The deadly silence hung over everyone. A complete void was all that remained of the once chaotic battlefield.

Everything was gone. The invincible, terrifying Radiant King had been completely erased into nothing. And the victor of the battle...

...turned to ashes before everyone's eyes.

The people in the sect were in utter shock, incapable of any reaction.

It lasted only a few seconds, until the first ones began to tremble, tears streaming down their faces.

"N-no... the vice-leader..."

"This can't be real..."

Whispers of disbelief echoed through the army.

Remira, however, was the only one with her eyes locked on the place where Darian had been. She saw it, felt something was off, and, stunned, her mind raced at full speed.

That's when something changed.

It was like time itself froze. Then, suddenly, the primordial Yin and Yang of the entire Heavenly World began to tremble.

In just seconds, heaven and earth shifted. A veil of extreme black and white covered everyone's vision. The primordial duality of this world was moving, being drawn toward a single point.

Remira's eyes widened as she realized what was happening.

*Whooosh!*

In a split second, the world before everyone was covered in flames.

Two mountains of fire rose into the skies: one of raging red flames, the other of icy blue fire.

People stared, stunned, at those flames burning and growing endlessly. The primordial Yin and Yang of the whole world were the fuel, feeding the fire, making it expand nonstop...

It seemed as though it was about to consume everything, reducing all life to ashes.

*SCREEEEEEEEEE!*

Suddenly, two sharp, piercing cries rang out together, filled with majesty and uniqueness. They were almost identical voices, but each carried a different feeling.

Hearing them, everyone's souls reacted like they were standing before a divine omen, something unbelievable.

It all lasted only a few seconds. Then, the flames stopped growing, merged, and began slowly shrinking.

At the center, between the two mountains of fire...

"!"

People saw a faint grayish light pulsing, like a star.

Slowly, what had been just a tiny point kept growing, bigger and bigger...

"Nirvanic rebirth..." Remira muttered, stunned.

She knew that all too well. This was the most terrifying ability of a primordial phoenix. A beast ranked right below the Primordial Dragons in power.

They weren't superior to dragons in any aspect, but... throughout history, countless primordial dragons had been slain. A phoenix, on the other hand, was almost impossible to kill.

They would rise again from their own ashes, using their innate power. After rebirth, their bodies would undergo a natural purification, gaining even greater potential than before.

To kill a phoenix, in theory, you had to completely defeat it in battle, then seal and absorb the core of its power. An absurdly complex process, since they could simply choose to self-destruct and be reborn somewhere far away, escaping their enemy.

Minutes dragged on like time itself was in slow motion.

Those flames were now only two meters high. They burned like their strength was being drained away.

At the center of it all, people stared in shock as a humanoid figure pulsed with divine light, rising again before their very eyes.

Its form was the same one everyone knew, but... now it radiated a magical, indescribable feeling.

The two flames kept fading faster and faster. Until he opened his eyes.

With a strong gust of wind, everything vanished. Only he remained at the center of it all.

Everyone took a deep breath... The air and the world's energies were completely drained, like all the primordial Yin and Yang had been consumed by him.

Hearts thumped like drums as they took in his radiant aura and shining physique. It was like watching a deity show up in front of mortals.

"?"

Darian came back to himself, confused.

He clenched his fists, feeling his body — sure he was alive. Then... his eyes popped.

His body had been totally transformed. It was like he'd become one of the nature races in human form. All the impurities and natural flaws in his physique were gone. Every cell radiated purity and insane energy.

The first thing he did was check his inventory... and he sighed in relief: it was there, everything intact.

Then he noticed the Yin and Yang stars of his body... they were much weaker than before.

The two phoenixes had given him their full inheritances without saying much. He'd absorbed everything; the two stars changed completely, remaking his stellar physique, which before had been balanced across seven stars.

It was as if those two were at power level 10 while the remaining five were at level 2. The gap was huge, but now...

'The other five stars... are insanely more powerful... and radiating primordial power!'

Darian was startled. The Yin and Yang stars had weakened, but still held a little primordial power. A new balance had formed. Now, it was like all seven stars were around level 7. Even though two were weaker than before, overall, he'd gained far more than he'd lost.

"I was physically reborn... how?" he murmured, then turned and saw Remira coming up with a strange expression.

"You said you got the inheritance of two phoenixes earlier," she said, taking a breath, "looks like they gave you the full essence of their powers."

Darian's eyes widened as he understood. He focused on the Yin and Yang stars and could no longer feel that old power.

"You're reborn, but you're not a primordial beast. You can only use that once, and now you've completely lost that power," Remira said, calming down. "Still... the benefits of a nirvanic rebirth are incredible."

She sighed, then looked him over with a satisfied aura. In theory, Darian was the same as before, but he now gave off a beautiful glow and a presence that made people sigh.

Suddenly, Darian noticed Remira's eyes drop to his lower body. After a longer look, she quickly turned her head away.

He felt confused and glanced down... only then did he realize his clothes obviously hadn't returned.

Darian jumped, opened his inventory, and dressed himself quickly.

"..."

After all that, he breathed deeply, not sure what to say.

When he turned, he saw the void and the ground totally wrecked. Nothing was left — neither the dead nor the enemy. It was over.

At the same time, he looked inside his inventory, and his eyes trembled.

There were the soul fragments of the three. Darian had used the technique he'd gotten at the first ruin he visited in the desert, the Divine Seal. He'd sealed them so they wouldn't weaken and kept them.

In the fight, he knew he'd die, but he'd done it instinctively without thinking too much. He preferred to disappear with them.

A huge relief and joy flooded him. Because that idiot's twisted desire to torture them ended up keeping them alive and letting Darian recover them. But...

Now they'd lost their Heavenly Elemental Spirit bodies. It won't be hard to fully heal the souls, but they'll never be exactly the same as before.

Darian sighed and turned to Remira.

"In the end, I won." He said, eyes serious. "Call everyone fast — let's finish this once and for all."

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