Mystic Calling：Stone of Glory-Chapter 823: The Right to Exist

Ethan stood at the center of the city,

and for a fleeting moment—

he felt something he hadn't in a long time.

Safety.

He was just about to head back and rest—

When it hit.

BOOM—!!!

A thunderous blast ripped through the sky without warning.

A terrifying force slammed into the outermost energy barrier.

Alarms shrieked across the city.

Mechanical units launched into the air,

energy weapons began charging,

and in seconds, Emerald Castle shifted into full combat mode.

Ethan was already airborne.

His power synced instantly with the defense grid,

feeding energy directly into the barrier.

But then—

he felt it.

Something was wrong.

Not an attack.

Something else—

Absorption.

A brutal, overwhelming suction force

was pulling energy from the barrier—

from the outside.

Ethan's eyes went cold.

He pulled up the system interface.

And when Sarenyx's data appeared,

his pupils narrowed sharply.

Unlimited energy absorption.

Purification and conversion capabilities.

Structurally—

almost identical to Feylora.

But—

Far more efficient.

In just a few seconds,

nearly half the energy reserves in the outer barrier

had been devoured.

If this kept up—

The entire defense grid would just become his fuel.

Ethan didn't hesitate.

"Shut down the outer defenses."

The command went out.

All dozen layers of energy barriers

disengaged in rapid succession.

It wasn't surrender.

It was cutting off the power supply.

Up in the sky,

the figure finally showed a flicker of emotion.

"Courting death."

Sarenyx hovered high above,

his gaze icy.

The devouring force didn't stop.

It spread—

reaching toward the entire Emerald Castle.

He clearly intended—

To consume the whole city.

Ethan's killing intent snapped into focus.

In a flash,

he appeared right in front of Sarenyx.

Power surged,

condensing into a massive energy blade in his hand.

No warning.

No probing.

He struck.

But—

Sarenyx didn't even flinch.

He simply raised a single finger.

And in the next instant—

The sky went dark.

A monstrous surge of energy

erupted from him like a tidal wave,

swallowing the world in its wake.

The moment Ethan's energy blade fully formed—

it shattered.

Not just the attack.

His entire body was hurled backward by the sheer force of the backlash.

The instant he hit open air,

he felt it—clear and undeniable.

This wasn't just a gap in power.

Sarenyx's presence felt like a bottomless abyss.

"So that's what it is…"

Ethan steadied himself midair, chest rising and falling.

The system's readout flickered back into view.

Tier: 28 (Early)

But that number meant nothing now.

The energy density inside this guy's body

far exceeded most early-stage Tier 29s Ethan had ever encountered.

"You're the lord of Emerald Castle?"

Sarenyx looked down at him,

a smirk tugging at his lips, openly mocking.

"This is the best you've got? And you think you can stand against us?"

As the words fell—

HUMMM—

A massive phantom form began to rise behind him.

Not a clear shape,

but a warped outline that bent reality itself.

The moment that power unfolded,

the space around them visibly distorted—

compressed and stretched by invisible forces.

Ethan's energy was instantly suppressed.

Not sealed.

Worse—

It was being stripped of its right to move.

For the first time, Ethan realized—

he was being denied even the right to fight back.

And then—

A figure appeared silently in front of him.

"Master."

A familiar, urgent voice.

Feylora hovered in the air,

her gaze locked onto Sarenyx.

In the next second,

her power surged outward.

Not an attack.

A spread.

Like an invisible net,

it expanded straight into the devouring field ahead.

Ethan finally caught his breath.

But his brow didn't relax.

He knew—

Feylora's Tier was technically higher than Sarenyx's.

But his ability structure was far more extreme.

Unlimited absorption.

Indiscriminate purification.

If this came down to a battle of raw capacity,

Feylora would eventually be overwhelmed.

But then—

Something happened that completely defied his expectations.

The two forces collided head-on.

No explosion.

No collapse.

Instead, they formed a strange equilibrium in midair.

And what truly shook Ethan—

Was the faint wisp of golden energy

leaking from within Feylora.

It wasn't violent.

But it was incredibly stable.

And the moment it touched Sarenyx's devouring field—

it actually began to gain the upper hand.

Sarenyx's expression shifted for the first time.

No longer disdain.

But—

Confusion.

"…Same kind?"

He muttered under his breath.

And in that moment,

the entire battlefield changed.

Shockwaves, spatial fractures, wild energy currents—

all the destructive fallout that should've torn the area apart—

Was being broken down, converted, absorbed

the instant it neared the two of them.

Even destruction itself

had become a resource to be consumed.

This wasn't a battle anymore.

It was a contest for the right to exist.

And in the end—

Even the energy from their direct clash

began to fade.

Not because it was spent.

But because both sides

were pulling it inward,

trying to devour each other's core.

Ethan's pupils widened slightly.

This kind of confrontation—

he'd never seen anything like it.

And then—

Holy light burst across the sky.

Andona descended from above,

her Angelic Sword already charged with enough power to pass judgment on everything below.

But before she could strike,

Ethan raised a hand to stop her.

"Wait."

His eyes never left the devouring field.

"Their power structures are too similar."

"This is Feylora's fight."

Andona frowned,

but after a moment, she let the light fade from her blade

and stepped back behind him.

By now, the sky was completely saturated

with violent, soundless energy.

Sarenyx hadn't expected this.

Not here.

Not in this place—

To encounter a girl whose very existence

mirrored his own.

And her devouring force—

Was every bit as strong as his.

The two of them hung locked in midair,

neither able to push forward another inch.

…

BOOM——

BOOM——

The two devouring forces clashed in the sky, locked in a relentless standoff.

All around them, the energy of the world surged like a tide,

drawn toward that single point.

Light, lightning, wind, fragments of space—

everything that should've scattered and exploded outward

was instead pulled in, compressed, forced into submission.

And then—

A strange vacuum formed at the center of the battlefield.

The energy wasn't gone.

It had been completely consumed—

not destroyed, but fully occupied.

Ethan's eyes sharpened.

He wasn't excited.

He was certain.

This was it.

The devouring field had entered its most dangerous—

and most vulnerable—state.

When two devourers of equal tier clashed at the core level,

they instinctively—

Dropped all external defenses.

Because even the slightest distraction

could leave their essence torn apart by the other.

"So that's how it works…"

In the next instant, Ethan's body blurred into motion.

No energy surge.

No warning.

He bypassed the direct confrontation,

appearing behind Sarenyx in a flash.

An Energy Disc formed in his palm.

No charge-up.

Just compression.

Extreme compression.

And then—

He struck.

CRACK!

There was almost no resistance.

The moment the disc hit, Sarenyx's body lost all stability.

Because right now—

Every ounce of his power

was locked in the struggle with Feylora.

No shield.

No buffer.

The Energy Disc sliced clean through him,

splitting his body in two.

And in that exact moment—

Feylora moved.

She didn't waste a single breath.

Her devouring core flared wide open,

like a gaping abyss,

and dragged Sarenyx's collapsing essence straight into her.

No struggle.

No resistance.

This wasn't a fight.

It was a harvest.

The devouring field in the sky shattered instantly.

All the energy that had been drawn in

flooded toward Feylora like a broken dam.

And in the next second—

Her aura changed completely.

This wasn't just a level-up.

It was a bloodline leap. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Sarenyx had come from an ancient offshoot of the Dark Fairies—

his devouring gift was pure, refined, and dangerously potent.

And it just so happened

to align perfectly with Feylora's own power structure.

As the last trace of his essence was absorbed,

her racial talent began to evolve—violently.

Ethan could feel it clearly—

Her "capacity"

was being redefined from the ground up.

Not long after, the system quietly confirmed it.

Tier 29, early stage.

For most, that would've been a standard tier breakthrough.

But for Feylora—

It was a structural upgrade.

Her ability to devour, store, and convert energy

had at least doubled.

Ethan let out a slow breath.

He didn't say much.

Just reached into his spatial inventory

and pulled out a small, crystal-clear golden orb.

He placed it gently into Feylora's hand.

It was Emerald Castle's latest development—

A power core.

It could be used as a one-time burst weapon,

or, in a critical moment,

embedded directly into the body

as an emergency energy source.

"Keep it."

Ethan's voice was quiet.

But his eyes were steady. Cold.

"You'll need it—

sooner or later."

…