"..."
Darian felt his consciousness stabilize. At the sa ti, a wave of pain shot through his entire body. His heart was pounding out of control — he wasn't dead. Then, he opened his eyes.
A violet sky, glowing and magical under the rays of a sun, was the first thing he saw.
His body felt like cracked glass — one strong gust of wind and he might shatter completely. Not a single bone was intact, but with just a thought, a warm energy wrapped around him and started healing him.
He got up, alard, looking around.
His eyes trembled. He was standing in the middle of a massive crater. The entire underground temple had been wiped off the face of the planet. What kind of power could even do that?
Panicked, he looked around... but there was no sign of his allies.
The only thing he found was a two-ter pile of rocks, with the legs of that Primitive Beast sticking out from under it.
It was still alive, for now — Darian could feel it. Maybe thanks to that monstrous body... or maybe... because Gregor died and his blessing faded. But his dagger was still in it, and it would die alone.
Darian's eyes trembled. Was he the only one left? How?
Then, he felt a gaze coming from behind.
He turned abruptly—
And saw her. That sa ethereal, divine silhouette floating just inches above the ground.
Rage filled his chest. A bloody thirst for revenge made his body tremble.
Seeing that, a soft feminine voice spoke with complete indifference: "... weak, way too weak... and a coward, too."
"YOU! Why did you attack us?!" Darian roared, clenching his fists.
"Because I can. The weak don't get to demand anything." The voice snapped coldly, and then she waved a hand.
Suddenly, the whole planet shook.
Darian stumbled, shocked. Was she planning to blow up the entire planet now?
He could hear the sound of earth splitting, massive cracks opening up everywhere.
On the horizon, he saw an intense violet light rising from the fissures in the ground, shooting up into the sky like giant beacons. It looked like the end of the world — and every living being on the planet could feel it.
The silhouette let out a soft exhale. Then, her hand stretched forward...
*Whooosh!*
Space-ti itself seed to bend. Like a black hole pulling everything toward her hand. But only the violet light moved.
Seconds later, everything stopped.
The planet stabilized. Every living creature felt a gentle breeze flow across them... like a virus had been ripped out from the planet's core, and now it could finally breathe again.
Darian saw a five-ter-wide violet sphere floating in front of her. It was pulsing like a heart, and he could even hear the beating — it caught him off guard.
"The core of the Demonic Shroud?" he murmured. That Primitive Beast must've hidden it inside the planet. So this silhouette ca here to take it?
He watched as the sphere pulsed faster and faster, then suddenly shrank to the size of a fist. After that, the silhouette turned her head toward him.
Darian felt his soul and body freeze. It was cold — like death itself had wrapped around him.
"Don't worry," the emotionless feminine voice said. "You won't be alone. I'll be visiting Earth soon. Everyone's going to disappear... and reunite in another life."
Darian's eyes widened.
His brothers, his ho... he had to go back, he had to protect them. He couldn't let this happen. He had to do sothing.
He forced his body to move again — and suddenly, the fear was just gone.
"Oh?" the silhouette murmured.
Darian clenched his fists, then tried to reason with her. "What do you want? Why are you doing all this?"
He felt her gaze shift. Was that... mockery?
"Guess brains aren't your thing. Well... I enjoy a bit of fun, like my father. If you manage to surprise even a little, I might answer your question."
Darian tensed up. Those words sounded off. Was he thinking wrong again? What had he missed? He stared at the silhouette, then looked at the two glowing marks on her hands again.
Noticing his gaze, she spoke quickly, "I'll be fair."
A black and white light appeared in front of her and rged.
Soon, a human figure identical to Darian appeared. It looked completely physical, solid — like a real clone.
"He's got exactly your power and intelligence... or maybe not. I think he's smarter. I'll weaken him a bit so it's fair." she added casually.
Darian saw so of the light drain out of the clone.
'Sa power?' he scoffed and waved his hand, summoning eleven flying daggers around him.
With another motion, black lines flowed from his body and coated the daggers. It wasn't much, but it was all the black power he had left.
As for the white power, he still had enough to fully heal himself three tis. Darian stared down the opponent with a slight smile — no way a clone could handle him.
"Die!" — in the middle of his thoughts, the clone roared, charging straight at him.
Was it trying to use just its fists? Darian thought, shocked. How the hell was this equal—
His body froze. A dark aura had erupted all around the clone.
"Fuck!"
Darian fired off the daggers; ten of them shot forward in a flash, surrounding the target from every direction.
One stayed in his hand, and he moved sideways.
But the clone just smiled, and his eyes lit up with a white glow.
The daggers ca in fast, but with a single smooth motion, a white barrier appeared.
The daggers hit it—and then all the black power vanished.
Darian's eyes widened. It wasn't just the black power—the spatial energy he was using to control the daggers disappeared too.
The clone turned toward Darian and slamd his foot into the ground. He shot off like a black lightning bolt, vanishing into a blur.
'WHAT?! How the hell does this thing have the sa power as !?'
He didn't even have ti to be shocked that the clone could use his powers. He already realized it—it knew how to use everything he had, in ways Darian didn't even understand himself.
Darian focused. He'd been through way too many intense situations to lose it now. He sidestepped.
The lightning bolt missed him, hitting only the empty air.
"Oh? At least you've learned to sense attacks. What a waste." — the feminine voice wasn't emotionless anymore. Now, it was clearly mocking him with zero pity.
She knew about the curse? Darian thought the obvious, but didn't have ti to dwell on it.
The clone moved the mont he missed. His feet hit the ground and launched him back instantly.
This ti, Darian saw things more clearly with his senses. He could actually feel the black power inside the clone—just like he'd felt it before from the Risen, or that Primitive Beast.
Darian dodged again.
Then...
*BANG!*
There wasn't a third ti.
The clone was way too fast, and worse, he changed up his style imdiately. Even though Darian could sense where the attack was coming from, he still couldn't dodge in ti.
Darian felt his face cave in. He was sent flying, crashing into the ground hard. His bones cracked, his organs twisted.
But he got up in a second, already healing.
The first thing he saw...
Was a black fist inches from his face.
*BANG! BANG! BANG!*
This ti, it wasn't as strong—but it was fast and brutal, hitting him over and over before he could back off.
This clone knew all about his magical regeneration. He wasn't dumb enough to go all-out and let Darian just heal it off. Instead, he struck again and again with minimal strength, not giving Darian even a second to recover properly.
Darian tried to heal in desperation, but the blows didn't stop. Each one hit a critical point to cause max pain and break as much as possible.
It threw off his focus. His healing slowed down. The wounds ca in faster than he could fix them.
His world quickly started to go dark...
"Hey... this is kinda pathetic, isn't it?"
The voice ca again, and the clone stopped attacking.
Darian dropped to his knees, coughing up blood, feeling his life drain away.
"Sigh... this almost makes feel bad."
The voice echoed as the clone raised his hand, his face twisted. A white light flowed from him toward Darian, healing him completely.
Darian stood up, dazed. Then he turned to the silhouette. What the hell was she even trying to do?
"This is just one extra chance... even though you've technically died twice already... well, whatever," she said thoughtfully.
Darian nearly jumped. How the hell did she know he'd died twice?!
"Focus on the damn target, idiot!" she snapped coldly.
Darian turned forward, startled.
*BANG!*
His face got slamd by a punch like a sledgehamr.
"Heavens... what a dumbass, but... he's got so willpower," the voice muttered, half-incredulous.
As for Darian—he went flying, crashing straight into the nearby pile of two-ter rocks.
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