That whisper spanning 380,000 kilometers was like an ice-tempered venomous needle, driving straight into Hyuga Xiao's mind.
"...Purge...begin..."
The instant the words fell, Hyuga Xiao's soul was violently dragged back into his body by an immense pulling force.
His vision swayed violently, and the rough texture of roof tiles returned beneath his feet. He abruptly opened his eyes as the night wind, mixed with a thick stench of blood, rushed into his nostrils. A trace of sweetness rose in his throat.
Cold.
An extreme chill crawled up from the ends of his nerves. This was not a change in temperature, but a tangible mental pressure pouring down through the coordinate channel he had just altered like floodwaters bursting through a dam!
"Lord Xiao!" Kurenai Yuhi stepped sideways in front of Hyuga Xiao, silver light flashing wildly in her Eye of Time. Veins bulged along her fair neck as her hands rapidly formed seals, trying to use a temporal force field to block the invisible pressure.
"Stand down."
Hyuga Xiao raised a hand, pressed it against Kurenai Yuhi's shoulder, and moved her behind him.
His palm was scorching hot.
Golden star tracks began spinning madly within the azure pupils of his Tenseigan. His gaze pierced through the limitations of mortal flesh, and he clearly "saw" a rift in the pitch-black sky above, one visible only to souls.
A gigantic eye formed from pure spiritual power was peering through that rift, looking down at him with icy indifference.
There was no anger in that gaze, no hatred—only the disgust one felt when looking at a worm wriggling beneath one's shoe.
"Vermin... that stole a god's power."
The majestic voice exploded directly inside his mind, making his eardrums hum. Even the surrounding air rippled in distorted waves. The wooden beams of the attic