"T-That was everything?" Darian asked, surprised.

Meru's voice replied flatly:

"Yeah. You think the big-shot planets split this power into ten parts? Of course not. They've got the power and the means to pour it all into just two people. Folks on Earth know that, too, but they can't do anything about it — they just don't have the resources or the strength."

Darian took a deep breath. If he absorbed all the remaining power and left nothing for the second place… it would cause absolute chaos.

A grin slowly formed on his face.

"Good. Looks like you finally stopped being a hesitant idiot. You've grown up a bit," Meru said with some satisfaction in her voice. "That little bastard was gonna take all the rest for himself with his family's help. If that happened, you'd be walking straight into the abyss. So I came to help. I'm gonna fuse everything into you — that way, you'll be on par with the strongest out there. But… your recent actions have already drawn the attention of some nasty folks. Didn't I tell you to keep a low profile?"

Darian nodded, his eyes lit up. "I think that's just not in me… I've decided this is my path," he answered firmly.

"Now that's what a real man sounds like. Maybe now my mother will stop hating you so much… shit…"

Meru cut herself off and swallowed hard. She'd just said something she definitely shouldn't have — and now she'd have to deal with the fallout.

Darian's eyes widened. He already knew he had some kind of karma with Heaven's Will… but his wife hated him? That only made him more curious, though he knew asking wouldn't get him anywhere.

"Anyway... like I said, I don't have time. We might meet again soon, if you make it to the next book."

Her voice vanished.

Then Darian felt his body tremble — more specifically, his fists. His rings were vibrating, like something was being carved into them.

He took a deep breath — and just like that, time began to move again in the arena.

At the same time, the Mark of Heaven's Will pulsed with a blinding light.

"!"

The light grew stronger and stronger. Everyone in the crowd was caught off guard, their eyes blinded by it.

It lasted five seconds. Then everything faded away.

All eyes focused on the Mark of Heaven's Will — or rather, where it used to be. Now, there was nothing left. Only a handful of golden runes hovered gently in the air.

"W-What?!"

The judge's voice rang out in utter shock.

The oldest and strongest people in the arena stared, wide-eyed. All of them turned their attention to Darian. Then they felt it — the power radiating from him. His ring's energy had changed. It was similar to the other four… but way more intense.

"He… That's impossible…"

The judge rushed forward to examine the golden runes floating midair.

Those had sealed the other half of the blessing — the part reserved for second place. There was no way Darian could've removed the seal. She used her own power… and her face twisted, unable to understand or believe what she was seeing.

She quickly reached a conclusion… There were no signs of artifacts, no external powers being used.

According to rumors from powerful planets, in order to fuse the full blessing into fewer people, they had to use Merit Power — and a lot of it.

That power could only be earned through missions or by contributing to the training universe. The amount needed to pour everything into just two people was equal to all the merit Earth could gather over ten years. Meaning, it was flat-out impossible.

Even just lowering the number from ten people to eight, so each got a bit more, took about two years' worth of merit.

Even if all the empires joined forces to do it, Earth's overall power would drop hard, and the High Humans would suffer. That would cause missions to fail left and right, triggering a downward spiral that Earth couldn't recover from anytime soon.

The judge stared seriously at Darian. How the hell did this happen? The Wube family was gonna go nuclear over this.

Darian looked back at her with a puzzled expression. "Hmm? Did I do something wrong? You just told me to touch it and let it enter my body without resisting."

"You…" She opened and closed her mouth, speechless. It wasn't her fault — but she couldn't blame him, either. There was no logical explanation for this.

"So this is the blessing of Heaven's Will… Amazing, it's like I've got power flowing straight from the heavens now," Darian murmured, clenching his fists and feeling the subtle shifts in his body with excitement.

Just then, the judge had a sudden thought — and her expression froze.

This blessing… it just appeared on planets out of nowhere. No warning, no pattern — and definitely no clear instructions on how to use it. The connection to Heaven's Will was obvious, since it could be absorbed through the rings and gave users a whole new kind of power.

But what if… what if this blessing was actually meant to be absorbed naturally by certain chosen people?

Planets had made their own systems to use it. But a lot of the info out there was clearly wrong on purpose — you couldn't fully trust the rumors. What if the powerful planets had made up the whole story about needing tons of merit?

Maybe they already knew the truth — maybe they had ways to spot the right people. Those people could absorb everything easily.

Of course, they'd want to hide that from everyone else. A blessed person from a weak planet could overpower the elites of those strong planets. That kind of truth had to stay buried. And since the amount of merit needed was so huge, it was almost impossible to prove otherwise.

If the person wasn't right for the blessing, only a small amount of power would flow to them, wasting most of it. That way, the big planets would always come out on top.

The judge's eyes sparkled.

That actually made a lot of sense. It was the only theory that explained what just happened.

Earth had just gotten insanely lucky. They'd stumbled across a huge secret — because Darian showed up, won the tournament, and just happened to be the right guy.

She quickly turned toward the high-ranking military officers. A sharp mental message shot out:

"Cut the recording and destroy all footage immediately. This is a top-level order. Also, contact the Empress — now."

Every bit of evidence that this had happened needed to vanish. The people in the arena didn't matter on other planets — and without proof, their words would be dismissed as nonsense.

Everyone moved quickly. The judge then turned to Darian and took a deep breath...

Would he end up with everything? The Wube family definitely wouldn't accept that easily. They'd take it as a personal attack and do everything they could to retaliate.

Darian stayed calm, like none of it had anything to do with him.

As for that "discovery"... it was completely unreal and fake — but it would take a long time before the Empires found that out.

"It's over," the judge said loudly. "The Grand Rookie Tournament is now officially over."

Everyone in the arena knew something was off, but seeing how calm the judge was, they didn't panic.

Darian smiled and walked away with his group.

This time, they left the stadium and went straight to an airport runway. There, the entire delegation from the New Arcadia Empire was waiting for them.

And just like that, they finally returned home for good.

***

One day later, the New Arcadia Empire received a flood of threatening messages from the Wube family.

Blaine had no idea what to do — things had gotten way more complicated. He started doing everything he could to cool things down, praying the Wube family would eventually calm down... and that Darian would stop stirring up so much trouble.

Meanwhile, at the Shadows of Heaven Clan, Darian received something secret from the underworld.

Irana and her mother hadn't come just to watch the Tournament. They couldn't talk openly in that place, so they used their contacts and managed to leave something to be delivered to Darian by the underworld. That way, it would be hard for the Wube family or anyone else to find out.

Inside the package was a small, black square box. Darian found it strange and tried to open it, but couldn't.

There was no energy coming from it, and it looked like it was made of some kind of raw metal — unknown and impossible to break.

He looked for a mechanism, but there was no sign of one. With a sigh, he gave up and stored it in his inventory. Eventually, he'd figure out what it was for.

He got a call. When he met with Leander, he was told that more than a hundred thousand people of all levels wanted to join the clan.

Darian had become a star across the entire Empire — maybe even across all of Earth. He realized it the moment he arrived — wherever he went, people recognized him, and crowds would form.

He couldn't walk normally through the city anymore, or anywhere else, without causing chaos around him.

Darian spoke calmly: "Rhea's got good instincts. I trust she'll only recruit the best. Don't worry about numbers or power; the only thing that matters is loyalty and honesty. If we treat them well, they'll give it back."

"Alright, but about…" Leander paused mid-sentence, a little awkward.

Darian nodded: "The former members of the clan? If they want to return, I don't mind. They all became mercenaries — they didn't want to join any clan anymore because of the trauma and out of respect for the old home. If I were them, I'd have done the same."

Leander nodded, relieved. Then asked, "And the Spiritual Technique... what do you plan to do about it?"

"I'll distribute it myself. Let everyone know that only those approved by me, after contributing to the clan, will receive it," Darian answered right away — after all, he didn't have an infinite number of spirits. "And what about the stuff I asked for?"

Leander nodded again and handed him a dozen high-grade spatial rings. Inside were hundreds of weapons made from the best materials money could buy right now.

Darian stored them, excited.

Recruitment was left to Leander, Rhea, and Harper. They'd run long and thorough selections, expected to take at least a month.

***

Only a week after Darian's return, he and the rest of the clan moved out of the capital.

They were headed to the Celestial Altar. Finally, after just over seven months, they were going back to the Divine Protection Universe.

This was New Arcadia Empire's first opening. But their allies from other places had already gone through the opening and were probably waiting.

This time, Darian had a lot of plans. They only had 30 days in that universe, but it was the only place where they could upgrade the rings. So they had to be ready to make the most of every second there.

Without delay, everyone entered the altar, and their souls crossed between universes.

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