Damned Healer-Chapter 688: Fiendlight

Countless pulsing water runes materialized around Darian. The runes turned solid, releasing a terrifying power, then wrapped around him completely like chains.

The demons were radiant when they saw that. The Alvs felt relieved; they could already feel their lives burning away and knew they wouldn't live much longer, but at least they had defeated that terrible enemy and saved their home.

"LET HIM GO!!" Niara roared.

In the next second, she trembled. Her face twisted, and she vomited blood uncontrollably. She was forcing her own body to break free from the seal in the most brutal way possible. Even injuring herself internally, she didn't care and kept pouring everything she had into it. She clearly didn't care about her life.

With all her power sealed, she couldn't even feel Darian.

"Master!" Two girls also shot forward like lightning toward him.

Heze merely turned toward them, and both froze midair, completely immobilized.

Niara spat out even more blood. At that moment, her eyes locked onto him. The red of his eyes could be seen between the runes covering him. And then…

She saw in those eyes absolute calm and certainty.

No words were needed; she could almost hear his voice telling her to stay calm and trust him. With that, she took a deep breath and stopped what she was trying to do.

Heze snorted softly. With a wave, Darian floated toward him, completely sealed by an invincible power.

He turned to Alv, then made a motion with his other hand, creating a large opening in the central inscription behind them. That was where the three Spiritual Sovereigns were. Without wasting time, he sent Darian inside.

When he entered, the runes of the inscription pulsed and closed completely, sealing the outer world from the inner one.

Silence took over.

"Thank you very much." That Alv said, bowing deeply to Heze.

That figure fulfilled exactly what he had said before: capture Darian and send him to the Spiritual Sovereign. But…

At that moment, the Alv saw something strange in that figure's eyes. It was almost a mockery.

"Lord… what…"

The Alv stammered, trying to ask. But he stopped halfway when suddenly—

**KBOOOOM!!**

A blast of apocalyptic proportions erupted, catching everyone off guard.

It came from behind the Alvs. A wave of destruction spread in all directions, hitting them and violently throwing them away.

The entire planet trembled; the level of that explosion was absurd, spreading across the whole continent.

When the dust settled… Niara and all of Darian's allies were standing in the same place, covered by a subtle dark-blue aura. In front of them stood Heze, his hands casually behind his back.

Almost all the Alvs had been brutally killed. The only one who survived was the leader Alv, thrown far away, lying above a mound with his body completely twisted. He was on his last breath and forced his neck to turn and look toward the center.

Since he was at a high point, he could see a crater where the central barrier inscription used to be.

There, he saw Darian standing in the middle. Around him… there was a lot of blood, with golden runes still glowing mixed within it.

"No…"

The Alv spat those final words in horror. That blood clearly belonged to the three Spiritual Sovereigns who had been inside. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

After that, that figure's consciousness faded completely, along with his life.

Niara and everyone stared at Darian with wide eyes.

He was breathing heavily, and there was frustration and fury on his face.

"Bastards…" he spat coldly, then jumped out of the crater.

As he slowly approached, Heze's voice sounded. "They managed to escape. They have strong survival instincts. Spiritual Guardians are truly troublesome; they can possess anything from another universe, which makes them unpredictable."

Darian snorted in agreement. No matter how much he had the initiative and even planned carefully, killing those figures would be a tough job.

Rewinding a few minutes.

Darian had been sent inside and was welcomed with joyful smiles from the three of them.

He looked at them without reaction, making it clear he was truly completely sealed. The power Heze used on him was real, and the three felt it, certain that not even they could break free from it, even at their peak.

They were using new, very young bodies. They were still the bodies of an Alv, an Oni, and a Beast.

Even so, the three didn't waste time or want to give any chance; they activated all their strength and pulled Darian closer, to make sure he would never escape again.

That was when everything changed.

Heze knew Meru very well, understood the origins of her power, and had even seen her technique when she created it in the past. Since Darian said he was her disciple, Heze connected the dots.

She didn't accept disciples because she had been trained by her father and mother with unbelievable rigor; so a disciple of hers couldn't have been trained with less effort. Very few could endure her training.

But he had heard some old rumors that Meru was making changes to her technique to teach a mortal.

Darian could only be that person and possess her technique.

He hadn't done anything wrong or broken the help they asked of him. He simply didn't mention something very important to the Alvs: this missionary could not be sealed.

Darian noticed in Heze's eyes that he knew his capabilities well. So he understood that this was help.

And with that…

When Darian entered, and the three enemies lowered their guard, excited…

He activated his domain.

Thanks to the power of the curse, any kind of energy could be forcibly controlled by him. Even the raw power of that terrifying figure was no exception.

In a single second, the entire seal on him came undone. Then Darian didn't hesitate and burned all the power of his cores.

It was a sudden explosion, without the slightest mercy. His intention was to kill those three.

Everything turned gray, and Darian saw the three being swallowed by chaos, their bodies almost completely destroyed. But…

…he also saw them activate something. It was some kind of life-saving artifact that allowed them to endure for a second. With that, they opened channels to their universes and entered, disappearing.

Darian could only regret it. These immortals had been alive for a long time and were worse than any cultivator in any universe. That's because cultivators were limited to the things that existed in their own universes.

But those three, as commanders of the Spiritual Guardians, could obtain far more varied and unpredictable Artifacts and Treasures from multiple universes. In other words, it was very, very hard to kill them completely. To make it even worse, at the slightest sign of danger, they could return to their universes and remain completely hidden.

In short, to kill them once and for all, Darian needed overwhelming power. In front of brute force, little tricks and schemes were useless. Until he advanced his rings and reached a much greater level of power, it would be very difficult to eliminate them.

Back to the present.

Darian focused on Heze and gave a slight nod. "Thanks for the help."

"Help? I didn't help you. I simply did exactly what they asked of me, honestly." He replied with a faint smile.

Darian nodded, looking at Niara's trembling and relieved eyes, and the others'. As he glanced around, he nodded in satisfaction. In the end, they accomplished their goal. He never imagined they would be able to kill those three before; this had been an unexpected chance that appeared, but didn't fully conclude, leaving a bit of frustration.

Now, all the Alvs on the main planet were dead, even though there were weaker ones on other planets.

But those three had still been severely injured and wouldn't return to this universe anytime soon. So Darian would finally be able to take control of everything and set up a surveillance system. When they came back, they wouldn't be able to stay or try anything.

How to do that when the universe was immense, and they surely had many things hidden?

Darian turned to Awel and Eleri. Both nodded in understanding.

The two shot forward and dug into the ground, lifting the earth in two spots. There lay the two immortal demons. Since they were immortals, their resistance was quite high. They were gravely injured and could barely move, but their lives weren't in danger.

The girls used their powers to restrain them and brought them to Darian.

Those two had definitely helped the three Spiritual Sovereigns with everything while they were weak and recovering. So they must know almost everything about the enemies.

Now, all that knowledge would be extracted from them, and Darian would be able to plan and nullify any possibility of those three returning and trying something in this universe.

After taking a deep breath, Darian took out an artifact and sent a message. Soon, he received confirmation.

The attack from the rest of the army on the other planets had already begun and was going well.

The plan had been to wait in hiding for a few minutes. That way, Darian could check the central planet. If there was anything that made him want to abort the attack, he would send a message to everyone. Since he didn't, they all began moving at the agreed time.

He sighed and turned to Heze. At that moment, that figure made a smooth motion with his hands.

Suddenly, the ground shifted behind Darian, inside the crater where he had been earlier.

From deep within the soil, a small gem rose, floating, pulsing in shades of amethyst and cobalt blue. It drifted toward Darian.

At the same time, Heze waved, and a rune flowed from him to Darian.

"This is something of mine. It's called Fiendlight. I gave it to the Alvs in the past as thanks. It's a unique treasure that appeared in the universe I helped create. Its power is directly connected to Demon Beasts that possess a fiend atavism. Those Alvs… used it as the core of that central barrier, and its essence was used to create strange sacrificial pills. You can keep it, but there's one condition." Heze said lightly, then looked Darian in the eyes.

"You must use it to help Demon Beasts. You need to find a race that is compatible and nurture it with its essence. Only then will this treasure be properly used."

"I thought those Alvs could do it, since that race was brought to your universe by him. They were left with rules, words, and support… but those idiots were completely corrupted over time."

Darian nodded. The Alvs were a very ancient and powerful race, similar to the Onis and Charming Eyes. If it weren't for Heaven's Will, they would be extinct from the world, since they weren't races that were naturally born in universes. Even so, two of those races chose to ignore his benevolence and became corrupted.

"I don't know what this fiend atavism is. But I promise I'll fulfill what you said." Darian spoke, his eyes shining. That rune Heze sent was a rune of knowledge, which should contain everything he needed to know.

"Good," Heze said. Then his gaze shifted, as if sensing something very serious. He took a deep breath and waved, distorting the space in front of him. "I have to go back, or I'll be disobeying his orders and breaking the rules."

Darian nodded, understanding. "Once again, thank you. I hope one day I can repay you."

"Repay me? I already said I didn't do anything. You're making me sound like someone who goes back on his promises. Anyway, I'm sure we'll see each other again someday. That day we'll have time to talk calmly and drink something. Goodbye."

After speaking softly, that figure stepped quickly into the distortion and disappeared completely.

Darian tightened his fist, holding that treasure called Fiendlight in his hand. Besides that, he had also gained the two skeletons. But the main gain would be finally purging the malignant influence of those three from this universe.

"Let's go. We need to help make sure this universe is truly clean." Darian said seriously to everyone.