Damned Healer-Chapter 188: Total Fantasy

Darian stared seriously at the manifestation of the two phoenixes. "So... you want me to take the primordial seeds... with your power?"

"Yeah," the Ice Phoenix replied. "Those Spiritual Sovereigns sent some well-prepared people this time. If they manage to take all of our power, even being young and weak, they could use it to steal this universe’s Immortal Chaos Essence."

"Please... if you take everything, they won’t be able to come back here or get another chance. The people from both universes... and the two of us... we’ve learned our lesson. With time, they’ll stabilize the karma they created," the Fire Phoenix added quickly.

Darian nodded. "Got it. I came here exactly for that anyway..."

"Perfect. We’re already dead, and now we’re just soul fragments. In the end, we’re gonna vanish. That’s why we’re giving you our final blessing. If you get the seeds with our power, it’ll be a lot easier for you to absorb everything."

The Fire Phoenix spoke, and her body started glowing intensely. Her sister nodded and began glowing too.

Soon, two small rune marks appeared in front of them, floating straight toward Darian. The moment they got close, he felt the Yin and Yang stars in his body tremble in sync.

The runes touched his skin and instantly vanished into him.

"!"

*Crack!*

Both Yin and Yang stars shattered immediately. Then... they started rebuilding themselves, merging with the blessings.

In just a few seconds, new stars were born.

"Huh?" He felt the change, frowning a bit. They seemed... weaker than the previous ones?

The two phoenixes couldn’t see what was happening inside him, but the Ice Phoenix muttered, "Our blessing doesn’t give you raw power. It only suppresses the purest Yin and Yang from our bloodline. That way, it’ll be a thousand times easier for you to absorb and use."

Darian nodded. The stars were technically weaker because they now needed the seeds to become complete. Which meant... he absolutely *had* to get those two primordial seeds, no matter what.

He let out a sharp breath. His master told him to stay low-key... yeah, not happening. He was definitely gonna stir up some trouble. Planet rank 8 and 9 were not gonna be happy about this. But... deep inside, he was fine with that. Everyone had their own path, and everything about Darian’s life pointed toward drawing attention whether he liked it or not.

Even without Meru’s warning, with Darian’s personality—the type who never ignored what was right in front of him—trouble always found him anyway... but so did opportunity. Playing it safe all the time would just slow him down or maybe even stop him from ever hitting his goals.

"I’ll do my best," Darian said, locking eyes with both of them.

Their eyes sparkled with excitement. The Fire Phoenix murmured, "You can do it... after all, you *are* Heaven’s Will...!"

Suddenly, she stopped mid-sentence, feeling the heavenly laws slam down on her like a hammer.

Darian blinked, confused—but before he could ask anything, a soft sound echoed... and color started flowing back into the world around him. Everything that had just happened took only a few minutes... but it felt like time had completely stopped for the entire universe.

Niara didn’t notice anything weird. No one, anywhere, sensed it. It was like nothing had happened at all. Then, a glowing mark floated down from the statue, landing on Darian and completing his registration.

With that done, the Milky Way alliance quietly stepped away from the plaza.

Humans were now the minority, but Udynes and Barod treated Darian like an equal in every decision. In the end, they agreed to wait outside the city, deep in a forest full of massive trees. Both the elves and the beasts felt way more comfortable out in nature. The humans... well, they didn’t care.

During this time, the three leaders sat down to discuss the best strategies for the fight. Rhea had already explained to Darian how the competition worked.

This contest was split into three stages. The first one was all about combat—everyone would have to face shadow creatures made from the power of the two phoenixes. And those fights... were brutal. Each shadow had either insane offensive or defensive power.

Luckily, there weren’t that many of them. An alliance could fight calmly against one or two at a time. And the rewards? Freakin’ amazing. When one was taken down, it dropped a solid core filled with the phoenixes’ power.

That core was a treasure with infinite uses. Rhea said that back when she did this trial, she managed to get a Yang core.

It literally saved her years later during a rank C mission, when her team got completely surrounded. She used it in the most brutal way possible—just blew it the hell up. It wiped out a super strong enemy and his entire army in one shot.

The whole reason the Milky Way alliance was formed was to grab as many of those cores as possible. The beasts were terrifying tanks. The elves specialized in speed and long-range attacks with their bows—only a few of them were supports. And the humans filled in the gaps with supports, mages, and whatever else was needed.

But now... everything had changed after those five Earth empires broke away.

"No need to worry. The Zroots will hold the front line. Just focus on attacking, we won’t let anything reach you."

Barod said directly, sensing Udynes’ anxiety. The elves were really weak defensively, and without many supports to help the tanks, enemies would break through and the elves would be the first to die.

Darian could see Barod’s courage and honesty. He was basically suggesting that the fighters and the few supports among the elves and humans just focus on attacking and leave the defense completely to the tanks.

Udynes let out a frustrated breath. "We need to stay as far back as possible and lure in only one enemy at a time. If we get surrounded, the tanks will take too much damage. Darian, does anyone in your group have a mobility blessing that could help?"

Darian shook his head. "No. My group was built to adapt to situations. We’ve got two Mystics, one tank, a support and a mage. The Mystics are the weakest, only one ring each."

Both of them sighed. They’d just have to rely on luck.

***

Days later, the phoenix statues in both universes suddenly lit up with a blinding light. Soon after, that light spread across the entire plaza, pushing away everyone nearby.

"The competition’s about to start!"

All the Spiritual Guardians and the universe’s natives rushed over, staring at the plaza now covered by a glowing dome. Everyone got a little tense.

You could see inside the dome. Everyone who registered could enter, and then they’d be taken to a small, separate world where the two twin universes were connected. The place stretched for several kilometers, and a terrifying fight was about to begin.

*BY THE GODDESSES!*

Screams echoed across both universes, coming from the natives. The strongest among them left their homes and sprinted like this was the battle that would decide their lives.

"Let’s go!" The Spiritual Guardians also moved in groups.

The whole city shook as countless powerful figures unleashed their full force, charging straight for the dome.

"Damn, there’s so many people!" Lucy said, excited.

The total number was split between the two twin universes, so the total facing the challenge would be almost double. But in the Yin universe, where they were now, there were nearly five thousand Spiritual Guardians alone. As for the natives... probably around twenty thousand.

Despite the overwhelming difference in numbers, the natives were, on average, way weaker than the Spiritual Guardians. Not to mention, the power of blessings was unpredictable.

The natives’ strength was basically pure control over Yin or Yang. Since the universe had been split into two, along with its elements, and the phoenixes had ruled over each, every native was born with extreme affinity for one side.

Another thing... the statues would bless those natives brave enough to step up and protect the place and do good. That was the method the phoenixes left behind to make them unite. Because of that, each native had a mark that helped them control these elements better.

*GO!*

Shouts rang out from all sides. Everyone felt the dome vibrate. That was the signal to enter.

It was like watching an anthill rushing forward and swarming through the dome’s barrier.

The Milky Way alliance went in with the rest. Inside... everything was blurry and distorted. They could barely see anything around them.

Everyone quickly formed up. The Zroots made a circular line. Matteo, being a tank, stood inside with them. Within the circle, the elves and Veyle got ready to attack. Darian and the twins took support roles along with a few elves.

Minutes of tense silence passed, with everyone gripping their weapons nervously.

After ten minutes... the outer dome vibrated again. That was the end of the entry window.

At that exact second, the distorted space around them started to stabilize.

Everyone could finally see their surroundings. They were in an open field. The ground was blackened and scorched, with the only light coming from two small stars—one red, one blue—shining in the sky.

Suddenly... the ground shook.

**Chiiiiiiiiiiiii**

Two sharp screeches echoed from opposite directions. They were loud and intense, like the two phoenixes were alive and pissed off.

And then...

The skies filled with tiny colored specks that started growing... and growing.

In moments, massive red and blue shadows—each over ten meters tall—took form.

And the numbers...

"This... no..." Udynes’ shaky voice rang out in disbelief.

There were... at the very least... ten times more enemies than recorded in the previous two trials.

Staying back and pulling one enemy at a time? That would be a total fantasy now. Every alliance would have to fight at least half a dozen enemies at once, with no single spot free of multiple threats.