Damned Healer-Chapter 697: True Immortal Technique

Darian took a deep breath, his eyes closing. All the power within his four cores and rings began to move. The power coming from Niara moved as well, and everything connected.

At that instant, the Celestial Shadow felt his body freeze. When he looked at the figure in front of him, a chill ran down his spine.

Two spatial distortions appeared around Darian. It was Eleri and Awel, returning to the Spiritual Inventory. Whenever they went out to fight, Ailik granted them a bit of Void power so they could return instantly, with no chance for the enemy to block it.

Darian snorted.

His eyes opened.

In his pupils, a nine-pointed star appeared.

At the same time, his primordial physique ignited to the maximum, multicolored light covering him like flames. Then... everything changed.

The aura of his primordial physique seemed to condense into small pulsing stars that floated around Darian. There were thousands of tiny multicolored points, giving him an unmatched appearance.

An unprecedented power emerged around him. The Celestial Shadow felt every tiny part of his being tremble. He had never seen or felt anything like that before.

That was the Zenith state, the absolute peak of the technique created by Meru. But that base technique had fused with his primordial physique and everything Darian possessed, turning into something unique.

Darian’s figure vanished suddenly, reappearing in front of the Celestial Shadow like a ghost. The stars spun around his body with a blinding glow as he threw a single punch.

"Die!"

*RUMBLE!!*

With a roar, his punch shattered all of space-time. The Celestial Shadow felt as if a star had crashed into him.

With a muffled grunt, he was smashed into the ground, and many of the runes that made up his body shattered.

"AHHH!" he suddenly roared. That scream carried infinite pain, something he had never experienced before. It wasn’t just physical pain. His entire existence trembled, as if his soul were being torn apart.

At that moment, the small stars around Darian gathered behind him. Darian felt the Spiritual Inventory connecting to him, surprising him.

Ailik felt all the power accumulated inside it move automatically toward Darian.

At that moment, everything most powerful that Darian possessed fused into the Zenith state.

The technique created by Meru had been made with Darian in mind. It not only united his nine centers of power but also mobilized everything he had in body and soul, adding new, unique layers.

Behind him, a large ethereal circle appeared. Half of it was black, half white. At the center, a five-pointed star radiating multicolored light emerged.

Darian took a deep breath. The power of the Void and the Nether joined together to create a kind of manifestation, similar to that of the cultivators of that universe. At the same time, it resembled the Celestial Destiny Disc of that same universe.

He clenched his fists, feeling infinite power pulsing within him.

Even Niara, who was watching everything without being able to help, felt her soul and existence tremble.

In that second, the Celestial Shadow rose again, completely terrified. He had lost a huge amount of power, very quickly, in just one move.

"Die!"

With eyes radiating a terrifying light, Darian struck with Tir, tearing the world in two. All the dagger’s power was released at once.

*Blinding Break!*

"Ignition of Celestial Corruption!"

The Celestial Shadow was so horrified that he ignited his own core of power. There was a risk his soul would explode, but he could no longer worry about that.

As the devastating blade descended—

Darian thought fast and made a gesture, activating his dominion over the energies. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

The manifestation behind him lit up in sync.

"!"

The Celestial Shadow, now wrapped in a flame of corruption, felt his entire body and power freeze. His eyes widened.

That corruption was extinguished instantly, like a candle blown out by the wind.

That was all his corrupt power, accumulated in his soul! It all vanished!

Darian smiled inwardly. With that manifestation active, his dominion and the other abilities that came directly from the curse seemed to have been amplified to an incalculable level.

The strike landed directly on the target.

**KBOOOOM!**

With the impact, Niara felt her vision darken, and intense pain struck her soul. The level of force was so high that she could barely keep that spatial fissure stable.

Even so, she forced herself to remain firm with all her strength.

Seconds later, space began to stabilize. She focused.

Darian was standing still, now holding Awel in his hands. An even brighter and more eye-catching aura swirled around him. It was like beholding a divine painting. He looked like a God who had descended from the heavens. In that instant, Darian was the most beautiful and incredible thing Niara had ever witnessed.

Right in front of him, the figure of the Celestial Shadow appeared.

His entire body emitted a faint glow, with almost two-thirds of the runes and the white power from the other immortal having been destroyed.

But...

Both Niara and Darian felt their breath freeze.

The Celestial Shadow’s eyes had changed. They were completely white, and a totally different fluctuation from his usual one emerged.

Darian narrowed his eyes.

That was no longer the Celestial Shadow.

At the same time, a feeling of absolute death covered Darian. It was as if even thinking about fighting at that moment was the most ridiculous thing he could try to do.

---

Outside.

The entire galaxy was engulfed in an intense Yin of death.

At that exact second, the glow of the primordial fire and ice of the two phoenixes went out.

Lucy opened her eyes and breathed heavily. All the power runes she had prepared extinguished at the same time, and the power in the bones vanished.

When she looked at the Mannaz, she nodded in satisfaction. Half of them had been killed using that card.

Their numbers were still much greater than her army’s, but the pressure on them had dropped drastically. Before, it was a battle they couldn’t win. Now, everything had changed.

"RELEASE!" Lucius roared, commanding.

At that instant, Leander, along with more than 500 thousand humans from Earth, waved their hands.

Inside their bodies, a dark glow surfaced. Thousands of Shadow Heroes manifested into the world at the same time.

Rhea opened her eyes. Her wings spread, and her entire figure pulsed with an intense golden glow.

Thanks to the changes in Darian’s Technique over the years, all the Shadow Heroes, who were spirits of fallen Spiritual Guardians, were able to fully use their spiritual roots.

Within them, the dark core evolved, creating a unique kind of power similar to the power of rings. Adding it all together, their current strength was not inferior to that of a Spiritual Guardian with nine rings.

That might have seemed small now that the main army was made up of immortals. But...

The Shadow Heroes had no bodies. In fact, even their souls were irrelevant.

Inside the Summoners connected to them, there was a mark that bound their existences forever to that figure. In other words, the Shadow Heroes could attack with everything they had, without fear. And even...

"KILL!!"

**BOOM! BOOM!! BOOM!!!**

Apocalyptic explosions erupted in every direction. All 500 thousand activated their maximum power, attacked, and then detonated themselves. The level of destruction they unleashed was definitely enough to injure or kill an immortal.

No nine-ring Spiritual Guardian would ever resort to something like that. But them...

Leander waved his hand, moving part of his soul power into the mark of light.

The next instant, Rhea appeared again, completely fine and full of energy like before.

In short, as long as the Summoner had soul power to provide, the Shadow Heroes could appear again and fight in suicidal ways, causing absolute chaos even to figures with immortal-level power.

Of course, the Summoners didn’t have infinite soul power. They relied on many pills and artifacts to help with recovery, but after a dozen times at most, everything would run out.

"The entire Shadow army!!" Lucius roared again. Taking advantage of the moment while the Shadow Heroes were recovering, he, along with nearly a million figures, advanced.

All of them emitted a peculiar gray aura, which ignited with flames around their bodies.

The similarity among everyone in that group was one thing: they were Spiritual Guardians whose Summoners in that universe had died, or Spiritual Guardians who had died directly and lost everything.

Thanks to the Technique Darian created and refined, all of them gained a new power core and became Shadow Soldiers and Shadow Lords.

In short, they were very similar to the Shadow Heroes. Their dark cores began to function like rings, providing power and energy so they could use their blessings.

The difference was that, to evolve their cores, they needed to consume extremely high-level pills, in addition to constantly pushing their bodies and souls to the limit to rebuild them.

It was hard and painful work, something only Darian’s people could endure, thanks to all the resources and things he made available.

Even so, in the end, they could even break into immortality, practically in the same way a Spiritual Guardian did. So all those who once fell in battle and lost their powers and memories, or lost their partners and were certain they would never advance in life again, were given a second chance to fight.

Darian had no idea, since he didn’t think much about it. But the Shadow Taming Codex and the Shadow Warrior’s Canon, which he created for others to use, were the most terrifying and incredible things he had ever made.

Even Meru couldn’t believe the potential of those creations when she first saw them. That was a True Immortal Technique, something a mere mortal could never create.

Of course, the foundation of everything came from the curse Darian received from her. Without that, he would never have managed to create it. Still, that didn’t diminish how incredible it was. He used all his knowledge and experience, shaping it to help the people he cared about.

Back to the battle, Lucius and the three Shadow Armies advanced. The rest of the army followed right behind.

The tactic was simple: the Shadow Heroes were the destructive force, breaking defenses. Then everyone else took advantage of the opening to attack and kill.

Within minutes, more and more dead appeared among the Mannaz.

Unfortunately...

The speed at which the Mannaz were dying and the speed at which the army was losing its strength were not aligned. Before eliminating all the Mannaz, the army would run out of power.

The battle still couldn’t be won the way it was. But at least now, they had temporarily stabilized it and could fight without the risk of anyone dying.

In the end, everything depended on Darian winning his fight.