CHAPTER 770: TELL YOUR MASTER TO CRAWL OUT HERE HIMSELF

Just as Ethan was racking his brain for a strategy—

Kaelira moved.

She stepped forward, and pink energy burst from her like the sudden bloom of dawn—gentle, but never weak. Bright, but edged like a blade.

Her power collided with the black void energy midair, the clash so violent it shredded the air between them.

Kaelira’s eyes were ice. "Gorrath, is it? You’re just Vaedoroth’s mutt. You don’t get to stand in my way. Tell your master to crawl out here himself."

So she knew this creature.

Gorrath froze for half a second—then let out a jagged, grating laugh that sounded like gravel dragged across steel.

Behind him, the darkness swelled and twisted, forming the shape of a massive shadow-beast crouched at his back, claws bared and teeth gleaming.

"Kaelira, you overestimate yourself," Gorrath sneered, voice thick with arrogance. "My master doesn’t waste time on insects. To deal with you, I’m more than enough. That shiny new Tier of yours? Just a soap bubble waiting to pop."

And with that—

The black energy erupted like a tidal wave.

BOOM!!

The world shook.

Darkness surged forward, swallowing everything in its path. Under that pressure, even the ground seemed to groan.

But just before it could consume her—

HUMMMMM—

Pink light flared.

Kaelira hovered midair, radiant and unshaken, like a goddess descending through stormclouds.

Her power didn’t just resist the darkness—it unraveled it. Like a spring breeze melting frost, her energy seeped into the black tide, purifying it, breaking it down, and drawing it into herself.

Ethan forgot to breathe.

Two forces, vast enough to tear the world apart, collided in the air—

One, a suffocating abyss deeper than the sea.

The other, a light purer than dawn.

Even standing at a distance, Ethan’s blood boiled in his veins. His chest felt like it was being crushed by an invisible hand.

These weren’t powers he could even touch—let alone absorb.

And yet Kaelira—

She absorbed it effortlessly. Purified it. Turned it into her own strength.

She wasn’t just wielding this power—she was made for it.

For the first time, Ethan truly understood what it meant to be called the Desert Queen.

If he had that kind of ability...

Maybe he could break through again.

The thought startled him—but it also lit a fire in his chest.

Meanwhile, Gorrath was finally realizing he wasn’t facing a lamb.

His eyes widened, black flames flickering deep in his pupils.

"So... you’re this strong now?"

Before the words had even finished leaving his mouth, he reached behind him and gripped one of the long spines jutting from his back—a jagged bone-blade, like something ripped from a nightmare—and yanked it free.

He hurled it skyward.

Fssshhhk—!

The air screamed as the spike tore through it, sharper than thunder.

Then—

BOOM!!!

The bone-blade hit like a meteor, its corrupted energy so dense it twisted space itself, warping it like cloth wrung tight.

A chunk of Kaelira’s pink aura shattered on impact.

But only a chunk.

The rest surged forward again, flooding the breach like a rising tide. The corrupted energy hissed, broke apart, and crumbled into drifting ash.

Kaelira’s voice cut through the air, cold as a blade: "Gorrath, I gave you a chance. You chose death. Don’t blame me for delivering it."

And yet, the power radiating from her was impossibly gentle—like a spring wind, like the hush of a tide.

But beneath that softness—

Ethan could feel it.

A terrifying, world-ending force.

His instincts screamed. He staggered back a few steps, throwing up a thick energy barrier in front of himself with everything he had.

A heartbeat later—

Pink light and black void collided.

BOOM—!!

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM—!!

BOOM—!!

The explosions didn’t just echo—they roared up from the bones of the world.

Air shattered. The ground cracked open. The cavern walls splintered like glass, raining debris in every direction.

Ethan’s barrier fractured on the first wave.

"Shit—!"

He gritted his teeth, pouring more power into the shield, patching it as fast as it broke.

The difference in power was staggering.

It felt like trying to hold up a wooden plank in the middle of a boiling sea.

Meanwhile—

Kaelira didn’t look like the one under pressure at all.

She hovered midair, pink energy flowing around her like a veil of light—soft, luminous, and impossibly precise.

With a flick of her wrist, hundreds of razor-thin energy blades bloomed into existence. They floated for a breath, then rained down on Gorrath like a storm of silk-edged truth.

Each blade wasn’t just an attack—it was a fragment of law itself, a sliver of pure principle honed into a weapon.

And finally, Gorrath’s mask cracked.

"This... this isn’t possible! Your Tier is the same as mine! Why—why am I being crushed at every turn?!"

His defenses shattered like paper under the pink blades.

Kaelira’s power didn’t corrode. It didn’t tear. It simply unraveled—disassembled his energy at the source, like it was never meant to hold together.

Panic bloomed in his eyes.

And in that split-second of fear—

Kaelira moved.

Fssshk!

She stepped forward.

Just one step. Effortless. But it felt like she crossed the breadth of a world.

She raised a single finger and tapped the air.

Crack—!

Space shattered like brittle glass.

Fractures spiderwebbed outward, racing straight toward Gorrath.

A heartbeat later—

The cracks tore into him.

BOOM!!!

His body exploded into a hundred pieces, ripped apart by the spatial rupture.

"RAAAGH—!! NO!!!"

His limbs and torso hovered in place, barely held together by the last threads of black energy. He hadn’t fully detonated—but he was beyond saving.

"This can’t be... I’m Lord Vaedoroth’s Third General! How could I be defeated so easily?!"

Kaelira’s face held no anger. No pity.

She simply raised her hand.

And the sky answered.

Pink light fell like rain—gentle, cleansing, absolute.

It touched Gorrath’s remains.

BOOM!!!

The black fragments disintegrated, crumbling into ash and vanishing into the air.

This time, he didn’t even have the strength to scream.

When the last trace of him was gone, silence fell over the cavern—unnatural, heavy, and complete.

Ethan exhaled hard, like a boulder had finally rolled off his chest.

He hadn’t expected this.

Vaedoroth’s Third General... had been that powerful?

Then what the hell were the first two like?

The thought chilled him.

He dropped his barrier and rushed toward Kaelira in three long strides.

"Your Majesty—are you alright?" His voice cracked with concern.

Kaelira’s breathing was uneven, the pink glow around her flickering like a candle in the wind.

She took a few seconds to steady herself, then gave him a faint but unshakable smile.

"I’m fine," she said, shaking her head. Her voice was tired, but clear. "I just didn’t expect... that even one of Vaedoroth’s subordinates would force me to go all out. Killing him... won’t come cheap."

Her exhaustion was obvious now.

Ethan stepped in and caught her arm, feeling the tremble in her energy—like a flame flickering under a storm.

"We need to get out of here," he said quietly. "This place is too dangerous."

Kaelira nodded. She knew it too—if another fight broke out now, she wouldn’t last long.

They had just turned to leave when—

BOOM!!

The ground shook like a warhammer had struck the world’s spine.

Not far off, the magma split apart, shoved aside by a force that tore through the air like a blade.

Both of them snapped to attention.

The roar of energy grew louder, closer.

The blue-violet magma cracked like a painted canvas being ripped in two—and from the fissure, a figure slowly stepped out.

A girl.

...