After hearing that, for the first time, Mallory’s expression and gaze completely shifted, revealing her true intentions.
"Darian..." she muttered, taking a deep breath, trying to calm herself. "Don’t be reckless."
He stayed completely unmoved, staring at her coldly. He still lacked a lot of information, and since he’d never join that twisted family, his only goal now was to hit her pride and maybe force something useful out of her.
"You’re just as stubborn as he was..." Mallory scoffed. "Right now, the info about what happened in the special mission is only known by a few surviving demons. But they contacted our family right away. Darian, we’re part of a tightly knit alliance in the universe — everyone protects each other. A bunch of human planets and even other races are united. We can’t let someone like you walk away free. You didn’t just become the number one enemy of the demons, but also of the entire alliance. Listen carefully: you won’t have a single safe place left in the universe, and the demons won’t rest until you’re dead."
"So what?" he mocked.
"So what? If you don’t help calm things down, all of Earth’s gonna suffer for it. As your aunt, I promised I’d try to talk to you, and our whole family asked for a bit of time to handle this quietly. But if they lose patience..."
She kept going and noticed Darian’s eyes shift, which made her feel a brief wave of relief. But she misunderstood completely.
Someone so arrogant and shady suddenly showing up to have a calm talk? That didn’t add up. No way she’d go through all this trouble unless something was holding her back.
If she had the power to just solve this herself, she would’ve. Something was clearly stopping her — even from using the Empires to capture him. He had a strong guess why: that golden demon, the one who was an Immortal Keeper, must be interfering, just like he promised.
Darian now had a clearer idea of the protection backing him — and also just how far this twisted family’s reach really went. But that just confirmed it: as long as he stayed careful and didn’t show weakness, he’d be relatively safe on Earth... even if he was still weak.
"I have a way to fix all of this," she finally said, showing what she really came for. Her move was obvious: scare him first, make him realize how deep he was in — and now, throw out the bait.
"We told the demons that you’d surrender. They were gonna kill you and make a big public show of it for the universe. But they promised to leave your soul untouched. It was an official agreement, recorded by our whole alliance. They can’t break it."
"But don’t worry. Our family has a really special supreme artifact we got some time ago. We can mark your soul with it. That way, you’ll have a 99% chance to reincarnate on Earth in a few years. And once that happens, we’ll know exactly where you are."
"Your talent is insane. Everyone’s heard about what you’ve done. But you were born and raised like a regular, poor human. You wasted time and potential — you could’ve been way more powerful. The younger you are, the faster you grow. Look at the twins: they awakened before fifteen. You were what, twenty-one? By the time they hit your current age, they’ll be way stronger than you are now."
"So really, you’re not losing anything. A person’s talent — even without memories — carries over into the next life. As long as they get a shot to rebuild it. Everything you build in one life stays inside you, like a seed that may or may not bloom."
"With the artifact’s help, we’d find you while you’re still young. We’d take you into the family. You’d get the chance to grow all over again... and become someone even greater than you are now."
Darian listened closely. A supreme artifact that could mess with the laws of the world directly? Artifacts really were terrifying — able to pull off miracles or things that should be impossible.
Mallory watched him with a faint smile. It was a tempting offer for anyone with talent who had grown up in poverty. But...
"That all you came here to say?" he replied flatly.
Her face shifted immediately. Clear anger bubbled up as she stared him down coldly.
"Darian, I’ll say this one last time. You don’t have a choice. Someone with just two rings has no power to act cocky. Me and the family did everything we could to help you, even crafted a plan to make you come out of this on top."
"I don’t need any of that," he shot back coldly. "Like I already said, my problems have nothing to do with you people — and I’m not part of your damn family."
She stood from the chair, her eyes turning dark.
"Fine. Looks like you’ll only realize your mistake when it’s already too late... just like my idiot brother."
Darian’s eyes narrowed with clear killing intent.
But she didn’t care. She turned and walked toward the door. She opened it herself, and before stepping out, she looked back one last time with a chill in her voice:
"Let me give you one last warning. You’re not just dooming yourself... you’re dooming everyone around you too — including the twins."
She left calmly, closing the door behind her.
Darian knew those words weren’t empty threats. They couldn’t attack him directly, but they’d use every bit of their influence to wreck his life — until they buried him completely.
And at the same time... he couldn’t care less. Now that he knew the truth about his father and mother, there was no way he’d let that family keep existing. He’d destroy them — the first chance he got.
Now... his life on Earth, in his own universe, and even in the training universe — all of it had turned into a terrifying mess in less than two years since becoming a Spiritual Guardian.
One small misstep, and there’d be no saving him.
Still, he realized that whenever he followed his instincts and tried to do the right thing... no matter how terrifying the situation was — people always showed up willing to help.
It felt like those people had been waiting a long time for someone like him to appear. Someone who could break the existing rules and pull off miracles. And Darian... he was relying on those people to survive and grow fast.
All of that was... the complete opposite of what his master had advised him before.
Darian scoffed, without a shred of regret. ’If that’s how it is, then I’ll show my claws too.’
Now that there was no turning back, he wasn’t going to try hiding anymore. From here on out, if he wanted to survive, he had to be as terrifying and intimidating as possible.
Whether that decision was the right one or not... only the future would tell.