Elitra proceeded to tell a story that Demon King Lucius had been reminiscing about only a few days prior.
10,000 years trapped within a secret realm as a tool for the machinations of a higher existence.
The series of unfortunate events that seemed to follow the Demon race as they lived, the vengeance that the Demon King Lucius had been hiding within his heart, and the way the other Demon Kings had indulged themselves in the pleasures provided by the absolute protection of said higher existence.
The more Damien listened, the sterner his expression became. As Elitra had said, the second reason was much more serious than the first.
It was yet another product of the first Great War that the Nox had raged against the universe.
Originally; Damien had thought Apeiron was the first world they had invaded, and that the Nox had been successfully fended off at the sacrifice of Apeiron's most powerful experts. But it seemed he was mistaken.
Many worlds had been invaded or destroyed before the Nox reached Apeiron. The world the Demons lived in was just one of them. And if he thought about the elves in the 3000 Beast Mountain Range, their world must've faced a similar fate.
It wasn't just a matter of universe domination either. From what he was hearing, the Nox were destroying more than they were conquering.
But they had done an excellent job at silencing the victims. Only four demons, five including Elitra, still lived with the knowledge. And they were all slaves to the Nox. As for the elves in the 3000 Beast Mountain Range, they were confined to a location they had no hope of ever leaving.
There was no way either of these two groups would've been able to tell anyone the secrets they carried with them when they escaped extinction. That is, unless something like the Sanctuary existed.
The Sanctuary didn't exist in the Real Plane. That was the main benefit Damien focused on as he created it.
Since the Sanctuary existed within the Void, any connections or restrictions placed in the Real Plane would be lifted when one set foot inside. The laws they would have to follow would instead be decided wholly by Damien.
This was the reason Elitra was able to speak freely about the things her father had told her in the form of stories, as well as the reason she could acknowledge him as her Master.
As for the reason Demon King Lucius was able to tell Elitra about everything, he assumed it was because he was a 4th class. Even if he was just at the beginning of 4th class, he had still obtained acknowledgment from the universe, which allowed him a certain degree of freedom as long as the Nox wasn't directly enforcing its will to stop him.
Damien's brows remained furrowed. The conspiracies related to the Nox were deeply connected to the history of the universe. It was like the Nox were specifically created as an adversary its inhabitants needed to overcome.
Damien's head hurt as he thought about it, but he soon reorganized his thoughts. He needed to think of what he could do in the current moment rather than trying to unravel the entire bigger picture without sufficient strength and information.
'To start, I need to take out the Demon Commanders, or rather the Apostles, as well as the other three Demon Kings. I also need to find a way to bring Demon King Lucius into the Sanctuary so he can be free from his restriction and tell me more about what I need to know.'
There was plenty he needed to do, but he still had roughly 7 months left in the Trial World before he needed to leave. But obviously, the demons weren't his only priority.
'I can invest at most 3 months into the Demons. The rest of the time I need to focus on both healing my soul injury and making use of the Trial World to deepen my comprehension of Time.'
It had been so long since he learned of his blossoming Time affinity, but even after so long it hadn't bloomed. He had received minor sparks of insight every once in a while, but the environment of the Trial World had presented him with a perfect opportunity.
This world was quite literally the first example Damien had seen of Time Laws in action. Even if he couldn't totally awaken his affinity, he'd still make enough progress to where awakening it wouldn't be too far in the future.
He'd have to be an idiot to not capitalize on the opportunity.
'Okay. 3 months to kill 7 others with similar strength to Polius as well as 3 genuine 4th class existences. That's doable, right?'
Truth be told, he wasn't too worried about the Apostles. Their power was borrowed. In a frontal clash, he'd have to take a great deal of time and effort to deal with every single one of them, but he wasn't planning to use a frontal attack.
Using assassination tactics and careful planning, it shouldn't be hard for him to kill the Apostles. Especially since he already knew that their dark material was afraid of Void Essence.
He could capitalize on the moment the dark material froze in fear and kill the Apostles before immediately devouring the dark material so the so-called Demon God wouldn't be able to predict his movements.
It was a solid plan, so much so that Damien was proud of himself for coming up with it. He had never been a schemer and he had never been a tactical thinker. But now, he had finally made use of his intelligence stat that had steadily increased with the rest of his stats.
"Alright."
Finally, he spoke again. Looking down at Elitra's disabled body on the floor, he sighed.
A vial filled with colorless liquid appears in his hand, which he then promptly tossed to Elitra.
"First, drink this. We can do everything else later."
Elitra caught the vial that was flying through the air and drank it without hesitation. Even Damien was surprised.
She just kept proving how committed she actually was to her words. Every small action made Damien further believe she wasn't trying to fool him.
Soon after Elitra finished drinking the liquid in the vial, a strange soothing sensation spread through her body before concentrating on the stumps where her legs used to be.
The essence from the liquid coagulated and began working its magic. The stumps were opened once more, and kneecaps began to form. After them, the rest of Elitra's bones and flesh followed. She soon had a new pair of legs that were as unblemished as they were before Damien had severed them.
"Master!"
Elitra's eyes glowed with silent tears when she realized what had happened. She immediately jumped to her feet. But due to the fact that it was still a new pair of legs, she stumbled.
"Oof."
Damien gently caught her before she could fall to the floor. Elitra wrapped her arms around his waist and rubbed her head against his chest without even stopping to think.
"Master! Master!"
'It seems like this was her intention from the beginning.' Damien thought as his wry smile resurfaced.
Elitra wouldn't leave his embrace no matter how much he tried to tell her to. She still had her mana sealed, so she was no different than a mortal, but Damien couldn't bring himself to push her away.
He knew the glee that came with regaining a lost body part, so he let her vent it before removing himself from her.
Though, he ended up having to back away early when he saw the ravenous look in her eyes. He felt that if he stayed, he would end up losing something he was saving for his reunion with Rose.
When Damien left Elitra's area, he finally decided to go back to the outside world. His sleep had only lasted half an hour at most, and the following visits to Little Xue and Elitra took another hour. The battle should've ended by now.
But when he left the Sanctuary and arrived back at the location where he fought Polius, he was greeted with an unexpected sight.
