Damned Healer-Chapter 575: Only Honorable Way

As soon as the words left Vanh's mouth, the world trembled.

The blood energy of the dead began to flow through the scarlet web, rising from the ground toward the Demonic Cocoon. Feeling that, Vanh just snorted. A golden mark appeared on his forehead, pulsing with authority.

Immediately, everything froze. The flow of blood stopped, prevented from being absorbed, and from allowing that figure to be reborn.

Runar narrowed his eyes. That level of power… Vanh could even nullify the authority of the Devil Pearl. In other words, he was almost at the level of a complete immortal.

Darian carefully analyzed his aura. The energy flowed smoothly through Vanh, without the usual instability of those who transcend the nine rings.

He was not perfect, but Darian felt that Vanh could control at least 60% of his maximum power. It was enough for him to use that strength without destroying himself.

Vanh focused his gaze on Darian, who landed calmly on the ground.

"You were right," Vanh began, his eyes distant. "When I took over as head of the family, I gained access to its deepest secrets. The rot wasn't just on Earth; it infected every facility, every business, and every important member across the universe. They did horrifying things and caused irreversible damage."

He paused, his voice cold.

"The only way to save the family's legacy was to tear the entire building down, destroy the foundations, and rebuild from scratch. But…" 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

"The family made too many enemies," Darian finished, understanding the brutal logic. "At the first sign of internal weakness, everyone they wronged across the universe would unite to wipe them out."

Vanh nodded dryly.

Darian sighed. He knew the Wube family's history. The corruption was rooted long before the Spiritual Guardians even existed. What started on Earth spread like cancer through the galaxies. It was so deep that even with Vanh as leader, genuinely wanting to change things… there was no clean way to do it.

"So…" Darian stared at him. "You gathered the family's elite here already planning to kill them?"

Vanh smiled faintly. A sad but resolute smile.

It wasn't just people from Earth who came on this mission; two-thirds were nine-ring Spiritual Guardians from all corners of the universe. That meant that with that massacre, 80% of the strongest members of the Wube family vanished in an instant.

Vanh wouldn't need to hunt down the corrupt ones. With such a massive loss, the news would spread, and the family's enemies would swarm and slaughter those they hated. Even Vanh's father, the former leader, wouldn't last long out there.

It was an all-or-nothing plan. Vanh destroyed his own rear guard. Now, either he killed Darian and rebuilt the entire family from zero, or he died, and the family would cease to exist forever in a short time.

"As far as the family goes, this was the only solution," Vanh said, his voice turning grave. "As for the two of us… I know I would never win if I gave you time to grow a little more. That's why I chose this path. This is my only chance."

Vanh's red eyes shone intensely.

"I became who I am because of my mother. She gave me everything at the cost of immense blood and the suffering of others. But later, thanks to your words, I understood the true meaning of life and the path I wanted to walk."

He clenched his fist, the sword trembling slightly.

"Even knowing my mother was a monster… I can't live with the fact that you killed her. My rational mind agrees with you, Darian. But my heart does not."

Vanh raised his blade.

"I'd rather die fighting here. Or exorcise my entire past by killing you and starting over from zero."

Darian nodded, saying nothing. Fate had been sealed the moment Vanh attacked his people on Earth.

But as he looked into that firm gaze, Darian recalled the stories Howlyn had gathered. During the lost thousand years in that training universe, Vanh was the pillar that prevented the Galaxy and the Celestia Academy from being conquered.

He protected the Mannaz. He purged the traitors. He trained the new generation.

He was the hero who kept the people united for a thousand years.

Even in Darian's current army, there were people from allied planets who had lived through those years in that universe. They all said the same thing: Vanh did everything for the people and was an honest man. Everyone respected him deeply.

It was a complete change from the idiotic Young Master that Darian had been beaten down at the Earth Novice Tournament.

Darian sighed. Life took unexpected turns. He joined that Young Sage tournament by chance and ended up changing everything for Vanh and many others.

But the past does not change.

Vanh was a hero forged on a vile foundation. And no matter how cruel his mother was, the love between them had been genuine.

The heart doesn't follow logic. Mallory was his mother. The woman who loved him unconditionally and gave her life for him. Seeing the person you love most get killed right in front of you awakened an instinctive hatred in him. If Vanh could accept that without any issue, he'd be a true psychopath.

In short, for Vanh, the only honorable way out was battle. He couldn't move on if he didn't do this. Having a final fight against Darian would be the perfect way to end everything once and for all.

Only one would walk away alive.

Darian snorted. "Fine. I'll fight you."

At that moment, coming down from the skies, the massive Wyvern landed on the ground in front of them.

Its gaze locked seriously onto Darian. "Missionary, no matter how strong you are, this other human possesses great immortal power. It's impossible for you to win alone. This battle will decide the winner of the final prize, so I will take part."

Runar looked at Vanh with hostility. Clearly, he disliked that figure after seeing him try a dirty move against Darian and then slaughter his own allies.

On top of that, Vanh was definitely stronger than both him and Darian, so winning the final prize against him would be extremely difficult. Runar clearly wanted to fight alongside Darian. Two against one, compared to Vanh's earlier sneak attack, felt much fairer. That way, they had a real chance.

But…

"He and I will settle this between the two of us. I owe him that," Darian said with a blank expression.

The Wyvern turned to him with a serious look. Darian added, "Don't worry. No matter how this fight ends, even if the winner is half-dead, we won't complain if you kill that figure and take the final prize. When this is over, whoever manages to kill the Missionary still takes everything."

Runar snorted, seeing in Darian's eyes that he wouldn't back down. Still, his objective was the final prize. Regardless of the outcome of this fight, once it ended, he would have a huge advantage, since the winner would be at least exhausted.

"Dan!" Niara's voice sounded behind Darian.

He turned smoothly and met her eyes. "Sorry, I'll fight this one alone. In the end, it was my fault that he became what he is…"

Vanh gave a faint, bitter smile. But Darian's words were correct. If he hadn't completely changed and followed another path because of Darian, he would never have become an immortal, and Darian would have killed him on some other occasion already.

Niara nodded lightly. "Alright. It'll be a flashy victory, a great chance to defeat an immortal on your own."

Darian snorted. Right now, thanks to Meru's new technique, he already had the strength to easily kill someone with nine rings. But an immortal? The gap was like heaven and earth.

In Vanh's case, he could only use about 60% of his immortal power. That gave Darian some hope, since he still hadn't burned his main cards. But… that hope was very fragile.

Seeing that everything was settled, Vanh waved his hand. On his forehead, immortal power surged in all directions. At the same time, extreme spatial power burst outward.

"!"

Niara, Runar, and all of Darian's army were suddenly swallowed by a distortion.

They didn't even feel it coming and had no chance to escape. It was a move worthy of an immortal.

In the next second, everyone found themselves outside the crater. Once out, it was impossible to go back in. Inside, only Darian and Vanh remained.

Alear and everyone else had their eyes wide open. Vanh had merely expelled them, but if he wanted to kill them, no one would have had any chance.

"Papa Dan…" Alear stammered, only now truly feeling the level of danger that immortal represented. Her soul trembled in fear just thinking about something happening to Darian.

"What? Doubting your dad?" Niara turned to her and said with a faint smile. "Just relax and watch him win carefully. Nothing in the world can kill him. I doubted him in the past, and he always made me regret it."

Niara's voice radiated completely irrational confidence. Everyone took a deep breath. Darian only had seven rings… while his enemy was a terrifying immortal. Still, faced with those amber eyes and that aura of confidence, everyone felt infected by it.

Their eyes focused intensely on the inside of the crater.

Vanh hadn't just expelled them; he had also pushed out the demonic aura, blood energy, and everything that shouldn't exist inside. Now, everyone could use a bit of power in their eyes and clearly see everything inside.

At that moment, Darian and Vanh faced each other from just a few hundred meters apart.

Darian took a deep breath. His entire primordial physique was activated at full power again, but this time the aura retracted, condensing into a thin layer around his body. That was the most efficient form of use, slightly reducing raw power but consuming less chaos power.

With a wave of his hand, his three daggers floated around him, all three emanating pulses of extreme elemental power.

Vanh took a deep breath. His sword was drawn and pointed forward.

The sword pulsed with golden immortal light. Reality around him distorted as his blessing activated. At the same time, his second spiritual root was also activated, making space-time vibrate in sync.

He held nothing back.

Runar, Alear, and everyone else watched from outside, holding their breath. Niara was the only one watching with her amber eyes shining, as if eager to witness a great spectacle.

**RUMBLE!**