Damned Healer-Chapter 695: Terrifying Battle

It was late afternoon. An orange glow covered the entire Celestia Academy, which was drowned in silence. And it wasn’t just there. Across that whole planet, everything felt eerily calm.

In the commercial city, there wasn’t a single person on the streets. Every building stood empty.

A little over two years ago, the common people had abandoned everything without looking back. Everyone who fled wanted to leave that galaxy behind. Unfortunately, trying to do that now was complete suicide; the new protective inscription reacted to the slightest attempt to escape, striking back brutally.

So all they could do was sigh in regret and run to some planet far from the center.

In the past, all the galaxies controlled by the Shadows of Heaven Academy kept their doors open to anyone who wanted to move there. But obviously, everyone had to go through a strict screening process to be approved.

Over the centuries, anyone who wanted a calm and safe life—where they’d never have the chance to gain much, but would also never lack anything—moved to those new homes. Those who stayed behind were either not approved or didn’t want to live under rigid rules.

There were cases, over the years, of people who got approved and, shortly after moving, ignored the rules and tried to squeeze out as much profit as possible from the newly reborn planets. They didn’t care about environmental damage or the consequences of their actions for the people living there.

Unfortunately for them, all the newly born Gaias on those planets had a subtle connection with the Academy. Nothing that harmed the place went unnoticed, and the Academy would find out quickly. As a result, their deaths were used as examples for everyone else.

Back to the present.

Inside the Celestia Academy, nearly a billion newly appointed Elders were gathered. All of them, just a few years ago, had been Summoners.

After the cleansing in the Universe of Heaven’s Will, which spanned nearly two hundred planets, countless Spiritual Guardians were killed. That caused an explosive increase in the number of Mannaz who lost their partners, creating all these new Elders.

It wasn’t the first time this had happened. Thousands of years ago, something similar occurred on a smaller scale when that nine-ring army was killed while attacking Earth. Even though those who died recently were much weaker, the numbers now were many times greater.

In the academy’s meeting hall, a few hundred Spiritual Guardians were gathered. All of them were traitors, serving the three Spiritual Sovereigns.

They were lucky. When the massive attack on the planets in their universes happened, some of them were already in this other universe, and others were near the Celestial Altar. Seeing how terrible the situation was, they chose to flee to the training universe.

They were already certain that everything in their home galaxies had been devastated. Their time was running out. They had, at most, thirty years there before they’d be forced to return. And when that happened, they would definitely be captured on the other side.

Everyone in the room looked tense. It was like they were on death row, just not knowing the exact date of execution.

"All the Elders are ready. The Celestial Shadow has also sent a positive signal," a female Spiritual Guardian with long golden hair said seriously. "We need to try to contact the Sovereigns. If they attack us now... I fear the worst outcome for everyone."

"I’ve already sent the message through my Bloodline. I’ve done it more than a dozen times over these two years," a tall man said dryly.

Another figure with a pair of wings added, "We need to prepare and follow the old plans left behind by the Sovereigns. We must survive and—!"

Suddenly, everyone’s expression changed.

They felt something instinctively and turned in the same direction.

**BUZZ!**

All at once, the sky and the earth trembled. In the next second, a blinding green light exploded outward, covering the entire planet.

The Spiritual Guardians’ senses locked onto the epicenter.

It was coming from the core of the Celestia Academy.

Rewinding a few seconds.

At the Academy’s core, a spatial rift existed. Inside it was a small world created recently.

It was completely empty and dark. The Celestial Shadow was inside, fully focused.

Suddenly, he opened his eyes in shock.

Just a few meters in front of him, appearing completely out of nowhere, two very familiar figures stared at him.

"SEAL!"

Niara roared, and her entire body shone with infinite green light.

The Celestial Shadow felt something he had never even imagined could exist. It was as if all the space-time power of that universe had moved and pressed down on him from every direction.

It felt like being crushed from all sides. Despair flooded him; if that continued, he would explode without any chance to react.

How was that possible? His mind raced, searching for a way out.

But, fortunately for him, the sensation lasted less than three seconds.

Suddenly, it all vanished. Then he found himself inside a green-tinted world, surrounded by absolute Draconic power.

He sensed the environment, and his eyes widened.

"The laws of the universe!"

He felt nothing. For the first time in his life, he had completely lost his connection to the universe where he was born and lived.

He took a deep breath, realizing he had fallen into the enemy’s trap—and how terrifying the place he was in truly was.

His senses quickly stabilized. Then...

In front of him, space rippled.

A humanoid figure emerged, staring at him coldly with red eyes.

---

Outside, at the Celestia Academy.

All the Spiritual Guardians rushed to the location. But in front of them, there was no longer any entrance, and nothing could be sensed. Their connection with the Celestial Shadow had vanished. It was as if nothing had ever existed there at all.

**BOOOOOM!!!**

A deafening explosion echoed in every direction.

Everyone turned to the skies. Around the galaxy, the entire defensive inscription was shattered by sheer brute force.

"Fuck! PREPARE FOR BATTLE!!!"

Those figures roared in fury, sending out the emergency signal.

The millions of Elders in the Academy rushed out immediately. Across several planets in the galaxy, many of them activated mobility inscriptions and hurried back.

In less than thirty seconds, an army of over a billion Elders had formed.

In the skies, coming from every direction of the galaxy, an invading army of several tens of millions appeared.

They were far fewer in number, but... a terrifying immortal power erupted like a tsunami inside the galaxy.

That was the most horrifying and powerful army imaginable.

As for those Elders, they were just Mannaz who had once been Summoners. Even if the enemy army had only nine rings, they would still have to be considered invincible.

The Academy’s Spiritual Guardians clenched their fists. And strangely enough, they didn’t feel fear exactly. Just frustration.

"ACTIVATE EVERYTHING! IT’S ALL OR NOTHING!"

The orders were given.

All those Mannaz took a deep breath. Then, in perfect sync, they placed their hands on their chests.

At that instant, everyone’s eyes changed. A white light appeared, like a beacon.

The immortals suddenly felt it.

The entire galaxy—and the whole universe—shifted at once. The laws trembled, as if anticipating something terrible.

A wave of white light exploded in all directions.

Lucy and Lucius, who were commanding the army, narrowed their eyes. The entire army was moving straight toward the Academy’s planet when they felt that sudden change.

**KILL!!!**

From a single point, a collective roar thundered across the entire galaxy.

In the next second, all those Mannaz shot off from the planet toward their enemies.

At that moment, the immortal army felt something they could never have imagined.

"This..."

Lucius’ eyes widened. All those enemies looked like they were covered in armor made of white runes. And also... the power they were giving off...

"It’s something coming from an immortal! And not just any immortal!"

Alear roared, confirming what she felt through her own Bloodline.

Lucy and Lucius swallowed hard. Darian had already taught them that the world was vast. An immortal was simply someone who broke the chains of mortality and ascended above the laws of the world.

Being an immortal wasn’t even close to the strongest thing that existed. There were many levels of immortals. There was even a category above an Immortal: those directly connected to Heaven’s Will.

In front of them, those white runes on the Mannaz held immortal power, but compared to their own immortal power, it was clearly like heaven and earth.

Alear could confirm this easily thanks to her special body. Something far above the standard immortal level was interfering with this universe!

Worse, it was granting power to the Mannaz.

"Get ready!" Lucius roared, making everyone draw their weapons.

What stood before them were no longer fragile, mortal creatures. Every enemy Mannaz there held power capable of directly clashing with the Spiritual Guardians who had become immortals.

Fortunately, Darian had always prepared them for the worst. He never said the battle would be simple or easy, and he made sure everyone trained to the limit, as if they were heading into a true life-or-death fight. No one dared disobey his orders, even when they felt strange.

Now... everyone swallowed hard and stared at that army, dozens of times larger than theirs.

They were certain of it. This would be the most terrifying battle they would face in their lives.

---

Inside the spatial rift.

Niara watched Darian and the Celestial Shadow at the center of everything.

She was inside that place, but she couldn’t be seen or sensed in that world. It was as if her existence had dissolved and merged with the surroundings.

She couldn’t fight or help Darian directly. All her focus was on keeping the rift stable, preventing the Celestial Shadow from interacting with the outside.

Keeping him trapped like that stopped him from activating the galaxy’s inscription and sacrificing all living beings. And since he wasn’t connected to the laws of the universe, his raw power dropped drastically.

If Darian didn’t exist, Niara could only keep that enemy trapped indefinitely, without being able to kill him. Fortunately, Darian’s soul was connected to hers, and everything they had could be shared and intertwined.

That’s why he was able to enter this place through Niara.

Now, all that remained was to end this enemy in a one-on-one battle.

"Interesting. Is this the power coming from the Immortal Chaos Essence?" the Celestial Shadow’s almost guttural voice echoed.

Darian stared at him without emotion. This enemy was just a soul. Even if he had his true body, fully healed, in front of Darian, he wouldn’t pose any real danger.

"Maybe," Darian replied flatly.

"Hahaha... great," the Celestial Shadow let out a dry laugh. "Then all I need to do is kill you, and I’ll be able to take it back from that bitch."

The moment he said that...

Deep within his eyes, a mark lit up.

Then, a blinding white light erupted, covering the entire environment.