Damned Healer-Chapter 111: Cruel Punishment

She explained that the source of Darian's "curse" didn't come from the two rings on his wrists. Those only appeared after he awakened—and it was Meru herself who put them on him back then.

"I had to use all the power from your awakening to shape the rings on your arms. I did that on purpose, for a very important reason. Remember this—don't reveal yourself while you're still too weak, or some people will notice you're not normal. When an anomaly shows up and starts growing... they clip its wings fast, before it becomes a threat."

Darian's eyes widened. "What?! But Lucy and Lucius..."

"Those twins... you did something really weird. Took me by surprise," she muttered.

"Weird? I just fused all the awakening power into their spiritual roots..." Darian said, worried.

She scoffed, "Are you stupid? If you'd only done that, the rings wouldn't have evolved. You didn't have the ability to control the world's law power properly. That power was supposed to be pure—meant to create a neutral spiritual root. But you used the rings and somehow managed to force control over it, tainting it with your power."

Darian's eyes widened again. Back then, he'd used everything he had to guide it gently... well, as gently as a thief pressing a gun to someone's head.

His two rings were techniques created by an immortal entity, above everything. Without realizing it, even though he couldn't fully control that power, he had still forced it—brutally—after slightly corrupting it.

"So the two of them..." he muttered, tense.

"Part of the rings' power got fused with their spiritual roots. And let's not forget—a spiritual root only needed a little of that power, but you gave them like a hundred times more," she said with a huff. "Anyway, I'll teach you how to stabilize them. But they'll end up being like you. They'll need to develop something unique on their own, having a mutant spiritual root."

Darian let out a breath of relief. He'd tried to help, and ended up doing something... well, maybe good, maybe bad—hard to tell.

Meru continued, "My technique was branded onto your soul the day before you turned ten. You don't remember because I erased your memories. But the night before your birthday, I visited you personally and left it there. As for your mom, she was visited by my mother, who gave her the book she wrote herself."

Darian took a deep breath. Why had she chosen to give him that book? Maybe it had to do with the karma between them. Meru had mentioned before—he had karma tied to both his parents.

With that cleared up, she started with the basics. Without the two rings, Yin and Yang, he could only use the simplest effect.

"The most basic passive skill is called: Master Lord of Karma!"

She announced it with enthusiasm, while Darian fell into thought. He knew this one well—he could sense, see, and read people's karma.

That was her gamble. To access the second skill, he'd have to awaken it by himself. Only then would the rings be sculpted into him, giving him some actual control over his powers.

"The second skill is called: The Chaotic Abyssal Devourer!"

She declared it again in a grand voice. Her naming style was kinda over the top... Darian remembered the book—her dad had pretty questionable taste when it came to names. His wife even wrote that in the book, so it was clearly a family thing.

It was the ability to consume someone's karma, but only after their soul was completely severed from the body—in other words, after defeating them. The karma consumed would be purified, turning almost all of it into white power, though a little darkness would always remain.

That's why he always ended up with 99% white power. She explained that it was necessary to keep 1% of evil, because Yin and Yang had to coexist for balance.

"Once you have those powers unlocked, your third skill activates—it's called: The Supreme Kamico Warlock!" fгeewebnovёl.com

In short, he could manipulate natural elements, like the clone had done... and also nullify them with ease.

Darian swallowed hard hearing that. A lot of blessings relied on natural elements. He already had huge resistance because of his body. If he learned to properly use the ring... did that mean he could become untouchable to some people, no matter how strong they were?

He let out a breath. Yeah, his life was definitely not going to be that easy.

That third skill also included using both white and black power. She gave him a more detailed breakdown of what they could do.

The white power was sacred, focused on healing, purification, and strengthening. Actively, it could restore any injury—even damage to the soul—as long as the body was still intact and had a trace of life left.

But there was also a passive ability: as long as the white ring's central rune existed, Darian's soul was immortal and couldn't be pulled away by the laws for reincarnation. He could revive—but doing so would burn up all the stored white and black power.

Each time he devoured a bit, the central rune would store some of that energy to enable the passive ability. The stored part couldn't be used actively, even if he wanted to. So without realizing it, he'd already used that passive twice.

"Don't go thinking you're immortal and doing reckless shit. You've only fought bugs—and you still died to them. Even among Earth's strongest, some of them can sense that rune and destroy it. If you fight them, they'll kill you for real." Meru warned, making Darian reflect seriously.

"Not to mention, that only works on your soul, not your body. In that training universe, it's really useful, and you can take more risks. Since it's your first trial and goal, it's fair for it to be a bit easier. But once you come back, if your body dies, you'll just be a defenseless soul with nowhere to go. Keep that in mind."

He nodded, understanding. He needed to know which wars he was stepping into — and more importantly, not draw too much attention when he was on Earth.

Meru went on. The black power was the opposite. Used actively, it was for attacking and destroying. It could wipe out anything alive or connected to life. Even in small amounts, it could break through any defense.

Yeah, that power was absolute — but only against living beings, or things linked to them by life. Natural stuff, like the ores used to make spatial rings from other universes, still held traces of life energy from their planets. So he could destroy them.

But say he tried to destroy a lifeless pile of rocks... the black power wouldn't do a thing. Now, if he was fighting someone holding a weapon, that weapon — just by being connected to its user — would be affected, even if only slightly.

Passively, darkness attracted darkness. Darian could sense and pull in black power from afar. It was something he had dabbled with before, but it had a lot of untapped potential.

"The fourth and final skill is the most impressive. It's called: Apocalyptic Runes of the Celestial Judger!"

Darian was taken aback by how pumped she sounded, especially with such an over-the-top name. Then again... she had the power and skill to be dramatic if she wanted.

This skill let him create judgment runes connected to his own. She named them dark rune — made with black power — and light rune — made with white power.

Once bound to a soul — with both sides agreeing — the rune formed an absolute contract. The more corrupt or pure the target's karma, the more Darian benefitted.

There was a cap on how many runes he could have. As his rings evolved, that number would grow. That's why he couldn't just slap them on anyone — he had to choose the most extreme opposites.

The dark rune was for those with deep, black karma. The target would feel all the pain they had caused, like every victim was turning on them. At the end of the judgment, the soul had to decide: accept their sins and submit to Darian, or reject it.

If they refused, he could devour them completely — which still gave him benefits and helped his ring evolve. But if they accepted, their soul merged with the rune and became part of Darian. Basically, a criminal slave trying to pay off their debt.

The light rune was for those with pure white karma. She didn't say much about it, just that the person wouldn't feel any pain. The reason for that...

In the end, both types of runes fused with the ring, boosting its capabilities and helping it evolve. The souls would keep feeding Darian with soul energy like living batteries. Once drained, they'd naturally recharge back to full so they could feed him again.

Darian swallowed hard. This felt like enslaving souls for his own benefit. Doing that to wicked people was fine... but doing it to the pure? That sounded awful...

Then a thought hit him and he almost jumped.

"Wait — could I pull the soul out and make it fight? I'd just need to make a body for it, and boom — it's a Spiritual Guardian!" Darian asked, excited.

"No," she shot back flatly. "Souls without bodies are meant to be taken by the laws — it's a universal rule. To stop that, you'd have to hide them or make a 'contract' like a 'Summoner', linking your life energy to theirs. Having one soul bound is already the limit. But in your case... you've already made a contract with someone, so you can't have another."

Cold water, right to the face. Niara... to the others, she was his Summoner, but the truth was the opposite.

He didn't regret it. Back then, purely on instinct, he linked to her soul and gave her his life force. That's how she revived, and technically, he became her Summoner.

"But..." Meru said thoughtfully, "You can still use the runed souls to form contracts with someone else. You told me you want to gather people, right? On Earth, nobody's a Summoner like you... yeah, that could work. Those souls would still keep your rune, and you'd still benefit from them."

The silhouette moved its hand to her chin, like she was thinking it through.

Darian, on the other hand, practically leapt at the idea. She said specifically on Earth. That meant... on other planets in his universe, there were Summoners like him?

Meru spoke calmly: "I can make a few changes so you can use them that way. They could even evolve by collecting karma. You'll lose their soul energy, but your rings will still evolve when you create them. It's not a great trade — you're taking the short end. Are you sure?"

"Yes," he answered immediately.

"Good." She nodded. "I made this thing to be a punishment worthy of some people. Just killing or destroying them wasn't enough. Keeping them alive and making them suffer the same pain they caused... that was more interesting. Especially since it didn't burn away their karma. Later, they'd still reincarnate and live in a never-ending hell. If that worked for those with black karma, the opposite worked too. But obviously, I'd never use it on someone who didn't deserve it."

Darian swallowed again. That was definitely a cruel punishment. Meru had the power to erase a soul forever. But instead, she built something way darker — and didn't even need to kill.

It was cruel... but also merciful. It gave people a second chance. She was like the embodiment of shadow duality — Yin and Yang together... something she'd inherited from her father.

"Well, that's the simplest way I can explain it. But... you're not smart enough to use any of this just by knowing it."

She went on, then paused — her voice turning cold:

"You read how my father trained my mother with brutal discipline... I went through the same hell. But we were family, and he couldn't stand to see us suffer that much. You? I'll push you to the absolute limit and won't care one bit. Are you ready?"

Darian just nodded, even knowing he'd never forget this day...

And yes — she'd make damn sure of it.