Ethan stood atop the mountain ridge of The Nether Sea, wind sweeping past him as he stared down at the scene below.
It was breathtaking.
Raw power surged steadily through his body, rising with every heartbeat. It wasn't just energy—it was like his entire being had rged with the land itself. Every inch of his skin humd in sync with this ancient realm.
And the runes...
They coursed through him faster than ever before, harmonizing with the very source energy of this forgotten world. The resonance buzzed under his skin, deep and primal.
At this point, he didn't just have access to the Infernal Plane.
He could step across its boundaries on a whim—navigate directly to any location within The Nether Sea like it was stitched into his veins.
"Master!" Feylora ca running toward him, breath sharp, her face tight with urgency. "As you commanded, we've located an unusually mysterious entry point. Roughly three hundred miles to the east. We believe it's what you described—the Infernal Abyss!"
At that na, Ethan's eyes snapped wide—lit with a sudden spark he couldn't contain.
Since opening the gates of the Infernal Plane, he'd been fixated on the Infernal Abyss. Rumors called it a world even deeper, more powerful than the Infernal Plane itself. A realm so ancient and vast, even hell was said to be born from its echo.
If that was true… and if this really was the way in…
Then sowhere beyond that abyssal door waited a power far beyond anything he'd touched so far.
Lily had told him everything she knew. For her, the energy in most realms was far too diluted—barely enough to wake her, let alone satisfy the hunger driving her rebirth.
But the Infernal Abyss... it held the original source energy she needed. The kind that could bring her back completely.
"Where is it?" Ethan asked, no delay, no hesitation. Urgency flared in his voice. "Take there—now."
Then he moved—launched himself from the mountain's peak in one smooth leap, energy surging behind him. In midair, his Powered Combat Armor locked onto his body in a seamless flash of motion—coating him in reinforced plating that both boosted his strength and shielded him from hostile forces.
Feylora watched the display without blinking, then turned sharply and gave the command. A force assembled imdiately. Parts of The Nether Sea remained uncharted—veiled in danger and crawling with unknown threats—but the power saturating this region was undeniable.
It made the perfect forward base.
The destination was a unique anomaly—an energy field unlike anything else. From a distance, it looked like a colossal spatial fracture. Raw power rippled visibly through the air, shaking the sky and ground alike.
It wasn't a portal. Not in the traditional sense.
But it damn well felt like one.
Ethan stared at the rift, and fury surged up his chest before he could stop it. The intensity of what he sensed there…
He turned coldly toward Feylora, eyes narrowed. "This is the entrance you found?" he asked, low and sharp.
Feylora wasn't shaken. She nodded without flinching, stepping forward to pull a strange stone from the folds of her cloak.
The thing glowed with pale, shifting light. Every inch of it pulsed with so unknown frequency—as though it were reacting to the air itself.
"Yes, Master," she said calmly. "Just throw this into the field. You'll see."
Ethan clenched his jaw but said nothing more. He took the stone and hurled it into the heart of the anomaly.
The second it hit the energy field, the entire area quaked.
The rift erupted.
Light burst out violently as if all the world's pressure had just slamd into one point. It was raw, elental—power that made the skies above tremble.
But that wasn't the end.
A line of brilliance carved itself right through the fracture's center. Then—slowly, impossibly—a massive door erged from the swirling energies. Towering. Silent. Waiting.
Ethan froze for half a second. Even he hadn't expected a reaction like that from a single touch of the stone.
This wasn't just an entry point.
This was a gate.
And it was opening.
He exhaled once—deep, controlled—drawing power into his core. It crackled through him like lightning run along muscle and bone. Then with a grunt and a burst of speed, he hurled a condensed energy sphere straight through the gate.
As soon as it crossed through, the entire field jolted again.
Light twisted.
The energy pulse inside the sphere flared violently—and then collapsed. The ball fought, spiraled, then vanished entirely—dragged into the unknown by a force so strong and alien, not even Ethan could maintain control.
And that was all the proof he needed.
Whatever this rift was, the energy inside it wasn't just wild.
It was overpowering. Dangerous. Capable of devouring any force not anchored by absolute will or mastery.
Ethan's eyes burned with exhilaration. Without another second of hesitation, he launched himself straight into the rift.
One blink—he was gone, diving full speed into the unknown.
Feylora followed instantly, right on his heels. No pause, no fear.
She knew exactly what was at stake. This mission wasn't just another exploration—it could reshape their entire future. There was no room for mistakes.
It was impossible to tell how much ti passed before they breached through.
Eventually, Ethan erged into an entirely new realm—a small, self-contained Plane World, utterly isolated from anything he'd ever seen.
The mont he stepped inside, he felt it.
Sothing different pulsed in the air.
The energy was thick and strange, unlike anything he'd encountered. More than the usual spatial pressure—it felt alive, humming in the bones of the world itself, reacting to his presence.
As he passed through the tear, he had almost lost control of his power.
There'd been a violent twist in the rift behind him—a chaotic current of raw spatial distortion, like a predator trying to devour him whole. If he hadn't been so overwhelmingly strong, it might've succeeded.
But one thing had saved them:
That stone.
The strange little shard Feylora had thrown in—it had sohow stabilized the energy in this realm, forming a temporary balance.
Without it, the wild fluctuations might've torn both Ethan and the entire Erald Castle force to pieces.
"Master!" Feylora rushed up beside him, breath quick but face glowing with awe. "Told you I wasn't lying—this place is overflowing with power!"
Ethan took a long breath, tension draining from of his shoulders. The fury he'd held earlier was gone, replaced by fresh focus. The energy here—this mysterious world—it was the real deal.
"You're right," he said, scanning the surreal landscape. "Split up. See if there are natives here, or anything else we should be worried about."
Feylora nodded and imdiately started coordinating the scouting squads. Soldiers moved out in all directions, fanning through the strange terrain as they began their survey.
Ethan didn't wait around. He brought up his internal system and launched a scan of the new zone.
Within seconds, a map flickered to life in his vision—and on it, a cluster of bright signals caught his attention.
Mines.
His eyes lit up.
They were dense with energy—rich, concentrated, and exactly what he needed. Without missing a beat, Ethan took off, rocketing toward the closest site.
But just as he neared the periter…
He felt it.
The entire atmosphere trembled as a surge of lightning exploded across the sky.
He skidded to a halt mid-air, eyes narrowing.
This wasn't normal lightning. This was sothing else entirely. The energy was dense and seething, crackling with unnatural pressure—and worse yet, the bolts weren't blue or white.
They were red.
Blood-red.
A bitter tallic sharpness hit his senses. The air was saturated with sothing dark and wrong, shot through with crimson arcs that screeched across the sky like vengeful spirits.
Ethan cursed under his breath and threw up a barrier—layers of reinforced energy locking around his body.
But the mont the storm hit—
CRACK!
The red bolt tore straight through like it was paper.
Pure force slamd into him, sending a shockwave down his spine. He staggered, muscles locking in reflex to keep from collapsing.
Gritting his teeth, he forced his power up—energy bursting outward from his core as he pushed back against the curse-charged lightning. Finally, the strike was neutralized. Barely.
Even then, Ethan could feel it—it had left sothing behind. A malicious aftershock still crawled at the edges of his body, daring him to drop his guard again.
Too strong. Too precise. Not natural.
And then ca the voice.
Deep. Mocking. Carved out of fla and stone.
"Well, well… A re human… and you actually survived that?"
The voice rippled across the skies, curling through the blood-red clouds. "Impressive. I underestimated you."
Ethan's eyes snapped to the sky.
The storm above shuddered—and suddenly, the scarlet lightning thickened, multiplying, crackling with deadly rhythm. Every bolt rained down harder, angrier, ripping open the very air.
The sky was no longer just a ceiling.
It was a battlefield.
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