Claire Watson disappeared 500 days ago.
Damien wished to deny this fact, but there was no way to do so.
After all, the World Core couldn't lie.
His mother disappeared?
What could've happened?
Who could possibly want anything to do with her?
As far as Damien knew, his mother was an ordinary woman. Her first introduction to mana was when he showed it to her. He saw her open the system for the first time.
Someone like that, who never truly had any interest in strength and resided in a peaceful world like Apeiron, how could she just disappear?
The problem didn't end there.
Damien tried to extract more information from Apeiron, but it knew nothing.
It shared its memory with Damien to let him understand what it knew.
That day, almost 2 years ago, Claire Watson was going about her day like usual.
There were no oddities in her routine, nor did anything change in the environment around her.
When night fell, she sat on the balcony of her room in the Adelaire Empire imperial palace, gazing at the stars.
For a second, Damien felt like she was staring at his illusory form, watching her from the Heavens.
And then, she just disappeared.
With no prior warning, no fluctuations of mana, and no interference whatsoever.
She vanished from the face of the earth.
Damien lost his mood to do anything.
No matter the circumstances, it remained true that his mother wasn't much better than a mortal.
If anything happened to her…
His gaze was icy in the skies of Apeiron.
He summoned Rose from the Sanctuary and sent her to meet her father without much conversation.
She instantly noticed the troubled light in his eyes but said nothing.
When Damien got into this state, nobody could break through to him, not even her.
Left alone, Damien flashed away, arriving at a specific location in the Helia Forest.
Kurt's portal was located here.
If even the World Core had no knowledge, the only person who could give him help was the world's singular Demigod, the being trapped in the depths of the First Dungeon.
'Tiamat will be able to view the situation more intuitively than Apeiron, and there was a rumor that she has connections to the Adventurer's Guild. If she could mobilize those forces—'
"I cannot help you here, child."
The response he got was anything but satisfactory.
The beautiful Nox woman on the 100th floor of the dungeon shrugged helplessly when he questioned her, indicating that her hands were tied.
"How much?" Damien asked.
"What?"
"There's no way you have no thoughts. What do you want?" He pressed on.
Tiamat might've had a positive perception of him, but it was only because he could help her. She wasn't the type to lend her help for nothing.
Tiamat smiled, glancing sideways at him.
"You still owe me for last time, no?"
"You did that of your own volition. Don't mention it."
"Ah, but the reason I helped you was simple. You should understand it better than anyone."
Damien frowned and widened his eyes.
When All-Seeing Eyes activated, he was able to see the ethereal chains forcing her to remain in this place.
There were 99 total, each double the thickness of a man's arm.
"I'll break one."
"Five."
"Five is beyond my capabilities. I can do 3 at most."
"Truly? However, from what I can see, you can break almost half of them if you wish to?"
"Key words, 'if I wish to.'"
It was Tiamat's turn to frown.
The agreement they had was something Damien would absolutely use to subordinate her once she was free.
If he tried to do so with his current strength, regardless of prior agreements, Tiamat could still find ways to act outside his influence.
Was he being cautious until he was powerful enough to control her?
'Cheeky brat.'
She wasn't offended. If anything, Tiamat liked him more for this trait.
Because trusting others was—
"Very well. If you can shatter three of these chains, I shall give you direction."
Damien nodded and slashed his arm out, Void Mana coalescing into a blade extending from it.
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
The sound was as if they were material. Three chains broke and shattered into pieces that fell to the ground.
Even Tiamat had to be surprised at his nonchalant attitude.
"I am not in a great mood right now. If you have something to say, wait until this is sorted out."
"Hmm…"
Tiamat sighed and shook her head.
'This child's potential is too terrifying. Perhaps even he…'
"That person who disappeared, she was likely not taken away by other forces."
The first thing Tiamat did was provide reassurance.
"Even if another Demigod acted, I would have been able to sense it. I am confident in at least that much. Her disappearance is…something much greater than that."
Damien's hard expression didn't loosen, but his mind calmed somewhat.
If she wasn't taken away by other forces, he could be assured that she wouldn't be used by enemies for anything tragic.
But, in the end, what did that mean?
"As I said prior, I do not have the answer you seek. If you wish to know more, you will find your answer in the floating city."
"Floating city…?"
Tiamat shrugged.
"Do not ask me. I only vaguely understand it. Do expect me to clearly know from my current position?"
"Fair enough."
Tiamat rolled her eyes, a bit offended by his blatant disregard, but didn't say anything.
'If it's a floating city…could it be that?'
There was only one place Damien could think of.
The last vestige of Niflheim, the city transformed into a war machine on Lynn Carter's order.
'I don't know how accurate my guess is, but I have no choice but to check.'
Damien's body flickered and disappeared without another word.
'Hmph. No decency at all.' Tiamat complained to herself.
"…"
"…thanks."
Damien's voice rang out from the void.
Two more ethereal chains shattered on their own.
And his presence finally vanished.
Tiamat grinned.
'Truly, what a cheeky brat.'
***
Damien had two choices right now.
Either he could wallow in a spiral of negativity imagining every possible situation, or he could move thoughtlessly with only his goal in mind.
What he chose was the latter.
He teleported across the universe, ignoring everything in his path.
The so-called floating city.
It used to be known as Hub City Avalon before it was turned into a flying warship.
When the unnamed world crumbled upon the Fifth Primal Sovereign's awakening, Avalon was the only place for the survivors of the destroyed world to live.
Even Rose and the rest were saved by Lynn's efforts in that city.
Now, it was located not far from the Cloud Plane's atmosphere,
It was currently being used as the Human Domain's greatest research institution, expanding endlessly and creating countless technologies and artifacts that could exponentially increase the Sector's power level.
Even Niflheim's old Artifact Duplication was picked up by them.
Yet, no matter how big it got and no matter how much it changed, there was one thing that remained constant.
The center of every new development was Lynn Carter, a woman granted the title of God's Hand due to her ability to innovate so beautifully.
And now, this God's Hand, Damien's old ally, was the target of his visit.
If Avalon truly had something to do with his mother, she would be the one who knew about it.
'If the answer isn't here…'
…he really didn't know what he would do.
