Mystic Calling：Stone of Glory-Chapter 938: The Will of Purgatory

Finally—

Ethan let out a slow breath.

He was standing upright.

Not because the environment had eased. Not because the energy had weakened.

But because—

He’d figured out how to stand in Purgatory.

"...You actually adapted."

Lily watched him, and for once, the look she gave wasn’t just analytical—it carried rare, genuine surprise.

She’d seen plenty try to set foot in this place.

Most didn’t make it past the threshold.

But Ethan—

He hadn’t brute-forced his way through.

He’d learned. Adjusted. Found a way not to be erased by the rules themselves.

And then—

Hummmm—

The energy around them shifted.

Not an explosion, not a surge.

A response.

The chaotic flow of Infernal energy in the atmosphere suddenly changed direction, like it had been pulled by intention. Threads of force began rushing toward a single point ahead of them.

A few seconds later—

A figure began to form.

Roughly humanoid, but not flesh and blood.

Its body was shaped entirely from Infernal energy, as though it had been distilled from the space itself. Limbs of glowing shadow, bone-deep crimson pulsing within every motion.

The moment it finished manifesting, the surrounding power bled away, drained into the figure as if gravity itself bowed to it.

In its hand, a massive greatsword took shape, forged of dark red arcs of pure force.

It wasn’t a weapon.

It was—

The will of Purgatory, personified.

Its gaze fixed directly on Ethan and Lily.

"Bold," the voice rumbled—not through sound, but directly into their minds, deep and ice-cold.

"Do you even understand where you are?"

It stepped forward.

The ground didn’t crack—it shook.

"This world does not welcome your kind."

The blade lifted with effortless precision.

"So if you’re already here—"

"Then stay."

"Leave your souls behind."

"Become part of this place."

The world snapped.

Pressure raged outward, swallowing the air between them like a tidal wave of raw power. In an instant, Ethan and Lily were engulfed—wrapped in force so dense it felt like space itself wanted to crush them.

Ethan staggered as the weight slammed into him, his pulse racing.

His thoughts scattered, overwhelmed.

The energy wasn’t just powerful. It was aware.

It felt like the space itself was alive—seeking, testing, crushing him down.

He called up his system interface, fingers working by habit. But no matter what routine he tried—

Nothing responded.

The system couldn’t read this power. Its structures, its coding—everything was beyond analysis.

It was unquantifiable.

Outside the system’s logic.

And that made Ethan feel, for the first time, truly outmatched.

Like the air itself had locked him in place.

But next to him—Lily didn’t even blink.

She lifted her hand. Just a small motion.

And the pressure broke.

Shattered like glass under her fingertips.

That suffocating force that had pinned Ethan like a steel net flipped on a dime—she took hold of it, and repurposed it as if it had always belonged to her.

White-hot energy erupted in front of her, condensing instantly into a massive spectral phoenix, wings spread wide, blazing with radiant light.

In a single beat of those wings, it shot forward—straight toward the humanoid being.

The entity flinched, clearly startled. It hadn’t expected Lily not just to resist the domain—but to command it.

Its expression twisted, and a flicker of caution shadowed its glowing eyes.

"...I see," it said with a cold smirk. "I underestimated you."

"Didn’t think an outsider could wield Purgatory’s will as her own."

"But let’s see just how much of it you can really handle."

Its body expanded in a violent pulse, a red haze boiling from its core.

Power swelled to a breaking point.

Then—boom—a massive orb of energy launched from its chest like a fired sun, blazing as it tore through the air toward the phoenix.

The two forces met mid-air—

And detonated.

The explosion ripped across the sky, the shockwave tearing through the dimension like a god’s heartbeat.

A deafening roar rolled over everything—

And for a moment, it felt like the entire world tilted on its axis.

Ethan stared, wide-eyed, barely able to process what he was seeing.

The scale of the clash unfolding before him—it was completely beyond what his mind had been trained to expect. This wasn’t a boss fight, or even a world-tier battle. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

This was a confrontation that rewrote what power meant.

The blast wave hit moments later. Ethan barely got a barrier up in time, struggling to stay standing as the explosion slammed into him like a solid wall. Even shielding himself, the sheer weight of the energy pushed him back, almost sent him tumbling.

His steps staggered. He scanned wildly, heart racing, and made a dash for a spot behind a warped spike of obsidian rock—anything to get out of the shock zone.

Meanwhile, Lily—

She was moving like the battlefield already belonged to her.

The white phoenix she had summoned split and multiplied, becoming a whole flock of radiant birds. They streaked through the air in brilliant arcs, slamming against the Lizardfolk’s shields over and over again until they cracked and split like shattered glass.

The creature was panting now, color drained from its face. It stumbled backward, trying to pull what energy it could into a rebuilding defense—but Lily didn’t even blink.

Her next wave hit like a blunt-force hurricane.

Phoenix after phoenix surged forward, smashing through the Lizardfolk’s last line of resistance like it wasn’t even there.

Then came the final strike—an explosive flare of white light that battered it to the ground and nearly ripped its body clean in half.

"Now," Lily said coldly, her voice like a glass blade, "take me to the Infernal Nexus—or I’ll erase you right here."

The Lizardfolk’s eyes went wide, shock and fear flashing across its face.

"Y-You... how do you even know about the Infernal Nexus? That’s the most hidden part of Purgatory—most of us don’t even know it exists!"

Lily didn’t answer. She wasn’t interested in excuses.

She simply raised a hand, and a white sphere of energy gathered in her palm—shimmering, compressed, deadly.

"You have one choice." Her voice was even. Unshaken. Final.

"Take us there—or die."

The weight of her presence crushed what was left of the Lizardfolk’s bluster.

Trembling, it reached into the folds of its chestplate and retrieved a small, strange gem. Pressing it gently, it whispered something Ethan couldn’t catch.

Immediately, a transparent map appeared in the sky above them, shimmering in red glyphs.

The Infernal Nexus—its exact location—was now glowing at the map’s center.

Lily didn’t hesitate.

She reached out and grabbed the Lizardfolk by the throat, lifting it like it weighed nothing. Then her other hand clamped down on Ethan’s shoulder.

With one sweeping motion, she ripped space apart.

The sky split, edges glowing with flickering, chaotic light. Reality peeled open—not with grace, but with violent intention—and all three of them were pulled into the swirling rift.

Time twisted.

Motion lost context.

They passed through countless layers of dimension, crashing through planes like falling stars through veils of glass.

Then—impact.

They landed in a zone so hot it felt like hell had broken its own thermostat.

The air boiled.

The scent of scorched rock and molten metal choked every breath. Beneath their feet, rivers of magma rolled like angry veins, bubbling and bursting into geysers of fire.

Winds cut across the landscape like dragon’s breath—blades of heat that sliced through the skin.

The moment they touched down, Lily didn’t even pause to assess.

She felt it—this place was heavily charged.

So she acted.

She ripped open the core of her power and unleashed it in full: a tidal surge of white-hot brilliance slammed across the space, focus direct.

The Lizardfolk didn’t even get to react.

The blast ripped through him, vaporizing his form where he stood.

Ash.

Gone in an instant—clean and clinical, like she’d been planning it all along.

Then, Lily extended a finger and tapped the air.

A massive structure materialized before them—thick, ancient, and monstrous.

A door, tall enough to scrape the clouds, suddenly existed in the open air. Its surface was etched with arcane, shifting runes that glowed with eerie intelligence, and just standing in front of it made Ethan’s breathing grow shallow.

The door radiated power.

The kind that only opened... when the world decided your soul was worth the answer.