Damien continued pondering on history for a long while.
The growth path of the Nox Race seemed convoluted at face value, but it was actually ordered beyond expectation.
It was almost as if they grew whenever the universe grew, like they were a shadow reflecting the darkness of society directly.
But their existence was too odd.
Damien could see that they were aiming for World and Universal Cores from the start, but if that was the only meaning of their existence, he wouldn't be meeting characters like the Saint Emperor and Yong An today.
'Are they really just tools? Or was their true purpose skewed by the Void into something completely different?'
His original inference didn't feel wrong. The fact that the plundered cores were affecting them wasn't wrong, because every time they completed their heists and retreated to evolve, their similarities to true existences heightened.
Yet, he couldn't be certain.
He found out that the Nox had been influenced by the Void long ago when he found Azera, but he couldn't quantify the level of impact it had.
'The Void is already the most mysterious and unpredictable entity in existence, so even if my thoughts feel like they're flowing in the right direction, I have no choice but to doubt them.'
After all, since when was the Void a force that followed a natural path?
'There's something here. I'm sure of it. There's something deeper hidden in the truths I've already discovered. I just need to–'
"Hm?"
Damien opened his eyes and unblocked his perception.
He suddenly felt a change in the environment.
How was he to "feel" any external force with his sensory abilities locked away completely?
Well, this jarring oddity was the exact reason Damien reacted.
He raised his arms to the side and slowly reoriented himself to stand up straight before looking around for the disruption that alerted him.
'There's something here…'
He couldn't see it, but it existed.
It existed, but it didn't exist.
'A spatial pocket?'
Damien frowned.
'There's still security measures in place here. I didn't expect them to be so thorough.'
Damien withdrew his mana and focused power into his Demon Bloodline.
'Since this is the key, it should also function as my eyes.'
If he wanted to find it…
Bzzt!
He felt a mild electrical current spread through his body and make his skin tingle uncomfortably.
The feeling didn't subside over time, but became more prominent as his body moved further into the Demon Abyss.
'I'm approaching the bottom.'
And that thing he was looking for…
'It's hiding in a spatial pocket as expected, but it's more severe than that.'
"Huu…"
Damien remembered the "energy" the Envoy used in his memories.
Using the Void to transform his mana and his Demon Bloodline as a foundation, he created a rudimentary form of that "energy" to utilize.
'This should be the answer.'
Voom!
He spread his aura and allowed the presence of the Envoy to flood this area of the Demon Abyss.
Before his eyes, red lightning sparked to life and arced around him before concentrating in a spot below his feet and expanding.
Shatter!
The Demon Abyss broke open in the space that lightning occupied, and as Damien's body descended past it…
He found himself transported to a different space.
'Hmm…'
He was still in the Demon Abyss. This wasn't something like an isolated dimension or hidden realm, however, he was also in an area completely separate from it.
'An alternate reality.'
A mirrored reality that existed parallel to its true counterpart, a space that didn't exist by conventional definitions.
And in this space was an entity.
Was it an entity?
It resonated with his bloodline and showcased life fluctuations as if it were alive, but its form was lifeless.
It was a three-dimensional geometric construct roughly twice the size of an average human that constantly shifted between prismatic forms. Its main color was black, but it was etched with poison-like green runic patterns that spanned its entire surface.
'This…what is this?'
Damien frowned to himself as he moved towards it, finding himself capable of controlling his body again.
'It feels dangerous, but since I was granted entry into this place, it means my identity as one of their race has been verified.'
For anyone else, touching this construct would likely erase them from existence and turn them into nourishment for the Nox, a manifestation of the exact fear that Damien to hesitate when he first stared into the Demon Abyss.
But for him…
'This is the answer to everything.'
He felt it intuitively.
The second he touched it…
His hand went forward and grazed its surface.
Before he could even experience the texture of the construct, his mind was transported into a realm above existence.
As if the entire history of the Nox, their purpose, the meaning behind their existence, and everything they represented was in his hands.
No, the entire Nox Race was in his hands.
The Nox, as expected, weren't a natural-born species. Rather they were created using a seed of a certain race's power.
From birth, they were forced into servitude and used for various purposes, the most prominent and long-lasting of which was precisely the theft of World Cores.
Yet, whenever they plundered a world core, its power wouldn't empower them but would instead be forcefully transferred to their creators.
Only a small portion of it would be transferred to them.
This transference was done through the Demon Abyss.
The structure Damien just contacted was a "foreign material." It didn't have a name of its own, but it was essentially a control center for their race they dictated everything about them as if they were drones controlled by a device.
When the power of a Universal Core was fed to this device, it used the new understanding of laws and society it gained to change the Nox in the way that best supported the continuation of their existence.
In a way, it could be considered their greatest supporter and greatest enemy.
The Nox were not subservient by nature.
Because they were created in the image of destruction, their natural instinct made them abhor their slave-like existence. Their insatiable greed made them desire freedom more than anything else, but the only way they knew how to gain it was by destroying universes to evolve.
As their creators had no plans of giving the Nox an opportunity to grow and develop into something that could threaten them, all Nox were without the ability to rationally think unless they reached 4th class.
Contrary to Damien's thoughts, this was an intentional mechanism used to keep them enslaved.
Although their creators wanted to impose further control, the nature of 4th class, where the universe completed its first Baptism of an individual's soul, disallowed them to.
This baptism slightly removed the restraints on the Nox, but only enough for them to gain their intelligence.
It also gave them a special ability. It gave the Nox the ability to inherit bloodline memories, which were mainly used to keep the Nox aware of their purpose and indoctrinate them, but for those whose free will developed properly, it made them painfully aware of their enslavement.
But regardless of the knowledge they had, as Yong An said, they were subject to a "curse," a restriction that disallowed them from revealing any information about their fate or betraying their creators.
When a Nox reached the Demigod realm and underwent Cosmic Rebirth, they were finally rid of the constraints placed on them.
But there were Nox demigods who continued their conquest even after being freed. Naturally, not everyone would have the same line of reasoning. Some would actually choose servitude to their creators while others simply hungered for more power, patterns reflected in the Soul and Inhuman Emperors.
The Nox actually had many more Demigods than the other races in the vast universe, but most of them ascended to the Heavenly World and betrayed the cause they were birthed for after gaining true freedom.
The few demigods who stayed were those in the other category.
This was also the reason it took so many millennia for the Nox to regain their strength. No matter how many nine revolutions masters or 5th class Demigods they produced, very few would actually choose to work actively towards their creators' goal.
As Damien learned more about them, the Nox became far less fearsome.
Instead, he felt pity towards them.
Aside from those like the Saint Emperor, who used uncountable lengths of time to become an existence separate from a "Nox" by definition, the rest were just…puppets.
They were beings deprived of true existence for the sake of those who created them.
But at the same time, the very basis of their birth made them entities that could only ever be a scourge. They would never have purpose or benefit to anyone but themselves, and they'd never rid themselves of their self-destructive natures that limited their potential.
'The ones who created them…there's no information about them here, but they really are stupid. The Nox have infinite potential precisely because they're artificial and evolve through unique stimulus, but they've been used in the stupidest ways due to irrational fear.'
Damien sighed.
'I don't know how to feel anymore. They're definitely the enemy, but…I don't want to see them go out like this.'
No, he felt like if he could take this foreign material under his control and change the development path of the Nox to something pure, he could create a race of homunculi that could become revered within the universe.
'Unfortunately, that's not possible.'
The foreign material was intrinsically connected to the Demon Abyss and the unknown creator race. This wasn't something he could just take away because he wanted it. Even if he did so, it would lose its function once it left this alternate reality.
'And…'
Damien's eyes hardened.
'...no matter how much pity I feel, the current Nox Race is the enemy. And enemies…'
He pressed his hand forward and completely laid his palm on the foreign material.
'...must be exterminated.'
He steeled his heart.
The foreign material had complete control over the Nox until they entered 4th class.
At his current level, with a single thought, Damien could do anything with the Lesser Nox population in Al'Katra.
And he'd already made up his mind.
Sacrifices needed to be made for the greater good.
Even he, with his ability to achieve the impossible, couldn't get everything he wanted.
That was just life.
So, he executed his will without hesitation or doubt clouding his heart and mind.
He injected "energy" into the foreign material and gave a command.
"Purge."
