Starting as the heir of a marquis's mansion, I gained access to a summoning system.

When that hand reached out from the crack, all the light in the Ruins went out.

It wasn't that it was covered up, but rather that it was drained dry. The dark golden embers, the remaining crimson flames in the gray-white mist, and the bluish-gold in Lin Xiaoman's palm all dimmed in the same instant, as if a hand had extinguished the lamp in this world.

It was enormous. Absurdly large. Five fingers emerged from the crack, each pieced together from countless fragments of bone, varying in size and color—some grayish-white bone fragments, others dark gold remains of gods and demons, and still others deep black, exotic joints never seen before. They interlocked and wriggled, like millions of worms crawling through flesh and blood. Bone dust fell softly from between the fingers, like a small snowfall.

Then he pressed his entire hand against the edge of the crack. The ground shook violently, the sound so deep it was beyond hearing, striking directly at his heart. Lu Moshen groaned, a trickle of dark golden blood spilling from the corner of his mouth.

"It... is about to come out." Lu Moshen's voice was as low as a mosquito's buzz, yet it clearly reached everyone's ears. "That door won't hold it down for long."

Dongfang Weiwo glanced back. Wu Wudi, Yan Fei, and Chuan Ying sat cross-legged on the ground, dark golden liquid flowing between their brows as they desperately tried to neutralize the power of the Divine Demon Marrow Pearl. Their injuries were too severe; further battle was no longer realistic. Lin Xiaoman stood beside the bone bed, half her face soaked with sweat and blood, yet she stood remarkably steady.

"Xiaoman," Dongfang Weiwo said.

"I know." She stepped forward and offered him her left hand. The wound on her palm had reopened, and a thin, bluish-gold thread of blood snaked down her wrist, dripping onto the greyish-white ground. Each drop made the bone-like patterns on the ground gleam for a fleeting moment.

"You can't seal it now," Lin Xiaoman said, her voice fast but clear. "The fontanelle is still behind that thing. If you want to get to the front of the crack, you have to get past it. But if you try to fight it head-on, you'll die."

"I know," Dongfang Weiwo said, pulling his sword from the ground. "That's why I didn't plan to fight."

He looked at Lu Moshen: "You said the prison is behind the fontanelle. And this crack is the crack where the fontanelle was forced open. What would happen if I pulled the Soul-Locking Bone out of my body and inserted it back into the fontanelle?"

Lu Moshen was taken aback, then shouted sternly, "Nonsense! The Soul-Locking Bone is already fused with your left arm and left leg; forcibly pulling it out is equivalent to dismantling half of your skeleton. Before the door can even be sealed, you'll shatter yourself!"

"You just said that if I use my body as a lock, I can fuse the gaps between my bones," Dongfang Weiwo said. "The Soul-Locking Bone is the lock core. I will insert the lock core and then fuse it with my heart's blood fire. I don't need to sit on the door; the Soul-Locking Bone will lock it for me. All I lack is time."

Lu Moshen fell silent. A dark golden light flickered in his eye sockets, as if he were struggling.

"Yes," he finally said. "Theoretically, it's feasible. The Soul-Locking Bone is the connecting bone between the left arm and left leg of a god or demon, originally part of that prison door. It's just that your fusion is too shallow. Extracting it might actually work. But you have to be quick. Within three breaths, your Heart Blood Fire must burn onto the Soul-Locking Bone. If you're even a moment late, and the Bone King's hand touches you, you'll be torn to pieces and become part of its body."

Dongfang Weiwo nodded: "I only need three breaths."

He turned around and faced the crack.

The giant hand extended another halfway out. Its wrist had already squeezed out of the crack, the broken bones pressing against each other, making a "crunching" sound like an avalanche. Tiny bone fragments kept peeling off from the edge of the crack, only to come together again under some force. The space around the giant hand was violently distorted, like a pot of boiling grayish-white paste.

Bone Domain Perception failed at this moment. Dongfang Weiwo could see no bones, only endless blackness, and a hand growing ever larger from that blackness. The oppressive feeling was exactly the same as on the Bridge of Oblivion, but a hundred times stronger. Like an ant looking up at the collapsing sky.

He took a step forward. His left foot landed, the force of his movement naturally dispersing the gray-white mist that surrounded him for several feet. He seemed to hear the low hum of his internal skeleton, like a war drum, like an alarm bell. His left hand gripped the sword, his right hand slowly pressed against his left chest. His heart pounded wildly, as if it would burst from his chest. He was waiting. Waiting for that giant hand to come within another foot.

"Dongfang Weiwo." Lu Moshen's voice suddenly came from behind. "Remember this. If the Bone King sees the Soul-Locking Bone, he will destroy it at all costs. What it fears is the Soul-Locking Bone. So you have to take the Soul-Locking Bone to the fontanelle and then pull it out. Too early won't work, and too late will be even worse. You can only rely on your own judgment to insert the bone before its fingertips touch you."

"it is good."

The giant hand extended another half foot forward. Its five fingers slowly closed and then opened again. Each knuckle was rearranging itself, as if making final adjustments. Then it moved—not quickly, but overwhelmingly. The slowness wasn't sluggishness, but rather its sheer size, so vast it obscured the entire field of vision. It slammed down towards the east, like the collapsing sky, leaving no room for evasion.

Dongfang Weiwo drew his sword.

The dark gold longsword, imbued with marrow fire and heart's blood fire, pierced towards the giant hand's palm. Compared to the giant hand, the sword light was like a needle. But a needle has its use. The sword tip pierced the palm, sparks flying everywhere. Dongfang Weiwo was thrown backward by the shock, crashing heavily to the ground, his tiger's mouth split open, and the longsword slipped from his hand.

The giant hand paused for a moment. A small hole was pierced in its palm, the edges of which were scorched by crimson flames, and fragments of bone fell off. But in less than a breath, the fragments of bone flew back and rejoined.

"Not enough." Dongfang Weiwo gritted his teeth, flipped over, and leaped into the air. He pushed off with his left leg, his body shooting out like an arrow. This time, he didn't use his sword. He directly used his left arm to meet the attack head-on. The power of the eight fragments pierced through the left arm of the god and demon, and his fist slammed into the base of the giant hand's thumb.

Fist and bone collided with a deafening roar. The skin on Dongfang Weiwo's entire left arm cracked and split open, dark golden bone light surging from the cracks like a shattered furnace. The giant hand was blasted to the side by half a foot, and broken bones rained down. As if enraged, the five fingers clenched tightly and grabbed at Dongfang Weiwo.

He dodged three fingers, but couldn't avoid the fourth. A giant finger formed from shattered bone grazed his right shoulder, tearing off his robe along with a large piece of flesh. He groaned and stumbled backward, sliding several feet across the ground.

"Two zhang away," he thought to himself. The crack was just two zhang ahead. At the edge of the crack, the shattered bone fragments were slowly coming together, but the dark golden light deep within the crack was already close at hand. He could see the outline of the fontanelle; the two bone flaps had almost been pushed apart, leaving only a very thin grayish-white gap in the middle.

Right now.

Dongfang Weiwo pushed off the ground with both feet, his whole body shooting towards the crack like an arrow. He stretched out his left arm, fingers spread, and pressed it towards the grayish-white crevice.

The giant hand suddenly returned to the rescue, moving several times faster than before to block the crack. Its five fingers joined together like a wall, completely covering the fontanelle. Countless fragments of bone spun on the wall's surface, like a winch.

"You think I'd let you reach that door?" A voice echoed from the depths of the crack. It was no longer the clamor of the remnant consciousness, nor the effeminate softness of Wan Wujiu. It was heavy, aged, devoid of joy or sorrow, like molten lava rolling through layers of rock, each word squeezed out. "This skeleton of yours, I've refined it for countless years. Do you really think the Demon God Lü can use it to seal me?"

Dongfang Weiwo crashed into the wall of shattered bones, thrown back, and spitting blood from his mouth. He knelt on the ground, unable to lift his left arm.

"Hahahaha—" The Bone King's laughter was like a thousand bells ringing out. "Come. Hand you over to me. Let me leave this Myriad Star Domain. As for you people, I'll give you a quick death."

The giant hand slammed down again. This time, it was faster and heavier than the previous two. Dongfang Weiwo's vision went black, and he didn't even have time to pick up his sword.

"East!"

Lin Xiaoman's voice was barely audible amidst the shattered bones, yet it pierced his heart like a needle. He abruptly opened his eyes and saw her rushing towards him. Her left palm was completely split open, and bluish-gold blood splattered incessantly, condensing into a layer of blood mist around her. Stepping on the blood mist, she was even faster than the giant hand, arriving before him.

She turned around, facing the giant hand, and opened her arms.

The crimson light from her left palm suddenly surged, and a cyan-gold blood mist gathered above her head, condensing into the shape of a tiny phoenix. The phoenix was no bigger than a palm, yet it caused the giant hand to stop in mid-air.

"The blood of the guardian can hold me off for a moment," Ainz Ooal Gown's voice held a hint of interest. "But how long can you hold me off?"

"A moment is enough," Lin Xiaoman said. She turned to look at Dongfang Weiwo, a near-transparent smile on her face. "Go."

Dongfang Weiwo felt as if he had been struck in the chest by a heavy hammer. He didn't speak, but seized the opportunity to leap up from the ground and rush towards the crack. His left arm hung limply at his side, unable to be raised. He stretched out his right hand, his five fingers like hooks, and plunged it straight into the gap in the wall of shattered bones. The wall loosened slightly due to Lin Xiaoman's Blood Phoenix restraint, and a very narrow opening was revealed between the two central pieces of shattered bone.

His fingers probed inside. His fingertips touched the location of the Soul-Locking Bone. It was burning hot, like red-hot iron. He gritted his teeth, and with a sudden thrust of his right hand into the base of his left arm, he forcefully tore the Soul-Locking Bone outwards.

A wave of excruciating pain overwhelmed him. The skeleton of his left arm emitted a teeth-grinding creak, as if the entire arm was about to be torn from his body. Dark golden blood gushed from his left shoulder. But he did not stop. The Soul-Locking Bone was extremely long, like a living dragon, and was being pulled out inch by inch from the base of his left arm, still covered with his bone, blood, and tendons.

Ainz Ooal Gown roared in extreme rage: "How dare you!"

The wall of shattered bones collapsed with a deafening roar, and countless fragments of bone hurtled towards Dongfang Weiwo like meteors. The blood phoenix that Lin Xiaoman had condensed exploded into a blood mist the moment it made contact, and she was blasted away like a kite with a broken string, landing in the distance.

Dongfang Wei did not turn around. In his right hand, seventy percent of the Soul-Locking Bone had already been extracted. The moment the last inch left his body, his entire left arm seemed to have all its strength drained away, hanging limply at his side. The dark golden skeleton on his left arm became dull and lifeless, like a lamp about to go out.

But he inserted the Soul-Locking Bone into that grayish-white crevice.

"Three breaths!"

He silently counted, simultaneously forcing the Heart Blood Fire from his right hand. The crimson flame surged along his arm towards the Soul-Locking Bone, burning along the bone surface towards the depths of the crevice. In the first breath, the Soul-Locking Bone entered the crevice, and the broken bones were burned and pushed aside. In the second breath, the Heart Blood Fire spread to the deepest part of the crevice, pulling the two split bone petals towards the center.

The third breath.

The Bone King's hand reached out from behind, his fingertips already touching Dongfang Weiwu's back. Shattered bones, like knives, pierced his flesh. He heard the sound of his own spine breaking. But in that instant, he poured all the remaining of his life force into the Soul-Locking Bone.

The door began to close.

The crack narrowed rapidly from the middle to both ends, and dark golden light surged back like a tide. The two fontanelle bone flaps trembled violently, closing again inch by inch. The Bone King's hand was caught in the crack, producing a deafening roar. It struggled frantically, shattering bones flying everywhere, and the entire Ruins of Return shook.

"No—you ant—no!"

Dongfang Weiwo stood before the door, covered in blood, like a demon crawling out of hell. His right hand was still pressed on the Soul-Locking Bone, which was now fused with the bone fragments, the dark gold and grayish-white colors intertwined, indistinguishable from each other.

"Let's agree." He growled.

boom.

The fontanelle closed. The crack disappeared. The giant hand was severed at the wrist in the last instant, remaining on this side of the door. Shattered bones fell like rain, covering the ground in a thick layer.

Dongfang Weiwo fell backward, face up.

A sliver of light finally pierced the sky above Guixu.

It was like the moonlight of the Tianwu Continent, slowly seeping down from an extremely high and distant place.