"So it seems your 'partner' doesn't trust you very much," Wei Qing said with a straight face. "So—does that recruitment offer still stand? Want to consider me instead? I take 'companions' very seriously. Extremely responsible."
Phantylia's laugh stayed sweet—but a thin edge of killing intent slid in.
"Lord Wei Qing, you really do have a sharp tongue. But at this point, facing two Emanators… do you really think wordplay still helps?"
"I still remember what happened on the Luofu," she continued, voice silky and cruel. "Destruction's banquet isn't a table just anyone gets to sit at. To me, you look more like… an uninvited pest who insists on flipping our dinner table."
She clearly wasn't taking his "I'll join you" talk seriously. On that gorgeous face was the expression of a cat toying with prey—mocking, delighted, and ready to tear.
Since Phantylia had already set the tone, Zephyro didn't bother to keep up any "recruitment" act. She was the taciturn type—measuring truth by action.
Her half-clenched hands tightened sharply.
Bzzzzz—!
Invisible shockwaves—like billions of taut strings plucked at once—screamed in a piercing, high-frequency slash. The attack shredded the aftertaste of Phantylia's words and went straight for Wei Qing.
Wei Qing didn't hard-block it.
He flickered—Hunt power pivoting with surgical precision—deflecting the trajectory of the unseen wave.
"No hello, just swinging?" he mocked, steadying himself. "Destruction's hospitality is even cruder than I expected."
Phantylia's light laugh drifted through the trembling void.
"For troublesome guests, we don't bother with manners. Besides, Zephyro is simply impatient—she wants to confirm how much you actually weigh, if you dare provoke two Great Lords at once."
As she spoke, that eerie yellow glow flared again—like thick poison ink bleeding into clear water.
A dulling, mind-sinking force spread without sound, reaching for Wei Qing's consciousness.
He immediately felt faint drag at the edge of his thoughts—like tiny feelers prying at the seams of his mental defenses.
But it was obvious: that style of attack wasn't doing much. Phantylia's "despairing" influence washed over him like a breeze.
Zephyro, meanwhile, stayed clinical. Her offense was always direct and efficient—miss once, chain into the kill.
Zheng! Zheng! Zheng!
Wave after wave of high-frequency vibration—too fast to see, strong enough to cleave stars—carved toward Wei Qing like invisible blades, nearly sealing off every evasion angle.
[The World!]
Everything froze. Color drained. Silence became absolute.
Wei Qing stopped time again.
In that domain of total stillness, he exhaled slowly.
Now he finally understood how, in a previous life, some vampire could pause time for only five seconds and still dream of ruling the world.
Time out—space becomes king.
He'd heard that line before.
Time was the universe's most ruthless law—and also the highest kind of authority.
The World was the theft of that authority, briefly seized.
And honestly?
It was exhilarating.
Wei Qing moved.
In the stopped world, he alone could act.
First, Hunt power condensed—dozens of azure light-arrows forming around Zephyro, each aligned with a critical node of her power circulation and all potential escape routes… even though she couldn't dodge inside stopped time.
Then Destruction rose in his palm—dark red energy compressed into a dense core that spit out terrifying pressure.
He gently pushed that Destruction "seed" toward the center of Phantylia's yellow glow.
After setting everything, Wei Qing stepped back, studying two frozen, breathtaking faces like an old artist inspecting a nearly finished painting.
Then—
Time resumed.
Bzzzz—!!!
Zephyro's predicted shockwaves lost their target first—because the path they'd calculated was now empty.
In their place: Hunt arrows that appeared at near point-blank range.
Azure detonations swallowed Zephyro's position, shredding the invisible "string-tone" defense around her.
"Ugh!" Zephyro's icy expression finally rippled—her first clear reaction.
On the other side, Phantylia wasn't doing well either—her graceful form twisted violently within the glare of the Destruction core.
One exchange—both Emanators took damage.
"…How is it?" Phantylia asked, voice tightening, looking to her "teammate."
"…Unbelievable," Zephyro answered.
"My string-tone already enclosed the entire star-region. And yet it captured nothing—no trace at all. As if the attacks skipped every intermediate step and manifested directly as the result of a hit."
"As absurd as it sounds," she continued, "if nothing is off… his method is indeed time-stoppage—perhaps not even region-limited."
Clearly, Phantylia had already shared everything she knew with Zephyro ahead of time, and Zephyro had prepared accordingly.
Now, both Great Lords shed their earlier contempt.
Before, they'd thought Wei Qing merely used some unknown artifact or special trick to heavily injure Shuhu—maybe with a dash of luck.
But what stood in front of them now was something else:
A monster wielding a rule-breaking ability.
Still—Zephyro wasn't about to retreat. Two Great Lords had come together; she didn't intend to leave empty-handed.
"We don't yet know the cost or limit," she said, faster now, "but it cannot be unsolvable."
"Your ability… truly deserves my 'Destruction.'"
To toy with one of the universe's foundational laws was itself a supreme act of destruction against order.
Phantylia thought the same—time-stoppage was the kind of authority that invited envy.
If she could capture him alive… could she take it for herself?
She very much wanted to find out.
"Hey, hey—hold it," Wei Qing said suddenly, waving a hand.
Then he dropped the bombshell:
"Not gonna lie—actually, I'm an Annihilation Gang Great Lord too. We're basically coworkers."
Phantylia and Zephyro both froze—this time not because of time-stop.
They stared.
He said what?
This Hunt Emanator—Luofu's next designated general—just claimed he was a Destruction Great Lord?
And for the first time since they arrived, the two of them didn't immediately know which expression to wear.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 90)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 95)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 80)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter70)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter70)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter50)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter60)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 30
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 30
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