"Hello! Is it my turn to enter now?"
Damien's eyes widened slightly when he saw her, but he shook his head with a smile soon enough.
"How did you get here?"
"I walked?"
"When?"
"Hmm…just now?"
"Pfft…!"
Damien did his best to hide his snort.
The timing was too perfect.
This woman had definitely been watching for a very long time and chose the time when Damien and the Primal Sovereign were back in good condition to appear.
Except…
"You must be quite disappointed right now."
"Very! Who sets up a barrier like that without a single word? Shouldn't you at least acknowledge it?"
"Why should I? Isn't this just basic etiquette?"
"Agh! But this is a place nobody else can enter!"
"Yet, here you are."
"Tch!"
The woman shot a hateful glare at Damien and turned away with a pout.
It was an expression one would never expect from the individual in question.
After all, she'd been deadpan the entire time Damien knew her!
Right, the woman who mysteriously appeared in the dream world acting like a completely different person was none other than Sia!
Or, was her identity really that simple?
"When did you find out?" She asked, glancing back.
Damien shrugged.
"Which part?"
"Both!"
"Hmm, I found out you were here when I set up my barrier. As for the other part, probably when we first met?"
"How?!"
"I'm a cheat character, you know."
"What kind of cheat is that?"
"Haha, it's not that easy."
Sia harrumphed in frustration.
"I don't like how good you are at this."
"At what?"
"Hmph, keep pretending."
Damien smiled. From the way she was acting, even she knew he'd found out her identity by now, but it looked like she still couldn't accept it.
How could she?
Even if this was just an Avatar body, it was the Avatar of a peak expert!
The abilities she showcased were supposed to be infallible!
Yet, it was nothing to Damien. By the time they met, he'd already unshackled the Void, which allowed him to utilize many abilities that were previously restricted.
One of which was his perception.
"Since you're already here, help with the next part. I'm not very good at this."
"Is that something you should say as the person who made the decision to do this?"
"Isn't it something you should've considered as the one who hired me?"
Sia, no, Eyrissea Luminus, the Holy Master of Prismatic Sun Holy Land, snorted without the ability to retort.
Damien figured out her identity almost instantly, not to his own merit, but because of her own mistake!
The mana she showed him, her partial Universal Law, he'd sensed it when he first met her, it was exactly what fluctuation that drew him into her aura and infatuated him.
There was probably no other person in the universe who could recognize it, especially when she concealed it, but Damien was not like the rest.
That much was obvious.
'It's fun to watch her expressions. I guess she's acting more freely since it isn't her main body?'
He sensed that Iris was a warm person from the start. After all, her perfunctory and slightly patronizing way of addressing him as "Child" when they first met changed drastically when he saw her face.
She didn't talk like an elder anymore, but as an equal.
It was even a little comedic that she showed up here.
Did she want to personally bring the 2nd Primal Sovereign in from the start?
…or had she just come for him?
'Stop that, brain. We are not entertaining the lower head's thoughts anymore.'
'…it's more fun when Rose does it.'
Damien shook off his idle thoughts and refocused on the situation.
Talking to Iris was one thing, but they first had a task to accomplish,
[In fact, there is no need to speak. I have long understood your purpose.]
The 2nd Primal Sovereign finally inserted himself into the conversation upon finding an opening between the bantering pair.
Their eyes turned to him in surprise.
[Child, you must be her descendent?]
Iris nodded, bowing her body respectfully.
"That is correct, senior. I am Eyrissea Luminus, the current leader of Prismatic Sun Holy Land."
[As expected, her lineage has continued.]
The Primal Sovereign's eyes closed slightly, reminiscing over old memories.
[Do you hate me, child?]
Iris immediately shook her head.
"Not at all, senior. I had no knowledge of your injury before entering this place, but even without that justification, I and my predecessors have understood your decision and respected it. We harbor no ill will against our benefactor."
The Sovereign nodded slightly. His gaze turned to Damien.
'I have a weird feeling about this.'
[I made my decision after observing this child for a period of time.]
[I have never interfered in the matters of the outside world not because of my injury, but out of fear.]
[I was afraid I would be hunted by my enemies, and even more so, I was afraid my presence would attract nigh-invincible forces into the universe.]
[Even now, I am afraid. I am afraid of facing the world I once abandoned and seeing its current state.]
The Primal Sovereign sighed.
[Of the emotions I learned from her, this is the only one I cannot stomach.]
Damien and Iris silently listened to his speech.
They didn't know where he was going with it. They had no way to make out whether his words were positive or negative.
Did he give into fear or was he planning to overcome it?
The Primal Sovereign didn't force them to endure their thoughts for too long.
His wings stretched and his tail twitched slightly.
[I have not overcome my fear, and I have no plan to…]
He began with unnerving words…
[…however, there is something I must do.]
…yet his conclusion was anything but.
Damien and Iris held their expressions still, making sure not to celebrate early.
The Primal Sovereign wasn't done yet.
[To achieve this goal, I cannot actively aid your universe in the war.]
His eyes sharpened. His massive body began to shrink, freeing up more and more of the peak.
A shimmering veil of space covered the area, and out of it walked a handsome man with snow-white hair and virtual blue eyes.
His feet touched the ground, and his eyes turned once more to Damien's figure.
"Instead, I will follow him."
The words he spoke flowed more naturally with his new form, and for this reason, they hit far, far harder.
""What?!""
Damien and Iris exclaimed together to express their shock, but the Primal Sovereign did not budge from his position.
Rather, he enunciated it further!
Thud!
One knee hit the ground.
The great being who could quite literally stand equal to the universe was kneeling to Damien.
Iris stared at him dumbfounded, while Damien backed away, utterly discombobulated.
…was he right?
'Is there really a screw loose in his head?'
He couldn't think of a single reason why this great being would choose to follow him. He had no idea what goal he could possibly help this man achieve.
Yet, even after he and Iris tried desperately for several minutes to change his mind, he didn't budge.
For the first time, an ancient entity was willing to return to the secular world.
And Damien had no choice but to accept it.
This event…
…marked the moment he gained his first 5th-class subordinate!
