The whole place was swallowed by an overwhelming aura. The air felt like it was freezing and burning at the same time. People started trembling, paralyzed — they couldn’t move anymore.
The natives stared in horror at those two massive pairs of eyes. There was no doubt. The blessing inside them screamed it. Their instincts screamed it. That was... the two Divine Phoenixes of the twin universes.
But... Darian saw deeper.
His curse exploded like never before. His body and soul trembled, suffocated by an absurd concentration of black karma. It wasn’t coming from those eyes — the eyes were just fake shadows, curtains hiding the real evil behind.
Behind them... two tiny soul fragments were controlling everything.
Darian understood it thanks to that book. No mortal could ever pull something off. This only happened when someone reached immortality — when their soul transcended the laws of the world.
An immortal soul could be split, and even the tiniest fragment... held infinite possibilities, depending on how skilled the one controlling it was. There was no doubt. Those fragments could only belong... to the two Spiritual Sovereigns.
Those two demons were dead, but their race had some freaky ability... when they crushed their own hearts and sacrificed themselves, whatever was sealed inside them got released.
Up in the sky, a devastating light started forming, coming from the power of the two Phoenixes. It was the kind of power not even an eight-ring Spiritual Guardian would dare face.
Everyone — except the 57 demons from planets 8 and 9 — felt death creeping in. Cold. Inevitable.
"Fuck!" Darian spat, furious. Seriously? Did it really have to be this insane?
All the power from the two Phoenixes was getting burned into this attack. Even if it was just a fragment... it was something Darian simply had no way of facing. Why the hell were they already throwing everything at him right off the bat?!
Darian clenched his fists. Niara held his arm tightly, tense... but without showing a trace of fear. She’d promised she would trust him.
A blue light and a red light suddenly exploded out from Darian’s body. His eyes snapped wide open — it came straight from the Yin and Yang stars inside him.
Both energies shot toward the sky like two spears ripping through the air. And then... they fused.
Two figures took form above, their wings spreading with such overwhelming might that the whole world seemed to freeze.
That destructive power just stopped. Froze mid-air.
Everyone swallowed dry, unable to take their eyes off those ethereal figures. Fading silhouettes... but still impossible to ignore. Just shadows of the past... the last sparks... the final remnants of the two Phoenixes.
The emotional cry of one of the natives shattered the suffocating silence. In a heartbeat, everyone dropped to their knees. The Goddesses were here... for real... protecting them. They had come out of that human. He really was their chosen one.
"Those fucking demon bastards..." The furious voice of the Fire Phoenix echoed. Her presence, even in spectral form, made the air itself feel like it was burning. "They stole what was left of our primordial essence from our bodies... it still had our mark, so they made it look like all of this was our doing!"
The Ice Phoenix spoke fast: "We can only block this temporarily, because it came from the two of us. We were planning to use everything we had left to complete this final trial and fade away... but now, we’ll use it to hold this thing back. We’ve got ten minutes — absorb the Seeds, now!"
A terrifying sound echoed through the whole world. The small trial realm started collapsing. Massive cracks split open everywhere. This final stage was supposed to last a long time — until a winner fully absorbed the Seeds. But now... everything was falling apart.
Suddenly, two rough, disgusting voices boomed like thunder. Darian narrowed his eyes. No doubt... those were orders straight from the immortal fragments.
In a blink, the 57 demons from planets 8 and 9 charged. No hesitation — all of them aimed straight at Darian, like predators closing in on prey.
Some of the demons shoved their hands into their own chests. It was the same sacrifice move from before — that desperate ability of their race. One life... to create a miracle.
"You’ve gotta stop them!" The Fire Phoenix roared urgently.
Darian spun around instantly.
Right in the middle of the demons, a sharp gust of wind hit, followed by a subtle space distortion.
They turned around, surprised.
There appeared a slender elf, her ethereal body glowing somewhere between real and illusion. Next to her was a young human, barely into his teens. His red eyes shined with a frantic light... everyone immediately felt the resemblance to someone else.
Lucius let out a heavy sigh. A blinding, oppressive white light exploded from his body.
Darian nodded. His white power flowed straight to his brother. The light and white energy touched and merged in a second.
The demons barely had time to react. It felt like an invisible hammer smashed into their chests. Those trying to use the sacrifice move... their demonic bloodline power instantly became unstable. If they forced it, they’d just die for nothing.
Suddenly, all 57 demons were trapped. A massive cage of radiant white light surrounded them — big enough to hold more than triple their number.
A strange energy was crushing their bodies. Even the flow of energy through their rings was almost shut down... everything was super slow.
Some tried activating their supreme artifacts... but failed. None of them responded — they were out of energy.
Just like how Lucy developed a skill that interacted with Darian’s black power... Lucius had created a technique too. Using the white power, this freaky domain was born.
Getting out was possible — but it’d take time and effort. Something the demons definitely didn’t have right now.
Inside that light prison, all their power was getting crushed. It felt like they only had half their strength. External abilities, like artifacts, were pretty much impossible to use.
Of course, those demons were still young — only two rings each. Their power was still pretty thin. If they had more rings, the power would be denser, and they could force the artifacts to activate.
Without the full support of their rings, supreme artifacts and the power of their demon bloodlines became unstable. Sure, they could try activating them... but it’d be completely out of control. They’d probably just blow themselves up and take some allies with them.
The enemies realized it instantly. They could only count on the little power they had left.
All eyes locked onto that duo. A collective scream echoed: "KILL THEM!"
"CHARGE!" another shout came from outside the light domain.
A huge wave started moving. The Zroots, the elves, and the members of Irana’s Alliance rushed straight toward the cage.
The moment Lucius and Udynes dashed into the fight, everyone else went full speed. No hesitation — hundreds charged straight into the Light Domain.
The two Phoenixes watched, stunned by that unique power. Only now did they realize... Darian had been hiding his allies this whole time. They were his secret card — and now, at the decisive moment, he’d unleashed them.
The Zroots roared, charging forward with Matteo leading the front line. The elves fired arrows in perfect sync with the few warriors from Irana’s Alliance.
A brutal, frantic battle broke out. Those 57 demons were the elite of the universe. Even surrounded by enemies three times their number... they should’ve been totally untouchable against these so-called "mediocres."
But the Light Domain... was a nightmare they never expected. Their strength was crippled. And they had to give everything they had to reach that human.
A full minute passed.
Darian stood still... fully focused on absorbing the two Primordial Seeds. With the current speed, he’d need at least five or six more minutes. If he had to fight, it might take longer than the ten minutes the two Phoenixes gave him.
"You guys! Help us!" the demon who took charge of the fight roared toward the outside, his voice filled with desperation and rage. "If you stop him... our planets will owe you forever!"
On the outside were those demons and a few other races who didn’t join Woldi’s alliance. They’d all attacked Darian before. They were from top 50 planets at least — not much weaker than the ones stuck in the domain.
Hearing that, they all got fired up.
Darian had to stay focused on absorbing the seeds, which meant... he couldn’t fight back. Just attack him and stop it? Easy.
All of them shouted in unison... charging like a deadly avalanche toward one single target.
Now... besides his few allies... every single Spiritual Guardian still alive in the trial was focused on one thing: take Darian down.
Darian sighed. Things never went perfectly smooth for him.
This special mission had already been flipped upside down. No matter how it ended...
...even if he won, the consequences of all this were gonna be one hell of a mess to deal with.