Chapter 1358: Where the Green Turns Gray

Thalvyr’s soul began to tremble, its blood-red glow shrinking under the relentless cold.

Panic finally set in.

He was a soul now. Why could he still feel the cold?

Refusing to give up, Thalvyr formed a spectral tentacle and slipped its tip through the gap between two bars, searching for a way out.

Elowen was already losing interest.

She raised a finger and poured more power into the ice.

The walls thickened inward, closing the gaps one after another. Thalvyr had no choice but to withdraw his tentacle as the cage transformed before his stunned eyes into a solid cube.

The cage and ice fused completely.

Thalvyr was sealed at its center, nothing but a hazy red silhouette visible through the frozen surface.

Elowen turned and called Ataneya over, then held out the ice cube.

"Want to cool off?"

Anticipation lit up her face.

"It’s a special surprise. What do you think?"

Ataneya looked at Elowen, who was acting like an excited child, then lowered her gaze to Thalvyr inside the ice.

A wisp of infernal energy appeared at her fingertip.

Ataneya hopped lightly onto the cube and pressed the infernal flame against its surface.

"You control the ice yourself," she warned. "Don’t expect me to turn up the heat."

As Elowen watched the flames dancing below, a fun idea began to take shape.

The ice slowly melted under the intense heat.

The moment Thalvyr regained enough room to move, Elowen released another burst of cold and froze him solid again.

Thaw.

Freeze.

Thaw again.

Freeze again.

Bitter cold and infernal heat alternated without end. Every time Thalvyr’s soul escaped the ice, a new layer formed around him the next instant. The cycle continued until even Elowen lost track of how many ice cubes she had gone through.

By the time the others joined her, she was holding yet another fresh cube, looking uncharacteristically awkward.

Everyone unleashed their power on it.

Thalvyr’s brief existence as a soul came to an end.

Not far away, the weight that had been pressing on Namyanna’s chest suddenly disappeared.

She stopped and glanced back.

Hadn’t Thalvyr already been completely destroyed?

She didn’t dwell on it. Putting away her trident, she headed toward Seraphina’s back.

The others climbed aboard after her. Seraphina spread her massive wings, sending a gale across the sea as her enormous body rose into the sky and flew into the distance.

Along the way, they passed over another ocean.

At the sight of the clear water below, Namyanna excitedly drew her trident. Carefully controlling her strength, she tossed it toward the surface.

The moment the trident touched the water, gentle ripples spread into the distance.

The fish sensed a familiar power and leaped from the sea. Shadows large and small arced through the sunlight before splashing back into the water.

The moment passed quickly.

But it was beautiful.

Seraphina had no particular destination. She simply kept flying forward.

They crossed several small territories along the way. Whenever someone emerged to stop them, Ataneya raised her hand before they could get close.

Infernal fireballs streaked across the sky and struck each target with perfect accuracy.

The scorching power clung to their bodies and ignited. Flames spread from the inside out, consuming every inch of flesh. The would-be attackers soon vanished into the inferno without slowing the group down.

After they flew a while longer, the landscape below caught everyone’s attention.

A vast forest stretched across the land.

On the left, lush green trees swayed in the wind, their branches thick with leaves and the ground covered in dense vegetation.

The right side was completely different.

Every trunk, leaf, branch, and patch of soil was the same grayish white. A sharp boundary separated the two colors, as if someone had split the forest into two different worlds.

Seraphina descended and landed where the green and gray-white regions met.

They quickly realized the boundary wasn’t stationary.

The gray-white color was spreading.

The green leaves closest to the edge lost their color first, followed by the branches and trunks. The discoloration crept across each plant, slowly smothering every trace of life and color.

They stared deeper into the gray-white forest.

Everything as far as they could see was the same lifeless shade, with no end in sight.

There were small animals among the trees as well.

Some were frozen in mid-run. Others had their heads raised or lowered to forage. Yet every one of them stood perfectly still.

Ethan entered the gray-white forest first.

The soil beneath his feet had lost its color, but it still felt as soft as ordinary earth. The surrounding leaves and shrubs were perfectly preserved, every vein clearly visible. When the wind passed through the trees, the pale leaves swayed with their branches and brushed against one another with a faint rustle.

If not for the absence of color, this would have looked like any normal forest.

Ethan slowed as he approached a small animal.

It was a gray-white squirrel perched on its hind legs atop a tree root. Its forepaws were folded against its chest, and its bulging cheeks were stuffed with food. Judging by its posture, it had probably been gathering supplies for later.

Its eyes remained open, but it never blinked.

Ethan extended a finger and gently pushed its shoulder.

The squirrel tipped stiffly to one side.

Before it could fall, cracks spread outward from where he had touched it. Its body crumbled like a statue weathered over countless years, scattering gray-white fragments across the ground before him.

Ethan frowned, but he didn’t stop there.

He quickened his pace and ran deeper into the forest. Before long, he found a massive wild boar beside a patch of gray-white grass.

Its head was lowered, several blades of grass clenched between its teeth. Thick tusks curved from the corners of its mouth, every bristle along its back distinct. Even the bite marks where it had torn through the grass were perfectly preserved.

Ethan reached out and poked the boar.

This time, it didn’t shatter immediately.

The boar remained frozen with its head lowered, still poised to chew. After a moment, a hairline crack appeared where Ethan had touched it and slowly crawled across its hide.

More cracks followed.

Eventually, the entire boar broke apart into tiny gray-white fragments that fell silently onto the grass.

Ethan only grew more curious.

The leaves and shrubs were alive too, yet they could still sway in the wind without crumbling at the slightest touch. The squirrel had shattered immediately, while the boar had taken time to fall apart.

If the same gray-white power had affected them all, why were the results different?

Light footsteps approached from behind.

Auri jogged through the trees and stopped beside Ethan, reaching up to take his finger.

"Daddy, everything’s so gray here."

She looked around, her confusion deepening.

"And I can’t feel any life from them."

To the naked eye, color was the only visible difference between these gray-white trees and real ones. But Auri possessed the power of the Fairy, and her perception of life went far beyond ordinary observation.

To her senses, these trees swaying in the wind were empty.

They weren’t growing.

There was no life flowing through them at all.