Damien encountered a strange problem as his time in isolation continued.
He didn't have enough arms.
It was fine when he could eliminate tens of millions of Nox in a swing of his arm, but it was different now.
More and more challengers were appearing.
Against the Higher Nox who had the nerve to challenge him, Damien had to focus on the battle more, and that left gaps for the lesser species to make their way past him.
If he had backup, he could use them to hold the line while he focused on bigger enemies, but he didn't have anything of the sort.
So why didn't he just make some?
Most Demigods had Avatars they used to take care of things disallowed to them by the universal restrictions. Damien wasn't at their level yet, but he was confident he could do it if he tried.
The main method people used to create Avatars was simple but a bit cruel.
Essentially, they placed a piece of their soul in the body of a being without a developed consciousness and took the priority position.
This was the only way for those without the ability to create the fundamentals of life to have Avatars that were made of flesh and blood.
There were others who could use mana to make Avatars indistinguishable from flesh and blood beings, but they were highly specialized and used methods that couldn't be copied by the average Demigod.
In Damien's case, the former wasn't possible with his current situation, while the latter was above his power level.
'It's too early for an Avatar.'
Avatars were more significant than Damien originally thought.
The reason people only had one was because an Avatar was one's lifeblood. It was an extension of their body, not something that could be constantly replicated.
After all, one's soul couldn't be recovered easily. To invest in an Avatar was like having a child.
'Then…clones?'
Damien wanted to find a way to create an infinite number of himself that could fight properly without causing severe backlash if they were destroyed.
Sentience was not a requirement. He just needed beings he could control like body parts and maneuver flexibly.
That would allow him to create an army of cannon fodder he didn't have to worry about.
Not wanting to see death in his allies was part of the reason Damien didn't just use the Sanctuarians to help him here.
'It should be possible.'
His ambition was one of fantasy, but he believed he could bring it into reality.
With the Void's assistance, the bounds of reality were whatever he wished them to be.
'Where do I start?'
The first step was to create a preliminary model for the first clone.
The process could be broken into three stages: giving form, adjusting power, and granting spirituality.
'The last step should be the easiest.'
Damien had no access to his soul, but he had experience in splitting his mind from when he had to put it back together in the Primordial Undying Realm's Trial World.
The solution for the backlash problem was to use his mind instead of his soul to connect him to the clone.
The hard part was the second step.
With Damien's mana control, creating a human figure out of his mana was easy. Putting his consciousness into it wasn't as simple, but he was able to understand the fundamentals with a few days of effort.
But granting it power was something else.
'This is why people use their souls.'
Since the soul was the basis of everything, it held records of one's strength that would migrate into the secondary body.
When it was just mana and mind, there was no such record.
'Can I solve this problem with the Void?'
Could the Void hold his Legend?
'I have to try.'
This portion of the process was intuitive.
Damien didn't actually understand how it worked, because he didn't understand how to access his Legend and edit it.
Was it even possible?
Likely not.
Therefore, he made a "wish."
In the same way he saved Bai Yumo, he willed the Void to accomplish his desire without understanding how it could do so.
And it…
…obviously didn't work.
'Hmm…'
Even if he wanted to wish something from the Void, he needed to know what he was wishing.
He needed to understand where his Legends were so the Void could connect those two points.
He'd been trying for over a week now, but the Void and his Legend couldn't find a point of connection.
If that point of connection existed, it would be possible, but it was logically impossible to create it.
'However, logic only applies to those weak enough to succumb to it.'
He could surpass the bounds of logic. He'd done it already.
It was just a matter of figuring out the way to do it here.
Year 2 in No Return Pass was progressing steadily.
By the time it was over, he would have this problem solved.
From the third year onward, he wouldn't be bogged down by the endless and monotonous battle environment of this place.
That was his resolution.
***
The Giant Domain's deterioration didn't end with the first ten thousand worlds.
In batches of the same amount, worlds disappeared every month, creating a situation that could no longer be ignored by the higher-ups of Heaven's Army.
Forces were properly allocated for the first time, and a deep investigation began.
However, a little more than 60,000 worlds already disappeared.
Of those inhabitable, this was almost half.
And of those that were taken, 25,000 ended up in Damien's possession.
The rest were taken by the Soul Emperor and transferred to an unknown location for unknown reasons that only Damien had a hint of.
The problem was, no matter how much investigation was done, nothing came out of it.
The signs of disappearance were nonexistent, and even with excessive scanning through various means, no signs of Nox presence were detected.
Was there any way to describe this aside from a demonic miracle?
There was no way for formations or lesser beings to understand what was happening.
So the only option left was to send a Divinity.
Director Alucard was chosen after much deliberation due to his openly neutral stance. He took the 11 remaining Zodiacs of Hidden Death Valley and launched a full-scale sweep of the Giant Domain.
The awareness of a Demigod was magical. In a similar fashion to Damien's eyes, they could see the universe through a completely different lens, bringing all things hidden into the light.
This was the only ability of Demigods that could be used properly without the restriction's interference.
And with it, the results of their search were astonishing.
There truly were no Nox in the Giant Domain, nor were there signs of outside intervention on the surfaces of those worlds.
However, there was something.
Hidden deep within the World Cores, almost hidden from even their powerful gazes, there was something like a virus.
It rewired their base functions, and no matter what the consciousnesses of the World Cores desired, they would automatically be transported to the Abyss against their will!
A scramble to find a solution began immediately.
However, the response was simply too late.
There was no time left for the Giant Domain.
