Mystic Calling：Stone of Glory

Trapped at the center of the spatial cage, the group watched as wormholes continued opening all around them.

Seraphine raised a shield first. A gray barrier rose from beneath their feet, protecting the unconscious Ethan and everyone else. Then she pointed overhead. Dense Primordial Death Energy gathered into a gray-black beam and came straight down from the top of the cage.

Boom!

The beam struck the mechanical floor, sending gray energy spreading through the cracks. Every War Machine in the lead was swallowed. Their metal shells rapidly dulled, and the circuits inside went dark under the corrosion of Primordial Death Energy.

But the attack wasn’t as decisive as expected.

These War Machines weren’t truly alive. The power of death could destroy their energy and physical structure, but it couldn’t end them as completely as it could a living creature.

Several battered War Machines kept advancing, dragging their ruined bodies over the wreckage of their own kind with their weapons still trained on the people inside the shield.

Andona tightened her grip on her golden blade.

The weapon melted in her hand, and golden energy extended to both sides, forming a circular disc with a razor-sharp edge. Standing at its center, Andona used both hands to set it slowly spinning.

"Get down."

No one hesitated.

The golden disc expanded in an instant.

Its rapidly spinning edge swept over the top of the shield and cut horizontally across the entire cage. The charging War Machines had no time to stop before golden light sliced cleanly through their waists.

Their upper and lower halves separated, crashing to the floor in a succession of metallic impacts.

Only a few flying War Machines climbed high enough to avoid the disc sweeping across the ground.

The golden disc continued to expand, its cutting edge covering the entire cage. No matter how many mechanical creatures poured from the wormholes, any that touched the ground were cut in half after taking only a few steps.

The group rose again.

Energy spheres flew upward from multiple directions, shooting down the remaining airborne War Machines one by one. Explosions rang out above the cage as shattered machines fell trailing black smoke.

For a moment, the battlefield finally went quiet.

From his position high above, "Silas" gave a silent nod.

Adrian’s eyes were on the group, but his attention was fixed on Ethan’s stretcher.

"Brother will succeed."

He tightened his grip on the umbrella, reassuring himself under his breath.

"I only have to do my part."

Even as he said it, some of the light faded from his eyes.

Everyone feared death.

Especially when they knew they had stepped onto a path with no retreat and still had to walk it all the way to the end. The end itself might come quickly, but waiting for it could feel unbearably long.

Adrian took a deep breath and forced down his fear.

"Brother told me to delay them as long as possible."

He worked up his courage again, held the umbrella horizontally in front of him, and flew down toward the group.

"You ladies are certainly having fun."

Adrian stopped in midair, once again wearing Silas’s easy smile.

"Need any help?"

He slowly aimed the umbrella at them.

The canopy and ribs folded inward as the shaft extended, transforming the umbrella into a sharp spear.

Kaelira had no patience for conversation.

A violet-red energy sphere shot from her palm and flew straight at Adrian. As soon as she launched it, a pair of matching wings spread from her back and a second sphere rapidly formed in her hand.

Kaelira flew upward right behind the first attack.

The others struck from different directions.

Energy spheres of various sizes rose into the air, while Andona’s Divine Power flooded the cage with golden light. Elira spread her wings and fired a scorching beam at Adrian from the side.

The sky darkened.

White lightning gathered among the storm clouds, locking on to Adrian’s position.

Surrounded by attacks from every direction, Adrian already wanted to retreat.

But the moment he imagined Silas’s anger, his body began to tremble uncontrollably.

He forced the thought of retreat from his mind.

Raising the spear, Adrian thrust it into Kaelira’s first energy sphere. The spearhead pierced the orb and split its unstable energy to either side before it could explode.

The space in front of him folded inward.

Adrian stepped into the distortion and was transported into the distance, evading the second sphere following close behind the first.

The white lightning overhead tracked him.

Electric light illuminated the mechanical floor beneath his feet. Just before the bolt struck, Adrian drove his spear into the ground and rapidly formed a complex hand seal.

The mechanical floor bulged upward.

Components, steel plates, and gears burst from the ground and assembled beside Adrian, forming a massive mechanical giant.

At the same time, the spear planted in the ground reverted to an umbrella.

Its canopy snapped open as it spun at high speed.

White lightning struck the umbrella, and violent arcs spread along every rib. The rotating canopy flung the electricity away in all directions as the two forces ground against each other, flashes of white light repeatedly illuminating Adrian’s face.

Before the others could break through the mechanical giant, more wormholes appeared outside Seraphine’s shield.

Gun barrels protruded from the openings.

Gunfire came first, followed by a barrage of missiles and energy blasts. The attacks bypassed Andona’s golden disc entirely, emerging through the wormholes directly in front of the group.

Several of them immediately turned to intercept the War Machines’ ranged fire.

Energy spheres collided with missiles outside the shield, filling the area with bursts of flame. Even so, several small War Machines slipped through the interception and used the smoke from the explosions to reach the edge of the barrier.

Their red indicator lights came on simultaneously.

The small War Machines self-destructed.

Boom!

Scorching fire and white smoke engulfed the entire shield. The impact spread across the gray barrier and forced the mechanical floor beneath it into a circular crater.

High above, a mushroom cloud slowly rose.

Several energy spheres that hadn’t yet reached their targets were scattered by the blast. The shock wave tore a massive opening through the storm clouds, dispersing the white lightning gathered within them.

Adrian looked up to make sure the storm clouds were gone, then caught the spinning umbrella in his hand.

It began transforming again.

The ribs spread outward while the shaft split into multiple mechanical components. A Gatling gun with several barrels formed in Adrian’s hands.

He pulled the trigger and sprinted forward, pouring continuous fire into the group’s position.

A storm of bullets streaked across the battlefield and hammered against the shield.

The others refused to stay inside and keep defending.

All twenty-four of Ataneya’s fox tails extended at once. They whipped through the air at high speed, generating enough wind pressure to clear away all the white smoke outside the barrier. Then they attacked Adrian simultaneously from above, below, and both sides.

Andona rose into the air as well.

Divine Power spread from her body, dispersing the remnants of the mushroom cloud overhead. Golden light illuminated the entire area, leaving Adrian nowhere to hide in the smoke.

The Gatling gun in his hands transformed once more.

The barrels merged as mechanical components extended to either side, eventually forming a long blade.

Adrian held the weapon across his chest, and a pair of mechanical wings sprang from his back. Numerous small War Machines flew from the nearby wormholes and formed a temporary defensive ring around him.