When the fourth year in No Return Pass dawned on Damien, he received an interesting visitor.
The clones he left to take care of the battlefield found themselves unable to fight at all, because the forces that had been forming an unending stream for the past 3 years suddenly stopped coming at all.
It was only for a single day, and it was not by choice.
"Higher Nox have the ability to control Lesser Nox completely. Until someone higher than me breaks control, they won't attack."
This was the explanation given by that eccentric visitor.
And Damien…
Well, to be frank, he'd been expecting this one for a while now.
"You finally showed up, huh?" He said with a smile, summoning a table and two chairs onto the desolate plain.
"You knew?"
"Of course. You were left with nothing, after all. Even if you're smart enough to move forward on your own, you still started with nothing. You were bound to come here to find me eventually."
"Hmm…"
The Saint King, Bai Yumo, shrugged with a sigh as he took his seat across from Damien.
"Putting that aside, I thought I'd be able to put up a better fight now that it's been so long, but I was severely mistaken. How in the world did you get so strong in this time?"
Damien glanced at him. The current Bai Yumo was incredibly different from the one he used to know.
It was clear that the facade bogging him down was gone now. He seemed refreshed, as if he could process events from a proper standpoint now, instead of being overwhelmed by his situation.
This Bai Yumo was the one Damien hoped to see when they met again, so his current mood was quite jovial.
He pulled a gourd of spirit liquor out of his subspace along with a cup for himself and his guest.
When he poured it, a sweet smell and unbelievably clear color that didn't match its "liquor" identity at all presented itself, practically begging one to taste its majesty.
"My strength…well, let's just say I've had a lot of time on my hands. I even picked up some new hobbies along the way."
"You are truly an unreasonable existence."
"Why would you say something like that? I consider myself quite accommodating."
"Ha, to joke at a time like this, you must be insane."
Damien smiled again and held up his cup before taking a sip.
He wasn't lying.
In No Return Pass, Damien had so much time he didn't know what to do with it all. His training was progressing steadily, and he was getting closer to the "impossibility" of the Void.
His current abilities were almost at the peak of reasonability. The power he could possibly possess while still under the universe's umbrella was already in his hands.
For the most part.
He still had a ways to go before becoming a Supreme, but even that was just a matter of time, time he had far too much of.
Crafting and spirit liquor were two hobbies he'd been entertaining recently. Since he didn't have to use as many clones to deal with the horde anymore, he used some of them to gain proficiency in these things instead.
Using his hands was fun, so crafting was an obvious hobby. While Damien didn't use weapons as much anymore, he still had a deep connection to the ones he had and wished to bring them with him as he continued his journey.
His study in that field was mainly for this purpose, to enhance his current armaments.
Meanwhile, spirit liquor was more for fun than anything else.
Getting drunk was a privilege Damien didn't have anymore. His power was too strong for anything to hinder his perception.
So, he took up the challenge of creating the liquor that could get him drunk,
This one, No. 95: Blessed Immortal Dew, was his most recent creation and the closest to hitting his goal, but it wasn't there yet.
"Nevertheless, that's just my personal stuff. I'm sure you didn't come here just to catch up, right?"
Bai Yumo shook his head wryly.
Really, his thoughts of matching this kind of man were never more than a wild dream. How was he able to talk so casually about mastering other crafts while still increasing his power so ruthlessly in a far shorter period of time than Bai Yumo had?
It was insane.
However, he was right about that.
Bai Yumo didn't come here just for idle conversation.
"I've hit a bottleneck. I've been doing everything I can think of to create a force worthy of facing that man, but I can't reasonably believe that it's possible to do so."
He explained his movements. About gathering forces, about increasing his own power and becoming closer to his Demonic Providence, and…
"There is a chain."
…about the "curse" that bound the Nox.
"I cannot speak on it without being punished by the restriction, but I wish for you to know about it. This chain is not a natural limiter, but a leash. A leash held by—"
"Stop."
Damien stopped him before he could continue.
"If you say anymore, you'll really die."
Bai Yumo's eyes widened.
"You know?"
Damien looked at him, all traces of emotion in his eyes gone.
"Mm, I figured it out recently. It's hard not to after eating so many of them. But, this isn't something to worry about now. That problem isn't something the likes of us can deal with…yet."
"Yet?! You have confidence in facing it in the future?!"
"Hahahaha!"
Damien laughed.
"Confidence? Why wouldn't I? After I slaughter the Saint Emperor, isn't that the next logical step?"
"You…!"
"Alright, let's stop joking around."
Damien returned to the topic at hand, the doubts that had been bothering the man across from him.
"You shouldn't be trying to face that guy directly at all. I know it sucks to hear, but it's fruitless to believe that clash will ever happen."
"Why is that?"
"Isn't it obvious? Do you think you'll be able to reach Divinity before the war moves to the Ancient Battlefield?"
"Ah…"
The Ancient Battlefield, the Cemetery of Demigods, was the only place for their kind to fall.
They didn't fight in this plane for a variety of reasons, but to put it simply, they would only be able to unleash themselves properly in that place.
"The Saint Emperor's fate will be determined there. Regardless of what any of us feel, that fact won't change."
"Then, what?" Bai Yumo asked again.
What he received was not the confirmation he wished, but an even greater inevitability that separated him from his goal.
His confusion was even worse now.
If killing the Saint Emperor was not the answer, then what was?
Damien sighed to himself.
"Bai Yumo," he started seriously.
"Why are you fixated on that man? Do you think your obsession will cause him any harm? Him? That guy who has no care for anyone as long as things are going his way? Do you think attacking him directly will mean anything?"
"In the first place, a small character like him isn't worthy of your attention."
Bai Yumo's jaw practically hit the floor.
What was this?
This was definitely not what he expected to hear.
"You are a talent. You have the ability to go beyond him, to touch the sky he rejected, the Heavenly World. Why should you limit your ambition to him?"
A bomb went off in Bai Yumo's head.
These words, while they were simple, were words he'd never been told before.
The fact that he had value, that he had a purpose outside the Saint Emperor, was something that had never crossed his mind.
Damien didn't need to say much. Bai Yumo was smart enough to put the pieces together himself.
But as he said, he'd hit a bottleneck. His thoughts were still constrained by that man's shadow.
Damien got up and stood next to Bai Yumo, looking out into the blackness as he put his hand on the man's shoulder.
"Build yourself and build your people. When the time comes, get your revenge the right way."
"The right way, huh…"
Bai Yumo grinned slightly and picked up his cup, chugging the contents until it was empty.
The Saint Emperor, that shadow that loomed over his sky and forced him to stay in the well, cowering in fear…
Was that man just a stepping stone to this one?
The horizons he saw were not those of the Abyss, but something so high Bai Yumo never even tried to rationalize it.
If he started now…
"Do you think it's possible?"
Damien smiled confidently. It was the smile of a ruler, of a higher existence that saw everything as below him.
"Impossibility is a matter of perception. As long as you force it into the realm of possibility, who can stop you?"
The thoughts of a man who was currently making impossibility one of the many cards in his hand, the words of a man who didn't view that word as inevitably as the rest of existence.
"Hahahahaha!"
Those words were a spark that lit Bai Yumo's heart aflame.
"Right, as long as I want it to be, anything will be possible. It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks, even if that someone is Fate itself."
He stood up, a new air surrounding his body, and outstretched his hand.
"Thank you for this. I never met a true ally before you, so this is quite the experience for me."
"No problem," Damien said happily.
"You're someone worth investing in, so you can be confident in support from this side as long as it can be provided."
"Mm," Bai Yumo said with a smile.
"I guess I should leave you alone now, but before I go…"
BOOM!
His aura exploded. The blackness of the Abyss became even thicker in this space.
Damien was already several hundred meters away by the time it reached his previous position.
Bai Yumo watched him with a wide grin.
"Before I go, I want to see how wide the gap actually is."
