Niara walked up to the fallen summoner. Darian focused on sensing his karma, and in just a second, he found what he was looking for. Hidden deep, there was a small mark — the same kind the other traitors had.
"Partner..." Niara muttered, keeping alert, "That black power of yours... when I merged with it, I clearly felt something far away. I don't know how to explain it... it was like that power and whatever that was came from the same source... maybe it's that abyssal heart power you mentioned."
Niara shared what she felt. She wasn't one to overthink things, but her instincts were sharp.
Darian was surprised by what she said and tried to sense the black karma around him. He could feel everything within the second row, and even parts of the first and third, though less precisely. Still, he didn't notice anything he didn't already know.
He murmured, "Well, that transformation of yours came from my power. But I don't really know much about it myself..."
Niara nodded. Thanks to her partner's unbelievable powers, she now felt like she could fight on equal terms with the Spiritual Guardians. She hadn't had time to test both transformations, so she'd just unleashed everything at once. But in the future, she'd control them like she already did with the Green Dragon Armor.
Darian added after a sigh:
"I only found out about this Blessing of mine during the trial, when I came to your universe. I barely know anything about this power... right now, I've got more questions than answers."
"We'll learn when we need to," she said lightly. "Anyway, I think you should focus on him, not on me…"
"Fuck off, I am focused! Don't distract me with bullshit," he shot back instantly. Truth was, he'd been enjoying the sensation around him just a second ago.
She gave a soft, weak laugh. Meanwhile, he took a deep breath, trying to control the fang inside that summoner's soul.
He'd never done anything like this before, but that mark... after examining it carefully without touching, he felt it was really similar to the one that had just appeared in Niara.
"Hmm... I absorb black karma from anyone who has a lot of it... Never tried that on someone with pure white karma, and I don't plan to. That kind of person probably never harms anyone without reason."
He paused, thinking of Rhea — she didn't have a single trace of darkness in her aura.
"All the Risen's power and black karma, which then turns into my black and white power. I can even sense the karma inside their bodies really easily. And the abyssal heart is the greatest power a Risen Lord has... there's a connection here."
That's the conclusion he came to — and then a tense thought hit him.
"Is there any more detailed description of a Risen Lord's power? Did anyone survive to tell the tale?"
She nodded — those stories were well known, and every Mannaz knew them: "Yeah. The survivors of the last galaxy they conquered came to this one. According to them, in the battle that destroyed that galaxy, a Risen Lord used his abyssal heart to capture thousands of souls at once and then..."
Niara stopped mid-sentence, her eyes widening: "Then he used a power that looked like black energy, capable of destroying all living things..."
"Shit... That confirms it all," Darian muttered dryly.
That abyssal heart must work similarly to his own power of devouring karma. People said it absorbed souls, but maybe it was just karma — like Darian did. After all, no one could actually see karma, only the effects when it was used.
With that in mind, Darian used the bit of black power he'd absorbed recently.
He pushed it toward the mark on the fallen summoner.
'!'
Immediately, his black power activated the mark — like it was a key. He exhaled sharply, feeling everything clearly.
"So that's it... I can feel a connection between this mark and the others. It's not just similar to my power, it's basically identical. There are... five more traitors in the second row; three in the first."
"I think the theory's right. They felt us when we used your martial art with black power back in the last row. That's why they sent that elf to attack us — they suspected we were sent by another Risen Lord. Took them a bit because Zaoh, who was one of them, was close to us. Probably Ceug told Zaoh to check us out before giving the green light to attack."
Things were starting to fall into place. The Risen Lords had powers similar to Darian's, meaning their abyssal hearts could sense the whole nest.
When Darian and Niara used the black power — which came from the same source — it was like an unexpected intruder had entered the nest, drawing attention.
And what Niara said about feeling something distant during her black transformation made even more sense now. She had felt the traitors around... and they had felt her too...
Darian grew tense just thinking about it. But he quickly calmed down.
"Ceug isn't a Risen Lord. No way he can use this properly. Maybe only he, who got that abyssal heart fragment, actually sensed us clearly. The other traitors probably only got a mark like the one that appeared in you, something weaker. With just a mark, they can only send simple signals through karma and sense each other, like I'm doing now..."
Then he finally had a bold idea.
"Remember those two traitors we captured with the mind puppet, back in the third line? They said they had a simple order: wait for the signal, then activate the mark. Interesting..."
***
On the front line of the first row—
"NOW!"
Ceug roared and stepped back. At the exact same moment, his partner lunged forward, spreading his ice-covered wings. Suddenly, a solid wall of ice shot up in front of them, blocking the devastating strike.
*BANG!*
A thunderous boom echoed across the battlefield.
Right after, a sphere of fire came crashing down from the skies, blazing bright. At the same time, a five-meter-long lightning spear tore through the air and struck the enemy dead-on.
The massive Risen Chief took the fatal blow. Checkmate.
His body collapsed to the ground, completely lifeless.
"Quick! We have to help the others!" Ceug ordered, and the two behind him moved in perfect sync.
Until—
He stopped abruptly, feet digging into the ground, eyes wide open.
Without hesitation, he pulled something from his spatial ring. A small black box, covered in inscriptions that completely hid its contents from any external senses.
Ceug locked eyes with the box.
Seconds later, his body trembled, and a cold sweat ran down his spine.