Damned Healer-Chapter 517: Planetary Karma
After creating the two Spiritual Techniques, Darian held a long and important meeting with Camille and the other two Emperors. First, he told them about his techniques and plans.
"You should have, in your Empires, records of many competent Spiritual Guardians who died in the last few years and lost everything, right? We're going to offer them the option to fight again; but I'll have to check each one's karma to be sure."
After dying in that other training universe, everyone resurrected in their bodies, with no power and no memories from the moment they awakened. For people who had lived only a few years as Spiritual Guardians, it was easier to accept that loss of life.
But for those who had lived dozens of years... suddenly waking up without remembering anything was the most terrible feeling and the most frightening torture of all. Instinctively, they knew they had lost something extremely important and kept trying to force their minds to remember, but without success.
It was like having a dream that you were sure was something incredible, something life-changing… but you couldn't remember practically anything. That feeling never went away, becoming an eternal open wound.
Another important point was that the world around them didn't forget that Spiritual Guardian. So obviously, they would eventually find out who they used to be through others. That only increased the pain, because they would know they had once been someone powerful and amazing… and now had become a simple mortal, who could be crushed easily by anyone.
Knowing these things, Darian understood that these people who had lost everything could have ended up with broken minds. That's why he'd evaluate each one's karma and check if they had done anything sinister in their current lives.
"My plans for the future are pretty simple. With these people using my technique, we'll have a new and large secret army on Earth. Then, Niara will open portals to that universe weekly..." Darian said slowly, staring at the three.
"We'll use this connection between universes to the fullest. Veyle will plant herbs using that universe's natural power, managing to create much higher-level pills there. And Haruto and the others will be able to create weapons and rune seals easily, bringing everything back to Earth."
"Besides that, we'll be able to take armies to train and explore other galaxies with much better efficiency; after all, everyone will go with their true bodies and will be at 100% of their power. With that, we'll be able to evolve everyone's rings, as well as find materials... in the end…"
Darian stopped, noticing the expressions of the three becoming more and more excited.
"As you can imagine, we'll gather everything on Earth and start winning outward, accumulating as many riches and resources as possible. I'd say that in five years, Earth will have as many resources as a top-50 planet in the universe. But it won't just be resources; we'll be training and strengthening ourselves more and more. In at most fifteen years, I intend to have an army capable of fighting the universe's top 10."
"B-but..." Camille said with her voice trembling, "The other immortals will try to use the Wube family and the other Empires to attack us. It'll be dangerous if someone leaks Niara's power."
Darian nodded. If the immortals discovered her ability, he would probably lose all the peace and all the time he needed to rise. So ideally, they should never be fully sure how they were doing all of that.
"That's the main point. We need to fix our house first and unify all of Earth." Darian said calmly and took a deep breath.
"I don't want a direct war against the other three Empires. Those idiot Emperors know how to manipulate the population, and they'd end up turning innocent people against us. Of course, everyone has enough intelligence to see the truth; so even if they're fooled, no one who tries to kill us is innocent. But the damage of a full-scale war would be immense; it would last a few years and would also affect common humans. That would create a collective dark karma on the planet, something I'd rather avoid."
"You might think this is pointless, but winning a war while causing so much suffering would bring serious long-term consequences. And I don't have the strength to just attack them directly and kill the Emperors along with their subordinates, ending everything quickly. Maybe in a few years that'll be possible... but I'll try something softer first."
The three thought about those words. Darian didn't have the power to kill the Emperors quickly? Based on the power they had witnessed him use before, they were sure it was the opposite.
Seeing their doubt, Darian snorted and explained.
The main reason he managed to deal with the Enfield and the Divine Dragon earlier was because they were corrupted and very weakened. Their power level was just a bit above what someone with nine rings could have.
And Darian was almost a nemesis of the power that came from the Celestial Shadow. He had the white power to negatively affect their power, he could sense movements as if he were seeing the future, and he completely ignored corruption.
Because of that, he managed to fight. Under normal conditions, if he had to face an Immortal Keeper, for example, he would've never dreamed of winning.
Actually, against someone with nine rings, he currently would never die, but killing would still depend on luck or catching the target by surprise... which was impossible, since the Emperors wouldn't make the mistake of underestimating him again.
Now that he had six rings, he didn't fear people with nine rings. He could be surrounded by dozens with nine rings and still survive and escape unharmed. But killing them would be much more complicated.
"You also forgot another important point. I did everything I did earlier because I had my partner's help. But now, by the rules, just like the head of the Wube family had to leave Earth, Niara can't help because she's not from here. If I break that rule, the Immortals can do the same."
Darian finished seriously, and the three finally understood his point. The current conditions were unfavorable. He really needed a few years to get stronger and resolve everything.
The most obvious option was to avoid any conflict with the other Empires and buy time. That way, he would avoid a full war until he could resolve everything alone, quickly.
But… he couldn't do that. The reason was something everyone already knew.
"The Wube family sent an official statement recently, along with the other three allied Empires," Camille informed him. "They claim that the images showing Mallory's actions aren't reliable and could've been easily forged. So they say we don't have solid proof of anything, and that she should be released."
Darian snorted. Of course, they would say that.
He stared straight into Camille's eyes.
She sighed, "My grandson Darius, as well as all the people Mallory killed and harmed, deserve this. Don't worry, I'm not going to protect a hag like her. I plan to announce a public execution and end this soon."
Darian nodded. "In a month, that should be a good time."
That was the reason it was impossible to avoid any conflict with the empires: Mallory. She was still imprisoned, awaiting her inevitable fate.
Of course, this was an internal issue for the Wube family, so it wouldn't result in an all-out war. But that family would pressure the other Empires to seek revenge.
"Let's get to the point," Darian said seriously. "Starting today, we're ending the division between the three Empires. We'll begin reconnecting the people of Earth. The three of you will still keep a regional leadership role, that'll be useful for organizing things. But we'll all be part of just one single banner. With that, we'll rise together and much faster."
After those words, the three of them looked thoughtful.
If they had heard something like that ten years ago, they would have burst into laughter, thinking it was completely ridiculous. But now… after seeing everything Darian represented, they understood this was, in fact, the one and only opportunity for all of Earth and humanity. They were more than willing to give up their position as supreme Emperors and Empress to form a single government bloc.
A few minutes later, they all looked at Darian — and then agreed immediately, without giving any chance to back out.
"Great, we'll call this temporarily the Heaven's Will Alliance." Darian said calmly, very satisfied. All three knew that even though they were losing power and influence, this was the best for everyone's future.
"We'll create new rules for everyone, but we'll try to respect the culture and peculiarities of each place. Our number one goal, even above becoming the strongest planet in the universe…" Darian paused, staring at them.
"We'll make the powerless population, the common humans, have a life completely different from now. Everyone will be treated as equals, we'll create strict laws to protect them, and we'll give everyone the conditions to live in peace. Obviously, the underworld must be completely purged."
The three focused on Darian, extremely confused.
Why did he want to do something like that? According to all research done on Earth and even on other planets in the universe, having common people living on the edge, forced to fight with everything they had to survive, was the best way to increase the number of awakened.
On other planets, other models had been tested. But the difference in the number of awakened when people lived well, compared to after everything changed… was almost 500% less.
It was cruel, but much more advantageous for the planet: having more Spiritual Guardians brought prosperity and safety to everyone.
Of course, there was a limit to the pressure common people could withstand. Leadership had to keep things under control. They couldn't be massacred deliberately, suffer extreme hunger, or live with no safety at all. After all, they needed to have children and survive so that awakened individuals could appear.
Seeing their doubt, Darian snorted dryly.
"Did you forget what I said earlier? Do you really think that making 99.99% of a planet's population suffer deliberately won't create planetary karma? Obviously, if every planet does practically the same thing, they all end up leveling themselves in the mud. But…"
Darian stared at them coldly. "I'm here for this. We don't need to do these things to rise, since I have everything ready. Because of that, we'll be the first and only planet in the universe to become terrifyingly powerful while our population lives well. Earth will be one of the few to have good planetary karma; that difference… you have no idea of the future benefits we'll get."
It took them a few seconds to understand. Then their eyes lit up, excited. In fact, because of the things Darian had and did, they no longer needed to maintain that cruel model. They now had a golden opportunity to build something incredible.
"Now that you understand this point, you should see my victory plan clearly. We'll defeat the other three Empires from the inside out, by influencing their population. We'll let everyone see how life is for common humans in the Alliance, our rules, and everything else. With the passing of years, their entire human population will start to revolt, wanting the same."
"Of course, the Emperors will crush that brutally. But I believe that the vast majority of the common Spiritual Guardians in the Empires are reasonable people. That's because most of them were born and lived harsh lives among common humans before awakening. They could see reality better that way, and when the Emperors try to manipulate them to hate us in an all-out war… they won't succeed."
"With that, at the right moment, we'll be able to strike to eliminate the main leaders, unifying Earth. At that moment, most of the Spiritual Guardians of the Empires will support us and even help, avoiding a massive bloodbath. Of course… if everything goes wrong, I'll just get stronger and end everything myself. But it doesn't hurt to try, right?"
The emperors grew thoughtful. Darian's plan was simple, but perfectly reasonable. He intended to "poison" the entire enemy population gently, showing who he was and what future he wanted to give everyone.
Combined with the meteoric rise of the entire Alliance, with everyone becoming richer and stronger in a short time… who wouldn't want to join him? Keep being treated like trash, obeying the orders of a mediocre leader who only cared about power? The choice was obvious.
Darian didn't need to accomplish everything by force. He needed time to get stronger and knew well the importance of building good karma.
First, he would change the people, creating methods to quickly eliminate the malicious ones. Then he would change the entire planet, creating a fertile place for pure trees and beautiful flowers to bloom. Finally, he would change his entire universe.
He was the missionary of Heaven's Will, after all. This was the path he was walking, but… he was sure nothing would be as easy and smooth as he wished.
