"Is that really Nial...?" Mathias was flabbergasted.
He was breathing heavily, bleeding out of several wounds, and his sight was blurry. Nonetheless, Mathias could clearly recall how his friend's mana felt.
It was obvious that the flood of darkness belonged to Nial, and that everything he saw in front of him had been caused by Nial.
The surrounding land had already been turned into ruins because of the long battle against the Dryx. They had been on the losing side, and it was only a matter of time before they would have truly lost.
It had been inevitable because the Dryx could easily replenish their Stamina, while the same was not the case for the Elves and the human Originals.
Everyone had desperately fought, giving their utmost to survive as long as possible. It was terrifying and the situation was far from enjoyable. There was not a single being who hadn't been afraid to die.
Many had met their deaths irrespective of whether they had been at the Prometheus rank, the Mirae rank, or the Origin rank.
The number of Elves had dwindled rapidly, and there were only less than 300 of them who were now left behind from their initial count of thousands of them.
To the Elves, this realization was the most horrifying, especially because not many Elves were born every year. The number of elves might be high but their fertility rate was low.
In the end, the Elves, who had survived everything, fought the hardest. They were forced beyond their limits, which allowed them to keep getting stronger. It was as if they were unstoppable.
But the reality was different. They were not unstoppable and it needed only a handful of evolved Dryx to force them back into a defensive stance, where the Elves could only hope for a miracle to survive.
In the rows of the human Originals, the situation didn't look better. All of them were desperate, their mana had been used up completely, and they were beyond exhausted. Dungeon raiding improved their stamina a lot. After all, it could take hours to conquer a single dungeon.
But even while conquering dungeons, one could take a short break every now and then. It was not necessary to keep fighting for several hours while facing beasts that were at the same rank as oneself.
Everyone was utterly exhausted, and the sudden emergence of the flood of darkness seemed like a sign of the Gods, telling them that it was fine to accept eternal rest.
Yet, what nobody expected was that this flood of darkness was on the side of the human Originals and the Elves. Not a single Dryx dared to stay behind the moment they perceived the high potency of the dark energy.
Desperation and fear filled the Dryx, which only increased when they perceived that the Incarnation of their master was no more.
The connection to their lord and savior had been severed momentarily, preventing the Dryx from following the orders they had been given. The Dryx' entire confidence crumbled and they fled, following their bestial instincts to save their lives.
"That is Nial...but I cannot believe it either..." Hana said with shaky legs. Her entire body felt like jelly, and she could hardly stand on her two feet. While Mathias fought from a long-range most of the time, Hana had been forced to enter close combat all the time.
Her clothes were torn apart in various areas, and it was a wonder that the runes on her veil and her robe were still working while obstructing her Charm from being released.
"Well, he looks the same, at least," Mathias mumbled when his blurred sight had cleared up a bit.
However, even if they knew that it was Nial, who had suddenly emerged out of nowhere, the entire situation felt weird.
He had manifested an extremely terrifying flood of darkness, which swallowed everyone in its wake. But right now, he was trying hard to retract it.
Everyone could tell that Nial was in extreme pain. His entire body was smeared in blood, and his shoulders were weirdly twisted.
It was obvious that Nial never fled from the battlefield but that he had done something else, something that caused him to end up like this.
But what nobody knew was that the overflowing dark energy, the summoning of Kaeldur, and various other factors were at fault for Nial's current situation.
Killing Silvian was a walk in the park after Nial had been able to make use of the energy devouring crystals.
However, even if it was a walk in the park after all the advantages Nial gained, the after-effects of his actions were severe.
The Symbol of Life was absorbing the excessive dark energy, but that was the only good thing about it. His body was on the verge of breaking down, and Nial could barely focus on staying conscious for a bit longer. Every second counted.
'Just a bit more...just one more second....or two seconds, until everything is absorbed!' Nial screamed inside his mind, forcing himself to stay awake.
His mind was already befuddled, his legs had given in as well, and he was kneeling on the ground, looking as if he was about to die at any moment.
Dark energy swirled around him, preventing anyone from approaching him to help him. The darkness all around was rapidly being sucked inside Nial, where it was devoured by the Ankh.
The Symbol of Life allowed Nial to return to his original state, to what he had been before he entered the Dimension rift.
The influence of the dark energy was dispelled, giving Nial the peace he required to calm down. When the dark energy was pulled inside his body, Nial sighed in relief.
And as if on cue, Nial's mind shut down, and his body collapsed on the ground.
It almost looked like he became one of the many corpses that littered the ground.
Only the faint remnants of mana within his mana core were a sign that he was still alive. Other than that, he looked worse than most corpses all over the battlefield.
The Ankh was still glowing brightly within Nial's body. It provided him with the necessary vigor to keep him alive. However, at the same time, the Ankh, the Symbol of Life, was changing.
It kept expelling vigor, but something seemed different. The vibrant vigorous Symbol of Life, that was originally in a bright green color, mixed with faint tones of a holy white, a dangerous black, and a blood red color had changed.
The entire Ankh was dark green in color after the changes had finished, all the holy white light had ceased to exist and the Symbol of Life's outlines were bloody red.
It radiated danger but also hope, almost as if hope and darkness were intertwined...as if everyone's hope relied on the darkness that devoured everything and everyone it touched.
After Nial collapsed on the ground, silence filled the entire battlefield. The fight had ended, and the miracle the Elves had hoped for had finally occurred. They were still alive, and they had won, even if the price they had to pay in return was quite high.
"What the hell happened?" A young Elf finally asked after several minutes of silence had passed.
Several medics had rushed to Nial the moment they finished tending to their former patient. Their expressions looked extremely bad, and they looked at each other with terror-filled eyes.
None of the medics was sure how Nial was still alive.
"How is his condition?" Valvian's voice resounded behind the medics, who turned to their Midnight Elf with an uncertain expression.
His severed arm that was now reduced to a stump restricted him from doing the tasks of a Midnight Elf with ease but that was not the current problem.
Valvian had received several highly potent potions followed by the effect of a particular flower that grew in the Forest of Life, so he would be fine.
The arm that had been cut off would regenerate and with enough practice, Valvian wouldn't even notice that he had lost his arm.
"Answer me!" Valvian demanded in a harsh voice and he looked at the Elven medics with a fierce expression when they didn't answer him.
"Calm down Valvian. I told you before, that you are not at fault for anything that happened!" Master Crevian appeared next to Valvian.
He released his mana to investigate Nial's condition and his expression worsened over seconds.
'I expected Silvian to emerge from the Dimension rift amulet when it broke, but Nial defeated him...somehow...' Crevian thought. The Old Elf knew that Nial's achievement was far from easy.
Even after Valvian told him about Silvian's condition, and that the incarnation of the God of Saints and Devils' mana core was partially broken, Crevian knew that it wouldn't be easy for Nial to survive fighting against him.
Silvian had been the incarnation of a God, and they were not easy to kill, whether they were at the Prometheus rank, in a near-death state, or in their prime state!
"I don't know how you did it kiddo, but you saved us...all of us! You did a very good job..." The Old Elf Crevian sounded very emotional and grateful when he spoke, but everybody else chose to not comment on it.
In fact, everyone could understand how the Old Elf felt. They had been on the verge of getting defeated.
All of their efforts to defend the Forest of Life, and the manifested Divinity fragment of the Empress would have been for naught.
The Empress gave her best to provide the Elves with the life they deserved to live. She had fought for eons to give them everything they wanted.
Infiltrating Jundra was the first time for the Empress to set her responsibilities and duties aside for the time being and do whatever she wanted to do.
She followed the prophecy her race received, and chose to gamble on it. Under normal circumstances, the Empress would never do something that could endanger her race, but the prophecy was too important to ignore.
Everyone who had heard about it knew this, and it was the right choice of the Empress not to ignore it.
"The Darkness really came," Crevian mumbled, while his heart was thudding wildly against his rib cage.
He clearly recalled the prophecy the Empress herself had revealed to him just before she ordered him to accompany Valvian and the other elves to the lands mentioned in the prophecy; the lands that were about to awaken after hibernating for millions of years.
-When life and death embrace each other, darkness will emerge.
Eternal darkness will rule the lands of the Prymals where life will bloom.
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Trust your heart and you will live, believe your mind and you will die.
A storm is brewing, and chaos overflows.
When the Outlanders break free, their path will lead them through the Veil.
The Fate of the Universe is predetermined, death is inevitable.
Only the Undying and the Darkness will be left alive, overcoming fate–
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