"Hahahaha…" Ryafe let out a booming laugh. "You're the ones from that other academy? Damn, what luck. Master's gonna be thrilled to deal with you guys."

His Summoner raised his bone club. His body, wrapped in black armor, pulsed with even more force.

Darian recognized that kind of power. That armor was made of Obsidian — a terrifyingly hard mineral, created when the power of the earth was pushed to its absolute limit.

It was clearly a blessing from a top-tier tank. Almost physically impenetrable, and with huge elemental resistance. No regular person could ever handle a blessing like that.

The little dragon curled tighter around Niara's body. She, in turn, took a deep breath as something intense flowed through her spiritual root.

It wasn't white power. Nor black. She couldn't use those powers — or their armors — right now. But... in the three rings on Darian's forehead, a new and still barely explored power was being released for the first time.

Everyone aboard the flying ship watched, full of anticipation. The natives of this universe felt like it had been forever since they'd last seen Darian and Niara fight.

Niara's fists, wrapped in yellowish flames, trembled. Then, the flames changed — turning a more ashen shade.

Ryafe's eyes bulged immediately.

"THE BLESSING OF HEAVEN'S WILL!!"

Without warning, Niara moved.

Her fists struck toward the enemy's armor like meteors.

The Summoner reacted on reflex, swinging his bone club at her. His Spiritual Guardian had already merged with the armor, disappearing inside it.

*BOOM!*

Space seemed to explode, and the earth shook. A howling storm ripped across the ground. The impact could be felt miles away, inside that small world.

Then came the crash — like the sound of a mountain-sized tree falling.

Everyone on the flying ship stared down in shock. Niara was still in her punching stance. As for the enemy...

They clearly saw: he had been launched backwards, his bone club shattered by her blow. His armor hadn't even been struck directly, but the force alone sent him flying, coughing out a massive spray of blood before slamming into a tree.

Suddenly, he reappeared, looking stunned and unable to process what had just happened. "No way... only the Master should have a blessing…"

"Pathetic insect, stop wasting time with words," Niara spat, then flapped her wings and shot into the sky.

The enemies went pale with fear. She dove like a hawk after her prey.

"FUCK!" He didn't have time to think. He quickly activated his ring's full power without hesitation, boosting his armor to the max.

What no one on the flying ship expected was...

The defensive power of his blessing... the moment it touched Niara's ashen flaming fists... it looked as fragile as glass.

*CRASH!*

A massive explosion opened a gigantic crater in the ground. His armor shattered into countless pieces.

Before the power of the blessing of Heaven's Will, that defense was pathetically weak.

Not because he was weak — but because any power granted by regular Spiritual Guardian blessings lost its strength the moment they came into contact. The blessing of Heaven's Will had an extreme suppression effect — a natural power to break barriers and shields, which could be infused into attacks.

Darian had tested it before, using just a small amount. That alone was enough to break the enemy's weapon, even if it didn't reach his armor. But now, Niara struck directly — showing the blessing's full power.

After hitting the ground and forming a crater, the Summoner started vomiting huge amounts of blood. That Mannaz had suffered serious internal injuries and desperately needed to focus on healing.

But Ryafe was well-trained, and it was obvious his chances of winning were zero. So, he quickly pulled out some runes and activated them, creating a spatial distortion.

*BANG!*

The spatial distortion had just formed when a flying blade hit it — tearing it apart instantly.

Ryafe's face darkened, feeling the Dragoness getting closer.

Another flying dagger cut through the air, heading straight for him.

"Y-you'll regret it if you kill me!" Ryafe shouted, suddenly pulling out a fist-sized emerald.

It was a life storage stone — something like a spatial ring, but with the ability to temporarily hold living creatures. It was already a rare item in this universe even before the academies were taken... nowadays, everyone believed they didn't exist anymore.

Darian scoffed. The flying dagger stopped just before slicing off the Mannaz's head, but since it all happened too fast, the blade still pierced his forehead, making him bleed.

Darian had no choice but to stop. He could feel it clearly: there were about a dozen World Tree sprouts inside that stone, completely still.

"I know you're not gonna kill me," Ryafe said, gripping the stone. If he crushed it, those newborn lifeforms would be killed, their bodies completely destroyed.

Darian and Niara didn't say a word. They just stared at Ryafe coldly.

"So that's it... you came to steal our treasures," Ryafe spat, his tone icy. "Let me go and you can keep this."

He figured the two wouldn't want to lose such a valuable treasure. No way they'd be willing to kill those lifeforms.

The people on the flying ship swallowed hard. That trade just wasn't worth it. Ryafe had mentioned someone called "Master" earlier. That must've been the strongest person among the traitors in this place.

In other words, if he got away, they'd regroup and fortify the most important spots in this world. That'd mess up their whole plan of acting quickly and quietly.

Their goal was to save the World Tree. That would save millions of sprouts, and also its creator. Sacrificing a few dozen right now was a choice anyone would make — even if it hurt.

But...

"You win. I can take your life whenever I want, but trading it for those little sprouts sounds like a good deal to me," Darian said calmly. "Hand it over and get lost. We won't attack you."

Ryafe's face darkened, but he didn't say anything.

Everyone on the flying ship watched the pair on the ground tensely. But deep down, a warm feeling bloomed. Darian wasn't willing to sacrifice innocents.

The twins let out a breath. Darian had already explained to them: the ends don't justify the means. If he did something that cruel, the karma would come back — and it'd hit when it hurt the most. That'd be a thousand times more dangerous than any current setback.

Ryafe sighed, and his Summoner slowly stood up.

"When I hand it over… those on the flying ship won't attack me, right?" Ryafe asked directly, since only the pair had made that promise.

"Hand it over and scram fast. Dan's way too soft, but I'm barely holding back..." Niara said, her eyes fierce.

Ryafe nodded, then slowly placed the stone on the ground.

After that, he pulled out another small crystal. It gave off a strong spatial aura — another natural treasure from this universe, designed to work kind of like a teleport. Once crushed, spatial energy wrapped around them.

"!"

But just as he was about to teleport, an arrow pierced the crystal, making it explode.

"You bastards, going back on your word?!" Ryafe roared.

"Sorry, really sorry. My partner's bow slipped. Please, go ahead and use another one," Lucy said apologetically. But it was obvious to everyone they'd done it on purpose.

"You think that was cheap? I only had one, dammit!" he yelled, furious.

At that moment, the stone he'd placed on the ground vanished — and appeared in Niara's hands.

"Oh really? Then... why don't you stay right here?" Lucy said as Ariu raised her bow with a cold expression.

Ryafe turned toward Niara, who was holding the stone. Desperation filled his face. "Y-YOU!"

"Hurry up and get lost," Darian snapped coldly all of a sudden.

Ryafe looked from Niara to the bow pointed at him from the flying ship.

Grinding his teeth, he ordered his Summoner to turn and run away in a panic. And so, they fled in the most pathetic and humiliating way possible... the Mannaz almost falling over, still coughing up blood along the way.

Ariu tracked him with her arrow, ready to fire at any moment. But Darian didn't give the order.

After several minutes, they were out of sight.

Niara climbed up onto the flying ship.

Seeing everyone's faces, Darian murmured, "Why the looks? That was part of the plan. I let them go on purpose."

"On purpose?" Everyone was stunned. No matter how they looked at it, it didn't seem like he had planned that.

"Yeah. Both me and Lucy and Lucius can track him easily now. My dark power is inside him, after all."

Hearing that, the twins suddenly understood. Darian had cut the Summoner's forehead on purpose earlier, so a bit of dark power silently seeped in.

The twins took a deep breath. Then their eyes lit up. They really could sense the Mannaz moving farther away with ease.

Seeing that, everyone looked at Darian with a mix of excitement and admiration.

Darian went on: "That bastard's probably one of the strongest in this place. And he called someone 'Master', who's likely the leader of the traitors. Now that this happened, he'll go join up with that leader. So we can get a rough idea of where they are. But judging by the state he's in... it'll take a few hours, maybe days, before they meet up."

They were in a closed-off, dangerous place, which had forced them into a passive stance, having to act cautiously. But now they had the upper hand — and they knew the location of the traitors from the Academy.

"Also…" Darian added, while Niara was pulling all the sprouts out of the stone, "now we've got a way to complete part of the mission faster."

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