A day went by...
Every living being on that planet suddenly felt their minds completely free from that deity's influence. It was like invisible chains that had always been there were finally broken. The feeling of freedom was something else.
Hours later, everyone in the universe was stunned. The violet veil that had always covered the planets and been part of their lives since forever... just didn't come back.
Two days passed...
A week...
Ten months...
Life across that universe looked radiant. Sunlight was way more present now. Everything was blooming, like a new chapter was starting for real.
But back on the main planet, everyone noticed that one very specific area — where the deity's castle used to be — no one could even think about getting close to it.
Inside the place...
*Bang!*
"Idiot, I already told you to control it like it's a new limb." A firm, no-nonsense female voice echoed.
Down in a big pit, a black mass was collapsed. It trembled, then vanished, disappearing into the void.
Darian appeared underneath it, completely red with his own blood. He'd learned how to store his Dark Spirit and only summon it when he actually wanted to.
She went on, "You're not a close-combat fighter. If someone powerful hits you, they'll destroy your marks and that's it, game over. You need to use your allies and move stealthily. Only fight if there's no other choice, 'cause if you burn all your white power, you're done — not to mention you risk getting exposed for being way too abnormal."
Darian got up, sighing. He'd heard that plenty of times, but doing it was a hell of a lot harder than just hearing it.
"Well, don't get all down about it." She huffed. "You're better than expected at using the power of the Supreme Kamico Warlock. If you're in a place with lots of basic natural laws, you can even go invisible by bending them."
Darian nodded. He'd learned a lot from his master during this time. It was night and day compared to before.
Fighting head-on — even using his ally — he sucked at it. He'd only ever fought against Risen that moved on instinct, or Raon, who was a total idiot. That made him think he could win if he just tried hard enough. But the truth? Even a below-average fighter could crush him like nothing.
Still, he had tons of crazy abilities to work with. And that was what really mattered in battle: surprising the enemy and taking them out before they even knew what was happening.
"I figured you'd be the type to fight from the shadows." Meru continued, more casually this time. "Your Dark and Light Spirits don't have physical bodies to go head-to-head with anyone. Even at Calamity level, if they face someone with a similar power, that'll be their weak point. That's why you were paired with that Dragoness. She's your total opposite, made to fight right beside you."
Darian sighed, then asked, a bit hesitant: "When I reincarnated earlier... did the contract with her break?"
The female silhouette paused to think, and that made Darian super anxious.
"Break? Not completely," she said after a bit.
"The contract between you two is like a steel cable. When you died, the cable snapped. But you reincarnated pretty quick, already back on Earth. So it kinda reconnected, like it was glued back together. But the bond didn't fully recover — it's way more subtle now, until you return and rebuild it for real. Maybe... she and everyone else think you're actually dead. Since it never happened before, they probably didn't realize the soul-link just got super weak."
Darian took a deep breath, half-relieved that he could fix it, half-stressed thinking about what Niara must've been feeling all this time...
all these days...
"Wait... how long have we been training here?"
He'd been training nonstop, day and night. Meru just had to wave a hand and he'd be full of energy — no food, no sleep needed. Eventually he lost track of time and just focused on taking everything in.
"It's been ten months. Earth time," she said casually.
His heart skipped a beat. He did the math... and realized there were only about three weeks left before his siblings would be taken to become Spiritual Guardians.
Darian muttered, "Ten months... wait, people on Earth still know we're on the mission, right?"
"They know it hasn't totally failed yet, or else they'd have gotten the penalty notice. But failure's only declared once everyone dies. You've probably heard that sometimes Spiritual Guardians get captured. The power of your rings can be slowly drained by some demons. It can take months before the last one dies and the system records the mission as failed."
"Shit... so..."
Darian went pale. His siblings — and the whole clan too — had to be absolutely sure they'd been captured and stopped from dying. After all, there was a ten-day limit to finish the mission.
As for Niara, in the other universe… if he'd come back within three months, the misunderstanding could've been cleared up easily. But now that three cycles had passed over there, any hope was long gone.
"Relax, this is our last day here," Meru said, and Darian looked at her silhouette.
"The power inside this book is basically gone. There's nothing written in it that you don't already know, so I've used it up completely. I can't come teach you in person, so we'll only see each other again if you find the next book — a bit over four years from now," she finished.
"I've already given you a solid direction. Now, take this."
She waved her hand, and a small violet sphere, about the size of a fist, appeared, floating toward him.
"It's the law-core of this universe. It's sealed and powerless right now. I modified the law to work with either of your two powers. You're into weapons — like those flying daggers — not staves. So, if you find a good Forger who can create a core for a weapon, you can fuse this into it and use it in battle."
Darian took the sphere, surprised. It wasn't a physical object, but he could still move it around easily and store it in his spatial ring.
The silhouette nodded, and her body began to fade away.
At the same time, the nine who'd been asleep all this time started trembling.
"Your mission is complete. You're heading back to Earth now," she said, looking straight at Darian.
He quickly bowed, clenching his fists. "Thank you so much. I'll try not to let you down, Master."
She gave a nod. "I'll be watching you the whole time. You're just crawling now, so don't try to sprint. Grow in the shadows, stay off the radar... and don't try to imitate my father! He's everything but subtle. Be yourself, fight for what you believe in, and give it your all."
He gave a small, slightly embarrassed smile.
"Good luck, Darian."
Those were the last words he heard. After that, everything around him went dark.
It was the trip back home.