Mystic Calling：Stone of Glory-Chapter 961: There Can’t Be a Second One

Ethan's pupils tightened slightly.

Tier 32.

That was beyond the vast majority of lifeforms—

a true apex existence in this world.

Thalorien's voice dropped, heavy.

"Raezion…"

Just the name made the water feel denser.

Raezion didn't even look at him.

His gaze locked straight onto Caelion.

Thunder spread beneath his feet.

"I came for him."

His voice carried a naked, domineering will.

"In this world—"

He lifted a hand slowly.

The lightning answered, turning violent.

"—there can only be one Thunder Messenger."

His eyes went cold.

"And that is me."

The sea seemed to freeze.

No one dared speak.

"All existences who hold Thunder power—"

He paused.

Lightning shrieked with a harsh, tearing roar.

"—must disappear."

The instant the words fell—

Caelion moved.

No anger.

No argument.

Only thunder.

He shot into the sky.

Raezion vanished at the same time.

The next second—

BOOM!!!

Two storms collided head-on.

The shockwave ripped through the sea.

Distant structures shattered instantly.

Lightning braided wildly across the sky—blue, gold, and ghost-blue crashing together again and again—

as if the heavens themselves were coming apart.

Ethan didn't interfere.

He watched.

Because he could feel it.

The real change—

was only just beginning.

At the moment their thunder clash reached its peak, a new ripple appeared in the air.

Not thunder.

Something older.

As if their battle had jolted an existence that had been asleep for a very long time.

Ethan's pupils snapped tight.

He stared at the intertwined lightning above.

This wasn't ordinary thunder anymore.

Deep inside that blinding light, he could clearly sense something far more ancient.

Infernal Essence.

And—

not only that.

At the very core of the storm, there was also a thread—extremely faint, yet terrifyingly pure—

Infernal Primordial Power.

It felt like it came from a source even older than thunder itself.

"That's not normal lightning…" Ethan's breath caught.

It was more like—

lightning that had been given a will.

The next instant—

BOOOOM!!!

Raezion and Caelion's attacks met head-on.

Light swallowed everything.

The sky split in two.

White lightning fell from above.

Not one bolt—

dozens.

They slammed into the ground.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

The seafloor collapsed.

Seawater flash-evaporated.

A massive crater opened at the center of impact.

Both figures were completely swallowed.

The air reeked of destruction.

Ethan took a step back without meaning to.

His instincts were warning him—

if he'd been standing there just now, his body wouldn't exist anymore.

"Thunder at this level…" Ethan muttered.

His system didn't even issue a warning.

It was beyond what it could evaluate.

The smoke and debris thinned.

Two figures reappeared.

Raezion.

Caelion.

Both still standing.

Lightning still flowed around them in slow currents.

No one had fallen.

Which meant—

they hadn't truly started yet.

The air tightened again.

Thunder gathered once more.

They raised their hands at the same time.

A new strike was about to drop.

And then—

a figure suddenly punched into the battlefield.

Too fast.

So fast almost nobody even processed it.

A little girl.

She looked eighteen or nineteen, petite—

completely out of place on a battlefield like this.

But what shocked Ethan wasn't her age.

It was the lightning wrapped around her.

Not blue.

Not gold.

Not ghost-blue.

Transparent lightning.

No color.

No obvious shape.

Yet undeniably real.

The air warped subtly around her.

Space itself seemed to step aside for her.

Ethan had never seen an energy form like that.

Not the shape of lightning—

the essence of it.

"Brother—!"

Her voice tore through the battlefield's roar.

Caelion's body jolted.

His thunder faltered for a split second.

"Don't come here!"

For the first time, panic showed on his face.

He lunged forward, trying to drag her out of the kill zone.

But Raezion didn't stop.

His eyes were glacial.

Thunder erupted again.

Gold and ghost-blue lightning spread instantly—

swallowing the girl whole.

Ethan moved faster than thought.

His displacement ability kicked in at once.

Space warped, just slightly.

And the next instant—

he was beside her.

He grabbed her arm and yanked her out of the impact center.

BOOM!!!

Lightning detonated where they'd been a heartbeat ago.

The edge of that destructive force scraped past Ethan's body.

His defensive energy barrier shook violently.

He didn't slow down.

He hauled the girl back hundreds of feet in an instant—

until they were clear of the battle's core.

The girl fought him like she'd lost her mind.

"No—!"

Her voice cracked with despair.

Transparent lightning spilled out of her.

It wasn't an attack.

It was instinct.

She was trying to go back.

Back to him.

But Ethan was stronger.

His grip was a shackle, locking her in place.

"Calm down," Ethan said under his breath.

She didn't hear him.

Her eyes stayed glued to the battlefield's center—

where the war between two Thunder Messengers was still raging.

And Ethan realized something.

This girl—

wasn't ordinary.

Her lightning wasn't lightning's power.

It was lightning's source.

Ethan kept his hold on the girl, forcing her still.

The transparent thunder inside her continued struggling against his restraint.

Then—

something inside Ethan shifted.

Not his thoughts.

Not his will.

Something deeper.

A thread of extremely faint energy surfaced from the depths of him.

That thread felt like it had its own awareness.

It flowed slowly—

and then slipped free of Ethan's control.

It entered the girl.

In that instant,

the world seemed to go quiet for a heartbeat.

The girl's body went rigid.

Her struggling stopped.

The transparent lightning on her skin trembled faintly.

She lifted her head.

Her eyes locked onto Ethan.

No confusion now.

Only—

shock.

Pure shock.

"That's impossible…" her voice shook.

"This is… power from the same source…"

She took a step back.

Transparent lightning automatically shaped itself around her as a defense.

"This power was granted to me by the heavens."

She stared at Ethan like he'd shattered her entire reality.

"There can't be a second one in this world."

"You—" Her voice sank. "Who are you?"

Ethan was stunned too.

Because he had no idea what had just happened.

That power—

he hadn't released it on purpose.

And then—

the sky split open.

No warning.

No buildup.

No gathering of energy.

Just pure appearance.

A white bolt of lightning dropped from the void.

Not blue.

Not gold.

Pure white—

like lightning in its original, primal form.

Raezion and Caelion both sensed the danger.

But this time—

Caelion didn't dodge.

He shot toward Raezion.

He reached out and clamped a hand around Raezion's arm.

Thunder burst out of him.

Not an attack—

a restraint.

"You—" For the first time, shock cracked across Raezion's face.

"What are you doing?!"