The sky turned savage.

Wind churned like it had been stirred by some invisible hand, whipping up a storm of sand and grit.

Ethan looked up, eyes sharp as blades. The scorpion creature's wings beat high above, stirring the air into a frenzy—it was summoning a storm?

"Son of a bitch…"

He muttered through clenched teeth and thrust out his hand.

The Scepter of the Fey Sovereign flared into existence in his palm, emerald light bursting from its crown.

In an instant, the wind shifted. All around them, elemental energy surged, drawn toward the scepter in a spiraling vortex—

Light and dust were swept into the same current, as if the whole world had taken a breath.

Then, rising slowly in the sky, a massive spectral figure took shape—

The Fey Sovereign.

The ancient Elven king's avatar—regal, graceful, and terrible to behold. His cloak snapped in the wind, and starlight shimmered in his eyes.

"Feylora!"

Ethan's voice cracked like a whip.

She arrived like a gale, golden hair streaming, her palm glowing with a fierce green light.

Without hesitation, she poured everything she had into the scepter.

The light flowed along the etched patterns of the staff, racing upward—into the towering phantom.

In that moment, the Fey Sovereign's form solidified, no longer just a vision but a presence.

When he raised his radiant staff, the very air trembled with a high, keening hum.

The Venomwing Scorpion Lord's grin faltered.

He could feel it—some buried sliver of Fairy blood in his veins shivering, recoiling in the presence of something ancient and absolute.

He staggered back, wings flaring, sand and dust billowing around him.

But then, something else inside him stirred—something darker.

"Heh… ha ha ha…"

A low, guttural laugh rolled through the storm.

"Now this is interesting. Your power—it stirs old memories. But it's a shame…"

His voice dropped, rough and rasping. Behind him, his wings snapped open wide.

"…the Skyfiend and Scorpion blood in me doesn't kneel so easily."

The sky darkened.

Toxic mist and storm winds twisted together, coalescing into a monstrous scorpion-shaped shadow behind him. It loomed like a mountain, its stinger etched with glowing crimson runes.

"Let's see if your ancient king still dares to lift his head in my presence!"

With a roar, the Venomwing Scorpion Lord hurled the spectral beast forward.

The world dimmed.

Space cracked. The air tore like shattered glass.

Ethan's eyes narrowed.

"The Fey Sovereign—smite him."

BOOM.

The great avatar raised its staff and brought it down in a single, thunderous strike.

The two forces collided midair.

The explosion lit up the desert—blinding, searing, impossible to look at.

Shockwaves rippled outward in concentric rings, like a meteor slamming into water.

Crack—

Fissures spiderwebbed across the sky.

RUMBLE—

The ground shook. Sand dunes split and collapsed.

The Venomwing Scorpion Lord reeled, driven back by the blast. The runes on his wings flickered and dimmed. He nearly dropped from the sky.

To the eye, it looked like he'd lost ground.

But Ethan knew better.

That strike had drawn on everything—his power, Idra's, Feylora's—and it had only pushed the bastard back a few feet.

His defenses were beyond reason.

"Don't give him room to breathe!"

Ethan's command cracked through the air.

Three streaks of light tore across the sky—

Andona, Ataneya, and Namyanna launched in unison, converging on the monstrous figure from three angles.

Their powers surged into three blazing chains of energy, slamming into the target with brutal precision.

BOOM—

The Venomwing Scorpion Lord's wings shredded on impact, the runes etched across them shattering like glass.

His roar echoed across the dunes—raw pain laced with fury.

The sky roared back.

Thunder rolled across the heavens, deep and relentless, like war drums pounding out the final cadence of a dying god.

Ethan raised his head, golden light burning in his eyes.

He could feel his strength draining fast—like a dam cracking under pressure—but there was no turning back now.

He lifted the Scepter of the Fey Sovereign once more.

Emerald light exploded from its tip, spiraling around him in a storm of radiance, like a thousand whispering spirits.

Dust and sand lifted into the air, drawn into a single column of light.

Within that pillar, the Fey Sovereign's avatar reformed—not as vast as before, but burning with a purer, more feral power.

"Feylora!"

Ethan's voice rang out like a blade unsheathed.

She understood.

No words needed. Feylora poured the last of her life force into the scepter.

In that moment, her body turned nearly translucent.

The avatar roared, staff raised high, and the world trembled.

Energy slammed into the air, detonating in wave after wave of concussive force.

Far off, Andona, Ataneya, and Namyanna had already locked onto their cue. They dove in, streaks of light carving arcs through the sky, then veered off just before the blast.

BOOM—

The Fey Sovereign's phantom plummeted like a comet,

And struck the Venomwing Scorpion Lord dead-on.

The desert cratered. The sky buckled.

The giant scorpion was hurled backward, a cloud of venomous mist bursting from his body like a ruptured hive.

He screamed, gasping, wings shattered into dust.

"Damn you…!" he growled, each breath a ragged tear through his chest.

He forced himself upright, staggering back a thousand feet, lungs heaving, bloodlines boiling.

All three of them—Skyfiend, Scorpion, and Fairy—howled inside him.

The sky darkened again. Shadows gathered overhead—he was charging up for another strike.

But then the ground swelled beneath him.

A dragon's roar split the earth.

Seraphina and Cicero burst from below in tandem,

Twin dragon phantoms tearing through the sand, trailing storms of lightning and frost.

BOOM—

Their claws struck true.

The Scorpion Lord was launched skyward, blood arcing behind him in a crimson ribbon.

He crashed down hard, landing on one knee in the sand, stinger snapped, wings in tatters.

His breathing was ragged, but he still clung to the last threads of power, jaw clenched, refusing to fall.

And then—

A shrill hum cut through the air.

A cold laugh followed, laced with shadow.

Elira.

She hovered above, eyes like frozen steel.

Behind her, the Skytear Demon Moth's phantom unfurled its wings, runes flashing like falling stars.

"Let's end this," she whispered.

The phantom dove.

Runes flared into a massive net of energy, snapping shut around the Scorpion Lord in an instant.

BOOM!!!

Light swallowed everything.

A blinding white flare lit up the desert. Wind howled. Stone melted.

"YOU BASTARDS—NO HONOR AT ALL!!!"

The Scorpion Lord's scream tore through the air.

No one answered.

The heroes of Emerald Castle were already surging forward,

Wave after wave of energy strikes crashing down in a relentless rhythm,

Until the world fell silent.

Dust settled.

The massive scorpion form lay still, nothing left but a scorched husk.

...