The Grand Duke watched coldly from his throne, his aura towering like an abyssal god as he raised his hand, "Dark Commandment—Execute!"
The moment his palm dropped, the execution sigil ignited in full. The entire chamber shook as torrents of destruction poured down upon Jacob, engulfing him in cataclysmic light.
Space fractured. The laws screamed. The audience’s view darkened, and through it all, Jacob did not move.
Furthermore, the Deathless Prince’s body seemed to have changed as his giant stature shrank down and became slenderer, while his robes changed as well.
At first sight, it would appear that it was because of the dark commandment, but when a kaleidoscopic light revolved around his body, things changed.
His figure stood perfectly still amid the roaring obliteration, his dark windbreaker fluttering in the destructive storm. The dark lightning crashed against his jade skeleton body, trying to unravel his soul, but he didn’t even twitch.
Instead, his hollow sockets slowly glimmered as that faint, terrible golden-white fire flared once more, turning brilliant like suns and casting a ghostly illumination through the tempest. Within that brilliance, there was a hint of mockery.
At that moment, the Dark Grand Duke had already realized something was extremely wrong with the ’Deathless Prince’.
Suddenly, Dark Rose’s static yet slightly hurried voice rang in his mind, "Grand Duke! The Deathless Prince’s soul sigil and dark imprint have vanished! The Deathless Prince is dead!"
The Dark Grand Duke was startled as he deeply looked at the platform and couldn’t help but coldly retort, "Does he look dead to you!?"
"No, what I meant to say is our early conjecture was true, and this person has never been the Deathless Prince; it was also an imposter. However, whatever method he had used, it was powerful enough to trick even the Star Network and the Dark Network!
"Furthermore, the faint light that he’s using to endure the dark commandment isn’t normal either, and I can sense at least five law traces despite the suppression of the Absolute Dark Altar!
"It’s like there’s something within those laws that can’t restrain him at all, and allow him to use his power as he pleases...it’s incomprehensible! Please be careful!" Dark Rose issued a stern warning.
For the first time, the Dark Grand Duke was frightened, as he had never heard of an existence capable of controlling so many laws, let alone bypassing the Absolute Dark Altar.
’According to the records of the Dark Kingdom, the Absolute Dark Altar can even suppress a Quasi-Myth if the latter is foolish enough to step into it, not to mention that dark commandments can judge a Quasi-Myth expert...but then why is he still fine!?’
The Dark Grand Duke was utterly confused and apprehensive at that moment because he couldn’t figure out what was going on, and the uneasiness in his heart grew heavier.
At that moment, a chilling voice, calm enough to silence the storm itself, echoed directly within Dark Grand Duke’s mind, "Dark Grand Duke, I’ve decided to make you my specimen!"
An icy chill ran down the Dark Grand Duke’s spine the moment he heard Jacob’s real voice, and his blurry figure trembled because he felt the boundless confidence in that voice.
The next moment, the dark energy around Jacob trembled violently, and the surrounding light flickered. The execution sigil above began to distort—as though something ancient and far greater had stirred within the boundless dark!
The colossal execution sigil above Jacob’s head flickered violently, its black radiance beginning to warp, bend, and twist as though something even more ancient—something that did not belong to this realm—had awakened within Jacob’s frame.
The runic platform that had been roaring moments ago suddenly stilled, and a dreadful silence fell, so absolute that even the faint mechanical hums of the watching constructs ceased.
Thereafter, the temperature dropped; not gradually, but instantly!
In the blink of an eye, the suffocating heat of the dark annihilation turned into bone-piercing frost.
The laws themselves began to slow. The space, usually endless and chaotic, froze into perfect stillness. Every ripple, every vibration, every spark of dark energy turned into crystalline shards midair.
From within the dissolving storm, Jacob’s figure became visible again.
His skeletal frame glimmered faintly beneath the dark windbreaker; his aura, no longer masked, was an eerie fusion of ice and something beyond mortal comprehension!
His hollow sockets burned like twin suns, and as he raised his right hand, a strange, ethereal core of shimmering blue-gray emerged within his palm. It pulsed with cold luminescence. The Yin Ice Magic Core, one of the Components of Creation, has revealed itself!
Each pulse it released sent ripples through reality as Jacob’s calm, resonant voice echoed through the frozen space, "Yin Domain..."
The core spun once, twice—then shattered into motes of radiant frost that sank into Jacob’s form, and at that moment—Yin Ice awakened!
What came next was beyond the comprehension of anyone present.
An invisible wave erupted from Jacob, spreading outward at light speed. The air turned solid. The dark platform cracked apart like thin glass.
The once-boundless coliseum froze—not in layers of ordinary ice, but in absolute stillness, where even time itself had been sealed.
The Legendary King-class puppets guarding the periphery froze mid-flight, their energy signatures extinguished before they even registered danger.
The annihilation sigil shattered with a dull sound, as if crushed by the mere existence of the Yin Ice’s domain.
From his throne, the Dark Grand Duke shot to his feet in disbelief, his aura exploding to resist the sudden shift—only to realize that even his movements had slowed to a crawl.
"What—what is this—!?" His voice came out fractured, delayed, his words freezing as he spoke them.
At that moment, Dark Rose’s urgent voice reverberated within his soul, distorted by static, "Grand Duke! This energy—it’s not law power! It’s beyond the Legendary Rank! Retreat now! That is not—"
But the warning was cut short. The spreading frost reached the throne.
The darkness, the energy, even the surrounding space—ceased to exist.
The Dark Grand Duke’s body froze, his shadow form crystallizing into a sculpture of translucent black ice. His soul flame flickered once in terror—and was snuffed out.
No scream, no final defiance...only silence.
The entire sealed dimension had turned into a still world of mirrored frost.
Darkness and light, heat and cold—all of it balanced perfectly in the Yin’s dominion!
When the last echo of energy faded, only one being still moved.
It was Jacob.
He stood amidst the frozen ruin, untouched, unbothered. The frost radiated around him in a perfect sphere, but it parted where his feet touched, as though acknowledging his supremacy.
He slowly lowered his hand, his gaze sweeping across the crystalline expanse where even the Dark Grand Duke was now no more than an exquisite ice sculpture.
Within the silence, Jacob muttered softly. "The first test of the Yin Ice... satisfactory."
His hollow sockets flickered with that golden-white light again, faint amusement glinting within, "Now then... the Law Essence of Dark should be unguarded!"