NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter 319: The Stars Have Faded
Danzel was about to say something, but suddenly realizing something, she closed her mouth.
“This Contract has a loophole,” Ashe raised the contract in his hand. “What if, right after we sign, you strike us down, causing our Souls to be damaged and preventing us from entering the Virtual Realm for half a month? Wouldn’t that inevitably lead to breach of contract?”
Danzel removed her decorative flat glasses and lowered her eyelids, “I hadn’t even thought of that loophole. You really are overthinking it, Mr. Knight.”
“I’ve just been cheated by contracts quite a bit lately, so I’ve become more cautious,” Ashe said. “If you’re not harboring such thoughts, why not add a clause that binds you as well, to give us some peace of mind? And remember to include your retinue in the contract, since you could just as easily have your followers do your bidding.”
Danzel stared at Ashe for a long while, the cold light shooting from her eyes clearly indicating that Ashe’s suspicions were not unfounded. Sonya and Deya stood guard by Ashe’s side, their stance making it clear they wouldn’t let Danzel succeed easily.
“The Static Domain is approaching,” Ashe glanced at the horizon where gold was gradually being squeezed out by gray. “If you haven’t made a decision yet, then we must take our leave, Your Majesty the Empress.”
With a stern face, Danzel waved her hand, and the Contract was amended with a new clause:
“For one hour after signing, Party A and its commanding units are not permitted to kill Party B.”
“As you wish.”
The Heroic Soul Commander was indeed too shrewd, even knowing to bind them with a contract.
Ashe and his companions exchanged glances, knowing they couldn’t get past this hurdle without signing. They reluctantly used arcane energy to imprint the contract.
Watching the contract paper burn to effectuate, Ashe felt a sense of déjà vu, as if he had experienced something similar not too long ago… and it was the same old coercive blend of threats and enticements, a perilous situation where one is completely at the mercy of others, exactly the same recipe.
But having signed the contract meant they were finally getting past this life-or-death situation. Ashe breathed a sigh of relief and waved at Danzel, “Then we’ll be taking our leave, until next time—”
“Who told you that you could leave?”
In an instant, Danzel reverted to her Assassin Specialist demeanor, transforming into a shadow that darted into Ashe’s embrace, her palm blade striking the Knight and sending him flying!
Miracle Rupture Wave Slash!
Miracle Whip Blade!
Sonya and Deya didn’t hesitate and launched their attacks, but their efforts couldn’t penetrate the dense, invisible armor surrounding Danzel. Unyielding in her assault, Danzel grabbed both of them by their arms and flung them aside!
Miracle Sword Art!
Ashe’s Heart Sword arrived a moment too late. Since his time in the Legendary Library, where he upgraded all his Swordsmanship spirits to Two Wings, the power of his Sword Art Miracles had increased dramatically. Although his burst damage wasn’t as high as Sonya’s, his sustained damage output… was also not as high as Sonya’s.
But underestimate his damage at your peril!
Snap!
Danzel slapped away the Heart Sword with a single blow and rushed over to pin Ashe to the ground, pummeling him mercilessly. Sonya and Deya didn’t waste words; they exhausted their Miracles trying to harm Danzel, but she absorbed the blows and countered fiercely.
After several rounds of back and forth, Ashe suddenly realized that although he was constantly being hit, he wasn’t actually hurt. It was more about losing face under Danzel’s onslaught. Realizing something, he raised his hands to shield his face from the attacks and shouted, “You two need to exit the Virtual Realm now, or it’ll be too late!”
“It’s already too late.”
Danzel grabbed Sonya’s wrist and flung her toward Deya, who hastily interrupted her Miracle to catch her teammate.
“That’s enough, no more fighting.” She unilaterally declared a ceasefire.
You say stop and we just stop!? Although Sonya wanted to retort with defiance, considering the disparity in their combat strength, she could only say with frustration, “Can you get off him?”
The Heroic Soul Commander shrugged nonchalantly and complied, stepping away from Ashe.
She looked up at the sky: “It’s over.”
Sonya sensed something was amiss; when she looked up, she immediately understood Danzel’s intent.
At that moment, the sky had turned into a battlefield of gold and gray, with Golden Rain steadily retreating under the relentless advance of the gray. The flowers and grass around the cabin began to wither, and the world between heaven and earth gradually became a weave of only black and white.
“You’re trying to kill us using the Static Domain,” Sonya stated, not as a question but as a fact.
“You’re smart,” Danzel replied. “And I happen to excel at dealing with smart people. All I need to do is deliberately show a few insignificant loopholes and feign regret after you’ve ‘seen through’ my scheme. Just like that, your caution fades away like a well-fed lion falling into a deep sleep.”
The Contract only restrained Danzel from killing them; it didn’t mean she couldn’t attack them.
And by continuously attacking, Danzel ensured the Sorcerers couldn’t leave the Virtual Realm.
This was the real loophole in the Contract: there were too many external factors in the Virtual Realm that could kill a Sorcerer. The Heroic Soul Commander didn’t need to act directly; merely hindering the Sorcerers from leaving would soon let disasters catch up with them.
“My turn is over,” Danzel announced as she turned to leave. “I hope to see you in the next round.” Ashe squinted his eyes, “We definitely won’t disappoint the Empress’ paramour.”
Danzel ignored Ashe’s jest and left the cabin, moving into the gray expanse of the Static Domain with her troops, leaving the three Sorcerers behind in the cabin area.
It seemed that finally being free from immediate danger, they all lay down on the grass, breathing slowly to ease their tension. The silence, now tinged with gray, felt strangely warm, but the black and white creeping over their bodies filled them with a hollow sense of safety.
“It feels like the Witch hasn’t changed much,” Deya noted, looking at Ashe.
Ashe pointed at his coat, “After all, the Witch’s usual color scheme is black and white, so staying in the Static Domain feels quite natural.”
“Compared to that, the Swordswoman being turned into black and white is more like funeral makeup…”
Sonya gave him a weary glance, too tired to engage further, and brought up a serious matter: “What about the Contract? We can’t escape the Static Domain.”
“Don’t worry, just resign yourselves to death, and I’ll figure out how to heal the damaged Souls,” Ashe retorted with a cold laugh. “She’s been so ruthless to us; I’m not going to let her get her way easily. Compared to that…”
Ashe and Sonya looked at Deya, who had just revealed her complicated background in the recent memory quiz. A deity among men, an Incarnation of the Gospel, a family with faces all alike… It was clear her personal story was filled with intriguing twists.
Deya hesitated, “I…”
“If you haven’t decided yet, tell us next time we meet,” Ashe said, looking around at the withered flowers and trees. “I don’t want to hear only half before we’re forced out of the Virtual Realm.”
“Thank you.” Deya nodded gratefully. Her mind was still in disarray, having never expected her secrets to come out in this way. Moreover, this was the first time she had heard about being the “Incarnation of the Gospel,” but this revelation explained many mysteries.
“So…”
Ashe fell silent.
The other two didn’t speak either.
They knew what the others were thinking.
And they knew that the others knew what they were thinking.
Thus, no one wanted to be the first to bring up a new topic.
Until the golden light in the sky crumbled into chaos, and the three of them were about to become a brand new still life painting, Deya suddenly said, “If you wish, I can skip coming to the Virtual Realm once in a while…”
The Witch was instantly pinned to the ground by the Swordswoman.
“If you dare miss out, I’ll kill you,” the rustic girl said in a calm tone that sounded almost like a joke.
Seeing the undisguised Killing Intent in the Swordswoman’s eyes, Deya quickly nodded like a pecking chicken.
…
In the black and white Static Domain, Danzel sat atop an Octo-eye Spider, a ball of Starlight emerging in the palm of her right hand.
This was her mission target, the trophy she had to obtain by any means necessary, even if it meant luring and killing the legendary commander of the Star Hall, Blaido—the “Incarnation of the Stars.”
Danzel looked at the ball of Starlight and closed her hand over it.
Snap.
A distant and dense cracking sound followed, as if Danzel was not merely crushing the Starlight in her hand, but countless stars themselves.
“The stars are extinguished; Star Hall’s total combat power has decreased by 13%.” Danzel lowered her eyelids, “Next, all we need to do is take back the secret. At the next grand sealing of the six nations, Star Hall is destined to fall.”