Damned Healer-Chapter 521: Deity And Mortal

Vanh and that tall man at his side stared at Darian with opposite reactions.

Vanh was serious. He managed to recall every event from Earth's Rookie Tournament without suffering a Heart Demon. Because of everything Darian had done in the past, and was still doing now, he was sure a missionary should never be underestimated.

But that other immortal… he had lived a thousand years fighting and rising in that other universe. He managed to survive and won many battles where he was weaker than his enemies. Because of that, he had absolute confidence in his abilities.

Now that he had become an immortal, would he fear someone with only six rings? Even knowing he couldn't be arrogant before a missionary, it still felt ridiculous.

"Alright, looks like that battle over there won't go anywhere..." Vanh muttered, looking at that closed space.

That robust man was roaring and attacking in all directions, furious, with a big bleeding cut on his chest. He had never gone through something like that in his life. Even with the twins inside his blessing, he couldn't feel any fluctuation from them, being forced to react only at the moment they attacked him.

He was a tank, and his specialty wasn't dealing direct damage. His only option was to use all his immortal power in a raw burst; since it was a closed environment, that should definitely hit them. But...

He and the other two immortals had just broken through to this level. They barely knew how to use this new strength properly, not to mention their energies were naturally chaotic and difficult to control.

If they had only nine rings, even if a thousand times weaker than now, things probably would've been different for him. But in the current situation, his immortal power burst out like a supernova in every direction... but it was possible to see holes and small gaps in many spots.

Vanh saw that and could only sigh. The twins only needed to pay attention and be fast enough to dodge through the gaps in the fired power. In other words, they would never be hit.

As for the robust man, even though he was wounded by Lucius's saber, it was only a superficial strike for someone at his level. In the end, this fight wasn't going anywhere for a long time. The twins definitely wouldn't be defeated within ten minutes.

"That idiot really humiliated himself this time," the tall man muttered dryly. "Well, let's finish this ourselves."

He stared at Darian with a slight smile.

Vanh snorted; indeed, he had to act. But his goal in this dispute was to be fair and not make Darian feel even more hatred for his family for forcing his mother away. "We still have time. We'll fight him, but without using our blessing or immortal power."

"What stupidity… well, whatever. I actually wanted to test my body after the Celestial Baptism. I lived my whole life fighting in fear of being focused, now I can finally experience the other side." That tall man said dryly.

Darian heard that term 'Celestial Baptism', becoming thoughtful and fitting some pieces together in his mind. Apparently, to become an immortal, even though the physical body didn't follow the process completely, that didn't mean it wasn't drastically improved. After all, to hold an immortal soul, the body had to at least be at the absolute peak of a mortal physical body.

"Eight minutes left." Darian said slowly, waving at them with indifference.

Vanh sighed, then moved forward.

The two of them surrounded Darian from opposite sides.

"..."

Far below them, watching everything completely captivated, were absolutely all Spiritual Guardians with six rings or above on Earth. Everyone was holding their breath, watching with their ring power in their eyes every movement of that duel.

In the Aeternum Atlantis State, and practically across the entire planet, everything was being recorded up close.

Back up above. Darian waved, then three floating daggers appeared around him.

He grabbed two of them calmly, while the other pulsed with the wind element at full power.

"Oh? You've got a lot of tricks. How about we bet those daggers too? Makes everything more fun, don't you think?" the tall man said excitedly.

"Enough," Vanh replied coldly. "Let's fight fair and serious; nothing else makes sense."

The man snorted, not caring, then his eyes shone coldly. In the next second, his body pulsed, emitting an intense vital energy.

*Crack*

Space fractured into tiny threads, like spiderwebs around him.

Darian narrowed his eyes. Everyone on Earth was stunned. That immortal wasn't using any ring power or technique. That was just the natural power of his physical body circulating.

Then... the man stepped forward, and space curved in front of his raw physical power.

Like a blur, he vanished before everyone's eyes.

By pure reflex, everyone focused on Darian.

"!"

Darian vanished too.

**BOOOOOOM!**

Suddenly, a terrifying explosion echoed, making the skies of Earth distort.

In the middle of the chaos, everyone saw something small shooting like a meteor and crossing the planet's atmosphere.

Everyone's eyes jumped. The figure stabilized after five seconds, and then everyone saw...

...it was that tall man!

"Holy Shit!"

People managed to see: the right side of that figure's face was caved in with a terrible black mark. The bones of his face could be seen broken and distorted.

A golden light flowed through his body in the next second, and everything returned to normal. He roared like he had gone into a frenzy and shot back like a golden bolt.

*CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!*

Sharp, screeching sounds echoed. All gazes returned to the epicenter. There, they saw an open exchange between Vanh and Darian, both armed.

Vanh was using his longsword, shocking everyone. He had said earlier that they wouldn't use their blessings or ring power, so he wasn't someone to go back on his word. But in the middle of the chaos and pressure, he felt forced to draw his weapon.

Darian moved through the skies like it was a dance. With every movement he made... everyone became even more stunned. He seemed to anticipate Vanh's movements, blocking him while immediately counterattacking with his two daggers at high speed.

Vanh was backing and backing away, moving his saber as fast as he could just to defend himself.

In that second, an intense golden light covered Darian from all sides. Vanh squinted his eyes. Darian, meanwhile, smiled lightly; giving a stronger strike, he pulled away from the opponent in front of him.

*Vupt!*

Darian vanished again.

Then, he appeared like a ghost at a distant point.

Then... everyone finally managed to clearly see that, it was like they were watching in slow motion.

**CRACK!**

Darian appeared in a spot where there was nothing, already punching... and in the same instant, a thunderous sound of bones breaking echoed.

That immortal... it was like he had deliberately thrown himself against the enemy's fists.

His face twisted in a grotesque way, and he let out a loud scream of pain as he was blasted back far away.

Everyone, including Vanh, swallowed hard.

That tall man's specialty was speed. He didn't even activate his blessing or anything else, yet he could already move by bending the space in front of him using only his physique.

Doing that was like making a controlled jump forward, knowing where you'd land. After jumping, there was no way to go back or stop mid-way, unless something external and powerful interfered; which wasn't the case.

The moment he moved, Darian moved too.

Then Darian appeared exactly at the point where the tall man would arrive, as if he could predict the future. Not even Vanh could do something like that, even if he used all his power.

That happened twice. And Darian punched the man brutally on both sides of the face, sending him flying away. But this time, the tall man's scream of pain and humiliation could be heard by everyone.

"Six minutes."

Darian's slow and calm voice echoed.

"BASTARD!"

In the skies above the planet, it was like a golden sun had ignited, eclipsing all existing light. That man felt an unprecedented humiliation and couldn't endure it, activating all his immortal power.

Vanh widened his eyes, noticing the heavenly laws of the world distorting.

"STOP!"

He shouted, but it was too late.

Darian only had a sinister glow in his eyes when he turned and took a quick step back.

**RUMBLE!!!**

A thunder-like roar echoed, but it was so loud it made the entire atmosphere of the planet vibrate. All of Earth could hear it; ordinary people felt like a hammer had struck their chests. Animals and common lifeforms fell into complete despair, as if the world were collapsing.

Everything happened in the blink of an eye, then everyone watched a similar scene repeat itself... but this time, a thousand times greater in scale.

It was as if Darian had once again predicted the enemy's future attack. But this time was different, because that tall man activated his blessing with everything he had.

The previous sound had come from this blessing, which belonged to the Fighter-class — a very rare one to see — called *Step of the Gods*.

He could visualize a place he wanted to go, and then reality distorted, taking him there instantly. It wasn't movement through conventional space, being completely impossible to sense or predict, no matter the enemy's level.

In the thousand years he fought in that other universe, he had even used this against a Risen Lord when he only had seven rings. Even the Risen Lord couldn't sense anything. That's why he felt confident saying that an immortal also wouldn't be able to detect it easily.

Of course, there was a huge flaw; the technique consumed one-third of all his power with a single use. And after defining the location, he couldn't cancel it. But after becoming an immortal, he discovered he could now use the blessing more than fifty times before exhausting himself.

With all that, the tall man was certain that Darian had absolutely no chance of repeating that again. He wanted to attack him with everything, leaving him half-dead in the most brutal way possible... wishful thinking.

That man's karma was something dark and far more prominent among those three immortals. Darian didn't even need to waste time seeing his past; he was definitely some kind of assassin raised by the Wube family to do dirty work.

That's why it was like Darian was standing before a Risen Lord, given how highlighted his karma was. No matter what he did, Darian's curse was something created by his Master, who stood above the scope of even an immortal. He could feel the subtle fluctuations of karma and easily predict where he'd go.

The moment the man saw Darian facing him head-on, he roared in fury, without fear, activating his immortal power explosively to destroy him. Who cares if he can predict it? This was his end.

*Pierce!*

A dagger appeared out of absolutely nowhere from his right flank, piercing him.

"!"

The man widened his eyes. Where did this dagger with the wind element come from?

Instinctively, after living his whole life with a fragile body, he couldn't help but take a step to the side to dodge.

He dodged, but at that exact instant, he felt his body being covered by a subtle layer of ice.

His muscles locked. His eyes turned, seeing — completely stunned — another dagger positioned exactly at the point he had moved to. The blade was already there before, waiting for him. A slight touch was enough for his body to be covered by ice.

Then...

A yellow earth-element light appeared from above.

Looking up, he saw a pair of red eyes staring at him... making his soul feel a fear he had never experienced in his life.

In Darian's hands, a dagger came down like a meteor, charged with the power of the Earth element used at its maximum.

It fell upon the tall man with the weight of a moon crashing into his body.

The strike was absurdly shocking. The man couldn't react, because his body had been paralyzed for a single second by the ice element.

It was a perfect joint strike, using Awel, Eleri, and Tir in absolute synchronicity.

The tall man shot through the air like a blood-meteor toward the planet, hitting the center of the Pacific Ocean.

The sea split open, and he drilled down to the bottom, crashing into the crust violently and creating an earthquake never before felt on Earth.

Then, came dead silence.

In the skies... Darian looked down without emotion, watching the waters close.

Everyone who watched felt like he was a deity observing mortals, indifferent, below him.

He snorted, "Was that all? Well, four minutes left."