'Hmm…that's an unexpected aura.'
As Damien stood, watching Grand Duke Lance burn, he sensed someone approaching at a rapid pace. They were obviously headed for him, and they were more than just familiar.
'Malevalon…he wasn't supposed to be anywhere close to here. How did he reach so fast?'
It was truly curious, but Damien didn't spent time thinking about it.
'That's my father's greatest enemy, and a guy who caused me a lot of pain too.'
Malevalon fled to the Sacred Abyss Universe because he gave up on the Heavenly World, but he likely never expected that Damien would bring the fight to him.
'And now that I've used something like that, he can't hold back.'
Despite all of Damien's alteration, the energy bomb that was currently erupting was still Malefice's work. It contained his Legends, and completely hid Damien's interference as if to tell people that this was exclusively Malefice's work.
That was a clever lie for another purpose, but it seemed like it had inadvertently become bait that led a big fish over.
'Malevalon is…'
In terms of power, Grand Duke Lance definitely didn't match up to Malevalon. Famas had a similar power level, but Famas ended up dead because he was being stupid. Malevalon wouldn't be the same.
He was cold and calculating. He never made an emotional move.
Even now, as Damien felt his rage and desire for vengeance in the approaching aura, he didn't believe that Malevalon was actually trying to get revenge for his brother's death.
'He's here because of a personal vendetta. Since he remembers me by my strength last time…'
Damien's eyes narrowed.
'...I'm just an easy target to him.'
Unfortunately, Malevalon would have to be disappointed.
'It won't end the same way.'
He'd said it before, hadn't he?
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})Perhaps it wouldn't be a clean fight, but if someone put him up against a Supreme God, he wasn't necessarily going to lose.
It was worth the risk.
Especially since Damien also wanted to settle the score with Malevalon.
If it wasn't for him leading the traitorous forces in the Heavenly World to chase Dante, going so far as to interfere in the lower universe just to catch him, then Damien's life story would have been completely different.
At the top of it all was, of course, the Dark God, but right under him, the person with the most fault was Malevalon Straea.
For his own revenge and his father's, Damien left Grand Duke Lance behind.
His body flashed away, and when it appeared next, he was already above Malevalon.
His hand was in the sky, and malakh raged in the atmosphere, creating massive energy clouds in the sky that sparked with electricity.
BOOOOOOOOOM!
Malevalon was given a fraction of a second to process the situation and respond. It wasn't much, but it was barely enough for him.
A lightning bolt of pure energy came down from the heavens and tried to strike him, but he managed to narrowly dodge by taking a few wobbly steps to the side.
He glanced up and saw his attacker for the first time.
"I was just about to come find you."
He didn't respond in surprise. He kept that same robotic demeanor as he pushed his own hands into the atmosphere, summoning his energy.
VOOM!
Malevalon's energy was weaker than normal right now. He had begun the process of converting his mana to malakh when he first came to this realm, but he didn't have enough time to both covert his energy and regain control over it before Damien started causing a scene.
Malevalon didn't quite use malakh, and he didn't quite use mana either. His energy was somewhere between the two, but unlike Damien, who could bring them into harmony, Malevalon had to cope with the constant repellent force they exerted on each other.
Nevertheless, he fought as if he didn't have any problems whatsoever, simply refusing to believe that Damien could match him even with these negative conditions.
As Malevalon moved his arms, three balls of the mana-malakh mixture formulated, shooting towards Damien on separate paths.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})'That one's a physical attacks…'
Damien pushed his hand out, using Creation to manifest multiple layers of stone in front of him.
BANG!
One of the balls slammed against the physical barrier, exploding it into pieces. Meanwhile, the other two pushed forward as if the barriers didn't exist.
'That one's a soul attack…'
Damien didn't have to do anything to block that one.
His Void Soul, what could a mere soul attack do to it? It was created so that even the Void itself couldn't destroy it, so wouldn't it be a bit embarrassing if it showed weakness here?
VOOM!
A pulse of energy was released from Damien's body without his prompting. It phased through all material things, but as it came in contact with the balls, another one shattered instantly.
The third was approaching at a rate Damien couldn't block, but he really didn't care.
'And that one…'
It slammed into his head.
'...is a mind attack.'
Needless to say, it instantly collapsed against Damien's impenetrable mental barrier.
"Valiant effort, but it's not enough," Damien mocked, looking at the Straea below him.
Malevalon stepped back slightly. He had a look in his eyes as if he was reevaluating things.
'My strength doesn't make sense to him.'
Damien understood what that look meant. Malevalon was completely overturning the preconceived notions he had about his enemy.
'It's not his fault, though. My strength doesn't make sense to me either.'
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})Damien smiled.
'Either way, he's done.'
Maybe the regular Malevalon could've put up a fight, but this one…?
BOOM!
Damien pushed his leg down, putting pressure on the air. It collapsed under him as a wave of chaos was spread through it, infecting the environment.
Malevalon was caught in it, and immediate he felt his senses blur. His vision turned hazier just slightly, and his other physical senses suffered similar tiny adjustments that could lead to terrible consequences.
His perceptive range was strange. It wasn't a perfect circle anymore. In some places, his perception would extend for several hundreds of millions of kilometers, while in other places, he couldn't see five feet in front of him.
Whether mana, malakh, or a strange combination of both, all energy turned chaotic under the pressure wave, rebelling against its users.
Damien didn't really understand until recently. Obtaining chaos was the biggest step he'd taken towards becoming Absolute thus far.
Nothing could ignore chaos. Whether it was a common bug or a Supreme God, if afflicted with chaos, they would become its prey.
The concept was inverse to order, but it had far more strength in the universe, since it needed to be incredibly strong to properly influence such an ordered cosmos.
Supreme Gods were scary. Even as he currently was, Damien wasn't confident enough to haphazardly challenge them.
However…
Maybe Malevalon Straea knew it better than anyone else.
The current Damien wasn't someone whose body would break from just a touch of his aura.
No, that boy from a few years ago had grown into an even greater monster.
And even if he was arrogant, even if he wholeheartedly believed in his strength…
…even Malevalon was forced to admit that Damien wasn't an enemy he could take casually anymore.
No, he was now someone with the power to kill him.
He was a real enemy, and at the same time, an equal.
This man who, astonishingly, still had the aura of a Demigod…
was a bonafide Supreme God himself!
