watched the incoming blur. To everyone else, Yurix’s speed was overwhelming, little more than a streak slicing through the air, but to Ethan, it was nothing he couldn’t follow.

The ghost noticed his expression and faltered mid-air, if only for a fraction of a second.

Ethan’s lips curled into a grin.

Yurix flinched.

"You—"

He abruptly halted, still several yards away, his momentum cutting off unnaturally.

"Me?" Ethan’s voice was light, almost amused. "Why’d you stop? I thought you wanted to possess me. Come on, your lord and savior is right here. Waiting."

That calm, almost mocking confidence made Yurix hesitate. It didn’t make sense. By all logic, he should have been able to crush this kid without effort, yet something about Ethan’s composure felt wrong. Too steady. Too certain. It raised a quiet alarm in the back of his mind, the kind born from long experience.

Was there a trick? Some hidden card?

They faced each other in silence for a moment. Ethan said nothing more, only held that faint, knowing smile, while Yurix’s aura flickered and surged, rising and falling like an unstable flame.

---

"Yaya, how much longer?"

Inside, Ethan’s thoughts raced wildly, completely at odds with the calm image he presented.

"Almost there! We’re going to make a killing this time. With this much soul energy as fuel, my main body is about to evolve. Even Luna and the others will get a massive boost."

Yaya didn’t appear in front of him. Instead, her tree form swayed in the distance, its countless branches moving on their own, weaving together with quiet precision. At first glance, it resembled a net, but there was intent in its structure, a tightening pattern that made it feel more like a cage waiting to snap shut.

"Don’t get ahead of yourself," Ethan muttered internally. "You sure this will work?"

"Probably."

Ethan’s expression twitched. "Probably?"

"As long as he doesn’t destroy your mindscape, and with us helping... two against one... maybe a sixty percent chance we can trap him here."

’Sixty percent.’

That number sat heavily in Ethan’s chest. Even ninety-nine point nine nine nine percent wouldn’t have been enough for him. Failure here didn’t mean retreat or injury. It meant death. For all of them.

But after exhausting every possibility, this was the only plan that had even a chance.

So this was it. Roll the dice and hope it landed in their favor.

---

"AAARGH—!"

Yurix finally snapped.

His aura surged violently, erupting outward as his patience shattered. His scream tore through the clearing, sharp and filled with fury.

"You’re bluffing, aren’t you, boy? Fine. Today, I’ll see exactly what you’ve been hiding!"

He lunged forward like a vengeful specter, all hesitation gone.

Ethan’s eyes sharpened.

"Gate of Ascension... OPEN!"

The words left his mouth like a command. Before him, space twisted, and a vast gate tore itself open.

Yurix saw it clearly, but he didn’t slow down. Instead, a sneer spread across his face.

"Hah. A soul duel? In your own territory? Fine. I’ll show you what real power looks like."

He understood the move instantly. Ethan was inviting him into his mindscape, trying to drag him into a battle of soul strength. It would have worked against most opponents, but not him. Yurix had devoured the soul energy of countless spirits over the years, his soul power reaching terrifying heights.

Compared to that, Ethan was insignificant.

What Yurix wanted wasn’t a duel. It was Ethan’s body. A powerful vessel like this would remove the limitations of his current form and let him reach heights he hadn’t touched in ages.

Without hesitation, he plunged straight through the gate.

Ethan watched him go, a strange feeling stirring in his chest. Being dismissed so completely left a bitter edge, even now.

And even at this final moment, he still didn’t have absolute confidence.

Then Yaya’s voice echoed in his mind.

"Ready."

Ethan closed the gate instantly. He sent out a final telepathic signal before pulling his consciousness inward, diving into his own mindscape.

---

Across the clearing, Hayes stiffened as a voice reached her ears. Her expression tightened with worry, and the others nearby didn’t look any better.

"He... he opened his Gate of Ascension and let that thing inside?" Riley’s voice was strained. He understood exactly what that meant.

Even those who couldn’t use soul power directly knew about mindscapes. It was a stage every practitioner would eventually reach, though most could only use it to sharpen perception rather than fight.

"What do we do now?" Onyx asked quietly.

Hayes didn’t hesitate long. "Onyx... take them back to the second layer."

Onyx glanced at Ginger, who gave a small nod in return.

He didn’t argue. There was no point. They had entered with over a hundred people, and now fewer than thirty remained. Most had died by Ethan’s hand, but none of them blamed him. If he hadn’t acted, they would all be dead already.

Now, survival was the only goal.

Without wasting another word, Onyx gathered the remaining survivors and began leading them toward the entrance to the second layer. They took a wide detour, deliberately avoiding the direct path that would bring them near Ethan, who now sat cross-legged on the ground, motionless.

No one knew what kind of battle was unfolding inside his mindscape.

---

Yurix passed through the Gate of Ascension without resistance. But the moment he entered, something felt wrong.

This wasn’t Ethan’s mindscape.

He found himself inside a vast, enclosed sphere, its walls formed entirely of intertwined wood, thick branches woven together into a seamless structure.

"You think this can hold me?" Yurix scoffed, his voice dripping with contempt. "Are you stupid, or just completely ignorant?"

He shot forward, aiming straight for the walls.

Outside the sphere, Ethan stood quietly, watching. The structure filled most of his mindscape, Yaya’s branches forming a dense prison. To take over Ethan’s body, Yurix would have to destroy his consciousness first, and that meant breaking free.

Ethan didn’t move. There was worry in him, yes, but beneath it lay trust.

A heavy impact rang out. Yurix slammed into the barrier, fully expecting to pass through it as he would any physical object.

Instead, the vines flared with a vivid green light, and he was thrown backward as if struck by an invisible force, his form snapping back like a projectile.

"What? Impossible! What is this?"

His voice sharpened with disbelief. A ghost couldn’t be blocked by ordinary matter. Only specially constructed arrays could interfere with a spirit, and this clearly wasn’t one. His senses confirmed it, these were nothing more than vines.

So why had they repelled him?

Through the gaps, he caught sight of Ethan, standing calmly beyond the sphere. Beneath him, a massive treetop stretched upward, its countless branches forming the prison itself.

"How do you have a living thing inside your mindscape?" Yurix demanded, disbelief turning into something closer to unease.

A mindscape was supposed to be empty, a space formed within consciousness, not a place where life could exist. Not even the simplest plant should have been able to survive here.

Ethan’s smile didn’t fade. "Your limits aren’t mine, old man. Now die." He stepped forward and entered the sphere without resistance.

Yurix froze for a split second, then burst into laughter.

"Hah! So I was worried for nothing, and you just walked right in!"

Moments ago, he had been considering how to escape this strange trap, uncertain how long it could hold him. Now, the answer had walked into his grasp on its own.

Why would the boy do something so foolish? He could have stayed outside, kept his distance, waited. Instead, he had chosen to step into death.

"Who dies first isn’t decided yet," Ethan replied evenly. "Your lord and savior is on a schedule. Let’s go."

The moment those words left his mouth, the atmosphere shifted.

A chorus of childish battle cries erupted as the four City Lord Seals appeared at his side, taking the form of unruly children, each radiating its own strange presence.

At the same time, a sharp sound cut through the air as the Twilight War Spear shot through the gaps in the vines and landed firmly in Ethan’s hand.

Luna, however, remained absent, as if still asleep somewhere deep within the mindscape.

Yurix laughed so hard his form flickered. "Four spirit artifacts? Not bad, kid. You’ve got some decent toys. I’ll be taking those."

He dismissed them instantly. To him, they were nothing more than trinkets. Ethan himself was barely worth his attention, so what threat could a few childish spirits pose?

Ethan didn’t waste time responding.

"Soul Technique... Soulspike."

He drew directly from the Source Energy within his mindscape, the vast lake of condensed soul power that served as his reservoir.

In an instant, the Twilight War Spear shrank, vanishing into the storm of Soulspikes that surged forward, blending seamlessly among them.

"Good!" Yurix sneered. "Let me show you how it’s really done."

With a casual wave of his hand, pale purple flames scattered outward like a field of stars, colliding head-on with the incoming spikes.

Their powers clashed violently.

Yurix was clearly stronger, his attacks cutting through Ethan’s with ease, but his expression slowly shifted as something unexpected happened. Each time his star-like flames destroyed a cluster of Soulspikes, they vanished as well, consumed in the process.

"Hmph. Your soul power is dense. You’re not completely useless."

Ethan said nothing. His eyes gleamed, not with fear, but with rising excitement. He launched another wave of Soulspikes.

This time, he didn’t hold back.

The number multiplied tenfold, flooding the space with hundreds of thousands of spikes, at least two or three hundred thousand, surging forward in an overwhelming tide. At the same time, the Source Energy in his mindscape dropped sharply, the cost of such an attack clearly immense.

Yurix frowned slightly. "You think quantity matters?"

He responded with another sweeping wave of starfire.

But Ethan only grew more exhilarated, driving the endless storm of Soulspikes forward in a relentless, almost frenzied assault.