Mystic Calling：Stone of Glory-Chapter 864: Either You Conquer, or You Die
Ethan let out a slow breath.
Then, with a single command, he reprogrammed all close-range weapon systems.
—New target: Narlost forces.
The shift was instant.
The deck's firepower flipped without warning.
Turrets that had been hammering Emerald Castle's defenses suddenly rotated in unison, unleashing a storm of energy down on their former allies.
It was chaos.
Terror. Confusion. Collapse.
The Narlost formation, already leaderless, crumbled under the sudden betrayal of their own firepower.
Ethan activated the Ark's broadcast array.
His voice echoed across the battlefield, carried by the ship's comms system, reaching every corner of the war zone.
"Aurelkar is dead."
Just six words—
But they hit like thunder.
The battlefield froze.
Even the air seemed to pause.
"You were never fighting for war," Ethan continued. "You just wanted to survive. To find new land. New energy. A future for your people."
"If you're willing to submit—"
"You can live."
Silence spread across the deck.
Fear.
Hesitation.
Struggle.
Then finally—
Someone dropped their weapon.
Dropped to one knee.
"…I surrender."
It was like a dam breaking.
More and more soldiers followed, kneeling one after another.
Weapons clattered to the ground in waves.
The Narlost army—
Shattered completely.
Ethan stood at the center of the control chamber, watching it all unfold in silence.
The battle was over.
The energy storms faded.
The world began to quiet.
A war that could've rewritten the balance of multiple worlds… had ended.
The Doomsday Ark drifted low across the sky.
Its massive hull cast a long, heavy shadow over Emerald Castle's capital—
Like a mountain of steel gliding silently above the city.
Ethan didn't hesitate.
He brought the Ark—this symbol of destruction and domination—straight back to his own territory.
And somehow, miraculously—
Despite the scale of the war, Emerald Castle itself had taken no lasting damage.
The walls still stood strong.
The defense arrays were untouched.
Even the energy core remained stable, humming quietly beneath the surface.
Once the victory was confirmed, something unexpected happened.
The scientists—those who rarely left their underground labs—finally emerged from the research district.
No armor.
No shields.
Just lab coats and wide eyes, staring up at the sky.
Not because they didn't understand the danger.
But because they understood it better than anyone.
If this war had been lost, no shield would've saved them.
Emerald Castle would've been erased.
Now—
The Doomsday Ark hovered above them, blotting out the sun.
Victory felt so real, it was almost hard to believe.
After a moment of stunned silence, the research district erupted in murmurs and gasps.
The Ark's tech was beyond anything they'd ever seen.
Energy circuits. Spatial stabilizers. Compressed weapon cores…
Every component was a masterpiece—enough to keep them awake for weeks.
If they could fully decode and reconstruct it—
Emerald Castle's reach would no longer be bound to a single world.
They'd be ready to step into something far greater.
Something vast.
Something infinite.
...
Meanwhile—
In a world nearly swallowed by desolation.
Endless yellow sand stretched to the horizon.
The sky above was pale and cracked, as if even the wind had lost its weight.
Hundreds knelt in the heart of the desert, clad in strange, ornate armor. Hands clasped, heads bowed, they chanted in low, ancient tongues.
Their voices were faint, but carried a desperate kind of reverence.
Above them, suspended in midair, hovered a woman bathed in radiant light.
Wings of pure white energy unfurled behind her—woven from divine brilliance, not feathers.
Light Force poured from her body in steady waves, painting the sky in soft gold.
She opened her eyes slowly.
Calm. Steady. But unmistakably weary.
"The power here… is gone."
Her voice wasn't loud, but it carried across the dunes like a bell in still air.
"Staying will only bring extinction."
A ripple of unrest moved through the crowd.
Loss. Doubt. Resistance. All flickered across their faces.
This was their home.
Their land for generations.
Even now, with the world on the brink of death, it was hard to let go.
But they knew the truth—
Stay, and they'd die.
The woman slowly drew in her light, descending to the sand.
She was preparing to lead her people away from this dying world.
And then—
The sky darkened.
A massive shadow emerged from the clouds above.
A warship—monstrous and silent—descended like a predator closing in on its prey.
At the prow stood a tall, imposing figure, hands clasped behind his back, gaze cold as steel.
"Queen Seraphine."
His voice rolled out like thunder from the deep.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Panic exploded through the crowd.
Some dropped to the sand, trembling.
Others clawed at the ground, trying to bury themselves as if the dirt could shield them from that gaze.
Seraphine's fingers trembled.
Light gathered once more.
A golden longbow formed in her hands, forged from pure Light Force.
But before she could draw—
The man vanished.
And reappeared right in front of her.
So close, she could feel his breath.
"Don't waste your strength," he said with a smirk.
"Worlds that defy the Vorgar Empire never end well."
"Your resources are spent."
"Instead of dying slow, hand over the Heart of Light. Join us."
"I'll take your people to a new home."
He paused.
The smile turned cold.
"Or—"
Seraphine's eyes flared with fury and resolve.
Light Force surged.
She drew the bowstring to its limit.
A golden arrow screamed through the air.
The man clearly hadn't expected her to actually fire.
The golden arrow tore through the air, blazing with searing Light Force, aimed straight for his face.
He jerked back half a step, power flaring from within.
A wave of dark energy surged out from his body like a crashing tide—
BOOM!
The arrow shattered mid-flight, bursting into a cloud of glittering light particles that drifted slowly through the air.
The man narrowed his eyes.
"Seraphine," he said coldly.
"You really intend to stand against us?"
Seraphine's jaw clenched. Her fingers stayed tight on the bowstring.
"You're nothing but leeches," she spat.
"One world drained dry, then on to the next."
"I won't be part of that cycle."
The man paused—just for a beat—then let out a low, grating laugh.
It echoed across the desert, sharp and mocking.
"You're still clinging to that fantasy?"
"There's no mercy in this universe."
"If you don't take, you get taken."
"It's that simple—
Either you conquer, or you die."
