Mystic Calling：Stone of Glory

Zyraeth's expression changed on the spot.

He spun around, and the fury in his eyes burst through every restraint in an instant.

The core power that had been flowing slowly in his palm also flared with that sudden loss of control. Great waves of gold intertwined with chaos blasted outward from his body, forcing several subordinates standing too close to instinctively retreat half a step.

"How is that possible?"

His voice was terrifyingly heavy, every word dropping like a sledgehammer.

"Varex is my First Champion. His energy isn't even beneath mine. How could he possibly be killed?"

He stared daggers at the soldier who'd reported it, the fire in his eyes pressed to the edge.

"You're spreading false intelligence. Someone—kill him."

The soldier remained prostrate, showing not a trace of panic.

He slammed his forehead to the ground several times, each impact a clear, dull thud. Then he raised a hand, rapidly condensing an energy sphere in his palm, and pressed that power against the center of his chest.

"Supreme Deity," he gritted out, his voice trembling but stubbornly firm, "every word I said is true!"

In that instant, Zyraeth's breathing shifted.

He knew exactly what that gesture meant.

For a subordinate to stake his life like this—to swear in this manner—meant Varex's death wasn't a rumor.

It was real.

Varex was truly dead.

The moment that fact settled, the rage on Zyraeth's face froze for a brief beat—then sank into something deeper, heavier, harder to contain.

"Impossible!"

He clenched the power in his hand, and his voice shook the surrounding altars into a humming vibration.

"They're nothing but crawlers from a low-grade Plane World. How could they kill the greatest general of Elysion Prime?"

The moment those words left him, nearly everyone on the ruins was stunned into stillness.

The reporting soldier pressed even lower, shaking uncontrollably, not daring to raise his head again.

After a moment, a woman standing not far away stepped forward two slow paces.

Unlike the others, she wasn't crushed into silence by the fury. At a time like this, she spoke.

"Supreme Deity," she bowed, her tone respectful but firm, "I think we should deploy all forces and fight them to the death. If we keep dragging this out, those people may truly take this world."

As soon as she said it, many around her immediately echoed in agreement.

Because they all understood what the real situation was.

Right now, they were, without question, this world's Overlords.

But the problem was—

The natives had never been wiped out.

They'd only been forced to hide.

If those natives ever joined hands with Emerald Castle, the situation would become disastrous. Because it would no longer be a simple war against outsiders—it would become a tear that cut into the world's very foundations.

They understood that.

And Zyraeth understood it even more.

He drew in a slow breath and forcibly pushed that near-out-of-control rage down a little. Then his power spread outward again, and a golden gemstone appeared in his palm.

The moment it appeared, the surrounding Primordial Force seemed to be tugged by it, slowly beginning to rotate around it.

"No."

Zyraeth finally spoke, his voice returning to a cold control after being pressed down.

"We absolutely cannot act rashly right now."

He lifted the golden gemstone, his gaze so dark it felt like it could freeze the air.

"The core energy here hasn't been fully absorbed yet, and my Powered Combat Armor hasn't finished charging. If we fight a decisive battle now, an accident is very likely."

When he finished, everyone around him fell silent.

Because they knew this wasn't fear.

It was judgment.

They'd always believed Emerald Castle was nothing more than weak intruders from a low-grade Plane World.

But the moment Varex's death was confirmed, that belief shattered instantly.

And they hadn't been waiting for this core energy for a day or two.

Now that it had finally appeared—

They couldn't waste it.

They had to absorb all of it.

They had to finish charging the Powered Combat Armor.

Only then would they have the confidence to grind Emerald Castle into dust.

Zyraeth clearly thought the same.

Standing at the center of the relics where Primordial Force continued to seep into the air, his eyes swept across the faces around him, and at last he made his decision.

"Pass the order."

His voice wasn't loud, but it left no room for doubt.

"Have the outer armies raise an energy barrier immediately. No one is allowed to trespass here without authorization."

He slowly tightened his grip on the golden gemstone, the light in his eyes cold enough to chill bone.

"Once all core energy has been absorbed… I will personally go out and wage war on Emerald Castle."

His words fell.

And the atmosphere above the entire relic ruin sank into dead weight.

Emerald Castle's main force didn't recklessly push outward.

Instead, like a colossal beast pulling in its claws for the moment, they held steady inside the foothold they'd already established—reinforcing the defenses on one hand, and digging deeper underground on the other.

Layer after layer of rune imprints were extracted. Combined with the energy cores they'd collected, they were stacked, fitted together, rearranged—until, under Ethan's command, they converged into an increasingly complete energy framework.

What Ethan wanted had never been just a tunnel.

He was using these runes—and the world's own power—to forcibly graft this world's entire energy structure into his own system.

The deeper and more stable he could make that process, the firmer Emerald Castle's roots would sink here.

Time lost all shape under that near-constant forward push.

No one knew how long it had been when Ethan led the group and broke through into yet another new underground region.

The instant the end of the passage was fully punched open, a blast of heat and dense energy slammed into them almost at the same time.

Everyone's steps paused for a beat.

Ahead was an unbelievably vast dungeon.

The underground space was shockingly wide, the ceiling so high it was nearly impossible to see its end—and what truly made it impossible to look away was the churning sea of energy in front of them.

It looked like magma.

But it wasn't ordinary molten flow. Its surface rolled with layer upon layer of searing light, while inside, incomparably pure power surged—like an entire world's energy had been compressed and poured into this place.

Even the vapor-like energy in the air was so dense it snapped their minds awake.

When Ethan saw it, the light in his eyes flared almost instantly.

He didn't waste a single word. He fully opened the Powered Combat Armor.

The armor's surface structures unfolded rapidly under the stimulation of energy. Inner runes and cores lit up layer by layer. Then Ethan jumped in without hesitation.

The next moment, the Powered Combat Armor began actively absorbing the surrounding energy.

This wasn't slow charging anymore—it was a near-plundering suction. The previously steady currents of energy seemed to get caught by some monstrous maw, collapsing toward the armor's core at a terrifying speed.

One line of patterns after another blazed to their limit. A low, heavy roar pulsed from inside the armor, and even the nearby space trembled with it.

Before long, the might the armor itself released surged dozens of times over.

And after it finished this round of upgrading, the remaining power around it didn't stop—if anything, it poured into Ethan's body even more fiercely.

It felt like a whole ocean of energy was forcing its way in along the armor, his flesh, his bones all at once—swelling him until his entire body began to expand rapidly, every inch of his internal structure answering with a violent, overwhelming resonance.

A savage aura spread instantly.

Thunderous booms started rolling from high above, and even this underground world seemed to be tugged by his power.

Not long after, Ethan lifted off the ground, floating in midair. Great sheets of light and electricity streamed between his body and the armor, and wave after wave of force rippled out from him, making everyone around him instinctively hold their breath.

After a moment, he finally spoke, excitement unable to stay contained.

"The power here is way too pure. Everyone—get down here and absorb it. Now!"

The instant he said it, no one hesitated.

They'd already been stunned by the energy sea—only, without Ethan's word, nobody dared to jump in.

Now that the order fell, Emerald Castle's powerhouses, the Fairies, the Ravenkin, and the Stone Golems all rushed forward almost at once, leaping into that roiling magma of energy one after another.

And the result was even more outrageous than anyone expected.

The moment they plunged in, the energy seemed to come alive, surging into their bodies in a frenzy. Every person's strength, aura, Tier—all of it began to climb at a breathtaking rate.

Runic patterns flared across some people's skin. Others had the energy around them compress again and again. And more of them slipped straight into an incomparably profound state.

As time passed, many bodies floated motionless within the energy magma.

Around each of them, a cocoon-like layer gradually formed.

It wasn't a physical shell.

It was a casing woven from highly condensed energy and a constantly reconstructed aura, wrapping them completely—like they were undergoing some deeper, more fundamental metamorphosis.