Chapter 1428: The Black Stain

Ethan had been waiting for this.

He took a single step forward, letting the blade miss him, and tossed the energy sphere in his palm behind his back.

Silas’s knife cut through empty air.

For the first time, real fear stirred inside him.

A spatial gate opened behind him at once.

But the energy sphere Ethan had thrown overhead earlier came falling back down. The two spheres collided in front of Silas and detonated simultaneously.

Violent white light filled his vision.

Everything around him rapidly lost its color until nothing remained but an endless expanse of white. Silas stood at its center, his black suit the only visible stain in the entire world.

Ethan turned around, another energy sphere forming in his palm.

Dark clouds gathered overhead.

"Well?"

He looked at Silas.

"Want to try that again?"

Ethan’s grin widened.

"It’s been a long time since I’ve had this much fun in a fight."

Silas stared at him coldly.

He slowly lowered the dagger to his side as his appearance began to change. The shape of his face gradually shifted toward Ethan’s.

Ethan hovered in the air with several energy spheres orbiting him. A thin white shield spread over his skin, ready for Silas’s next attack.

"Let me guess."

Ethan watched the face taking shape before him.

"You’re going to turn into me, replace me, and then—"

Silas didn’t let him finish.

He lunged forward, driving the dagger straight at Ethan. Several slits opened at the base of the hilt, releasing black chains that closed in from every direction.

"I don’t want anything!"

The smile had vanished from Silas’s face, leaving only uncontrollable rage.

"Right now, all I want is to kill you!"

The chains scraped through the white space with a piercing screech.

"For Lord Noxhart!"

Ethan nodded.

He launched the energy sphere from his palm and spatially jumped away.

Silas dodged the sphere and followed the residual spatial trail, appearing behind Ethan. The chains were already closing around him, while the dagger was less than half a foot from the back of his head.

Ethan looked around.

A stain had appeared in his pristine white space.

What should he do with it?

Throw it out, of course.

The chains surrounding Ethan froze in midair. Silas’s dagger stopped with them, even the power flowing along its edge slowing to a standstill.

The surrounding space had been completely frozen.

Silas’s face twisted.

Violent spatial energy erupted from his body, forcibly carving out a new territory within the white world.

A patch of pitch-black space expanded around him, pushing back the white light and reclaiming an area where Silas could move freely.

For the first time, clear shock appeared in Ethan’s eyes.

He hurled one energy sphere after another into the darkness. His white wings spread behind him and carried him rapidly backward.

Silas advanced with the black space.

Everywhere he passed turned dark, and the spatial laws there fell under his control. He whipped the chains forward, then released the dagger. It flew toward Ethan along a trail of darkness.

Ethan’s expression grew serious as he watched the dagger approach.

A white shield rose in front of him.

More energy spheres formed around his body, but instead of targeting the dagger, they flew past Ethan on either side and shot toward Silas in formation.

At the same time, a familiar power appeared inside Ethan.

Energy spread through his limbs, and his body began to change.

Lily had arrived at exactly the right moment.

Silas, however, had completely lost himself to madness.

The chains in his hands grew thicker and longer. His body swelled with them, and the shadow he cast across the white space climbed higher and higher.

The darkness around him began to churn.

Spears and long blades emerged from its depths, every edge aimed at Ethan. As Silas advanced, the black tide of weapons moved with him.

Ethan stared at Silas, whose body kept expanding along with the darkness. His shock quickly gave way to excitement.

Getting bigger?

He could do that too.

Lily’s power spread through his limbs as white energy rapidly covered his entire body. Ethan grew larger, and the wings behind him expanded several times over. White lightning flowed along the edge of every feather, forcing the surrounding darkness to retreat.

Ethan raised both fists and slammed them together.

The impact sent a ring of white energy surging outward.

Then he crooked a finger at Silas.

You got bigger. So did I.

Let’s see who’s stronger.

Silas’s enormous chain swept toward him, its links crashing together with heavy metallic clangs. Ethan didn’t dodge. He clasped his hands and hammered them down.

The chain smashed into the ground.

Ethan planted a foot on one of the links and used the rebound to launch himself into the air, vaulting over Silas’s head.

Silas immediately released the chain and thrust his right hand into the darkness beside him. He pulled out a long blade and swung it at Ethan’s incoming fist. At the same time, swords hidden within the darkness shot out, cutting off Ethan’s retreat from the rear and both sides.

Ethan’s wings beat with full force.

A violent gale crashed down from above, blowing Silas’s long golden hair across his eyes. He narrowed them and raised the blade in front of himself.

Ethan’s fists came down behind the wind.

Before they even reached Silas, the compressed air struck the blade. Silas’s arms sank, and a ring of ripples spread through the darkness beneath his feet.

But before throwing the punch, Ethan casually tossed the energy sphere in his palm into the distance.

With sand and golden hair obscuring his vision, Silas missed the movement. By the time he looked up again, Ethan was gone.

A spatial disturbance came from behind him.

Ethan appeared at Silas’s back and caught the energy sphere as it returned from its wide arc.

The swords in the darkness immediately changed direction and stabbed toward Ethan’s back.

Silas reacted at the same instant. He hurled the long blade behind him while forming a spear in his palm and throwing it forward, trapping Ethan’s position between the two attacks.

Ethan tossed the energy sphere he had just caught at Silas.

Then he reached out with both hands and seized the incoming swords. The blades trembled in his grip, their sharp energy slicing into his palms, but they couldn’t break free.

Twisting at the waist, Ethan hurled the swords down at Silas.

The white wings behind him broke apart at the same time.

Hundreds of energy feathers became a rain of arrows, curving around the falling swords and converging on Silas from every direction.

Silas watched the swords descend. He spun with their momentum, applying force to both the hilt and blade, and caught them securely.

The next moment, energy surged from his arms into the weapons.

With a sharp crack, the swords exploded into countless tiny shards.

The fragments didn’t fall. They hovered around Silas as a golden defensive barrier unfolded in front of him and a longbow formed in his left hand.

Silas drew his right hand forward.

Every fragment reassembled in midair, becoming a single arrow covered in hairline cracks. It settled against the bowstring, its point aimed at Ethan.

Boom!

Ethan’s energy sphere struck the golden shield.

White light erupted outward, and thick smoke rapidly swallowed Silas. The impact shook the black space, knocking the fragmented arrow out of alignment.

Silas didn’t release the bowstring.

Ethan had disappeared.

Silas scanned the area warily. The sword fragments spread out around him, searching for Ethan through the slightest change in the air or energy.

Nothing responded.

Silas slowly turned, sweeping the bow and arrow across every cloud in sight.