"Huu…"
Damien took a deep breath.
'Realistically speaking, this is going to go badly, isn't it?'
He had been in the Celestial Prison for a decent amount of time now. This space was great for sitting alone and thinking, and as Damien spent more time here, he realized that it had more benefits than he expected.
In normal cases, this prison was meant to absolutely rob any and every one of their abilities. No matter how they tried to escape, they'd find their mana and strength unable to do anything.
Even if their minds were amazing enough to devise strategies to escape, they wouldn't have the appropriate means to actually test those theories.
Dante was trapped here for an unknown amount of time because he wasn't enough to break the prison's mechanisms.
Still, Dante was able to influence them slightly.
And Damien…Damien was Dante's greatest creation.
He was everything Dante was and more.
In this place where laws were obliterated and mana was devalued, Damien found himself able to "perceive" the world completely differently.
It was actually a great place for him to isolate himself and train.
Unfortunately, even though time was frozen within the prison, it was still flowing outside.
Damien had to leave this place and escape the Northern Region.
He had a plan.
The problem was that his plan was quite reckless.
'It's just that there's no way to do this without being reckless.'
Plus, Damien was never one to shirk away from recklessness.
He found a viable strategy. At least, it was viable for the most part.
'There isn't any better path.'
Malevalon Straea and his goons were not people Damien could escape just because he wanted to.
Since he would be forced to confront them anyway…
'...let's just do our best.'
Damien's eyes narrowed. He glanced around, making sure that there wasn't anything left in this place that he needed to see or do.
'I'll be back later.'
Until then…
'It's time to work.'
"Huu…"
Damien took another deep breath, and as he activated his mana, he focused on the physical manifestation of the Celestial Prison, which he currently had in his hands.
VOOM!
A huge fluctuation of energy burst forth from the construct.
Space and time began to twist around Damien, dragging him out of the Celestial Prison with a suction force that nobody could resist.
Up until this point, everything was normal. Damien would have had to undergo these processes to escape regardless of when or how he tried to do it.
The most important part came in the next few seconds.
Damien's mind was utterly focused on the task.
The second he found himself in the spatial corridor leading back to the Heavenly World, he began to act.
VOOOOOOOOOM!
VOOOOOOOOOM!
VOOOOOOOOOM!
Every few deciseconds, Damien released a pulse of mana filled with the laws of space and time.
The blackness around him, which stirred and swirled with the movements of the spatial layers, was expanded away from him and pushed in all different directions.
The only thing Damien could do now was control his direction of escape.
If he did nothing at all, he'd end up exactly where he left off, facing Malevalon in his study.
However, as he continued to manipulate and stretch the spatial corridor he used to return, his exit point was continuously changing.
Even he didn't know where he'd land.
All he knew was that as long as he continued to throw this corridor into chaos…
'...I'll at least land further away from Malevalon.'
VOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The spatial corridor trembled.
A light appeared at the end of the tunnel.
Whatever Damien had done, it was all he'd be able to do, because his time in the corridor was coming to an end.
He focused his attention on the light, his eyes narrowed and his mana ready to be thrown into use as soon as he needed it.
And that was it.
That was all the time Damien had to affect his return.
So when he finally reached that light and made it out of the other side…
BOOOOOOOOOM!
The world instantly exploded.
Damien swept his arm through the air, using his mana to create a massive shield that isolated him from the world.
RUMBLE!
The shield was struck by copious amounts of mana with four different unique signatures.
The four laws used to attack coalesced into one as they attacked the barrier, doing everything in their power to destroy it.
And eventually, they did.
BANG!
The barrier directly shattered into a million pieces, and another slew of attacks hit the point it was protecting.
Unfortunately for the attackers, Damien was already gone.
'Shit!'
He stood in the air, concealed, and cursed his luck.
'I won't be able to hide for–'
BOOM!
They'd already found him.
The attacks flying towards him right now didn't have any precision ingrained in them. They were just being thrown with the assumption that he'd die if they hit him.
After all, they were thrown with the power of Gods, with the power of Edicts.
Damien gritted his teeth.
'I can't even see my enemies.'
He dodged and weaved through the air, teleporting in every possible direction to add a sense of chaos to his movements.
It was somewhat working. The attacks that were aimed at him rarely got close, and when they did, he was able to barely avoid being struck by them.
However, the problem wasn't with the enemy.
'I can't maneuver my mana properly.'
The second he left the Celestial Prison, he felt it.
'So this was also an effect.'
In case someone actually managed to escape the prison and make it back to the Heavenly World, they'd be unable to escape.
There was a certain energy within their bodies, something otherworldly.
That energy absolutely disagreed with the laws of the Heavenly World, so when someone left the prison and found themselves back in reality…
…they'd also find themselves crippled, unable to use any strength at all.
Damien was obviously not completely crippled, but the energy in his body was also disagreeing with whatever had entered his soul while he was unaware.
He could get rid of it.
He had to.
If he had some peace and quiet, he'd be able to do it in a heartbeat.
But, of course…
BOOOOOOOOOM!
…he didn't have that kind of peace and quiet in the slightest.
'To fight while fixing myself…to escape this fight without encountering Malevalon…'
"Fuck."
Damien cursed to himself.
This would be more annoying than trying to get into the Celestial Prison in the first place.
And the worst part…?
Damien finally got a glimpse of his enemies while he was figuring out his own problems.
A woman, tall and unreasonably skinny, with scales of green covering her entire body.
A man who looked more like a tiger than a human, covered in a massive bloody red aura.
Another man, this one closer in figure to the first woman, but with just as much strength pulsing from his body.
And lastly, another woman. She had a devilish beauty about her, accompanied by a strange pink fog that clouded one's mind and controlled them.
These four, while they were extremely different in every way, had one thing in common.
An absolute loyalty to the Straea Clan.
These were none other than the 4 Evils.
Other than Malevalon Straea…
Right now, they were the last people Damien wanted to see.
