Damned Healer-Chapter 655: Truly Pathetic

The black blade cut through the air, leaving a trail of absolute vacuum as it flew toward its target.

*CLANG!*

A sound like metal crashing against metal echoed abruptly.

"YOU!"

The female figure's eyes went wide in shock. Right in front of her, a bare hand was gripping her corrupted blade, as if it were nothing more than a worthless stick.

That blade was the pure manifestation of Nether power drawn from the corpse. Just touching it should have meant instant corruption, turning a body into ashes before the slash even finished. Yet, beneath Darian's fingers, a subtle multicolored aura pulsed, repelling the darkness.

Darian snorted and clenched his fist hard.

*BANG!*

The blade exploded into countless shadow fragments, dispersing in a shockwave.

In the very next split second, he was already on the ground, flanked by Niara and Alear. With a smooth motion of his hand, a pure white light wrapped around Alaric, whom he had brought back with him in the rescue.

Alaric was already unconscious, a hair's breadth from death. The internal damage that had been fatal was sealed instantly under the healing power. As for his shattered soul, Darian quickly used an artifact, stabilizing his consciousness before it could be lost forever.

**BUZZ!**

Heaven and earth roared in unison.

The Sacred Treasure didn't waste that opening and acted immediately. The fusion with the corpse of the Divine Nether Beast was completed. In that moment, a suffocating black mist covered the entire island.

The colossal head locked onto the titanic body. When those eyes shone with a twisted light, even the Void of the universe seemed to writhe in agony.

All forms of life in the universe felt that awakening. It was as if the manifestation of evil and corruption had been born once more, making everyone break out in cold sweat.

The entity focused its gaze on the ground, finding the tiny figure of Darian, who stood unmoving, staring straight back at it.

"Are you done?" Darian's voice echoed, cold and fearless.

"Happy now? You finally got yourself a body to roam freely through the universe. In exchange, you conspired with monsters and fed on the suffering of countless lives for generations. But of course… who cares? Your freedom comes above everything else, right?"

The creature opened its massive maw, and its voice thundered, reaching every island in the universe.

"Insects do not set the terms. From today onward, I am the only Rule. And the only law in this universe will be Strength. There will be no more clans, empires, or families to protect the weak. Every being will rely only on itself. Cowards will be eliminated, and only then will there be peace in the silence of the strong."

It was a guttural snarl that injected despair into the hearts of every lifeform that heard it. To the entity, the balance of the universe was a mistake to be corrected by brute force.

In a universe, there were countless species and forms of life. Some were strong, others weak, but all had their place. Now, this malignant entity wanted to value nothing but power. Everyone felt despair growing.

"Wow, fascinating…" Darian mocked.

Suddenly, his body pulsed. A multicolored light burst from his pores, expanding like a new sun that claimed the space once held by darkness.

The entity's gaze changed; its confidence wavered.

Darian smiled, and the Nether power around them began to retreat violently, as if facing its natural predator. The gloomy environment was purified in an instant.

The Primordial Physique was fully active.

Across the universe, powerful cultivators and sentient beings felt that awakening. It wasn't just power; it was authority.

Darian's presence made the universe calm down, and everyone felt as if they were no longer alone. In their hearts, he appeared as the manifestation of Heaven's Will, caring for all lives equally.

"So you're saying everyone will be forced to live like Nether Beasts?" Darian said, his voice now carrying a heroic, crystal-clear tone that reached every corner of the universe.

"You say peace will come from endless competition and isolation. After all, if only the strong survive, people will fear each other and won't do anything foolish. Is that how you imagine peace?"

"Exactly," the entity replied flatly. "I've lived long enough and carefully observed how people think and live, especially humans. The path of the Nether Beasts is the only reliable one. The strong live and protect only what is useful to them. No foolish trust, no unnecessary problems."

"Haha… that's a childish and shallow worldview." Darian let out a short laugh, filled with disdain.

"Like attracts like; that is an unchanging law. The only way to build peace is to nurture and teach kindness in people, helping them grow as individuals. By planting good things, you reap the same over time, more and more. As for the hateful ones who never stop appearing, they must be eliminated as quickly as possible, so they don't contaminate everything around them. You want the opposite. You want a world where every newborn learns that only they matter. Before long, even pure souls would be infected. What you call peace… I call it an eternal slaughterhouse."

The entity snorted, a dry sound full of scorn. "Ridiculous. Utopian." Its voice thundered directly into people's minds.

Across the universe, many felt a chill down their spine. Deep down, they feared the creature might be right. Against Nether Beasts, irrational and bloodthirsty beings, diplomacy was an illusion; only the sword remained.

Was Darian really suggesting that everyone unite and try to live in peace? That was madness. Even excluding the Nether Beasts, it would make everyone relax. Over generations, no powerful leaders or fierce warriors would rise anymore. In the end, everyone would be devoured by their enemies.

Darian, however, did not look away. "Yes, life is a jungle, and everyone must know how to fight and defend themselves," he admitted, his voice cutting through the collective despair. "But that doesn't mean we should accept the abyss without trying to change it."

The air around Darian grew heavy, his lips moving with terrifying calm:

"In the end… you don't need to worry about that. I'll handle everything. I'll solve this problem and any others that appear in the future. From today on, I guarantee that even the Nether Beasts will know peace. As for you… your existence served its purpose: being the catalyst for my arrival."

"Hahaha!" A booming laugh shook the floating islands. "You're truly pathetic! How does an insect dare speak such grand words?"

Darian smiled coldly. A dagger appeared in his hand, and in that same instant, the nine powers stored within his cores ignited.

His aura transformed. On his forehead, nine pulsing marks appeared and intertwined into a radiant nine-pointed star. At the center, a perfect circle emanated a colorless, absolute, silent energy — a power that felt like the calm right before the end of the world.

The universe fell into a sepulchral silence. The Ninth Zenith had manifested for the second time in the world.

The entity felt the killing intent lock onto its very essence. Its entire existence froze; a primal terror, the feeling of being prey before a god, left it completely paralyzed.

For the inhabitants of the universe, it was as if a Divinity had opened its eyes and pointed its blade at evil.

Darian's body protested. His bones cracked, and blood began to seep from his pores. Holding the Ninth Zenith without the Primordial Physique at its peak was like trying to contain a supernova inside a glass bottle. Fortunately, he had saved enough energy for this moment.

He clenched his teeth, ignoring the pain, and released the strike.

*Blinding Break!*

Niara and Alear moved in sync, carrying Alaric and retreating toward Tir and the others hiding on the island. Alear pushed her power to the limit, creating an impenetrable shield in front of the group.

**KBOOM!**

An explosion shook the entire universe.

Everything went dark instantly. As for that entity...

...in that final moment, it realized just how ridiculous its earlier words sounded in front of Darian, and who the real pathetic insect was.

When the power hit it, the feeling was like an ant being trampled by an elephant. It was as if it were being torn apart and crushed at the same time.

Everything happened in the blink of an eye, and the light of the world slowly returned.

Darian breathed heavily. All of his power had been consumed at once, leaving him completely drained and without strength.

In front of him, nothing remained of that divine corpse. His power could even destroy the semi-immortal bodies of the Spiritual Sovereigns; that dead corpse, being used by someone who did not truly master its power, was not even on the same level.

His gaze lifted. There, floating above, there was only a small, trembling pearl.

Inside it, he could clearly feel a shrunken fragment of a soul.

At that moment, Niara appeared in the skies and coldly grabbed the Sacred Treasure.

She landed on the ground, approaching Darian.

"Let… let me go… I regret it..."

The weak, barely audible voice echoed from inside the pearl. Sensing its own death approaching, that figure managed to move a tiny remnant of its soul into the Sacred Treasure and, using its power, avoided disappearing.

"Go?! Do you have any idea how many people died because of your actions?! Do you have any idea what those five powers were doing to support you over all these years?!" Alear appeared, roaring in fury.

As the Supreme General infiltrated in the Empire, she had access to all knowledge of the past. Over the thousands of years in which the Sacred Treasure had changed hands, it had secretly helped the four clans grow, as well as the Primordial Empire.

This resulted in the extinction of two races of Primordial Beasts, the near extinction of the Heaven-Devouring Sparrows, and countless clans, sects, and forms of life that vanished to nourish those people.

What they did at Golden Sky Mountain was just the tip of the iceberg of the arrogance they had cultivated over time.

Darian spat coldly: "In the name of everyone who died because of you, you no longer deserve to live. Your karma will be paid in full by you, upfront, in your next lives."

"Wait! My soul… if I—"

The voice was cut off when Darian waved his hand, and a soul energy flowed into it. He actually healed that soul using the artifact.

If he let it be taken by the laws like that, the damage to its soul was so severe that it would not reincarnate. Despite the atrocities committed, the love Alaric felt for her was real. That meant there was still goodness there; she had simply made the worst possible choices. Because of that, Darian showed a minimum of mercy.

In seconds, the soul recovered to about 80%. Then, Darian stopped.

He looked at Niara, who nodded and activated her power.

*CRACK!*

A dull breaking sound echoed. The soul's connection to the Sacred Treasure was brutally severed.

There were no farewell words. That figure felt a sharp pain, its vision went dark, and it was taken by the laws, disappearing forever. That was the end.