Dark Magus Returns

Chapter 1624: From The Divine

Dame, Liam, and B were now travelling together through what remained of the Underside, weaving through collapsed buildings, cracked stone bridges, and the drifting smoke that hung in the stagnant air. They were doing everything they could to help, even if the truth was that none of them knew whether their help would matter in the face of the chaos that had spread everywhere. And with B along with them, someone they still did not fully trust, the group constantly found themselves glancing over their shoulders.

It wasn’t only the enemy they had to be wary of. Now they had an unpredictable ally, one who felt far more dangerous than any Cerebus member they had just fought.

“That woman is freaky,” Liam muttered under his breath, though his voice trembled slightly. “She has Blood Qi… from the old ancient records in Pagna, there were such things recorded, but I always thought it was a myth, right?”

“It wasn’t a myth,” Dame replied, not bothering to lower his voice. “Well, at least we can confirm now it wasn’t. Blood Qi was one of the ancient clans that belonged to the Demonic Faction. Power above all? Honestly, you could probably say that idea started with them. They took the phrase to another level.”

He paused, stepping over the body of a collapsed mage, his tone darkening.

“However, even their methods were too extreme for the Demonic Faction. To utilize and learn Blood Qi, it required massive sacrifices. It was said there were mountains of bodies, literal mountains, used to push their cultivation. No one wanted to join the clan. Because if you weren’t strong enough or useful enough, you weren’t a warrior… you were a sacrifice. And that was even worse than the other Demonic Clans.”

Dame looked ahead, scanning the rubble.

“Think about it. Even the Demonic Clan cultivates the strongest from a group able to fight each other. But the Blood Qi Clan? They went mad. They killed their own before they ever had a chance to grow stronger, all for the sake of a handful of chosen ones. And what do you think happened when they ran out of people to build strength from?”

“They went to the other clans nearby?” Liam said.

“Correct,” Dame said grimly. “Which is why the other Demonic Faction clans eventually had to get rid of them.”

“You’re close,” B’s voice cut in sharply, “but that’s not quite right.”

She was walking a few steps ahead, but her tone slid back like a blade. The three approached the next street, following the distant sounds of fighting. As they entered the clearing, B’s eyes locked onto a corpse on the ground, one of the recently fallen. Without hesitation, she plunged her hand straight through its chest. As she pulled it out, blood began swirling around her arm, twisting like serpents. Then she snapped her wrist, flicking multiple droplets forward.

The droplets became bullets, blood bullets, that shot across the battlefield and tore into several mages, injuring them so severely they fell instantly. They weren’t instantly killed, but they were weakened enough for the fighters opposing them to finish the job.

“We weren’t eliminated by the Demonic Faction,” B said casually. “We were too strong for all of you. The only reason you were spared was because we managed to ascend, to go to the world above. So let me note this clearly, our clan killed every last one of our own members. The ones left alive simply ascended. You did nothing to stop us. All you became were bodies sacrificed for our strength.”

A chill ran down Liam’s spine. Her tone wasn’t boastful, it was matter-of-fact. That made it much worse.

This was why Liam felt the growing need to watch B far more carefully than any enemy around them. Those blood spheres she had created from the Cerebus members, and now the way she was producing blood bullets, maybe that was exactly how the Clan used to grow stronger, similar in principle to the Dark Guild’s methods but far more terrifying.

“Yet you still ended up in the situation you were in despite how strong you were?” Dame said. “The same thing happened to my father too, right? I guess the Divine Realm is really a scary place.”

“I’m actually curious,” Liam added. “Since you’ve been there, what is it like? You guys can come down whenever you want, right? So if the Divine Realm is so scary, then why don’t all of you just come back down?”

“It’s not as simple as you think,” B replied. Her expression flattened, her voice losing the playful tone it sometimes carried. “It’s its own world, run by its own people. There are individuals at the top, so incredibly strong that you’ll immediately understand the difference the moment you enter. Most people who ascend come from Pagna. They were monsters down here, the peak of the world. They enter the Divine Realm completely big-headed.”

She smirked.

“And they are humbled instantly.”

B’s hand trailed across a broken stone pillar as they walked, the blood around her wrist quietly dissipating.

“There are people who descend,” she continued, “but the ones who rule the Divine Realm, they don’t allow it easily. Even if you escape and come down, what are you escaping to? If you want a picture, imagine living as a slave there. Being forced to serve, with no freedom. To gain even the smallest chance at freedom, people run, run back to Pagna or go deeper into the Divine Realm, fighting and surviving however they can.”

She shrugged.

“Whether you end up as a slave or whether you get a new chance… it all depends on who you meet first, where you start, and how quickly you adapt. The Divine Realm itself is vast. Much bigger than Pagna and Alterian combined.”

Her explanation didn’t paint a clear picture. If anything, it made the Divine Realm even more mysterious and terrifying than before. And yet, entire clans, their whole purpose, was to reach that place.

“What happens if someone reaches the Divine Stage while in Alterian instead of Pagna?” Liam asked suddenly. “Would they ascend straight away?”

It was a question none of them had an answer to. Considering Divine Warriors could use their full power in other portal worlds and were only limited on Pagna, the rules of ascension felt far more complicated than they had ever imagined. The Divine Realm seemed to be something only tied to Pagna warriors… but the truth behind it remained a mystery even now.

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