The instant those words fell, the air throughout the Interlayer Dimension froze.
The four Ancient Celestials' towering golden radiance faltered. For the first time, their sacred pressure—the force that could crush starfields and pass judgment on all things—wavered violently.
They wielded the universe's laws of creation. For billions of years, they had roamed the heavens, judged countless civilizations, and rewritten the fates of countless starfields.
They had always been the ones to strip living beings of their authority and decide who lived or died. Never had anyone dared to seal away the Celestials' authority instead.
"Arrogance!!"
The leading Celestial roared in utter fury. His low, divine bellow cracked the dimensional barriers layer by layer, sending tiny spacetime fragments flying.
"A mere Temporal Arbiter who acquired his power after creation dares claim he can strip us of our authority over the cosmic origin?!"
"We are rooted in the cosmic origin! We have existed alongside heaven and earth since the beginning, born with the Great Dao itself! Your Temporal Force may break formations and disrupt the void, but it can never seal the authority over rules that Celestials possess by birth!"
To the Celestials, their power was the universe's innate supreme authority, the highest order of rules established at creation.
It stood above every later-developed form of temporal power, supernatural ability, and divine strength.
Mortals, alien races, variables—no matter how strong they became, their strength was acquired after creation. They had no right to shake the foundations of the Celestials' innate power.
That belief had sustained the Celestials' absolute confidence as they stood atop the heavens for billions of years. It was also the supreme arrogance etched into their souls.
The next moment, the four Celestials held nothing back.
Their judgment, originally aimed only at Loren, surged to a new level. No