When Damien's body resurfaced in the starry sky, he immediately locked space around him and formed a Dimensional Cage to isolate his party from the chaotic Spatial Essence around them.
While his first thought was to find Tian Yang's group and do the same to lighten his burden, Damien's steps halted almost the second he tried to do so.
"L-look…" a member of the Moon Squadron pointed to the unnamed world, his voice shaking fiercely.
As Damien turned his attention, he witnessed a scene unlike any other.
The world was crumbling.
The atmosphere collapsed, the world's gravity collapsing along with it. The foundational laws that allowed it to remain sturdy for an unknown amount of time were no longer there to provide support.
Massive chunks of debris spanning the length of several cities flew into the void wantonly. The human architecture present on the surface was sundered into oblivion.
At the same time, countless lives were taken. Their screams formed a crescendo that made Damien feel like he could hear their sorrow from hundreds of thousands of kilometers away.
Seeing the massive chunks of human meat that floated through the void along with the debris, he was utterly dumbfounded. He couldn't believe that such a tragedy appeared out of nowhere, completely unprovoked.
But he couldn't stay still. He had to at least keep the people that were saved alive.
His awareness spread. Starlight rained down on him from the surrounding space, enhancing his perception.
In the starry sky, Damien was at his extreme peak.
Luckily, it wasn't hard to find Tian Yang's group. They were quite conspicuous.
Spatial mana raged. In the next moment, Damien's group arrived on flat ground in the midst of a massive city filled with people. The scene was chaotic as the existing denizens attempted to sort their new comrades into various shelters; the surface didn't have nearly enough space to accommodate them all.
This city was none other than Avalon.
"Lynn, you fucking genius…" Damien muttered under his breath.
Logically speaking, the next step after building a floating city was obviously to give it the capability for interspatial travel, but this wasn't an easy thing to implement at all.
For Avalon to have such fierce barriers and abilities, it was clear that Lynn had been planning to explore the vastness of the starry sky far before this calamity appeared.
Only, she probably didn't expect its first test flight to be due to the unnamed world's destruction.
Still, there was no time to rest.
After Damien dropped off his baggage, he first used his soul connection with Ruyue to locate her. After affirming that she and Rose were present in Avalon, he directly left the city's barrier.
The scene of the unnamed world's destruction became clear to him again.
He teleported. He teleported as far away from Avalon as he could possibly get.
He had a faint premonition that…
The destruction of a world was impossible for him to describe. He couldn't possibly put the scene he saw into words, or even fully comprehend it in his mind.
While he watched on…
BOOOM!
A change took place.
So far, it was only the world's outer layer that was collapsing. While it was a terrifying scene, it was still only the start of its destruction.
But at that moment, a portion of the world thousands of kilometers in diameter exploded in a pillar of magma and debris. Faintly within the flames, the visage of a claw could be seen.
"T-that is…" Damien unknowingly stuttered. The appendage he saw alone was enough to crush the 3000 Beast Mountain Range with a tap.
Yet, that was only the first.
BOOOOOOOOM!
Another claw ripped apart the world. It was clear that the being they were attached to didn't want to wait for the world to finish its slow collapse.
The various layers of the planet cracked and shattered, spouts of magma painting the starry sky red.
At some unknown time, Tian Yang, the Drunken Old Immortal, Albeus, and the other allied Demigods had appeared beside Damien. This group watched solemnly as that being revealed itself.
If they had one thing to be thankful for, it was that this being's massive size made its movements incredibly slow. This was the only reason they were able to escape with everyone they needed to save in time to avoid catastrophic losses.
And at the same time, Tian Yang and the Drunken Old Immortal had used their own methods to call reinforcements.
The speed of a Demigod couldn't be underestimated. To traverse the distance between the Cloud Plane and the unnamed world at their fastest speed, they only needed a few minutes.
And aside from their reinforcements, multiple unknown Demigods appeared as well.
Bai Xieren had long since told Damien that there were other forces aiding in the operation aside from the Cloud Plane. These forces were from the other major worlds of the Human Domain.
The Demigod Ancestors they brought also congregated with the group. Even during the chaotic battle they hadn't appeared, taking a backseat since the conflict didn't involve them at all. But this time, they had no choice but to join the fight.
They couldn't escape, after all.
This being exerted a pressure that even made these Demigods break into cold sweats. It was clearly at the peak of the Demigod realm at the very least. It might even be…
Regardless, it was a calamity for the Human Domain as a whole. If they couldn't defeat it here, then how would they defend against it when it came to their home worlds, where they had nowhere near the same amount of Demigods to aid them?
Besides, even if this being was slow with its precision movements, there was no doubt that each of its steps would allow it to traverse a distance they couldn't even imagine.
Fleeing was pointless.
As two wings large enough to encase the entire world within their span broke free from the earth, they were even more certain of this fact.
VOOOOOOM!
A heaven-shaking fluctuation spread through the unnamed world and the chaotic space surrounding it. With its movement, the collapse of the world became instantaneous.
Extremely massive pieces of debris flew into the starry sky with momentum that could flatten a 4th class with ease. Within the chaos, the hazy outline of that terrifying being was finally revealed.
Its head was elephantine with a far-reaching trunk and tusks larger than any building that previously stood on the world's surface, but it was covered in harrowing draconic scales. It had the body and bat-like wings of a dragon, its 4 legs powerful and clawed like a tiger. As if acting as a cherry on top, its tail was like a scorpion's stinger, ready to lash out and kill anyone it touched in an instant.
Space flowed around this beast like a river, showing extreme familiarity with its presence. It was only when they saw this that Damien's group finally understood this being's race.
It was a Space Beast. Born from the chaotic space and spending their lives within it, Space Beasts were terrifying creatures with untold power. If one was lucky enough to catch them while they were young, killing them wouldn't be a problem. But if they were allowed to grow…
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!
The beast raised its head, letting out a bellow that shook the universe at its foundation.
Finally, it was able to wake up.
Finally, the moment it had been waiting for arrived.
Finally, it could sense that irresistible aura that it had only felt once before.
The beast's eyes opened. They were like miniature moons of their own.
Its pupils were blurred at first, but quickly cleared as they adjusted.
And then, its gaze locked on Damien.
