Chapter 1424: Aren’t I Ethan?
Silas watched in silence but made no attempt to pick up the beads.
He bowed again, pressing his forehead firmly to the floor. Only after completing his final act of worship did he slowly rise.
"Noxhart."
Silas looked up at the deer-shaped statue.
"That’s the name you chose for yourself."
His expression remained calm.
"You may be dead, but I once benefited from your kindness."
Silas lowered his head.
"I will continue to offer you my highest respect."
He turned and left the temple, abandoning the broken prayer beads where they lay.
Back in the glass containment area, everyone was still examining Ethan.
Andona and Feylora had tried several methods, but neither could identify the problem.
Ethan wasn’t sick or injured.
It seemed more like he had encountered something his mind couldn’t process, causing his consciousness to shut itself away.
While everyone was still trying to make sense of it, the surrounding mechanical walls began to rumble.
Metal doors opened one after another.
The sound of synchronized footsteps came from beyond them.
Large numbers of humanoid machines marched into the containment area. More continued pouring through the open doors, quickly packing the space around the glass.
The machines at the front made contact with Seraphine’s barrier.
Hiss—
Primordial Death Energy spread across their metal bodies. Their shells rapidly lost their luster as the circuits inside went dark one after another. The machines behind them never stopped, shoving their disabled companions against the barrier.
The enclosed space filled with the grating sounds of corrosion and metal scraping against metal.
Everyone glanced at the unconscious Ethan, then began gathering energy in their hands.
The first volley passed through the barrier.
Multicolored blasts slammed into the horde and exploded among the steel bodies. Severed limbs and shattered parts crashed against the walls, while shock waves swept across the floor. But the machines in the rear simply trampled over the wreckage and kept coming.
No one recklessly left the barrier.
Ethan had fallen into this state after nothing more than touching the glass. There was no telling what other strange traps might be waiting outside.
The mechanical creatures seemed endless.
Every destroyed wave was replaced by another from beyond the doors. They kept pressing against the barrier through sheer numbers, trying to drain the group’s energy.
They had clearly underestimated the people inside.
Energy spheres flew without pause, blasting row after row of machines apart. Feylora stood in the center and continuously restored everyone’s energy, though her attention kept drifting back to Ethan.
He remained motionless on the floor.
Elsewhere, Silas watched the entire battle through a spatial projection spread out before him.
He adjusted his glasses, then stepped back.
"Prepare to begin the test."
Silas turned toward the man standing ahead of him.
"Adrian, can you make it there?"
The man looked remarkably similar to Silas and had the same long golden hair. At the command, he approached Silas, dropped to both knees, and raised his hands above his head.
Silas placed his umbrella and glasses into them.
"Thank you, Master!" Adrian Vane said respectfully.
Silas’s gaze snapped to him.
An invisible pressure descended from every direction.
Adrian’s shoulders buckled. His breath caught, and he was quickly forced flat against the floor. Even lifting his head became almost impossible.
He corrected himself at once.
"Thank you, Brother."
The pressure vanished.
Silas smiled again and walked past Adrian. A white sphere of energy spun above his fingertip, its light brightening and dimming.
"Don’t disappoint me."
Adrian immediately dropped to his knees again, trembling uncontrollably.
He kept his head lowered for a long time, but no further orders came. Only after the room had fallen completely silent did he cautiously look up.
Silas was gone.
Adrian let out a long breath and climbed to his feet.
"Master—Brother’s pressure is as terrifying as ever."
He put on the glasses and tightened his grip on the umbrella.
"The family made the right choice after all."
Inside the glass enclosure, everyone had stopped actively bombarding the mechanical horde.
The enemy’s numbers showed no sign of dwindling, so further attacks would only waste energy. If the machines insisted on charging the barrier, they could destroy themselves against it.
Unfortunately, that left Seraphine with the hard part.
Every humanoid machine that touched the barrier consumed some of its Primordial Death Energy. She had to maintain it continuously as the mechanical creatures crashed into it one after another, only to be corroded into lifeless scrap by the power of death.
Catheryn, meanwhile, crouched beside Ethan and studied his face with interest.
A mass of pitch-black shadow emerged from her fingertip, pressed against Ethan’s chest, and slipped into his body.
He would be in for a pleasant surprise when he woke up.
Just then, a faint crack came from the glass ahead.
Without warning, a fracture appeared across its transparent surface and began spreading in every direction. Everyone immediately rose and approached, watching the change warily.
Someone reached out and lightly touched one of the cracks.
The entire glass wall disintegrated.
Instead of falling, the transparent fragments dissolved into tiny motes of light and soon vanished.
The way out was open.
Everyone left the containment area. Ethan still hadn’t woken, so Auri wove several thick branches into a stretcher and secured him on top.
The others surrounded the stretcher and carried him forward together.
The procession looked uncomfortably like a funeral.
Ethan, surrounded by everyone, knew nothing about it.
His consciousness had already arrived somewhere else.
He was on a small, barren island.
There were no trees or buildings, only an endless ocean in every direction. Ethan had lived alone on the island for a long time. All his familiar companions had vanished, leaving him without even one person to talk to.
Then, one day, footsteps sounded over the calm sea.
A man approached from the distance.
He looked almost exactly like Ethan. There was no obvious difference in his build, clothing, or even the way he walked. The only thing that set him apart was the long golden hair falling past his shoulders.
Ethan raised one hand and began gathering energy in his palm.
Anyone who had gone to such lengths to imitate him couldn’t have come with good intentions.
"Who are you?"
Ethan watched the man draw closer.
"Why are you here?"
The man walking across the water gave no answer.
He raised his own hand and formed an energy sphere identical to Ethan’s, merely smiling as he stared back at him.
After a moment, he finally spoke.
"Who am I?"
His smile never changed.
"Aren’t I Ethan?"
Ethan almost laughed from sheer disbelief.
If that man was Ethan, then who was he?
What a ridiculous claim.
He launched the sphere from his palm. It shot across the surface of the sea toward the other man as white wings unfurled behind Ethan, carrying him forward in the wake of his own attack.
The false Ethan didn’t retreat.
He threw his own energy sphere, and the two blasts collided above the water. White light erupted in every direction, forcing the sea downward into a vast circular depression.
Using the explosion to propel himself backward, the false Ethan formed a second energy sphere and pressed it into his own chest.
His body broke apart into black particles and vanished from Ethan’s sight.