Damned Healer-Chapter 683: Future Of The Universe
A year passed very quickly in the Divine Protection Universe. During that time, Darian periodically checked the Celestia Academy galaxy, and the number of living people with karma inside it didn’t change enough for him to notice any difference.
That meant the Celestial Shadow was truly keeping its word. Possibly, it didn’t expect Darian to actually not attack, but since nothing really happened and the enemy didn’t move either, it became clear that it had some method to try to recover a bit.
Because of that, Darian couldn’t delay for too long.
On that day, an army of nearly one hundred million people waited in an immense courtyard.
Within that army, only a quarter was made up of Spiritual Guardians. Among them were immortals and also those with nine rings.
Another quarter was formed by peculiar humanoid figures, with parts of their bodies made of rocks and minerals. They were all Golems, and leading them was Thulon. That young man Darian had once met, despite looking physically the same, was now a mature man who radiated a strong sense of leadership.
In their universe, more than two hundred years had passed since Darian’s departure. During that time, Tir and Eleri visited them a few times, delivering valuable resources.
They lived in the Aurix universe, so he evaluated them rigorously. To his surprise, those golems didn’t disappoint and had now reached a level of power above that of a nine-ring Spiritual Guardian.
The Golems were defensively incredible, being the best tanks possible. But these particular Golems held the power of Gaia and couldn’t be underestimated offensively.
Thulon, in particular, was the most terrifying. He could fight head-on against an immortal and, even without having enough power to kill one, it was almost impossible to kill him. Aurix himself tested him once and attacked with everything he had. Even so, Thulon endured the blow without suffering serious injuries and could probably withstand one or two more attacks of the same level without problems.
Another quarter of the army was composed of a large contingent of Void Cultivators and Nether Beasts, coming from Alear’s universe.
Leading them were Saelil and Maeyu. The two officially became Alear’s Supreme Generals and were put in charge of leading the army of their universe.
When Darian left, they weren’t that powerful. However, after the Nether Tree was discovered in that universe, with the permission of Darian and Alear, cultivators who passed that divinity’s evaluation were able to receive its blessing.
In the past, this blessing was only granted to Nether Spirits, but since their cultivation never advanced much, it never drew attention. Now, those blessed people, upon returning to the central islands of the universe, discovered that their cultivation advanced absurdly more easily.
Because of that, the average power level of these people skyrocketed, with thousands reaching a realm that was previously considered impossible to attain.
The Void Cultivators were particularly unique. With manifestation, they could cover a vast area on the battlefield. On top of that, all of them possessed terrifying control over space-time power.
Overall, they were extremely valuable tactical soldiers, because just a group of a dozen of them, using manifestation, could seal an entire planet. The void power emanating from them also prevented any attempt at escape.
The last part of the army was composed of Heavenly Beasts. All of them were led by Czaza, with most coming from his universe, although there were also some races, such as the Celestial Foxes, originating from the Universe of Heaven’s Will.
At that moment, Darian and Niara appeared in the skies and landed on a raised platform in front of the entire army.
Thulon, Saelil, Maeyu, Clanne, and everyone who knew him closely clenched their fists, eyes fixed ahead.
Darian turned to Lucy and Lucius. Both nodded; everything was ready.
The Mannaz and the races that lived in the Divine Protection Universe would not participate, or this army would be even larger.
For safety reasons, Darian left them guarding that galaxy. This battle in another universe could last several hours or even days. A single hour in that universe was equivalent to fifteen days here; he couldn’t remove the army from here for that long.
The tactic was simple, and everyone already knew exactly what to do.
Darian and Niara would attack the center of everything, the planet Grandmist, with a group of only one thousand people. Half of them would be Elves from the planet Arjun, led by Udynes, who would use the arrows commissioned by Darian. The other half would be beasts from the planet Zroot, led by Barod, who would serve as tanks and support for the archers.
All the rest of the army would split into groups and attack the nearly two hundred planets that were under the banner of the three enemy Spiritual Sovereigns.
It would be a total and sudden attack, with the goal of destroying all enemies at once, without any chance of retaliation.
With the support of Lucy’s inscriptions and the Void Cultivators preventing escape, those one hundred million were more than enough.
It was worth remembering that, in the previous battle, all the strongest nine-ring figures were brutally killed. Of course, there were still other nine-ringers scattered across the planets, but not many. Meanwhile, in the attacking army, there were thousands of immortals; because of that, there was not the slightest chance of resistance.
"Everyone knows what to do," Darian began to speak loudly to everyone.
"Remember, don’t underestimate those people. The Spiritual Sovereigns have many hidden weapons, which they might have concealed on those planets. At the slightest sign of resistance from them, don’t be kind. It’s not just your lives at stake. If anyone escapes carrying something important back to those three, it could trigger something much bigger in the future."
Everyone nodded seriously. That battle had far, far too much at stake.
Winning would practically bring peace to the Universe of Heaven’s Will. Even if the three Spiritual Sovereigns managed to escape, as Darian expected, they would lose all influence there and wouldn’t be able to return. From then on, everything would be different. The future of the entire universe depended on them.
"Let’s go," Darian said in a calm tone, while Niara beside him nodded.
She connected to Darian and then opened a gigantic spatial channel.
The army leaders gave their orders, and everyone advanced with fierce expressions.
After a few minutes, Darian and Niara entered along with their small army.
Suddenly, on Earth, that colossal army emerged.
"GO!!"
Lucius and Lucy commanded. Everyone split up and immediately boarded flying boats with concealment inscriptions activated. In seconds, they all vanished, without causing any disturbance or commotion.
They would get as close as possible to the planets, hidden in the shadows, waiting for the moment Darian would begin everything.
"Ailik, now is the time to show your skills," Darian said softly.
Right after that, Darian’s eyes shone. He waved, and all one thousand soldiers around him saw a subtle, distorted layer cover them, as if it were a cloak of energy.
In the very next second, space twisted around them. The power of the Void coming from Ailik wrapped around them, and just like that, they disappeared.
While everyone else would stay hidden, waiting for the moment to attack...
...thanks to Ailik’s power, using Darian’s spiritual root, that army was able to arrive directly on the planet Grandmist. On top of that, everyone arrived and remained completely concealed.
With each passing day, Ailik was able to generate more Void power and also learn how to use it better. Now, she was already capable of keeping any person, or a small army like that one, covered by the void, making them extremely hard to detect by any senses.
