The moment the underground monsters appeared, everyone present showed signs of aging—their skin wrinkled, their hair turned gray, and their bodies bent.
Seeing this, Mina hurriedly cast several curse-breaking spells, but they had no effect at all. She could not even slow the aging process.
Wasn't this a spell?!
Mina immediately looked anxiously at Isaiah. "Master..."
Isaiah had already been an old man, and under the acceleration of aging, he became even older. His entire body resembled a skeleton barely able to hold onto its flesh.
Yet even so, he remained standing where he was. There was no panic in his eyes, only calm.
"If I'm not mistaken, these are the Druid Scale Worms rumored to feed on vitality?" Isaiah looked at the monsters circling beneath the night sky and spoke softly. "They're relics from ancient times. I thought they had already gone extinct. I never expected to see them here. This trip was truly worthwhile. But you're no simple person either. To control such vicious creatures... is this the power of Contract Land?"
The Druid Scale Worms said nothing. They merely edged closer to Isaiah, further accelerating his aging, but Isaiah still seemed to feel nothing as he continued speaking to himself.
"I roughly understand what this rule called a contract means now. It is indeed powerful—so powerful that the entire Contract Land must operate with it at its core." Isaiah spoke slowly. "But great power often comes with risks, especially power from Visas... Are you truly willing to pay such a price?"
The instant Isaiah finished speaking, the Druid Scale Worms filling the sky shrieked again.
Invisible sound waves swept in like a storm. Anyone caught in that storm—even a corpse—would instantly rot into bare bones.
In an instant, there were no living people left in the area.
All the Star Relic Warlocks had turned into ancient remains. Isaiah was no exception. Though he still stood in place, his corpse had long since dried beyond recognition.
"Pfft."
Among the corpses, the only living person crawled out.
It was Luo Qi.
Luo Qi did not know whether Diana had deliberately spared him, or whether the dead Guardians had taken the damage for him. But he had no time to think about that now, because the sight before him left him utterly dumbfounded.
"Fuck!" he blurted out.
What the hell? Isaiah had been so invincible just a moment ago, and now he was gone?
Wiped out instantly like that?
Damn it, was Diana really this strong?
If you were this strong, you should've said so sooner. If you had, I wouldn't have cut off my finger.
"Buzz buzz buzz."
The circling Druid Scale Worms heard the noise and all turned toward Luo Qi. Their fly-like compound eyes made his skin crawl.
"Ahem, an accident. It was all an accident." Luo Qi gave an awkward smile. "Nobody wanted something like this to happen."
As he spoke, he secretly reattached his thumb.
The Druid Scale Worms continued staring at him, and he had no idea what they were thinking.
Luo Qi cleared his throat, deciding to defend himself a little more.
But at that moment, he saw a ball of blazing fire suddenly erupt from within the dense swarm of Druid Scale Worms.
The flames were like a burning star, rapidly expanding while carrying a powerful gravitational pull. By the time the Druid Scale Worms reacted, it was already too late. They desperately tried to fly away, but they were held fast.
Under that pure, ultimate light and heat, these powerful ancient creatures were no different from moths flying into a flame. One after another, they ignited and fell like a rain of fire.
"Fuck!"
Unfortunately, Luo Qi stood directly beneath that fiery rain. Cursing, he erected a spell barrier and watched the burning Druid Scale Worms fall onto it, splashing countless ripples like rain striking a lake.
Within an extremely short time, two-thirds of these dangerous ancient creatures had been wiped out.
At that moment, intense energy fluctuations surged once more from the area where the Star Relic Warlocks had already turned into bones.
Luo Qi could feel that the source of this energy was exactly the same as his reattached finger.
Could it be...
He turned his head with difficulty and saw that Isaiah's dazzling right eye was shining brilliantly atop his skeleton.
Time seemed to reverse. Dried bones rapidly grew flesh and blood, while the dead Star Relic Warlocks slowly opened their eyes.
Everything returned to several minutes earlier.
Isaiah stood calmly in place, with the equally unharmed Star Relic Warlocks behind him.
And beneath the night sky, the Druid Scale Worms were nearly wiped out.
This miracle-like sight made Luo Qi gape.
Was this... Eternity?
Could anyone truly defeat him under such a rule?
Damn it, why was his distortion so much weaker than the rules of these two when they were all rules?!
After a brief burst of anger, Luo Qi gritted his teeth and cut off the thumb he had just reattached again.
But no one paid attention to him.
Isaiah continued looking at the surviving Druid Scale Worms and said calmly, "It's useless. You should have seen my rule that night. No one can end eternity. No matter how many times you kill me, I can return to the present. That is the meaning of eternity. Give up. Hand over the corpse pieces to me. This is your last chance."
At last, Diana, who had been silent for a long time, spoke again through the remaining Druid Scale Worms.
"If eternity cannot be ended, then what about you?" Diana's voice was slightly manic. "You just told me that great power comes with risks. Does that not apply to you?"
The countless compound eyes of the Druid Scale Worms stared directly at Isaiah.
"I'm watching. I can see it very clearly." She raised her voice, almost shrieking. "That eye is devouring you too! This is the price of a rule. I can't escape it, and neither can you!"
Luo Qi immediately looked at Isaiah and indeed saw blood slowly seeping from Isaiah's right eye.
Luo Qi had seen this sight on Ke Li before. Back then, he had even mocked Ke Li, saying, "Your eye has started biting people."
And now, Isaiah was also being bitten apart by his own eye.
"I nearly forgot. You still have the gaze you won from Hand Eye." Isaiah spoke softly. "No wonder you can observe me so directly."
"Yes, I'm watching you. I've been watching you all along!" Diana said. "And I know what you're thinking. Even now, you're still holding back, still unwilling to go all out, because your body can't withstand it! You need to reserve enough strength to deal with Hand Eye, and... the final gatekeeper, right?"
What? Isaiah had not even used his full strength?
Luo Qi was even more shocked. Then, without making a sound, he moved the thumb he had just cut off a little farther away, making it clear that he had no intention of reattaching it again.
Isaiah's expression remained calm. "I originally thought your mind had already been affected by these creatures, but it seems it has not reached that point. You are indeed very intelligent. From the beginning, you understood clearly how to deal with me."
Yes, Diana had found Isaiah's greatest weakness.
Or rather, it was the shared weakness of all corpse-piece holders. Even Isaiah was no exception.
Rules might be invincible, but they themselves were not.
The rule of Eternity possessed two abilities. One was a constant passive ability that could copy something from a certain moment and freeze it within the eye. What Isaiah had frozen was the most perfect and dazzling starry sky he had encountered more than a decade ago in the Star Relic school. This allowed him to endlessly draw stellar power from his eye, avoiding the greatest weakness of Star Relic Warlocks and keeping himself at his peak at all times.
The other was an abnormal active ability that could temporarily freeze a certain moment, then return to that moment without regard for reason. It was the ability triggered after Lai Er killed him several days ago, and after Diana killed him just now.
He had died both times, but his right eye returned him to the frozen eternal moment, allowing him to come back from death.
But neither ability came without a price. The latter in particular truly consumed Isaiah's life and soul.
So theoretically, as long as Isaiah could be forced to use Eternity repeatedly, it would not take long before his right eye "ate" him.
But that was only in theory. In practice, almost no one could accomplish it, because Isaiah himself was the strongest beneath the Gods. Who could truly force him into that position again and again?
But Diana could now, because at this moment, she was equivalent to the entire Abyss Prison.
"Do you know how many types of sealed objects like these are underground?" Diana's voice sounded again from the Druid Scale Worms. "The Druid Scale Worms are merely the most ordinary kind. Far below, there are even the remains of the Gods. They are all bound by my contract. Isaiah, I know you are very powerful—powerful enough that I must trade an entire species for one of your lives. But I can afford that trade. Can you?"
As though to confirm Diana's words, the ground beneath the Abyss Prison began shaking again. Something even more terrifying seemed to be crawling upward.
"One species for one life?" Isaiah sighed softly. "That truly is the highest honor. Since you think so highly of me, I can no longer underestimate you. May I know your name, Ring Finger?"
"Why do you want to know my name?"
"I should remember everyone worthy of my full strength." Isaiah smiled. "Since obtaining this eye, you are the first. I imagine Hand Eye will be the second."
"Heh, you still want to kill me?" Diana said coldly. "You may be eternal, but I am immortal too. As long as the contract remains, my servants can die in my place. Even you can do nothing about that."
Though she said so, intense unease rose in Diana's heart. She had no choice but to use the power of the contract further, bringing even more things up from the depths underground.
Even if doing so would cause greater backlash, she could no longer concern herself with that.
"Unwilling to tell me your name? Then I'll call you Ring Finger." Isaiah raised his scepter and spoke softly. "I will remember you forever, Ring Finger."
Seeing Isaiah's stance, Mina guessed what he intended to do, and her face instantly turned pale. "Master, you're going to..."
"There is no other way. I don't have that much time to waste here." Isaiah said calmly. "I will do my best to bring you back, but... it certainly will not be everyone."
Hearing Isaiah say this, the remaining Star Relic Warlocks also understood what he intended to do. Yet none of them stopped him, because from the moment they had resolved to cross the Divine Stele, they had already prepared themselves.
They placed hands over their chests and spoke to Isaiah.
"Please move forward without hesitation."
"May you reach the Star Sea."
Isaiah gave a slight nod. "We shall witness it together."
Luo Qi and Diana had entirely different reactions to this scene.
Luo Qi still did not know what Isaiah intended to do, but Diana, who had witnessed Isaiah's battle with Lai Er from beginning to end, understood.
It was the spell he had used to kill Lai Er. With that spell, he had turned the entire Black Merchant headquarters into nothingness.
Could it be?!
Having guessed Isaiah's intention, Diana frantically mobilized the remaining Druid Scale Worms to rush toward Isaiah. The underground tremors intensified at the same time, clearly indicating that the creatures below had sped up their movements.
Luo Qi still did not know what was happening, but a Druid Scale Worm flew beside him and roared at him in a shrill voice.
"Why aren't you stopping him?! He's going to use the spell that killed that Black Merchant to destroy the entire Abyss Prison! Then he'll restart himself with Eternity!"
Luo Qi jolted at those words, and overwhelming fear immediately surged through him.
He had not seen Isaiah's battle with that Black Merchant, but he had seen the aftermath.
It had been nothingness, not ruins.
There were no wreckage, no life, only emptiness—like a barren space that had appeared from some accident in the world, or the eternal silence after the universe had been destroyed.
And now Isaiah was going to use that spell?!
"Fuck!" Having retreated again and again and only wanted to survive, Luo Qi realized he was still going to die. Intense fury replaced his fear. With a sharp motion, he reattached his thumb. "I'll fight you to the death!"
Then he charged toward Isaiah.
Isaiah closed his eyes and did not react.
The spell he intended to use was called Darkness. Just as its name implied, it returned everything to endless darkness.
This was Isaiah's strongest spell.
Last time, he had cast it instantly, turning the entire Black Merchant headquarters into nothingness.
But this time, he intended to destroy the Abyss Prison, an area hundreds or thousands of times larger than the Black Merchant headquarters.
So even he needed time to prepare.
Diana and Luo Qi seized this opportunity to launch a frenzied attack against him. But his students stood in front of him one after another. No matter how the Druid Scale Worms shrieked or how Luo Qi slashed, they did not retreat a single step.
"Are you fucking insane?!" Luo Qi roared. "That old lunatic is going to kill you with him! Do you really need to go this far for him?!"
The Star Relic Warlocks said nothing, because they could no longer speak. Under the shrieks of the Druid Scale Worms, within a few breaths, they had aged to the point of nearly being buried. The only thing they could do was use their bodies to block Luo Qi, only to be cut in two by him.
In the blink of an eye, blood flowed like a river.
"Get the fuck out of my way!"
The tremors continued intensifying. More monsters tore through the ground and surged out of the abyss, rushing toward Isaiah like a tide.
Yet Isaiah remained unmoved, while the Constellation Scepter in his hand grew increasingly bright.
Finally, after cutting Mina down with a single blow, Luo Qi reached Isaiah.
Luo Qi could sense that Isaiah lacked only the final bit of energy. In other words, at this moment, he had no way to use a spell to resist him.
"This ends here!" Luo Qi roared. "Great Rhine!"
The enormous Rhine Holy Sword cleaved down toward Isaiah's head. In less than a second, it would split Isaiah's body in two.
Luo Qi could already see the dawn of victory.
Then, at that very moment, he heard a crisp snap.
A finger snap.
The holy sword in Luo Qi's hand vanished instantly.
He froze.
And then Isaiah finally opened his eyes.
The dawn of victory Luo Qi had hoped for was gone, but soon, he saw true light.
Isaiah became the sun.