Everything went quiet for several seconds. The whole nest started trembling. A suffocating feeling rose up, coming from all directions, until the sounds of roars echoed.
It was the Risen in the nest, but those roars weren't full of rage or excitement — they were filled with pain and death.
Darian focused on sensing all the changes around him… and then he was shocked.
The bodies of every Risen in the nest were cracking. It didn't matter how powerful they were — all of them looked like they were being crushed by some unstoppable force. Cracks opened all over them, and through those fractures, all their karma and power were leaking out.
The weaker ones, mostly from the back rows, dropped quickly, already lifeless. The stronger ones were still roaring in agony while their life and strength were slowly torn away.
And the one doing it all… was just one person standing in the front row.
"Ceug! He's using that thing!" Darian said tensely.
After everything they went through to find the traitors and expose them, now everything had flipped upside down in a flash.
There was no way to predict what the enemy would do with the little info they got. Darian had only guessed that the Risen Lords were fighting among themselves, and maybe using the Abyssal Heart's power too early would be a mistake. But in the end, Ceug chose to activate it before the right time.
Vahnu and all the rookies had gone pale. Even though they didn't fully understand what was going on, they could feel death getting closer by the second.
Even from far away, Darian could clearly sense where the Risen's power was flowing. Right in the center of it all, he could feel the Spiritual Guardian using his power to cause this. Activating the emblem would only affect the Summoner and wouldn't kill him — which meant his partner could keep going without a hitch.
That High Elder turned to the slug when she heard that. "What do you know?! What's happening?"
"I only heard the name of one of them — it was called the Fragment of the Abyssal Heart," Darian replied, thinking fast. Vahnu's eyes went wide at hearing that name.
**CRASH!**
Right then, everyone looked up and saw something terrifying. The sky — the space above them — was cracking. Countless fissures were spreading out like spiderwebs across the horizon.
The nest wasn't covered in miasma anymore, and the spatial laws that kept the connection open to outside the galaxy were being torn apart.
"What… this wasn't supposed to happen now!" Vahnu exclaimed, completely stunned.
"This is the beginning of the nest's collapse. It was only supposed to start after we killed all the Risen and activated the inscriptions at the other end, sealing the entrance. Before any of this began, everyone was supposed to leave, because once it starts, the space seals itself from the inside — and escaping becomes impossible."
All the rookies dropped to the ground in despair. That meant it was really the end. They were trapped — and they were going to die.
'Ceug's using it on the Risen first to kill them… and at the same time, he's starting the destruction of everything to wipe us all out. Shit… we don't have time…' Darian was thinking as fast as he could, desperately trying to find a way out.
He focused all his power on sensing Ceug and his partner in the front row. They were far away, so it was tough. Then he focused on the karma flow from the dead Risen and followed it all the way to the end...
It was a small, round little object that was causing it all. That had to be the Fragment of the Abyssal Heart.
Then, thanks to his power, he noticed something almost imperceptible — but it was growing fast.
'Oh? Ceug and his partner can't use that thing properly. They don't have the capacity, so they're forcing it in the wrong way. That's causing... the destruction of the fragment... does that Risen Lord even know?'
While Darian was thinking, Vahnu stood frozen. What could she do? Ceug's partner had six rings. She, and everyone else who came to this nest, didn't stand a chance against him.
Before, there was a shot at acting at just the right moment, but now, even if they hurt the Summoner with the emblem and that affected the Spiritual Guardian's power, it wouldn't lead to anything.
At the same time, low sobs of despair echoed.
"We never had any chance of surviving... it was all planned... this is the end of the entire universe..." Zibia said through tears, standing with the other newcomers.
Niara growled, "Who gives a damn about what they planned? It's not over yet, so why the hell are you all giving up already?"
Everyone turned to the Dragoness, who now looked more like a winged Mannaz, with no scales left.
Everyone could feel her Bloodline was drained, and her partner reeked of emergency pills. They must've fought to their limits, on the edge of death. Just when they thought they'd won, everything collapsed. Even so, the slug and her were still looking for a way out — not giving up.
"You're calling yourselves weak? Me and my partner definitely fucked up their plans and forced them to adapt..."
"That's it!" Darian shouted, cutting her off. "This whole thing must've been planned way in advance. That Risen Lord wouldn't have handed over something that important without some serious safeguards."
Everyone turned their full attention to him. Darian looked to the pale Vahnu.
"The traitor marks were only on Summoners... is there any way a Risen Lord could put something on or mark a Spiritual Guardian?"
"N-no... the power of the ring repels anything from them. That's confirmed in the records about the traitors — only Summoners can carry hidden stuff," she answered quickly.
"Then Ceug must've gotten something way more powerful than a mark — something that gave that Risen Lord confidence to leave that fragment with him. If he didn't just blow up the nest right away, then there were limits. Now he clearly changed plans and wants to wipe out everyone, including that Risen Lord..."
Everyone swallowed hard. Darian was sure because the destruction of that Abyssal Heart fragment was happening at the exact same pace as the nest's collapse.
Destroying that fragment would be a fatal blow to the Risen Lord. No way he'd accept that.
So how were they pulling it off without the Risen Lord stopping them? Darian thought fast: maybe... he couldn't stop them. And that could only be the result of some freakish blessing.
"High Elder! Activate your emblem and fuck Ceug up when I give the signal. I've got a plan."
Darian spoke seriously. Niara nodded, fired up, and everyone held their breath. That slug had surprised them so many times — now, he was their only hope.
**CRASH!!!**
The skies started crumbling toward the ground, inch by inch. It had only been a few minutes since it all started. The abyssal nest wouldn't last much longer.
Darian took a deep breath.
He pulled back the canine tooth inside that Summoner. Then, all his remaining black power was forced out of his body.
The colorful slug turned pitch black in that moment.
Niara held him, serious now, instinctively sensing something was wrong. "Partner, this..." She stopped halfway. She couldn't explain it, but something felt very off.
"This is the only thing I can think of... maybe our only shot. It'll be alright, trust me," he whispered, feeling his black power being pulled away.
Without hesitation, he let go.
What was killing the powerful Risen was still active, wiping out the last survivors. Darian's black power had the same origin — so it was instantly pulled in that direction.
The difference was, Darian was still its owner.
The slug closed his eyes...
Seconds later, he was just a few meters from the core of everything, about to be sucked in.
And when he entered—
"Now!"
With the signal, Vahnu — who was already prepped — activated her emblem.
At the same time, Darian unleashed all the black power that had just entered.
A sudden, double attack.
Ceug felt his emblem shatter immediately. Inside the emblem, a hidden colorful rune pulsed.
"!"
Inside his body, his divine Bloodline reacted. Then, all his blood and organs twisted, like they were boiling.
At the same time, the Spiritual Guardian — who was helping control the Abyssal Heart fragment — felt an invasive force explode out of nowhere.
His eyes widened. They could barely control that thing as it was. Now, with his Summoner hurt and something shaking the balance, it all went to hell.
*CRACK!*
The sound of something breaking echoed inside Ceug.
"FUCK!" the Spiritual Guardian yelled, panicking.
That chaos — which Darian couldn't have predicted — shattered the seal that was keeping the Risen Lord from acting...
And then, out of nowhere...
A dark, overwhelming presence awakened inside Ceug.
"NO!" the Spiritual Guardian roared, as his body started to crack apart.
When he looked at Ceug, he saw his life had been completely destroyed.
He stood up, and in his eyes...
There was only a macabre red glow.
That wasn't his Summoner anymore.
That was the Risen Lord.
Then, the Spiritual Guardian shattered completely — and vanished.