Chapter 1264: The Enemy Wore Their Faces
Vhalrath deliberately paused, waiting until everyone’s attention was locked on the light gate, before continuing in that smug tone.
"Your little leader is mine now—"
Ethan chose that exact moment to step out of the gate.
One foot hit the cage floor. He looked up and saw Vhalrath standing right beside the doorway. Then his eyes dropped—
His companions were staring at him in full guard.
There was no surprise in their faces.
Only disgust. And caution.
Ethan froze.
He looked down at himself, then twisted to glance back at the light gate.
No way.
Did they seriously think he’d come out as Vhalrath’s new lackey?
Inside him, the four little troublemakers were already laughing themselves sick.
Auri was the loudest. She peered out through Ethan’s vision, spotted Feylora’s wary, openly grossed-out expression, and nearly choked laughing.
"Hahahaha! Master got mistaken for the bad guy!"
Ethan’s face went dark.
The more he thought about it, the madder he got.
Vhalrath was still holding the pose it had been using to introduce its "terrifying opponent." It clearly hadn’t expected Ethan to come through the door with his mind still intact, either.
Ethan pivoted and threw a punch.
Bang!
His fist slammed into the side of Vhalrath’s Stellar Core "head."
The deep-blue glow was driven sideways by the impact, and Vhalrath’s body went flying off its throne. Before it could stabilize, the white lightning in Ethan’s palm was already there.
The bolt rode the line of his punch and crashed straight into Vhalrath’s body.
White lightning punched through deep-blue scales and spread inward along the spatial pathways Ethan had just mastered. The space-gates around Vhalrath—doors that had been about to close—locked up mid-motion, and uncontrolled layers of white light spilled between their frames.
Ethan raised his other hand.
The spatial power he’d stolen from the shadow gathered in his palm, stretching longer and longer until it became a sword.
The blade had no fixed color.
Its surface flickered between gray-black, deep blue, and pure white. The moment the edge formed, space itself parted to either side, revealing a straight, clean cutting lane.
Ethan stepped in and swung.
The first slash went in through Vhalrath’s shoulder and cut through its torso.
The second cut across the waist.
The third swept just under the neck.
Spatial force didn’t care about scales. Vhalrath’s humanoid body was carved into multiple sections in rapid succession. Between each piece was a smooth, flat spatial rift—too clean to reconnect immediately.
Only after he’d hacked Vhalrath into several chunks did the heat in Ethan’s chest finally ease.
He dismissed the spatial sword and drifted down from the air.
Below, everyone was still standing there.
They stared at the sliced-up Vhalrath, then at Ethan landing without a scratch. The wariness on their faces slowly shifted into shock.
Once he was steady on his feet, Ethan opened his arms wide at them.
He cocked his head slightly, eyes sweeping across every face.
The look said it all.
Well?
Not gonna welcome your hero back?
And—why are you still backing up?
Kaelira and Catheryn, supported by Feylora, managed to get to their feet.
They didn’t relax right away. Instead, they walked up to Ethan and inspected him from head to toe.
Catheryn’s darkness circled him once—no traces of Vhalrath’s control. Kaelira stared into his eyes, and only when she didn’t see that abnormal red glow did she finally let out a quiet breath.
The two of them turned at the same time and nodded to the others.
It was real.
Not a shadow Vhalrath had manufactured.
Only then did the group lower their guard and rush in around Ethan, voices tight with relief.
Auri laughed even harder inside him.
But that brief reunion didn’t mean the fight was over.
Far away, the Emerald Castle army was still battling the monsters Vhalrath had summoned. The clang of weapons and the boom of energy blasts kept rolling out of the darkness. Those dark-gray enemies hadn’t vanished just because Vhalrath had been chopped into pieces.
That meant one thing.
Vhalrath wasn’t dead.
The cage suddenly started to shake.
The ground tilted to one side. Distant railings screeched with heavy friction. Above them, layers of space slipped out of alignment, and the floating fragments of energy were rattled loose, skidding and drifting everywhere.
Everyone snapped together instantly.
They formed a tight circle with their backs inward. Weapons, shields, and power all turned outward as they scanned the darkness, ready for anything.
It was pitch-black.
The pieces of Vhalrath’s body Ethan had cut apart were gone.
Even the spatial throne had vanished.
Then Vhalrath’s voice spoke directly into their minds.
"You’re all so naughty."
It came from the deepest part of their awareness, bypassing ears and shields alike.
"When I want to play with you, you’re not allowed to struggle!"
Gray-black energy rose from beneath their feet.
It raced along the edge of their circle and sealed shut, forming a barrier that enclosed all of them. But the barrier didn’t block outside attacks—
It cut off their perception of the rest of the cage.
And then familiar faces appeared along the barrier’s edge.
The first figure was identical to Kaelira.
A gray version of her held a violent energy sphere in both hands. Violet-red flames churned inside it, and her eyes burned with furious blood-red light.
On the other side, a black Catheryn stood in silence.
A massive black orb hung over her head, its heavy aura swallowing the surrounding light. Her long black dress clung and fell without a ripple, and her face held no expression at all.
Ataneya’s shadow appeared too.
Twelve gray-black fox tails spread at once, wrapping around the barrier from all directions—adding a second layer of encirclement around the group.
More and more familiar silhouettes stepped out of the dark.
Each one matched someone inside the circle.
Same face. Same power. Same stance.
And they all shared one trait—
That eerie red light burning in their eyes.
Among them, the gray Kaelira’s eyes were the reddest of all. The fury in them was even more violent than the real one’s. She hadn’t even thrown her energy sphere yet, and the nearby space was already cracking under the pressure of her flames.
But there was one person missing from those shadows.
Ethan.
Vhalrath really was unusually curious about him.
To let Ethan’s shadow complete its infiltration, it had even carved out a separate little room—using those doors and that mirror to isolate it from the outside, giving the assimilation more than enough perfect conditions.
Too bad black particleization was simply too abnormal.
It had meant to have the shadow swallow Ethan—
Only for Ethan to swallow the shadow instead.
Trying to steal a chicken and ending up losing the rice.
Even its carefully crafted "art piece" hadn’t survived.
Vhalrath’s voice echoed through their minds again.
This time, the joking tone carried something uglier beneath it—confusion, and hate.
"You’re the one who killed my carefully made artwork?"
It didn’t wait for Ethan to answer.
"Fine."
The voice began to pull away, retreating into the distance.
"Then repent in despair... while you slaughter each other."
Vhalrath’s mental presence vanished from inside the barrier.