Damned Healer
Chapter 156: It Was All Over

Chapter 156: It Was All Over

After Darian activated his rings and made a request, the slug crawled out from the Dragoness’s clothes and climbed onto his shoulder.

The whole place was cold and silent. Every single Risen still alive had stopped moving. That ethereal blade... it was way more than just raw corruption power.

Darian focused on the enemy and was sure: that blade had been forged using countless runes... the same golden runes from the central inscription, but now twisted and corrupted by the Risen Lord’s power.

Those runes were meant to store energy, move it, and release it when needed. The Academy Leader had filled them with corrupt power and forced it all to take physical form — turning it into a blade.

"Interesting method... and scary as hell..." the slug muttered.

With that, the Risen Chief’s power multiplied several times over. The Academy Leader figured that if they had any hidden advantage before — whatever was making them win — this would wipe it out completely.

"Let’s see who’s stronger!"

Darian’s voice broke through the silence, full of determination, as he summoned all his black power to surround him. This was all or nothing — no second chances.

His eyes lit up. He was driven by an unshakable will to defeat an opponent way stronger than him. Niara, feeling his determination, forgot to breathe. Everyone in the back heard his words and froze, realizing this could all be decided in a single moment.

From the second the Academy Leader had started moving, only a minute had passed. The Risen Chief’s body was already starting to crack apart, unable to handle that much power. It’d be her one and only move too.

"I guess I kinda infected you... but damn, you really look cool right now," Niara murmured with a faint smile.

Darian let out a long sigh. Niara was always this strange mix of helplessness and self-mocking satisfaction, laced with affection.

"Kill!"

The slug roared and shot forward on its own, like a black lightning bolt.

At the same time, the Risen Chief vanished in a blur, like the two had moved in perfect sync.

They were just a hundred meters apart. The whole scene felt like it was moving in slow motion.

The battlefield filled with cold, dark astral waves.

It was pure black power versus corrupt power...

...or maybe not.

*Buzz*

The world shifted color. Countless multicolored runes suddenly lit up from the ground.

’That’s... the five natural elements at the highest level... and they moved on their own??’ The Academy Leader thought, eyes wide.

He couldn’t guess the truth. He had control over the entire academy, and the inscriptions formed a massive web underground. For something like this to happen, there should’ve been a huge surge of power... but he hadn’t felt a thing.

Because... it was the planet’s own Gaia that did it, answering Darian’s call for help.

People live and die on planets but have no clue they’re actually living beings with consciousness. Meru had taught Darian how to connect with Gaias more easily using his rings. And with the planet’s destruction looming from the corruption, ever since Darian returned to this universe, every Gaia had been on his side.

The two of them were now less than ten meters apart.

Everyone behind them swallowed hard.

The Risen Chief swung the blade!

One side of the battlefield fell into complete darkness.

Darian commanded the runes through his rings!

The whole environment twisted, and the highest-level wind and fire runes all moved together.

"Myriad Whirlwind Flare!"

On the opposite side of the darkness, it was like hundreds of wind and fire blades, each over five meters long, suddenly materialized and slashed at once.

It wasn’t like the Array, where all the high-level elements were already there and Darian had to control and direct them to attack. Here, Gaia had moved everything without offering any resistance. With just one thought, Darian unleashed hundreds of strikes with his technique.

The Risen Chief didn’t back down.

Both sides collided violently.

But right at the key moment during the impact... the enemy felt her blade tremble, and then a crack spread across it.

’To think the Academy Leader would use the Runes of the Central Inscription. If he just knew what I did back then... Hehe!’ Darian thought.

That ethereal blade had been forged using the golden runes from the central inscription, and they still held a bit of the black power Darian had secretly left behind during the library fight. He activated it, and her power suddenly destabilized.

**BOOOOM!**

A violent multicolored explosion echoed out. But strangely, that power shot straight up into the sky like a pillar. There was no shockwave spreading sideways, and it didn’t hit the academy or anyone nearby.

Obviously, that was Darian’s doing — he didn’t want to destroy the academy or kill his allies.

...

...

Moments later, a deadly silence fell over the entire academy. Many winds filled with all elements and black power spread across the whole planet.

The ground around them flipped over, and dust scattered in all directions.

The Academy Leader’s eyes widened. Then, suddenly, he trembled and dropped to his knees, coughing up a huge mouthful of black blood.

’This is impossible!’ he thought, panicking. It was a backlash, because along with the corrupt power, he had also connected the entire power of the Risen Lord’s rune— which was with him— into the Risen Chief.

If he was feeling that... it meant the Risen Chief had been completely destroyed.

"DARIAN!!"

Everyone heard a desperate scream.

A wave of green draconic power burst out in all directions, blasting the dust away.

Suddenly, Lucy and Lucius could see what was up ahead... and what they saw was terrifying.

Niara was on her knees, holding in her trembling hands a small, completely shattered slug. It looked like a piece of porcelain covered in cracks. One single movement... and it would all fall apart...

...but it didn’t even need that.

*Crack*

It exploded, turning into particles of multicolored light that floated slowly in every direction.

"NO!" Lucy screamed in horror.

Lucius turned pale. Everyone behind them fell silent, their faces twisted in shock.

Meanwhile, the Academy Leader lifted his gaze toward the scene up ahead. Then, with great effort, he stood, and a dark smile crept across his face.

That terrifying enemy was the center of everything. Without him, the Summoner would lose all her power. There were still about a hundred Risen alive. If he pushed what was left of the academy to its limits, he’d win.

"Hahaha..." He started laughing, full of excitement. Now... it was all over.

Everyone could hear his laughter in the middle of the silence.

Niara collapsed to her knees, her face blank.

The twins trembled, feeling an overwhelming despair.

"OH? So much excitement."

Suddenly, a soft, low voice echoed.

Everyone jumped, looking around in shock.

Then they saw a small, bright white point floating in the air, just a few meters above Niara.

That point pulsed! A blinding white light filled the area like a sun.

It took three seconds for it all to fade.

And then... up in the air, they saw a soul floating calmly.

Darian had returned. This time, he had also learned how to control it. And he hadn’t been automatically pulled away by the laws.

The moment he came back...

’?’ He narrowed his eyes, surprised.

*Crack!*

Right on his forehead, a huge amount of unknown power started gathering fast. Then... almost automatically...

’The second ring!’

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.