In fact, Damien was more than happy to take on this sealed Demigod.
Entering the man's mind was something he wanted to do on his own, and if he was truly a Nox Demigod, killing him was par for course.
All Damien knew at this moment was that this man was strange.
His Nox Aura was definitely present, but it wasn't the same as the aura carried by the Saint Emperor or Marionette Lord, Nox Demigods Damien had personally met.
Who was he? Why was he sealed? The only way to answer these questions was to enter his mind.
And perhaps, some of the questions Damien had been pondering for so long would be answered too.
Pah!
Damien slapped himself in the face. Without knowing how long the Prismatic Sun Holy Master could maintain her presence, he couldn't be wasting time thinking meaninglessly like this.
He jumped and stomped his foot into the tip of the spire, breaking it down and flattening it until it was a surface he could sit on. Once he finished, he reached down and placed his finger on the top of the crucified man's head.
A strand of the Breath of Nothingness swam into his spiritual world, and Damien's vision blurred into a new world.
"Hm, a guest?"
He was greeted by an ancient voice that boomed through the space and struck his ears like symbols crashing centimeters away.
Damien gritted his teeth and shook off the pain, looking around to find the source of the voice.
"Don't bother," the voice came again.
"After the passing of so many years, I no longer have the strength to form a spiritual avatar."
"Who are you?" Damien asked.
"You came here for this, no?" The man said.
"This Emperor has been slumbering for so many years, it seems the time has finally come to die."
A frown formed on Damien's face as he listened to the man's strange words, but before he could respond…
"I will show you what you wish to see. How you choose to proceed afterward shall decide my fate."
The man's attitude completely contradicted what Damien expected, and not even a second after he finished processing the current events, the scene around him shifted again.
'These are…his memories.' Damien realized as he looked at the river that appeared before him.
It was massive, like an ocean of its own, but the water was murky and brown as if it had been polluted for countless decades.
'It is indeed what I came for, but why do I feel like something's wrong?'
Damien once again reminded himself.
He was in the mind of a Demigod. Anything could happen.
After stabilizing his ego and making a few preliminary preparations to keep himself safe, he went to the River bank and slowly submerged himself in its waters.
A story began to paint itself in his mind.
***
The situation outside, as Damien expected, wasn't as apocalyptic as it could've been.
Su Ren was a blessing upon Holy Light Star.
His banner attracted countless geniuses who followed him and acted together to counter the Nox Worshippers, and his mysterious grey mana was perfect for eliminating the bloody environment and correcting the world's laws.
The latter mission was a difficult one. No matter how Su Ren moved, he found that he could only destroy the bloody forests on a surface level, and the seeds for their regrowth simply couldn't be extinguished.
And more than the Nox, the vitality calamity caused severe damage to his forces.
What they found after a few hours of facing its wrath was that the corruption of the world evaded the realm laws just like the Nox, and those who fell to it would truly die.
The most imperative task was to find a way to counter it.
The answer didn't come from inside, but from Luxurion.
There were multiple things that made the Nox's current attack counterintuitive. One of the greatest was that, while the experts present were already strong, there were even more strong experts and forces arriving in the Sky Castle by the hour, which meant an endless stream of geniuses was entering the mystic realm!
Not all of these geniuses were loyal to the universe, but since the forces arriving in the current days were usually those with respect and status in the universe, the majority were those who would put their lives on the line for their homeland.
Among them were the geniuses from Medicine Emperor Holy Land, the very geniuses Su Ren had been searching for.
They entered the realm and immediately took their stand as an apothecary that provided pills and elixirs that could counter the vitality suction.
They were aided by geniuses from Primordial Light Holy Land, who used their purification abilities to help those affected regain some of their lost energy.
Though, this effect was still temporary. If these geniuses wanted to regain what was stolen, they needed to defeat the world itself!
The universe's geniuses were able to rapidly form a united front that allowed them to combat the Nox Worshippers without losing too many forces, and meanwhile, the experts that backed them made it known why they had their acclaim.
A line of more than a hundred experts kneeled in front of the portal to Holy Light Star in the second banquet hall.
Their arms and legs were bound by rope that radiated with the aura of Divinity, and their faces were black with shame.
They weren't killed, they were sat in front of their previous comrades and humiliated.
It was like they had four massive letters written on their foreheads.
FOOL!
Fools who dared to betray the universe, fools who let power get to their heads, how could such fools be given easy deaths?!
No, they were sat in front of everyone and forced to watch as their geniuses were slaughtered meaninglessly due to their idiocy.
And they were sat waiting for the torture that was sure to come.
To attack in Luxurion was the stupidest thing they could've done.
This Sky Castle was the lifeblood of the Heavenly Clan. It was built with so much specification that it was impossible for traitors to infiltrate it.
Hell, they couldn't even kill themselves due to the restrictions!
Whether it was a Supreme or a Demigod, a small sect master or the Holy Master of a massive Holy Land, none of them were given treatment better than dogs.
Including the Holy Master of Flame Heavens Holy Land, the master of Huo Xuan and Huo Dong who were killed by Damien and Su Ren.
He wasn't stupid enough to participate in this raid.
How could he be?
He was an exalted personage who was fully aware of the universe's power. He knew from the beginning that this was a suicide mission.
However, he didn't have a choice.
The moment he chose to submit to the Nox, unresigned to the impossibility of ascending from the Demigod level to True Godhood, he became a slave whose opinion no longer mattered.
All it brought him was humiliation and loss.
The bleakness of the fates of these traitors only made the question on everyone's minds all the more pronounced.
Why?
Just why would the Nox plan such an attack?
