Damned Healer-Chapter 669: Shadow Of The Past

"I-I… I'm Alirio. S-Sorry about earlier…" As soon as Alirio got close to the three of them, he stammered and lowered his head, unable to look at Alear.

Niara smiled and stepped closer, gently extending her hand and lifting his gaze toward her. "Looks like Veyle's shy nature got passed down too, hehe…"

He swallowed hard, unable to react.

Both Niara and Darian understood that, in that regard, he was very much like his mother. He was stubborn and completely focused; most likely, after his awakening at a young age, he had devoted himself day and night, without rest, to getting stronger so he could help this universe in his parents' absence.

That led to a massive lack of social skills. That was why he was so confused and lost. He couldn't deal with what he was feeling toward Alear.

"Meh, mama doesn't look away easily. Even being shy and cute, she knows how to be serious and polite when needed." At that moment, Alear's voice sounded, full of mockery.

Darian turned to her, seeing an expression he had never seen before. Her eyes were slightly narrowed, and her lips subtly pulled into an almost angry expression. But…

…her fluctuations were chaotic and completely opposite to what she was physically showing.

Darian grew serious. Alirio was screwed trying to deal with her if he didn't have courage and support.

"Dan, we have to go back to Earth, right?" Niara turned and asked.

Darian nodded. "The situation there is critical. Each day on Earth equals a year here, so I can't go back right now, because I don't know what that idiot might do. Go back and summon everyone, bringing them to this universe as fast as possible. You can only stay one hour, and here, fifteen days will pass."

Niara nodded, giving him a meaningful look. Then she turned and grabbed both of their hands. "Come."

Without delay, Niara connected with Darian and opened the channel to the Universe of Heaven's Will. She pulled the two of them along, not giving them any chance to speak.

After being left alone, Darian took a deep breath. He had a lot of work to do and moved through the Academy's central building, heading to the Leadership room. Inside was where Howlyn recorded everything that happened in the universe, in as much detail as possible.

He went in and began reading all the Jade Slips. Almost six and a half thousand years had passed in that universe.

In the first thousand years, Howlyn and all the allies continued clearing nearby galaxies, conquering more and more territory. Without Darian, their speed was ridiculously slow. But fortunately, the Risen Lords didn't dare show themselves, since Howlyn had many tactics and resources to kill them or seriously injure them.

The primitive races Darian had brought, after a few years, became absurdly powerful. Standing out were the Heavenly Elemental Spirits, and especially the Chromaraics, who managed to adapt to the power of the universe and evolved to the point of possessing strength comparable to a high-level Spiritual Guardian with nine rings.

With their own power and Howlyn's command, in a few hundred years, they could dominate a new region.

During that period, nothing too major happened.

Howlyn had spies everywhere, especially in the Celestia Academy, which was not under her control.

That academy, thanks to Vanh in the past, had been completely, or almost completely, purged of traitors. But no one was foolish enough to believe that enemies wouldn't try to infiltrate again.

It happened exactly as she expected. After a thousand years, things inside began to change, and the leadership was replaced.

That was normal, since the Mannaz had a lifespan of a little over five thousand years, except for those with a draconic Bloodline, who lived ten times longer. Those people Darian had placed in leadership long ago were just Elders who, in the past, had been Summoners. So, due to old age, they had to be replaced.

For the Summoners, however, everything was different. Because of the contract with the Spiritual Guardians, the Mannaz received a kind of blessing from Heaven's Will, which made the vital energy of their bodies not be consumed as long as their partner was alive.

That detail, before Darian desynced the time between the two universes, few remembered, since it had been established at the very beginning of everything.

When the time between the universes was the same, normally the Spiritual Guardians grew old and died before the Mannaz. One of the reasons was that all Spiritual Guardians ended up doing many missions in other universes, and time in those places flowed very differently.

It wasn't uncommon for them to spend hundreds of years completing a mission; so even though Spiritual Guardians had lifespans of hundreds or thousands of years, depending on the race, in the time of their own universe, it looked like they all died much earlier than they should have.

Going back to the timeline Darian was reading.

The new leadership of the Celestia Academy was obviously corrupted and began causing problems, deliberately acting against their galaxy and allowing the Risen to almost invade it.

Howlyn wouldn't allow that galaxy and countless innocents to die, so she ended up having to help defend the place many times, reducing her focus elsewhere.

Every time she moved a powerful army to help them, a major Risen offensive would happen in another galaxy under her control. So, to avoid innocent deaths everywhere, she was forced to stop trying to conquer new territories and focus solely on defense.

After that, the following centuries became harsher and harsher.

Howlyn was furious because the traitors were almost causing a calamity. She focused on her investigations to the utmost and, in the end, managed to obtain extremely valuable internal information.

There was a group among the traitors with nine special rings. These Spiritual Guardians shared a blessing in common, one that no one had any knowledge of, because it had never existed before.

In other words, a Spiritual Guardian who had undergone an ancestral awakening managed to create a new blessing at some point. Then, he taught it to others who appeared later, and all of them could use it.

Howlyn didn't know the name or many details. But, based on the clues the spies gathered, that blessing allowed the person to store small things inside their own soul.

Yes, it was basically the same as the inventory ring Darian used in the past, but it was a blessing created exclusively for that purpose, and it also seemed to have major limitations, which Darian never had.

Reading that, Darian snorted.

Many times, he had come across things the Celestial Shadow possessed that shouldn't exist in that universe. He knew from Howlyn that they were items given to him by allied Spiritual Guardians, but for those people, it should have been impossible to bring such things into this universe.

Darian had suspected it was a blessing, and now he had confirmation.

The years went by, and the signs that the Celestial Shadow was receiving heavy support to recover became clearer and clearer.

In the past, the Spiritual Sovereigns only helped a little, since it wasn't that interesting for them for this universe to disappear so quickly. But thanks to Darian having severely injured them and pushed them into a corner, everything changed. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

They knew Darian had been thrown into the underworld by their technique, but they were certain that a Missionary could survive and one day return. So it was better to use that time to destroy everything he had built.

Knowing this, Howlyn began preparing for the worst-case scenario and made every plan to survive at least once against the central enemy's attack. And also…

Darian's eyes changed when he read this detail.

She managed to infiltrate one of her spies among the traitors connected to the Risen Lords!

That spy was a young Spiritual Guardian who possessed a blessing capable of manipulating the mind and completely sealing memories. He was brave and pretended to be recruited by the traitors.

Through that, Howlyn discovered where the Celestial Shadow's body was and, more importantly… where the *Primordial Cemetery* was located.

That Cemetery was a small, sealed, mobile space where, at the very beginning of the war against the Spiritual Guardians and the Mannaz, the bodies of the most powerful were stored.

At the beginning of everything, the Mannaz possessed a Bloodline hundreds of times purer and more powerful, and, as a consequence, their strength was incomparable to that of the Mannaz of the present day. Because of that, the Risen Lords did not turn them into Risen; they killed them and preserved their bodies.

Thus, they created a terrifying place, filled with the purest Bloodline and power of the two Primordial Beasts.

That place served countless purposes, such as strengthening an outstanding Risen who possessed a bit of that Bloodline in their body, or even improving a Risen's endurance, allowing them to withstand the primordial energy of the place.

And also… all the sacred weapons left behind by Enfield and the Divine Dragon were buried there to make it even more powerful. Remember that one of those weapons ended up being found and became Darian's three daggers; they were true sacred treasures.

Only one Risen Lord had control over that place, and the Celestial Shadow stayed inside, using the resources he obtained from those three entities to recover.

With that information, Howlyn devised a bold plan. She had that brave young man take some runes to the place when the entire new group of traitors was brought there.

The result… unfortunately, he was caught in the end.

But he managed to complete the main task without being seen. Howlyn gave him three tasks; if he were discovered during one of them, after the others had already been completed, the enemies would only destroy that one.

The young man was discovered while carrying out the second task. And, without any hesitation, he self-destructed.

His Summoner accepted that and died together with him. Both sacrificed themselves, but the brave young man would awaken in his universe still alive.

Howlyn made good use of that. Now, in the Academy, there was another inscription rune that, when Darian and Niara returned and brought Lucy back, would allow the creation of an inscription connecting the two places.

In short, Darian could directly invade that location with as many people as he wanted, without giving the enemy any chance to see him arrive before it was too late.

Darian read the details of it all, clearly excited. Howlyn was, indeed, a great ally who had always helped him a lot. He couldn't betray her trust, and he needed to save this universe completely.

When he finished reading everything, ten days had passed.

Darian focused on the inventory.

'Master, she's already well recovered.' Ailik, who was in the inventory with Tir, spoke about Howlyn's spirit.

Darian nodded. "Great, let's make her be reborn quickly. This time, she'll have the happy life she deserves."

Darian was certain. Howlyn hid many deep mental wounds, caused by her long years as a Risen Lord. She hid them very well when she was in front of him, but sometimes he could feel that dark abyss inside her.

Now, being reborn without any memories, she could live without all of that. Her abilities would be polished again, and she would quickly become someone he could rely on once more. But this time, she could truly be herself, without the shadow of the past.