Austin's words rang in the night as he ended his sentence. Unwavering, the demonic avatar complied with his order and outstretched its arm heavenward and opened its hand. Its palm and fingers spread outward, almost impossibly large, enveloping the sky in its dark shadow. Stars were concealed by the monstrous digits as they reached out in preparation for the demonic avatar's spell.
Black runes manifested in the air around the demon avatar's palm before suddenly jerking toward the members of the Yaksha Palace. As if caught in a maelstrom, the runes buffeted them who desperately tried to remain calm.
Unthinkable as it was, those who witnessed the terror unfolding understood that this was the ninth stage of the World-Sealing Tabooed Magic.
The Tabooed Magic was known to have ten stages overall, each stage more difficult to understand and cast than the last. This demonic avatar, upon manifesting, had learned the ninth stage almost instantaneously.
The demonic avatar had not ascended to the tenth step just yet.
However, with its knowledge and ability to cast up to the ninth stage of the World Sealing Tabooed Magic coupled with the demonic avatar's own terrible power, it was substantial enough to even hinder cultivators on the level of sect ancestors.
Dennis himself, powerful and steadfast as he was, felt the effects of the seal as the runes billowed around.
As the spell progressed, the force of its magic struck all those from the Yaksha Palace. Everyone froze in place, as if instantly turning into statues, and were sealed. Try as they might, their limbs and extremities would not obey their commands. The people were stuck in place, helpless before the demonic avatar's fury.
Its massive hands swept up further, drawing more and more power into the spell, as the winds became unbearably strong. Magical energy crackled in the sky like lightning, concentrating over the sky.
A gigantic bolt of magical energy streaked down from the heavens and struck the members of the Yaksha Palace. Those frozen people looked on in horror as the flash of magical lightning weaved with unbelievable speed. Many
n-layer pagoda which shone golden into the surrounding battlefield.
The cosmic power that emanated from the pagoda was nearly tangible. However, it suddenly flew away, apparently aiming to escape into the chaotic void.
From the view on the ground, one could see an illusory figure seated in the pagoda. Though rising and moving away, it was apparent that this represented Dennis' spiritual soul, attempting to escape.
His physical body had been broken down and defeated, left as an unusable shell. As such, Dennis' soul wanted to avoid a similar fate and moved to make a hasty retreat.
Unfortunately for him, Austin knew that he might try something of this sort and had prepared for this beforehand.
A giant hand with runes embedded into its outer surface came rushing down from the sky and wrapped its digits around the pagoda's exterior, crushing its ornate adornments and stifling its glow. With a violent jerk, the hand shook the pagoda, breaking its structure with reckless abandon.
From the crumbling wreck of the once-beautiful seven-floor pagoda came Dennis' spiritual soul. It fell through the air before landing with a thud, straight onto the monstrous hand's palm.
"Austin, please. Please have mercy on me! Set me free and I will give you anything you want,"
Dennis' soul groveled, cried, and begged for mercy. His once confident and fearless nature now turned into a scared, broken mess.