Cubic Distance, beneath the dark starry sky.
Eternal stepped out and looked up. Figures slowly emerged ahead of him: the five Master-level Time Spirits who had survived.
He looked at them.
Eternal smiled. "Congratulations on surviving the first phase. Now, the second phase begins."
"Please, make yourselves at home." With that, he closed his eyes. His presence sank into silence. He was clearly right there, yet even a Master-level being couldn't sense him.
Across from him, the five Master-level Time Spirits moved.
They tore open their flesh, pried apart their bones, then pulled them out and threw them forward.
Beneath the dark, vast starry sky, a hand reached out and caught a bone, then inserted it into its own body.
The same thing happened to all five Master-level Time Spirits. They kept pulling bones from their bodies, letting blood spill freely.
One bone after another flew forward.
Hands reached out ahead—some human, some clawed, and some attached to heads. A flash of light, and dozens of figures appeared.
Eternal's lips curved as he looked into the distance. "It's time to bring humanity the deepest despair. Can you bear it?"
In one corner of Xiang City, the Progenitor sat quietly, gazing into the distance.
Aragami squatted obediently beside him.
"Big Yellow, when do you think this war will end?" the Progenitor asked.
Aragami said nothing. It knew the Progenitor wasn't looking for an answer, and it had none to give.
"Sometimes I think how nice it would be if everything in this world could be measured by a single standard. Think about it. To end this war and defeat our enemies, what price would we have to pay? How many people would have to die? It would be nice if we could put an exact price on it."
"Then none of