Chapter 1392: The Needle Between Thunderbolts

Kaelira was still preparing her real attack.

The energy in her palm compressed without end. Instead of growing as more power poured into it, the sphere became smaller and smaller until only a tiny point of light remained.

It was minuscule, yet the space around it trembled under the strain.

Its power lay in its concentration.

Kaelira brought her hands together.

Every energy sphere in front of her accelerated and began orbiting the tiny core. The larger spheres formed an outer defense, while the smaller ones filled the gaps, sealing the true attack safely at the center.

The entire formation advanced toward the mechanical pyramid.

The two sides were still far apart, but the pyramid’s weapons had more than enough range. Countless gun barrels and laser cannons adjusted their aim, pouring fire into the approaching formation.

The center of the pyramid slowly opened.

A laser even thicker than the previous one fired from within and struck the formation head-on.

The outermost spheres absorbed the first impact.

The beam pierced several of them, and the resulting explosions tore a hole in the formation. As the outer defenses began to collapse, the pyramid concentrated its fire on the breach.

At the same time, the thunderclouds finished gathering overhead.

A bolt of white lightning fell from their depths.

Ethan’s eyes turned pure white as both hands released energy. Under his control, the lightning split in every direction, weaving a moving net in front of Kaelira’s formation.

Bullets shattered the instant they touched it, torn apart by white arcs of electricity. Missiles detonated before they could get close, their flames spreading harmlessly across the perimeter.

Kaelira’s formation continued forward.

The mechanical pyramid fired more lasers and missiles, but white lightning kept falling from the sky. Every bolt intercepted a section of the incoming barrage, clearing a path for the tiny energy core at the center.

Inside the control room, Korrick watched the target approach on his display and sneered.

A narrow opening appeared in his oval mechanical armor.

Korrick crossed his hands over his chest, and a thread-thin beam shot from his mechanical eye. It entered a launch mechanism, loading a strange bullet into the firing track.

"Ignorance really does make people fearless."

Korrick locked onto the center of the formation.

"Let’s see how you like having your own attack turn against you."

The launcher made a soft click.

Once the strange bullet left the pyramid, its casing rapidly contracted until it became no more than a slender needle. Rather than following the same path as the rest of the gunfire, it skimmed along the pyramid’s edge and slowly approached Kaelira’s formation from the side.

Ethan and Kaelira’s coordination was nearly flawless.

His white lightning destroyed every attack in their path, while her outer spheres protected the true core.

But if the core itself betrayed Kaelira, none of those defenses would matter.

Gunfire continued to bloom across the sky. Beneath the dark thunderclouds, exploding missiles scattered points of light like drifting sparks.

Elsewhere, Andona and the other two had escaped danger under Seraphina’s protection.

Seraphine maintained the reinforced shield, leaving the machine-gun rounds and lasers able to do no more than send ripples across its outer surface.

Even so, no one dared advance recklessly.

Ethan’s lightning field lay directly ahead. The thunderbolts destroyed anything airborne without regard for where it came from. One step too far could put them within range of an explosion.

The needle had already entered the field.

White lightning continued intercepting bullets and missiles all around it, but not a single bolt struck the needle. It slipped slowly through the net, passing between two electrical arcs as it closed in on the central sphere.

Sweat began to bead on Ethan’s forehead.

Maintaining lightning over such a vast area drained an enormous amount of energy every second. If the stalemate continued, he would eventually be the first one to run dry.

But if he directed all the lightning at the mechanical pyramid, its outer spatial shield would activate and redirect the thunderbolts elsewhere.

Neither choice was good.

Things weren’t much better inside the mechanical pyramid.

Red warning lights began to flash.

The armory’s ammunition reserves were nearing their lower limit, and many of the storage indicators had already gone blank. At their current rate of fire, they would soon have nothing left for another battle.

An energy projection of Korrick appeared before Ferrick, holding the report Merrin had just submitted.

"My lord, we don’t have enough ammunition left for another battle."

Korrick handed him the report.

"They must have ridden that dragon into the sky. We..."

Ferrick took the report and glanced at the flashing red warning lights beside him.

His mechanical fist slowly tightened.

"Find an opportunity to kill the dragon."

Ferrick stared at Seraphina on the display.

"Then we’ll head into the city to replenish our resources!"

The plan carried both risk and reward.

If they survived this battle, they would have far more options afterward.

Outside the mechanical pyramid, Kaelira’s formation was already approaching the spatial shield.

Few of the spheres protecting the core remained. Most had been destroyed by the lasers and missiles, leaving only the tiny, highly compressed core to continue forward.

Without anyone noticing, the needle entered it.

Ethan stopped supplying energy.

The lightning covering the sky gradually weakened without his power sustaining it. But the electricity already trapped in the thunderclouds didn’t dissipate immediately. It continued leaping between the clouds. A lightning field of this scale remained dangerous even after slipping out of control.

Everyone assumed the attack was ending.

Kaelira was the first to sense something wrong.

Her connection to the core suddenly became indistinct.

Pale blue light spread from inside the tiny sphere and formed a complete shell around it. The blue sphere enclosed the energy core, its color slowly seeping inward.

Kaelira tried to regain control, but she could no longer sense the power within it.

Ethan noticed the problem too.

Judging by the strength of Kaelira’s previous attacks, space around the core should have been reacting far more violently by the time it approached its target. The power inside was enough to destroy most things, often accompanied by rupturing ground and energy storms.

Yet the sky was unnaturally still.

"Kaelira, your..."

Ethan saw the pale blue sphere continue to contract, and his expression changed.

"No!"

The blue shell merged completely into the core.

Kaelira’s energy sphere had been assimilated.

It stopped outside the mechanical pyramid, then slowly turned around and began retracing its original path toward them.

Ferrick didn’t send it after Ethan.

Nor did he choose Kaelira.

He had only one target.

Seraphina.

The pale blue sphere abruptly accelerated.

It tore through the fading lightning field, trailing a thin streak of blue light as it shot straight toward the dragon.

Ethan was too far from the others to reach them in time. Even so, he raised a hand, formed an energy sphere, and hurled it toward Seraphina with all his strength.

He knew it might not stop the attack.

But even the slightest chance of changing the outcome was worth taking.

An arrow shot past Kaelira.

The dense Primordial Death Energy surrounding it made her body tremble slightly. The pitch-black arrow threaded through a gap in the flowing energy and struck the pale blue sphere dead-on.

The two forces collided.

The blue sphere contracted inward, then exploded.

Boom!

The blast swallowed the surrounding sky.

A tremendous shock wave traveled through the air and struck the mechanical pyramid, shoving the massive city sideways. Pale blue energy and Kaelira’s original violent power erupted together, illuminating the entire stratosphere.

But the black arrow didn’t stop.

It emerged from the center of the explosion, still wrapped in dense Primordial Death Energy, and continued toward the mechanical pyramid.