Chapter 1435: Can You See the Future?

Ethan gave Malverin a strange look.

Another energy sphere was quietly forming behind his back.

He stepped upward through the air until he was level with Malverin. There was still a good distance between them, but for Ethan, it was close enough.

"Malverin?"

Ethan nodded.

"Nice name."

Then his tone changed.

"Did your mother die under mysterious circumstances giving birth to you?"

Malverin’s hand visibly paused around his scepter.

Ethan twisted at the waist and whipped the energy sphere from behind his back, putting his whole arm into the throw.

The momentum accelerated it even further.

White light shot straight toward Malverin, compressing the air ahead of it into a circular shock wave.

Malverin was still thinking about what Ethan had said.

How did he know his mother was dead?

Could it be...

He raised his scepter and tapped the incoming sphere with its tip.

Blue power collided head-on with white energy. The two forces pressed against each other, spraying tiny arcs of lightning from where they met.

The dark blue mud below surged into the sky.

A thick tendril pushed through the energy waves and wrapped tightly around the white sphere. It pulled the sphere back, then used the recoil to hurl it straight at Ethan.

"How do you know my mother is dead?"

Malverin stared at him.

"Can you see the future too, like that black deer?"

Ethan’s expression changed at the mention of a black deer.

Was it Noxhart or Vesperhart again?

Vesperhart couldn’t possibly return.

That left Noxhart.

Malverin had seen it too?

But why had Ethan’s first thought been again?

The reflected energy sphere was closing in.

Ethan didn’t dodge. White energy spread from his chest to his limbs, forming a layer of protection around his body.

He looked up at Malverin.

"Was that deer completely black?"

Ethan pointed above his head.

"And did it have an energy sphere floating between its antlers?"

Malverin had no intention of answering.

As he watched the sphere bear down on Ethan, he could only conclude that this young man had completely lost track of the situation.

"You should worry about yourself first!"

If anything, that only made Ethan more brazen.

Malverin wouldn’t answer, so Ethan decided he must be scared.

Coward.

Afraid to fight.

Trash.

"Why aren’t you answering?"

Ethan kept pressing him.

"Scared? Did I hit the mark? Or are you sick?"

He threw one question after another at Malverin.

Silence could mean restraint.

Sometimes, it could also mean admission.

The blue tendril tightened around the sphere once more.

The white orb accelerated again, shooting along the path of compressed air and slamming directly into Ethan.

White light exploded in midair. Thick smoke and impact waves expanded in every direction, flattening the nearby blue tendrils and sending them crashing back into the forest one after another.

Even Malverin stopped to watch the center of the explosion.

He had expected Ethan to be injured by his own attack.

Then two hands emerged from the smoke.

Ethan brought his palms together from either side. The spreading shock wave, smoke, and pressure reversed direction and began collapsing toward his hands. The churning white smoke compressed tighter and tighter until it merged with the remaining energy, forming a new sphere of light.

The air around him went still.

Ethan stood behind the sphere. His clothes had been torn in several places, but his body showed no obvious injuries.

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

The attack hadn’t just failed to hurt Ethan. He had compressed it back into usable power.

But Malverin didn’t stop attacking.

He pointed his scepter downward, and the dark blue mud throughout the forest began to churn. Tendrils burst from the ground and climbed the tree trunks into the sky.

At the same time, Malverin hurled his scepter at Ethan.

"When you’re dead, I’ll tell you whether your guesses were right!"

The scepter spun at high speed, its tip aimed directly at Ethan’s chest.

Ethan drew the energy sphere back to his waist and clenched his other hand into a fist, ready to meet it head-on.

The scepter came closer.

Blue tendrils crossed and coiled through the air around him, weaving themselves into a closing cage. Ethan was sealed in from every direction. Churning blue clay waited below, while Malverin hovered directly overhead.

A low laugh came from behind Malverin’s bird-beaked mask as he watched Ethan run out of escape routes.

"Let’s see you dodge this time!"

The scepter was only a few feet away.

Just as Ethan was about to punch, the weapon vanished from in front of him and reappeared in Malverin’s hand.

Malverin caught it, raised both arms, and pointed its tip toward the sky.

Ethan stared at his punch as it struck nothing and finally realized the attack had only been bait.

He had underestimated the birdman.

But that was fine.

Ethan had cheats.

He knew Catheryn had left a dark mark on him. Since the others had already caught up, his voice should be able to travel through it.

"Send those four little girls over here!"

Ethan shouted down toward the forest.

"I need them right now!"

He sounded completely confident.

Several seconds passed without a response.

The others had already left the beach and entered the forest. They were standing directly beneath the battlefield and had heard his request perfectly clearly, but every one of them froze.

He wanted them to throw four little girls up there?

And he needed them right now?

Was this Ethan another fake?

Catheryn covered her mouth, struggling to hold back her laughter. The others’ shoulders had already begun to shake.

In the end, Catheryn couldn’t contain herself.

"Ethan..."

Her laughter traveled through the dark mark and into the cage.

"Hahaha! I’ll send them right over!"

Trapped inside the cage of tendrils, Ethan frowned.

He could hear Catheryn laughing, along with everyone else.

"What are they laughing at?"

He glanced down, completely unable to see anything wrong with what he had said.

Above him, Malverin had finished gathering power.

A dark blue laser descended from the sky and poured into his raised scepter. The patterns along its shaft lit up one after another, and the surrounding space began to change.

Four enormous pillars, each a different color, descended from above.

Crimson.

Dark blue.

Pink.

Gold.

Each pillar carried a different power, and they suspended themselves around the cage in four directions.