Chapter 1439: My Sincerest Apologies

Malverin's reaction finally gave Ethan his answer.

He was Silas and Adrian's father.

But Silas had clearly said their father was dead.

So why was Malverin still alive?

Ethan had no time to think about it. The stone arrows and multicolored blade were already upon him.

The gray-white space spread around Ethan once more. Malverin charged into it, but didn't freeze completely. Instead, his speed weakened layer by layer, his movements growing slower with every step.

That gave Ethan all the time he needed.

He drove the energy sphere in his palm into the gray-white space.

White energy spread along the walls. The gray slowly drained from the surrounding area until it became pure white and merged with the space beyond.

Lightning flared on every side.

Thunder rolled without end.

Ethan moved between the bolts, easily avoiding Malverin's slowed blade and stone arrows. Several pink spikes shot from beside his hand, each one pinning one of Malverin's limbs.

Then slabs of rock rose from the ground and closed together, forming a cage that sealed Malverin inside.

"You're Silas and Adrian's father?" Ethan stood outside the cage. "They told me you died years ago."

Darkness filled the interior.

Malverin leaned against the stone wall as a small scepter formed in his palm.

"Father?"

He quietly repeated the word.

"By blood, yes, I am their father."

His fingers tightened around the small scepter, and the corners of his mouth lifted.

"But that's all I was."

Ethan raised his hand.

Pink spikes pierced the cage walls one after another, stabbing into the darkness within. A small bomb followed, detonating the moment it struck the floor.

Multicolored spikes burst outward from inside the cage, punching countless holes through its walls.

Malverin kept talking to himself.

"They told you everything I did, didn't they?"

Laughter came from behind the bird-beaked mask.

"It was normal discipline."

"Nothing more than perfectly normal discipline."

"Hahahaha!"

A spike stopped above Malverin's head, its point only inches from his mask.

One more wrong word, and it would pierce his skull.

Malverin glanced up at the point and finally stopped laughing.

"I did die," he said calmly. "But a deer brought me back."

He raised the small scepter in his palm.

"That was when I gained the power to control stone."

Outside the cage, Ethan fell into thought.

A deer.

Was it Noxhart again?

The connection between Noxhart and this family ran far too deep.

Malverin paid no attention to Ethan's silence and continued.

"After I came back, I began searching for my two sons."

"Then one day, I learned they had changed their names."

Excitement crept into his voice.

"Silas and Adrian."

"Such wonderful names."

Leaning against the wall, Malverin looked up at the cage's pitch-black ceiling.

"I searched for a very, very long time."

"Eventually, I began to believe they were dead."

The small scepter trembled gently in his palm.

"So I tried everything I could to bring them back."

"And to bring back the woman I loved."

Malverin began laughing again.

"I don't care what it costs!"

The spike dropped.

Its point pierced the top of the bird-beaked mask and drove straight through Malverin's skull.

At the same moment, an energy sphere entered the cage and detonated inside his body with a muffled thud.

His laughter stopped.

Malverin's body lost its support and slowly slid down the wall.

Ethan stood outside the cage for a long time without speaking.

"I honestly don't know…"

He looked at the motionless figure within.

"Whether you were a good father or a terrible one."

And what had Malverin meant by resurrection?

Was it nothing more than a sacrifice?

Ethan now understood the purpose of the dark blue mud.

It devoured flesh and absorbed life because Malverin intended to use it as an offering for the resurrection.

The price was every living creature on this continent.

Silas, Adrian, and Malverin—the entire family had been affected by Noxhart.

But that raised another question.

Had Noxhart ever truly died?

It had been sealed away for so many years, yet it hadn't simply remained there. Its spirit had traveled across the world, leaving its power behind and influencing countless people.

How many plans had Noxhart set in motion?

Ethan probably wouldn't know until he faced it again.

A quiet sigh echoed through the sealed space.

He withdrew the gray-white domain.

The stone cage and lightning vanished together, and a spatial gateway opened ahead. Ethan stepped through and slowly returned to reality.

The moment he emerged, he stopped.

No one was there.

There wasn't a sound.

The vast plain remained, and neither the scars left by the explosion nor the sunken ground had changed. Ethan hadn't returned to the wrong place.

But all his companions were gone.

"Where is everyone?"

Ethan scanned his surroundings.

It felt like the same world had suddenly become unfamiliar.

While he stood there in confusion, the others were examining their new surroundings.

They had been pulled into a strange space.

There was no visible ground beneath them and no boundary in sight. If not for the flame burning above Ataneya's palm, there would have been nothing around them but absolute darkness.

"Where are we?"

Ataneya raised the flame higher and looked at the others.

"How did we get here?"

Everyone shook their heads.

No one had seen how they had been transported.

Even Seraphine couldn't determine where the power had come from.

Then an emotionless voice spoke from the darkness.

It had no clear source.

It sounded beside everyone's ears at once.

"You destroyed the vessel meant for my arrival."

"So I had no choice but to bring you in here instead."

After a brief pause, the voice added:

"My sincerest apologies."

Seraphine stepped forward, placing herself between the others and the darkness.

A gray shield spread outward from her, enclosing the entire group. An energy sphere formed in her palm, her fingers clamped tightly around it.

"Who are you?"

The darkness remained silent for a long time.

When the voice returned, it sounded close enough to be standing right in front of them.

Its tone was as calm as ever, but every word carried crushing pressure. The flame above Ataneya's palm flickered violently, and gray ripples spread across the surface of Seraphine's shield.

"I am the Pale Moon God—Lunethar."

The entire dark space shook.

"The unrivaled god!"

Seraphine was the first to take flight, retreating at full speed. The moment she pulled away, everyone else unleashed their power. Energy spheres flew from their palms, trailing ribbons of colored light through the darkness.

The glow illuminated the space ahead—and revealed Lunethar's true form.

A massive head floated in the void, eight eyes spread across its surface. Two arms hung motionless at its sides, but there was nothing below them. No torso. No legs.

All eight eyes fixed on Seraphine.

The space around her constricted, stopping her retreat and trapping her in midair. She couldn't move so much as a fingertip.

"There's no need to rush."

Lunethar's voice came from every direction, sending wave after wave through the darkness.

"It's not often someone goes to such lengths to summon me. I can't leave without making the trip worthwhile. Why don't we play a game?"

Ataneya didn't give it a chance to continue.

Twenty-four fox tails spread behind her, each tip shining with a different color. Infernal energy surged down every tail, converging into several blazing torrents that swept toward Lunethar from both sides.

The sphere of infernal energy in her palm followed close behind. It shot past the encircling tails and flew straight for the enormous head.

On the other side, Andona had already risen high into the air.

All twenty pairs of wings unfurled behind her. Golden holy light flowed from every wing and gathered at the center. The air shone brilliantly as she raised both hands and thrust the accumulated Divine Power forward.

Once released, the holy light continued to expand, transforming into a blazing golden torrent that crashed head-on toward Lunethar.