Of Damien's wives, perhaps Elena had the most muted reaction, surprisingly enough.
It wasn't that she didn't feel happy about the news, but she was probably the one who held the most faith that he was still alive.
She never let go of even a shred of that hope.
Perhaps it was because of her closeness with Life Laws, but she always felt something off about Damien's "death."
Yes, their soul connection with him broke, as did Zara's companion contract, but there were too many clues that Damien still existed somewhere in some form.
Because without the hints of Damien that were spread throughout the universe, Grand Heavens Boundary would have fallen already.
Her sisters also knew this, and she made sure to assure them constantly about it, but what could they do?
10 years was a long time.
The most glaring difference between Elena and the other two was time.
Unlike them, who lived the majority of their lives in a single time flow without much change, she had lived through several time distortions while she journeyed the universe on her own.
She understood just how short ten years could be, and she understood that ten years for them didn't mean ten years elsewhere.
Also, the Valkyrie secret realm where she learned about their race and gained the ability to access Valhalla was completely disconnected from the outside world.
As long as she was there, the people in the outside world would think she was dead, just like what happened to Damien.
It was a bit different, obviously, but Elena didn't know that, nor did she need to. At its base, her beliefs held enough truth for the real truth to be inconsequential.
Still, there was no way to explain this to someone who hadn't experienced it in a way that sounded reasonable.
At most, it would come off as a pathetic excuse, and it might even make Elena look like she was losing her mind.
She did try a few times, but it didn't stick. Rose and Ruyue were still viewing time from the perception of someone with a finite lifespan, while their lifespans were barely qualified to be titled as such anymore.
That didn't say anything about Rose or Ruyue, though. It wasn't like their loyalty or faith was any less than hers, it was just the difference in their experience that set them apart.
So when she saw how happy the two of them were when they learned the hopeful reality that stood before them, she was happy too.
Not only did her sisters find a path out of the darkness, but she could be absolutely certain about her assumptions and move with the same confidence she had when inferring them.
Transcended Death was that kind of law.
When Elena viewed her thoughts as the absolute truth regardless of right or wrong, when she held the power to turn those thoughts into truth even if they were false to begin with, Transcended Death would grow.
The peak of Life Laws that Elena saw was something like that.
It wasn't just to command life, but to force life's presence into places where it couldn't logically exist.
But…the peak of Life, wasn't it a bit lackluster compared to what the others were doing?
Elena had that thought once. She realized that life was merely something that existed within a cage of other concepts and wondered if pursuing its peak would truly bring her to the heights she wanted to see.
She pondered over it, dug deep into her laws, and tried to find a way to overcome the limitations of life.
And she found the answer she desired. She found a way to bring life beyond the boundaries of the fundamental laws.
Even without creation, even without death, even without any sort of support, she would create life. That life would become the root of everything, and thus it would become the origin of all concepts.
It was as if she stepped on a path towards the Void, and while she hadn't realized it yet, she had discovered something mystical in her pursuit of power.
The Void was a concept, but it was also an entity. Despite its existence beyond existence putting it in a position where sentience should've been barred for it, the Void was able to converse with people and make decisions of its own volition.
How was such a thing possible?
Wasn't it somehow connected to the laws of Life, which gave living beings the sentience that allowed them to grow?
It was an extremely mysterious path. It wasn't one anybody had even considered in the past, led alone walked.
With that path supporting her, she naturally grew to great heights that matched her sisters and obtained potential above what her laws could have originally presented her.
Life was an interesting law in many ways, and while Elena would've been extremely useful on the battlefield, Rose gave her another job.
Once the war horn was blown, she, along with Zara and Alea, left the universe entirely and sought out the Abyss.
After meeting with Yong An and his most elite experts. Elena and the Zara-Alea pair combined their power to search the entire Abyss for signs of life.
Their mission was far more non-confrontational than the ongoing war.
They were to find any remnants of the Nox left in the Abyss. If they were willing to join Yong An, they would be subjugated and spared, and if they weren't…
…it didn't need to be said. There was only one fate waiting for them.
Going to the Abyss originally entailed countless dangers and treacherous experiences, but that wasn't the case anymore.
While the three women focused on their jobs, Yong An could use his power over the Abyss to act as a guide.
Its dangers meant nothing to him. His sense of direction was perfect in this chaotic environment, and he had a degree of control over it that nobody else could compare to.
If they encountered some sort of extreme time dilation or dead zone, he could directly dispel it and bring the Abyss back to order.
He could also mobilize those chaotic traits to attack or displace them to utilize for other purposes, but these abilities weren't useful for the current task.
Though, the time dilations were somewhat helpful this time.
The universe's war wouldn't last long. It would at most rage on for a few days before a conclusion was reached.
Those few days in the universe had to amount to several years in the Abyss if Elena and the rest wanted to finish their task in time.
So they did precisely that.
They used the Abyss' traits to their advantage and traveled its entirety. Elena was able to sense the signs of life from countless hundreds of millions of kilometers away, the Zara-Alea pair could support her with their balance of laws and also act as an attack force, and Yong An could do the heavy lifting when it came to recruitment.
Their team makeup was perfect, even a bit over the top for their current goals, but it worked in their favor.
Whether the Nox were Supremes or the most common Classless beings, they could be dealt with all the same.
Both in the universe and outside of it, moves were being made to bring everything to an end.
It was overall positive. Nobody could deny that the universe had the upper hand now.
However, that didn't mean the Nox were willing to just die.
At least, not without taking massive heaps of the universe with them.
