Damned Healer-Chapter 101: Judgment

Darian nodded, and his daggers flew back to him. Right after, he used a bit of his white power. The dagger holes in Raon's body healed quickly.

Then, Darian placed his hand on his chest and pulled back the black power he had placed into the group crystal.

'I wasn't sure if I should destroy this thing later or not. But now, this is the perfect time.' He thought, excited.

With his power, he managed to completely cancel out all the effects of that artifact. That meant it definitely wasn't recording anything—it was like unplugging an appliance; without power, it couldn't do a damn thing.

But now, that recording had become incredibly valuable.

Physically, besides the wrinkled, aged skin, Raon had no visible evidence of what had just happened to him.

The Empire would definitely question what went down, but Darian could just say vague, random stuff. All they'd see is Raon charging at him trying to kill him—and then, cut to Raon lying there, dying.

It'd be easy to say Raon messed with some clan artifact and it screwed with the group crystal.

Maybe that action of his attracted this universe's Diabolic Mantle and caused his death? Who knows. Darian had no idea—and no one would ever get an answer. Without proof, they couldn't blame him for anything.

"..."

After that first scream, Raon started thrashing, groaning in agony, his eyes nearly popping out of his skull. The veins in his neck bulged grotesquely while his voice turned into a hoarse hiss. Anyone seeing him like that would be horrified, unable to even imagine what he was going through.

At the same time... even more people would be extremely satisfied by that sight. And, no doubt, some of them would help Darian cover it up later.

All the dark karma inside Raon started to slowly vanish. That was the fuel for everything he was facing.

One minute later—

"!"

Darian's eyes widened. He felt the black rune inside Raon pulse. Then, it synced with the black ring inside his own soul.

'What the hell?' Darian's face twisted. He felt a kind of connection with Raon—very similar to what he'd felt with Niara.

Raon kept suffering.

The connection between them grew and grew, making Darian feel deeply disgusted, but he realized he had to wait.

A few minutes later...

Darian decided to take advantage of it to learn more. With that soul connection, he tried to sense what Raon was going through. Now he could understand a bit more. Besides the indescribable pain...

'His mind is seeing images?' Darian realized, shocked. It was a combo of torture and visions. 'His karma is burning his soul, and his mind is showing him things... he's reliving all the evil he did?'

The most obvious conclusion came to him. If Darian could see that through the karma, it meant Raon's past actions were imprinted in that energy. Feeling some of Raon's fear and torment, that theory felt even more solid.

'Is this rune some kind of judgment? I created it, and it's connecting to m—'

He stopped mid-thought.

Even in such a wrecked state, Raon didn't look like he was going to die. Now his eyes were focused again, and his mind had returned to reality.

But his soul was so weak it looked like a candle flickering in the wind.

The connection between them was becoming nearly solid. But both Raon and Darian could tell it could still be broken. Just a bit of mental resistance, and the bond would vanish.

At the same time, Raon felt a force pulling him away... not physically, but his consciousness was being dragged somewhere else.

That was the Heaven's Will trying to take his soul somewhere... probably to the mysterious afterlife. He was sure of it. He clearly felt like his life had ended; the only thing keeping him inside his body was that black rune tied to his soul.

It became clear there were only two choices left for him.

His soul was merging with the rune, which was fully connected to Darian. If he let the connection solidify, he'd become some kind of slave.

At the same time, he had just relived all his crimes, both from this life and past ones. And his black karma had been almost completely burned away. He hadn't seen it happen, but he could feel that something terrible turned on him and got temporarily erased.

You didn't need to be a genius to get it. Becoming a slave was just another form of punishment. This was an 'opportunity' to pay for everything he had done—while still alive.

Or he could just leave. Break that thing and let himself be taken away by the Heaven's Will.

Pay for what he did or just leave?

What an easy choice.

At the same time Raon came to his conclusion, Darian felt a bit of what he was thinking and feeling.

Darian snorted: 'Run away? Not even in your dreams.'

The moment Raon refused the connection to the rune, Darian wished for his complete death.

*BOOM!*

His body exploded.

At the same time, his soul was erased. But not by the explosion.

Darian felt the black rune that was inside Raon return to him. The rune fused with the ring on his wrist, his body trembled for a few seconds... then... it felt like it had grown and become stronger.

'Wait... the rune refined and absorbed all the power of his soul?' Darian thought, surprised, then suddenly feeling incredibly excited. It felt similar to when the rings evolved during that event with his brothers. Now he'd figured out a way to boost the power of his curse.

'Okay, if I do this, I lose the chance to absorb his karma. But I still gain a lot from it.'

Darian clenched his fists, feeling something shift inside that ring. It felt way closer to breaking and evolving again.

He wasn't sure, but he felt that the only reason he'd even been able to create these runes was because the rings had evolved beforehand. That creation with Niara was similar to the runes, but the base was something totally different. It only worked because of her Bloodline and the connection between them.

'This curse of mine keeps getting more complicated... when will I actually know how to use my powers for real?' Darian sighed to himself.

Then he focused on the current situation. He had to move, so he ran to where Raon's body was, and among all the blood and guts, he found his spatial ring.

Inside, he saw tons of artifacts. He couldn't keep those because of Imperial rules. But he pulled out a round, blood-red, shiny artifact. It was the core from that Red River Pact Clan artifact.

Then he looked around...

He quickly found another crystal buried in the dirt. It was another active artifact—the one that was keeping the spatial prison going.

Darian held the crystal, feeling a close connection to it... he figured it must be the woman from Raon's group using her blessing along with this artifact.

Luckily, he had studied with Leander about the best way to merge blessings with artifacts. There was a standard method to make the connection. You couldn't just do it any random way, or you risked getting hit by a backlash and exploding.

Because of that, he fully understood how to use it without alerting the other side.

In no time, he was sure. That support woman was using her blessing together with the artifact to keep everything running. After the setup, the artifact's energy was being drained slowly, also acting as a control core.

Raon had full control over the place through this artifact. The woman was just keeping it going, but the artifact was what actually ruled it.

He turned and took several steps. A bit later, he waved the artifact, taking control of it. Then, the invisible walls opened in several spots at once.

The first thing Darian saw was a pair of round, wet eyes staring forward, almost unfocused. Her expression was pure despair. Veyle was already collapsed on the ground, sure she was going to die soon.

When everything changed, her body jolted in shock, and she jumped up. Then she looked at Darian, pale.

And it wasn't just her. All the other nine had been freed and saw Darian standing a little ahead. His expression was totally blank... at least that's what Darian thought.

But they all felt he was hiding a cruel, twisted satisfaction as he put on a mask, right after doing something questionable.