Damien Void.
What did he mean to the people who loved him?
To some, he was a rascal they couldn't help but like. To some, he was an annoyingly charismatic brat. To some, he was a good brother with whom they could share joys and sorrows. And to some others, he was a man who represented their goal, everything they strived to surpass.
But none of these definitions could really explain what he meant to people.
Just like Yong An said, he was a shining beacon of light.
He was a genius who stood alone. He had a type of talent that destined him to walk a lonely road.
Yet, he was always there, smiling brightly and bringing people together, standing alongside them, supporting them through thick and thin, and guiding them towards the light.
Why else would there be so many powerful people involved with him?
People like Director Alucard or Iris simply couldn't be moved by ordinary geniuses. Even the strongest people in the universe had to treat them with respect and stay mindful of their neutrality.
But Damien, with nothing more than his words and actions, won them over and placed them in a situation where they'd throw away their neutrality to support him.
To the people who knew him, Damien was someone to be learned from.
Whether it was the older generation full of monsters who'd lived countless millennia or the younger generation who were still trying their best to survive in this tumultuous universe, they had something they could learn from him.
So regardless of what one felt for him, whether it was love, greed, fear, or even hatred, they had no choice but to respect him.
That was how they viewed him.
At least, most people.
But what about those three?
Rose, Ruyue, and Elena had a relationship with him that nobody else could understand.
Damien always kept people at arm's length. Even Long Chen and Su Ren, two of his only friends in the entire universe, didn't know much about the struggles he went through alone.
Only they did.
Only to them did he open his heart.
And he was the same for them.
Whether it was Rose, who lived for others and had to keep her emotions hidden so they wouldn't feel her fear and crumble, Elena, who only knew battle and never cared to explain herself to others, or Ruyue, who refused to allow others to get too close due to her past experiences, they were all equally closed off.
Only Damien was able to pierce through their defenses and make his way to their hearts, which he occupied in full.
To them, he was everything.
He was their husband, the father of their future children, and the mighty wall that supported them silently no matter the distance that separated them.
Asking them to just accept his death was laughable.
They would never do that.
But, even they were forced to sit down and face reality, accepting that he might've truly left this world without them.
After all, it wasn't just Ruyue anymore.
Rose and Elena also had a deep bond with him through their engagement rings that allowed them to sense his presence as long as it existed.
At that moment in the conference room, all three of them felt the disappearance of that connection, and the second they overcame the pure shock that froze them in place, mainly because of Su Ren and the others who pulled them out of it, they immediately disappeared.
They went to the Sanctuary.
This was a place built by him. If there were any clues about his situation, they would be present here.
However, when they arrived, they found a silent Theavel.
Elvira came to find them before anyone else and took them to Avalon to sit down and talk.
Damien had a clone in the Sanctuary for several years now, which he'd used to transfer a great deal of information from the Abyss and help the universe's forces in secret.
The so-called "counterstrike" plan that Luciel mentioned in the meeting was precisely the result of his information.
Yet, that clone was no longer present.
Elvira personally watched it fade from existence as it passed on its final message.
A message that revealed "everything" about the Nox.
He did it while he was still escaping the Demon Abyss.
Just in case he was held up and couldn't immediately escape, he transferred his most recent memories to his clone to update them.
However…
By the time it finished loading that information into a jade slip, it disappeared.
It's final words…
"Condition…?"
Elvira nodded.
"Yes, it said 'condition' before dispersing. We have no way to know what it means, but…because of how valuable the last information he transmitted is, I can only assume he was doing something extremely dangerous."
The clone was, after all, a reflection of Damien. He didn't want them to worry, so it didn't say a single word about descending the Demon Abyss or infiltrating the Nox's most sacred area.
It only transmitted the information without context.
"He…"
Elena was the one who spoke.
All three of them were holding in their emotions. They couldn't allow themselves to break down in front of anyone else.
Not until they confirmed it.
"He will not die so easily…"
It was a statement all of them thought so many times that it was numbing at this point, but she felt the need to say it out loud.
Elvira looked at her with sad eyes, but nodded anyway.
"Yes, he is not someone who will die at a time like this. We still need him, after all."
Her relationship with Damien was…vague, so the way she viewed his wives was also laced with strange feelings, but at a time like this, none of those mattered.
They had to stay strong together.
Or else, all of them would crumble.
And if that happened, the consequences would be dire.
"For now, I have made sure this information doesn't spread. Aside from me, Lynn, and the other Emperors of Theavel, nobody knows."
"...not even Xue'er?" Rose muttered.
"Especially not Xue'er."
If Xue'er ever found out about this, nobody could predict what she'd do. Whether she'd charge into the enemy camp and recklessly kill until she died or simply end her life silently, the final result would remain the same.
Xue'er was left with nothing before Damien found her.
He was more than just an older brother to her, but a father.
He may have been unable to be with her for a majority of her life, but she was understanding and always mature beyond her years.
She only looked up to him and worried for his safety, waiting for him to return victorious and tell her the wonderous stories of his exploits in the outside world.
Xue'er was an adult now. She was at an age where it wouldn't be strange for her to have kids of her own.
But when it came to him, she was still that little girl he saved in the Trial World.
The little girl he created the Sanctuary for, so she could live a life in peace, away from the troubles that darkened her bright world.
Days passed quietly, yet the universal situation only became more disordered.
Perhaps this should've been a time of grieving for those close to Damien, but surprisingly, it wasn't so at all.
All evidence pointed to his death.
The more they learned, and as information poured in from anonymous sources like Yong An and Elvira, making them aware of Al'Katra, the Demon Abyss, and the extermination of over eight quintillion Lesser Nox beings, the picture became clear to them.
And…
It also became clear why the Demigods disappeared.
These two events were directly related.
On his own, hidden from the gazes of all and expecting not a single ounce of credit, Damien Void descended into the Abyss and created a miracle.
But, in consequence, he lost his life to the Saint Emperor.
That was the story the universe knew.
Those who didn't know him personally but admired or placed their hopes on his talent mourned heavily, but who knew whether they were sincere or not?
As for those who stood against him, they celebrated, because the man who had the greatest potential to destroy everything they ever worked for, the enemy that was inevitably impossible to overcome, went and died on his own.
But those close to him refused to entertain their delusions.
Damien Void was not that kind of person.
He was not some ordinary character who'd quietly die in some unknown corner of the Abyss.
He was a man that even the universe pinned all of its hopes on.
So, one day, he would come back.
They didn't know how long it would take, but until that day came, they would wait for him.
Unless they died first.
They had to keep their mentalities strong, because mourning here would only make them weak.
Weak in front of the enemy that claimed to have killed their light.
And that…
That was absolutely disallowed.
Their goal was the same as before, but their hearts were filled with burning rage and a thirst for vengeance.
When Damien came back, they'd present him with the Nox Race's heads on a platter alongside a clean universe.
They'd make sure the race known as the Nox became an afterthought, a stain that became forgotten in the rivers of time.
They would drive this race to extinction.
Everyone moved forward with purpose.
Both the sides of justice and evil faced each other, letting loose the cards they'd hidden the past several years for this moment.
Damien's death was the turning point.
The turning point that would bring this war to an end.
At the same time, as turmoil and chaos enveloped all things…
A blue holographic window that was imperceptible to all of existence appeared amidst nothingness.
Its location was unknown, and it was fated to go unseen by even the individual it was meant for, but its words were jarringly clear.
[Condition Achieved: True Death.]
