Ethan hadn’t expected Morveth to be this much of a monster.

After several rounds of head-on collisions, he could feel it clearly now—Morveth’s physical body, the sheer thickness of his energy, and the constant oppressive output from those blood-red gemstones in his chest all far surpassed most of the enemies Ethan had met since entering Varkharr.

But that only made it more impossible for Ethan to back down.

If he retreated now, it wouldn’t just be him who died.

His eyes hardened. He raised a hand and pulled out every stored energy core he had on him.

One. Two. A dozen. More.

Core after core shot from his palm, hovering in midair as they formed a ring around him.

Each one glowed a different color, power vibrating inside it. Then Ethan’s transparent lightning detonated. Arcs whipped out like countless thin, razor-sharp chains, lashing in every direction.

The moment those transparent bolts touched the floating cores, the energy sealed inside them lit up.

Boom!

Power got ripped out by force and fused into the lightning, swelling into a rapidly expanding, violent energy field.

It didn’t just surge forward.

It spread from every side at once—like a massive net snapping shut—until it wrapped Morveth completely inside.

Thud!

Thud!

Thud!

Heavy impacts pounded from inside that energy field, each one like a warhammer slamming into the seam between ruins and space itself.

The air compressed and sank in layers. The ground around them trembled nonstop. Remaining chunks of altar stone burst apart one after another, and even distant broken pillars—already leaning—collapsed fully from the vibration.

For the first time, Morveth’s expression truly changed.

He felt the sudden, soaring pressure in the air. His pupils tightened hard, and his body took several steps back almost on instinct.

But he didn’t just wait to be crushed. The string of blood-red gemstones in his chest flashed together. Brownish-purple and blood-red power condensed in front of him, compressing along a straight line—stretching, hardening—until it became a gigantic energy sword.

The moment the sword finished forming, space screamed with a piercing hum.

Morveth drove both hands forward, and the sword cleaved straight into Ethan’s onrushing force.

The next instant, their powers collided again.

Rumble—RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE—!

This time, it wasn’t a dead-even stalemate.

With the stacked power he’d forced out of all those energy cores, Ethan finally pressed Morveth back.

The instant the sword met the transparent lightning, the blade began to shudder violently—then it was forced backward inch by inch.

Morveth himself got hammered back dozens of steps. The ruins under his feet shattered in strips, carving a long, ruined trench behind him.

But the bastard didn’t give up.

The moment he stabilized, the blood-red gemstones in his chest vibrated again, clearly trying to push his output even higher.

Right as Morveth started to gather power again, a violent aura erupted behind him.

Anya was already there—right at his back.

She’d come in too fast for even Morveth to react immediately.

In the next second, she was in close, and her fist slammed into Morveth’s body with everything she had.

"You disgusting bastard!"

There was none of her usual lightness left in her voice—only fury packed down to the breaking point.

"Today I’m tearing you into pieces!"

The moment her punch landed, her power fully detonated. More precisely—she burned every energy core she’d collected, all at once.

She forced all of it into that single strike, holding nothing back, releasing it in one brutal burst.

The energy was savage beyond reason, carrying a near-out-of-control, do-or-die finality as it blasted into Morveth from behind.

Morveth’s body jolted violently.

And Ethan, of course, didn’t waste an opening like that.

Almost the exact moment Anya struck, he shoved his own power to the limit again.

Transparent lightning compressed at terrifying speed in front of his palm, forming a shock-burst so sharp it felt like it could slice the air itself. Then he drove it straight into Morveth’s chest.

Boom!

The hit landed clean.

The transparent lightning punched through, and the instant it made contact it ripped open a horrific gash across Morveth’s chest. It cut inward without slowing, tearing straight through and shredding his heart into pieces.

Blood, flesh, and shattered energy exploded together. The blood-red gemstones embedded in his chest started vibrating wildly, their glow flickering—bright, dim, bright again—like they were about to crack apart next.

In a sense, Morveth really was a higher lifeform.

His body’s toughness, the oppressive aura rolling off him—both were absurd to the point of exaggeration. Against almost anyone else, getting crushed head-on by that kind of power would’ve meant instant death, no chance to fight back.

But the problem was—

Ethan and Anya weren’t weak anymore.

One of them wielded transparent lightning refined and purified to the extreme. The other had poured revenge—and every energy core she’d collected—into a single, desperate punch.

More importantly, when they fought together, their power formed a subtle, unmistakable resonance.

Ethan suppressed from the front. Anya detonated from behind. The two forces tore open Morveth’s defense like twin blades closing at once.

Morveth started to fall apart.

First, his chest collapsed inward where the wound had been. Then cracks spread from that point, racing across his entire body.

Brownish-purple skin, thick muscles, the violent energy wrapped around him—everything destabilized at once.

It didn’t take long.

Under the sustained ripping pressure of both attacks, Morveth was torn into pieces—shredded completely.

The battle was finally over.

Ethan and Anya both let out long breaths, like a stone that had been crushing their chests for ages had finally rolled off.

Neither of them spoke right away. They each found a piece of ruin-stone that was still mostly intact and sat down, letting the lingering turbulence inside their bodies settle little by little.

After a brief silence, Ethan glanced sideways at her.

"You’re pretty damn strong for a kid," he said, his tone unusually softened. "What’s your name? You got any family left?"

The moment the question left his mouth, Anya’s eyes reddened.

It was like she’d been forcing herself to hold it together until the revenge was truly done—and only now did that tight, braced strength finally snap.

The next second, she burst into sobs.

Fast, raw, unfair-sounding sobs—like grief she’d been swallowing for way too long. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"My family... they were all killed by that bastard!"

Ethan froze.

Only then did it really sink in—Anya’s Plane World had already been destroyed.

If Morveth could wipe out her world, her parents and everyone she’d ever had... there was no way they’d survived.

For a moment, Ethan didn’t know what to say. He just lifted a hand and patted her back gently.

He meant to comfort her, at least a little.

But after crying for a while, Anya slowly managed to stop on her own.

She sniffed hard, then pulled out a metal tag from her clothes. She went quiet for two breaths, then pushed it into Ethan’s hand.

"My name is Anya," she said softly, her voice rough from crying.

"I used to be... Thaloria’s princess."

She gave a small, self-mocking smile that vanished almost as soon as it appeared.

"But now I’m just a stray kid wandering around out here."