CHAPTER 169: NOTHING WAS IMPOSSIBLE

Instead of the expected miasma or corrupted power coming from a Risen Lord, the whole place was covered by a violet, white, and green aura. Everyone recognized it: those were the three life powers—vital, spiritual, and mental energy.

They had already seen, on this planet, that Risen could still keep their talents from when they were alive. And the canine tooth that came from her, the one Darian used, was an excellent artifact for manipulating those three powers. Howlyn had a specific mutation that allowed her to use and boost the potential of all three inside her body.

She coughed up a lot of black blood without stopping, but her eyes stayed locked on Darian.

"My body can’t handle using my corrupted power because of the injuries. But I can strip away the corruption and use these three pure, just like when I was alive. Not that it makes much difference... I can kill a six-ring Spiritual Guardian easily with this."

She paused, and her lips twisted in pain.

"I’m sorry... if I don’t attack, he’ll take my body and it’ll be much worse, because he’ll use everything I have. Please, if my Lord sent you... kill me and get out of here alive."

Darian stared seriously into those red eyes. Niara, already anxious, murmured mentally: ’She... she’s not gonna do it.’

He nodded, noticing the lack of danger coming from her. Howlyn was clearly planning to do something different from what she said. She’d attack, but she already had a plan and would find a way to kill herself before doing anything bad.

Darian watched carefully with his curse, seeing the connection in her body to some distant place. That was what kept the Risen alive—a shackle with the Celestial Shadow who created them. If he destroyed that connection, it would fix everything.

But that was obviously impossible...

’Wait?’

He saw her moving more and more of the three energies, building them up. In a Risen’s body, from Chief rank upwards, the three energies started to appear again, but they were almost completely corrupted.

It was like a mix with 99.9% corruption. A Risen’s body couldn’t handle more than that tiny percentage of life energy, because it had lost compatibility. Darian took advantage of that back in the academy fight.

Howlyn was removing all that tiny leftover bit of life in her body. Being a Risen Lord, she could control the corruption perfectly, separating only the pure power she wanted to use.

Every second, her body grew weaker. Then... Darian noticed something encouraging, above her head.

He confirmed it to Niara, who was worried:

’... she’s gonna strip everything out so she can die afterwards. She’s hoping I can survive the first explosion-type attack. Which won’t even be that crazy. That way, her body will have nothing left and be weak enough that it can’t move. Maybe, if I have the ability, I can kill her in that chance.’

Niara clenched her fists, understanding. Darian now had no doubts. He had seen Howlyn’s past before and could feel her intentions now. Even with that dense black karma...

’!’

Suddenly, he remembered the confidential info the Academy Leader kept.

Throughout this universe’s history, lots of strange and unexplained things had happened. Even with so many traitors among the summoners and the Mannaz, they still survived. Even with endless losses, deaths, and disasters for the living, somehow, they were still around to this day.

It was her...

She didn’t care about getting her hands dirty, killing and killing, even if they were innocent, even if she had to destroy an entire galaxy. She did everything she could to make sure, somehow, the living could still survive.

She found loopholes to act without directly betraying the Celestial Shadow. There was no way to do that without getting corrupted and gaining thick black karma.

There had also been endless conflicts and fights between the traitors and the Risen Lords. The traitors served one of them and were enemies of the others. That all contributed. Now, Darian felt like he was standing before the dark hands that had pushed all that forward.

He sighed. Then, he calmly unwrapped himself from Niara’s body.

She turned to him seriously, but Darian gave her a calm look. She nodded, understanding—she’d already promised she would never lose faith in him again.

The mini dragon pulsed, its body turning ethereal and floating, moving gently forward.

Howlyn stared at him. All her power stopped, reaching its peak.

The two locked eyes. Her red eyes seemed to tremble in silent pleading.

"Come on, hit me with everything you’ve got."

Darian spoke calmly, making her swallow hard.

There was no fear in him. Those eyes showed unshakable confidence.

He finished softly: "You waited for me long enough, worked hard all this time and did what you could so everyone could survive. Don’t worry about anything else. Just follow my words."

Niara sighed. The two young Summoners had their eyes glowing. The Twins could barely believe that was their brother. He wasn’t faking it... that confidence coming from him was real.

Meru did a great job making him mature and have the guts to act without fear. Another thing was that he understood: That book he read was real, so nothing was impossible... he just needed willpower, courage, and most of all, to know what he was really fighting for.

Darian got all the tools from Heaven’s Will, even became the disciple of its daughter. They weren’t gonna help him with anything else beyond that. He could only count on himself. Two universes were counting on him, so a switch flipped completely inside his mind.

Darian shifted slightly.

His celestial blue eyes changed: one side turned black like the abyss, the other white. His rings pulsed in sync, and his body lit up with a bright glow.

"I’m gonna attack." She took a deep breath as she spoke.

The whole cave shook. Three arrows appeared in front of her, their tips glowing and aimed at Darian. It made the space around them fracture. Small cracks started spreading in all directions.

That power could definitely kill a six-ring Spiritual Guardian, just like she said.

Could Darian handle that? Of course not. Everyone behind thought that in sync.

But she didn’t really want to kill him. Her plan was to blow everything up completely. For that, she focused all the power and would just push it towards him, without controlling the energies.

They’d touch him, then destabilize and explode.

Darian saw it and smiled. The moment she released the arrows, that energy would become ownerless, just like what existed inside a Stellar Ore.

*Buzz*

The arrows shot forward, and an immense pressure flooded the cave.

Darian nodded.

"!"

Her red eyes widened.

The arrows froze in the air, stopped. He made a gesture with his serpentine body.

The arrows moved, spinning...

...then stopped, now aimed at Howlyn.

Darian’s eyes glowed. She trembled, then a satisfied smile showed on her lips. Someone sent by her Lord... only an unpredictable anomaly like this could pull that off.

The arrows fired.

She closed her eyes. This was her end. At least, she wasn’t forced to kill him.

*Pierce!*

Three muffled piercing sounds echoed.

Everyone behind watched the scene, shocked. One arrow pierced her forehead, another hit the center between her breasts and the last one below her navel.

Exactly where the life energies were most concentrated inside the body.

At the same time, the environment went dark. Darian changed, taking on a completely black and sinister form.

A dagger appeared. A rune glowed on its blade.

He held it with his mouth.

Then shot forward like a black flash.

*Slash*

Something invisible was cut, above Howlyn’s head.

At the same time, she opened her eyes, feeling something unbelievable.

Her gaze met Darian’s, who kept a calm expression. Her vision faded. All her life disappeared.