Damned Healer-Chapter 482: Divine Flame Of The Soul

Darian took a step forward, getting closer to the tree. Then he explained mentally, 'Half of the humiliation comes from unpredictability. They've got no defense. Use your palm to hit the same spot over and over. Three slaps on the right cheek, two on the nose, five on the chin to mess with their balance, and then... the finishing move.'

'The finishing move?' Niara tilted her head, eyes gleaming.

'The last slap needs to be strong enough to crack the air — just powerful enough to make a weird sound come out of them, one they can't control. Once they fall, their minds will spin, and they'll throw up everything in their stomachs. That's how the humiliation is complete.'

'Hehe...' She giggled softly after understanding his instructions.

Then she turned to the crowd of assassins, trying to slowly regroup.

Their new plan, now that they'd seen she had backup, was to attack in a group. They were assassins, but they were actually teaming up, going against all their principles — which made the whole scene even more ridiculous.

As soon as they started moving together, Niara pointed at the one who looked like the leader of the idiots. Then she moved like a ghost.

*SLAP! SLAP! SLAP!*

The sound wasn't random anymore; it followed a precise, almost melodic rhythm. The leader staggered.

*PA!*

The fourth hit smacked his nose, and a hollow crack echoed. The assassin screamed in pain, his voice breaking into a ridiculously high-pitched sound.

Everyone froze, eyes wide. Before, she'd only hit one side of the face. Now...

Niara was executing a meticulous technique, and even after the man hit the ground, he flailed helplessly, groaning in agony. When he tried to stand, he dropped to his knees and vomited something strange. Combined with his swollen face, the sight made everyone else pale.

The leader didn't run back. He stayed kneeling, shaking with rage. He'd never been so humiliated in his life — he'd rather die than go through that again. And everyone else felt the same.

They hesitated, frozen, glancing between the tree and the pair standing before it.

'Wow... good technique, Dan. If they had a gender and were men, it'd be easier for me to deal with them. But these weird eunuchs are hard to handle,' Niara murmured mentally, realizing they wouldn't attack again for now.

Meanwhile, Darian was collecting fruits and pretending to eat them under his mask — in truth, he was storing them in his inventory. When he touched the tree, he understood: that lifeform had a simple, instinctive intelligence.

For some unknown reason, the tree could sense that they didn't belong to the Blood Race — and because of that, it allowed them to pick the fruits. The tree seemed to hate those of the Dark Blood and contained within it a powerful wood-type energy capable of killing anyone who tried to steal its fruit by force.

But the tree was massive and full of fruits. He couldn't harvest too fast or take too many, or the instructors watching would notice something was off.

At that moment, Niara narrowed her eyes as new people approached. She huffed, not intending to stop them — she'd already been cursed by the others there. Those 105 wouldn't be allowed to take any fruit.

A figure entered, scanning the area, not understanding what was going on. They took a deep breath and approached the tree.

Under a branch with a hanging fruit, the figure focused; a strong red aura rose from their body. Before touching the fruit, the aura flickered and turned into a pale gray, almost white tone.

When they touched the fruit, it dropped easily. The person grabbed it and backed away, their aura drained — clearly they'd used everything just to get one. Picking one was enough, since they'd have a few hours to recover before the next test.

Darian watched and understood. Among the Dark Bloods, there were also subdivisions with different, strange abilities. That person could hide their dark side, pretending to be a Gray Blood type — that way, the tree, not being too smart, allowed them to take a fruit.

There must've been other variations of techniques and assassins capable of collecting several fruits. Because of that, Niara didn't look *that* abnormal in this test. The instructors were surprised, unable to understand how she and Darian could take fruits, but they knew such things were possible.

Darian gathered only a few dozen before stopping. Niara, on the other hand, kept picking and eating slowly, savoring each one — but not overdoing it.

Time passed peacefully. Darian stabilized Niara quietly, without anyone noticing anything strange.

From time to time, Niara had to slap the 105 again to stop them from getting close, while others who arrived later gathered their fruits normally. There was even one in particular who managed to pull down a dozen fruits with his power in just a few minutes.

When all 300 had arrived and the final time limit was near, Darian felt strange fluctuations coming from the tree. He gently touched the trunk and sensed signals from it. It couldn't speak, but it seemed to be trying to tell him something.

Darian frowned, trying to understand, when...

*Toc*

A fruit fell on his head, catching him off guard. He picked it up and felt something odd inside it.

'This... there's a different seed inside... wait — that's a soul!' He froze, staring at the tree, quickly realizing its body was now empty.

That tree had done the same thing Athven once did: it created a seed by condensing all its energy and placing its soul within. It had done this because it felt that if it didn't escape with Darian, it wouldn't survive for long.

Darian exhaled sharply and touched the tree again, starting to send soul energy back into it — as slowly and subtly as possible, so the observers wouldn't notice what he was doing.

He infused just enough energy to make the tree *seem* like it still had a soul for a while. Once that energy ran out, the tree would wither and die completely.

Luckily, no one else was trying to pick fruits. The last ones were just absorbing their benefits before the next test.

A few minutes later, everyone turned as they felt the instructors appear. It was the end.

Those 105 looked like they were in a nightmare. Their hateful expressions were beyond words... they'd been the first to arrive but got nothing because of Niara.

One of the instructors announced loudly, "The final test starts now. You'll all be taken to the divine seal, where the Divine Flame of the Soul is sealed. There, you'll be able to absorb its essence into your bodies and get the chance to break past the nine circles. How much you manage to absorb will depend on your skill and luck."

Everyone listened, thrilled and ecstatic. Darian observed, understanding — it seemed like eight circles was the limit for everyone, and only those who absorbed that Divine Flame of the Soul could surpass it.

"Activate!"

Following the instructor's order, the 300 were involuntarily pulled by spatial runes. Space distorted and carried them to a hidden place.

As soon as everything stabilized, a majestic power burst forth.

They were at the foot of a mountain. At the top, the center of everything — the place they needed to reach to absorb as much of that power as possible. Only then could they return.

"AAAAAAH!"

Suddenly, several assassins screamed in pain and terror.

Thirty of them exploded instantly. Seeing that, the others were horrified.

The pressure inside that place was shocking; the power emanated by the Divine Flame of the Soul seemed to burn the very existence of that race easily. It hit the deepest weakness inside them, making them explode.

Fortunately, Darian and Niara weren't affected at all.

"No…!"

Desperate, people tried to resist, but exploded before they could even take a breath.

"The path to free our race from this damned Array can only be paved with blood. There's no turning back, and no one can save you. To live, the only option is to advance. If you can't withstand the will of the Divine Flame of the Soul, you're not qualified to serve the Celestial Shadow Divinity," the instructor said coldly from outside the seal.

While he spoke, more than a hundred had already exploded.

After their deaths, their lineage blood spread through the air, and the survivors around absorbed it. That then made them stronger, easing their survival.

"Calm down! Don't panic! Their deaths bought us time. We won't waste this chance!" one of them shouted, trying to take command.

Everyone heard and understood. This was a cruel test, where almost all were expected to die. Those deaths were exactly what would let the others reach the end.

Some were already running toward the mountain top.

Darian snorted; Niara gritted her teeth. Then both followed the crowd, pretending to be suffering too.

The pressure increased as they climbed, crushing them like an invisible world. But as more people died, everyone around benefited significantly.

The mountain was 10 miles wide. Normally, that distance would be easy to cover, but under that pressure, walking was painful.

"No… I don't want to die…!"

Despair took over. People fainted and died. In an instant, two hundred had already perished. There was only forward; no hope of retreat. They screamed in desperation while the instructors outside watched apathetically.

Darian took his time, feeling the whole place and assessing the situation. Meanwhile, Niara stayed silent, waiting for him.

Until he finally murmured to her mentally, 'Let's go all out.'

Niara nodded; then her wings unfurled from inside the assassin cloak. At that instant, draconic power surged like a tsunami.

She grabbed Darian's hand and the two shot forward like lightning.

"What?!"

Shouts of shock echoed. They passed by everyone in the blink of an eye, racing toward the mountain peak.

"You want to get the Divine Flame of the Soul first? Keep dreaming!"

At that moment, an assassin screamed, and his body became wrapped in a bluish flame. In the next second, a deafening roar echoed, and a winged beast appeared. Mounted on it, the assassin charged rapidly after the couple toward the summit.

Niara narrowed her eyes — that winged beast was as fast as they were and was already right behind.

"Fuck this!"

Niara roared and unleashed even more draconic power; it was the maximum she could sustain while ethereal.

At that instant, all the instructors outside froze. It took them a few seconds to react to what they were seeing, because there shouldn't have been invaders in that place.

But soon their leader roared: "Everyone kill them! They're invaders — enemies of our whole race!"