Denzel was about to say something, but she suddenly realized something and closed her mouth.
"There is a loophole in this contract." Yaxiu waved the parchment in his hand. "What if, right after we sign, you immediately strike us down and damage our souls so badly that we can't enter the Void Realm for half a month? Wouldn't that force us to breach the contract?"
Denzel took off her non-prescription decorative glasses and lowered her eyelids. "I never even thought of such a loophole. You worry too much, Sir Knight."
"I've just been burned by contracts a bit too often lately, so I instinctively pay closer attention," Yaxiu said. "If you have no such intentions, why not add a clause that binds you as well, just to set our minds at ease? Oh, and don't forget to include your retinue troops under the contract's scope—after all, you could always have them do your dirty work for you."
Denzel stared quietly at Yaxiu for a long time. The cold glint in her eyes made it clear that Yaxiu's suspicions were by no means groundless. Flanking Yaxiu, Sonia and Diya took up defensive stances, making it unmistakably clear that they would never let Denzel have an easy strike.
"The Domain of Stillness is almost here." Yaxiu glanced at the golden light on the horizon being edged out piece by piece by the gray. "If you haven't made up your mind yet, then please excuse us as we take our leave, Your Majesty."
With a sullen face, Denzel waved her hand, and a new clause appeared on the contract:
[Within one hour of signing, Party A and its commanded units shall not kill Party B.]
"As you wish."
This was the first time Yaxiu heard an inflection in Denzel's voice, which meant this was her absolute bottom line.
This Heroic Spirit commander was far too shrewd; she even knew how to bind them with a contract.
Yaxiu and the others exchanged glances, knowing they couldn't get through this without signing. Left with no choice, they branded the contract with their sorcery power.
Watching the contract paper burn into effect, Yaxiu felt strangely accustomed to the sight, as though he had lived through this exact scene not long ago... the same familiar coercion and inducement, the same perilous crisis where they were left to someone else's mercy—an identical recipe down to the last drop.
Still, now that the contract was signed, this life-or-death crisis was finally coming to an end. Yaxiu let out a breath of relief and waved at Denzel. "Then we'll be on our way. See you next—"
"Who told you that you could leave?"
In an instant, Denzel shifted back into her Assassin Specialist stance. Turning into a black shadow, she darted straight into Yaxiu's chest, her palm-blade launching the knight into the air in a single blow!
Miracle: Ripping Wave Slash!
Miracle: Whip Blade!
Sonia and Diya attacked in immediate succession without hesitation, yet their strikes couldn't pierce the dense, invisible unit armor at all. Denzel didn't bother defending; she simply seized them both with her hands and hurled them away!
Miracle: Sword Painting!
Yaxiu's Heart Sword arrived late. Ever since he upgraded all his swordplay sorcery spirits to Two Wings in the Legendary Library, the might of his swordplay miracles had surged. Though his burst damage still couldn't match Sonia's, his sustained damage... was also inferior to Sonia's.
Even so, his damage output was nothing to sneeze at—anyone underestimating him would suffer for it!
*Smack!*
Denzel swatted the Heart Sword aside with a slap and charged forward, pinning Yaxiu to the ground and beating him mercilessly. Sonia and Diya wasted no words, unleashing every miracle they had to hurt Denzel, but she took nearly all of them head-on and knocked the two back with counterstrikes.
After several exchanges back and forth, Yaxiu suddenly noticed that while he was taking a constant beating, he hadn't actually suffered any serious wounds—it was mostly humiliating to be battered like this by Denzel. He suddenly realized something, raised his hands to shield his face from the blows, and bellowed, "You two, exit the Void Realm right now, or it'll be too late!"
"It's already too late."
Denzel grabbed Sonia by the wrist and swung her straight toward Diya. The Witch hastily interrupted her miracle to catch her teammate.
"It's over. I'm done fighting." Denzel issued a unilateral declaration of ceasefire.
*You say we're done, and we're just supposed to stop?!* Although Sonia desperately wanted to throw those words back with pride, considering the chasm in strength, she could only say resentfully, "Could you get off him?"
The Heroic Spirit commander shrugged and actually stepped off Yaxiu obediently.
She looked up at the sky. "It's over."
Sonia realized what was happening. When she looked up, Denzel's scheme became painfully clear.
The sky had turned into a battlefield of gold and gray. The golden rain was retreating step by step, while the murky gray advanced relentlessly. The flowers and grass around the wooden cabin were already withering, and the world between heaven and earth was gradually fading into an interweaving of pure black and white.
"You want to use the Domain of Stillness to kill us." Sonia wasn't asking; she was stating a fact.
"You are clever people," Denzel said. "And it so happens that I am best at dealing with clever people. I only needed to leave a few inconsequential flaws intentionally and put on a regretful face as if you had seen through my schemes, and your wariness went straight to sleep like a gorged lion."
The contract only barred Denzel from killing them; it didn't forbid her from attacking them.
And as long as Denzel continuously attacked and damaged the sorcerers, they couldn't leave the Void Realm.
That was the true loophole in the contract: there were far too many external factors capable of killing a sorcerer in the Void Realm. The Heroic Spirit commander had no need to strike the fatal blow herself. She only had to hinder their departure, and natural disasters or unforeseen calamities would soon run them down.
"My turn is over." Denzel turned to leave. "I hope to see you in the next turn."
Yaxiu narrowed his eyes. "We won't fail to meet my Empress mistress's expectations."
Denzel paid no heed to Yaxiu's teasing. She walked straight past the cabin and led her retinue troops into the dim, gray Domain of Stillness, leaving the three sorcerers behind in the cabin area.
Perhaps because they were finally free from immediate mortal danger, nearly all of them collapsed onto the grass. Through deep breaths, they slowly eased their tension. The silence painted in gray even began to feel warm in this moment, but as black and white climbed onto their bodies, a hollow sense of security filled their hearts.
"It feels like the Witch hasn't changed at all."
Diya looked at Yaxiu in bewilderment. Yaxiu pointed at his own coat. "Well, the Witch's usual palette is mostly black and white anyway. Even standing in the Domain of Stillness, she looks completely natural.
"In contrast, the Sword Princess drained of color looks like she's wearing mortuary makeup..."
Sonia shot him a glare, too exhausted to bicker, and brought up the urgent matter: "What about the contract? We can't escape the Domain of Stillness."
"Don't worry, just die peacefully. I'll find a way to heal our damaged souls," Yaxiu sneered. "She bullied us this badly; I won't let her have her way so easily. By comparison..."
Yaxiu and Sonia turned to look at Diya. The amnesia Q&A from earlier had made it abundantly clear that Diya's background was anything but simple. A god walking the earth, a Gospel Incarnation, an entire family sharing the exact same face... One look was enough to tell that her personal storyline was extraordinarily intricate and dramatic.
A hesitant expression crossed Diya's face. "I..."
"If you haven't sorted it out yet, tell us next time we meet." Yaxiu looked at the fully withered flora around them. "I don't want to hear half of it only to get hit with a cliffhanger when we're forced out of the Void Realm."
"Thank you." Diya nodded gratefully. Her head was a complete mess right now. She had never imagined her secrets would be exposed like this, and the detail about being a "Gospel Incarnation" was news even to her, yet it finally explained many lingering mysteries.
"Well then..."
Yaxiu fell silent.
The other two didn't speak either.
They knew what the others were thinking.
And they knew that the others knew what they were thinking.
So nobody wanted to bring up the topic first.
It was only when the golden light on the horizon collapsed entirely and the three of them were on the verge of turning into a brand-new still-life painting that Diya suddenly spoke up: "If you want, I could occasionally skip a few days in the Void Realm..."
The Witch was instantly pinned to the ground by the Sword Princess.
"Skip even once, and I'll butcher you." The country girl delivered what sounded like a joke in a chillingly flat tone.
Seeing the unvarnished murderous intent in the Sword Princess's eyes, Diya hurriedly nodded like a chick pecking at grain.
...
..
Within the black-and-white Domain of Stillness, Denzel sat atop the Eight-Eyed Weaving Spider, a cluster of starlight floating in the palm of her right hand.
This was the objective of her mission, the spoils she had gone to extraordinary lengths to secure by baiting and slaying Bledo, the legendary commander of the Star Hall: the "Avatar of the Stars."
Denzel looked at the cluster of starlight and clenched her hand closed.
*Crack.*
A distant, dense series of shattering sounds rang out continuously, as though what Denzel crushed wasn't the starlight before her eyes, but countless stars across the cosmos.
"The stars have extinguished; the Star Hall's total combat power has dropped by thirteen percent." Denzel lowered her eyelids. "Now, I only need to reclaim the Secret. Come the next Grand Investiture of the Six Nations, the Star Hall will surely fall."
Chapter 318