Chapter 70
The team moved like shadows, having decided to rest only when they reached the border connecting the two kingdoms, before entering the Eldorian Kingdom.
That would be the sole opportunity for the group to recover, granted a few hours of rest—a luxury compared to the single hour they had been given before.
During this time, Lucas grew closer to everyone.
He was most intrigued by Ethan, who in the story would become the next Sky King, just before Orion's own ascension.
Following Arthur's death, the next Sky King was Eleanor.
However, in the war, she sustained a grave injury that diminished her power, allowing Ethan—by then a Saint-class individual—to assume the mantle.
It should have been Orion, but due to political machinations, Ethan became Sky King.
This man possessed skill far beyond what others could perceive.
He was a student of Logan and was destined to become the strongest space-element user in the Hidden Sky City.
Coupled with his prowess in wind element, he was formidable in his own right.
For now, judging by his statement of having an affinity for the space element and "I can use winds spells," it mostly meant he hadn't fully immersed himself in it.
That would only happen after Logan's death.
Ethan was a good person, deeply loyal to Arthur above all else, and to Logan—both his masters and the very people who had saved him long ago.
The novel recounted Ethan's past: a commoner in the Sky Empire, his parents killed by bandits who attacked his village.
He was taken as a slave.
While those few years of servitude were harsh, they became bearable because of the people he cared for, making the ordeal seem worth it.
But when one of his female friends, Zoe, began to mature, she was raped.
Ethan tried to protect her and his other friend, Vex.
It ended with Vex dead and Zoe treated even more cruelly.
A mission led Logan and Arthur, who were on the same team at the time, to attack the slavers' base and rescue them.
Seeing himself in Ethan, and recognizing extraordinary talent in both children, Logan took Ethan and Zoe to the Hidden Sky City.
There, they grew up and trained, becoming powerful elites for their age.
Then came the previous war, which shattered Ethan completely.
In that conflict, after making another good friend, and because Logan had been promoted to a Moon-class position and moved to the front lines, Ethan, Zoe, and his new friend Henry were placed under a different team leader.
The end result was that leader abandoning the team when they were surrounded, leading to Henry's death.
Henry, of the Motomato Clan, was another dear friend lost—a brother Ethan had fought alongside, bled with, and sacrificed everything to protect alongside Zoe.
The two escaped, but in the midst of the war against the other hidden cities, they teamed up with another squad and discovered the very leader who had betrayed them, having used them as decoys for his own escape.
A fight erupted between Ethan and that leader but was interrupted.
The leader didn't survive long, as he, Ethan, Zoe, and others were part of a group scouting an enemy food supply.
Ethan set a trap for the man, which led to their discovery.
The traitor was used as a diversion to attract enemy elites, barely escaping as Ethan's group gathered vital intelligence and set explosions throughout the supply depot, despite the presence of elite cultivators.
When the injured man tried to rejoin the group, Ethan confronted him, tortured him, and killed him.
It didn't make things better. After his failure to return, everyone assumed he was dead.
While most suspected Ethan's involvement, no one judged him, for in war, fighting alongside someone who might betray you at a critical moment is worse than fighting alone.
However, because of Ethan's actions, the food supply base was soon destroyed, killing many.
Ray, using the army of the Hidden City of Massan, struck the base where Ethan's group was resting, resulting in numerous casualties on their side, including Zoe.
Ray attacked that base because someone there knew he was responsible for starting the war and causing the death of a Saint-class individual.
To prevent Solas from discovering the truth—knowing it would mean his own death—Ray killed everyone, even his own men, to cover his tracks.
This was Ethan's breaking point.
It awakened a special physique that elevated his wind affinity to an incomparable level, enabling him to slaughter all who attacked them.
His strength was already at the peak of the Silver stage, just a step away from Gold and becoming a 9-star.
Lucas looked at him, seeing the faint smile on his face—a man who had suffered hunger, lost many he loved, been betrayed, and would soon lose another he loved, Logan, and later, Arthur.
This world really seemed to hate him, didn't it?
But was it hatred?
Many others lost loved ones in wars that were never spoken of.
Having been in that war himself, Lucas knew the multitude who had suffered weeks of hunger and thirst, losing those they loved, including to the Tier 9 mana beast attack.
Yet, unlike others who suffered in their grief, claiming no one could understand their pain, Ethan was different.
Ethan never wanted anyone to understand his pain or to pity him.
Instead, he used that pain every day to grow so powerful that no one would ever have to feel as he did.
That is why his future ascension as Sky King was pivotal: his mindset changed everything in the Hidden Cities, uniting them into a single nation and establishing an academy for the talented.
He laid the foundation that Orion would later complete, ending the wars between the Hidden Cities and ushering in a New World.