On the other side of the region, in the middle of the battle, where Kyle and Karin were looking at the half-dead Daniel, the flow of mana suddenly changed.
It wasn’t in the form of an explosion, nor in the form of a cut... but in the form of "reverse flow."
It was as if an endless ocean of energy suddenly changed direction and, with unimaginable speed, poured down toward a single point.
Kyle frowned. For the first time, his gaze left Daniel and slid around.
He recognized this feeling, but not on this scale.
"...What’s happening?"
Karin’s voice was low but trembling. Not from fear, but from something worse.
Lack of understanding.
"This... is impossible," Kyle clenched his teeth.
The power of the array was no longer flowing inside their bodies. That massive force that had previously allowed them to fight beyond their real level was no longer being shared.
They didn’t know what had happened, and that was exactly what worried them. Something this important happening without them knowing could be very dangerous.
What if it was the enemy’s doing? What if the array had stopped working or was now even helping the enemy because of their interference?
This could be a disaster for them. But there was no need to worry because they could see that the flow of energy was moving toward their Guild leader.
At least they could breathe a sigh of relief that they had already defeated this bastard before this happened. If this had occurred just ten minutes earlier, they would have been finished.
They knew that without the array’s help they had no chance of defeating, let alone killing Daniel. If this had happened earlier, right now they would probably be the ones lying on the ground, half-dead.
But this also made them overlook something, that strong feeling of danger they had felt earlier, the same intuition that had been telling them to run away as soon as possible!
But it was already too late.
At that moment, light covered the entire sky, as if an indescribable presence was descending.
The space that had been bent, broken, and unstable suddenly became smooth. The intertwined layers of mana fell into absolute silence, as if they had never existed.
The Yin and Yang domains... cracked and immediately disappeared, completely turning into dust.
Not because of a collision or anything like that, but because of "rejection." It was as if another Law, deeper and older... had entered the field.
Karin unconsciously took a step back, and for the first time in this battle, his body didn’t obey him.
And they finally remembered the feeling of danger and the warning from their intuition again.
But as had been said, it was already too late and their fate had been decided long ago.
What they saw in front of them made their mouths open in shock.
"...Is this... the same person?"
In the center of the light stood Daniel, without any wounds and without any trace of the battle that moments ago had pushed him to the edge of death.
But what had paralyzed them wasn’t his appearance, it was his "existence." The air around him hadn’t become heavy, it had become "fixed." Mana... moved away from him and the void... retreated.
And space no longer dared to bend.
Kyle tried to take a step forward but couldn’t. Not because of fear, but because his body wasn’t receiving the command to move in front of this level of "existence."
Their bodies didn’t even dare to tremble, as if their existence considered such an action an insult in front of this person and couldn’t do it.
"I really didn’t want to use this skill. I don’t like its penalty, but there was no choice," Daniel sighed and thought out loud.
At the same time, he glanced at the Mother System notification that had appeared in front of him.
[Transcendent Self skill activated]
[Rank Peak A → Heavenly King]
[This skill will remain active for one hour]
Kyle opened his mouth to say something, but Daniel moved before him.
Of course not with speed and not with technique. He simply raised his hand. No skill activated. No wave of mana was released.
But at that exact moment something broke inside their bodies. Their existential lines, that invisible structure that held body, soul, and mana together, began to crack.
Karin was the first to feel it. His eyes widened.
He raised his hand, not to attack but to hold himself, but it was too late.
His body started to tremble, not from the outside but from the inside.
His mana collapsed, not because of depletion, but because of "instability."
Kyle tried to resist. He gathered his power, activated his Law, but nothing worked because this wasn’t an attack.
This was the rejection of their "existence." And then they disappeared. Not with an explosion, not with sound, not even a drop of blood, just particles of dust that didn’t even have the chance to fall.
And in that moment they were gone.
The battlefield, for the first time... became truly silent.
Two S-ranks were killed this easily. In fact, it was even easier than killing an ant. A power that could be said to be only one step away from the true peak and ceiling of the world.
They didn’t even have the chance to react, regret, or beg for mercy. In one instant they turned to dust and completely disappeared without leaving the smallest trace.
Daniel lowered his hand. His eyes narrowed for a moment.
"...This power..." His voice was calm but inside he was actually somewhat excited.
This was the first time he was experiencing this level of power while being fully conscious and aware. Previously, because of the Fallen Will skill, he had reached this level of power once, and maybe even higher.
But at that time he didn’t have control over his own body.
Now it was different. Now he himself was in control of his body and could experience this amazing power.
"Also the serum is gone," he realized there was no trace of the serum left. By gaining the power of a Heavenly King, the energy inside his body had probably become so powerful that it had destroyed the serum.
Then suddenly he felt something and disappeared without any extra movement.
And he appeared in another spot, beside Varnos.
Half of Varnos’s body no longer existed. His mana was almost completely extinguished. His breaths were short and irregular, and even those were barely continuing.
"...I arrived too late," Daniel looked at him for a moment and sighed.
Varnos’s condition was very bad. His power had dropped to Early S-rank, and even if he survived, he had no chance of returning to his peak.
And the energy in his body was still decreasing. It might not take long before he dropped to Peak A-rank, and there was no way to stop it.
Behind him stood Alaric, and for the first time his eyes trembled. His body involuntarily started shaking from fear inside.
It had been a very long time since he had felt this level of fear. It was as if he was an ant standing in front of a god.
He, the leader of the Goblin Guild, the strongest S-rank in the country, felt like he was no different from an ant right now.
And he recognized this aura and this feeling, not from his enemies or his equals, but from one person... his father.
A Heavenly King.
"...What... are you?" he said with a trembling voice.
This is impossible... it can’t be... how can this piece of trash be a Heavenly King?
Daniel didn’t answer and didn’t even look at him. He placed his hand on Varenos’s body.
Light, but not that explosive light, rather a calm, deep, and stable light, radiated from his hand.
The destroyed tissues began to rebuild. The lost mana slowly stabilized. The wounds closed, but not completely.
Just enough for him to stay alive. Even with all this, he couldn’t stop his power from decreasing like this.
Daniel removed his hand and stood up. This time he turned and his eyes locked directly onto Alaric.
"Today... is the day you die," he said in a cold voice full of certainty and seriousness.
Alaric had no response for the first time. His mind... wasn’t working.
"...This is impossible..." He was still in disbelief and simply couldn’t believe what was happening. All of this was beyond his understanding.
Everything felt like a nightmare... Had the Everlight Moon Guild actually had a Heavenly King the whole time? And they had hidden it?
Daniel raised his hand again, the same simple movement, the same "erasure."
But suddenly something unexpected happened, something he hadn’t expected and hadn’t sensed coming.
And at that exact moment the remaining space broke, not like before. This time it was multi-layered.
It was as if layers of reality were separating one by one and collapsing on top of each other. Time stretched. Mana exploded.
The void inverted and something entered the field, not a normal attack, not even a technique.
But a "Law."
The rift that opened from the depths of space, like a blade cutting through dimensions itself, fell toward Daniel. Inside it, twists of time could be seen, as if every moment inside was collapsing and rebuilding at the same time.
The pressure coming from it was at a level that even pressed this already broken field further.
Daniel held his hand and a deep frown settled on his face.
"...This—" He sensed it.
This sudden attack that had been sent toward him from an unknown source was extremely powerful.
In fact, it was at the same level as him... a real Heavenly King!
A real Heavenly King had appeared to protect Alaric!