Chapter 206: Interference
The boy turned toward Michael the moment the order left his mouth. His entire body trembled now. No longer something he could hide behind forced composure.
His fingers curled tightly as if trying to hold onto something stable but even the Ether beneath his feet flickered unevenly in response to the strain.
His eyes widened as he looked at Michael.
"Y-you’re serious?" he asked, his voice shaking despite his effort to steady it. "Opening the gate now... that’s too dangerous. If we hold them here, we can stop them. The wall... it’s strong enough. I can keep it up!"
Michael didn’t look at him.
His gaze remained fixed downward, locked onto Red and the ten elites relentlessly attacking the wall. His eyes tracked their movements with sharp precision. He looked at their strikes, surge of Ether, and coordinated motion.
He recognized them.Of course he did.
Those ten... they weren’t just strong fighters. They were Red’s elite. The ones who stood at the very top. The ones who carried out the worst of his orders. The ones who killed without hesitation.
Red would never come here without them.
The wall shook harder this time, and a deeper ripple spread across its surface.
Only then did Michael turn. His eyes met the boy’s eyes with a sharp and unwavering gaze.
"Open it," he said, his voice firm.
The boy froze for a second.
Michael continued without giving him time to argue further.
"If we let them keep attacking like this, they’ll break it eventually," he said. "And when that happens, it won’t just collapse cleanly. The damage will spread. Our camp will shatter."
His gaze hardened slightly.
"And you won’t be able to recreate it fast enough."
The words landed heavily.
Michael didn’t raise his voice, but the certainty in it cut through the boy’s hesitation.
"I know this wall isn’t enough to hold them for long," he added. "Not against those ten."
The boy’s lips parted slightly. Fear still lingered in his eyes but something else began to settle in as well: understanding.
He looked back at the trembling wall beneath them, then at the battlefield beyond.
Then slowly... he nodded. "...Okay."
He drew a shaky breath and steadied himself, forcing his focus back into the structure beneath his feet. The glow around the crystal wall pulsed as he prepared to follow the command.
Michael turned away from him.
He looked at the five beside him.
"You all know what to do."
No hesitation came from them. Rafe, Tobias, Darius, Selene, and Hana all nodded at once. Their expressions tightened. Their focus sharpened instantly. This wasn’t the moment to question anything.
This was a time for execution.
Without another word, Michael stepped forward. Then he jumped.
His body dropped from the top of the crystal wall, cutting through the air before landing heavily on the ground below. The impact sent a small shock through the dirt beneath his feet.
One by one, the others followed. They landed around him in quick succession.
Ahead of them, the other camp defenders had already gathered.
The remaining fighters stood in formation with their weapons raised. Their expressions were tense but they were ready. Compared to Red’s army, their numbers were smaller. Their strength was uneven.
They knew it. Michael knew it too. His eyes swept across them.
They have different weapons, different stances, uneven breathing. Fear still lingering in some of their expressions.
But they were still standing.
"I won’t let them lose," he thought, his jaw tightening.
Tobias and the others moved immediately after landing, each heading toward their assigned squads without delay. Orders were exchanged quickly. Formations adjusted.
Hana remained above, her figure visible atop the wall as she coordinated the ranged units from there. Her role was clear. Support and sustain.
Michael stepped forward.
"This is where we stop them!" he said, his voice carrying across the front line. "Hold your ground!"
His words didn’t erase the fear, but they at least managed to steadied their resolve. Then he turned his head slightly.
"On my mark!"
Up above, the boy focused everything he had into the structure.
The trembling intensified because of the attacks.
"Open it!" Michael shouted.
The crystal wall responded.
A section at the center shifted, the Ether layers separating and folding inward as a gate began to form. Light refracted along its edges as the barrier opened just enough to create a path forward.
The moment it did, Michael moved.
He surged forward without hesitation. His body launching into a full charge straight through the opening. His squad followed instantly behind him.
Their footsteps pounding against the ground as they rush to meet the enemy head-on.
—
High above the battlefield, far beyond the reach of clashing steel and bursting Ether, two figures hovered in silence.
Seraphina and Lilian floated side by side, untouched by the chaos below. From that height, the battlefield stretched out like a shifting canvas of movement and destruction.
Lines of fighters collided, bursts of power flared and faded, and the opening charge led by Michael carved straight into Red’s advancing force.
At first, they simply watched.
There was no urgency in their expressions. No tension in their posture. To them, the battle unfolding below carried a different meaning. It wasn’t meaningless, but it wasn’t something that could threaten them either.
It looked like a spectacle. Something to observe and measure.
But that changed.
A subtle shift passed through the air. So faint that it didn’t disturb the battlefield below. No sound or visible distortion. Yet both of them felt it at the same time.
Seraphina’s expression stiffened first. Her gaze sharpened as her eyes moved slightly to scan the space around them with sudden focus.
Lilian reacted just a heartbeat later. The calm in her eyes broke.
They both turned toward each other almost at the same moment.
"You feel it?" Seraphina asked, her voice no longer carrying that earlier ease. A trace of unease slipped into her tone, something rare for her.
Lilian didn’t answer immediately. She simply nodded.
Her throat tightened slightly as she forced herself to stay composed.
"This is..." Seraphina continued. Her eyes moved again to search and probe, trying to locate the origin of that disturbance. "...something’s interfering with our power."
The words hung in the air.
Lilian’s gaze dropped briefly toward the battlefield below. Her eyes instinctively found one figure among the chaos.
Myles.
Her fingers curled slightly at her side.
She could feel it clearly that invisible pressure pressing against her, not attacking, restricting outright... but disrupting. Like something was pushing against the flow of her power, dulling its edge and weakening its reach.
Not enough to stop her completely. But enough to matter.
A quiet tension formed in her chest.
"This could be bad..." she said under her breath.
Her expression tightened, something far more serious replacing the usual confidence she carried.
Because she understood what that meant.
If the situation below turned worse and Myles reached the point where he needed her help...
She might not be able to respond the way she should.
—