Ethan stared, practically blank.
He hadn't expected it—this girl who'd still looked a little excited a second ago was terrifying once she actually moved. Her ice wasn't just "freezing" things. It was stealing the battlefield's temperature, its flow, even the order of energy itself—rewriting the rules over a whole stretch of sky.
And the battlefield changed just as violently with Emerald Castle's arrival.
The rear-guard troops pouring out of the spatial corridor slammed straight into the fight. Their presence was several times stronger than before. Their weapons, armor, wing rigs, and energy cores all shone with a thicker, richer glow. The enemy soldiers who'd been strutting around moments ago got crushed down immediately by this fresh wave of power.
