When everyone took their first step into the Leaf World, they immediately felt as if they were submerged at the bottom of an ocean.

The Mannaz felt the pores of their bodies opening as a numbing sensation spread through them. As for the White-Blooded and the Heavenly Elemental Spirits, some trembled, others felt like they were suffocating.

Darian looked around, taking a deep breath... a dense energy flowed everywhere, striking and pressing down on everyone. He recognized that feeling — it was the same pure energy he had sensed during the final battle against the Radiant King.

"Wow, is this really Qi?" Lucy asked excitedly, turning to Darian.

"I've done a few Rank A missions and visited universes filled with Qi. In those universes, there were insanely powerful people who used Qi to nurture their bodies; they called themselves cultivators."

Darian nodded. He knew that concept well because of that book.

"I tried everything, but no Spiritual Guardian was ever able to manipulate or use Qi. As for the cultivators, whenever they saw our blessings and the power of the rings, they freaked out, saying we were absurd anomalies." Lucy added, in a light tone.

He understood. In fact, the Spiritual Guardians were creations of Heaven's Will itself. Cultivators could become incredibly powerful — even immortal, in some rare cases — but it was nearly impossible for a mortal to reach the same abnormal level of power as the Spiritual Guardians.

The inability to use Qi was, in truth, a restriction imposed by Heaven's Will to prevent the creation of true monsters among the Spiritual Guardians.

In the Divine Protection Universe, Qi had once existed in small amounts. But when the Celestial Shadow began corrupting everything, Qi disappeared completely. That was one of the reasons the Divine Dragon and Enfield had fought against it.

"All the Qi in this place was created so the White-Blooded could give birth to the Golden Ones. Then, they'd have the perfect environment to grow stronger. For us, Spiritual Guardians, it's useless... but for the Mannaz and other races, this is a magical world." Darian explained calmly.

The Qi existed there because of the *Divine Pulse* buried within that world. This Divine Pulse was a primordial rune capable of making the energies and elements of a region in the universe move to create a sun.

Inside that Array, the Divine Pulse worked as the power source for everything, attracting and accumulating the Qi that had been stolen in some unknown way by the enemy, channeling it into the Array. It was a little compared to the amount that existed across the universe, but still, it was incredible to have it there.

In just a few minutes, everyone in the army stabilized themselves. Then, Darian moved forward with them.

The Leaf World looked like an enormous tropical forest, with colossal trees covering everything. There was no longer a cycle of timed battles controlled by the Array. Scattered across the forest were the cities of the Golden-Blooded, along with those who preferred to live alone.

That place didn't have a final goal to reach. The environment itself was the goal and the treasure, pulsing with power. But every few days, an opening to the Flower World would appear randomly.

The Golden-Blooded who had lived there for a long time knew how to detect these openings in advance. That's why they always sealed the area and prevented anyone who wasn't an ally from entering.

That was the pseudo-goal of the people there: to find the opening in time to fight and cross it. But that was optional.

There was also an entrance to the Fruit World, which was an absolute secret to outsiders. Not to Darian, of course.

The passage existed underground in three different locations, which opened randomly for a few days. The cities of the Golden-Blooded were built exactly above these entrances to make sure no outsider could access them.

And, coincidentally, those three passages were also the direct connections to the Divine Pulse buried in that world.

Darian explained all of that calmly to Lucy and Awel as they walked through the forest, with the army right behind them.

He could feel absolutely every living being within that world, just by focusing in a direction. So he spent a few days searching until he finally found what he was looking for.

In the middle of the forest, he saw a figure that looked like a dryad. She saw him too, and after a few seconds, ran straight toward him.

With a leap, she jumped and hugged him. "You brat! How long were you planning to make me wait, huh?!"

It was Camille — thrilled to see them again after four years.

Darian smiled and gave a brief summary of what he'd done during that time, introducing the new members of the great army. He didn't go into details but quickly asked the most important question:

"Did you find anything useful?"

Camille puffed her chest out. "Of course! I worked hard with my army here. We investigated every inch and made a map of the most interesting places. We also fought a few strategic battles to get some valuable information. I was just waiting for you to arrive so we could move."

She had already sent a command for everyone scattered around to regroup. Within a few hours, a hundred thousand people gathered with them. All of them had eight or nine rings — sent by the immortals Caliris and Aurix as the elites of both races. Among them were also Earth's emperors, along with Cyaos, who had eight rings.

Now, the initial 500,000 — who had become 470,000 — were finally reunited, joining the 700,000 Darian had recruited in the Trunk World.

"Master, this is strange... I can't feel any of my brothers in this world." Eleri said, confused, turning to Awel and Tir, who felt the same.

Camille stared at the three beside Darian, remembering their whole origin story he'd told on Earth. She smiled slightly when she saw they'd fully recovered.

Then her expression went heavy. She looked at Darian, like she didn't know whether to say anything.

He snorted and nodded. Those three looked like human kids, but that was just an appearance because of the metamorphosis. The truth was they were adults mentally by their race's standards, and could handle painful truths.

"Unfortunately, the Heavenly Elemental Spirits are born in this world... but the Golden-Blooded have extremely sharp senses, and they can find them almost the moment they're born. So…"

She couldn't finish. The three pale, understood immediately.

Darian had already told them that terrible reality: in ordinary universes, that race was relentlessly hunted, refined, and used in countless ways; they rarely lived long after being born.

In the Trunk World, the White-Blooded didn't act as fast because they lacked power. But here they were hunted almost the moment they were born. That's why the three couldn't sense any of their siblings — they all died way too fast at the hands of the Golden-Blooded.

"We'll avenge them..."

Tir clenched his fists hard and murmured. Eleri and Awel took a deep breath to stay calm and nodded, certain they'd do it too.

Darian looked at Camille, and a cold, bloodthirsty gleam ran through his eyes.

"Have you heard any rumors about those above nine circles here recently?"

Camille shook her head. "Two years ago was the first time I heard about them. They passed through here for a few months and then disappeared. From what I know, they shouldn't be back for another three years."

"Good. Since you're here and know where the most important places are, you'll save me a lot of time. I won't be even a little subtle or merciful with those bastards. We're attacking the cities directly and destroying everything in our path." Darian said dryly.

The entrance to the world where the Divine Flame Of The Life was located lay in one of the three cities. There was no reason to act sneaky like the last two times — he'd destroy the cities one by one until he found the place.

As for the Celestial Shadow's plans, the Leaf World they were in acted as the center of Enfield's whole Sacred Tree. So, the information Darian needed could definitely be obtained from the Divine Flame Of The Life sealed there.

---

In a distant place, in a world completely dark and taken by miasma, a pair of red eyes opened.

"He's arrived," a fierce voice said, "I hope he's really ready, or I'll be forced to kill him..."

After a few seconds, a deep sigh echoed in that place.

"I trusted your decision... and I did everything to give hope to our descendants... I hope, in the end, you're really right. The fate of everything is in his hands."

As soon as the words were spoken, the pair of eyes disappeared — not closing, but moving elsewhere. It would wait for the ordered moment to strike, against which it could not go.