A thirteenth seal on the Holy Lance cracked apart inch by inch.
Golden motes of light drifted away, then condensed in the air into ancient runes that slowly revolved around the lance.
With every rotation of the runes, the lance grew brighter, as though a star were awakening within it.
The moment the thirteenth seal completely shattered, the entire world fell silent.
The wind stopped. The clouds stopped. Even the spread of light seemed to freeze at that instant.
Within a radius of ten kilometers, the heartbeats of every living being were crushed by that boundless pressure into the same rhythm.
Then, the light erupted.
It was no longer ordinary light, but something that existed between substance and energy.
A golden pillar of light shot from the lance into the sky, piercing the clouds and reaching the stratosphere, clearly visible even hundreds of kilometers away.
Countless fine runes flowed across the surface of the pillar. Each time they turned, the pillar grew stronger.
Even more terrifyingly, the space through which the pillar passed began to solidify.
The once-flexible structure of space became as hard as crystal under the Holy Lance's pressure.
Dust in the air froze in midair, while falling leaves hung suspended beside the branches.
Xia Yuan sat atop East Stallion, his white robe snapping loudly in the motionless air.
A golden halo surrounded him, gathering behind him into a pair of enormous wings of light.
His eyes had completely turned golden, and stars seemed to rise and perish in the depths of his pupils.
"W-What is that...?"
The Contract Spirit Masters watching from the outskirts had completely lost the ability to speak.
"I feel like I'm facing a god."
"That's not a feeling. That is a god! Senior Xia Yuan is a god now!"
"That aura makes my