From Zis's fingertips, a twilight-black beam erupted. It was not mere energy, but a jagged tear in the fabric of reality, branching through the air like demonic roots reaching out to pierce the chests of the three. In a terror that froze their hearts, the trio shrieked in unison, a cry that shook the pillars of the void: "Momentum Stop!"
In that instant, the inconceivable happened; the beam did not slow down—it ceased entirely. It froze like a streak of black ink upon a pane of glass. While his enemies believed they had seized control, the silence of the place was shattered by Zis's calm, chilling voice: "Fair enough... but my reaction speed is faster."
Suddenly, absolute silence descended. Time ground to a halt, and with it, thought itself vanished. The pulse of existence withered within that forbidden zone where the three stood. Yet, amidst this eternal stillness, the black beam began to move with an impossible slowness. A mysterious blue substance, resembling astral ice, began to peel off the surface of the black beam, exploding and scattering in every direction like shards of shattered mirrors.
Upon the surfaces of those flying shards, one could catch a terrifying reflection: a beam the color of the surrounding pitch-black darkness, distinguishable only by the keenest eye of doom. In a fraction of a second, before time could snap back to its course, the beam struck their heads directly. Zis whispered a single word: "One."
The duration expired, and time rushed back with violent force. Zis stood stunned for a moment, his eyes gleaming with a question: "How did your minds not freeze? No matter."
One of them, known as Axis, stepped forward, clapping with provocative coldness. The wounds on their bodies were freezing in a strange manner, the bleeding halted as if sealed by sheer force of will. Zis let out a short, ominous laugh: "Oh... well then, it seems I need to reveal my knife to finish off these stubborn sheep."
The three attempted to scream: "FREEZE—!" but their words were severed before they could escape. Zis spoke with absolute authority: "Movement Stasis!"
Their bodies turned to stone-like statues. Zis raised his finger slowly, and at that moment, every atom of light in the vicinity was sucked toward him by a massive magnetic force. The world plunged into a profound darkness that, for a fleeting second, revealed Zis's horrifying eyes. Then the light faded completely, and Zis whispered in the gloom: "A sacrifice shouldn't see the knife... so it doesn't feel fear. Hahaha!"
A sphere of light launched—literally at the speed of light—and before it even left his palm, he had uttered his final judgment: "The Law of Skinning!"
In mid-path, gravity vanished, and logic fell dead. With a velocity beyond sight, three heads rolled upon the hard ground. The cut was so clean that the blood found no way to flow.
Suddenly, the darkness dissipated, and the scene shifted from that desolate void back to the ice-filled lands of Java. Zis stood looking at the lifeless corpses with a mocking pity: "You truly made your ends tragic... I pity you."
Naz caught his breath with difficulty, looking at his companion: "Well done... and now it seems we've survived by a miracle."
"We haven't survived yet," Zis countered, his gaze fixed sharply toward the mountain peak.
There, on the heights, two hands were raised to the sky, a dark cloak fluttering from them in the wind above the mountain—a new omen of doom looming over Java