Ever since those words fell, the entire Holy Land seemed to have sunk into silence.
Inside the Room of Authority, the Five Elders stopped moving at the same time.
Nusjuro's hand froze in midair around his sword, and the anger on Saint Saturn's face stiffened for a moment.
Yet Rock looked as though he had expected this outcome all along, his expression unchanged.
Purple-black thunder churned beyond the windows, but no longer struck.
Seeing Rock's utterly unconcerned demeanor, Saint Saturn felt an inexplicable unease rise within him.
A moment later.
The Five Elders turned around.
Rock followed behind them, passing through one white corridor after another in the depths of the Holy Land.
The thunder outside gradually faded away, while footsteps echoed through the empty palace.
At last, they stopped before a towering door.
The Flower Room.
The doors slowly opened. The pure-white space was eerily silent, a sea of white flowers filling their vision.
At the center of the flowers stood a massive figure in silence.
It wore a cloak, its back emblazoned with a bizarre "Contract" emblem.
Long, pale hair draped behind its shoulders. A pair of curved horns rose from its head, while its forearms were covered in tattoos resembling circuit patterns.
Fine white spots covered its limbs and torso, and it wore loose, wide-legged trousers below.
Even more bizarrely, a massive black ring covered in eyes floated behind it, every eye on the ring identical to its own.
Three horned skulls adorned its legs, each bearing clear stitches across its forehead, exuding an ancient pressure that instinctively made one want to kneel.
After entering the Flower Room, the Five Elders did not hesitate. They all knelt with their heads lowered, even suppressing their breaths to the faintest degree.
At this moment, they were no longer the