Damien noticed it first, but even for him, it took months.
How many months…?
He genuinely wasn't sure.
'The law of time has changed. It's not stable anymore.'
Months, days, weeks, it was hard to tell which one was passing when the day and night cycle ended.
Months had passed since Damien returned to the Celestial Prison. That much was for certain.
But how did these months pass?
He wasn't quite sure. It all happened so fast that it was hard to take reality as reality.
Damien's mind immediately began to race.
At this point, he was still above the western ocean of the Divine Order's territory. He'd only recently sent news back of the Five Gods' death, and he was already receiving news back about the things that happened afterwards.
But wasn't it only a few moments ago that they'd died?
How was time able to move in such a way that the Southwestern Region could be cleared and left for him to take over?
At first, Damien thought it was just him.
He'd just left the Celestial Prison, after all. He'd been subjected to a space unlike any other he'd been to, so if reality warped around him when he left, it made sense.
If it was solely his problem, it was easy to solve. The source of the issue could only be one of a few options, so if Damien isolated and took care of them one by one, he'd find himself back in a stable reality.
But it wasn't only his problem.
Others had experienced similar things, though, not to the same extent as him.
He still didn't know this, but he could infer based on the way events played out that this problem wasn't exclusively related to him.
'What's…happening?'
The realization came just as fast and hard as reality itself when it hit him.
In the first place, where did all of this come from?
Was it the fact that conflict was at a minimum right now?
'The Divine Order subjugation went pretty swimmingly. Even if there was a hiccup at the end, it wasn't much of a hiccup at all.'
That "hiccup" must've felt like the end of the world to those who were its victims, but to Damien, it was really just a drop in the ocean, something without much presence.
It shouldn't have been like that.
'But it just doesn't feel real.'
Damien frowned to himself.
That was the problem. At the very core of everything, that was the answer.
Reality didn't feel real right now.
No, reality was really collapsing, wasn't it?
'I have to check.'
Damien didn't waste time returning to the palace. He descended where he was and controlled the nearby ocean to create an isolated environment to protect him from external forces.
In that place, surrounded by the waters of this realm, Damien delved deep into its systems.
He studied the Heavenly Order. He studied the earth and the people who lived on it.
His mind went into the depths of those ethereal concepts that others could only dream of.
And the laws that governed the world unraveled themselves before his eyes.
The elements were–
'–fine. There's nothing wrong with the most base elements like Fire and Water.'
It was the same for most of the branching laws that were formed as a result of other laws existing, such as illusion or poison.
Life and Death were–
'–just a little skewed. It looks like the average lifespans of all beings will be elongated, but it's also far easier to die an early death.'
The Law of Life was more powerful than usual, which led to the first change. However, the Law of Death was also enhanced, even more so than Life, hence the latter half.
Creation and Destruction–
'–can't be touched by anyone, at least, that's what I think. There aren't any problems with them, so I should be correct.'
But most importantly…
'Space and Time…that's the most concerning disruption.'
Unlike the other foundational laws, which showed only small signs of disruption at most, space and time were completely twisted.
'Their operation looks normal on the outside, to the point where nobody would ever notice the difference in their daily lives. Over time, however, it accumulates.'
For instance, this very moment.
Wasn't it strange?
Wasn't it strange that the armies were able to sweep the Southwestern Region in no more than three months to clear all the explosives planted throughout its lands?
Putting aside the amount of time it took to remove those explosives and put them somewhere secure so they couldn't hurt anyone, just the travel time was far longer than that.
Even if the armies were massive, even if they spread incredibly thin, it should've taken at least a few years to finish doing what they'd done.
Yet, in only three months, the situation had been wrapped up.
'The Heavenly Order…no, the Heavenly World itself in all facets is being affected by something grander.'
It was changing, molding to something other than the other it had relied on for so long.
And for unknown reasons, the first step in that change was Space and Time.
'Do I need to do something about it…?' Damien questioned.
In the first place, what could he do?
'From what I can sense, this isn't necessarily a man-made problem. It wasn't caused by anyone voluntarily.'
If so, was there a need to stop it, or was this a natural progression that the Heavenly World was always bound to make?
'Right now, it's actually somewhat convenient. The annoying things pass fast, which means we can get to the most important battles sooner and with less suffering.'
However, that convenience could very well be a facade hiding something terrible.
Damien really didn't know.
As someone who'd become unreasonably strong in recent days, it had been a long time since he'd felt this way.
'And here I was wanting to run around dominating the battlefield…'
Why was it that every time he found himself superb confidence the cosmos decided to bring down his mood?
'No, if I look at it in another way, isn't it only the cosmos itself that can make me feel this way?'
Damien shook his head and cleared his thoughts.
'For now, the best thing to do is observe and see if anyone else has noticed anything. It won't be too late to act when the problem becomes more concerning.'
He didn't want to make any rash decisions. Especially not when it came to decisions concerning the fate of the cosmos.
'But if this is really something that threatens the existence of this reality…'
Damien's eyes hardened.
'...then I'll make sure to fix it myself, no matter who or what the cause is.'
That was the end of his involvement with the issue for now.
He returned to Void Palace, ready to live his life as he always had.
However, his naivety, his general lack of knowledge on the issue, was truly a concern beyond what he'd expected.
Because the changes in the cosmos weren't simple.
They weren't some small changes, nor were they changes that were meant to take place.
Fixing them wouldn't be a small task even for someone who could completely control Existence.
And the cause…
The cause was the very thing Damien least expected.
