Control

Beneath the deep sea...

"You can't go in... Hmm, does this little fellow not understand?"

Near the tightly shut stone door, the pods of orcas still stood guard outside the ritual grounds they had sworn to protect.

And right among those groups of enormous creatures,

a small white dragon with azure eyes let out helpless cries, scraping at the stone door covered in faint ritual patterns with its sharp little claws.

At the moment Xuan Sheng had once stepped into the ritual grounds...

the Young Dragon, which had always dwelled in its master's sleeve, had been directly repelled by an irresistible force!

And by the time the bewildered Young Dragon had fully awakened from its slumber—

the figure and aura it knew best had already vanished completely beneath the stone door's protection~

"Only the deity awaited by my ritual may enter the ritual grounds. No unrelated beings are permitted inside."

Although, according to their agreement, as Spirit Beasts serving as guardian spirits, they should drive away every living being except that one and completely isolate them from the ritual grounds,

this Young Dragon was clearly that deity's follower.

"Wuu..."

Realizing that the hulking creatures surrounding it all seemed to possess clear minds with which they could communicate, the Young Dragon finally stopped stubbornly scratching at the huge stone before it. Instead, it turned its head and let out a soft murmur.

"Time?"

The black-and-white Spirit Beasts in the sea raised their heads one after another, looking toward the black water that continued spreading downward—

"We don't know."

The leading sea beast had a long, narrow scar beside its eye, sweeping past the corner of it.

The savage scar did not add the slightest hint of ferocity to the foolish-looking sea beast. It only made it appear even more weathered.

"But