Darian felt his consciousness fading fast...
He forced his eyes open through sheer willpower. He couldn't go down. As long as that enemy was still toying with him and giving him a chance, he had to find a way to save his brothers.
He started healing. A second later, he was good as new. But there wasn't any white power left. He had one last shot.
Right then, he felt a growl from underneath. When he looked down, he saw the Primitive Beast was still there. He'd been thrown straight in its direction. Was it a coincidence?
The gaping wound in its chest was still open, and Darian's dagger was still lodged in its heart.
'Tough bastard,' was the first thing that crossed his mind. The whole creature's body was blackened from the dark power Darian had used.
Then, suddenly, Darian remembered what he did with Raon.
In the end, Raon rejected the black rune, and then Darian absorbed something from him... maybe his broken soul...
He didn't know what would've happened if the black rune had actually fused with Raon's soul. But one thing was clear—he got stronger after using it.
'I've got no black power left... wait, yes I do.'
Darian moved fast. There was no obvious way out, so he had to shoot in the dark. He'd done something similar with Niara before, but that was different—they already had a soul connection through their contract. So he didn't need a rune for that.
But with Raon, he'd felt it was something totally different. It wasn't just handing over power to someone... it was like forming a contract... and creating something entirely new—something that wasn't just the power he already had.
With a motion, he reached his hand toward the dagger in the Primitive Beast's chest. Then he focused on pulling back some of the dark power still inside its body.
It was just enough to create another black rune.
The moment it formed, it moved on its own, drawn straight toward that enemy's soul.
Screams of agony rang out. Just like Raon, that enemy drew strength from somewhere he didn't even know existed.
His pain came from having his soul refined. At the same time, his eyes lost focus—his mind clearly drifting somewhere else, reliving dark memories from his past.
Darian looked ahead and saw the clone and the silhouette just standing there, calmly waiting. He had the feeling her gaze had softened a little, even though her eyes weren't visible.
He didn't have time to think it through. He just focused on the figure now writhing in agony.
Unlike Raon, who stayed in that state for quite a while, the Primitive Beast took only a few seconds before his focus snapped back to reality.
That same sense of connection between them was there.
Darian stared straight into his eyes, coldly. Then scoffed. Honestly, when he'd first seen this guy, he'd felt his dark karma—but it wasn't anything that out of the ordinary. It was similar to a lot of people back on Earth.
Maybe he'd done plenty of terrible things, but he wasn't completely insane or totally indifferent to others. He'd just lived a life that forced him to do whatever it took to survive—even if that meant killing and destroying.
According to the mission, he had figured out how to refine everything in this universe—and planned to do it. But he probably hadn't done it yet. Maybe he really wouldn't be able to. After all, the future is written day by day.
Not that it excused anything, of course. But the truth was—no one's a saint. Screwing up and getting a shot at paying for it seemed like the real law of the world.
And Darian... for some reason, felt like that's exactly what he was doing with this power of his. Either giving someone a chance—or executing them without mercy.
"You had your fun, but looks like it didn't go that far," Darian said dryly. "You've probably already felt it. Decide now. Are you gonna stay and pay for everything you've done—or do you think you're above it all and regret nothing?"
Silence took over. It lasted just two seconds. Then, the Primitive Beast's violet eyes dimmed. He didn't have the strength to answer, but he didn't reject the rune either. That was his answer.
In the blink of an eye, the massive creature's body broke down into violet mist, fading into the air.
Darian stood there, panting, watching the black rune calmly float toward him. A faint thread of hope lit up in his chest. He needed that—desperately.
The rune vanished into his body, moving straight toward the black ring on his wrist, clicking into place at its center.
When he focused, Darian could still feel the Primitive Beast's soul there. But... how was that supposed to help him?
That's when a strong pulse ran through the black ring, followed by a tremor that shook his whole body.
Seconds later, a sharp crack echoed. The black ring had shattered again.
A cold chill ran down his spine. 'WHAT?!'
The ring wasn't rebuilding. It stayed broken, and didn't evolve. It looked like the process had stopped halfway, like something crucial was missing.
His suspicion was confirmed: both of his rings were perfectly balanced. The white ring—its counterpart—hadn't been nourished. They could only evolve together, or the balance would break.
'I burned the last of my dark power for absolutely nothing?' Frustration hit him like a crushing wave, threatening to drown him.
He clenched his fists.
Just when it felt like defeat was inevitable, Darian sensed something subtle—but different—flowing through his body. It wasn't the power from either ring. He focused... it was coming from that black rune at the center of the broken ring.
The energy felt strangely familiar. "Soul power!" he said, surprised.
The seven stars in his body lit up intensely. They were absorbing it!
Darian took a deep breath, and a warm vapor started rising from his skin—just like the feeling he had when evolving his body in the Array.
"The stars are getting stronger. Wasn't I already at max level?" he muttered, barely audible. "Well... fuck it, now I've got something to fight with."
Right then, Darian felt a connection to the planet's elements. He'd been able to sense them faintly before, but now it felt like they were part of him.
With just a thought, he could summon them. It was nowhere near the level of the elements inside the Array... maybe only 5%. But there was still a flow of high-level elements at his disposal. A new hope—burning and raw—was reignited deep inside him.