CHAPTER 185: SEDUCTIVE DEMON

Surrounding Darian’s group of five were the other twenty-five humans from Earth. They had all arrived together, at the exact same time.

Darian took a deep breath...

"!"

At that moment, everyone in the plaza suddenly turned in the same direction.

They all stared at Darian with weird looks.

Darian started trembling a bit, and a subtle Yin aura began flowing around him. The entire atmosphere seemed to shift slightly, but those Spiritual Guardians immediately picked up on the fluctuations.

A strange feeling washed over him. He focused for a second, then noticed the seven stars in his body were fully activated. They were absorbing the powerful Yin from this place.

The twin universes had their power split perfectly between two poles. They were now in the Yin universe, the one ruled by the Ice Phoenix. Because of that, the Yin here, along with all related elements, was insanely high-level.

It took a few seconds for the stars to calm down. They were still absorbing, but the process slowed down, and the fluctuations around Darian eased.

"A Yin blessing, huh? Lucky you," a tall, muscular guy said. He had a humanoid body but was clearly a Beast using metamorphosis.

Everyone around just nodded and then ignored it. This place gave an advantage to people with Yin blessings, so they figured that’s what was going on with Darian.

But... all twenty-nine humans nearby stared at him weirdly. Obviously, they knew Darian was a healer and didn’t have any Yin blessing whatsoever.

Darian didn’t even bother looking back at them. He clenched his fists, feeling way stronger. It wasn’t just his body getting tougher...

’The stars are fully connected to the rings now... this boosted my control over the elements like crazy. I feel like I can summon high-level natural elements super easily now,’ he muttered in his head, then let out a breath.

’Sadly, the strongest power in this universe is pure Yin... and I can’t control that. Well... can’t have everything. At least I can summon the five high-level natural elements.’

Before, he could manipulate the elements in the environment and, with enough effort, control high-grade runes. If the place had high-level elements, like inside the Array, he could handle it. But normally, there wasn’t much of that.

Now, it felt like he could move those powerful runes a hundred times easier. Sure, this universe was loaded with them, and that helped a lot. On Earth, where there was basically nothing, he would’ve never figured this out or really benefited from it.

Niara heard his thoughts, and her eyes lit up. Here, everyone was capped at two rings. Darian—and her—had already managed to take on a Risen Chief whose power was above that. And now, Darian just found out he was even stronger...

It all lasted maybe ten seconds. Then, the sound of footsteps echoed, getting closer to him. Darian turned his head and saw two tall figures approaching.

His eyes were instantly drawn to the first one—a woman nearly two meters tall. Her skin was dark, and long white hair framed her pointed elven ears. Her lean, athletic body was paired with soft violet eyes. She wore a short, lightweight black metal armor that left a lot of skin exposed, giving her a striking and captivating presence.

Darian quickly looked away.

Beside her was a huge guy, even taller. He looked like a humanoid reptilian. His deep blue skin was covered in visible scales that ran all over his body, and a thick, scaly tail came out from the base of his spine. Long dark hair and sharp yellow eyes finished off his savage, intimidating look.

"I’m Zroot Barod," the man said with a serious face.

The woman stepped in front of the thirty humans and gave a polite bow. "Nice to meet you all. I’m Udynes, from planet Arjun."

Behind them, other members from their planets started walking over. Those two were from the same galaxy as Earth and were part of the alliance.

Darian turned to the representatives from the six Earth empires, who began introducing themselves.

The first was an Asian guy, presenting himself as the leader of the Celestial Order Empire’s group. Then the other four followed with their intros. Finally, Udynes and Barod turned toward Darian.

He nodded calmly and said his name. All the Earth folks had that usual dark karma... but those two had a rare gray karma. Potentially decent people. But just like he couldn’t immediately judge anyone with dark karma, he also needed to watch their actions carefully.

"Oh? So you guys finally showed up," a light voice said, followed by fast footsteps and a gust of wind.

Everyone turned and saw a short human woman, barely 1.5 meters tall, with a bright, energetic aura. Her blonde hair flowed wildly, and her sharp blue eyes stood out. She was wearing a blue combat outfit decorated with golden armor pieces.

She was clearly an adult, just way shorter than average, and had this unique, striking beauty.

"My name’s Iraka Irana. Just call me Sister Irana. I’m the leader of planet Aethel," she said with a gentle smile toward the Earth group. "We’re all humans here, so don’t hesitate to ask me for help. I’ll do everything I can."

She was the representative of planet number 22 in power in this universe—the strongest planet where humans lived.

Darian took a deep breath. That tiny woman had completely white, pure karma. It was the third time he’d ever seen someone like that. The other two were insanely honest and trustworthy people.

Irana quickly glanced around. The people who arrived at the same time as Darian had already scattered, rushing off in the same direction.

After two seconds, Irana turned back to them.

"I just came to deliver this message in person—and also give you a warning. Be careful with Woldi, the leader of the Winged Beasts from planet Narkov. That bastard’s an enemy of my planet and has absolutely no shame. Please, stay as far away from him as you can."

Everyone heard that and looked a bit confused. Darian had read about Narkov—it was the tenth most powerful planet in the universe, ruled by Beasts. Why would someone from such a strong place even care about them?

She gave a small nod. "Anyway, sorry, I can’t stay long. In the future, I’ll visit Earth and we can sit down and talk properly. You guys have a rookie competition coming up soon, right? I’ll be free then, so we can hang out. See ya."

She turned around and left just as fast as she came.

’She was seriously worried,’ Niara mumbled mentally, easily sensing Irana’s honesty and the hidden anxiety behind her words.

Darian nodded.

"The fight for the seeds happens in two days," Udynes said casually. "We need to get our mark to take part. Wanna all go together?"

The six leaders from the Earth empires nodded. Soon, everyone started moving in the same direction. No need to even check—everyone who arrived in this universe recently had already run that way.

They walked along the stone streets of the sunlit city. Weirdly, everything felt pretty empty. Before long, they reached another plaza—this one way bigger and way flashier.

The plaza glowed with a faint bluish light. In the center stood a massive statue.

It was almost twenty meters tall, made of what looked like blue crystal. The figure had huge wings spread wide in an imposing pose. It was the image of the Yin Ice Phoenix.

The place was packed, and there was this huge circular line where people waited to step up to the statue one by one. To join the fight, everyone had to do it and receive a mark. It was like an official registration.

But it wasn’t just Spiritual Guardians. Almost two-thirds of the plaza was filled with figures of all kinds of sizes and races—they were the native folks of this universe. Every native held fresh flowers in their hands, lining up to offer them to the statue.

The Milky Way alliance got in line. Most of the other Spiritual Guardians wore cold expressions, like this whole thing was a waste of time. The natives took several minutes each doing weird little rituals and asking for protection. So, at this pace and with this many people, it’d probably take half a day to reach the front.

Still, even if they were getting impatient, they had no choice but to deal with it. The natives here weren’t weak compared to two-ring Spiritual Guardians. If anyone started trouble or disrespected the rules before the event started, things could get ugly.

Not all the Spiritual Guardians had arrived at the same time or even on the same day. Actually, different galaxy groups arrived at different times, with some having shown up more than three days ago. That’s why everyone had time to get their mark and wait.

About two hours later...

Footsteps echoed, getting closer.

Everyone in the alliance turned—and saw a group of Beasts in humanoid form walking over. They had relaxed looks and this pompous posture. The moment they moved, everyone in line turned to glance at them.

Barod muttered, "Winged Beasts..."

"My race is called Bird of Paradise," said a young man standing in the center, with a beautiful golden and white aura naturally flowing around him. "I’m Woldi. You guys are from the Milky Way, right? Nice to meet you."

His words came with a warm, charming smile. But to Darian, it felt exactly like watching a seductive demon trying to lure in its prey.