About 2 hours later, Darius was inside his laboratory—more exactly, inside one of his capsules filled with a thick liquid rich in mana that was connected to a purifier and to another machine that was filled to the brim with mana crystals of ranks from high to lowest.

He was wearing only a pair of boxers and, on his face, an oxygen mask to be able to breathe.

Finally, inside the "Divine"… Good thing I thought of making it before I finished the glove, just in case the miasma would go crazy inside.

The [Divine] was what Darius named the machine he created by combining the crystal purifier’s traits discovered by Dr. Graham’s, with some more details he learned from Goddess Aura in his past life about how to create the liquid that would absorb the purified mana from within the crystals, then integrate it inside a human’s body without them suffering any damages.

Alright, now… Let’s get it started…

Darius touched more buttons on the touchscreen holographic display that had appeared on the capsule's window. After Darius left the lab, the purifier continued to refine energy into many containers, making him a significant amount of liquified mana out of the many crystals he brought beforehand.

A buzzing noise began to vibrate the glass walls of the capsule he was in. In order to activate and energize the mana, the built-in speakers released a constant buzzing sound at the same frequencies as the mana. In a short amount of time, the liquid started emitting a blue light that became brighter and brighter until it looked like concentrated plasma and Darius was inside of it, with the steady buzz making the whole machine tremble intensely. The miasma around Darius' arm took on the look of purple smoke as the light intensified, and it appeared to be attempting to rise up to his shoulder. Darius now used his own will to force his inner mana, which the outer mana had now further enchanted, to push back the sentinel miasma and prevent it from reaching his heart and brain. Now cornered, the miasma had no choice but to be blocked by highly condensed mana that started taking on a golden color.

Alright…sigh~ I won’t like this…!

Breathing in deeply, Darius pressed another button on the holographic screen to change the frequency of the vibrations, so the energy could reach the frequency of what a normal human could handle and absorb.

-PING~!-

"Guh!"

Just as that happened, the blue color turned golden in a second, all that mana now integrating with Darius’ body and rushing inside of him as if sucked in like a vacuum.

-CRACK!-

That meant all that infection around Darius’ arm was now completely crushed by the mana. The only problem was that his arm had already integrated with the miasma, making cracks appear all over it as if it were made of porcelain. Dark miasma was sweeping out from between the cracks like smoke through a smoke grenade. However, the mana around it quickly assimilated all of that miasma, changing its frequency and turning it into mana as soon as it managed to escape through the cracks. The arm seemed to fall apart as dust seemed to separate itself from it, as if the arm itself was slowly turning into fine sand, only to keep its original shape just like before. It was a weird view, and anyone who were to see this would think that his arm was like one of those vitamin tablets that you drop in water and start disintegrating in bubbles. The only difference was that the arm wasn’t disintegrating.

The infected cells are being removed by the body at incredible speed, and new ones are born just as quickly, making for a ridiculous destruction and regeneration of the cells that should not be humanly possible… The goddess's teaching of this frequency is the only thing that makes it possible for the body to absorb the mana without causing harm to it. It’s literally a miracle, and although I created it, I still don’t understand how it works…

Darius observed his arm falling apart by getting filled with cracks while at the same time healing and regenerating. Because his nerves suffered the same transmutation, he was unable to feel anything, and this actually made it even creepier.

Thinking of this, a sudden, large crack appeared along his arm, making his heart jump for a moment.

Consciousness is what causes influences. Shit, I need to activate the sleeping gas.

Because he was awake, he subconsciously refused to believe what was happening was real, and this influenced the mana, which can be influenced by even the slightest brainwave, to stop healing while the miasma continued to be removed.

Because of that, the goddess specified to the heroes that when it came to purifying the normal humans, it was best that they were unconscious so they wouldn’t influence the process by mistake with their thoughts and feelings.

Releasing sleeping gas inside his own mask, Darius passed out while leaving the mana to do its own thing, the large crack now slowly closing up into a large scar.

.

A whole day later, Darius wakes up from inside the capsule, and after draining it, he shuts it down and gets out.

This… feels different.

His mind was clearer than ever, and his vision was clearer and focused, making him feel more awake and alive than ever before.

He went towards a body-sized mirror and observed his whole body from head to toe. The arm was now completely healed, except for a scar that was visible along the arm. His unintentional influence over the mana’s effects made the healing suffer some difficulties; the crack he created with his subconscious is now visible like a scar. Although it wasn’t painful or burdensome in any way, it still showed a mistake Darius made while fixing himself up.

Continuing to look further, he observed how all his other scars were now completely healed; his hair grew even longer and healthier; if before it reached his shoulders, now it was about below his shoulder blades, just as curly and dark as before. His muscles were also different, now stronger and as if filled with energy, with each fiber in his body seemingly emanating power. If anyone were to stare more intently, they could see the air vibrating around his whole body, seemingly as if the air were shaking from his presence. Overall, he also looked younger, with the aftereffects of the healing serum from before now disappearing completely.

The remaining mana that the cells weren't able to absorb is leaving the body. But before it does that, let’s see if I can do something.

Feeling the buzzing energy all over his body, Darius concentrated on it and tried to take control of it. He took a low, striking stance and focused his whole energy on his fist.

-POW!-

With a strong fist, the air snapped, and a shockwave made the mirror vibrate.

This is it!

Darius’ eyes brightened up as his arm released a white mist while his hand turned red. Not letting this chance go, he did the same for his other limbs, concentrating before punching or kicking in the air and releasing strong shockwaves after every move. He continued to do so until all the residual mana inside of him disappeared and his strikes no longer felt as destructive. However, after he finished, his whole body was red from the strong blood flow, while mist was going up from all over his body.

What he did was use the overflowing mana to open up his meridians, concentrating on the flow and making brute or gentle moves so the circulation could move evenly.

Normally, you would need to be a master in martial arts to actually feel the inner flow and to move accordingly without making any errors that might end up overly charging some meridians and drying others. But because of his hypersensitivity, which has been temporarily activated, he knew exactly the right tempo for each set of moves to release his meridians and circulate the mana through his whole body.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Phoo~…"

He breathed out the last excess of mana from within his body and calmed down. Now what he needed to do was lay down so his body could stabilize.

.

"… Leave me… alone!"

A young girl's voice resounded, and as soon as it did, the air around her grew icy cold.

Shit!

Darius quickly dove down and observed how the space dented above him, only for a bloody-red light to flash where his head was less than a second ago. Behind him, trees and boulders were cut in half while the air pressure alone pushed Darius back, forcing him to roll backwards and then regulate his footing.

In his hand, he was holding his gun and knife, while on his back, the anti-tank rifle had its barrel cut from the former attack.

I… might die today…

Darius took a combat-ready position, not daring to move even a millimeter while observing what the young girl with a large scythe wanted to do next. Black and red rays of energy were emanating from her, showing the ridiculous power coming out of her that seemed ready to explode at any moment. Meanwhile, Darius was wearing his combat suit black armor, now with two cuts at his waist and another one on his left tight. He obviously dodged those strikes as well, but the air pressure alone was enough to cut through the tough leather of a high-ranked monster. He was sweating bullets while keeping his spirit high and focused, trying his best not to miss even the slightest move from the Demonic Wielder in front of him.

The girl was Rosy the Reaper, and she was also the most dangerous person as a Demonic Wielder. While Ian the Fighter was the strongest both as a Demonic and a Spirit Wielder, he was still one to stay in one place only. Rosy, on the other hand, was one that wandered around, and the worst part was that, once she learned the taste of humans blood, she would become addicted to the feeling and start hunting all humans indiscriminately, turning into the worst type of murderer.

Additionally, if she were to kill Darius in this world, not only would he lose his influence in Icarus' world, but Rosy's insanity might have an unprecedented impact on it, hastening the end of the world and possibly weakening Icarus once he appears.

"Please calm down; I have no wish to fight you... Or do anything to you."

Darius was more than aware of all of this, and so he tried his best to just calm her down and try to get away as quick as possible. His eyes were calm yet worried, trying to remain focused and ready to react to the next sudden attack.

Hearing his words, the young girl glanced at him, her dark-red eyes flashing with sadness and contempt. She lowered her head while looking at him through her bangs, suspicion and rage slowly swirling inside of her, feelings reflected by the wild energy around her.

"In that case… why are you pointing a gun and knife at me?"

"With all due respect, girly, you almost killed me three times just now. I just want to get away and leave you alone. These toys won’t really harm you anyway."

Darius smirked helplessly underneath his mask, and the girl continued to glare at him. With a commanding tone, she said,

"Put them away."

"… If I do that, will you let me go?"

"I said… put them away."

Her aura turned more violent, and just the fact that she gripped her weapon stronger made for sharp wind blades to form, cutting the ground everywhere around her.

Crazy brat…

Darius sighed, then dropped both his hands. He placed the gun at his back while continuing to hold onto his knife behind him.

"Here, happy now? I put them away."

"…"

The girl continued to stare at him and slowly started to take a lower stance, and Darius knew that meant she was ready to rush at him.

Fuck!

Without making any big moves and only using his wrist, he threw the knife upwards from behind him, and this attracted Rosy’s attention, shifting her attention to the thrown knife.

Now!

While she looked away, Darius turned to run while also throwing something behind. After seeing that Darius had thrown his knife, Rosy looked back at him, only to see him try to run away.

"Wait!"

She wanted to follow him, but then another object that rolled at her feet attracted her attention, only to see a grenade without the key.

"?!"

-BOOM!

The grenade exploded, and happily for Darius, it had enough effect to push her back as she was still unable to completely control her own powers. Rosy was sent flying back, and the impact made her breath cut short as if she just got an uppercut in her stomach. Obviously, after looking in the direction Darius left just a while back, there was nobody, making her anger soar and cutting all the trees and boulders around.

Having escaped the predicament, Darius continued on to run until he reached The knight. He accelerated the car and drove away, but after looking through his rear mirror, he saw the crazed Rosy on his tail, making his face twist in dissatisfaction.

"This little bitch really doesn’t know when to let go!"

Annoyed, he made another turn down the main road and went towards a tall tower. It was the base of the bandits Darius was supposed to manage with the prince of the cult.

… Guess I have no other choice.

Although he wanted to not have Rosy taste human blood just yet, he couldn’t think of any other way to get rid of two trouble factors yet, driving right towards the tower at full speed.

"Stop right there!"

Another wind blade slashed the road right beside Darius, with Rosy wishing to stop him right there and then. It was crazy how she was already able to run faster than 100 km/h, having Darius accelerate and go even faster, disregarding any risks of bumping into some holes, crashing into other destroyed cars, or even monsters.

Giving her no mind, Darius just pressed harder on the acceleration, and after finally reaching the tower, the ones who were on the lookout stared at first confused, only to shower Darius with bullets.

Sparks flew off his armored car, but the penetration power was still too weak. Darius crashed right into the tower, then went out the other side, making a large hole right through it.

-BOOM!-

Shortly after he went through the other side, a large explosion at the base of the tower resounded behind him, signaling Rosy's arrival at the bandits' hideout.

After driving further for a few more minutes to a safe spot to observe everything, a frown was etched on his face. The tower was now completely destroyed, while corpses were visible everywhere, just like how it happened with Icarus. The only difference was the innocent and satisfied smile etched on Rosy’s face as she massacred bandits one after the other, looking more refreshed than ever and giving Darius a chill down his spine.

"Once he appears, Icarus might have quite a bit of trouble to deal with…"

In the original story, Icarus ends up fighting Rosy once before she kills humans and gets defeated. But after he gets stronger, Rosy also has a lvl-up from killing reconnaissance squads sent by Blue Spark, making their fight even more violent and having even the Blue Spark assist Icarus since her strength was greater than expected.

Now, Darius needed to find a way to help Icarus get rid of her as quickly as possible.

I wonder how the others are doing…

.

In Ian’s and Amanda’s worlds, Darius was in the exact same predicament, barely dodging Rosy’s slash, tricking her, and running away in a hurry.

In Rosy’s world, on the other hand, Darius happened to bump into a corrupt Ian Armand.

-BOOM!-

A large explosion completely blew up an entire apartment where a large crow-type monster was making its nest.

"Wasn’t that a high-ranked monster? Do they blow up just like that?"

Darius was left momentarily frozen after he saw what happened, but immediately understood how that happened, seeing a humanoid figure coming out of the destroyed building, looking from above at the territory he assumed.

Ian… Crazy bastard must’ve already found his ideal spot to conquer.

Large gauntlets that shone with a purple flame were in his arms, while his muscular but fit body exhumed power with every move. His face was cold and indifferent, while a sense of superiority was visible through his eyes, looking at everything as mere ants at his mercy.

Darius remembers how, when his corrupt character was revealed inside the game, an uproar appeared between Ian’s fans, who knew him for his kind and sacrificial character. Although he was the most powerful, he never showcased that and was always humble and kind to everyone. He almost never got angry and was always one to understand others’ problems while always focused on being a shield to the weak. Miasma was known to reveal the darkest and deepest desires inside a human’s heart, so when they read his description of being an indifferent and cold loner who only wanted to control and dominate a territory like a tyrant, everyone’s thoughts about Ian started to change, thinking that his heart was actually darker than expected, while on the surface he was portrayed as a saint.

Well, either way, luckily for me, he’s in the right place at the right moment.

A wide grin appeared on Darius’ face as he looked in the distance at the Black Wind bandits’ tower base.

About half an hour later, Ian was able to hear large explosions in the distance, and after going to check, he saw more armored vehicles on his territory spreading around, as if searching for something. Irritated from his position atop an eight-story building, he jumped down and placed his gauntlets behind him. From the palms of his hands, a strong shockwave propelled him towards one of the cars, crashing on it like an asteroid and blowing it up to bits.

Heh, what a monster.

Darius, who had already escaped from his pursuers, observed everything from the other side of the city’s area.

Now that his territory’s threatened, he will pursue all the bandits from within and around his area. Once the prince finds out about the disappearance of his group, he will personally seek revenge for his people, unaware that the one he’ll fight against is a monster that even field bosses evade.

Now, just laying down and observing the show, the only thought in his mind was how the others dealt with this problem.