"Hm? That's useless stuff. After every battle, everything gets completely destroyed with inscriptions. That's because anything from the Risen has the power to corrupt the living. Some people just drop dead within seconds of getting infected, but others turn into one of them and lose their sanity," Niara said calmly.
"Seriously? Everything just gets wiped out after every battle?" Darian was shocked at such waste.
She remembered something. "... there's the black market. Some people sneak into battlefields and steal Risen weapons. With a lot of effort, they seal and stash them away."
After a painful sigh, she added, "No one really knows when or where the Risen will attack. Most of the time, people have to fight alone until the Celestia Academy sends reinforcements. But usually, by the time help arrives, everything and everyone is already wiped out."
"That's why these weapons end up being suicide tools for the weak to defend themselves. Like I said, some people don't die right away and become Risen. That process isn't fast, but there's no turning back. During the corruption phase, people get a power boost and still keep a bit of their sanity. So they use that to sacrifice themselves and buy time to save their families."
Darian let out a heavy sigh. He thought life on Earth was tough, but at least there, you could survive if you were smart enough. Here, death could just come out of nowhere at any moment.
"Can we find those things being sold here?" he asked.
Niara nodded. That made him light up, which confused her a lot.
"Perfect. Let's try to find one. I need to confirm something."
***
The commercial city stretched as far as the eye could see, covering an entire continent.
It was a sea of vibrant buildings, made of unique materials that reflected light in magical ways. It was like a mix of Western and Eastern medieval architecture from Earth, blended with elements unique to this universe. Towering structures reached for the sky, connected by hanging bridges and roads that glowed with a constant flow of lights and people.
The place was always bustling. Everyone from the Celestia Academy came here, and it was also the trade hub of the entire universe.
Right now, most of the universe's population was made up of humanoids with beast-like features, inherited from two divine bloodlines: the Divine Dragon and the Elfield. They couldn't really call themselves pure humans, so they referred to themselves as Mannaz.
The situation was terrible, to say the least. In the entire Divine Protection Universe, only one galaxy remained that hadn't been completely taken over by the Risen. Almost every race had been wiped out, and all the survivors were crammed here, fighting to hold on to the last stronghold.
In the city, each person looked noticeably different because the density of bloodline varied.
Those with dragon blood stood out thanks to their physical power and durability, but their biggest advantage was their lifespan. They could live for centuries without aging. Physically, some had hardened scales like armor, others had wings or sharp claws, and some had more than one of those traits.
The Elfield descendants were split into three tribes: Birds, Felines, and Canines.
Elfield himself was a primordial chimera mixing those three. His descendants only inherited one of the traits and looked like human-beast hybrids of one of the three types.
In terms of raw power, those with dragon blood were superior in every way. But the Elfield descendants were the ones with almost all of the universe's strongest Summoners.
Since Summoners were the greatest force in the universe, the half-dragons were always feeling cornered — and deep down, furious in their constant search for more power.
Their pride came from the mix of Dragon and Human blood, and because of their situation, they kept stirring up trouble. Their Summoners rarely managed to form a true bond with a Spiritual Guardian, and that wasn't about to change anytime soon.
But... Darian knew his partner was a direct result of the half-dragons' search for more power and influence. He remembered what those people said while torturing that little girl.
In this galaxy, there were also Divine and Demonic Beasts living in the forests. They were way weaker than the Mannaz in every way. These beasts couldn't grow smart enough to become Summoners, that was impossible.
Summoners let them live in the forests of the planets so they could be used for practical purposes. One of them was as a sacrificial barrier during invasions, buying time for the Mannaz to escape.
Another was to help rookie Summoners train—either through combat... or by being turned into ingredients for pills and inscriptions. In this place where life was on the edge of being wiped out, there was no unnecessary kindness; anything that could increase the chance of survival was used.
That day, a beautiful woman with dragon blood was walking through the commercial city.
Wherever she went, people stared, drawn to her beauty. But... they quickly recognized her and froze, then turned their backs and practically ran away. She was very, very famous — for the worst reason.
On her shoulder, a small and colorful creature was looking around with curiosity. Darian had already studied the configuration of this universe in the library, and now he was seeing with his own eyes all the physical differences between everyone.
Luckily, ever since Niara summoned him, his 'curse' seemed way more under control, like it followed his will now. He could actually turn it off and stop seeing that creepy aura around people all the time. He just felt it instead, and only really noticed it when someone really stood out.
Before long, Niara walked into a quiet alley. Then, into a plain, unmarked building.
It was clearly a shop that didn't want attention—meant for selling unusual, sometimes taboo stuff. A proper black market spot.
A furry guy from the Feline Tribe walked up, clearly tense. He knew who Niara was and didn't dare act rude.
She told him what she wanted, and he quickly brought over a black chest. When he opened it, there was a simple-looking saber inside. It was covered in sealing runes, but still gave off this creepy purple aura.
The air turned cold and heavy—it was a weapon once used by a Risen.
Darian watched in silence. The whole blade and every detail of it was totally drenched in corruption... and that was perfect.
Niara looked over at Darian. He gave a nod and jumped off her shoulder onto the saber. The vendor and Niara widened their eyes in shock.
But... nothing happened. It was like the corruption didn't even exist for him.
The vendor was confused at first, but figured it had to be some kind of Spiritual Guardian superpower.
A few seconds later... Darian turned and looked straight into Niara's eyes.
'We struck gold!' he said in her mind, making her eyes go wide.
Now he was sure—he could totally use his white power to cleanse all the corruption in the weapon. He hadn't tried it in battle before because he didn't need it to win, but now he had proof.
These weapons were just regular weapons to begin with. Even fully purified, they wouldn't change much on the outside. But Darian had just realized he was about to get rich—on the way here, he saw tons of weapons on display in shop windows.
All of them, even the expensive ones, had no core.
When he asked Niara about it, she explained that core weapons only existed inside Celestia Academy and were super rare, only sold at crazy high prices.
'Can you or the others sense a core inside this corrupted weapon?' he asked.
She looked confused and shook her head. No one could feel it—corruption was too intense, and no one dared to get close or inspect one too carefully.
Darian smiled, because every single Risen weapon had a core. He'd fought tons of them—he knew. He didn't know the exact reason why, but it made sense that their corruption made creating cores easier.
Which meant, Darian could buy all the Risen weapons from the black market, purify them, and sell them for thousands of times more. Even better, whenever they went to a battlefield, he could grab more and make basically infinite money.
And they could do all of this without being exposed. Since no one knew these weapons had cores, and people couldn't even recognize one from the next, there was no way anyone could link a purified weapon back to Darian or Niara.
There might be random suspicions, sure—but no proof if they were careful.
Then Darian realized a problem. They'd need some upfront money to buy the first one and start flipping them.
Corrupted weapons weren't cheap. They had to be sealed, and just keeping them around was risky. On top of that, they couldn't go to a battlefield until they were allowed—there was a strict rule that no Summoner could leave the planet without approval.
Darian had a way to swim in money... but no money to get started.
'Shit... we need cash.'
Niara didn't quite know what he was thinking, but from the feeling she got from him, she figured he'd just discovered something valuable.
A smile slowly formed on her face. Darian looked straight at her—that smile gave off this dark, murderous aura, like she was some cold-blooded killer. But now that he knew her a little better, he actually thought it looked beautiful.
She spoke mentally: 'Money? There's tons of ways to get that in Celestia Academy. We've got a few days before the test—we could stir up some trouble.'
Darian got it.
Being bad had its perks sometimes.