CHAPTER 646: CORES OF POWER

Seraph.

One of the highest bloodlines among the angelic race.

They wield the Primordial Force—an ancient power that far surpasses that of ordinary Angels, strong enough to rival even the Angel King himself.

In other words, they’re basically "another kind of king."

"No wonder..."

Ethan muttered under his breath, his eyes narrowing, a chill creeping into his gaze.

"No wonder he could stand toe-to-toe with Andona’s bloodline pressure. A Seraph exists beyond the normal rules of power."

A knot of unease twisted tighter in his chest.

"This is bad... I thought the Angel King’s power would be enough to dominate the battlefield. But now—it might not even come close."

He was just about to order the other Hero Units to reinforce the front—

When suddenly, a terrifying surge of energy exploded in the sky above.

A blinding light tore through the air, flooding the battlefield. Everyone froze, breath caught in their throats.

—Something had gone horribly wrong.

BZZZZT!

BZZZZT!

BZZZZT!

...

Reality itself cracked open.

Black rifts twisted and widened in the sky, like the heavens had been ripped apart by invisible claws.

And from those gaping wounds, the armies of the Sky Citadel began to pour through.

They came in droves—an endless tide of soldiers, their presence crashing down like a tsunami. The sheer pressure of their arrival made the air feel like it had turned to ice.

Among them, one figure stood out—his aura sharp and overwhelming, radiating power at the absolute peak of 16-Tier SSS class.

Ethan’s expression darkened. He cursed under his breath.

"Shit... not again! Damn it, we’ve got no choice—we’re fighting our way out!"

Without hesitation, he barked the order: "All units—attack!"

Before the words had even fully left his mouth, the Emerald Castle’s forces surged forward like arrows loosed from a bow.

Two unstoppable tides collided midair, and the battlefield erupted into chaos.

BOOOOM—!!

Blades clashed, magic flared, and bloodfire lit the sky. The roar of battle was deafening.

In the middle of the chaos, a hulking figure stepped in front of Ethan, blocking his path.

A Steel Golem warlord—its entire body encased in thick, reinforced armor plating. Every step it took sent tremors through the ground.

"RAAAHHH—!"

It let out a guttural roar and swung a massive iron fist straight at Ethan.

Ethan scoffed and met the blow head-on.

"BANG!!"

The impact shattered the air around them. Flesh and steel collided with such force that even the void seemed to ripple.

But in the next instant, Ethan’s brow furrowed.

Even with his current strength, the shock from that punch made his hand go numb.

"This thing’s defense is insane!"

Before he could strike again, a familiar roar echoed beside him.

"Master, leave this one to me!"

"ROOOAAAR—!"

Sycaron soared into the fray, his massive dragon claws slamming down to meet the Steel Golem head-on.

BOOM!!

The shockwave blasted outward like a hurricane, tearing through the battlefield.

Every clash between the two titans sent out shrieking bursts of metal-on-metal, the sound rattling through the bones of everyone nearby.

Ethan’s eyes sharpened, a flicker of awe in his gaze.

"So this is what the upper echelon of the Sky Citadel looks like... Even Sycaron’s dragon body is struggling to overpower it. Monsters fighting monsters—this is a whole different level."

...

The battlefield had reached a fever pitch.

Emerald Castle’s regular troops were fighting tooth and nail, but in just a few brutal minutes, a third of them had already fallen. The carnage was staggering.

Ethan’s chest tightened.

The regular units were the backbone of their numbers—if their casualties got too high, the time and resources needed to resummon them would be a crippling burden.

Just then, something flickered in his system’s field of vision—an anomaly.

"Hm? What the hell is that?!"

Amid the chaos, a lone figure darted through the crowd with uncanny speed.

At first glance, his Tier didn’t seem impressive, but the energy radiating from within him was off the charts.

Even stranger—his power wasn’t staying contained. It was leaking out, pouring into the surrounding Sky Citadel soldiers, who were absorbing it like addicts chasing a high.

It was like he was some kind of energy relay station... or more accurately, a living energy core.

Ethan’s eyes went cold.

"So that’s how they’ve been holding the line..."

In the blink of an eye, he vanished. A ghostly afterimage shimmered in the air where he’d stood, and in the next instant, he reappeared hundreds of feet away—right in front of the "energy core."

Before the man could react, Ethan had already grabbed him around the waist and slammed him to the ground.

"Wha—?!"

The man’s eyes went wide with shock, disbelief etched across his face.

In the Sky Citadel, no one had ever tracked his movements before—not even those on his level.

Before he could even struggle, Ethan’s hand plunged straight into his chest.

"Die."

SHLUKK—!

Blood sprayed into the air.

With a sickening crunch, Ethan ripped out a glowing, crystalline core—pure energy, solidified into a gem-like heart that pulsed with starlight.

It wasn’t a human heart. It was something else entirely—an energy core, radiant and alive.

Without hesitation, Ethan swallowed it whole.

BOOOOM—!

In an instant, the raw, unfiltered power of the Sky Citadel exploded inside him, tearing through his veins like a tidal wave of fire and lightning.

"AAARGH—!!"

His entire body locked up, bones cracking under the pressure, muscles straining to the brink of rupture. He clenched his teeth, forcing himself to stay conscious, summoning his own Primordial Force to suppress and fuse the foreign energy.

Meanwhile, the Sky Citadel warriors finally realized something was wrong.

"The core’s been taken!"

"Kill him! Take the power back!"

Dozens of elite soldiers surged toward Ethan, weapons drawn, eyes blazing.

But—

BOOM!!

At the peak of the agony, just as the fusion completed, Ethan’s power erupted.

His energy ignited like a supernova. The Sky Citadel force inside him, once wild and uncontrollable, had been tamed—forced into harmony with his own.

A shockwave of pure destruction exploded outward.

The air shattered like glass. The incoming Sky Citadel elites were blasted back mid-charge, blood spraying from their mouths as they crashed to the ground in heaps.

The battlefield plunged into chaos.

With their energy supply cut off, the Sky Citadel soldiers’ strength began to plummet. Their momentum faltered.

Ethan saw the shift instantly. His eyes sharpened like blades.

"Now! All units—counterattack! Don’t let a single one escape!"

"RAAAHHH—!!"

The elite forces of Emerald Castle roared as they charged, bloodfire and steel crashing together. The tide of battle flipped in an instant.

Above, the fight in the skies raged on.

The Seraph was still pressing Andona hard, but his expression had grown tense.

His power was immense, yes—but maintaining a battle of this scale in this dimension required a constant stream of energy.

He cursed under his breath and pulled a pitch-black crystal core from his robes, slamming it against his chest.

WHRRRRMMM—!

A blinding light burst from within him as the Sky Citadel’s unique energy surged back to life.

Ethan saw it from below, and his heart sank.

"So that’s it... They’re carrying backup cores. As long as they keep feeding off those, they can keep fighting indefinitely."

That realization hit like a hammer.

If the enemy could keep replenishing their strength, then his side would eventually burn out.

He didn’t hesitate.

Energy vortexes began to swirl around his body, rings of force spinning outward as he tried to disrupt the flow of power between the cores and their users.

"Feylora!" he called out sharply.

She was at his side in an instant, gripping his wrists tightly.

A heartbeat later, her energy surged into him, syncing with the vortexes he’d created.

WHUM—WHUM—WHUM—!

The air trembled violently.

Ethan could feel it—Feylora’s power weaving into his, forming a gravitational field of sorts. It began pulling the residual energy from the surrounding Sky Citadel warriors, draining it like a tide flowing backward.

...