"This wound of yours doesn't look like it was inflicted by a blow. It seems more like..."
"Haha, that guy is strong. He devoured me."
Earth Soul spoke as he tore off his black robe, then glanced back at me.
"I absolutely won't allow it, Ethan Zhang. No matter what, you can't disappear—not until I've killed you myself."
I stared blankly at Earth Soul. A crazed look flashed in his eyes, and the gaping wound in his body fully closed up.
"Let me help you. If the two of us take him on, we might have a slim chance. Suppress him—he just pulled me out of the power of time, and only now, while he’s manifested, do we have any hope of restraining him."
A harsh clattering echoed. Jiu Chen’s mouth opened and closed, its jagged edges like a saw blade. I’d witnessed Jiu Chen’s power in Yun Mei’s instinctual space, and in Jiu Chen’s own domain, I’d sensed something sealed above—an unfathomable, terrifying force that had deeply shaken me.
"Count me in too."
As I spoke, Earth Soul raised a hand, turned his head, and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.
"You two just stand aside and watch."
Sparks crackled atop the Ender, black lightning coiling around it. But then, I noticed the black lightning was changing—threads of white began to appear, making my heart skip a beat.
"What the hell is this thing?"
Earth Soul smiled. When Jiu Chen was less than fifty meters away from us, he transformed into a streak of black lightning and shot forward, instantly appearing before Jiu Chen.
With a swish, I saw a bolt of black lightning shoot skyward, slicing across Jiu Chen’s shoulder—an entire chunk of it vanished.
Earth Soul roared in fury, grabbing Jiu Chen’s head with one hand.
"I’ll kill you."
With a crack, Earth Soul’s hand clutching Jiu Chen’s head had somehow snapped. Eyes wide, he watched as, with a whoosh, Jiu Chen was suddenly right in front of us.
Behind us, Earth Soul’s body was riddled with bloody holes, the Ender in his hand broken. He slowly fell, his aura vanishing in an instant.
I’d seen this move before—time jump. It was impossible to react, no time at all. When I’d shot him with a bullet, it was the same; it was as if he already knew where my bullet would be.
"Stop struggling pointlessly, Ethan Zhang. The moment you defied the laws of time, you stopped being protected by it. That’s why you’ll disappear."