CHAPTER 175: WHAT THE...

Niara’s body trembled. That black blade vanished like it had turned into pure energy and invaded her body. Black lines started spreading all over her skin. She instantly coughed up a huge amount of dark blood.

Darian’s eyes went wide in panic.

’I’m fine, partner... we’ve gotta do this...’ Her pained voice echoed in Darian’s mind.

She clenched her fists and pushed her will to the limit. Inside her mental sea, all her accumulated mental power burst out at once, like a dam breaking.

Darian felt everything. Her entire body and spiritual root got covered in mental power. That made the black lines stop moving... but they didn’t retreat. In fact, her mental power was burning away fast just to hold them back temporarily.

20 seconds left.

Niara took a deep breath and stepped forward.

The Celestial Shadow’s will was shocked when it sensed her mental power. How the hell could she have something that strong and in that much quantity inside her?

At the same time, Darian turned to him with eyes cold like a blade.

That will lost all its shadowy, humanoid shape. Now it just looked like a floating black rune, with an invisible aura around it and a barely visible pair of red eyes.

’He’s burning his soul to create a bit of Celestial Corruption.’ Darian thought fast.

He was called a will because he wasn’t just that soul fragment. He was literally that being’s will, turned into something that could act in the world. Immortal, powerful figures could make stuff like this.

That soul fragment was left behind as a power source to help him get the job done. With it, he could easily control the Risen. Losing it would cause him trouble, and the true body would have to wake up and split off another fragment.

But now... that will had chosen to burn everything. He was staying alive only through the energy inside the bloody pearl.

Darian didn’t know why the guy suddenly marked him and Niara as priority targets, instead of focusing on speeding up his own recovery. Losing this academy wasn’t that big a deal. As long as he had his soul fragment, he could still fix things later without wasting too much time.

10 seconds left.

The will let out a snort and moved the bloody pearl. It pulsed with an intense glow.

At the same time... Niara reached the front of the academy’s core. Her hand, covered in black lines, moved...

But suddenly... a bloody force burst out around her. They were runes. They gathered like chains and wrapped around her completely.

Her body froze. Her fingers stopped just centimeters from the core, totally unable to move.

Even without knowing exactly what Darian’s plans were... the Celestial Shadow’s will wouldn’t allow that damn missionary to do whatever he wanted. The core was empty, sure... but even the tiniest chance he left... that anomaly might create something new and unexpected.

Darian turned back... all the power from the bloody pearl had been released.

Up high... that will was surrounded by scarlet runes, which linked together like chains and locked Niara down.

That will then saw the mini dragon’s celestial blue eyes change...

In those eyes... there was only hate and extreme mockery.

5 seconds left.

The space on the horizon was already trembling in anticipation, with dozens of Risen Lords about to arrive.

That’s when a small glow appeared at the center of that Spiritual Guardian. Like a tiny window connecting to a storage space inside him.

Darian pulled out a small red sphere.

The instant that thing appeared... a strange glow followed.

"!"

The red eyes jumped.

*Buzz!*

All the bloody runes shook violently for two full seconds.

And then... they started moving. It was like that red sphere was a drain, sucking all the runes toward it.

*CRACK!!*

The entire space-time in the sky cracked like a spiderweb. The whole planet was swallowed by miasma. Time was up.

But...

All the runes disappeared inside the sphere.

Darian dryly spat out: "Vanish."

His rings pulsed.

The sphere he held shot toward the Celestial Shadow’s will like a bullet.

When it got close...

The Risen Lords who had just arrived... their eyes went wide.

"What the fuck!"

**RUMBLE!!**

...

Far away... the Spiritual Guardians were still fighting in a rush, with no clue what was going down on the academy planet. And then...

All the darkness got replaced by an intense red light.

It was like someone flipped the switch on a colossal sun. It blinded everyone’s vision, even the Risen’s. Their entire world got swallowed by scarlet... along with a nauseating metallic smell and feeling.

It took almost ten full seconds for everything to start going back to normal.

When their eyes finally adjusted and they could see again, everyone’s focus shot straight to the sky... where one of the planets was still glowing like a red star.

That planet... one of the four members of the central inscription. Right at its core, exactly where the runes were buried underground... the black color of the runes faded, revealing a golden glow.

The runes pulsed at full power.

At the same time, the whole planet started shining gold.

All the elements and energies of the universe rushed toward it.

In just two seconds...

*GWAAAAAAR!!*

Roars followed by explosions echoed everywhere.

Every single Risen on the planet got literally crushed by a supreme force... reduced to bloody pulp.

In five seconds, there wasn’t a single Risen left alive. Then, above the planet’s atmosphere, a faint golden aura stabilized.

Back on the academy planet...

’I did it.’

Darian heard Niara’s voice in his mind.

At the same time, the academy’s core where she was touching lit up, and a burst of celestial blue light exploded out.

**WOOOOSH!**

A wave of golden power surged up from the ground, covering the entire planet. The entire inscription was activated.

Darian let out a deep breath. Both Howlyn and the Spiritual Guardians who wanted to reclaim the academy already knew this: all the energy from the inscription’s runes was still sealed inside them. That’s why... if they managed to activate the core, they could raise the barrier and kick the enemies out.

But turning the academy core back on and activating the inscription... that was something impossible without the Divine Dragon’s power left inside.

Niara and Darian hadn’t been sure they could pull it off before... but the second Niara touched the core, it felt like her bloodline was being pulled in. Her spiritual root activated, connecting with the universe’s laws. Honestly, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say she was the second coming of the Divine Dragon in this universe.

The core pulsed and sucked out every last drop of strength left in her blood.

That reignited the core. Like relighting a candle... but... that flame wasn’t gonna last long. Without the bloodline at the core, it was like there wasn’t enough oxygen in the air to keep the fire burning for very long.

**BOOOM!**

A violent explosion echoed out from every direction, merging into one single deafening blast. The strongest force came from the sky.

Darian saw dozens of figures covered in black blood, their bodies ripped and torn.

The sounds came from their powers slamming into the inscription’s force. They threw everything they had at it, over and over, completely desperate. But even then... they were getting crushed.

That will was already gone. It disappeared after taking the hit, without enough strength left to defend itself.

But after several impacts... the Risen Lords turned and bolted from the planet like lightning. None of them died... but their already brutal injuries had definitely multiplied.

Darian took a deep breath, barely believing they’d actually pulled it off.

That Celestial Shadow’s will... had basically lost to itself. The moment it burned its own soul and had to use the bloody pearl at full blast just to trap Niara... it gave Darian the opening he needed to win.

Still... Darian felt confused. If that thing really wanted to kill both of them no matter what... even if it had to burn its own soul fragment... it could’ve just attacked directly with all its power. They wouldn’t have stood a chance.

But for some reason... it chose to convert its soul into Celestial Corruption and create that black blade to specifically target Niara.

In the end... after she resisted and ran... it had to use the pearl. And that’s when... Darian got to use his master’s gift.

That red sphere... was one of the cores from the Red River Pact Clan’s Supreme Artifact. Meru had cut its connection to the full artifact and sealed all its power inside that sphere. (Chapter 112)

The Supreme Artifact’s power literally depended on blood offerings... the more offerings, the more power... and the bloody pearl was pretty much the rawest, purest energy source possible for that.

The will had linked the runes to Niara... and by extension... to Darian.

So he just activated it... absorbed everything...

...and sent it all back in the most destructive way possible.

It was an apocalyptic-scale explosion. The Risen Lords... already injured... had just arrived and were caught totally off guard, forced to throw up their defenses in a rush.

They had to absorb part of the impact and then redirect the rest into space to spread it out. That’s why... half the galaxy got swallowed up by red light. And also why... the planet below them didn’t get totally wiped out.

In the end... that bought Niara just enough time to activate the core, awaken one of the inscription’s members, and then... all the defenses kicked in.

’We... won...’

Darian muttered... but there was no response.

He turned to Niara.

And saw... her entire body blackened and corrupted. Her eyes slowly closing...