Two men stood at the edge of the Ancient Battlefield, uninvolved in the war yet watching as it continued.
They were Primal Sovereigns, not beings who had any stock in it. Orion came to watch over his descendant, while the Ancient Sovereign's reasoning was more vague.
But the deaths of their fellows drove their cause in the same direction as they investigated why their people died.
There was no need for revenge. They were not hunted and killed, they died because they met an enemy they could not defeat.
That didn't change the fact that it was truly a shame.
Primal Sovereigns were not common in this world. Space Beasts would roam the starry skies as they pleased, but they were merely byproducts. They did not have the same status as Primal Sovereigns even though they were of the same race.
When the Ancient Sovereign came here, he was originally planning to ensure that the deaths his fellows suffered were not unjust, and since their deaths were caused by their own conscious decisions, he didn't have anything left to do.
But, beyond his expectations, he found a connection that made him curious about its outcome.
"Did you see this too?"
Orion's words broke the silence between them.
They both gazed into the distance with seemingly no aim, but they were looking at the same place.
"I did not."
The Ancient Sovereign said three simple words, but they meant far more than anyone could imagine.
Orion was dazed by the words he had never heard his eldest sibling say.
"Has there ever been a case before?" He asked dubiously.
"Not even once."
"Wow…"
Orion shook his head in wonder.
"What do you see in that boy?"
He was curious.
He swore loyalty to that man so he could find out more about the Void. He didn't directly contribute, but Damien's presence, power, and connection with Iris were the reason he eventually met the Ancient Sovereign again, who finally told him everything he wished to know about their origins.
And as Damien grew stronger and grew closer to his granddaughter, Orion became more and more curious about him.
He kept doing astonishing things. The greater his state of existence grew, the more impossible Damien's existence seemed.
So he was extremely curious about what the Ancient Sovereign, who possessed sight like no other, saw him.
"..."
The Ancient Sovereign remained quiet for a moment, as if even he had to ponder to find a proper answer to the question.
"At first, there was light…" he began.
"I saw light beyond light and darkness beyond darkness. As they combined in a single form, I saw a man unlike any other, a man with the breath of our Mother."
He spoke without the usual term of address and flow he carried, which caught Orion by surprise.
The Ancient Sovereign himself was a being of strangeness. Even when he was speaking as clearly as possible, his words were twisted in an air of confusion.
"I saw his past, and I saw his present. I saw him grow closer to another, yet move farther away. He became an existence beyond existence while still contained in his mortal shell…"
"...however, you have never been able to see his future."
Orion finished his words, and the Ancient Sovereign nodded in confirmation.
"There is no past, present, or future in that child's life unless he chooses to define them. The future he sees is not a future at all, it is an inevitability, yet also an impossibility. The path he will walk to reach that place, and the path he will take once he arrives…"
The Ancient Sovereign smiled slightly.
"I am excited to observe it."
"Hmm…"
Orion scratched his head awkwardly.
"I still do not quite understand, but it seems he is much greater than expected?"
"No," the Ancient Sovereign cut in.
"Rather, he is much more simple than you make him seem."
Damien was a normal man.
His ambitions weren't so grand as to be considered grand, and his thoughts weren't complex enough to be considered deep.
Yet, in the midst of his simplicity was an implicit complexity that an average being couldn't understand.
"One might say it is Mother's influence that complicates his simple existence, but it is not so."
Damien himself was a contradictory being in ways that he himself didn't understand yet.
A lull of silence fell between the two men as they were entrenched in their own thoughts.
Their conversation went nowhere, and in essence, they merely reiterated things that had been said countless times already.
But they were not ordinary beings. An ordinary conversation with them held immense value.
The Ancient Sovereign couldn't see his future, not because of the Void, but because of Damien himself.
He, who knew all the secrets of the universe, found something he could not see.
And that made him curious beyond curiosity.
"He will go up soon, right?"
"Yes, there is no question about it."
"Then…"
"...he will meet them."
"For better or for worse?"
"..."
Orion smiled wryly.
"Right, there's no answer to that, is there?"
He couldn't do anything but watch.
He wanted to know more than anything else where that journey would lead, but after this event…
Damien had become an anomaly even by their standards.
He achieved something in Cosmic Rebirth that he logically should have only achieved when he was establishing his Godhood.
So where would his path take him from here?
Whether it be his father, Dante Void, or their mother, the Void itself, the paths they'd laid for him were completely torn asunder as he walked them.
Instead of following what they set up for him and easily climbing to strength, he followed his own path without hesitation and became indomitable.
Even for them, existences who'd lived for countless eons, he was an inspiration.
Orion sighed.
"Your life is truly miserable, elder brother."
He couldn't stand this.
He couldn't stand being a mere observer.
But the Ancient Sovereign just shook his head.
"Rather, there is no life This One would rather lead. As a wise young child stated prior, the cosmos needs an observer. Is there any role more important than this?"
The two fell into silence once more.
Their roles…they knew them well.
So as they gazed into the horizon, where a certain anomalous child was meeting his first great enemy after ascension, they shared the same question.
That child…
What was his role?
Did he even have one from the start?
And if he did…
Would he truly follow it, or would he tear down destiny in favor of his own desires?
It was a scene nobody in the entire cosmos had been able to witness until this day.
As observers recording its procession with their existence, they were the first.
They couldn't wait to see what he would show them.
***
It was a plain like every other, with nothing too special setting it apart.
Two beings stood there alone. All other parties in the vicinity gathered in the distance, millions of kilometers away, and watched with bated breaths as they confronted each other.
As Damien walked up and laid his eyes on that man for the first time, that man also turned to look at him.
"Boy…"
His voice was low, but carried malevolence that couldn't be replicated.
A wide and ruthless grin spread across his face, painting the air with madness as his eyes widened in excitement.
He opened his mouth and infused his breath with Divine Energy, roaring out as his body trembled from intense emotion.
"...YOU HAVE FINALLY COME!"
Damien and the Inhuman Emperor finally met.
And instantly, their battle began!
