Without delay, the Divine Dragon's will activated the remaining power inside Niara. She was wrapped in extreme energy, and her mind sank into darkness. The hours passed slowly... then days.

On the sixth day since Niara and Darian had gone off on their solo journey, the process finally came to an end.

The entire pool of blood had vanished. Niara opened her eyes and felt something new and powerful within her soul: a pure, primordial draconic rune that pulsed, constantly drawing in her bloodline.

"It's done. Besides being able to merge your bloodline with your soul now, I've also enhanced it a bit so it can adapt to the awakened spirit root. The power of you two together should grow over time," said the calm voice. The eyes barely had any light or life left in them.

Then the eyes turned to Darian, and a small green rune floated toward him.

"I saw this whole structure being built around the sword, and had plenty of time to study it. They made all of this to weaken my power and steal me before I was completely corrupted. Now that you'll be taking the blade — and since everything here is linked to it — this rune will help you control the power of the bones. Please, destroy this place and end their resentment."

Darian's eyes lit up. The moment the rune touched him, he was hit by a flood of information.

"This will also help you shape the blade — if my daughter agrees to help you. Now..." the voice started fading, barely audible, "my time... has come to an end..."

Niara's eyes trembled as she looked at that will. She had never imagined she'd one day speak to something directly connected to the Divine Dragon. A sharp pain gripped her chest... in the future, she might have to kill her own creator.

That small world around them began to tremble and crack. That space had been created by the will inside the weapon, and now it was collapsing completely.

"Let's go," Darian murmured, wrapping himself around Niara calmly.

...

The two Risen Chiefs were still focused on the sword, pouring all their corrupted power into it. At the same time, the one who had once been a dwarf was holding tightly onto a black emblem, which glowed blood-red for a second.

He grunted in anger. "Shit... those bastards who took the academy in this galaxy have already killed countless allies and stolen all their resources."

The Risen Chief who used to be a Mannaz nodded. "We're almost done here. Sacrifices are needed to make them feel strong and arrogant. After this, we'll...!"

Suddenly, they felt the aura around the sword tremble. A surge of power erupted.

The two were shocked and thrown against the wall.

As they quickly stood up, they saw, through the miasma, two wings spreading wide.

A pure white light filled the whole hall. Sky-blue eyes locked onto them. Her long hair flowed behind her, and the white scales covering her body looked like the most sacred source of light in the world.

Wrapped around her, a colorful, serpentine figure pulsed. In that moment, both Risen felt an unprecedented sense of danger.

Niara turned slowly. Darian shifted, and a glow wrapped around the primordial weapon behind them...

"IMPOSSIBLE!"

Both Risen Chiefs widened their eyes and the dwarf shouted. The seal on the weapon vanished, and it moved toward the small dragon. They had ignored the seal — they were stealing it!

Instantly, the two erupted at full power.

"DIE!"

One of them shot forward like a black lightning bolt; the other shattered the ground, summoning countless sharp pillars that closed in from every direction.

"Go!" Darian said, and Niara flapped her wings, flying straight toward the ceiling.

At that moment, Darian exhaled and activated the rune he'd received from the will inside the sword. The connection between the entire place and the weapon wasn't broken... it had just changed owners.

Above them, there was a spatial distortion sealing the place, with countless bones forming the ceiling.

The two attackers smirked. Escaping through the top? This whole place was sealed by the structure's power. These two could only dream of getting out alive.

But...

"!"

She shot up like a bullet, blasting a massive hole straight through it.

"FUCK!! Quick, call them all!" one of them roared, and the dwarf Risen nodded, clutching the black emblem.

Niara burst out of that creepy bone structure, soaring into the sky. But she didn't turn to flee.

*BUZZ!*

Space-time vibrated. Darian knew, thanks to the info he'd received, that the foundation of that structure ran deep underground — it was like a separate array he had no control over.

It was a backup defense system, just in case someone from the academy made trouble. The Celestial Shadow had been careful and planned everything perfectly. Getting in was hard... getting out was basically impossible.

The array underground pulsed, and a massive spatial cage, hundreds of meters wide, formed and snapped shut around a huge area. It happened so fast — even if Niara had tried to escape at full speed, it would've been too late.

Immediately, all around the bone structure, Risen began to appear.

They looked up coldly, locking onto the duo.

They were all Risen Chiefs. Their power levels varied, but all were weaker than the two main ones. More and more kept showing up — an army of almost ten thousand.

At the same time...

Outside the cage, Niara could see black trees the size of mountains closing in from all directions.

They were natural lifeforms born in the World of Life — and the moment they awakened, they were already Risen. Some were regular Risen, a few were Risen Chiefs. But the number... was impossible to count. It just kept growing.

"Hahahaha..." a mocking laugh echoed from the dwarf Risen. "Thought you were brave for stepping in here, huh? Now you're just turtles trapped in a cage."

A faint smile appeared on Niara's face.

"Hmm? I'd say the same. It was actually real brave of you... to trap yourselves in here with us."

She clenched her fists, and a burst of white flame exploded around them. Then, her scales released a powerful aura.

The Risen smirked sarcastically, but... at the same time, Darian's form beside her changed too.

His entire body turned pitch-black, like the abyss. His eyes locked onto the two enemies.

They immediately swallowed hard, and their souls trembled. That sinister pressure... they had only felt something like that when a Risen Lord stared them down. How the hell was this possible?

What they saw in the sky was a radiant white Dragoness, radiating holy power. And wrapped around her was a draconic creature as evil as the worst nightmare. The two together looked like Yin and Yang — terrifyingly opposite, yet perfectly connected.

*Rumble!*

Niara didn't hesitate. She attacked, tearing space apart.

Her punch flew toward the two leading Risen Chiefs like a mountain crashing down. Both snapped out of their daze in panic, drew their weapons, and roared with all their might.

*BOOOM!*

All the Risen on the ground were forced back dozens of steps, dangerously close to being pushed into the cage.

When they looked at the epicenter, they saw both leaders coughing up large amounts of black blood.

Niara, on the other hand, was breathing heavily — but still fine.

It was almost a draw. The Risen Chiefs took the worst of it, but hadn't suffered any serious injuries and could keep fighting non-stop.

"Bastards..." the dwarf spat. "Call everyone. We'll wear them down and finish them!"

"Oh? Don't bother," Niara replied with a smile.

Her wings flapped, and she shot straight into the middle of the enemies surrounding them.

*BANG!*

She dove in happily, unleashing a storm of destruction and torn-apart bodies into the wind.

The dwarf Risen with the emblem took a deep breath, then made the cage tremble in random places. Several tree-Risen from the outside started slowly entering.

"Idiots. We've got endless soldiers. You're never getting out," the dwarf said, stepping back.

Minutes passed, and more and more Risen poured into the cage from all directions. It wasn't just the ones born here — Risen Chiefs who'd been out exploring other regions had returned too.

Inside the cage, there were already over fifty thousand. A sea of bodies stretched across the ground and sky. All of them attacked like lunatics in a frenzy.

But the Dragoness moved swiftly, striking with precision. Every move killed dozens.

Meanwhile, the small dragon was, oddly, doing nothing — just standing there.

The two commanding Risen Chiefs felt something was off... but it was already too late.

In under an hour, they realized Niara was still completely fine — not even tired. And her kill rate? It was growing by the minute.

'The changes that will made to you really were insane. This turned out to be great training,' Darian said mentally.

Niara smiled. These Risen had been *very* generous, training her so intensely. Now, she was fully mastering the changes in her bloodline. Her power was finally in sync with her spiritual root, which made everything much easier to use. Not only did she have more control, but she could now deal way more damage while using much less energy.

Meanwhile, Darian was spending all that time devouring the karma of the dead and feeding her unlimited energy. They could fight forever — as long as there were Risen to devour.

'That's enough,' Darian said, scanning the area.

Outside the cage, there were five times more enemies than inside. Every Risen in the World of Life had been summoned to kill them.

Unfortunately... those two commanders weren't idiots. They'd already noticed something was wrong and would start acting soon.

Darian knew that thanks to Howlyn. For a Risen to become a Chief, they needed intelligence on par with any living being and hundreds of years of experience. In other words, they could never be underestimated.

It wouldn't take long before the two started testing things — calling in the traitors and beast-types to help, and only sending those in for a while.

It wouldn't be hard to notice that Niara started to burn a little more energy when fighting just them. That's because Risen gave ten times more karma than the others. Up to this point, she had gone all-in and was burning a lot of energy — but the balance was solid. With the others, though... it'd start slipping over time.

But still — they had already gotten what they came for… and way more.

Darian nodded, and Niara threw one last punch — this one with much more power than usual.

A wave of destruction tore a wide gap open in the sky. At that moment, Darian activated the rune he'd received — along with the primordial weapon.

**BUZZ!!!**

The entire environment shook violently.

The two commanding Risen Chiefs felt a horrifying presence of death. Their minds raced, and they focused — that bone structure was the core of everything!

Niara turned to them from above. "Thanks for everything — this was fun."

Right then, Darian activated a spatial artifact.

The two vanished instantly.

Then...

*FUCK! ACTIVATE!!*

Far away...

All eight armies that had been returning to the marked location suddenly stopped and turned in the same direction.

**KBOOOM!!!**

The entire World of Life shook like it was about to collapse.

An apocalyptic-level detonation went off. All the power and resentment from the bones that had been planted turned against their creators.

At the same time, hundreds of preserved inner spaces inside the place collapsed and created massive spatial distortions — boosting the blast's power even more.

The level of that explosion was terrifying. The world lost all sound and color. Everyone who witnessed it... turned pale.

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