Without sufficient support from the world plane, and after forcibly exerting such authority, his existence could no longer be maintained.
His body began to break apart into dust.
Recognizing this, he withdrew his power without hesitation.
The crushing force surrounding the captain dissipated instantly.
Rather than finishing her off, he chose to retreat.
His figure flickered as he prepared to return to the body he had emerged from.
But before he disappeared completely, he turned his gaze toward the captain.
That same apathetic expression remained unchanged.
His lips moved slightly.
Though no sound seemed to travel, the meaning of his words echoed clearly:
"The power of the world... is greater than the beyond..."
With that, his body collapsed into countless motes of light and surged back into the white-haired man.
The moment those words faded,
A small symbol suddenly appeared in the air.
It was golden, radiant, and filled with an indescribably pure intent.
Even as the last traces of the small person vanished, that symbol remained.
At the same time, the golden symbol shot toward the captain.
The instant it moved, an overwhelming sense of calamity descended upon her.
It was not just danger, it was inevitability.
Her instincts screamed.
Without hesitation, the captain forced herself to stand and retreat rapidly. The ground beneath her feet cracked as she pushed her body to its limits, creating distance in a desperate attempt to escape.
Shock and a trace of fear lingered in her eyes.
But beneath those emotions... there was madness.
Pure, unrestrained madness.
In the blink of an eye, the symbol crossed the vast distance between them and appeared directly before her, as if space itself had been erased.
The moment it arrived, her body trembled violently.
An invisible force locked onto her existence.
It felt as though her very life was being siphoned away.
Her skin rapidly lost its color, turning pale and lifeless. Wrinkles began to form as her flesh withered at a visible rate. Her vitality drained away, her aura collapsing inward as if something was devouring her from the inside out.
Right before her eyes, her hands shriveled, her veins darkened, and her once-powerful body began to dry and decay.
All of this happened within just a few breaths.
From the moment the small person appeared to now, barely any time had passed.
Yet the captain had already been pushed to the brink of death.
Her body was battered and soaked in blood. Several of her internal organs had already caved in from the previous attack. Now, with the descent of the symbol, the boundary between life and death loomed over her like an executioner’s blade.
And with every passing moment, that feeling grew stronger.
’If I don’t do something... I’ll turn into a bag of bones in no time!’
A flicker of ferocity flashed through her fading eyes.
Without hesitation, she activated her Soul Demon Art.
Boom!
Ghostly white flames erupted from her body, surging outward in violent waves before coiling back and engulfing her entire figure.
In an instant, she was bathed in eerie white fire.
The flames did not burn her, instead, they fed on something deeper.
Her soul.
With a cold harrumph, she forced her body backward, retreating with everything she had left. But the symbol pursued relentlessly, locking onto her like an inescapable curse.
No matter how fast she moved, it followed. Closing the distance again in an instant.
Gritting her teeth, the captain raised her trembling hand and formed a series of intricate hand seals. Her fingers moved rapidly, leaving faint afterimages in the air.
The moment the final seal was completed, the white flames around her surged violently.
Their intensity multiplied severalfold.
Her body, which had been on the verge of complete withering, began to slow its decay. The draining of her life force weakened slightly...
But it did not stop.