Ethan’s expression snapped sharp.

"Move!"

He caught Kaelira by the arm and yanked her sideways, retreating at full speed.

The next second, a golden pillar of light punched through the cloud layer and slammed straight down—precisely onto the spot they’d been standing.

Bzzzt—

BOOOOM! 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Where the beam hit, space itself was pierced through. Blinding light erupted, and the shockwave detonated outward like a expanding wall. The midair stalemate of clashing energies was ripped apart instantly, and the ground below was crushed into a massive depression.

Even though Ethan had pulled back in time, the aftershock still swept along his back. The pressure made the energy inside him drop heavy, like his chest had been hit with a weight.

His eyes went ice-cold.

If he’d been even a fraction slower, and that beam had hit him head-on... even if it didn’t kill him, it would’ve crippled him.

"Again?!" Kaelira cursed, head tilted up, staring into the clouds. The fury in her eyes looked like it might burn straight through whatever monster was hiding up there.

Ethan stared up as well.

"What is that?"

Kaelira’s fist tightened. Her face had never been this serious.

"One of the top-tier warships," she said, each word clipped. "The Dominion."

Ethan kept his gaze fixed on the clouds.

The Dominion’s outline finally pressed fully into view.

This wasn’t a warship in any normal sense. It was too big—so big the entire cloud layer was shoved aside in one brutal sweep. The edges of the hull stretched toward the limits of his vision, like a heavy metal continent floating above Emerald Castle.

The underside was packed with complex energy patterns. Golden light flowed along armor seams in slow pulses, and every flicker left thin fractures in the surrounding space, hairline cracks that came and went like the sky couldn’t handle it.

Ethan had seen plenty of battleships.

He had never seen scale like this.

It hung there and nearly blotted out the sky.

"Die!" Queen Elowen’s furious shout rang out from another section of the battlefield.

She thrust both hands upward, and the ground beneath her froze instantly.

Ice-blue cold surged outward from her in a violent ring, racing through cracks in the earth and erupting upward like spears.

In the next instant, a gigantic iceberg surged up from the ground, its tip aimed straight at the heavens as it tore upward with a screaming wind.

It kept rising. Wherever it passed, the air crystallized into white frost mist, and even nearby artillery fire bent and warped under the pressure of the cold. On the ground, countless heads snapped up, and for a heartbeat hope flashed across more than a few faces.

But Ethan’s expression changed.

"Careful!"

He shouted it, worry sharp in his eyes.

He’d felt the force inside that golden beam when it struck.

That hadn’t been a simple cannon shot. It was destruction compressed down to something deeper—denser—like the energy had been folded until it became pure ruin.

If Elowen tried to ram her power straight into defenses or firepower on that level, the backlash wouldn’t just sting. It would be catastrophic.

Bzzzt—

BOOOOM!

A ring of gold flared across The Dominion’s underside.

Then a massive barrier unfolded around the ship.

It was like a golden dome inverted over the sky. Smooth. Seamless. The light was terrifyingly stable—no tremble, no fractures, nothing.

The moment Elowen’s iceberg struck it, it didn’t shatter the barrier.

Instead, a burst of thick white steam exploded at the point of contact.

Everyone froze.

That was Elowen’s ice—cold taken to the extreme, condensed into a mountain.

And the instant it touched The Dominion’s shield... it was being melted. Forced to melt.

Elowen still held her hands up, as if she could will it through by sheer force. Her pupils tightened hard as she watched her iceberg dissolve inch by inch. White fog poured off the contact point in a frantic torrent. Even the cold sealed inside the iceberg was being swallowed—crushed—then vaporized by that layer of gold.

This was the first time she had ever seen anything melt her ice like that.

"Back!"

Ethan became a streak of transparent lightning and shot out.

He grabbed Elowen’s arm and hauled her into a fast retreat. Almost the instant they cleared the spot, the golden barrier around The Dominion abruptly swelled—like a massive net snapping open—and swallowed the iceberg that hadn’t fully dissolved yet.

Boom!

The iceberg was crushed to nothing.

White steam boiled and spread across the high sky. Sunlight pierced the melting ice fog, and far off at the horizon, it bent into a huge rainbow arch.

Seven colors stretched over the battlefield—something that should’ve been breathtaking.

No one even glanced at it.

Because The Dominion showing up only meant one thing.

The Valgari were done testing.

They were going all-in.

Ethan dragged Elowen back near the defensive line, then turned to face the battlefield. His voice exploded outward like thunder.

"Everyone—brace and prepare to engage!"

It cut through cannon fire and wind pressure, reaching inside and outside Emerald Castle. Their army shifted formation at once. Sky Fortress guns re-angled and re-locked. Ground fighters raised their weapons, and layers of energy shields snapped open one after another.

Then a voice boomed from The Dominion—ancient, heavy, and cold.

"Valgari warriors—claim what belongs to us!"

Amplified by the ship, it felt like the entire sky pressing down. Every syllable carried command. The Valgari formation moved the moment they heard it.

Dense clusters of warships began to advance. Ground forces surged forward in a coordinated charge. Dimensional energy in the air rolled like a tide, pressing toward Emerald Castle from every direction.

Ethan narrowed his eyes.

Someone issuing orders from The Dominion itself...

That was almost certainly the Valgari leader.

"Master!"

A sharp, clear cry rang out from the other side of the sky.

Andona beat her Angel wings and turned into a streak of gold, flying straight toward Ethan. She was insanely fast. Her feathers skimmed the air, scattering golden motes like sparks, and the instant she landed at Ethan’s side, the power of the Angel King erupted from her without restraint.

Golden radiance spread in a wide bloom, covering Ethan.

This battlefield was a death trap. The Dominion overhead. A Valgari army in front. High-tier enemies everywhere you looked.

For Andona, the first priority wasn’t attacking.

It was making sure Ethan stayed alive.

"Kill them!"

Varik roared and moved first.

He became a black shadow, carving a dark line out of the Valgari ranks as he lunged straight for Ethan.

As he surged forward, the Valgari army pressed in full force behind him—along with more than a few familiar figures that had already shown their faces over the last few days.

Warship bombardment. Ground charges. Airborne elites pushing at the same time.

In that instant, the battlefield truly boiled over.

"Don’t come near my master!"

Andona stepped in front of Ethan.

She raised the Angelic Sword high. Golden light gathered rapidly along the blade.

The sword hummed. The light in the air itself seemed to get yanked toward it, compressed and forced into the edge. Then—Divine Judgment.

A golden sword aura cleaved out from the Angelic Sword.

It wasn’t wide, but it was terrifyingly dense. Wherever it passed, dark energy was ripped apart like paper.

It carried a pure, razor-sharp sense of judgment as it slashed straight at Varik.

The moment Varik saw that golden arc rushing at him, fear surged up from somewhere deep and ugly.

He was void.

And Andona was an Angel.

To him, this kind of attack was a natural смертельный threat—built to kill what he was.

He didn’t dare take it head-on.

Midair, his body turned wraithlike. The shadow that had been one complete figure split cleanly into two halves, snapping left and right at the same time and letting Divine Judgment slice straight through the gap.

The golden sword aura skimmed past the two shadows and continued into the distance, carving a long, deep fissure into the ground far across the battlefield.

"Hmph."

Andona’s cold snort was sharp as steel. She twisted her wrist and brought the Angelic Sword down again.

Boom!

A second sword aura erupted—faster than the first, and cut at a nastier angle—chasing the point where Varik’s shadow was trying to fuse back together.

Varik’s two halves snapped back into one.

His hands clapped together quickly. Between his palms, black energy spun at high speed, and a massive void vortex unfolded in front of him.

The instant it appeared, the surrounding light warped and stretched. Even dust in the air got dragged in, spiraling toward the hungry center.