As the realization settled in, Damien's mind entered a completely different state of existence.
The painting of reality before him unraveled into its true form, and Damien, for the first time, saw what someone like the Ancient Sovereign saw.
The past, present, and future were meaningless. They were merely a single entity with no true distinction between them.
The lives of so many people overlapped and intertwined that it seemed impossible to single out any one person from the picture, and the laws that upheld the fabric of reality formed the spherical container in which the painting was housed.
It was amazing. Every process and mechanism that allowed reality to function was present before him, and he felt like if he just reached for it a little bit…
'...I can change it.'
Damien was baffled by his position.
He didn't think he could return to the universe like this, but if he had the capability to alter reality even in the slightest…
He had to try it out.
His perception slowly became accustomed to this new view of space and time. As it did, he focused in on various sights, finally becoming aware of the happenings of the recent past and present.
He saw them.
He saw Rose, Ruyue, and Elena from the point just moments after his death to the current day. He saw how they drowned themselves in the delusion that he was still alive and fought on the frontlines to lead the universe to victory against the Nox.
He felt their pain viscerally, and he almost couldn't stop the tears from streaming down his face.
It had been decades since they last saw each other.
Just how much pain did they have to endure?
Rose, Ruyue, and Elena rapidly ascended the ranks of the nine revolutions and reached the Supreme level within five years.
After that, they became the figureheads that led the entire army. With Luciel acting from the back line to support them, they were able to attain victory after victory, corralling the Nox in the universe so they could make sure not a single one survived.
That much was consistent no matter what part of the painting Damien looked at.
But…
'There's more.'
There wasn't just the one timeline.
He saw a myriad of potential pasts and presents, as well as the potential futures resulting from them.
He saw the entire universe shatter, he saw everyone except those with the Void's protection die, he saw how even with their advantages, the universe lost everything.
In contrast, there were other timelines where the universe was able to solve everything with minimal causalities and damages as if the heavens themselves were aiding their rise.
Which timeline was true and which was false wasn't easily discernible.
No, rather, they were all true to an extent. Besides a few factors that remained constant, each of them branched on their own paths as designated by fate.
Damien frowned.
As long as he was in the Void, all of these timelines were absolutely true, and he couldn't choose which one would be reality when he returned.
'Then…'
His eyes hardened.
'I know what I need to do.'
Damien tested it on some factors that didn't have any worth, such as the lives of a few street thugs and dead worlds without life.
He realized that he had the power to alter their fates, albeit only to an extent.
'However, I can't directly intervene.'
He was an outsider looking in.
He was nothing more than an "observer."
'Now I understand why the Ancient Sovereign is the way he is.'
Damien perused the various timelines to find a starting point.
He had to choose one that wouldn't completely ruin the universe's causality while also not choosing one that was too tragic to save at all.
As he looked over them, he allowed his instincts to show him the timeline in which he was currently residing, the one he would've experienced after leaving the Ancient Battlefield.
'Found it.'
Iris and Tiamat were a perfect anchor point. There was only a single timeline where they returned to Grand Heavens Boundary together and had Damien's influence radiating from their bodies.
Damien took a moment to look over this timeline.
There were countless deaths.
Lucifer died, Atticus and Aishia died, Fallen Star Holy Land collapsed, Tephit died, Luxurion was lost, several members of the Judgement Order fell, Priscilla Adelaire died, Rose became the inheritor of the Demon Sealing Pantheon, and the universe was forced to sustain several setbacks for the sake of victory.
However, they did experience boons as well.
These were mainly due to Yong An's presence.
He seemed to have recruited a great deal of Nox to his side, and along with them, Qing Tan and Huo Fang, two people Damien had practically forgotten about by now.
When he combined his forces with the Judgement Order and cooperated with them to take down the main players of the Nox side, countless victories were taken with minimal sacrifices.
Overall, it was an even war.
It was just the right playing field for Damien to start interfering in.
Unfortunately, he couldn't do it with his own hands, so…
'Now that I've finally become a Divinity, isn't it time to do this properly?'
He was a bit excited. He'd been wanting to do this for a very long time, and he always had plans to do it differently from most.
Looking at the current timeline, he scrolled with his eyes until he found the coordinate he desired.
'With this much time, it should be possible. All I need now…'
His senses honed in on a single world amongst the hundreds of thousands that inhabited the Divine Realm.
It was a smaller world without much development in terms of power structure, but it was more than enough of a foundation to eventually grow into something great if it didn't encounter setbacks.
In that world, there was a certain family that didn't stand out too much.
They were commoners fated to give birth to a stillborn son. They would succeed in having a child roughly a decade later, but the trauma of losing their first son deeply impacted them.
They lived a relatively simple life, a normal life with their daughter, and their family line continued in the same ordinary way.
However, all of that was soon to change.
Damien focused on that day, when their son was supposed to be born.
'It is time for you to wake up…'
From the Void, he split off a large piece of his soul, sealed its memories, and sent it into reality.
It traveled through the fabrics of existence, through space and time, and through every boundary protecting reality from the Void, until it reached that child and took its place in his previously soulless body.
A breath of life was born into a child that was fated to die upon birth.
That child would grow normally for the developing years of his life, but once the memories sealed in his soul were awakened…
…only then would he show his true potential.
Damien smiled as he watched.
He could see the entire life of that piece of his soul at once from his position, but he chose to stay focused on the soul fragment's present for the sake of novelty,
Because he wanted to see how it evolved.
Until the day it could receive its orders and execute the role it was born for…
'...grow well, my Avatar.'
