The favor Damien called in from the two influences his palace was closest to was simple.
He asked them to help him eradicate the Divine Order.
He didn't say a single word about the Straea Clan. That was his own battle to fight.
The Divine Order was just a small fish in comparison, and Damien didn't mind sharing the meat.
The Veritas Clan was present to provide real battle power, since most of Void Palace's forces against the Divine Order were just there for show.
And the Holy Empire was coming to free the citizens from their brainwashing.
It took Damien a while to figure out how to do so.
They had been brainwashed since birth, so none of them knew life outside of it. To remove them from the Divine Order's control was to leave them without any identity whatsoever.
That wasn't the right solution.
After a lot of research and even more postulating in his mind, Damien created a theory that was basically already tested and proven.
He modified that theory so that it could be used by others, and he gave it to the Holy Empire, since they specialized in, obviously, the more holy elements of the world.
It wasn't an end-all-be-all solution. All it did was remove the Divine Order's direct control over the citizens.
As for their belief in the religion, it wouldn't change. Nor would their daily lives, since it wouldn't be revealed to them that they were brainwashed in the first place.
For the Divine Order, Damien planned not only their extermination, but also their revival.
He would create a religion for the people of the Southwestern Region, a new version of their own religion that didn't exploit them.
For that purpose as well, the Holy Empire was necessary.
Still, that wasn't the entire reason behind the three-pronged assault.
To outsiders, it didn't look like Void Palace was leading this operation.
To them, it looked like the three great clans had formed an alliance for the sole purpose of destroying the Divine Order.
And with the Divine Order so deeply connected with the Straea Clan, naturally, they couldn't act indifferent to these matters.
They had to be wary.
The instant news got out about what was happening, the Straea Clan immediately secured their borders.
They now had to watch out on three sides.
Well, mainly just two.
To the Straea Clan, the rising Void Palace still wasn't enough of a threat to take seriously.
But also because of that, they had to be careful of the alliance in question.
Nevertheless, with the Straea Clan forced to watch themselves from every angle to assure their own safety, Damien gained several holes to exploit.
It was exactly what he expected.
His own part in this operation was quite a bit more important than everyone else's.
It was also the reason most of Void Palace's forces were still hanging back.
They were waiting for his signal.
At the moment, Damien was already in the Northern Region.
He spent the majority of the month of respite he had with his wives.
It wasn't much time at all, but it was at least something.
'But after this, I'll be free to spend a lot more time at home.'
This was a major operation. If everything went according to plan, the Void Palace would have no more enemies remaining in the Heavenly World, which meant this place could truly become secure.
To ensure that said security would become a reality, Damien left them once again after only twenty days, making his way towards the Northern Region.
And after changing his existence into one he'd never used before, Damien was able to enter easily.
The Northern Region, at least before the war began, was the easiest region to gain entry into.
Because the Straea Clan's territory was unique among all the rest in the Heavenly World.
It was called the lawless zone for a reason.
Criminals and people who couldn't find a place in normal society always migrated towards this place.
It was truly a land of evil, where crime ran rampant without any sort of punishment to follow it.
The only rule of the Northern Region was strength. As long as one was strong enough to commit the crime and strong enough to avoid persecution, one could get away with quite literally anything.
This was a land where one couldn't live if one wasn't evil.
This was the land that birthed people who'd go on to work under the Straea Clan and commit such vile deeds that they'd be known as the 4 Evils.
It was actually the most convenient setting Damien could have asked for.
In a place like this, he could act without worries.
The disguise he'd taken on was a battle-hardened man, bald with scars covering his face.
He wore a deep black cloak to hide the rest of his body, but anyone who saw him could tell he was strong.
Even if they couldn't sense his power, they could definitely sense his malevolence.
Damien himself hadn't committed much evil. When he did happen to do something against his morals, he always made sure to right his wrongs and fix his karma as he did in the Sacred Abyss Universe.
However, Damien had devoured the evilest of evils in that cosmos.
It wasn't hard for him to tap into their auras and use them as his own.
As such, he was currently bathed in a bloodthirst that made everyone around him stray away.
The funniest part, though, was the fact that he didn't even stand out.
'This level of bloodthirst is discomforting to the people at the edge of the territory because most of the people here are just passing through.'
'Putting them aside…'
Damien only had one goal in coming here.
The further he got into the region, the more Damien saw people who were bathed in bloodthirst that matched and even sometimes surpassed his own.
'It's insane to see people just walking around like that, but I guess that's what it means to live in a lawless zone.'
It was a badge of honor for them, a survival mechanism as well.
'Putting them aside…'
Damien only had one goal in coming here.
'Infiltrate the Straea Clan.'
He needed to find a way to get in contact with the highest level of the enemy clan.
Because that was where his target was.
As he'd seen in the visions shown to him by his crown.
The one who held the key to his father's prison…
'...is none other than Malevalon Straea.'
The ruler of the Straea Clan, a man that really only existed in rumors…
'...I have to find a way to meet him, and not only that, I have to find a way to snatch the key from under his nose.'
That man was his father's main enemy.
More importantly, he was one of the top strongest people in the entire Heavenly World.
And Damien, as a mere Demigod, had to find a way to fool him.
"This is going to be fun," he mumbled wryly.
At the end of the day, he was the only one who could pull it off.
After all…
'...I guess I just have a very particular set of skills.'
Skills that would become more than just a nightmare for people who stood against him.
