"This time, when you go out to war, there is something I need you to accomplish."
The Director's words served as an affirmation of Damien's previous suspicions. However, there were still a few curious points.
What made the Director choose Damien specifically?
At least in Hidden Death Valley, he hadn't accomplished much. Even if the Emperor Bone Sea expedition was taken into account, Damien's recount of Aquazyl was too vague for it to pique the Director's attention.
'Ah, has this old man been paying attention to me?' Damien suddenly realized. He hadn't been in the Divine Realm for long, but his entrance into the Dimensional Leaderboard wasn't a small one. If Atticus' high evaluation of him was also considered, it wasn't surprising for high-level figures to have their eyes on him.
"You should at least have a vague understanding of my strength. I hope you aren't trying to ask me to change the tides of the war or something." Damien said straightforwardly.
Even if it was a task from a Demigod, an extremely powerful one at that, he still had his boundaries.
"Haha, nothing like that. What, do you think I want to kill off a young genius before he can grow?" The Director responded with the same manner.
"Fair enough. Then, what is it that you want?" Damien asked.
The Director nodded and pulled out a projection device, displaying a wall of holograms in the air showcasing various sceneries and statistics.
"The world you will be deployed to is called Calypto, the Infected Source World of Eden."
The Director waved his hand in the air and switched the order of the holograms, bringing to attention many images of a corrupted and decayed world.
"I assume you already know what an Infected Source World is and understand its significance, so I won't spend too much time explaining it. In reality, Eden's Infected Source World has lost most of its value already since the Sector itself is on the brink of destruction."
"Nevertheless, before the Sector falls completely, we must still protect it. Eden is a gateway into the wider universe. Once Eden is taken, the Nox attacks in the Soul World and Beast Domain will heighten and war will spread further than we can control."
"The goal of your deployment will be to destroy Calypto. If this mission succeeds, we will have far more control over the battlefield in Eden. With Calypto acting as a sort of central command post connecting the Nox forces to Throh where their main base resides, destroying it means effectively severing their chain of command."
Damien furrowed his brows as he looked through the information presented to him. "Even if the chain of command is severed, how much can we benefit? By my understanding, the Nox have already spread their claws into the Soul World and Beast Domain."
"Even aside from that, the mindless Nox beings under 4th class will rampage with or without commands. Rather than having them run wild, wouldn't it be better for us if they maintained the strict formation they have under the Higher Nox's control?"
The Director's brow raised curiously. He didn't expect Damien to know much about the war as he hadn't been exposed to it yet, but surprisingly, the young genius was generally well-informed.
'I guess it's a benefit of being a rogue. Without the shackles of a major organization, he can move however he pleases.' The Director thought.
Soon enough, he continued the conversation and refuted Damien. "The societal structure of the Nox is much more complicated than you think. In fact, while most 3rd class Nox and below are mindless, it's possible for Higher Nox to share a portion of their intelligence with a lower being and use them as an avatar."
"Through this, they can effectively act without having to sacrifice their main bodies. Destroying Calypto holds numerous benefits, and among them is our gaining the ability to find these Nox Avatars and eliminate them, forcing the stronger forces out of hiding and striking them with a critical blow."
Damien sunk into thought. Information about Nox Avatars was new to him. Whether it was Alaric or the Fifth Primal Sovereign, neither had run into this concept before.
But as Damien thought about it more, he realized something. Didn't the first Nox he ever encountered have this ability?
'The Nox trapped in the ancient temple was only a 3rd class. I always thought the purpose of trapping such a weak being was for the sake of introducing the Nox to the younger generation…but maybe it was something greater?'
While its intelligence had decayed from years of solitude and stasis, the Nox he met still had the ability to speak and think properly. What if…that Nox was originally the Avatar of a much stronger being?
If that was so, sealing it made more sense. Killing the Avatar would allow the strand of consciousness sealed within to escape and return to its original owner, and while the death of the Avatar would injure the Nox it was connected to, the effect was something that could easily be healed from over the 10,000 year period that separated the past war and the current one.
If the Avatar was instead sealed, it would mark a permanent loss of that strand of consciousness for the Nox who owned it, thus leading it to be partially crippled for the long period before the war started.
When Damien and his group killed that Nox, the strand of consciousness would've returned to its original owner, injuring it and forcing it to spend time healing in this era rather than the last.
'What a plan…if the original Nox was a supreme powerhouse, Kurt's actions essentially forced it out of the war. We might've saved a portion of the universe without even realizing it.'
Naturally, sealing an Avatar wasn't an easy task. Even Kurt could only seal one at the peak of his power as a Demigod. Killing them, however, was a different story.
And if the Avatars were killed…
"Not only will the chain of command be disrupted, the stronger forces will be harmed without me having to touch them. Even if the mindless lesser Nox beings rampage, the consequences of their actions won't be enough to offset the advantages of going through with this plan." Damien realized.
It wasn't apt to call this move a major blow to the Nox, it would definitely mess with their momentum and trajectory, giving the Army of Heaven some leeway in their actions.
Still, attacking an Infected Source World was incredibly dangerous. While the main base of the Nox was located in Throh, a world over halfway across the Sector, Calypto would still contain a large portion of the Nox's power. There would be no shortage of extreme peak 4th classes present there.
"It's dangerous…but possible," Damien muttered. Turning back to the Director, he asked, "what is my role in this plan? For you to come to me specifically, it must be pretty big."
The Director smiled. He enjoyed watching the wheels in Damien's head turn. It made him appreciate the new generation of geniuses that they were raising, and it helped him reaffirm his determination to run the academy as he'd been doing for countless millennia already.
With a wide grin on his face, he spoke. "If my information isn't wrong, your class is Celestial, no? Naturally, I want you to do as a Celestial should."
"Devastate and conquer."
