Damned Healer-Chapter 652: Primordial Judgment

Niara took advantage of the moment when the two were distracted and moved like a ghost once again, appearing behind them and striking.

*BOOM!*

Time-space turned chaotic, and a wave of natural power spread in all directions.

Darian watched everything in awe. Niara had used the power from his Gaia Core perfectly twice.

She didn’t know how to control space to move, but the power coming from Gaia had an innate ease in influencing the space around her. Alone, and purely by instinct, she found a way to use that energy to move at extreme speed.

*Wooooosh!*

A wave of astral winds and light erupted behind Darian.

He turned around and saw the Sacred Treasure above the corpse, pulsing as if it were burning. Alaric was still on top, his hand pressed against the Sacred Treasure; the two were locked in a direct clash of forces and energies.

That duel seemed to have moved one step closer to its end. But the Sacred Treasure was resisting fiercely.

"NO!"

At that moment, a desperate scream rang out. Darian turned back to the front, space stabilized, and he could see clearly.

Niara was in the skies, gripping the Emperor’s brother by the neck. He roared in despair, his body twisted and covered in blood. All of his bones had been shattered, and the energy inside his body was sealed by the primordial power in Niara’s hands. He was completely helpless in her grasp.

This was something else Niara had recently learned to do. She took inspiration from Darian, who had learned a technique using the power of chaos that could seal an enemy’s power within their body. So... she tried to replicate it using her own primordial power. The result was right in front of everyone’s eyes.

Niara didn’t remember anything from the time when she was the Divine Dragon, but all her old skills and mastery still seemed engraved into her soul. She just tried things, and everything always worked effortlessly. It was enough to make even Darian feel a bit jealous.

"Let him go!"

At that instant, the Emperor seemed to go mad. But he didn’t attack directly; instead, he made a strange forward motion with his sword.

The weapon left his hands, shooting straight toward Niara.

She turned to him with an amused smile. "The same trick? Like father, like daughter. Don’t worry, I’ll send the whole family to reincarnate together soon."

The weapon closed in instantly. Then, its blade pulsed with a glow that spelled impending disaster. It was clearly a forced detonation, just like what Melva had tried before and failed to do.

If Niara hadn’t seen Melva attempt it earlier, she might have been caught off guard, since in her original universe weapons didn’t have spirits and weren’t nearly this powerful. But now, Darian had already explained everything to her.

Without hesitation, her wings beat powerfully.

*Buzz*

A distorted and extremely strange aura formed around her. Niara snorted coldly and extended one hand toward the sword.

**KBOOOOM!**

A terrifying explosion echoed. But despite the sound and the chaos in space...

...not a single destructive shockwave spread outward.

Slowly, everything began to stabilize in the skies.

Then, Niara appeared completely unharmed, still holding that man by the neck.

Her body radiated a horrifying aura; cracks appeared in space around her, as if the world itself couldn’t withstand the pressure she was emitting.

Everything had been devoured by her and her blessing.

The Emperor stood completely catatonic, staring at her. What just happened? How was that possible? His mind reeled in terror as it replayed what he had seen.

Niara snorted and tightened her grip.

"NO!"

*BANG!*

A rain of blood erupted. One of the four most powerful beings in the universe simply exploded into a bloody mist, brutally, right in front of that Dragoness.

She had already killed two of them, and it all happened in just a few minutes.

"HAHAHAHA!"

Niara laughed wildly, her tone almost demonic. Her mind went into a frenzy as Berserker Mode activated to its limit.

Her wings beat, and space collapsed.

The Emperor snapped out of his stupor in complete despair. He acted instinctively and fast, clenching his fists as something shattered.

His figure blurred, and then he vanished.

But he couldn’t escape.

Niara stopped and looked upward. Far, far above in the skies, he appeared.

"Destroy them!!"

He shouted the command, holding something black in his hands, pulsing with Nether power.

*ROAR!*

All the countless Nether Beasts that had been surrounding the battlefield since the beginning moved like a tidal wave, charging in from every direction.

But, of course, the Emperor knew those beasts wouldn’t survive even half an attack from Niara. Fortunately, in his hands was a Nether Heart.

That dead queen had ruled her race through sheer brute force, making them fear her, but she had also possessed that item to aid her. When she submitted to the Emperor, he naturally claimed it for himself.

This was that race’s greatest treasure, and it was what helped that woman become one of the four most powerful beings in the universe.

No one knew how the Nether Heart came into existence. It was simply found by the beasts, possibly deep within the black sea, a place where powerful beasts could enter and leave alive, as long as it was only for a short time.

There was another moment in history when it was discovered by the Nether Beasts, back when the Divine Nether Beast appeared. But in the battle of the past, it was destroyed.

The power coming from the Nether Heart, however, had another use. It could force the more submissive-minded Nether Beasts into a state of madness and make them obey any order.

When the beasts closed in on Niara...

"DETONATE!" the Emperor roared.

*BOOM! BOOOM!! BOOOOM!!!*

Several of them exploded, releasing all the Nether power inside their bodies and creating a wave of devastation.

Niara wasn’t injured by that. She wouldn’t suffer even a single scratch. But she was pushed back by the wave of power and couldn’t counterattack.

The Emperor, up in the skies, waved his hand, commanding groups of ten at a time to move in and detonate, not letting her leave her spot. There were thousands of beasts, and that would keep Niara trapped, unable to escape.

Darian just watched, indifferent.

Why would the Emperor only want to distract her?

Darian didn’t know the reason, but he felt that the Emperor had a troublesome card up his sleeve. If he went all out and killed this figure, Darian was certain that the Supreme Generals, who hadn’t shown up for this battle, could use that card.

And the reason Darian feared this... was because he had a good idea of what the Empire’s most powerful hidden card was.

The Emperor held a communication crystal in his other hand. He squeezed it and gave an order to the people who remained in the distant Primordial Empire:

"Supreme Generals! Activate the Primordial Judgment!"

He spoke with a clear, powerful voice. His words echoed in all directions and could possibly be felt even on that distant island. That confirmed his identity and his order to everyone.

Meanwhile, Niara roared, consumed by the frenzy of Berserker mode, unable to break free from the enemy encirclement.

It took less than five seconds.

**BUZZZ!**

Suddenly, a devastating buzzing sound could be heard across the entire universe.

Darian turned his gaze in one direction. There, he saw a pillar of light rise, piercing the cosmos as far as the eye could see.

That light... was pure primordial power.

The Emperor saw it, and a sinister smile formed on his lips.

Right after that, the pillar of light expanded in all directions, and space split open, as if forming a channel.

**SKREEEE!**

A deafening screech tore through the universe, a sound so primal and powerful that it felt like a physical blow to the chest, vibrating down to the marrow of every living being’s bones.

Darian’s eyes narrowed.

From within that pillar of light, what emerged was none other than the corpse of the Roc.

Darian had always wondered why the hell the Roc’s body was flying around the universe on its own. The Wood Spirits knew nothing about it, but Darian felt that it had something to do with the strange laws of this universe.

As for the Sacred Treasure of the Primordial Empire, it possessed the power to control the laws of the universe and, through that, create the Primordial Chosen. So Darian guessed they might be able to use their Sacred Treasure to manipulate that corpse.

That was why Darian did everything he could to not burn through his strength. In the end, he was right.

*RUMBLE!*

At that moment, the colossal corpse flapped its gigantic wings, flying rapidly toward the island where everything was happening.

"God Roc, eliminate this evil that has arisen in the universe!"

The Emperor exclaimed, his tone filled with pride and joy.

Darian snorted. To make that happen, he must have pushed the Sacred Treasure to its absolute limit. Even then, he could only maintain minimal control over that corpse.

Most likely, several generations in the future wouldn’t have a Primordial Chosen until it recovered. So the Emperor would only use this card if it were a matter of survival for himself and for the entire Empire.

As for that corpse, it was filled with primordial power and had terrifying potential, far, far greater than that of the Divine Nether Beast. It was equivalent to an Immortal Spiritual Guardian, something Darian couldn’t take lightly.

’Well... whatever.’ Darian snorted coldly.

He would burn all of his power, using the Ninth Zenith. With that, he would brutally destroy the Roc’s corpse. Then, to be safe, he wouldn’t use the power of the Origin. After all, even if he killed the Divine Nether Beast, the Empire’s Supreme Generals would still exist. They likely hadn’t shown up precisely so they could use this as a hidden trump card. On top of that, the Primordial Chosens Melva and Murkum could also become a serious problem.

Niara could fight them on her own. But with Darian turning into a powerless corpse, she would end up in a difficult situation, having to protect him while fleeing far away and trying to find a safe, isolated place to heal him. That would be extremely complicated, considering the distances between the islands and the enemies’ strength. On top of that, even if she succeeded, Darian wouldn’t recover his energy anytime soon.

In short, Darian would play it safe: kill the Roc’s corpse, then escape while ignoring the Divine Nether Beast. His life and his wife’s life were no joke, and he wouldn’t take risks without a good reason.

It might take a few more years, but eventually, he would return and settle everything. At least that hidden card would no longer exist, and things would be simpler.

The problem... Alaric and his entire family would be doomed, and Darian couldn’t help them.

A pain passed through his chest. Everything depended on Alaric managing to master the Sacred Treasure of the City and not needing him, but... Darian felt that things wouldn’t go the way he had planned.

’I’m sorry...’ Darian thought to himself, turning toward the figure behind him. He would probably have to abandon him now, so he could take revenge later.

"!"

It was at that second that, suddenly, Darian’s eyes went wide.

He felt something new and unexpected emerge.

"WHAT?!"