Chapter 85: When both wings open
The rain of arrows poured down.
Dozens of magic arrows trailed streaks of green, white, and gold, nearly blanketing the space in front of Ethan. The pressure blew dust and bone fragments off the ground in every direction.
The Necromancer stepped forward immediately.
The green flames in its eye sockets had dwindled to two faint sparks, but the broken staff was still raised. The last bone fragments crawled out of the ground and assembled into a Bone Shield in front of Ruo Yan and Laira.
Boom!
The first volley struck the shield.
Cracks spread across it instantly.
The Necromancer staggered back a step, the arm bones holding the staff letting out a splintering sound. It tried to keep channeling energy, but the Bone Shield held for only a few seconds before exploding apart.
Bone fragments flew everywhere.
Ruo Yan wrenched her blood-soaked hand. The Soul Threads wrapped around Ethan’s body immediately pulled him backward.
One arrow threaded through the gaps between the threads.
Thwack!
It buried itself in Ruo Yan’s left shoulder.
Her body was jerked to one side. The arm controlling the Soul Threads faltered, but her fingers still refused to let go.
Laira turned to look at her.
"Ruo Yan!"
"Don’t look at me." Ruo Yan clenched her teeth and held the threads tight. Blood from her shoulder ran down her arm and dripped from her fingertips. "Cover the front."
Laira didn’t ask anything more. She opened the Thunder-Iron wing and pulled every remaining feather in front of her body.
The metal feathers had lost nearly a third of their number. The rest were full of cracks, many connected to the wing by nothing more than feeble sparks of electricity. They tried to assemble into a barrier, but the gaps between the layers were far too wide.
Magic arrows kept punching through.
One sliced across Laira’s arm.
One pierced the membrane of her right wing.
The third she caught with her bare hand before it reached Ethan. Crimson flames erupted in her palm and burned the arrow to ash, but the motion shook the Thunder-Iron wing hard enough to shed several more feathers.
Brakk seized the opening and charged.
Both hands gripped the war axe, his body covered in wounds but Gold-rank tier 9 energy still strong enough to crack the stone beneath his feet. The axe chopped down at the wing shielding Ethan.
Laira spun to meet the blow.
Boom!
The Thunder Wings collided with the war axe.
Feeble arcs of lightning flared and quickly died. Laira was driven backward, her feet carving long trails through the stone. The wound on her shoulder tore open again, but she kept the wing in front of Ethan.
Brakk ground his teeth and pressed the axe down harder.
"You’re out of strength."
Laira looked at him past the edge of the wing, her orange-red eyes still cold.
"Then you’re welcome to try stepping through."
Brakk roared, pouring every ounce of energy in his body into both arms.
The Thunder-Iron wing buckled downward.
Behind her, a green circle of light appeared beside Ethan.
Aldren stepped out of the teleportation ring.
He had waited until Brakk pinned Laira down, Ruo Yan was wounded, and the Necromancer had lost the ability to raise another Bone Shield.
The sword in his hand slashed toward Ethan’s left arm.
Ruo Yan saw it, but the arm she was using to control the threads had almost no strength left. She pulled the Soul Threads, but Ethan shifted only a tiny distance.
Aldren smirked.
"It’s over."
Laira heard his voice.
She knew instantly what was happening behind her.
But Brakk was still pressing the axe down. The moment she withdrew her wing or turned, the blade would clear the defense and strike Ethan.
Laira no longer had enough energy for a teleport.
She could only make one choice.
The flames around her body suddenly went out. The wing bracing against the war axe also folded back.
Brakk hadn’t expected her to drop her guard. The axe came crashing down at once. Laira tilted her body to dodge the blade, letting the heavy shaft slam into her shoulder instead.
Crack!
The shoulder bone let out a snapping sound.
She was sent flying, but before her body hit the ground, Laira had already wrapped her tail around a boulder and yanked herself back.
She threw herself toward Ethan.
Aldren was less than half a meter from his left arm.
Laira couldn’t attack in time.
She spun around and put her own body between the sword and Ethan.
Ruo Yan’s eyes went wide.
"Laira!"
The sword tip drove toward the back that was no longer protected by flames.
In that exact instant, a very small metallic sound rang out.
Clang!
Aldren felt his hand go numb.
His sword stopped in midair.
A single silver-purple feather had appeared in front of Laira’s back.
It was only as long as a forearm, its surface still traced with a few unstable lines of light. But Aldren’s sword could not advance so much as a fraction further.
His expression changed.
A second feather appeared beside the first.
Then a third.
Ten.
A hundred.
A thousand.
Thunder-Iron Feathers poured endlessly out of the Primordial Armor on Ethan’s left hand. They circled his body, trailing purple-silver lightning that grew stronger with every pass.
Aldren’s sword was caught between dozens of feathers.
A surge of electricity erupted.
Boom!
Aldren was blasted from his position.
His body tumbled through the air several times before hitting the ground. The sword in his hand shattered into pieces, and the sleeve of his robe was burned away by the lightning.
Brakk stopped attacking immediately.
The Elves with drawn bows froze as well.
Every pair of eyes in the room locked onto Ethan at once.
He still hadn’t opened his eyes.
But fifteen hundred Thunder-Iron Feathers had fully emerged from the Primordial Armor, forming a massive vortex that enveloped him, Laira, and Ruo Yan.
The remaining magic arrows hung suspended in midair.
Lightning coursed through them.
They all shattered at once.
Inside Ethan’s body, the Bronze Heavenly Gate was covered in cracks.
The energy accumulated from every crystal he had absorbed over this time surged outward continuously. That energy had been held back because the Bronze Heavenly Gate couldn’t contain any more, but the Thunder Wings had become a new channel, routing all of it back into his body.
Both Partner bonds lit up simultaneously.
The bond with Laira was like a current of searing fire, holding the Heavenly Gate together with raw force.
Ruo Yan’s Soul Thread was thinner, but it wound around the cracks, keeping Ethan’s soul from destabilizing during the restructuring.
Crack!
The Bronze Heavenly Gate shattered.
But it didn’t disappear.
Purple-silver lightning surged through every fragment, pulling them back together and assembling a larger gate. The old structure was destroyed, and excess energy continuously filled in the gaps.
[Thunder Wings fusion complete.]
[Primordial Armor undergoing final restructuring.]
[Heavenly Gate has surpassed the Bronze threshold.]
[Initiating major breakthrough.]
The energy inside Ethan’s body climbed without stopping.
Bronze tier 6.
Bronze tier 7.
Bronze tier 8.
Bronze tier 9.
Bronze tier 10.
The surge of energy still didn’t stop.
The newly rebuilt gate shuddered violently. The bronze-colored light across its surface dissolved, replaced by a cold silver.
[Heavenly Gate has evolved.]
[Ethan Ashford has reached Silver-rank tier 1.]
Boom!
A wave of energy exploded from Ethan’s body.
Aldren had barely gotten to his feet before being shoved back. Brakk drove his war axe into the stone floor, but his legs still slid backward. The nearby Elves erected barriers in unison, but the moment they formed, they shook violently and cracked apart.
Korr, standing at the room’s edge, also had to lower his center of gravity. The energy core on his chest lit up, helping the Stoneweaver members hold their footing against the pressure wave.
The fifteen hundred feathers around Ethan began to assemble.
They didn’t form a pair of wings.
All of them converged on the left shoulder, layering one after another and extending outward behind him. Purple-silver lightning linked the feathers together, ultimately forming a single metal wing.
The wing’s base connected directly to the Primordial Armor.
The red vein-like patterns that had only existed on Ethan’s left arm spread up to his shoulder, then intertwined with purple lines of electricity.
The Thunder Wing slowly opened.
The gust it created swept away dust, shattered bone, and damaged feathers from around Ethan.
At the same time, the Partner bond transmitted every change to Laira.
She was kneeling on one knee in front of Ethan, one hand braced against the ground. The moment Ethan entered Silver-rank, the Heavenly Gate inside her body trembled as well.
A powerful stream of energy surged through the bond.
Laira raised her head.
Her orange-red eyes blazed bright.
[Partner Laira has reached Silver-rank tier 1.]
The Thunder-Iron Feathers scattered across the battlefield all trembled at once.
One flew out of a pool of blood.
A second broke free from a pile of shattered bone.
Hundreds more launched upward one after another, trailing purple-silver arcs of electricity as they returned to Laira’s left wing.
The damaged wing frame rapidly rebuilt itself.
Feathers latched along the wing bone, pulling torn tendons back into place. The dark red wing membrane remained, but between every layer of scales, sections of black-silver Thunder-Iron now appeared.
The wound that had caused Laira agony with every movement was being healed by Silver-rank energy.
She slowly rose to her feet.
Her left wing spread wide.
This time, it didn’t tremble.
No blood seeped from the base.
Before Laira could even fully register the change, the Solar Flame Seal on her chest blazed brilliant.
Five rings of seals appeared on her skin.
The outermost ring shuddered, then a crack appeared.
Laira frowned slightly.
A scorching sensation spread from her chest through her entire body, but it didn’t hurt. It felt like a door that had been locked for far too long had finally received enough power to open.
Crack!
The first seal ring shattered.
The crimson flames around Laira erupted.
The purple-silver lightning from the Thunder Wings was immediately drawn in by the fire. The two energies collided but showed no rejection. Lightning pierced through the flames, and flames clung to every bolt of electricity.
Red and purple-silver coiled around each other.
The temperature in the room surged.
[First seal release condition fulfilled.]
[The Solar Flame Seal has removed one layer of seals.]
[Rarity: S → Epic.]
[Remaining seal layers: 4.]
[Aberrant Flame awakened: Thunder Flame.]
The Thunder Flame flowed into the Thunder-Iron wing the instant it appeared.
The feathers that had been black-silver were immediately traced with lines of red-purple fire. Every time Laira’s wing trembled, lightning and flame spread outward together, sending small ripples through the surrounding space.
[Thunder Flame detected as compatible with Thunder Wings.]
[Two portions of Thunder Wings confirmed to maintain resonance state.]
[Special combat state has been formed.]
[Thunder Flame: Heavens’ Ruin.]