The vibrations from Pangu's axe tore through dimensions, not only obliterating the fabric of space in Dun Scaith but also awakening something buried deep within the heart of the Shadow Queen. As the Binary Star shield bore the weight of the heavens, Scathach’s body began to emit a sharp blue light, the temperature dropping to the point where air molecules ceased their dance.

  Fitran sensed the shift in Scathach’s grip. Her energy, once a dense darkness, now transformed into an ancient chill—a presence older than the concept of shadows itself.

  Right before Fitran’s eyes, Scathach’s silvery hair began to shift in color. It was as if ink fell into ice-cold water; a deep bluish-purple spread from her roots to the tips, radiating a haunting glow reminiscent of aurora borealis. The fury that had once surged within her was replaced with a profound, frozen calm.

  "Scathach?" Fitran whispered, his biological sensors detecting a change in her soul’s essence.

  The figure opened her eyes, revealing pupils no longer the color of blood but crystalline blue like clear ice. "Scathach sleeps within the storm," her voice, though lighter, held a commanding authority. "I am Skadi, the Ruler of the Eternal Winter Solstice."

  Skadi tidak membuang waktu. Ia menatap ke langit, melihat Kapak Pangu siap melepaskan tebasan yang dapat menghancurkan perisai mereka. Hatinya terasa berat, namun di balik kesedihan itu ada tekad yang menguat.

  "Fitran, listen carefully," Skadi said, her voice rising above the roar of the Celestial Annihilation Array. "We cannot win this battle here. Dun Scaith has turned into a prison, no longer a fortress. The Jade Emperor doesn’t just want to kill you; he seeks to seize Seimei and Douman."

  Skadi turned her gaze to the pulsating soul incubator in the center of the hall. "If we do not bind their souls now through the ritual of absolute unity—the marriage rite between you and the aspect of the queen—then the Jade Emperor will unleash his contingency plan. He will force Inari’s essence as a surrogate mother for Seimei and Douman, brainwashing them, and turning your children into weapons of mass destruction for the Jade Palace." Her words carried the weight of urgency, her voice trembling with the realization of what was at stake.

  Fitran gasped, his eyes widening. "Inari? He intends to sacrifice the goddess of fertility for control?" His disbelief morphed into an intense determination.

  "The Jade Emperor doesn’t care about individuals," Skadi hissed, her voice a mix of anger and fear. "He only cares about order—his version of it. He will strike Takamagahara the moment we leave this place to secure Inari." Her heart raced as she laid out the grim picture, but within it, there was a flicker of hope, a guiding light that pushed her forward.

  Skadi raised her hand, weaving intricate geometric patterns of ice across the floor. "I will open the [Domain of the Eternal Winter Solstice]. Within that realm, time will warp. One hour inside will only feel like a minute to the outside world. We must enter now and complete the soul binding ritual for Seimei and Douman into your Void lineage," she declared, her voice steady with resolve.

  Fitran glanced at Amaterasu, still gripping her hand. The Sun Goddess looked shattered, betrayed by her own pantheon, her light dimmed.

  "Amaterasu!" Skadi called out, urgency sharp in her tone, breaking through the haze of despair that surrounded the goddess. "Return to Takamagahara immediately! No more letting your wounds or pride hold you back. Jade Emperor will send his forces to seize Inari. If you seek to avenge Pangu's betrayal, protect Inari. She is the last key to your pantheon’s honor." Skadi's words hung in the air, heavy with meaning.

  Skadi knew that in her current shattered state, Amaterasu lacked the raw explosive power to breach the Nine-Layered Celestial Destruction Array—the Jade Emperor’s design for absolute quarantine.

  But as Skadi issued her final command, she was already running a silent tactical calculation. With a flick of her finger—so subtle it was practically invisible—she fired a needle of absolute-zero energy at a specific node in the golden energy web above them.

  She didn't try to destroy the barrier. Instead, she flash-froze the flow of celestial energy at that exact coordinate for a mere microsecond. This turned the impenetrable golden light into a fragile, static point—a microscopic "backdoor" carved out by the Winter Queen specifically for her former rival. It was a wordless pact: Skadi had unlocked the door, challenging Amaterasu to find enough fury to kick it off its hinges.

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  Amaterasu turned her gaze toward Skadi, then shifted to Fitran. Hatred simmered within her, yet a fiercer flame of anger burned for Jade Emperor. "You owe me an explanation," she seethed, her voice a low growl. "But if that jade bastard wants war on my turf, then let him come."

  "The Seventh Gate," Skadi whispered, her voice cold and cutting as an ice dagger. "I have frozen the energy flow at that exact coordinate. Go now, Sun Goddess. Use what remains of your spite to incinerate the chains of Inari before your father realizes you’re still breathing."

  Amaterasu, her body fractured and her light fading, stared at Skadi with a hatred that still burned through the cracks. "I do not offer gratitude to monsters, Scathach... or whoever you are now."

  "I don't need your thanks," Skadi replied flatly. "I only need chaos in Takamagahara to keep the Emperor’s eyes away from my womb."

  Amaterasu hissed, "I will ensure Inari is freed—not for your sake, but to spit on every law I once held sacred. The Emperor wants a martyr? I’ll give him a sun fueled by betrayal."

  With a final surge of energy, Amaterasu broke free from the barrier, transforming into a dazzling burst of solar light that sliced through the Array's gap just before the dimensional gate sealed shut. She surged toward Takamagahara at the speed of light, fueled by the remnants of her solar fury.

  "Now, Fitran. Run with me," Skadi urged, gripping Fitran’s hand tightly as she pulled him into the swirling blue vortex she had just conjured beneath Scathach’s throne.

  As they leaped into the maelstrom, the Pangu Axe crashed against the outer shield of Dun Scaith with cataclysmic force, a blow powerful enough to split continents apart. The explosion of energy turned the dragon bone hall to dust, yet Fitran and Skadi had already slipped into the folds of time.

  Inside the Jade Palace, the crystalline surveillance screens suddenly flared into a blinding, sharp white. The collision between Pangu’s Axe and Dun Scaith triggered what celestial mechanics call a White-Out Event. The resulting energy surge hit the saturation threshold of Heaven's sensors, creating a spike in radiation and space-time distortion that moved faster than the Jade Palace’s algorithms could process in real-time.

  Skadi, with the surgical precision only a master of Stillness could possess, ripped open a frost-blue vortex at the exact millisecond of the explosion’s peak. She used the Emperor’s own thermodynamic "noise" as a perfect frequency cloak. To the celestial sensors, the sudden disappearance of Fitran and Skadi didn't register as an escape; instead, the system flagged the massive energy spike as "total annihilation"—matter simply evaporating under the strain.

  The Jade Emperor didn't miss the vortex because of negligence; he missed it because he had effectively blinded himself with his own overwhelming power.

  Erlang Shen clenched his fist, his third eye pulsing with a painful throb as it struggled to pierce the fog of radiation. "Fools! Don't rely on optics alone. Scan for gravitational fluctuations!"

  "Negative, General. The strike from Pangu’s Axe just tore through the fabric of space-time. The signal-to-noise ratio is zero. Technically speaking... they have been erased from these coordinates."

  Erlang Shen stared at the white-washed screens with a deep, gnawing suspicion. "Or they used the Emperor’s rage as a curtain. If even a single bit of that 'Virus' data survived, the very foundation of our history is at stake."

  Inside the [Domain of the Eternal Winter Solstice], the vast landscape stretched as an endless snowy field beneath a serene night sky, twinkling with motionless stars. The atmosphere here was eerily calm, a stark contrast to the devastation unfolding outside.

  Skadi turned to face Fitran, her blue-purple hair dancing in the gentle, icy breeze. She began to shed the outer layer of her ice cloak, revealing skin that shimmered with the legacy of ancient magic.

  “This ritual is not about pleasure, Fitran,” Skadi said, her gaze piercing into Fitran’s Void eyes. “It is a thermodynamic binding. You are the Void—the very emptiness that consumes. I embody Stillness—the essence that halts change. By melding our bodies and souls within this distortion of time, we will forge an anchor for Seimei and Douman, preventing them from being swept away by the heavenly laws.”

  Fitran felt the beating of his heart—both biological and mechanical—synchronize. He understood that the next hour in this sacred space would shape the fate of the entire galaxy.

  “Proceed,” Fitran said firmly. “Bind them to us before the heavens erase their existence.”

  Outside, in the realm of reality, only a few seconds had passed since the explosion of Dun Scaith. The Jade Emperor surveyed the ruins from his throne, believing his foes had been obliterated. Yet, he remained oblivious to the fact that within the frozen rift of time, a new force—a union of the Gaia King and the Winter Queen—was being forged to dismantle his dominion.