Damien's words seemed to precede an attack, but he didn't make any move to do so. Instead, he recalled his aura and plunged his mana into the Dawn World's surface!
This mana, guided by his awareness and Celestial abilities, penetrated the world's barriers and arrived in front of its core with ease.
'You have two choices. You either submit to me, or die.'
Damien's voice resounded in the World Core's space. Unlike his approach when dealing with his previous bound World Cores, he was extremely forceful.
His abilities as a Celestial became far broader after his Baptism. Not only could he utilize starlight to attack and empower himself and use World Force even when apart from his worlds, he also no longer needed mutual consent to bind a world.
However, there was a prerequisite. For Damien to use the forceful approach, he had to be the strongest practitioner present in the world.
In the Dawn World, he easily met this condition.
The World Core had no means to defend itself besides the practitioner residing on the world's surface. If they couldn't kill Damien, what else could it do? He truly had the capabilities to threaten this World Core with extinction.
And the World Core clearly knew this. Even though its spiritual intelligence wasn't as developed as Apeiron or the Cloud Plane, it had enough conscious thought to judge Damien's qualifications based on his actions thus far and read his power level.
No World Core would choose death over survival.
Damien's Celestial Mana Thread easily penetrated the World Core's defenses. A bond was formed without a hitch. This was the convenience that came with great power.
On the surface of the world, Damien felt a sense of euphoria rush over him as every piece of the Dawn World was placed under his control. His eyes shone with brilliant blue starlight as he searched the surface.
"Found it." He said lightly. Under the crowd's stunned and wary gazes, he raised his hand and pressed down.
Rumble!
An earthquake spread through the world. By the time it reached the gate's position, it was negligible, but the impacts it had were anything but.
The Heavenly Jewel Palace Master's face paled. As he traced the origin of the quake, he realized that…it was infinitely similar to the location of his sect!
"Send out a transmission talisman and contact the forces remaining at the sect! Find out what happened right this instant!" He yelled to the disciples behind him. His gaze, however, didn't leave Damien.
The previous events were too coincidental. Damien's hand movements seemed to trigger the earthquake that took place. An ominous feeling crept into the Palace Master's heart as he watched Damien's expression morph into a cold smile.
"Pa-palace Master…the sect is…" a disciple whispered. His hands were shaking as they held a glowing transmission talisman.
The Heavenly Jewel Palace Masted's face twisted. "What did you do?!"
Damien's smile didn't change. "Hm? It's more fun if we go see for ourselves, no?"
With a snap of his fingers, he and the Palace Master vanished from the gate. When they reappeared, they were a few hundred kilometers away from a vast and beautiful mountain range. Spiritual waters flowed freely throughout, the ambient mana far richer than anywhere else in the world. This place was none other than the Heavenly Jewel Palace.
However, in the middle of this immortal scenery was a single extremely prevalent stain. The location that was once the sect's central mountain where the Palace Master resided…
Was collapsed entirely. All that remained in its place was a large pile of rubble.
"Now that you're here, the real fun can begin. After all, I have to thoroughly help you realize the sin you've committed."
Damien's hand pushed down once more. The entire outer ring of mountains collapsed one by one, the inner mountains following soon after. It was a truly apocalyptic scene, one that almost brought the Heavenly Jewel Palace Master to tears.
He wanted to yell out and tell Damien to stop, he wanted to use everything in his power to destroy his enemy, but from the moment his figure vanished from the Gate location, his body has been frozen.
Damien controlled his every action.
"Ah," Damien suddenly said. "Don't think I'm some kind of villain. I haven't harmed your disciples at all. However, I did blow up all their spatial rings. Aside from that, everything I saw that could be considered the sect's foundation and legacy has been destroyed. There's just one more thing to do…"
Bang!
The Heavenly Jewel Palace Master remained frozen as his middle finger was blasted apart. This was naturally caused by the explosion of his spatial ring.
A stream of black mana entered his body immediately after. Slowly but surely, the mana in his body began to disappear.
The Palace Master's eyes dulled. Even when the sect was being destroyed, he was simply saddened. As long as he remained alive and possessed the sect's methods, it could always be revived. But now…
Whether it was his strength or the sect's legacy, both were being destroyed before his eyes.
"You look like you have something to say," Damien commented lightly. "I'll allow it. Say what you want."
"…" the Heavenly Jewel Palace Master was silent for a moment despite his voice being freed. In the end, he could only ask one question.
"…why?"
Damien raised his brow curiously. "What do you mean 'why?' You tried to kill one of my people first. Is my action not justified?"
"SHE KILLED MY SON!" The Palace Master exploded. His revenge on Jiao Mei was just! Even if Damien wanted to get revenge, he didn't have to go to such lengths!
But in response, Damien could only shrug. "And? Do the lives of people you value matter more than the lives of people I value?" He asked.
"What matters in this world is strength, and the reason you're suffering now is because I'm more powerful than you. In truth, I'm the one who killed your son. If I wasn't powerful enough to defend myself and gain others' respect, would I have survived our interaction?"
His words were true of course, but they didn't justify destroying the Heavenly Jewel Sect and its legacies. What the Palace Master wanted to know was something else: since the grudge was between them, why involve the Heavenly Jewel Palace?
But even if Damien understood this, he truly didn't have any way to answer this question. Even he didn't know why his first thought was to target the sect; it was instinctual.
But he didn't feel bad about it. The Heavenly Jewel Palace disciples would be fine as long as they found other sects to be accepted into. The only one who truly suffered was the Palace Master.
To those disciples who looked on at Damien and the Palace Master from below, this day was a rude awakening; a glimpse into what true genius was like.
For some, this would be a mental scar that inhibited their training for the rest of their lives. But for others, this would be motivation to grow and become strong enough to prevent the reenactment of such tragedy.
Only the latter category was worthy of Damien's attention.
Nevertheless, his business at the former Heavenly Jewel Palace ended the moment he crippled its master. With one last look at the destruction he caused, Damien vanished, returning to the gate location.
