Ethan instinctively took a step back.
He could feel it—clearly. That fla wasn’t just raw destructive force anymore. It had begun to carry a higher-order stability, a structured resonance layered into its core.
After a brief mont to steady herself, Ignara finished equipping the Powered Combat Armor.
The mont the armor touched her skin, the surface runes shifted automatically, adjusting their configuration to sync perfectly with her bloodline and energy frequency.
The armor’s output efficiency surged.
The flow of her Undying Fla was re-channeled, optimized along new, more efficient paths.
But that wasn’t the end of it.
So of the auxiliary modules didn’t remain as separate systems. Instead, they began to rge with her energy field—drawn in, absorbed, and restructured by her bloodline itself.
That wasn’t part of the design.
It was sothing else—sothing rare.
A resonance-level adaptation.
Her energy began to spike.
The surrounding space distorted with visible heat ripples. The air vibrated with a low, pressurized hum, like a sealed chamber on the verge of bursting.
Loose ambient energy was being pulled in from all directions, converging on Ignara like pilgrims drawn to a sacred fla.
Her aura climbed higher and higher.
She was approaching the razor-thin line between stability and overload.
If she kept absorbing at this rate, it could trigger a spatial shockwave—maybe even a chain reaction that would destabilize the entire area.
She was nearing the danger threshold.
Ethan stepped in fast, placing a firm hand on her shoulder.
"That’s enough. Stop here," he said, voice sharper than usual. "This armor was custom-built for you, yes—but so of its systems are still in testing. If you lose control now, we might not be able to contain the fallout."
Ignara took a deep breath, forcing the raging energy inside her to settle.
The flas around her slowly receded. The heat in the air eased. She disengaged the armor, returning to a more stable state.
For a mont, silence.
Then she looked up, eyes sharp as blades.
"When do we launch the full assault on the Phoenix Empire?"
"I’m going to kill Drake myself."
Ethan didn’t answer right away.
He cleared his throat, then pulled a folded tactical map from his storage space and spread it across the table.
A projection flared to life—layered spatial coordinates and energy markers glowing in midair.
"My scouts just brought back sothing important," he said. "There’s a mid-sized Plane World in this sector, rich in high-purity fire-elent ore."
He tapped the map. A red coordinate pulsed and zood in.
"If we can extract and refine that ore, it won’t just stabilize your Undying Fla further—it could give our entire war effort a serious boost."
Ignara’s eyes lit up instantly.
"Where exactly?"
"Here." Ethan pointed to the center of the marked zone. "But we’re on the clock. That Plane World is undergoing a large-scale energy convergence. It’s likely preparing to expand—maybe even absorb the surrounding realms."
"If we’re too slow, we might lose access entirely."
Before he even finished speaking, Ignara was already on her feet.
"Then we move now."
Ethan didn’t hesitate. He imdiately assembled an elite strike team to accompany them.
From both a combat and strategic standpoint, having Ignara personally involved in this operation offered massive potential gains. Her forr Tier and battlefield experience made her the most critical tactical asset Erald Castle had at this stage.
After several spatial jumps, the team finally arrived at the target coordinates.
Even with mature spatial tech, the journey required multiple rounds of stabilization and energy synchronization before they could lock onto the final location.
But the mont the rift fully stabilized and they stepped into the Plane World—
The air felt... dead.
No elental flow. No natural energy cycle. Even breathing carried a faint dryness and chill. The ground beneath their feet was cracked and ashen, like all life had been drained from it long ago.
The sky hung low, the light dim and colorless.
The entire realm looked like it had just suffered a complete energy collapse.
It was a jarring contrast to the intel they’d received—this was supposed to be a fire-rich world.
Ethan’s expression darkened instantly.
He turned to Feylora.
"What is this?" he asked, voice low and tight. "Did we get the wrong coordinates, or was the intel bad?"
Feylora shook her head quickly, already pulling out a spatial locator and cross-checking the coordinates and frequency paraters.
Seconds later, her face turned just as grim.
"Coordinates are dead-on. No deviation at all."
She looked up, unease clear in her voice.
"When we scouted this place, it was overflowing with energy. There was an active volcano in the central zone, fire-elent density was off the charts. Flora and fauna were stable and thriving."
"This... this isn’t what we saw."
Ethan’s frown deepened.
He’d already scanned the entire Plane World multiple tis, but there wasn’t a single usable energy signature. The air was dry and inert, like the elental cycle had long since collapsed.
None of it matched the recon data.
Just as he opened his mouth to press further—
Phoenix Queen Ignara stepped forward.
The mont her foot touched the ashen sand, her aura surged outward like an invisible tide, sweeping across the dead space.
The residual structures in the air began to resonate faintly. Even the ground beneath them trembled with a low, distant echo.
Then—
From deep within the dunes, a pillar of blood-red fla erupted into the sky.
But it wasn’t just heat. The light carried sothing older, heavier—like a sealed core buried deep in the earth had finally been awakened.
Ethan’s eyes widened instinctively.
Before he could stop her, Ignara was already moving toward the fla.
"Ignara, wait!" he called out, raising his voice. "The spatial structure here is unstable—we need to confirm it’s safe—"
She didn’t respond.
She was already standing in the heart of the fla.
Eyes closed. Expression calm. Letting the wild, pure fire pour into her body.
The energy swirled around her, intense and untad, yet it didn’t burn her. Instead, it flowed into her like it was returning ho—rging seamlessly with her aura.
Ethan’s chest tightened.
That level of energy—he wasn’t sure even he could withstand it head-on.
If she lost control now, the consequences would be catastrophic.
He started forward, ready to intervene—
But the space around them suddenly convulsed.
The air vibrated, as if so unseen will had just rewritten the rules. The dead energy field began to stir, rapidly coming back to life.
Elental flows surged in from all directions.
And behind Ignara, a massive phoenix silhouette began to take shape—its wings unfurling wide enough to blot out half the sky.
Blazing. Majestic. Ancient.
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