socalfunplaces Chapter 1387 The Mouthpiece of "Time"
Chapter 1387 The Mouthpiece of "Time"
At this moment, Istaru had long lost the composure and authority she once possessed as the ruler.
She slumped on the cold sand, her once dazzling silver hair, as bright as a starry river, now disheveled and covered in dust and sand, losing its former luster.
Her body was still trembling slightly, and the lingering fear in her eyes clearly left an indelible mark on her from the experience of being chased by locusts in the fog.
Those swarms of locusts, so dense and devouring, were truly terrifying; they were an extreme fear that even she, the ruler of the time, could not express.
As Shao Yun approached step by step, Ishtar slowly raised her head, her face showing resentment and regret.
She stared intently at the man before her, who resembled a human-shaped natural disaster, her words containing both rebuke of Shao Yun and self-mockery.
"I should have foreseen this, I should have foreseen that you would bring destruction to Teyvat, I should have had Barbatos eliminate you... Damn it, utterly despicable!"
As the ruler of time, she should have been able to foresee the future, but she failed to see through Shao Yun... ultimately ending up imprisoned like this.
Shao Yun stood before her, looking down at her, and slowly asked in return:
"But you didn't foresee this, did you? Aren't you the ruler of time? Aren't you able to control time? How come you couldn't see through it beforehand?"
"Could it really be as Yuanshang said back then..."
These words struck Istaru's sore spot like a thorn.
She slowly lowered her head and confessed in a heavy tone, "After the war that destroyed Kanria five hundred years ago, before Tianli fell into slumber, he specially placed a restriction on me."
As she spoke, Ishtar swung her legs...
She paused, her eyes filled with resentment, and added:
"Otherwise, with my abilities, the moment you appeared in Teyvat, I would know everything, and I would make arrangements in advance, trying every means to completely eliminate you with the power of time, and I would never give you the opportunity to harm Teyvat!"
As soon as she finished speaking, Ishtar's gaze inadvertently swept over Shao Yun's waist, her pupils contracted slightly, and a look of confusion appeared on her face.
She remembered that Shao Yun was wearing a fire-attribute God's Eye on his waist, which was an important basis for them to judge Shao Yun's "identity".
But at this moment, Shao Yun's waist was empty; the Eye of God had disappeared without a trace.
Ishtar asked, puzzled, "Speaking of which, where is your Eye of God? Where did that fire-attribute Eye of God go?"
“If it weren’t for the fact that you possess that Eye of God, Barbatos wouldn’t have misjudged you and wouldn’t have mistaken you for just an ordinary strongman chosen by the fate of Teyvat.”
"It's just that you appear different because you come from another world..."
It is worth mentioning that when Shao Yun obtained that special "Eye of God", not only Barbatos, but even the high and mighty Sky Island were kept in the dark. They all believed that Shao Yun had been captured by the fate of Teyvat and accepted by the rules of nature, and that he was an existence that could be controlled and guided.
But who could have imagined? That seemingly ordinary Eye of God may never have been a gift from the heavens, nor a choice of Teyvat's destiny.
It may be the devil's gaze, an illusion used to deceive everyone.
Ultimately, perhaps everyone was deceived, completely fooled by that fake Eye of God and the image Shao Yun deliberately created.
Shao Yun glanced down at his empty waist, but didn't care.
Clearly, he didn't care about that special "eye of God." Whether it was the devil's gaze or the disguise of divine justice, it was meaningless to him.
Now that Ishtar is in such a state, he still has the mind to talk about these trivial matters, his words are full of mockery towards Ishtar.
"It doesn't matter whether that Eye of God is lost or destroyed."
He took a step closer and said coldly, "But unfortunately, that living corpse (Tianli) is better at preventing internal threats than external ones."
Istaru looked at Shao Yun's mocking expression and was filled with indignation.
"Don't be too smug! Although I am restricted by the laws of nature and cannot use my full power, don't forget... spacetime, spacetime, time and space are inherently symbiotic!"
"As long as the Void Reign remains in Teyvat, and as long as there is space to rely on, I can exercise my power of time within a certain range!"
Her voice carried a hint of screaming, a mixture of resentment and longing for the past.
"As long as Asmodelle is still alive, with her and me combined, time alone can destroy your physical body, exhaust your power, and wear you down to death over endless time!!!"
Upon hearing the name "Asmodeus," Shao Yun pondered... perhaps he had once crossed paths with this Asmodeus.
"Asmodeus...where is she now? Since you two can defeat me together, why doesn't she come out to help you?"
Upon hearing this, Ishtar's stubbornness vanished instantly, and she calmly uttered three words.
"Disappeared."
Upon hearing this, a blurry figure flashed through Shao Yun's mind.
Back when I was in Sumeru, I was teleported to the sky. The mysterious woman who told me that Ying was a "poison filter" must be Asmodeus, the one Ishtar mentioned.
However, that person was shot in the back by him, and his figure instantly became transparent, as if he had disappeared into the air. Before leaving, he left behind a sentence.
We will meet again.
"Well, it seems she's not fully recovered yet and couldn't come to help you."
Upon hearing this, Istaru froze, gasped, and demanded, "What?! What do you mean? You've met Asmodeus?!"
She simply couldn't believe that Shao Yun would know Asmodie, who had been missing for so long.
But Shao Yun didn't give Ishtar any time to react or ask questions. The moment he finished speaking, he suddenly reached out, grabbed Ishtar's slender neck tightly, and lifted her up.
Immediately afterwards, he drew the dagger from his waist and, taking advantage of the moment when Ishtar opened her mouth, stabbed it into her mouth, the blade cutting through her oral cavity and piercing the back of her tongue.
In an instant, not a drop of blood flowed from Ishtar's mouth.
As the ruler of time, her body is made of time energy and therefore does not bleed.
Instead, strands of silvery sand flowed slowly from the corners of her mouth, scattering in the air and shimmering with a faint luster. That was her time energy, a sign that her body was damaged.
There was no pity in Shao Yun's eyes. He tightened his wrist, twisted the dagger in her mouth, and then pulled it out sharply.
With a tearing sound, Ishtar's tongue was brutally severed by him with a dagger. No blood dripped, only more silver sand gushed out.
Her ability to speak was completely taken away.
If it were an ordinary person, they would already be a bloody mess, a truly gruesome sight.
But Ishtar, as the ruler of time, cannot shed blood and can only let the silver sands of time overflow.
Having lost her tongue and the ability to speak, Ishtar could no longer vent her anger and resentment, and could only let out a series of inhuman and shrill screams.
"Ah! Ah!!!"
Shao Yun looked at the severed tongue still covered in silver sand in his hand, his face expressionless. He casually tossed it to the Apocalypse Horse "Plague" that had been quietly following behind him.
To him, the severed tongue, like the eyeball before it, was nothing but trash, not even as good as the fox tail, which could at least be used as a scarf or something.
Throwing it to the "plague" is a way of making the best use of it, like using it as a garbage can.
He looked down at Ishtar, who was sprawled on the ground, screaming in agony, silvery sand spilling from her mouth, and mocked:
"Save your energy. In a little while, you'll be burned to death along with the others."
He paused, a wicked smile spreading across his face, and added, "I hope you can save up enough energy to make an even louder scream before the flames burn your vocal cords."
After finishing off the "appetizers"—Zhongli, Yae no Kamiko, Nasita, Rhinedot, and Istaru—Shao Yun turned around and focused his gaze directly on the last prisoner on the beach.
Alice was the one who started it all.
At this moment, Alice had long lost her carefree and flamboyant arrogance. Her golden hair fell across her face, obscuring the expression in her eyes, and she exuded a deathly stillness.
She sat there slumped on the cold sand, motionless, the same thought swirling in her mind.
How can we break this deadlock? Where exactly did we go wrong?
From uniting with others to besiege Shao Yun, to now being ambushed by locusts in the fog and being captured one after another, they have gradually reached this desperate situation.
Am I not strong enough? Are my punches not fast enough? Or not ruthless enough?
Just then, Shao Yun walked up to Alice, stopped, and stared at her.
He stared silently for a second, two seconds... until more than ten seconds passed before he slowly spoke, saying in a sarcastic tone:
"Miss Alice, it's been a long time. Do you remember what I said to you when Ying and I had our wedding?"
That familiar voice pulled Alice back to reality from her reverie.
She slowly raised her head, brushed aside the messy hair on her face, revealing a haggard yet still stubborn face.
Alice did not beg for mercy. Even though she was in dire straits and had witnessed the tragic state of her companions, she would never wag her tail and beg for mercy, and she would never bow down to this demon who had destroyed everything.
Alice stared intently at Shao Yun, gritting her teeth as she cursed, "Devil! You utter devil! You are the embodiment of dark fate, a calamity sent to destroy everything!"
Looking at her unyielding spirit even as she faced death, Shao Yun felt genuine admiration.
Looking across the entirety of Teyvat, the only one who, even in such dire circumstances, would still stand tall and fearless, and dare to curse him to his face, is probably Iris.
Zhongli stood tall and straight even before he died.
Unfortunately, while I admire you, having guts doesn't guarantee you'll survive, much less that he'll show you mercy.
Then, Shao Yun slowly squatted down to look Alice in the eye.
He carefully examined Alice's face. No wonder she was Claire's mother; he could always see the shadow of that lively, adorable little girl who loved frying fish in her eyes and brows.
That lively spirit was still faintly visible even in Alice's current haggard appearance.
The fleeting tenderness in his heart was quickly suppressed.
However, before killing Alice with his own hands, he still intended to say a few more words to her.
“I am just a father and a husband. It is my responsibility to create a safe environment for my daughter, my wife, and my family!”
"Don't worry, I won't hurt Keli. I'll take good care of your daughter after you die, and wait for Keli's father to take her away. You don't need to worry too much..."
"Of course, if he doesn't come, I'll keep raising your child. If Abedo raises the child, I'll pay for Claire's child support."
After hearing Shao Yun's words, Alice gritted her teeth and spat fiercely at Shao Yun's face, the spittle landing on his cheek.
"Pah! You don't even deserve to mention Klee! You're just a pervert, a heartless scumbag who disgusts me to even describe! You ruined everything, and you'll get your comeuppance sooner or later!"