Damned Healer-Chapter 696: Terrifying Battle (2)

In front of Darian, the entire figure of the Celestial Shadow changed, becoming solid. There was no time to react; in a single second, a terrifying pressure made the space inside ripple.

Darian took a deep breath. He immediately felt the origin of it.

He had imagined this enemy was plotting something. He thought of many possibilities, even the chance that something outside this universe might help him. But even for an immortal, traveling between universes was almost impossible.

Unless... it was a high-level immortal, someone with a unique ability that made that easier.

Seeing that white power, Darian was certain. It belonged to a terrifying figure, capable of sending its power and will across the underworld. It probably couldn’t come physically, but it had found an opportunity in the Celestial Shadow. It would definitely gain something by helping him, but Darian couldn’t guess what.

"Hahaha!" The Celestial Shadow burst into booming laughter.

Now he was wrapped in an ethereal body, created from that external power. With it, his strength multiplied several times over.

At that moment, he was probably far stronger than he had ever been at his peak. But there was no such thing as a free lunch. The cost of borrowing that power had to be terrifying.

Darian looked at him with a faint smile. "Do you have any idea how pathetic you look, using something that doesn’t even belong to you?"

He spoke calmly, mockingly. But inside...

...Darian felt intense pressure.

Right now, he had the confidence to defeat even a Spiritual Sovereign.

Unfortunately, his opponent’s current power level was above that. Because it wasn’t just one enemy. The other one was present too, not only with its power, but with its control and will.

---

Outside.

A battle of devastating proportions erupted. The power of the combatants was so great that every planet in the galaxy was affected.

People on the planets closest to the center felt overwhelming despair. Still, thanks to the Qi now circulating throughout the universe again, any small spatial artifact or natural treasure held multiple times the power it had before.

Because of that, people managed to activate everything to defend themselves as soon as the battle began. Then they used spatial artifacts and fled to planets on the outskirts of the galaxy. Of course, even on those planets, the destructive power still reached them, but it was much weaker.

When the battle started, everyone in the army realized the Mannaz hadn’t just received a "power boost." It was as if that sacred-looking white light around them had a will of its own and could actively help them in battle.

It carried a living will, assisting them as they fought. Once connected to them, it was like a parasite controlling their bodies and powers. And on top of that... the cost of all this was nothing less than the Mannaz’s own existence. Slowly, their life force was being burned away.

Technically, it was a race against time for them. If the immortal army could hold out, the enemies wouldn’t last long. But...

**BOOM!**

An explosive wave created a terrifying spatial distortion.

That had been a joint attack from the Mannaz. Hundreds of immortals were thrown back, coughing up blood.

Fortunately, no one died. That was because the Void Cultivators activated their powers and stabilized the chaotic space at the exact right moment.

Besides the immortals from the main army, several other forces were supporting them, like the Golems, Nether Beasts, and Heavenly Beasts; and also Howlyn, commanding the Abyssal Corrupted Wolves with a focused expression.

They were all positioned in the rear, connected through Lucy’s inscription, which protected them and allowed them to fight at full strength.

"We won’t last. We have to use everything to cut down their numbers," Lucius said seriously to Lucy.

She nodded, swallowing hard. If it were just an extra power, those Mannaz wouldn’t be this strong. But the owner of that power was controlling everything for them; that made the enemy’s strength truly terrifying.

"ACTIVATE!" Lucy roared.

Without hesitation, Alear waved her hand. A round Supreme Artifact appeared in her hands. She clenched her fist, and it shattered completely.

A spatial distortion appeared right in front of her. Then...

The color of the entire battlefield changed.

Intense heat and freezing cold were felt by everyone.

When the Mannaz turned toward the center of everything...

They saw that two terrifying skeletal creatures had appeared. They were the two phoenixes.

When their bone wings spread open, at the same time, Alear moved her primordial power. In that instant, their figures shone, and an ethereal shadow rose around the two skeletons.

"!"

**SCREEECH!**

Two shrill cries echoed throughout the entire universe, shaking heaven and earth.

They were no longer two skeletons, but two Primordial Beasts known in almost every universe. Their glow was hypnotic and dazzling. It was as if the two phoenixes had risen from the ashes and entered the battle.

Lucy had her eyes closed, completely focused, covered in countless inscription runes. That was the ultimate power of her greatest inscription, combined with Alear’s primordial power.

Working together, they managed to use those skeletons as a core of power, awakening within them a remnant of their former strength.

It’s worth remembering that the body and bones of a primordial beast were not entirely physical. Their structure was somewhat special and retained part of their original owner’s power. That was exactly why, when Niara absorbed the sacred weapons created from the Divine Dragon’s body, her power grew explosively.

*Woooooooosh!*

"AAAAH"

A wave of flames swallowed many Mannaz, completely erasing the light surrounding them and turning them into ashes. A few still had time to scream, but were silenced the very next instant.

In sync, another group of Mannaz felt only their bodies stiffen. When they looked at themselves, they saw they were covered in ice, and all the power they possessed vanished. In the next second, their entire existence exploded like ice dolls.

The situation of the battle changed completely with the support of those two secret weapons.

But unfortunately, the runes around Lucy were fading at an accelerated pace. Clearly, she wouldn’t be able to sustain that for more than a few minutes.

---

Back inside the spatial rift.

Everything there was divided. On one side, everything was taken by white light; on the other, by multicolored energy.

*BOOM!*

The two clashed violently, causing space-time to shatter completely, as if it were made of glass.

Darian spat out a large amount of blood, feeling his body crack.

He took a deep breath and fully healed himself.

On the other side, the opponent felt only a dozen out of the millions of runes forming his ethereal body crack. The damage to him was minimal and ridiculous in comparison.

*POW!*

Two figures appeared behind the Celestial Shadow, attacking with everything they had.

Eleri’s bone whip thundered. Awel’s blade-sharp feathers sliced through everything in front of them.

"DISAPPEAR!"

The enemy roared, and a wave of light swept out like a supernova. Their attack exploded, and both of them retreated desperately.

*PIERCE!*

But with perfect timing, Darian moved using Chaos Blink and thrust his dagger into the blind spot.

At the tip of the dagger, anti-life was unleashed!

That was enough to kill anything. It was a perfect move. But...

"FUCK!"

The Celestial Shadow screamed in frenzy. The white light coming from his support was contaminated by his celestial corruption. It tried to merge, but they were like water and oil.

The result was a chaotic power that exploded in all directions.

Darian was swallowed by the blast and sent flying, coughing up even more blood.

He stabilized himself quickly, serious. Looking ahead, he saw the Celestial Shadow separating a handful of runes from his body and discarding them. He managed to remove the anti-life like a lizard cutting off its own tail.

His perfect move had failed.

Fortunately, Awel and Eleri, using their rune-sealed equipment, could move quickly and force the enemy to defend. That way, Darian could at least apply some pressure.

But he was losing his energy at a much faster rate than the Celestial Shadow. If this continued, he would be the only one defeated. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

At the same time, he could feel the will and presence of that high-level immortal within the Celestial Shadow.

Someone at that level possessed vast knowledge. If Darian used the power of Origin, that figure would recognize it instantly.

Knowing that... what were Darian’s chances of winning the fight by using it?

If he used it and failed, that would truly be the end of everything.

His only viable option was to bet on the Ninth Zenith. But that would burn through his strength even faster. In other words, the situation was anything but simple. He was at the limit, and any mistake in his judgment would cause a disaster.