Giovani's hand flashed out before anyone could react.
He was precise, powerful, and left no room for mistakes.
If everything went according to plan, Rein would've completely died there and the little Demigod next to him would have followed.
However, that "little Demigod" wasn't so little after all.
Damien couldn't react to a God's strike yet, but he was more than capable of reading microexpressions from this distance.
The second Giovani showed signs of hostility, he acted.
He was perfectly on time.
Flash!
A flash of light appeared in the world, blinding Giovani for a moment. The flash soon expanded into a whole explosion as it reacted with the elements in the air.
BOOOOOOOOM!
A cloud of dust rose in the air between Damien and Giovani.
In that moment, multiple things happened.
Firstly, Rein disappeared.
It was far too dangerous to keep his withered body in the Heavenly World for now, so Damien sent him to the Sanctuary where his soul would be cared for by Alexander and his body would be sustained.
Secondly, another person arrived to replace Rein.
Most of those things that happened were caused by him.
Damien didn't have much to do. He didn't have the qualifications to interfere in what came next.
He stepped back, watching as the new man appeared, his sword just inches from Giovani's throat.
Giovani barely blocked with his own sword, but if he had reacted a second too late, his head would've been gone already.
"...Nikolas!" Giovani exclaimed.
"It's been a while, Seventh."
The man named Nikolas spoke with a stoic tone.
"I was curious as to why the Young Lord suddenly summoned me, but it seems you were the reason."
"Young Lord?! Who–"
Giovani's eyes went to Damien immediately, only to see the man waving back with a cheerful smile on his face.
"Giovani, I knew you were a bit special, but I never expected you to turn traitor."
BOOM!
Nikolas pushed strength into his arms, finishing through on the strike Giovani blocked.
Of course, he was parried instantly. Giovani redirected his sword into the ground as he made several steps of distance.
He almost lost because he was caught off guard, but he'd roughly understood the situation by now.
Void Palace's faceless Young Lord had finally appeared, and he came to save Rein while also being fully aware that he was a traitor.
And, instead of coming alone like an idiot, said Young Lord brought the 2nd Sword of Void Palace, Nikolas Faust, with him.
"Since it's come to this…"
It was too late to try anything like justification or fleeing.
Nikolas was known by the title of "Flashpoint Sword God" without reason.
Among Gods, there were barely any who could outmatch him in a bout of speed.
His sword skills obviously didn't need to be mentioned either. He was far better than the likes of Rein or Giovani.
It could be said that he was on a completely different level.
However, Giovani wasn't the same person anymore either.
He'd done a lot of work for the Divine Order in the past few centuries, and over that period of time, they'd rewarded him with several things that helped him increase his strength.
On top of that, he found that as he spilled more blood, the insights he'd gain into his sword path became far more numerous.
He was now traversing a path that suited him, so he made progress faster than ever before.
Even if it was Nikolas, he wouldn't go down easy.
'I don't want to take things to the Heavenly God Plane yet.'
Before that, he needed to find out how his skills fared against the 2nd Sword.
The same 2nd Sword who was currently watching his every move with a placid expression on his face.
At first, Nikolas didn't understand why Damien decided to bring him along.
The request really came out of nowhere.
Damien spent a lot of time getting to know the 6 Swords who were currently in the main palace and understanding them.
For the most part, they'd accepted his lordship and had expressed their sincerity towards him in various ways.
He, in turn, showed them the same sincerity, never belittling their position or trying to force them to work for him against their will.
When he came to Nikolas before leaving the palace, he didn't really specify "why" he needed protection or "where" they were even going.
Still, Nikolas followed along to see what kind of person the Young Lord was outside the palace, and Damien happily allowed him to watch,
From the beginning, Nikolas had been privy to his every movement through screens in the Sanctuary that provided him a real-time view of what was happening in the outside world.
Damien's clash against the homunculus put him on the edge of his seat, and while the imagery cut off for a moment at the end, leaving him no clues to understand how the homunculus ended up dead, he was still thoroughly impressed with Damien's performance.
Regardless of how it died, it was still at the level of a God.
However, even that raised questions.
Why did Damien need him if he was planning to risk himself and face Gods himself?
It turned out that Damien was never arrogant.
He never tried to fight someone who could truly utilize their Godly abilities.
And when the time came, even though that person was once an ally, he ruthlessly pulled the trigger, bringing Nikolas back to the Heavenly World.
In Nikolas' mind, the facts were clear.
The Young Lord was absolutely an amazing candidate for his position, and would make a spectacular Lord when he got the chance. He was a man who could instill hope into the dying palace and bring it the glory it deserved.
As for Giovani? It didn't matter how long they'd known each other.
He was a traitor, so the only thing he deserved was death.
Not a quick one, but one specially curated for filth like himself.
It was amusing to see Giovani try to think his way out of the situation.
In his eyes, the young buck would always be the young buck.
No matter how much he trained in his bullshit bloody slaughter techniques, they wouldn't amount to anything.
The Giovani he knew was a man who reached the limit of his potential and became obsessed with forceful growth through artificial means.
A man like that, even if he gave off an aura like the one Giovani had now, would never be anything worth a cent.
Frankly, this fight was decided from the moment Nikolas appeared. The title of 2nd Sword meant more than Giovani could ever know.
However, Nikolas was a bit skeptical.
Not because he doubted his own abilities, but because the Young Lord seemed to have another crazy idea.
His orders were simple.
"Find a way to lure Giovani into the Heavenly God Plane."
It was easy to accomplish, barely even a task.
But what he said next was…
"Once you do that, the fight will be over. You don't have to waste energy on scum."
Nikolas didn't know what the Young Lord meant, but he was quite interested to find out.
So, without giving Giovani another moment to think his way out of this situation, he attacked.
From that moment, Giovani became nothing more than a puppet.
He was just dancing stupidly on a stage that he had yet to realize had been prepared for him.
