Chapter 1329: A Throne Made of Thought

The shift in the situation completely wrecked Ethan’s original plan.

Cindara was hiding under the frozen platform, absorbing power.

Instead of fighting it out with fists and teeth, she’d started copying everyone else—leveling up by swallowing energy.

For the moment, the team ignored the dense ranks of flame soldiers.

They regrouped and began discussing how to force Cindara out from under the platform.

Though if they were being honest... the first ones to start throwing energy around had been Ethan’s side.

Cindara absorbing it wasn’t exactly illogical.

A dull thump rose from under their feet.

Thoom.

The ice sheet trembled.

Then another.

Thoom.

Heavy. Forceful. Like a gigantic heart beating beneath the platform.

Cindara’s mood, however, was anything but calm.

After Kaelira’s violent power entered her body, it kept ramming through her internal structures like a mad bull. She’d assumed she only needed to suppress the purple-red energy... but when she looked closer, she realized Seraphine’s two forces were mixed into it as well.

Death.

Light.

And Kaelira’s berserk energy on top.

Three powers crammed into one sphere, repelling and colliding, held together only by some barely stable framework.

"What kind of sane person does this?" Cindara sat beneath the ice dais, face dark.

"Three energies mixed together?"

"You people really know how to surprise me."

Up on the ice, Kaelira and Seraphina traded a look.

They didn’t know why it had turned out like that either.

You ask us?

Who are we supposed to ask?

The temperature kept climbing.

And this was exactly when Cindara was most vulnerable.

To deal with the foreign energies inside her, she’d pushed most of her own power outward. The pillars, soldiers, and domain outside looked terrifying—but inside, her body was thin as paper.

She had to comb through everything.

Keep what was useful.

Strip what wasn’t.

And whatever couldn’t be expelled... eradicate it inside her.

That took time, but it was safer than trying to brute-force swallow three mutually hostile powers.

Unfortunately, the people above didn’t understand any of that.

They saw the heat rising. They saw the flame soldiers growing more imposing, and assumed Cindara was about to finish absorbing everything.

No one hesitated anymore.

Attacks began hammering the frozen platform in waves.

The flame soldiers used the opening to charge.

Battle axes smashed into Emerald Castle’s defensive line, throwing sparks and ice fragments everywhere. Their troops were forced back, formation compressing tighter and tighter.

But Namyanna—the team’s walking fire extinguisher—was still here.

She yanked her trident up and pointed it at the sky.

Storm clouds gathered overhead.

Rain started as scattered drops... then thickened... then turned into a downpour that blanketed the entire battlefield.

The flame soldiers didn’t go out instantly.

But weak water, if it kept building, would eventually become a flood.

Water pooled again on the ground.

Waves surged along the ice’s edge and crashed straight into the fire army.

Advantage: them.

Ethan, though, wasn’t fully pulled into the surface clash.

White lightning extended along the structure inside the ice platform, showing him a different picture.

Cindara was at some critical stage.

Her body was weak.

Yet the power she’d released outward was abnormally strong.

Ethan still couldn’t tell why that mismatch existed.

What truly bothered him was the pulsing sphere at Cindara’s chest.

What the hell was that?

After a few seconds of watching, he finally looked up at everyone.

"Stop for a second."

The barrage quieted.

"Cindara is weak right now." Ethan pointed under the platform.

"She’s absorbing something."

"Do you know what it is?"

Kaelira and Seraphina fell silent immediately.

They already knew the answer.

It was the mess the two of them had made when they mixed their powers together.

And honestly...

There was a bit of Ethan’s power in there too.

But the moment everyone heard the words she’s weak, they froze—

Then their eyes lit up.

Weak?

Then what were they waiting for?

Rush.

Bomb.

Bomb again.

"Ethan, didn’t she beat the hell out of you earlier?" Kaelira was already gathering purple-red energy again.

"When the enemy’s sick, you kill them!"

Ethan watched his teammates somehow get even more excited than before, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

He’d meant to warn them that Cindara’s outer barrier was getting stronger along with the absorption.

He thought about it... then just condensed his own energy sphere and joined the dogpile.

They soon shattered through the ice and entered the platform’s interior.

But when they reached the next layer of defense, everyone hit a wall.

This barrier wasn’t like the outer ice shell.

Fire circulated endlessly inside it. No matter where you hit, the force dispersed through the entire structure.

Kaelira’s eyes darted. She grabbed Seraphina and pulled her aside.

Catheryn and Elowen leaned in together, voices low.

The four of them started plotting again.

Ethan stared at them, deadpan.

Didn’t even need to ask.

They weren’t brainstorming anything gentle.

He tossed over a white-lightning sphere.

Kaelira caught it cleanly, satisfaction spreading across her face.

Ethan didn’t wait.

His body broke down into black particles and slipped through the fire barrier with ease.

But the moment he entered, thicker flames closed in from every side.

The black particles trembled under the heat.

Even in this state, Ethan nearly couldn’t endure it.

"This is definitely Kaelira and Seraphina again," he cursed silently as he held his structure together.

"Those two are obsessed with building nukes."

Deep within the flames, Cindara opened her eyes.

Through the flowing blaze, she looked directly at the densest cluster of black particles.

Ethan immediately felt her gaze.

The problem was—

He was still in particle form.

How was she seeing him?

"You came," Cindara said.

The instant the words fell, the flames, the platform, and the ice all vanished.

Ethan’s vision was swallowed by pure white.

No sky.

No ground boundary.

No reference points at all.

A blank world.

He re-formed his body at once, scanning with full alertness.

How had she seen him?

How had she dragged him here?

"This place—"

Not far away, Cindara rose from the ground.

She patted the small flame that had reappeared above her head. Her breathing was a little rough—dealing with three forces clearly hadn’t been easy.

But she was smiling anyway.

Cindara walked toward Ethan, step by step.

"Hello."

"And thanks."

Her hand brushed over the still-throbbing energy core at her chest.

"After getting all this power, dealing with you should be a lot easier."

She looked genuinely delighted.

Ethan couldn’t find even a trace of humor in it.

Cindara spread her arms wide.

"This is my mental world."

"In here, I’m the king."

She looked down at him.

"And your king, too."