Mystic Calling：Stone of Glory

Seraphina’s body kept inching forward, but her claws dug into the "ground" beneath the cage like anchors. Her talon tips carved several deep grooves into the hard surface before she managed to slow the drag—barely.

The others threw up shields as well.

Gold, blue, black, and green light flared in sequence, linking together into a single layered defense that fought back against the Stellar Core’s pull.

But Desert Queen Kaelira didn’t stay inside the shield.

Her temper wouldn’t let her sit there and wait for the outcome.

Kaelira launched off Seraphina’s back and flew upward, straight into the violent gravity. The surrounding airflow kept getting sucked toward the Stellar Core, but that only created an upward "lift" that carried her higher and higher.

She rose all the way above the cage, reaching nearly the same height as Vhalrath, who had its head tucked in close as it watched them.

Below, the Stellar Core was already pressed up against Seraphina.

Warped space around the sphere crushed down on teal scales first. A faint tremor ran between the hard plates. One more step—one more heartbeat—and the cracked Stellar Core would slam directly into her chest.

Ethan finished the control in that final sliver of distance.

He opened his eyes, lifted his head from between the dragon wings sheltering him, and smiled like he was enjoying himself.

His gaze slipped past the Stellar Core and landed on Vhalrath outside the bars.

Ethan curled his fingers slightly.

The Stellar Core, collapsing toward Seraphina, stopped dead.

It shuddered in place. Inside, the white lightning shifted course. The gravity that had been pulling toward the group was forcibly twisted—dragging the entire Stellar Core around in midair.

Then it shot straight at Vhalrath.

At the same moment, violet-red light ignited in Kaelira’s eyes.

A massive phoenix silhouette unfurled behind her. Flames traced out wide wings and a long tail, and the scorching air flooded the whole cage, burning away part of the chill that had been crushing everyone’s lungs.

Kaelira lifted both hands.

Two energy spheres condensed in her palms.

Violet-red fire poured down her arms and into the spheres. The two forces slammed against each other, and the shockwaves cracked the nearby space again and again. Thin black slits opened around the spheres—then were scorched wider by the flames.

Fire-wind lit the entire prison.

The rage Kaelira had been holding down finally poured out with it. The two spheres in her hands grew more and more violent, their power tugging toward each other—then bursting outward every time they collided.

She glanced down, clearly still unsatisfied.

Kaelira drew her hands together.

She crushed the two spheres into each other by force.

The instant they touched, violet-red light speared outward, and the phoenix shadow trembled violently. The two savage powers tried to break free—only to be compressed tighter and tighter under Kaelira’s closing palms.

In the end, the two spheres fused into one.

Everything went abruptly silent.

The sphere stopped colliding. It stopped flashing. The violet-red light on its surface died out, making it look almost... empty.

But when everyone felt what was happening around it, they realized the sphere hadn’t "stopped."

A piece of space inside the cage was disappearing.

Centered on that fused orb, the surrounding space was being erased bit by bit—no cracks, no fragments, nothing left behind. Even the flow of time stalled in that region. Dust hanging nearby froze in place, holding the same posture for far too long without drifting.

A faint, pale-red orb-shadow hovered quietly at the center.

Kaelira raised her head and stared hard at Vhalrath.

There was nothing in her eyes now but disgust.

The "extinguished" orb slid from her palm, inching to her fingertips.

"Feel my anger!"

Just as Kaelira was about to throw it, a thread of white power rose from below and drilled into the orb.

Ethan’s power.

After the white light entered, the sphere didn’t become violent again. Instead, it gained a heavier pressure. The energy that had been stalled at the surface continued to fold inward, and every unstable ripple gradually settled into a true, frightening calm.

Kaelira didn’t look back.

She flicked her fingers forward.

The orb left her fingertips and shot along that erased stretch of space, racing straight for Vhalrath.

At the same time, Ethan planted his feet on Seraphina’s wing and kicked off, using the rebound to vault into the air. He raised his arm, the motion like he was slapping a gigantic ball.

His palm struck the gravity layer behind the Stellar Core.

Bang!

White lightning burst at the point of contact, driving the already-turned Stellar Core into another surge of speed.

Two spheres—one after the other—pierced through the cage and flew at Vhalrath.

Outside, the dragon finally looked interested again.

It lifted its head. Its gaze shifted from the people on the ground to the two attacks coming straight at its face.

That body—so huge it had seemed endless—began to contract.

Far away, coils of its form wrapped through layers of space pulled inward at the same time. Deep-blue scales stacked over each other as the mass condensed. As it shrank, the surrounding space that had been squeezed began snapping back, throwing out wide, rotating ripples.

Finally, a gigantic dragon that could hover upright appeared outside the cage.

Vhalrath really was much smaller now.

But everyone still had to crane their necks to see its full outline from claws to crown. Even after shrinking, it still towered far above Seraphina.

Vhalrath raised both foreclaws and gave a casual wave toward the people inside the prison.

Space changed with the gesture.

Figures appeared throughout the cage.

They didn’t all look the same—some human-shaped, some beasts, some dragons. One teal dragon was painfully familiar: the horns, the eight wings, the wind aura... it matched Maelor’s dragon form perfectly.

But no matter what they’d "originally" been, every summoned enemy shared the same traits now.

Their bodies were a deep gray.

Their eyes were sharp and hollow, fixed straight on the group. And when they stepped forward after landing, every one of them moved with the exact same rhythm.

Ethan and Kaelira continued maintaining the trajectories of their two spheres.

Everyone else dropped from the air, bracing to meet the enemies Vhalrath had created.

The moment their feet touched down, a series of crisp snapping sounds rang out.

Crack.

Seraphine looked down and realized what they’d been standing on wasn’t normal ground at all.

A skeleton had broken apart beside her foot.

More bones emerged from the dimness around them, piled in layers across the cage’s interior—some already shattered, others still locked in the posture they’d fallen in.

The skeletons were all kinds.

Human, and the frames of other creatures.

Yet most still clutched weapons in their hands—swords, spears—and in some bony palms, a faint trace of energy still lingered, not fully dispersed even now.

The Emerald Castle army snapped into formation.

Seraphina charged first, her massive dragon body plowing into the center of the deep-gray enemies. The soldiers surged right behind her, weapons and energy attacks pushing forward together, cutting bravely into anything in their path.

The deep-gray enemies moved as well.

They crossed the bone-strewn ground and smashed head-on into Emerald Castle’s troops. The clang of blades quickly filled the cage. Broken bones were kicked and blasted into the air by stray shockwaves.

Seraphina went straight for the teal dragon wearing Maelor’s shape.

Two dragon claws met head-on.

The impact rippled outward, flinging several deep-gray figures away on the spot. The Maelor-shaped dragon shifted position first by riding wind energy, its speed advantage obvious.

It slipped around Seraphina’s front and slammed a claw into her side.

The claw hit her scales with a heavy, muffled thump.