It passed just like that.
Damien carefully returned to reality and fell through the clouds, entering the reformed world below.
'It's an exact replica of the Severed World.' He thought to himself.
Even the creatures living in this realm were directly copied from the Severed World.
The only difference was that they had no spirituality.
They were, at best, mindless husks imitating the creatures of the sub-universe.
'The Cloud Emperor called it a world of dreams, but it can't just be that. The feeling of the Void is vaguely present flowing through this realm, so it is a true existence without question. Instead of a dream world…'
'…is this the true nature of the Severed World?'
Damien realized the connection instantly.
The Severed World was an almost impossible existence. Regarding its laws, its ecosystems, and all else, there was always an inconsistency.
Though, it didn't exist in the Severed World Damien entered.
The Impulse Wave.
The strangest phenomenon of the sub-universe and the most glaring consequence of its incomplete law, the Impulse Wave utterly tore apart the realm and "reset it to a previous save."
Now, this kind of thing was absolutely possible as a result of a broken Universal Law. If Life and Death weren't properly defined, their effects of the cycle of Samsara would be affected too.
However, it wasn't something that could happen continuously.
At some point, the world would experience too much strain and collapse in on itself.
This was what made the Severed World's existence strange, and it was a fact Damien didn't realize until he deepened his comprehension in the sub-universe itself.
The Severed World was a true dream world, a dream world with such presence that it affected reality.
But its true face was this place, a place constantly destroyed and reconstructed, as if to lessen the burden on the world that could be seen.
'I can't completely understand how it functions right now, but it feels similar to a damage transfer type skill, but it's the main body that's taking damage from the subsidiary.'
If this was the main body, then the 2nd Primal Sovereign was likely to be at the top of this world's Skyrend Mountain.
'And the earth dragon was certain I wouldn't survive because I have to make it there while avoiding the Impulse Waves on my own.'
It was a seemingly impossible task.
Yet, as Damien already stated, he was undeterred.
'I've already done it once, so what's the big deal about doing it again?'
He let that arrogant thought flow through his mind as he stepped forward and embraced the darkness around him.
His first step was Ghost King's Crevice.
There was no Bertram to guide him through the Netherworld Fog this time, but he remembered the path.
Plus, the lack of spirituality in this place meant everything functioned systematically.
There wouldn't be any strange eruptions or surprises in this second journey.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Damien was halfway through Ghost King's Valley when the second explosion rang out.
The winds came first, roaring with sound that traveled tens or even hundreds of thousands of kilometers in an instant.
Damien once again hid himself in a fortress dimension of his creation, far sturdier this time since he was expecting the blast.
The world was destroyed and reformed around him.
'The wave's strength doesn't vary, and the interval is…'
Damien shook off his thoughts and continued moving.
He fought through the undead armies and, thankfully, avoided the Ghost King this time.
By the time he made it to the Perilous Sanctuary, the third wave struck.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
'…ten minutes. It'll be annoying to cross the third layer in these conditions.'
Damien zoomed through the relatively harmless Perilous Sanctuary and entered the third layer within five minutes.
For the next five minutes, rather than moving towards the central region, he made his way to the great tree where the Overseer made its nest.
He reached before the 4th wave could hit, and from within the confines of his defense, he observed the destruction of the world around him carefully.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The All-Seeing Eyes swirled into action, just in time to catch sight of—
'Teleportation should be fine from until I reach the peak.'
He avoided it thus far so he could judge the Impulse Wave, but also because he wasn't alone in this realm.
This was obviously a test. If he cheated his way through with teleportation, the test giver naturally wouldn't be pleased.
'But the central region is average. It has the most variety of beasts and a lot of strong creatures, but it's nothing more than an average beast ecosystem to the current me. There is no point in slowly traversing it.'
The feeling of moving a million miles in a single step, he'd dearly missed it.
Reaching the foot of Skyrend Mountain in less than an instant, he stared up at its heaven-piercing gait.
'It's time to flex a little.'
The crux of the challenge was here, and Damien had no plans of holding back.
BANG!
He dug his foot into the ground and pushed with every ounce of his strength, shooting into the air like a comet.
Spacetime mana flowed around him in a beautiful river. His steps became erratic, and though time didn't pass, he moved higher and higher up the mountainside.
No, was it better to say time was repeating?
Damien only used this technique a single time before and never reattempted it because of how much strain it put on his body, but this realm had no laws to confine him.
He abused the theory in his mind and used the environment to actualize them to his heart's content.
The Impulse Wave wanted to come, it wanted to destroy everything again, but how could it?
Damien was altering his position in Spacetime directly.
With time as the x-axis and space as the y-axis, Damien was moving on that graph in a perfectly straight vertical line, changing his spatial position within the same node of time!
It was an egregiously involved action to attempt, but it was powerful beyond belief if done properly.
The Impulse Wave could destroy reality itself, so it obviously wasn't bound by space or time, but this loophole that kept its effects isolated to a specific area didn't allow the Impulse Wave to be affected by the repeating second!
It was a great deal of explanation for an equally grand feat, and with his strategy, Damien was able to pass through the cloud layer and stand on Skyrend Mountain's upper half proudly, with only a single second having passed.
'I want to check the Blessing Shrine and Lunar River, but now is not the time. Our meeting is long overdue.'
He made a quick dash to the peak, evading the Impulse Waves and mindless clones of the Pegasus and the other two kings.
And in an astonishingly short amount of time, he reached his destination.
In the center of this land, perched atop the tallest mountain, was a being so large its shadow was painted in the clouds.
That being was coiled up around itself and breathing calmly, hibernating, however, there was a massive bloody wound on the side of its body that created a stark contrast from its otherwise peaceful appearance.
Every time a drop of blood fell from that wound, the mana it carried burst into the realm and destroyed it in full.
This being was clearly dying.
And that being…
'…is who I came to see.'
