Ethan gave a faint smile.
Recruit me?
Yeah… you picked the wrong guy.
He didn't answer. Instead, he forced the energy sphere in his hand to compress further, squeezing it down until it became a small, gray-white bead. Then his hand slipped quietly into the ground. The bead followed, drilling into the earth and gliding soundlessly through soil, along underground water, and through cracks in the stone—until it surfaced right beside Orun.
Through that tiny sphere, Ethan glanced at the crushing pressure radiating off the anvil.
Then the gray-white bead split into two.
One slipped into Orun's body.
The other sank into the weapon he was forging.
"Got it."
The words had barely left his mouth when the shield suddenly shuddered like it had been hit by a battering ram.
Cracks flared across the golden barrier. The outermost layer of protection shattered on the spot. If Andona hadn't reinforced the shield before she left, the black fog would've poured in already.
