Darian smiled inwardly. The new version of Tempest Blink was terrifying. He could move almost instantly by triggering the power of the winds. The enemy would only ever notice the moment he activated it—never the place he ended up.

Unfortunately, that technique was only really effective if the target was close. It was a short-range instant move, not something to escape far away. After all, Darian had developed it inside the array, specifically so he could fight alone against tons of enemies.

Now, anyone who didn't have overwhelming power compared to his, and dared to underestimate him, would get caught completely off guard.

"Don't you dare!" the man roared, feeling pain like never before.

In that instant, a black, shadowy poison seeped completely into his body.

"You can't kill me! The Radiant King is my uncle, he will—!"

Darian yanked the dagger out before he could finish. Right then, the man's body stiffened and he completely lost control, unable to even speak.

"A young master… always satisfying to kill. But wait your turn. Let's go." Darian said, glancing at the three young ones as he grabbed the man by the hair.

Awel appeared at his side, using the power of wind to lift him into the air.

Darian turned to his army: "Focus on wiping them all out here!"

The moment his words echoed, every Heavenly Elemental Spirit roared. A heartbeat later, Darian vanished with the three—and with that man.

In their place, a wave of desperate screams spread through the thieves and assassins. That man was their ultimate trump card, the guarantee that they couldn't lose.

But after just a few exchanges, it was clear Darian hadn't even taken him seriously. The strongest figure in the desert, a descendant of the supreme King from the last phase of the Trial… was nothing more than an ant before him.

This happened because ever since the battle in the City of Primal Beasts, Darian hadn't fought again—he had only commanded his little soldiers.

That stance made the thieves and assassins believe he was just a strategist. Judging only by the power the Heavenly Elemental Spirits had shown in recent years, they were certain that man could win this fight easily.

But now, they realized they had been completely deceived. Darian didn't just shatter their expectations—he shattered their confidence, leaving them too shaken to fight properly anymore.

At that moment, Darian appeared in the skies, less than three hundred meters from the army of tens of thousands of shadows.

They came in all shapes and races. And worse… in the middle of them was a group of more than a thousand, each one at the absolute peak of this desert's power. Even descendants of the mighty from the final phases wouldn't dare say they could take down more than one of those. Let alone a thousand.

Before, that army had been spread out in the area near the abandoned city. If Darian had attacked then, the shadows would likely have been ordered to advance separately, coming from every side, swallowing their enemies and cutting off any chance of escape.

But now… thanks to that man's distress call, the Millennial Abscess had gathered them all into one single mass and moved them quickly together…

This was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to unleash a massive strike—and hit them all at once.

Darian then turned to Awel, Tir, and Eleri, nodding. His inventory opened, and a flood of elemental runes of earth, water, and wind surged toward them.

Thousands of each type. All this time, Darian had been stockpiling them, and with the upgrades he'd gained, more and more runes had been pouring in every day.

The three took a deep breath. The runes were sucked into them instantly, as if they were black holes devouring everything.

Over the years, Darian had reached the most obvious conclusion: when it came to earth, wind, and water, those three were way better than him. Now that they trusted each other fully and he knew them inside out, handing it all over was the best choice.

The desert sky exploded in colors.

Three suns of blinding, otherworldly brilliance materialized above. They didn't just light up the landscape—they radiated an invisible pressure so crushing that even the primordial Yin of the environment seemed to bow before them.

"Gravitational Domination!"

Tir's shout tore through the air, and a blinding yellow light spread, locking onto the enemy army ahead.

Every shadow felt the earth beneath their feet shake… until suddenly, an overwhelming pulling force exploded outward, pressing them all down. It was like a mountain collapsing onto their shoulders, forcing the colossal army to a dead stop.

"Tidal Wave!"

Eleri's voice echoed, and the sky transformed again.

Above the immobilized shadows, a vast blue world began to take shape, as if an entire ocean had been summoned over them.

The next instant, that massive body of water crashed down with the fury of a waterfall strong enough to crush mountains.

**BOOM!**

A deafening blast echoed out, and the ground cracked under the impact.

A third of the shadows were instantly reduced to a bloody pulp. But... as soon as the water hit the ground, it twisted and floated up, swirling into a growing vortex.

Awel, bending the winds, joined her strength with Eleriu's. The two sisters worked in perfect sync, with Eleri shaping the water and turning it into steam, fusing it with the air currents.

*BUZZ!*

With a chilling sound, in the blink of an eye, their combo gave birth to a hurricane of apocalyptic scale, spinning and swallowing the shadow army.

Hundreds of shadows were hurled into the skies, spinning wildly, until blades of wind tore through them, ripping them apart brutally. And still, a large portion held their ground, using their powerful bodies to resist that force.

They couldn't move thanks to Tir, while the two girls unleashed their full powers to drag them into that raging cataclysm. Yet, there was no hope of wiping them out completely.

Up in the skies, Darian kept his eyes closed, focused on the unmoving man, channeling his power into him.

Through these years, Darian hadn't just sat around. He had deeply studied the primordial core, as well as every Law and power of the system.

When he saw that man's past and noticed the white rune he used to control the millennial Abscess, Darian was sure: that was the Order Law, used by someone standing at the very peak of this world's power.

It wasn't absolute proof, but if any low-level Chromaraic in the desert could control countless shadows, then someone with the title of Radiant King should have the strength to command even an Abscess.

Because of Remira, Darian knew that powerful people from other Trial phases couldn't descend to lower stages to interfere directly.

So, the Radiant King must have taken advantage of the young ones who would be initiated into the system and sent into the desert. That white rune had been carved into the man's body, and according to his memories, the goal was to lure in powerful sacrifices and leave behind a new rune.

At the same time, he mentioned he'd received an "inheritance," and could still summon that enemy. So...

"Found it!"

Darian dove completely into the man's body without killing him, searching exactly for that inside him. Before, it would've been impossible to locate or interfere, since that inheritance was hidden within his primordial core.

But now, Darian already understood a bit of primordial cores. So, by invading the man's body, it was simple to force control over that power.

It was a subtle, white mark, but with a little push... Darian connected to it.

He took a deep breath...

Then, his senses locked perfectly onto what resonated with that mark. His eyes turned to the middle of the shadow army.

There, he spotted an apparently ordinary shadow, looking like some kind of demon.

But inside it was the terrifying consciousness that commanded the entire army.

"The party's over."

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