Commandment: Death

Agnos's eye sockets, burning with eerie blue soulfire, indifferently swept over the two insignificant humans before her—a young whippersnapper nervously shielding a little blonde girl behind him, much like a mother hen protecting her chicks.

Foolish sacrifices, pointless protection. For thousands of years, these idiots' emotional patterns have remained utterly unchanged, sickening.

Her attention, or rather, the attention of her fractured soul bound within this cold stone shell, was more drawn to a line of inscription at the statue's base, eroded by time yet still clear—"…Eternal Guardian of Orlando… Agnos…"

"Heh…" A dry, strange sound, like stones grinding against each other, escaped the statue's cracked stone lips.

If she had flesh and blood, Agnos would have burst into laughter right then. "The great… Guardian?" she repeated the words, her voice laced with endless mockery and buried sorrow. "Hahaha… So, this is how… posterity evaluates me?"

On the stone face, the hard lines seemed to genuinely pull upwards, sketching a stiff and terrifying smile.

Within that smile lay contempt for the world's ignorance, self-mockery at fate's cruel games, and a silent accusation against that sealed history.

She once again cast her cold gaze, burning with eerie blue soulfire, towards Baroque and Freya. Her gaze was like a blade piercing through time, carrying the condescension and disdain of an ancient being.

"Thousands of years, and you… are still just as foolish," Agnos's hoarse voice echoed through the graveyard, each word carrying a bone-chilling cold.

She slowly raised an ancient stone arm, her fingertips pointing from afar at the blonde girl fiercely protected by Baroque.

The girl trembled slightly, yet she held back her scream.

"A good vessel… at least, much better than this cold stone," Agnos murmured, more to herself. "My new body can't be this cumbersome anymore, unable to even escape…"

As her words fell, an invisible magic wave suddenly spread out, targeting Freya.

The air seemed to freeze for a moment.

[Human Stasis Spell]

Freya felt a chill surge from the soles of her feet to the crown of her head. Her body instantly stiffened, bound by invisible chains, unable to move even a finger.

Her sapphire-blue eyes were filled with terror, but she couldn't make a sound.

"You won't succeed! You damned stone monster!" Baroque's eyes were bloodshot as he let out a beast-like roar.

He knew that this awakened ancient being before them was far beyond their ability to fight.

As a former Silver Rank Adventurer and a high-ranking Inquisitor of the kingdom, he had encountered many powerful beings. The aura emanating from this statue far surpassed any enemy he had ever faced.

Without a moment's hesitation, the loyal guardian took a heavy step forward, his sturdy boots shattering the flagstones beneath him.

The divine energy within him erupted, and a visible golden halo appeared and swirled around him!

"In my name, I declare your sin! [Judgment: Break Enemy]!" Baroque's voice boomed like a bell.

Sacred energy surged into the battle axe in his hand, its blade flashing with blinding light, the bonus damage against evil creatures already applied.

He moved like an arrow loosed from a bow, with unwavering resolve, charging fiercely towards Agnos's stone form!

The battle axe tore through the air, emitting a dull roar, its target aimed directly at the statue's chest—he would smash this evil creature that desecrated the peace of the dead!

However, just as Baroque's battle axe was about to touch Agnos's cold stone body—a rift, distorted with spatial energy, opened before Agnos without warning, forming an irregular [Dimensional Gate].

The edge of the battle axe, carrying all of Baroque's strength, slashed fiercely into the dimensional gate. But it was like a clay ox entering the sea, without causing any ripples; all its power was swallowed by the distorted space.

"[Trigger Spell]?!" Baroque's face changed drastically.

He recognized this technique! This was by no means instant casting, but some kind of pre-set magic trap—a [Trigger Spell] that automatically activated upon detecting a specific attack or intent!

This old monster had laid such a treacherous backup plan even while slumbering!

"Too slow, insect." Agnos's mocking voice, like a death knell, suddenly sounded behind Baroque.

Baroque felt a chill surge from his spine to the top of his head. He desperately tried to turn, but the heavy stone arm had already landed on his shoulder, cold and unyielding, immovable like a mountain.

Agnos's figure, at some unknown time, had passed through the dimensional gate and silently appeared behind him.

In her hollow eye sockets, the eerie blue soulfire flickered playfully. Another stone hand slowly raised, its index finger pointing at Baroque's back.

A power distinct from arcane energy, yet also originating from the rules of reality, majestic like a divine decree, condensed at her fingertip.

This was not arcane magic that mortals could wield through study and understanding of the magic net. It was more like a manifestation of "authority" directly from a higher will, a part of the world's true composition that mortals could only obey, not resist.

"Commandment: Death!"

That irresistible "Divine Art" instantly pierced Baroque's armor and flesh, directly corroding his life core.

It wasn't a direct sentence of death, but a deeper, more thorough deprivation—depriving him of his will to fight, depriving him of his power to resist, causing him to fall into a state of decay where his life force rapidly drained away!

This was the terrifying nature of "Commandment" type spells—they often bypassed normal magic resistance and physical defenses, acting directly on the target's will and life essence.

Baroque felt an irresistible weakness instantly sweep over his entire body. The sacred halo of judgment on him flickered violently like a candle in the wind, its light rapidly dimming.

His muscles shriveled as if drained of water, the battle axe in his hand clattered to the ground, and even the strength to stand was rapidly fading.

"No… impossible…" He struggled to turn his head to look at Freya, bound by the Human Stasis Spell, his eyes filled with unwillingness and despair.

His knees buckled, and his burly body heavily knelt, collapsing wordlessly onto the ground.

"Heh," Agnos retracted her stone finger, looking at the Inquisitor on the ground, who had lost the ability to resist. Her hoarse voice held a trace of reminiscence, and a hint of twisted pleasure. "This is a little trick 'Master' bestowed upon me."