The Regressed Heir of Ravencrest

Ethan glanced at the golden screen for a fleeting moment before it dissolved into nothingness. His focus snapped instantly back to the writhing ocean of purple mist inside Mythralis.

His gaze lingered there for a few breaths before he raised his left palm, wiping away the dark blood streaming down his face. His body was a mess, yet his mind never wavered even for a second from the battle above.

Noticing the shift in Ethan’s gaze, Van took a step forward.

With a subtle flick of his wrist, he deployed a shimmering aura barrier around the two of them, isolating their voices.

"Did you find something, Young Master...?" Van asked, his voice low. Even though he didn’t have much hope given the bleakness of their situation, the unyielding light in Ethan’s bloody eyes seemed as if he had realised something.

Ethan turned his blood-stained face toward Van.

"Yes."

The moment he said that, Van’s eyes widened.

"What did you find?" he asked hurriedly. He hadn’t actually expected Ethan to find anything, so he was even more surprised.

Ethan explained briefly about the purple mist clinging to the minds of the Beasts and the Ice Dragon.

"Then... we need to notify the Commander immediately," Van said, his tone urgent.

"No, Sir Van," Ethan cut in, his expression serious beneath the red smears on his skin.

Van immediately understood why Ethan had said that. From the few words Ethan had spoken, he could already infer that someone was manipulating the situation, which also confirmed Marcus’s suspicion. If he tried to tell Marcus or Evelyn now, the situation might worsen even more if the manipulator found out.

But he also knew that if he didn’t do anything, a huge number of casualties would occur, or worse, Northwatch might lose its Commander. From the battle, he could already see that Marcus and Evelyn were getting exhausted far faster than the Ice Dragon. Had it been three days ago, he wouldn’t have had to worry much, as Marcus and Evelyn could have handled the situation.

"But Young Master... if we..." Van stopped.

"Just trust me," Ethan said softly, closing his eyes.

Van wanted to say something but stopped himself. Because of the sudden shock, he had forgotten for a moment that Ethan had been able to find something that neither Marcus nor Evelyn, who were Heaven Knights, nor he himself, an Earth Knight, could find. For now, he could do nothing more than trust the Young Master, and if it didn’t work, he decided he would intervene.

What happened next, however, froze the Earth Knight in his tracks.

Ethan channeled the Unknown Energy directly into the Eternal Sovereign Blade, flooding the weapon until the dark steel seemed to drink in every drop. The energy began drawing in the surrounding mana, not only from the atmosphere but even from Van’s aura barrier, causing the protective layer to fluctuate.

A violent, rhythmic pulse traveled through the Unknown Energy, resembling a hungry heartbeat as it consumed the faint traces of purple fog drifting through the air. Ethan kept pulling more from the inner sphere, ignoring the excruciating pain from his pathways and the tearing of his muscles from the strain. The black sword shuddered in his grip, its vibration growing stronger with every pulse.

Van stared at the weapon in disbelief, the words escaping his throat in a breathless gasp.

"Sword Resonance..."

———

High above the fortress, the Ice Dragon pulled back into the upper sky.

Its massive snow-white wings spread wide as it hovered high within the twilight clouds. Beneath its pristine scales, a blinding, pale blue light ignited, not just in its throat, but tracing along its chest and spine in cold fire. Behind its wings, dozens of silver-blue, multi-layered draconic magic circles materialized, interlocking into a colossal geometric web that spanned hundreds of meters across the sky.

It was gathering a Dragon Breath far beyond anything it had displayed so far, while the draconic magic circles behind its wings continued to multiply. Together, they held enough power to erase the Inner Fortress and the main battlements in a single stroke.

The ambient temperature crashed to a lethal degree. On the ramparts below, infantrymen and mages could only stare up in paralyzed terror as the light in the sky grew brighter with every passing second.

Marcus and Evelyn realized it simultaneously: even the Domain of the Northern Tempest could not redirect an attack of this magnitude.

"Evelyn!" Marcus’s roar cut through the freezing gale. "With me!"

Abandoning their defensive stance, both Heaven Knights unleashed the pinnacle techniques they had held in reserve. Rather than targeting the dragon’s heart or throat, they focused everything on its already injured right shoulder, hoping to shatter its balance and disrupt the gathering Dragon Breath and spell.

Evelyn’s armor ignited with raging blood-red flames as she invoked the final form of her art, transforming into a spear of living fire that pierced through the frozen heavens.

Flame Empress Art

Final Form: Ascension of the Flame Empress

Beside her, Marcus poured a substantial portion of his remaining strength into his weapon, compressing the raging gale of his Domain into the tip of his spear until the surrounding air warped beneath the pressure. A colossal lance of pressurized wind erupted, tearing through the clouds.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

The combined strike of the two Heaven Knights struck the Ice Dragon’s right shoulder dead center.

The impact was catastrophic. White scales shattered in a glittering spray, and the existing wound tore wide open, exposing the deep muscle and bone beneath. The violent shockwave threw off the dragon’s mana flow, causing the multi-layered magic circles behind its wings to fracture and collapse in a blinding detonation of wild, uncontrolled frost.

Reeling from the backlash of its disrupted spell, the Ice Dragon let out a muffled roar as its massive body dropped through the sky, plunging closer to the central battlements.

Its mana was in turmoil, and the frost that normally sealed its wounds failed to form. The deep fissure in its right shoulder remained exposed, leaving a narrow opening in the dragon’s otherwise formidable defenses.

That opening would last only a few seconds.

Marcus tumbled back through the air, coughing up a spray of blood before catching himself in the gale, while Evelyn’s crimson flames guttered dangerously. They steadied themselves to push forward again, but before either could move...

A streak of pitch-black light passed between the two like a bolt of dark lightning, aiming to pierce the very heavens. Marcus and Evelyn’s eyes widened in disbelief as the black sword shot past them.

———

A second before...

Standing at the edge of the central parapet, Ethan forced himself to ignore the agony tearing through his body. He gathered what remained of his Intent and combined it with the violent Unknown Energy, wrapping both around the Eternal Sovereign Blade until a razor-sharp layer of darkness clung to its edge.

With no strength left to spare, he drew his right arm back and hurled the weapon like a spear, pouring everything he had into that single throw.

THWIP!

The black sword left his grip with a sound like tearing canvas. It streaked across the sky not as a thrown blade, but as a pitch-black beam of light trailing a tail of energy in its wake.

Every eye on the battlements was still fixed on the blinding aftermath of Marcus and Evelyn’s attack. By the time anyone noticed the dark streak flying through the sky, the blade was already there.

THUNK!

Driven by the full force of Ethan’s Intent and the hungry momentum of the Unknown Energy, the Eternal Sovereign Blade struck the exposed shoulder fissure with surgical precision, sinking straight into the wound up to its crossguard.

The instant the black steel buried itself in her flesh, the energy within the blade erupted.

Rather than exploding outward and tearing her body apart, it unleashed a violent pull toward the sword, devouring the purple mist within the Ice Dragon with an insatiable force.

Ethan watched through his gray-scale vision as the writhing, dark purple ocean inside Mythralis was drawn toward the hilt. The suffocating cage around her glowing Dragon Heart began to tear apart strand by strand, each fragment swallowed by the Unknown Energy.

———

Miles away, deep within the mountain crags...

Riennal stood atop a jagged peak, a manic grin plastered across his face as he watched the exhaustion pile onto Marcus and Evelyn.

Suddenly, the eye-shaped obsidian artifact resting in his clawed hand shuddered violently. A sharp, audible crack echoed through the freezing air as a jagged fracture split across the surface of the relic.

"What?!" Riennal gasped, his grin instantly collapsing into panic.

He felt the dark, binding thread connecting the artifact to the dragon being forcefully torn away. Desperately, he poured more of his demonic energy into the relic, attempting to reassert control, but his efforts were swallowed by the same overwhelming force.

"Who... WHAT IS DOING THIS?!" Riennal screamed into the empty wind, clutching his head as a wave of pain surged through him.

———

Darkness.

Deep within the Ice Dragon’s subconscious, Mythralis was completely smothered by the purple mist.

It pressed in from every direction, suffocating and cold, coiling around her mind until she could barely sense her own existence. She knew her body was moving somewhere far away, destroying everything. Yet she was powerless to stop it.

Even buried beneath the darkness, Mythralis refused to yield. Again and again, she struck at the purple fog with whatever fragments of will remained to her, trying to tear through the force holding her captive. Each attempt was met with a harsher response as the mist constricted around her consciousness, pressing deeper as though punishing her resistance.

Yet she continued to fight, clinging to the faintest trace of herself.

Then, suddenly, the purple mist trembled violently.

It shook all around her as if terrified of a predator. For the first time since it had swallowed her mind, the darkness recoiled. Then it began to move, slowly at first, then rapidly, dragged away toward an unseen force.

Mythralis felt the shift instantly.

Something is happening...

She didn’t know what had intervened, but the mist that had bound her until now was losing its hold, and that was all the opening she needed.

Throwing every ounce of her remaining power against the fading cage, she struck out. This time, the purple mist didn’t tighten around her. It unravelled beneath her strikes, tearing apart as it was sucked away into the void.

Bit by bit, her senses returned. She heard the howl of the gale and felt the sting of fire, followed by the sharp, piercing pain in her right shoulder. Sensation spread through her body as awareness flooded back into her mind.

———

Above the central battlements of Northwatch, the Ice Dragon threw its massive head back toward the sky.

ROAAAAAAAAAAAR!

The sound that echoed across the valley was no longer the unfeeling roar of a monster, nor was it the battle cry of an apex predator. It was a cry of agonizing pain and overwhelming release.

Thick plumes of dark purple mist erupted from the wound in her shoulder, pouring from her body like boiling smoke as the black blade drew the corruption from her veins.

From high above, a pair of crimson eyes had followed the black blade’s streak to where it now lay buried in the dragon’s shoulder.

The woman’s pupils dilated in fear, not of the steel itself, but of the violent, hungry Unknown Energy surging around it.

"H-How... how can that energy be here?!"