Damien didn't have much left to do in the Sanctuary.
At least, not when it came to tasks that "must be accomplished."
Of course, he wanted to spend more time with his wives, and he could do so with his Avatar, but there was one more important meeting that needed to be had.
He gathered all the important players in the universe.
Whether it was those he knew, or those who rose to power while only knowing "Damien Void" as a sort of spiritual leader of their homeland, they were all summoned to Avalon for one purpose.
Damien stood before them, their number in the tens or even hundreds of thousands.
They all deserved to know.
He told his wives before, and he told Lynn and the rest as well, but these people were also important to the Sanctuary, so he wasn't going to exclude them needlessly.
It was their first time seeing the exalted man who created the Sanctuary. No matter how they felt about him, all of them held a trace of awe and reverence in their hearts for a figure who could accomplish what he had.
And looking back at them, Damien smiled.
"Let me tell you a story," he said.
It was the story about a boy, and a story that led to the current moment they were all experiencing.
And at its end lay a single destination.
Eyes went wide, and mouths dropped to the floor.
Because the news he shared with them, news that was absolutely pivotal for the development of the Sanctuary…
…really was something beyond their imagination.
Someone like him, someone who could casually say such words…
What else could he be if not a god?
***
At the same time, and at a time beyond time…
Damien's main body stood in the Void overlooking all things.
Whether it be the lower universe, which was now a true Abyss, or the Sanctuary, which was blooming further with every passing second, he could see it all.
But he didn't need to watch the Sanctuary. He was already experiencing it firsthand.
The Abyss was more interesting.
There was quite literally nothing there anymore.
All the separated Nox settlements were gone, swallowed by the chaotic laws. Without the Nox to maintain them, they had no protection against their environment.
As for the only true world within the Abyss, Al'Katra, Damien naturally wouldn't leave such a prime location alone.
Al'Katra was now unpopulated, and after Damien used Alexander to clean up all the residual Nox vestiges remaining there, he found that the world was actually a paradise in hiding.
It had the potential to become a grand place with a variety of beautiful environments. Underneath the corrupted soil, and beyond the corrupted World Core, was a foundation with immense potential to house life.
Damien naturally couldn't leave it to rot after seeing this, so he took it into the Sanctuary and gave Elvira specific orders to have the elves purify it over time and bring out said potential.
But still…
'There's really nothing left.'
It was hard to imagine. He was the only one who could see this sight, aside from the Ancient Sovereign, of course, and he could hardly fathom the fact that everything he knew was reduced to this.
'I guess that's the cycle all things follow. Everything comes from the Void, and everything will eventually return to the Void.'
Even now, the Abyss was slowly being devoured by the Void beyond it. There was no use for an Abyss without anything left to inhabit it.
Or rather, was even this a natural process, where after all universes were destroyed, the Void would reclaim its territory to birth a new world?
It was an interesting phenomenon, to say the least, but Damien didn't peer into the future to see it happen.
He didn't know how long he'd been in the Void and he didn't know how long he had left, but there were a few more things he wanted to do before he had to go.
'Promises from the past, curious questions that went unanswered…'
He had the ability to look through the entirety of the universe's history.
He already answered many of the questions he had about the ancient universes that were destroyed by the Nox, and most of his remaining questions were answered through the Saint Emperor's memories as well, but there were a few things he wanted to check.
For instance, someone who'd been buried by the rivers of time.
Bai Yuxuan had a son.
Their relationship began through a promise Damien made to find his son, but once Damien got stronger and the Mana Oath lost the ability to hold him, he didn't really have anything reminding him to keep it.
Throughout the years, he always kept the token of the White Dragon King in his subspace without moving it, but it never reacted as it was supposed to so he eventually forgot about it.
For Damien, it was just forgetting, but for Bai Yuxuan, it was definitely a massive blow.
He probably already accepted that his son was dead, but Damien didn't want to leave it at that.
He couldn't change the past.
He couldn't bind worlds that were fated to be destroyed through the universe's wars, and he couldn't save everyone who was meant to die. Unless they had the Void's interference protecting them, like people he was close to or Heiron, where Alexander was born, they couldn't be saved.
So he knew Bai Yuxuan's son, whom he had no connection with, couldn't be saved either.
Still, he searched space and time to find any trace of a man with Bai Yuxuan's bloodline. He looked far and wide through the entire plane, knowing Bai Yuxuan's history in the wider universes, and eventually found what he was looking for.
A sad smile formed on his face.
'Haa, at least it was a good death.'
Bai Yuxuan's son lived a quiet and happy life in a secluded corner of the Divine Realm. It was the life of a mortal who didn't experience the fears or beauties of the universe, but it was a fulfilling life that ended with him surrounded by many people as he left the world.
That scene was the best closure a father could have.
'I hope the rest isn't so depressing…'
It still saddened Damien that he couldn't create a miracle here, but he had to move on regardless.
He wasn't at the point where anything was possible yet.
But he would be there eventually.
And for that purpose, he couldn't be resigned to his current level.
He searched far and wide, high and low, from the greatest macrocosms to the tiniest microcosms in all existence, and found all the knowledge that could complete his understanding of the lower universe.
He made sure to reach a state where there were no lingering doubts in his heart, and he could take away the lingering doubts in the hearts of his people.
Whether it be the elf race, who he was currently fostering the rebirth of, the Cloud Giants, who were now left as the last remnants of their species, or anyone else, he wanted to make sure they could leave for the Heavenly World without regrets.
Because if the answers couldn't be found in the Sanctuary, they could only be found here, in the place only Damien could see.
He learned of many secrets hidden from him, including the presence of the woman named Yiren, his adoptive sister from the Heavenly World who'd mysteriously disappeared before his return to Grand Heavens Boundary, and when the time came…
The painting of reality disappeared from his sight, replaced by a reflection of his being.
"We finally meet," that version of himself said.
"It is a pleasure to finally speak to you face to face, my reflection."
