Mystic Calling：Stone of Glory-Chapter 850: This Wasn’t a Battle He Could Win

Ethan's brow tightened sharply.

Poison.

And not the ordinary kind.

This was airborne—spreading with every breath.

If that scent was allowed to keep drifting through the battlefield…

Emerald Castle would become a slaughterhouse.

"Everyone, fall back! Now!"

The command tore from his throat like a roar.

The army moved instantly, retreating in waves.

But Ethan didn't move.

Instead, he flew forward—alone—straight toward the figure in the sky.

"You—" he called out, voice cold and razor-sharp. "You with Narlost too?"

The man didn't answer.

He simply narrowed that blood-red vertical eye in the center of his forehead.

And then—

Power exploded.

It was like the sky itself had been pinned down by an invisible hand. Energy compressed unnaturally, and in the man's palm, a massive energy sphere began to form—dense, unstable, lethal.

The moment he raised his arm to throw it—

Ethan moved.

No hesitation.

He hurled a golden energy orb straight at him.

BOOM—!

The two forces collided midair in the same instant.

And then—

A cataclysmic shockwave detonated across the sky.

BOOOOOOM—!!

The unleashed energy surged outward like a tidal wave, tearing through the air in every direction. Jagged rifts split the sky open, space itself groaning and collapsing under the pressure.

Ethan's pupils contracted hard.

The moment that force truly hit, he understood one thing with terrifying clarity—

He couldn't take it head-on.

The pressure radiating from that man wasn't just raw power—it was something deeper. A presence. A weight that bent the very fabric of space around it, as if the world itself had accepted his dominance.

No time to think.

Ethan shot backward, retreating fast, while channeling every ounce of energy he had.

Power surged into his palms, compressing, spinning, layering—

In the next instant, he formed a massive energy sphere and hurled it forward.

But this time—

It wasn't an attack.

It was a shield.

That tidal wave of destruction had already locked onto him. If it hit, even the aftershock would be enough to tear his body—and his mind—apart.

Just as the wave came crashing down—

Ethan's energy sphere met it head-on.

BOOM—!!

The two forces collided in midair, grinding against each other in a storm of light and sound. Energy shredded itself apart, howling like a banshee. The sky shook violently, space rippling like water about to burst.

And finally—

The wave that should've consumed Ethan was broken. Dismantled. Scattered into nothing.

The air went still for a moment.

Then—

A low, cold voice echoed from the other side of the blast.

"Hmph."

The man stepped forward, unfazed.

"I thought you might be something worth my time."

His tone dripped with contempt.

"But you're just insects crawling in the mud."

His gaze swept across the battlefield like a god looking down on ants.

"And you dare challenge Narlost?"

The moment the words left his mouth—

A fresh surge of power erupted from his body.

The sky twisted violently, like it was being wrung out by invisible hands. Even the light around him began to warp, flickering like a dying flame.

"Today," he said, voice like a death sentence, "you'll pay the price."

Ethan's breathing hitched.

Not from fear—but from instinct. His body was screaming at him, warning him of something far beyond danger.

"…He's strong."

He immediately activated a system scan.

The data panel unfolded across his vision.

And the moment that number appeared—

Ethan's heart sank like a stone.

Tier 30.

A level that shouldn't even exist on this battlefield.

And it wasn't some barely-reached threshold. This was a fully stabilized Tier 30—solid, complete, terrifying.

What made it worse was the system's tag:

This man—Sevrael—held a high-ranking position within Narlost.

Ethan's fists clenched without thinking.

Right now, he was the highest-tier combatant in Emerald Castle. Even after fusing with Auri and Idra, he could only briefly reach the peak of Tier 29.

And that state wasn't sustainable.

Compared to the monster in front of him—

They weren't even in the same league.

A direct fight would be suicide.

He took a deep breath, forcing his mind to steady, and stepped back.

Not out of fear.

But to buy space—for the next move.

He unleashed everything.

Every drop of power in his body surged outward, no longer held back. Energy gathered in front of him, condensing fast. A massive energy sphere formed in the air, even larger than the last.

Across from him—

Sevrael's eyes finally lit up with genuine interest.

"Well now," he said, voice low. "You might actually be worth my time."

The next instant—

A relentless, crushing force erupted from his body.

The sky darkened.

Above him, energy gathered like a storm, twisting and folding until it formed a colossal Energy Greatsword.

It hovered in the air, so massive it seemed to bend space around it, as if the world itself was making room.

Sevrael raised his hand.

And brought it down.

Ethan's energy sphere—his absolute limit in this state—met the blade head-on.

But it wasn't enough.

BOOM!

The sphere split clean down the middle, torn apart by the descending sword. Twin streams of unstable energy exploded outward, scattering like broken light.

The Greatsword didn't slow.

It kept coming, roaring down toward Ethan's head with unstoppable force.

"Master, look out—!"

Feylora's voice tore through the comms, raw with panic.

In the next instant, she forced the War Machine into the path of the blade, burning through every last reserve of power to intercept it.

BOOOOM—!!

The Energy Greatsword struck.

The War Machine's barrier shattered instantly. One of its mechanical arms was sliced clean off, spiraling downward in a shower of sparks and smoke.

Ethan's eyes went wide.

He didn't care about tactics or appearances anymore. He grabbed Feylora by the shoulder and yanked her out of the impact zone, dragging her away from the front line.

But before they could even stabilize—

Sevrael was already on them.

Power surged from him like a dam had burst, flooding the sky with raw, uncontrolled force. The heavens twisted, colors bleeding into each other as the world itself bent under his will.

This wasn't just pressure.

This was a domain.

A sealed world, forged by Sevrael's presence alone.

"To think a worm like you would dare resist."

His voice echoed across the sky, laced with a sick, gleeful malice.

"Where do you think you can run?"

As the words fell—

The sky crackled.

A rapid, stuttering snap-pop filled the air—space itself groaning under the strain, on the verge of collapse.