Damned Healer-Chapter 595: No Choice

Reignar was forced to retreat at high speed for a few kilometers through space. It was just the recoil after blocking Darian and Niara's attack; he didn't suffer even the slightest injury.

After stopping, he turned completely stunned toward the other confrontation.

The first thing he noticed was that he was now dozens of kilometers away from his other allies. Then…

He focused on that beautiful woman from the Charming Eyes Race. She was radiating an absolute immortal aura. Her black wings moved gently, and her blue eyes shone like two divine beacons. That was a typical ocular technique of that race.

Czaza snorted coldly, then…

"!"

…she stepped into the void, disappearing right before everyone's eyes and senses.

Reignar was even more shocked. He clearly saw and felt it. She wasn't moving using spatial power or anything like that. That was movement through the laws of this universe!

Doing that was simple for all Spiritual Sovereigns, but only inside their own personal universes. Whether the Immortal Chaos Essence had been devoured or merely fused with the person, inside their own universe, they could move freely through the laws with a single thought, instantly.

But… the Universe of Heaven's Will had no owner.

All the Spiritual Sovereigns had once tried to search for the Immortal Chaos Essence of this universe, but everything was empty and strange. So, Czaza being able to do that was impossible.

Of course, that wasn't even the most shocking part.

"A Spiritual Sovereign…" Reignar stammered. Worse still, he could feel that Czaza hadn't devoured the power of a universe; she had fused with it, just like Painita and Aurix.

Considering Darian had managed to create more than four thousand immortals… even so, the level of luck required for this was absurd.

There was no way to guess that a seventh one would be born so quickly. If they had known that, they wouldn't have taken such a risk coming here before recovering. Now, they had suffered massive losses.

He took a deep breath. Retreat was no longer an option. But they also weren't going to lose, no matter what.

"BASTARDS!" Guren roared, making space-time vibrate. A wave of blazing Yang erupted around him like a supernova.

Caliris, Painita, and Aurix hurriedly retreated, moving closer to the barrier protecting Earth.

They knew this move of that Oni. It consumed a huge amount of energy and was rarely used, but the closer you were to him, the stronger the Yang became, capable of invading the body and poisoning even an immortal.

It was easy to deal with if you knew the method. Just move away from him, letting him waste massive power for nothing.

Guren snorted. He knew using it was pointless, but he still did it, because behind him was a half-transparent soul, emitting a faint golden light.

Its form was that of a tall woman, but her entire figure was covered in cracks, like a porcelain vase hastily glued together.

That was Haekla, or rather, her immortal soul. Her semi-immortal body had been completely destroyed, but her soul remained.

Her gaze looked like it was burning with hatred. Her body was gone, so she had been downgraded to the weakest of the seven Spiritual Sovereigns. Even that newcomer could now be considered stronger than her.

Without a body, her defenses were ridiculously weak. Any damage dealt directly to her soul would degrade it further, especially since the three of them had already lost a third of their souls, completely destroyed by Darian before.

Fortunately, her offensive power remained almost the same. They were still Spiritual Guardians at their core. Practically 90% of their strength came from the soul, so it didn't make much difference in most cases. Only those who relied heavily on bodily power, like Painita, for example, would drop to around 60% offensive power if they lost their body.

Darian and Niara recovered extremely quickly and returned completely uninjured. At the same time, the entire immortal army moved. The two approached Reignar, who was deep in thought, surrounding him from a great distance.

Caliris, Aurix, and Painita took deep breaths, and the Immortal Keepers positioned themselves nearby to provide support. This group would handle the Oni and that immortal soul.

The two sides were now thousands of kilometers apart. After everything that happened, they had been deliberately split by Darian, and now they couldn't allow themselves to reunite.

"KILL!"

Lucy roared, activating the inscription as the entire army moved together once again. They had already swallowed several high-level recovery pills. Now, they attacked Reignar head-on.

He, in turn, snorted. Now everything was clearer. Darian had completely set them up, likely focusing on the fact that they were injured and catching them off guard.

Separating them also seemed to be part of the plan. Injured and divided, they couldn't use some of their most powerful hidden cards.

Was his goal to kill them? How ridiculous. Reignar thought, with an ironic smile.

In his hands, a short sword appeared. On its silver blade, a black rune pulsed.

Darian saw that and his breath caught. It was a runic seal.

That weapon was definitely not like Lucius's or Nayara's, but that runic seal was extremely special and made up for everything.

The black rune emitted a strange aura. In a second, it moved, covering the sword, then contaminating the entire body of that Alv.

He didn't hesitate and charged straight at the army, a dark smile on his face. That runic seal on the weapon was single-use. Once activated, it would be completely lost. But it would make sure it was worth it.

'It's the Thorn runic seal!' Darian immediately identified it, surprised. It was something Heaven's Will used sometimes in the past. Darian had learned the techniques of the God of Strength and forged his own weapons with runic seals, so he knew the effects and names of many of them.

This type of runic seal, when activated on a weapon, was like a suicidal attack. The weapon's user had their body contaminated by a malevolent power, giving them a very short lifespan.

Besides multiplying physical power, anyone they attacked, once even lightly touched by that power, would have their life energy easily burned away. It was a poison impossible to deal with.

But obviously, Darian was sure that this Alv had control over it and wouldn't suffer any consequences after using the seal. He would only lose the weapon.

That was extremely dangerous. After a direct clash, it was impossible not to be touched by the vastly greater power of the enemy. As a result, many would have their bodies rendered useless.

'Lucy, use everything now and don't let him get close!' he sent the message immediately.

Everything happened extremely fast. The army was less than five kilometers from the enemy, who was advancing quickly.

Lucy, who was confidently commanding the inscription, widened her eyes when she heard the urgent order.

"HEAVENLY BLADE FORMATION!"

She roared, and everyone who had been launching an all-out attack in a basic formation stopped instantly. Without hesitation, instead of channeling their immortal power into offense, they pulled it all back into their own bodies defensively.

Lucy made an agile movement, shifting the runes of the inscription. The Devil Pearl and the Primordial Scale pulsed with a brilliant light.

Immediately, a wild and brutal power flowed from them into everyone within the inscription.

That was all the energy contained in those two items, now distributed evenly among everyone.

Those who didn't have strong defenses suddenly felt their bodies cracking. Many spat out blood.

That was why they were forced to use their strength to defend. The Heavenly Blade Formation was a single, all-in move, with no chance of retreat.

Lucy and the army had only one second to suddenly change everything, so they suffered a bit more than they should have. Still, right after that, everyone attacked again.

With that move, Reignar's expression shifted to shock.

That could definitely destroy his physical body if he was careless. But it wouldn't be a huge problem. With a snort, all of his chaos power moved together to form a defensive armor.

On the other side, in the other clash, everyone also attacked Guren and Haekla with everything they had to stop them from trying to help elsewhere.

"Niara,"

More than ten kilometers from the target, Darian spoke. She nodded beside him. Her eyes flashed, and then a multicolored light appeared.

Her scales changed from the pure green of her draconic Bloodline to a mix of white, black, gray, and emerald green.

That came from the four cores and from Darian, but now it was technically hers, just as her power was inside him.

Niara felt an absurd force flowing through every cell of her body. The power of her four cores intertwined and fit perfectly with the four powers coming from Darian.

The strength of it multiplied in a terrifying way. Even Niara felt like her body was one centimeter away from exploding from so much power.

She clenched her fists in total focus. With a flap of her wings, space distorted. Niara shot toward Reignar's back.

At that moment, that Alv felt a chill run down his spine, and his eyes widened.

"How the hell is this possible!"

The blade pointed at him from the front was extremely sharp and dangerous, but he could still deal with it. However, the new blade coming from his back was at least ten times more terrifying.

"FUCK!" Reignar roared, furious.

Without hesitation, a golden light erupted from his body. He pushed even more of his immortal power, going beyond his limits.

He could only manipulate 30% because his soul was injured and couldn't handle more than that. It was like immortal power was a high-temperature liquid, and a broken soul had a structural limit. If it went past 30%, it would start to melt, and the wounds would only worsen.

But now, he had no choice.

On the other side of the battlefield, Guren and Haekla had already accepted that they would have to do the same earlier, since it was impossible to deal with four Spiritual Sovereigns and the Immortal Keepers together.

Because of that, the three enemies found themselves in an even more unexpected situation. They didn't have time to regroup and use their hidden cards. So they were forced to injure themselves just to survive.

But they were beings who had lived a very long time, and they didn't need words to understand each other. By releasing their forms, they would suffer greatly afterward, but this would end now.

At that instant, both sides of the battle collided once again.

There was no sound. Everything vanished. Only an absolute, blinding light spread out, covering countless nearby galaxies.

It was so intense and immense that the entire universe could see and feel that apocalyptic clash.