Damned Healer

The moment the leaders of the eight sects pulled out their diagrams, Darian felt a dense, black karma erupt. It wasn't coming from the leaders — it was an external force connecting to that place.

An oppressive feeling washed over everyone. At the same instant, the 24 diagrams pulsed like stars.

And in their center...

A white rune shone intensely.

Those 24 weren't the same as the three diagrams of the Wilding Kin Sect — those were clearly altered. But that white rune… Darian had seen it before, and the feeling was identical.

It was in the past vision through that man's karma, in the final desert confrontation. (Chapter 332)

In a single second, the white runes in the center of the diagrams broke free, floated through the air and joined together above. A blinding, intense light burst forth.

Because of that, every Heavenly Elemental Spirit felt a deep familiarity. At the same time, Darian realized the truth, stunned.

Before everyone, an ethereal humanoid figure manifested. It was a male figure, radiating a kind of inner glow that felt magical. His face was calm and beautiful, and his eyes were a charming gold.

No one except Darian could move an inch. The whole gray world seemed frozen. The only light in that place was that figure hanging before them.

That figure… without a doubt, was a Heavenly Elemental Spirit.

But not just any.

"Radiant King…" Darian muttered dryly.

Recently, when the three youngsters grew stronger and learned to use chaos power from their cores, they discovered they could use it to create small runes with their powers. That was a unique ability of their races.

Those runes were like clones, carrying less than 30% of their power and capacity, but could be controlled remotely — extensions of their bodies. They could do countless things easily that way.

Exactly that was what Darian had seen before when he glimpsed the past. What stood before him now was practically the same… but used by an entity countless times more powerful, someone a step away from the peak of that Trial, at the Radiant King level.

The biggest proof: the figure formed by runes didn't just represent a fraction of his real power. Darian felt he had even managed to split off a piece of his own soul to better use that power.

Besides… Darian felt there was a huge amount of chaos power inside it. The sect leaders had prepared well, feeding the diagrams with resources for it.

In other words, it was like facing a clone that was only somewhat weaker, but still absolutely crushing.

Could Darian have predicted this? Maybe. The hints were everywhere. But he would never have thought of something like this.

"How…" Darian murmured, recalling the moment he met Remira.

When she woke after being saved, she explained clearly: the system didn't allow people from the higher phases to return or interfere with the weaker ones in the lower places.

She could only remain for three minutes before being taken away. The system was strict and seemed to have a kind of consciousness. After all, it created special missions according to the world's situation. Possibly, she only had that time because she was still weak and couldn't cause trouble right after waking.

Because of that detail, and because the Heavenly Elemental Spirits' power discovery was recent and still fragile in the hands of their allies, he couldn't foresee something of this scale.

The Radiant King constantly sent people to the desert and later to the Wild World. So sending his runes charged with power and a portion of his soul was easy for him.

Over time, he infiltrated the diagrams of the eight allied sects. And now, faced with the problem Darian had become, he'd decided to use it personally to eliminate him.

"You… aren't a hybrid."

A calm voice echoed through the sky. The pair of golden eyes was fixed on Darian. No one could even breathe, and that voice made their souls tremble.

From the tranquility in his tone… he didn't seem to have a timer like Remira. Meaning he could do whatever he wanted and freely interfere in the weak world.

Darian had never felt safe — he always had that feeling — but even knowing everything, he would have had few options to avoid this fate.

Now, he was completely cornered.

"You're a variation of the Chromaraics. An extremely fragile type with no initial power… but at the same time a blank slate that can learn everything. What did they call it again…? A human?"

Darian swallowed hard. People in this world didn't come from nothing. At some point, at the very beginning, individuals of several races from different universes were placed here. So the final phase should contain info from outside that world.

"Interesting. So you're like that bitch. A person sent from outside to complete this Trial. But… I can't see your soul. I still feel something powerful and strange…"

The voice kept analyzing Darian calmly, indifferent to everything.

"That bitch was saved by someone, and my toy was destroyed in the desert. That explains everything." He murmured softly, staring Darian in the eyes.

"She is my mortal enemy, and only one of us can live. As for you… we don't have to be enemies. I see you're… peculiar. You're caring for newborns of my race without using them. I don't favor that, but I still feel goodwill toward you."

Darian stared at those golden eyes and smiled dryly. People couldn't see it, but he could: the karma of that Heavenly Elemental Spirit was absurdly dense and black.

Darian had always believed that being born into a race didn't define someone's character. Demons weren't necessarily bad, and humans weren't necessarily good. But now, the truth stood before him.

The figure continued in a light voice: "I'll give you a fair option. Let me use my rune and place a mark on your soul. I promise not to interfere with you or your business. When you come to the next phase, we can be allies."

"Everyone in this world is in a prison. We're condemned to reincarnate here forever until someone completes the trial. My biggest wish is to see the real world out there. I fight day and night to get more points and finish this trial so I can have freedom. I don't care if someone else does it first — everyone will be free once someone finishes. Your goal should be to finish the trial, since you seem to do everything very fast. I'll give you my full support. What do you say?"

Darian snorted dryly. Feeling that person's black karma, he'd be a complete idiot to accept.

He wasn't innocent or inexperienced anymore. People with that kind of karma were shameless bastards — guys you couldn't trust for a single word.

Let him put a rune on his soul? If he allowed that, he'd become a slave forever.

But... what could he do to get out of this situation?

Seeing Darian's silence and stare, the figure above waved his hand calmly.

Suddenly, a white light sprang up around Darian and snapped shut over his body like chains.

Darian's eyes widened. He felt all the power in his primordial core and body being sealed. He tried to open his inventory in his soul...

"!"

But that light leapt and sealed that immediately too.

Darian tried to activate the seven stars in his body in a rush.

The figure's eyes narrowed; then he waved, and an even stronger light flared, sealing him completely.

That figure definitely wasn't an idiot. At the slightest hint of rebellion, he immediately removed any chance Darian had to fight back.

Darian tried everything, but he just felt like an ant trapped — absolutely no chance.

"Man, don't be stubborn. That bitch doesn't deserve your loyalty," the figure said and sighed.

"You seem like someone fair since you care for my race. You know why I hate that Chromaraic? Back when, I was in a middling sect because I'd just arrived at the final phase and wasn't extraordinary. Because of an Elder in my sect who was obsessed with her and tried to seduce her in all ways, she flew into a rage and came to our sect. Without mercy, she destroyed everything, killing anyone she saw. I was the only one who survived, by some miracle. Do you think someone like that deserves your loyalty? There must be tales of her in this Wild World showing how narcissistic she was."

Darian swallowed hard. Indeed, in the stories about her, her personality had been described as harsh and aggressive. She herself had told Darian she'd been thrown into that world as punishment by her father for terrible deeds.

Trusting her completely wasn't an option. But siding with this figure was even worse. Darian would have his soul enslaved and be completely controlled.

Seeing Darian's lack of reaction and noticing he was trying to find a way to respond, the figure lost patience.

"Fine. I know you need time to think, I'll give it to you. Since you love my race so much... I'll kill one of them every minute until you decide."

He said it so calmly it sounded like a joke.

Then he waved his hand and a light cracked down like a whip to the ground.

"Ah..." a muffled murmur ran through the crowd.

A young Heavenly Elemental Spirit, one Darian had rescued in the desert, was grabbed brutally by the neck and yanked up to the skies, toward that figure.

Everyone tried to react... but no one could move a single muscle.

"DON'T YOU DARE!" Darian suddenly shouted, seized by rage.

The figure smiled lightly. "Oh, oh, you don't know — my race has a very long lifespan. We're born without much intelligence because we need time to grow. Using our long lives, if we can mature, our power is far superior to common races. This little one... probably isn't even six years old. To reveal our true potential, we have to train hard, fight and suffer for many years. But you spoiled them, making them believe they can live even weak... that's pathetic, they've never gotten close to what they could be. Killing them is a favor I'm doing."

The small kid trembled in the sky; light wrapped his body and started to pulse, tightening.

"Ah..." came a muffled grunt.

Everyone saw his agonized look. His mouth opened and closed like he wanted to scream, but he couldn't even manage that.

"STOP!"

Darian roared, contorting himself as hard as he could while trying with all his mind to find some solution.

The figure smiled sinisterly. "30 seconds..."

He began to count the limited time, second by second.

The kid's eyes bulged. The earth rune appeared on his forehead — that was his true body — but it began to make cracking sounds little by little...

Darian felt an indescribable despair with each second.

"1 minute!"

*CRACK!*

At the exact second the time ended, a very beautiful explosion of light happened above.

There was nothing left of the little one.

On the ground, every Heavenly Elemental Spirit's eyes were full of tears. One of them had been killed brutally... and who did it... was someone of their own race.

Darian's face twisted; he'd never felt such rage and pain in his life.

"Think carefully, don't rush. On to the next!"

The figure said, almost laughing. Then the light shot out again, snatching another one.