The crowd heard Darian's declaration and widened their eyes.

"Open your eyes. This is my spiritual technique, something that anyone in my clan, the Shadows of Heaven, can learn and use. See for yourselves how it compares."

Darian spoke calmly, then moved his hands to his head. Sitting there was the small, fluffy dragon, who proudly spread his wings and puffed out his chest.

He held Niara in both arms. Then, a white light appeared, covering the two of them. The little dragon began to glow, and his form started to shift.

Everyone watched with bated breath. They'd obviously seen Niara before, when she helped defeat Vanh. But no one knew where she came from, or why she was so powerful — not to mention the fact that her sudden appearance had caught everyone completely off guard. Niara had shown up, attacked without revealing anything, and then returned to her "true" form.

Now, an incredibly beautiful Dragoness covered in white scales appeared. Her wings spread out in full splendor, and her seductive curves caught every eye in the arena.

But what truly stunned everyone was the sacred, overwhelming aura she released.

Then, the top military officers managed to focus, sensing her power more clearly... and their eyes bulged.

They clearly felt a spiritual root within her. And also, the power of the ring... it was on the same level as Darian's, making it obvious it originated from him. It felt a lot like...

Darian announced, "This spiritual technique of mine is called: Shadow Tamer."

Yes, everyone could tell — it felt like a summoning. Just like what happened in that other universe.

"I developed it myself, after studying in that training universe, the one with the Summoners and their techniques. With that knowledge, I created this method to generate perfect allies. It's still in development... but in the future, it won't be impossible to fully use the techniques of those Summoners from that other universe."

After he said that, everyone — including the six Emperors and the guests in the VIP room — was left speechless. That technique... if it was truly what he claimed... had terrifying potential, possibly reaching Immortal-level.

That's because, in the other universe, Summoners and their partners shared power, and had unique techniques that made battles far easier.

Spiritual Guardians were much weaker over there. But if, in their real bodies — where they had full potential — they could also have partners and do everything the Summoners did in that other world... the possibilities were frightening.

It wasn't a summon, but rather something to tame beasts. Watching the small dragon go through metamorphosis and still possess a power similar to Darian's made everyone's imagination run wild.

Even if the partner didn't get individually stronger, as the Spiritual Guardian evolved, they would grow as well, since they shared power. Some blessings could be combined with this, and the partner could even use artifacts and fulfill various roles in battle with perfect synchronization. In the end, this partner would be far more useful than any weapon and multiply the owner's potential many times over.

Within the Shadows of Heaven clan, Leander and Rhea watched the scene, clearly excited.

Darian was showing the whole Earth — and the world — the power of the clan. He even made sure to say that everyone could learn that technique. If he won the tournament using it... people would be lining up day and night to join the clan.

That would solve the recruitment problem and skyrocket the clan's reputation, making it easier to climb the ranks later on. Another important point was that everyone who had the partners Darian gave them could now use them and say they were using this technique.

Rhea and her son Damon, who was still unconscious, could rejoin the world again. Of course, they'd need to hide their faces so as not to reveal their old identities.

Back to the battle. All of this took less than a minute.

"Come..." Darian looked at Vanh and spoke calmly.

"YOU THINK SOMETHING CREATED BY A BASTARD CAN COMPARE TO MY FAMILY'S POWER?? HAHAHAHA!"

Vanh screamed, nearly hysterical.

The curse intensified and focused on Darian and Niara.

They stood side by side. She had a mocking expression, then calmly took Darian's hand.

The crowd watched with held breath. That Immortal-level technique was terrifying because it didn't rely on ring power. Vanh only had 5% power left, but could use it at full strength without any problem.

Darian knew exactly why. It burned the user's soul and mind. Just a small portion — but enough to make their karma ignite and infect the enemy. Since no one knew much about karma — and even less about how to nullify it — it worked like a poison that burned the target's life away until death.

All the Spiritual Guardians from the Wube family were feared and respected across the universe because of that. No one could face them easily, because once they used that technique, their enemies had to run for their lives. If even a little of the curse hit them, death was guaranteed.

But that couple, who clearly seemed very close... stood completely still as the curse struck them directly.

Seconds passed.

Darian radiated a faint black aura, while the beautiful Dragoness emitted a white one. Both of them looked completely calm and composed.

But Vanh's eyes were blood-red, his face twisted, and his throat was constantly growling in a muffled tone.

He was now going all out, literally drawing power from his soul. Even so... no matter how much he tried, the curse just couldn't break into that duo.

"What's wrong? Are you even trying?" Niara mocked.

Darian snorted, then finally waved his hand...

Everyone saw the shadowy curse writhing in the air.

At the same time, Vanh's eyes widened. The curse had turned on him!

His life force was being burned up by his own curse. His body started to shake, and then came a pain that was unbearable.

Right in front of everyone's eyes, his green hair began to turn white... and then his skin started to shrivel.

Vanh began to let out low growls... part of it from the desperate release of his soul and mental power; the other part, him howling in pain.

"I don't believe this... how could the family's ultimate technique not work on a bastard like you... How the hell did I lose to a bastard like you!!" Vanh's voice was unbelievably hoarse.

People started to feel... he was actually kinda pathetic. Vanh had burned through almost all his energy long ago. Even his technique was useless now, so there was literally nothing else he could do.

"He's so pathetic he's gonna end up surrendering. Dan, can I finally hit him now?"

Niara asked out loud, and everyone heard it, stunned. They had just stood there the whole time, not attacking, like they were watching a show.

Fear flashed in Vanh's eyes, followed by a glimpse of despair. Then, it all turned into malice and insanity...

"How could I... lose to... a bastard like you!!!!"

Vanh roared hoarsely. His body started pulsing, and a twisted aura emerged. Lifting his head, he spat out a huge mouthful of blood.

The look in Darian's eyes shifted slightly... what Vanh was doing now was forcing out some critical power hidden inside that stolen variant spiritual root of his.

"Vanh's totally lost it!!" The younger spectators felt like he was doing something insane.

But the older ones noticed something shocking... everything Darian had done all along was just leading Vanh to lose his mind like this.

If he lost in that state, after using his strongest weapons, all the scorn, mockery, disdain, and insults he'd thrown at Darian would be flipped back on him a hundredfold. All his previous attitude would turn into nothing but the arrogance and delusion of a clown... not just him, but his entire family.

Before, whenever people mentioned that family, they'd think of glory and fame. But after today, for a long time, the first thing they'd think of... would be a bunch of absolutely ridiculous clowns!

Darian felt all of this but didn't show a single expression. Niara, though... she couldn't hold it in and started laughing.

"Hehehehe... damn..."

Vanh roared uncontrollably, "You bastards... can die now!!!!"

Space shattered, and spatial distortions charged toward the duo.

Silently, Darian was thrilled to confirm what he was seeing.

As for the spectators, they swallowed hard — that was raw, pure space-time power. Only a Spiritual Guardian with many rings, using an artifact that could create such power, or someone blessed with one of those rare powers, could pull that off.

Even brushing against a tiny fraction of that could instantly kill someone with three rings.

Darian and Niara were forced to step back bit by bit, but the distortions kept spreading in all directions. In a blink, they were surrounded, with nowhere to run within the martial stage.

Still, neither of them showed even a hint of fear — just a deep look of pity...

Until Darian waved his hand: "I've waited long enough. Go finish him. Don't hold back."

"FINALLY!" Niara grinned and spread her wings.

Her body and white scales glowed with immense light. At the same time, Darian used his rings and forced space to freeze. All that power stopped cold!

"WHAT?!" Everyone jumped the moment they felt it.

Niara shot forward like a white lightning bolt.

**BANG!**

She landed a direct hit on his face, and the entire audience froze in shock.

They saw...

A spray of blood.

Vanh's head just exploded. That was a kill!

"No..."

In the VIP room, Irana and the two other youths went pale. That was bad. Killing that guy meant Darian had just dug a hole he couldn't climb out of. Not even they could help him now.

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