Chapter 1384: Didn’t I Die?

Elowen turned to him.

"I’m worried you’ll get hurt," Ethan said.

The others started to protest, but Ethan looked up. White energy spread from his body, pushing the surrounding air outward and gently forcing everyone back toward the center of the shield.

"I’ll go."

His tone left no room for argument.

"Don’t worry. I’m the strongest one here!"

Seraphine gave him a helpless look from above but didn’t stop him. With a wave of her hand, she separated a portion of her Light Force and formed a close-fitting shield around him. Then she turned her full attention back to maintaining the barrier under the army’s assault.

Ethan took one last look at the others before stepping through the edge of the shield alone.

The moment his foot touched the yellow sand, he felt the weight of something watching him.

It wasn’t just the maddened soldiers surrounding the mine.

Every crystal in the mine, every drifting thread, even the writhing armor covering Valric and Eldran seemed to be watching the man who had willingly left the barrier’s protection.

The two figures in the sky remained motionless.

Ethan took one step forward.

Valric vanished.

The air exploded behind him. Before Ethan could fully turn, Valric was already at his back. An armored fist drove toward his spine, compressing the air hard enough to press a deep indentation into Ethan’s clothes.

At the same moment, Eldran raised his spear.

Bloodred spears materialized around him. Their tips shifted into position, all locking onto Ethan below. At Eldran’s signal, they rained down from the sky.

The tumors covering Valric and Eldran split open as well.

Threads poured from the ruptures like black clouds, spreading across the sky between them and sealing off Ethan’s escape routes above and around him.

Ethan hurled an energy sphere upward.

It expanded above his head, becoming a white shield that met the falling spears head-on. Ethan shifted half a step forward, avoiding the full force of Valric’s punch, then turned and struck back.

Their fists collided.

The dull impact blasted away the nearby sand. Ethan’s arm bent backward under the force, and his feet sank into the ground. He had caught the punch, but the pressure in his wrist and elbow was impossible to ignore.

The shield overhead had already taken the first volley.

The bloodred spearheads focused on a single point. The white barrier held for several seconds before cracks spread outward from the center. More spears struck along the same path until they finally punched through.

Ethan was about to pull away from Valric when the fist in front of him abruptly lost its strength.

Clarity returned to Valric’s eyes for an instant.

He stared blankly at Ethan, then recalled his sword and slashed at his own arm without hesitation. The blade cut into the armor, and bloodred threads sprayed from the wound.

"Quick!"

The word forced its way through clenched teeth.

"Kill me... Kill—"

The armor surged over his throat, choking off the rest. Valric threw back his head and let out a tortured howl. The last few golden threads wrapped around his body and flung him away from Ethan.

He landed on his knees in the sand, clutching his head with both hands. Bloodred armor kept crawling up his neck while golden threads struggled out through the gaps between the plates.

Eldran also stopped moving in the sky.

Valric’s broken plea reached him, and something shifted in his eyes. He looked down at his hands, bewilderment entering his voice for the first time.

"Didn’t I die?"

Eldran raised his head, his breathing growing faster inside the armor.

"Why?!"

Caught between them, Ethan froze.

Valric wanted Ethan to kill him.

Eldran remembered dying.

That brief return of awareness confirmed Ethan’s earlier conclusion: the armor controlling their bodies was acting against their true will.

He hesitated for only a moment.

Energy gathered in both hands as white lightning coiled around his wrists. Spheres rapidly took shape in his palms, while the hazy outlines of more appeared around him.

But even that was too slow against Valric and Eldran.

Both men threw back their heads and roared.

The clarity in their eyes drowned beneath bloodred light once more. They charged Ethan from opposite sides, one swinging a fist and the other thrusting a spear. Their attacks struck the shield Seraphine had given him at the same time.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Valric hammered the left side again and again, each punch caving the white barrier inward. Eldran stabbed relentlessly from the right, his spearhead always striking the same point.

Ethan’s reinforced defense overlapped with Seraphine’s Light Force, barely holding through the first few rounds.

Then cracks appeared on both sides.

They kept spreading.

He couldn’t wait any longer.

Ethan pressed one of the newly formed energy spheres into his chest. White lightning raced across his body. The instant the shield shattered, he dissolved into countless black particles.

Valric’s fist and Eldran’s spear passed through the cloud, striking nothing but the air displaced by each other’s attacks.

Both turned to search for him.

A storm of punches and spear strikes swept through the area, attacking every place Ethan might be hiding. Craters appeared one after another in the sand, while the spear carved long, narrow trails through the air.

He couldn’t keep dodging like this.

The black particles gathered above them, restoring Ethan’s body. Golden threads shot from his fingertips and connected to several energy spheres, directing them toward Valric and Eldran from different angles.

The spheres had barely entered their attack paths when something tightened around Ethan’s ankles.

Valric and Eldran had reacted almost simultaneously. Bloodred threads shot up from below, bound Ethan’s legs, and ripped him out of the sky.

He slammed into the sand, and his shield flared around him.

Valric’s fist crashed down, caving in the white barrier. Eldran’s spear came from the side, its tip driving directly into the center of the depression. The shield survived only that single combined attack before bursting into a shower of white light.

There was almost no delay in their reactions.

Ethan had only just raised a hand when a familiar pulse of energy stirred inside him.

After a long slumber, Lily had finally awakened.

Her power expanded through Ethan’s body and rapidly merged with his own. His fading energy surged again. The white lightning around his arms grew brighter, and the sand beneath him was forced outward.

With Lily’s support, Ethan regained his footing.

Valric’s fists were already raining down.

Ethan spread his fingers and caught each incoming blow. Fist struck palm again and again, the resulting shockwaves pushing the surrounding sand into a ring.

His other hand continued gathering energy.

When Eldran’s spear came from the right, the energy meant for an attack changed form, unfolding beside Ethan into a thicker white shield.

The spearhead struck the barrier and drove deeper, but it couldn’t pierce the final layer of light.

Now it was Ethan’s turn.

When Valric threw another punch, Ethan vanished and reappeared at his side. His fist, wrapped in white lightning, swept across and struck Valric squarely in the head.

The armor caved in, snapping Valric’s head to one side.

Bloodred threads immediately poured from the dent, pulling the warped plates back into place and repairing the damaged flesh beneath. Within a few breaths, his head had completely recovered.