The power of the Stand User held every last Demon God nailed where it stood.
They carried the Power of the gods, so they could still think. They could still watch everything happening in front of them.
And right now, panic was tearing through every one of them.
They were Demon Gods, and yet before one small human they could not so much as twitch a finger.
Ye Xi, by contrast, was completely untouched by it, still free to wander wherever he liked through this crack in time.
In that single moment, a dread beyond words settled over all of them.
It meant that whatever Ye Xi decided to do now, not one of them could resist.
Ye Xi knew that perfectly well. Which was exactly why a very fine idea had come to him.
"No need to struggle, everyone."
"With the power I have now, holding time still for an hour or two wouldn't give me any trouble at all."
"So don't go pinning your hopes on it running out."
The words landed on the gods like a bucket of ice water.
The one thing they had been praying for was that Ye Xi couldn't keep time frozen for long. And now he had shattered that fantasy with a single sentence.
Impossible! Authority over time itself, and he can sustain it this long?
What is he, The Heavenly Principles, or Istaroth?
Stopping time for that long, can it really be done?
He's bluffing us!
Inside that frozen space, every passing second was torture.
Ye Xi drifted over in front of several of the Demon Gods. "Originally I only planned to send you crawling back to wherever you crawled out of."
"But I've changed my mind."
"Making you obey me seems a good deal more valuable than wiping you all out."
Sooner or later he would have to stand against The Heavenly Principles. With these Demon Gods to throw into the fire, his road would be a great deal easier.
The savage glares from those few Demon Gods, however, made it plain that they didn't think much of his words.
Getting creatures like these to submit willingly would be harder than climbing to heaven.
But Ye Xi had a way.
"Next, I'm going to forge a master-servant contract with each of you."
"Once the contract is set, you'll never be able to defy me again."
"Right then. Let's begin."
That was it.
The formidable Taming ability could rein in even a Demon God.
Conveniently, not one of these Demon Gods was human. They were on the hideous side, true, but ugliness was no obstacle to signing a contract.
The frozen state of time had already driven a good number of them into terror.
With their wills broken, sealing the contracts would be simple.
So, under everyone's watching eyes, Ye Xi used the skill.
An arcane magic array lit up in his palm, countless strange sigils revolving within the glow.
The next instant, an identical mark appeared above the head of every one of those Demon Gods.
[Ding!]
[Contract successfully forged!]
The brand burned itself into each of their souls.
Except for one.
Ye Xi came to a stop before a Demon God covered in writhing tentacles. Its eyes radiated pure, undiluted hostility.
It was the only one that felt no fear, the only one whose will still held firm.
A contract would not go down easily with this one.
And Ye Xi never indulged troublemakers.
He summoned the Abyss Nail on the spot and pressed it against the top of the creature's skull.
"Stubborn, aren't you. Look at that face, still not convinced."
"How about I drive this nail into your brain and give it a couple of turns? Want to try it?"
The thing was enormous, its brain many times the size of a Slime's.
If the nail went in and churned a few times, Demon God or not, it would be dead as a stone.
Sure enough, faced with that threat, the Demon God caved at once.
The contract was signed.
Ye Xi released his Stand's grip on time, and every Demon God sagged with relief as the world let them go.
"Look out!" Raiden Ei's brows snapped together. Several of the Demon Gods had lunged at Ye Xi in the same breath, unwilling to accept defeat.
And Ye Xi hadn't so much as raised a guard.
Just as she rushed in front of him, Ye Xi glanced back over his shoulder. "Freeze."
The word fell, and the towering hulks locked rigid where they were.
Their bodies had stiffened entirely beyond their own control.
"If you're going to be a pet, you should act like a pet."
Ye Xi clapped the dust off his hands. "Come on, Lord Shogun. Let's go home."
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