At the sa ti—
after that long, brutal chain of campaigns, Erald Castle's overall strength had risen by more than a single level compared to the beginning. But the real change wasn't just an increase in raw military power.
Erald Castle was no longer a simple, monotonous Castle.
It had gradually grown into a true multi-Plane World hub.
There was a passage to the Nether Sea here. It held the gateway into Nexaris. It had even opened a path that led straight into the Infernal realms.
Power, resources, troop types, energy, and even the underlying origin-structures of different planes were steadily flowing toward this central point.
And with those powerful worlds supporting it—
Erald Castle now had a continuous energy supply.
It could summon armies without pause. It could keep strengthening itself, expanding its territory, and empowering every core combat unit under its banner.
War, plunder, fusion, and growth had linked up into a complete cycle here—an engine that fed itself.
Right now, Ethan stood atop Erald Castle's main city.
He looked down at the thriving scene below: rows of newly built defense towers, legions being dispatched, spatial nodes running at full speed, and all kinds of troops and resource convoys moving between different zones. For a rare mont, a quiet sense of emotion rose in his chest.
Wind swept over the heights.
It tugged at the hem of his clothes—and snapped the banners hanging along the distant walls.
Everything was different now.
Nothing about this resembled the world he'd first stepped into.
…
Ethan was still standing above the main city, looking down at the constantly moving legions, ore shipnts, spatial passages, and newly raised buildings, when the sky over his head suddenly changed.
This wasn't a normal spatial fluctuation.
It felt like sothing being torn—wrong, unnatural.
The stable sky looked like an invisible hand had twisted it from the middle. Then a warped dinsional rift, its edges shaking, slowly split open, leaking a thin breath of otherworldly aura.
A figure stepped out.
The mont he appeared, he frowned and scanned the area once, his tone full of impatience and confusion. "Weird. How'd I end up here? Don't tell Elysion's spatial channel's acting up again."
He seed like he was just passing through—like he was already about to turn around and leave. But the instant his gaze swept over the Erald Castle main city below, his movent stopped.
In that heartbeat, the casual look in his eyes was replaced by undisguised greed.
A main city that gathered multiple Plane World passages, overflowed with high-density energy, and even had reinforced space itself… in anyone's eyes, it wouldn't be "so place you happened to pass by."
He licked his lips, excitent flickering across his face.
The next second, his power flared. He floated straight above Erald Castle's main city. His aura didn't explode outward in so dramatic spectacle, but it carried an extrely high-level, extrely stable pressure—like he himself represented a higher order.
"Who's the owner here?" he asked, looking down. His voice wasn't loud, but it landed clearly in every ear. "Co out. Now."
Ethan's brows knitted almost instantly.
He hadn't expected that even now, soone would still dare show up at Erald Castle's doorstep looking for trouble. But he didn't waste ti guessing the man's background either. With a flicker, Ethan appeared in the sky, stopping directly in front of him.
Violent power rolled off Ethan's body. Near-transparent lightning wrapped around him and spread outward, like a throne of thunder slowly unfolding.
"I'm the owner here." Ethan stared at him coldly. "Who are you, and what do you want?"
The man didn't rush.
Unhurried, he cleared his throat, then took out sothing like a badge. Complex light-patterns flowed across its surface—clearly not a decoration, but so kind of formal seal representing status and claim.
"From this mont on," he said, casually shaking the badge, calm as if stating a basic fact, "this is my territory."
As he spoke, his eyes couldn't even be bothered to linger on Ethan's face for a full second—like the entire city below, and every living person in it, had already been assigned to him the instant he opened his mouth.
"Stamp my badge here." He lifted a hand and lightly pointed at Erald Castle. "All of you are my slaves from now on. That's the highest honor you'll ever receive. Go prepare."
The anger on Ethan's face visibly sank.
"The hell are you supposed to be?" His voice was low and cold, every word pressed down with heat. "You flap your lips and think you can turn this into your private property?"
He stepped forward, killing intent completely undisguised.
"Everything here was bought with blood—mine and my people's. If you want to take it—then pay with blood."
The man blinked, then an exaggerated look of excitent spread across his face.
"Oh?" He narrowed his eyes, like he'd finally found sothing entertaining. "Are you challenging ?"
That was the line that finally lit Ethan up.
Near-transparent lightning spread rapidly across the sky, tearing layer after layer of fine thunder-patterns into the air overhead. Ethan lifted his head, his gaze so cold it held no warmth at all.
"It's not a challenge."
He spoke slowly.
"It's killing you."
The man went silent for a beat—then burst out laughing.
The laughter was contemptuous and arrogant, like he'd just heard the most ridiculous joke in the world. But as it faded, the expression on his face snapped into sothing almost formally solemn.
He raised a fist and hamred his chest three tis.
The motion was simple, but it carried a clear sense of ritual.
"I—" he began, his voice dropping deeper than before, "Kelaric, Supre Commander of the Eastern Legion of Elysion's Third Warfront—accept your challenge."
Ethan froze for a fraction of a second.
Elysion.
He'd never even heard the na.
But seeing Kelaric suddenly turn serious, Ethan was instinctively pulled into that sa ritual weight. The next mont, he raised his fist and struck his own chest three tis as well.
"I am Ethan," he said, voice steady. "Lord of Erald Castle."
Kelaric listened—then snorted.
"That introduction's painfully bland." He tilted his head slightly, contempt completely unhidden. "Still. You've got more guts than I expected."
As he spoke, he eased back half a step.
It was a tiny motion, almost nothing—yet the entire sky's atmosphere shifted with it. The surrounding energy seed to hear a call and started flowing toward him uncontrollably.
"Kelaric…" Ethan's gaze sharpened.
But Kelaric didn't give him ti to say anything else.
A horrifying surge of power erupted out of Kelaric's body. He spread both hands, and all energy in the area lost its autonomy, forcibly dragged toward him. In the blink of an eye, countless transparent pillars of light ford high in the air.
"Celestial Cataclysm!"
At his low shout, the pillars hung there one by one—nearly perfectly straight, each one packed with terrifying power.
There wasn't even much visible turbulence on their surfaces. They just stood there in silence—
and the space around them began to crack continuously anyway.
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