Mystic Calling：Stone of Glory-Chapter 952: Unless We Defend It

Ethan's talk with Thalorien didn't last long.

They traded the information they needed.

Confirmed where each other stood.

Then they split up.

No ceremony.

No oaths.

But they both understood—

a new alliance had already formed.

Ethan returned to camp.

His expression settled back into calm, like nothing had happened.

But only he knew the truth.

Time was running out.

He lifted a hand.

Hundreds of Flying Goblins launched into the air at once.

Their wings beat the air, making a dense, buzzing vibration.

They scattered fast, fanning out in every direction across the Nether Sea.

Watching.

Scouting.

Waiting for something to break.

For the next half month, the world was unnervingly quiet.

No new spatial rifts.

No unknown lifeforms.

Not a single sign of an attack from Nexaris.

But Ethan didn't relax.

If anything, he expanded even harder.

Creature Dwellings ran day and night.

New goblins were born without pause.

War Machines rolled off the line in batches.

Sky Fortresses hovered high overhead—

silent steel behemoths.

Emerald Castle's military presence in the Nether Sea swelled to a terrifying scale.

Ethan stood on an elevated platform.

Primordial Force streamed out of him, flowing into the Creature Dwellings.

New goblins walked out one after another.

Obedient.

Quiet.

Lethal.

Then—

Hnnng.

The air trembled, just once.

So slight most people wouldn't have noticed.

Ethan noticed instantly.

He snapped his head up.

The sky—

was warping.

Like glass being pulled and stretched by an invisible hand.

Space started to deform.

Light bent.

The wind died.

The whole world felt like it was holding its breath.

The next second—

[WARNING]

[Spatial Distortion Detected]

[Unknown Fleet Arrival Imminent]

Ethan's pupils constricted hard.

They were here.

The rifts opened.

One.

Two.

Ten.

Hundreds of spatial tears ripped across the sky at the same time.

And then—

they appeared.

Mechanoids.

Tens of thousands of mechanoids.

They hovered in the air in perfect formation—

an army dropped straight out of another world.

Their cores lit up together.

Blue.

Cold.

Lethal.

Ethan's breathing grew heavy.

Because he knew—

every single one of them

was on the same level as Noctyros.

And now…

there were over ten thousand.

This wasn't a scouting party.

This was—

an invasion fleet.

No hesitation.

Ethan moved immediately.

"Powered Combat Armor."

The armor wrapped over his body in an instant.

At the same time, the Sky Fortresses powered up.

They rose slowly into the air.

Weapon cores began charging.

The air filled with destructive, prickling energy.

Meanwhile—

the goblin legion took off.

War Machines spun up.

The entire sky turned into a battlefield.

Then the enemy formation split.

One mechanoid floated forward.

His core burned brighter than the rest.

A commander.

He stared at Ethan, and his voice appeared directly in the air, flat and absolute.

"You are not a native civilization of the Nether Sea."

"Leave."

"Otherwise."

"Extermination."

No emotion.

Like he was reciting a completed verdict.

Ethan let out a cold laugh.

He rose into the air, meeting the commander's gaze.

Primordial Force rolled out from his body.

Space itself began to tremble.

"Here," he said, voice even.

"is my territory."

The air tightened instantly.

War—

was inevitable.

Ethan didn't choose to strike first.

Because he knew it.

A head-on clash would cost too much.

He lifted a hand.

The goblin legion surged forward.

Powered Combat Armor covered their bodies.

They became a green, steel flood—

charging straight into the mechanoid army in the sky.

The next second, the battle detonated.

Light ripped across the heavens.

Explosions chained one after another.

Mechanoid fire shredded goblins with ease.

But there were too many goblins.

One died—

ten more filled the gap.

War Machines slammed into the melee, grappling enemies tight—

then triggering self-destruct.

BOOM!!!

The blast swallowed everything nearby.

From the rear, Sky Fortresses opened fire.

Energy beams speared through the battlefield, carving glowing lines through metal and flesh alike.

The whole sky

became an ocean of destruction.

Ethan stood high above it all.

Coldly observing.

Calculating.

Adjusting.

This was war.

Not a duel.

A war between civilizations.

And this was only the beginning.

Emerald Castle's main force had already finished forming up.

Sky Fortresses hung in the upper sky.

The goblin legion packed into a rolling green tide.

War Machines lined up in steel formations.

Every weapon had a target lock.

All that was left was Ethan's final order.

The air was drawn so tight it felt like it could snap.

And then—

the ocean moved.

Not the waves.

Something deeper than that.

The entire Nether Sea shuddered once, like it had been struck from below.

Then light ignited in the deep.

One.

Two.

Hundreds of blue glows flared to life from the seafloor—

like stars waking inside the water.

And then—

the sea parted.

Not blasted open.

Not forced aside.

It simply… made room.

Like the ocean itself was welcoming its true masters home.

The next second, countless figures rose from the depths.

The Thalaryn.

They hovered between water and air.

Energy sheathed their bodies.

Their armor flowed like it was alive.

Their presence made the space around them feel steadier—anchored.

They didn't look like an army.

They looked like the civilization itself made manifest.

At the very front—

Thalorien.

He wore a complete set of Powered Combat Armor.

But it wasn't the same as Ethan's.

Powered Combat Armor had fused with Thalaryn tech, forming something new.

His core shone a deep blue.

He raised a hand.

The ocean answered his will.

Streams of water gathered, condensing in the sky into a massive spear of energy.

Then—

he brought it down.

THOOM!!!

The energy spear slammed into the mechanoid formation.

Space bucked violently.

Dozens of mechanoids disintegrated on the spot.

Their cores ruptured.

Fragments fell like meteors.

Thalorien's voice rang across the battlefield:

"You lifeless machines."

"You dare covet the Worldheart Crystal."

"Today."

"You will pay the price."

His voice wasn't calm anymore.

It was fury.

Real fury.

Ethan watched it all unfold.

He knew.

The Thalaryn civilization had officially entered the war.

Thalorien drifted over to his side.

The two of them hovered at the same height—

facing the same enemy.

Thalorien didn't speak right away.

First he looked over the battlefield.

Over the mechanoid legion.

Then he turned to Ethan.

"Deep sea is mine," he said.

"Surface is yours."

He paused.

Then delivered the only line that really mattered:

"But this world…"

"belongs to neither of us."

"Unless we defend it."

The air went quiet for a beat.

Ethan looked at him.

Then—

he nodded.

This was an alliance.

A real one.

Not a trade.

Not a test.

A wartime pact.