My Ultimate OP System: Summoning All Dragons, Gods, Heroes & Villains

Elsewhere, in a warehouse located somewhere within the city and owned by Stark Industries.

The warehouse was in a different location from their Industrial site; filled with the remnants and scrap parts of extremely old airships, left to gather dust and rust over time.

Ethan was waiting in this massive space. Right in front of him was a large circle, enough to fit a fighting ring, drawn across the floor.

Then, suddenly, the shadows shifted slightly beside him and Isabella stepped out from it.

"I’ve got them," she said, looking a bit worn from all that shadow traveling across the city.

Ethan simply nodded and pointed toward the circle. "Put them there."

Isabella then stretched her hand and a dark pool formed within the circle, spitting them out one after the other.

Four bodies thrown onto the ground, coughing, disoriented, and struggling to understand what had just happened.

The moment they were dropped that way, a purple colored magic circle glowed underneath their feet and remained that way.

This was a space barrier spell, amplified by Ethan’s trait, which elevated its strength to Tier 7. It wasn’t a spell any of them could deal with directly or had a counter for.

Asides Lord Morgenstein who tried to steady him, others looked shaken with fear.

One of them, the Quinn family head, realizing they were inside some kind of confinement spell, took a few steps forward and raised his hand forward.

Right then, he felt the resistance.

Ethan stepped forward, smiling as well. "Oh... you guys can’t leave here."

-

After a while, most of the tension settled. The four of them stopped struggling as much, though their eyes still scanned the barrier, searching and calculating for any possible weakness that might let them break free.

Ethan stepped closer again, hands in his pockets, while moving his gaze across them one by one.

"So, none of you can tell me what Lady Audrey is planning?"

This was the third time he was asking, but the family heads were too busy trying to find a way out of the barrier, so he let them continue in their futile efforts for a while.

Lord Ronnet let out a dry scoff. "Hell if we know, she doesn’t tell us anything."

A few of the others looked at him with shocked expressions, especially since he had just indirectly admitted they had all been working together.

Lord Morgenstein sighed and shook his head, before returning his focus back to silently staring at the smiling Ethan.

After a moment, he spoke. "Are you not the boy my daughter fancies?"

Ethan gave him a puzzled expression, then glanced sideways at Isabella.

He tilted his head slightly. Then he nodded, like it just clicked. "Oh. Right. Orange hair... you’re Lord Morgenstein."

The man didn’t respond.

Ethan shrugged lightly. "I was done with your daughter a long time ago."

Then he sighed, looking over the group again. "Well... since none of you have anything useful for me..."

He turned. "I’ll leave you here until Eduardo... no, Mikael, gets back."

"He’ll be the last person you all see."

The moment that landed, all four of them lost composure as fear broke through their restraint.

They began trying again at the barrier. Hands slamming, claws, magic. But no amount of force they used had work worked.

Ethan didn’t turn back, neither did Isabella, until they stepped out of the warehouse.

He pulled the large gate down behind them, dusted his hands lightly, then glanced at Isabella.

She met his gaze, and without another word, they both lifted off the ground and flew away.

——

The next morning...

Ethan made his way down the hallway toward Valerie’s room.

The door was slightly open, and inside, Bettie lay in bed. However, she was turned over to the other side.

He knocked twice, then she slowly pushed herself up, sitting on the bed.

Ethan stepped in. "Still not feeling good?"

She had been this way ever since returning to the manor with Valerie, at several hours past midnight.

Bettie didn’t answer immediately. Her gaze dropped to the floor.

Ethan moved closer and sat beside her as the memory came back again to her thoughts.

The force of Loretta’s attacked had nearly knocked her out. And Valerie on the other hand, was suddenly not herself anymore as she had been caught in Loretta’s compulsion.

Loretta was just about to cast another spell at Valerie, who would have been left defenseless.

But in that moment, a stored spell triggered first from Bettie’s resonator.

The Lunar Echo SR-grade artifact activated on its own, releasing the spell she had prepared beforehand.

It was a tier 6 lightning bolt spell that struck through Loretta from behind.

If Elizabeth hadn’t done that, Valerie may not have been alive.

"I was just talking about taking a life yesterday..." she muttered. "And I ended up being the one to do it."

Her voice thinned toward the end.

Ethan exhaled. "It’s not your fault. Think of it this way, Valerie now owes you her life because of that one decision you made."

Bettie sighed again and gave a nod, but it didn’t really reach anywhere.

There was silence for a moment, save for the voices of the others downstairs. Everyone had returned to and spent the night at the manor.

Ethan glanced toward the door, then back at her. "Why don’t you come downstairs?" he said. "Hang around with the others, might help."

Betty hesitated, but nodded afterwards. "Okay."

Ethan then stood and extended his hand, helping her up as she took it.

Together, they walked out of the room, all the way down the stairs and into the noise of the others.

Just as they reached the base, Bella stepped out of the kitchen, wearing a white apron with kitchen gloves over her hands.

Her hair was slightly all over the place like she had fought a war in there, and her face carried a mix of effort and pride.

In one of her hands, was plate. And on it, was something that... resembled pie.

Francesca followed right behind her, giving a pretentious smile to encourage the Princess.

Bella lit up the moment she saw Ethan. "Babe!" she said excitedly, holding the plate up. "This is pie. I made pie."

Ethan looked at it; then looked at her, then slowly turned his head toward Francesca.

Francesca simply kept smiling.

Ethan nodded slowly. "...Right."

Bella leaned forward slightly. "Go on, try it."

He picked up a piece, took a bite and for a split second, his soul left his body.

But he held it in, forced the chew, and subsequently swallowed.

Ethan nodded. "Yeah... babe," he said carefully. "This is... this is good. Really good."

Bella’s face lit up instantly, genuinely happy.

From nowhere, Percival, who had almost walked past, noticed the plate and turned back. It looked a little odd, but he didn’t care, so he pointed at it as though asking if he could take some.

Bella smiled cheerfully, and with that, Percival grabbed a piece and took a bite.

"WHAT THE FU—" He spat it out immediately, coughing, and trying to get the taste out of his mouth.

Ethan moved instantly to shove Percival aside with his body. "Don’t mind him, he’s being silly."

But it didn’t help with the worry on Bella’s worried face. "What’s wrong with it?"

"Nothing," Ethan said. "It’s great."

Percival in the background was still dying.

Hayley, who sat at the dining area, watched the entire thing with smile on her face as she shook her head.

She then stood and walked over.

"Don’t mind Ethan either," she said, drawing Bella’s uncertain gaze toward her.

"Can I try?" Hayley asked.

Bella nodded and handed her the plate, looking both hopeful and worried at the same time.

Hayley took a bite, chewed for a few seconds, then paused. "...Hmm."

She chewed. "Okay."

Bella leaned in slightly. "Well?"

Hayley swallowed. "It’s... rough around some spots," she said carefully. "But it’s not bad. Just needs a bit of adjustment here and there."

Bella’s shoulders relaxed a little. "Really?"

Hayley nodded. "I can show you, if you want."

Bella smiled. "Yeah. Please."

Hayley took the plate, gesturing toward the kitchen as Bella followed immediately.

Francesca followed behind them, still smiling. She definitely wasn’t going to be the one to ruin the Princess’s mood.

Ethan scratched the back of his head, sighed and turned toward the living room.

Most of the others were already there, lounging around in robes, half-awake, and not doing anything serious.

The night before had been rather tasking. Everyone pretty much slept at the early hours of this morning.

He had barely taken a few steps in when the door at the entrance opened for Eduardo to walk in.

"Master Ethan." He began with a bow.

Ethan nodded at him in acknowledgment.

Right after, Eduardo said. "I’m ready."

Ethan quickly understood what he meant by that, and nodded once more in return.

This was concerning the Chalice Of Verdona, and Eduardo had just opted for the spell to be undone.

—-

A/N: Wanted to relax the mood abit with this Chapter. I’ll be gunning for 3chps or more next upload.

Attached to this write up is the first Look On Arael’s Four Winged look. (Discord got it a few hours early. join up!)