Mystic Calling：Stone of Glory-Chapter 978: The Shape in Lightning

Just as Ethan was finally syncing up with this world's energy rhythm, the entire space suddenly shifted.

It was like the air got plucked by an invisible finger. A soundless ripple spread from the distance, rolling outward in a wave no one could see—only feel.

The white lightning that had been drifting through the void a moment ago started twisting violently, like it had answered a summons from something higher. The thunder dropped into a deeper register, tight and crowded, and the sky itself looked like some giant hand had reached in and stirred it.

The next instant—

A massive figure fell from above.

It wasn't a living, flesh-and-blood thing. It was made from countless strands of white lightning packed together.

Its body flickered between semi-transparent and solid, electricity flowing through its limbs and torso until it looked like a giant carved straight out of lightning.

What stood out most was its chest.

A pure-white energy gem was embedded there.

The gem rotated slowly, and with every turn it released a visible ring of power—ripples that warped the space around it like heat haze turned violent.

Ethan's breath caught.

He understood immediately: this wasn't some random phenomenon.

Because that white lightning… was almost identical to the Infernal Primordial Power inside his body.

The lightning giant's gaze settled on Ethan and the others. Then it spoke, its voice like thunder rolling across the heavens.

"Interesting."

"It's been a long time since I've seen outsiders make it this far."

Its eyes lingered on Ethan, then swept over Nysera, Lily, Idra, and Auri—cool, detached, like it was taking inventory.

"What surprises me even more is that you actually wield Infernal Primordial Power."

Slowly, it raised an arm. Lightning gathered into its palm.

"That power doesn't belong to you."

"Since you've come here—"

"Then give it back to me."

The moment the words landed, the whole sky detonated.

Countless streaks of white lightning converged at once, compressing in midair into a gigantic energy core. Inside it, lightning boiled and churned, like a white star about to crash down to earth.

The next instant—

It dropped.

The air tore open.

Space itself shuddered.

That thunder core carried raw, annihilating force as it slammed straight for Ethan's position.

But right before it could hit, an angry presence flared—hard and sudden.

Lily's eyes went cold.

She lifted her head slowly, and the power inside her erupted like a volcano.

"What the hell are you?"

Her voice wasn't loud, but the fury in it was barely contained.

"A hollow little energy body, and you're gonna lecture me about power?"

She raised her hand.

In the next heartbeat, the lightning between heaven and earth answered her.

White bolts surged in from the depths of space, gathering in her palm and compressing fast. Lightning stacked on lightning, spiraling tighter and tighter until it took shape— 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

A massive phoenix of thunder.

It was formed from pure white electricity. When it spread its wings, it nearly blanketed the entire sky.

It let out a piercing cry.

Then it shot forward.

The thunder phoenix collided with the falling thunder core in midair.

BOOM—!

The impact burst outward. Cracks spiderwebbed through space in an instant, and a savage storm of energy ripped across everything around them. But the phoenix didn't scatter.

It punched straight through the core and kept going, surging toward the towering lightning giant.

The moment it made contact, the phoenix's body split into countless fine strands of lightning.

Those strands became blades—razor-thin, relentless—drilling into the giant's body and tearing at the internal structure of its white lightning from the inside out.

And worse—

Mixed into the phoenix's lightning was another kind of power, something higher, heavier.

That energy was forcibly stripping the Infernal Primordial Power out of the giant's body.

For the first time, the lightning giant let out a low, furious roar.

Ethan stood there, rooted to the spot, staring with his mouth half open.

He'd always thought he'd already hit the ceiling with white lightning. Only now did he realize Lily was operating on a completely different level. She wasn't just firing off thunder—she was reaching into someone else and ripping their lightning out by force.

If he could learn to do that—

Then when he ran into something truly terrifying later, he wouldn't have to lean on anyone else's strength.

He was still turning that over when a faint, eerie presence slipped into his senses.

It was ridiculously weak.

Almost like a firefly.

Ethan's eyes snapped to it.

Out in the distant thunderstorm, a tiny point of light was drifting, slow and steady.

It was a minuscule glowing creature.

Nail-sized, like a firefly—except the energy coming off it was unmistakable, the same flavor as Infernal Primordial Power.

Ethan's instincts spiked hard.

He took a sharp step back.

At the same time, the Heavenly Demon Lightning inside him surged together, compressing in his palm into a massive orb of power.

No hesitation.

He hurled it.

The energy sphere tore through the air, screaming straight toward the "firefly."

But the thing was absurdly fast.

It flickered once—just a soft little flash—and slipped past the attack like it had seen it coming.

Then its body suddenly started to swell.

That tiny speck of light expanded in seconds. The glow split apart like a skin tearing open, and a huge freakish fish burst out.

The monster fish was made of semi-transparent energy. Its mouth bristled with razor-sharp spikes of lightning, and its enormous tail snapped hard as it lunged straight at Ethan.

Ethan's pupils widened.

He hadn't expected something that small to bring out something that big.

The fish moved insanely fast.

Before he could fully react, it was already in his face.

Right then—

Auri moved.

She lifted her hand, almost casually.

An invisible barrier unfolded in an instant.

The monster fish slammed into it with a heavy, ugly impact. Space rang with a muffled boom, and a shockwave rolled outward in all directions.

Ethan finally let out the breath he'd been holding.

But the next second, his expression tightened again.

Because the "firefly" hadn't vanished.

It was still hovering in the distance.

Its wings beat lightly.

And with each delicate flutter, new fluctuations rippled through the space around it.

A system scan unfolded across Ethan's vision.

The data refreshed rapidly.

And Ethan realized the truth.

That monster fish hadn't transformed from the firefly.

It had been—

Summoned.

Almost the moment the conclusion clicked into place, the firefly beat its wings again.

More energy fissures split open in the air.

One monster after another burst from those cracks.

The fight, in that instant, fully erupted.

Nysera's lightning and Idra's power flared at the same time, slamming head-on into the summoned creatures.

Thunder, raw energy, and tearing space tangled together in a single violent knot.