Damned Healer-Chapter 453: Attack To Kill

"We don’t have time," Darian muttered dryly and turned toward Painita, who was standing farther away, watching him with a confused look. "Attack to kill."

"Yes!"

Caliris replied energetically, activating the power of a Spiritual Technique. Aurix took a deep breath, turned toward the half-elf in the sky, and drew a golden spear.

"Kill me? Hahahaha..." the half-elf laughed dryly, trying to hide his surprise. His bow pulsed, releasing a dazzling light.

In that instant, Darian focused on him, and a strange light flashed in his eyes—then his consciousness was pulled into a distant past.

Painita froze. She could feel Darian’s mind drifting somewhere far away—it was as if he had entered an illusion. Without hesitation, she unleashed her full power and rushed to protect him.

Caliris’s eyes gleamed, and a terrifying soul power erupted from the void, locking the distant half-elf in place.

The half-elf snorted, keeping his arrow aimed at Darian. "Let’s see how you fight while trying to protect him."

**PENG!**

The arrow shot out of the bow with a deafening sound. Every native of the planet felt their ears and souls shatter—those weaker dropped to their knees, howling in agony and spitting blood.

The Dragoness in front of Darian waved her hand, activating her blood lotus ahead.

Painita belonged to a race called the Crimsonwing—a peculiar species that looked like a hybrid between a bat and a humanoid. People from Earth, seeing a pure member of her race, would probably say she looked like a vampire. But in truth, it was a kind of demonic beast from Vadise.

The Spiritual Technique Painita had created was simple: it boosted the user’s blood energy, drastically enhancing their physique. Since everyone powerful on her planet—and the Mannaz from the other universe—possessed extraordinary Bloodlines, this technique had quickly elevated the planet’s overall strength to incredible levels.

On top of that, she had a self-created blessing called *Lotus of Life*. This blessing formed a lotus of energy that acted as an extra power core, able to be stored and used in emergencies. In other words, she always had more than double her energy reserves when she needed it.

If classified, that blessing would be considered Mystic-grade. Painita was a rare kind of beast who didn’t possess a tank-type blessing, but her Spiritual Technique focused on physical reinforcement. By combining both—and with her powerful draconic Bloodline—she was a complete and terrifying fighter, never afraid of running out of energy, always fighting at 100%.

**BOOM!**

The planet’s natives felt like the world was ending. They could only wait for the moment everything would explode. But...

It was just a violent blast—and all the arrow’s power was completely nullified.

Painita had redirected the energy skyward, shielding Darian behind her, as well as everyone from Vadise and the entire planet. If that strike had hit the ground, the damage would’ve been catastrophic.

All that energy shot upward, dispersing into space.

At the same time, Caliris and Aurix vanished and attacked the half-elf simultaneously.

The half-elf snorted again, his body glowing with a dark light—and then he vanished.

At that moment, Darian snapped back to reality. It took him less than thirty seconds to find something useful from the karma of his enemy.

From the half-elf’s perspective, using his blessing, it was easy to understand a few things. His blessing was something self-created and extremely secret—no one knew how it worked.

It was called *Phantom Steps*. It allowed him to move instantly, disappearing for a few seconds and reappearing nearby. He could slip through barriers, inscriptions, and enter any place—just as easily as he could escape.

But... Darian had seen his greatest weakness in an ancient vision.

When he used that technique, he didn’t actually vanish: his spiritual root distorted reality, blending him with the surrounding atmosphere or energy, moving him quickly to another point where no one could see or sense him. Meaning—in the near-vacuum of space, the technique was useless.

No one had ever noticed that this half-elf, before becoming immortal, had never exposed himself to open or empty environments.

Even knowing that, Darian couldn’t fully exploit this flaw—because now that the half-elf was immortal, he could simply use his full power to distort space over a massive area and create an environment favorable to his blessing.

Still... that enemy held something in his hands that would give Darian an opportunity.

Three seconds later, the half-elf reappeared, firing another arrow instantly.

Aurix also shot forward like lightning toward him, forcing him to retreat a moment later.

*BOOM!* 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Another explosion—Painita once again shielded Darian and everyone else, panting heavily afterward. This battle was going nowhere. In two or three more minutes, the other immortals would arrive—and it would all be over.

Once an immortal emergency call was triggered, there was a standard procedure: everyone had to move to a hidden planet. There, they would activate an inscription powered by an immortal’s full strength.

With the power of that inscription, they could seal the surrounding space, making it impossible for the target to escape or cause destruction in the universe. They’d be trapped until eliminated.

It was possible to activate that seal with only two immortals, but it would drain almost all of their power. Fortunately, three immortals were available to do it this time. The runes took time to connect—that’s why the estimated arrival was about five minutes.

"Caliris, come to me," Darian murmured, and the Demoness appeared by his side instantly.

Painita was his shield—but this Demoness would be his blade.

"Prepare everything for a single concentrated offensive strike," he said quietly, and the Demoness nodded, focusing completely.

The half-elf reappeared again, several kilometers away.

*PENG! PENG!*

This time, he fired two arrows in quick succession—one toward Darian and the other at Aurix.

The goal was obvious: buy time by forcing them all to defend. He was using the *Celestial Solar Bow* at full power. His arrows were made from the energy of his immortal core—the equivalent of his rings.

That was why the bow was classified as an artifact above the Supreme level on Earth. It was a rare weapon, capable of channeling an immortal’s full power without being destroyed. Nothing like it existed on Earth—and even across the universe, it was terrifyingly rare.

Painita and Caliris, for example, didn’t have any weapon they could use without fear — nothing could handle their power. Caliris always carried a short sword at her waist, but that thing was insanely expensive and would be destroyed after just one full-power strike. Aurix, on the other hand, being from the number two planet of the universe, had managed to get a golden spear that could withstand it.

*BOOM! BOOM!*

After Painita and Aurix defended themselves, Darian’s eyes glowed. He felt something extremely subtle with his power — and a cold smile appeared on the corner of his lips.

He had gotten that bow from the array, and back then he had analyzed and understood how it worked. Because he knew it so well, he decided to hand it over to the Empire without fear of it being used against him — not because he wanted to, but because he was forced to offer something.

That bow had a peculiarity. To fully activate it, the user needed to burn a bit of their internal Yang and life energy. It wasn’t anything serious — even women could use it countless times without suffering real harm. A simple pill could fix the loss.

But... even after being used, a tiny amount of Yang and life energy would remain inside the bow, being consumed for one second. The bow needed that energy to attack — and then to stabilize.

That half-elf’s blessing allowed him to vanish and merge completely with the environment, altering his own energy — it was like he stopped existing for a while, becoming part of what surrounded him. But his bow needed that second to stabilize, which meant he couldn’t let it merge completely with the surroundings. Doing so would cause irreversible damage to the bow.

Since it was something subtle and quick, he didn’t mind hiding the bow only partially for that second. It made no difference — it wasn’t really a flaw, just something so small, subtle, and brief that not even an immortal could take advantage of it.

At that instant, Darian stretched out his hand and touched the back of Caliris’s neck, sending the exact location straight into her mind, without drawing attention.

"Go."

The moment he shouted, Caliris didn’t hesitate. She roared, her entire body blazing with light, and drew her short-bladed sword. A celestial blue glow flared like a sun, as a massive amount of soul power burned away.

Her blessing was a Mage-type, *Divine Offensive* layer. Pretty simple — focused on a single, concentrated strike, able to use any kind of energy or several together. In her case, being a soul-power specialist, she used that energy — making her attack impossible to defend against. But she could only use it once, and she had to make sure it hit.

To make up for that flaw, Caliris had learned many types of Spiritual and Magical Techniques. That way she could fight and only activate her blessing at the perfect moment.

Painita’s eyes widened when she saw the Demoness shoot forward like lightning toward an empty space to the south.

At the same time, Darian drew his dagger and focused with everything he had, activating his black power.

A celestial blue beam pierced the heavens, covering the entire planet with its brilliance.

At that instant, it suddenly struck something hidden in the void.

**PIERCE!!**

A sharp sound echoed, shaking Painita and Aurix.

The next second, a slender figure appeared, its body pierced through by a short-bladed sword.

The half-elf spat blood, his expression twisted in utter shock. Never in his life had anyone hit him while he was in his hidden state. How was that even possible?

Then...

He clearly felt a weak, slow fluctuation approaching from behind him.

A black flash shot through the skies.

It was a human with only four rings, holding a dagger pulsing with black flames. To ordinary people, that would’ve been invisible and insanely fast — but to immortals, it was so slow it looked almost ridiculous.

"NO!"

Painita shouted and darted forward, but she was too late. She had been focused on defense and had to shift her power’s flow too fast. Darian was already halfway there — she wouldn’t make it in time.

"If you want to die, fine."

The half-elf spat, preparing to crush him. But...

Suddenly, he felt an immense force invading his body, locking him completely. He turned to Caliris — and to his surprise, saw that she was burning her entire soul and life without hesitation.

Her blessing was a single-use attack. After using it, all the power in her immortal core and a good part of her soul would be consumed. For her to do that now meant she was burning what she absolutely shouldn’t.

"Are you insane?!" he roared in disbelief. She was an immortal — doing that was practically suicide. Why? For that human? He couldn’t possibly harm him...

"!"

**PIERCE!**

In the skies, everyone saw Darian’s dagger strike its target with ease. Thanks to Caliris paralyzing him at the exact instant, the dagger managed to pierce through.

Then...

The light of the world went out as Darian unleashed all his black power at once.

It spread at the speed of light — and suddenly, the entire planet seemed swallowed by total darkness.

Painita and Aurix could see everything perfectly.

"AHHHHHH!"

In that second, the half-elf began screaming in sheer agony.

That black power obviously couldn’t kill him — only contaminate him completely and break his defenses. So Darian went for the real attack, creating a dark mark that fused with his soul.

Darian didn’t want to give him any chance, and he didn’t wait for that immortal to suffer through all the pain of karmic refinement. After invading his soul, he waved his hand, pushing everything to the limit.

**CRACK!**

A sound like shattering glass thundered through the skies.

Then the half-elf looked like a puppet with its strings cut. In that moment, his body froze...

...and the other three immortals felt something they would never forget.

The half-elf’s soul had been completely destroyed.

It was a total death.

An immortal who could’ve lived forever, nearly impossible to kill under normal circumstances, had been... killed right before their eyes.

By... a young human with only four rings.