Damien's instincts.
They had accompanied him since his days in the First Dungeon, constantly improving and aiding him in his path to power.
As he got stronger, he stopped relying on them. He didn't need instinctive reactions when his intentional actions were enough to solve any problem.
However, his instincts still appeared every once in a while.
And every time they appeared, they led him to something amazing.
Sometimes it was in the form of another person, sometimes it was an opportunity he never would've seen coming, and sometimes, it was a guiding hand that helped him manifest his power in the most effective way.
Damien's instincts never had time to help him in the last aspect because he wasn't fighting people who couldn't truly harm him.
The current battle was different.
Perhaps it couldn't kill him, but the homunculus was truly a God. Damien had no way of confirming that it truly didn't have any means to send him to hell.
He'd been thinking for the entire battle. He responded as best as he could, but he never directly tried to take the upper hand, because he couldn't find a way through the homunculus' defense.
Attacking without a target was simply pointless. What Damien did instead was corral the destructive entity and guide it to a place where he could fight it without worry.
After that, he only worked hard enough to keep it there.
Until his instincts appeared to show him the way.
He didn't quite understand what he was doing.
In simple terms, he gathered all his energy into his fists and got ready to release it, but that wasn't nearly enough explanation to do it justice.
The Divine Energy of the Heavenly World, the so-called "Demonic Energy" of the Foreign Races, and Damien's exclusive Void Energy.
These were the forces under his control at the moment.
Each of them functioned differently, and they were absolutely independent forces that couldn't be combined in any way.
Damien had actually tried in the past, but he'd always failed. It seemed as if any time the energies were brought together, they'd repel each other instinctively.
Void Energy was like glue. It had always functioned like that, even when he was a lower existence.
But even Void Energy couldn't glue its compatriots together.
Or, well, that was Damien's assumption after so many failed attempts.
His thoughts were being challenged now.
His burned body didn't have much capability as it focused all its attention on healing, but as Damien continued to gather mana in his hands, something changed.
Divine Energy and Demonic Energy appeared on his left and right respectively.
Despite being inherently different, they were working in the same way. They supported Damien's laws, becoming billowing heaps of mana that split the sky into two halves, one dark blue and the other crimson red.
On the Divine side, Creation, Life, Time, and other concepts related to or stemming from the aforementioned three resided. They created a calm yet ferocious energy, like a dormant volcano waiting for the moment to erupt.
On the Demonic Side was the complete opposite. Destruction, Death, Space, and all other chaotic forces gathered together as one. Unlike the calm of its other half, it was a raging tsunami that annihilated everything in the most destructive way possible.
Damien stood in the sky, the mediator between these two energies.
At this point, he wasn't able to move at all. He was stuck regulating the energy so it didn't become catastrophic for those uninvolved as well.
The homunculus wasn't going to let him go easily either.
Despite its lack of intelligence, it clearly senses the dangerous aura emanating from Damien's body.
It gathered its light spear once again and charged, letting loose a flurry of thousands of attacks.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The homunculus' spear wasn't as easy as it seemed.
To the outside viewer, it was just a product of Light Laws. Even those more informed could only sense the Death Laws lacing its every move.
But there was a problem.
This homunculus was not designed to fight "Damien Void."
It was designed to kill Gods.
This wasn't the true extent of its power.
It only used as much power as necessary based on its assessment of the enemy, but when Damien started gathering so much energy in one place, it totally reevaluated his level.
It started treating him as a genuine threat.
Nothing changed in its appearance. Just like the Divine Order always did, they made sure the homunculus would never appear as anything other than holy in the eyes of others.
However, another force entered its spear, hidden to all but other Gods.
This force wasn't something a Demigod could access. One could say it was the trademark of Gods, the staple of their realm.
It was this force that allowed them to enter the Heavenly God Plane, and it was partly because of this force that their power was so great when their restrictions were lifted.
An Edict.
Edicts were proclamations from the Heavenly Order that acknowledged a God as a True Divinity.
They were above laws and authorities, and while they were usually based on Divinities established during Cosmic Rebirth, they were esoteric and had far more power than anyone could imagine.
Every God could only have one Edict, and that Edict wouldn't change whether they liked it or not. Since Edicts came from the heavens themselves, it was impossible for an unnatural creation like a homunculus to have access to one.
At least, not normally.
But this specimen, along with those created alongside it, was made with a Godly soul to begin with.
Their Edicts didn't get retracted because their egos were gone.
Or did they…?
In any case, since the homunculi were still in development, it was unknown what would happen if they used the Edicts of their past selves, but there hadn't been a problem yet.
Especially not with the homunculus fighting against Damien.
Using an Edict in the real world had several consequences, but the homunculus didn't care.
It deemed Damien a threat worthy of such power, and it used that power without hesitation.
The homunculus shot forward. It had made distance to prepare its next attack, but that distance was closed in an instant.
Meanwhile, Damien's eyes were still closed, his attention focused on the energies under his control.
They created a natural barrier around him that blocked most of the homunculus' prior attacks, but from the aura he was sensing currently, he didn't think that would work anymore.
'I have to focus.'
He had to tame these energies and follow his instincts. He had to figure out what they were telling him to do, and what the path forward was.
Damien sunk into a deep state of comprehension where time hardly passed for him. The homunculus' movements became sluggish in his perception, and the two colorful powers in his hands were made incredibly clear.
He didn't even notice his hands coming closer together until this moment.
But as he did, he finally got a clue.
'If I do something like that…'
A grin appeared on his face.
'I see. It's a loophole.'
He finally understood what he was meant to do.
The concept of harmony, along with Void Energy and rampant Existence Laws, entered the equation once again.
This time, he was ready.
'This time, I'll break through that indestructible body!'
