Leon's body began changing immediately after he took the pill.
His shoulders broadened, his height grew by almost two feet, and his skin turned a charred black color. His blood vessels crystallized and broke through the frame of his body, manifesting as red magma-like lines on the surface of his skin.
"AHHHHH!" Leon roared. The pain he felt as he transformed was intense. Rampaging mana filled his body and entered the mysterious pocket within, enhancing even his base abilities by a large portion.
This type of pill could only be created by a Demigod. After all, it forcefully raised the level of one's soul as well as their body.
Leon opened his eyes a mere second later. Their previous color was gone, replaced by the bloody color that overtook the rest of his body. Just by looking at his figure, one could easily guess the type of burden he placed on himself.
But even after taking the pill, he didn't immediately move. Leon stayed in place and spread his awareness, feeling the space around him and trying to understand it.
"HERE!"
His fist punched out with immense force. Reddish-silver spatial mana surrounded his fist, impacting a gashed portion of space left by Bladeless and shattering it.
This wasn't a shattering of space, but a shattering of Damien's spatial mana that allowed the gash to continue existing.
The soul was a strange thing that was completely incomprehensible to those without Divinity. It was a container and a basis of life, claiming its place as the most important part of a sentient being.
And when the soul grew in capability, it wasn't just abilities that got strengthened, but comprehension as well.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Leon's fists were like a flurry of light as they punched out thousands of times every second. The reddish-silver spatial mana around his body became more and more pronounced with every second.
As for Damien who Leon was supposed to be fighting, he didn't even consider moving in for a killing blow.
A smile surfaced on his face. 'This crazy fucker. Doesn't he know he's going to cripple himself by doing that? Well, I can't say I don't admire his passion.'
As it turned out, Damien was wrong about Leon. The King Bracket Overlord wasn't some weak-minded fool who caved to the pressure of those major influences.
Instead, he was an insane person, an insane genius who knew how to bide his time and wait.
When he was strong enough, he would show everyone what it meant to be powerful, and he wouldn't need anyone's help to do it.
Leon was exactly the type of genius Damien admired the most. He was willing to sacrifice even himself to grow while also having the mind to not act prematurely.
'Unfortunately, I'm not as patient as you. But if you're going to such lengths for the sake of growth, I can't look down on you, can I?'
Damien suddenly paused his attack. Leon didn't have too much time left in this state, and something as basic as Bladeless wouldn't do anything for his growth.
It was better to show him something more intrinsic.
'Restructure.'
'Conceal.'
'Expand.'
Spacetime Essence swirled around Damien's body and spread through the Space-Time River Domain. Suddenly, the warped domain began to change.
The earth that had been completely destroyed by Worldbreaker repaired itself, the debris in the air moving in reverse as it returned to its rightful place. The skies unbent and returned to normal as well, with Damien's spatial confusion being removed from the atmosphere.
At the same time, countless Dimensional Cages formed on top of each other and created a completely isolated dimension from the Real Plane.
Space seemingly returned to normal. The two fighters suddenly disappeared from the arena, and at the same time, the arena returned to its unblemished state.
It was like the ongoing battle never took place at all.
And this change happened in an instant.
Many couldn't process it.
As the crowd tried to understand what was happening, Damien's mana continued to move and execute his commands.
The Dimensional Cage expanded into a Plane of its own. Here, Damien was free to use his power as he pleased.
'Compress.'
'Burst.'
'Rupture.'
In front of Leon's confused eyes, the space around him compressed to a point, looking like a small sun emitting beams as it tried to stay connected to reality.
The sun exploded. Space and time were thrown into chaos as the Void swallowed all things. Five Dimensional Cages collapsed at once, slightly exposing the Plane to the outside world.
But Damien fixed that issue immediately.
At the same time, the space that was being consumed by the void ruptured and formed a gash thousands of kilometers long. Rending space and time, nearly tearing apart the fabric of reality.
"Without the presence of space, how could life exist? Without the presence of space, where would time flow? Without the presence of space, how can reality manifest?" Damien spoke.
Leon looked at him in wonder. His power…truly couldn't accomplish anything close to this.
"Space is an extremely powerful force. Controlling it means controlling the universe. Look past the conventional boundaries placed upon the element by fools who know no better and allow your mind to truly connect with space. Only through this will you be able to advance past 4th class and step into the realm of Divinity."
Damien spoke with surety. Even if he was further from Divinity than Leon, he'd been in contact with the Divine far more frequently.
In fact, he'd even devoured a Demigod.
The Fifth Primal Sovereign's essence was wasted as it protected Damien on his journey through the Abyssal Corridor, but the Space Beast's memories were still fresh in his head even a year after the battle.
He couldn't comprehend most of the mysteries present in those memories, but he devoured anything he could.
Not only did his intrinsic control of space increase to the point where he was almost like a Space Beast himself in the way space actively moved to aid him, but he also gained a small understanding of what Divinity truly meant.
It wasn't just a rank-up, and it wasn't just a matter of "shedding the mortal coil."
Achieving Divinity was a complete restructuring of one's being, a change that surpassed all others.
Looking at Leon, Damien could feel the talent the genius had. He wasn't at a level where he could interfere with the dimension, but he definitely had more untapped potential that couldn't manifest due to his circumstances.
Now that Damien was here, how could he allow that situation to continue?
He would never forsake a fellow spatial practitioner who was worthy of his respect.
"Come. Ignore everything else and meet my Space Laws with yours. We'll see how much you can gain."
Leon's dazed expression shifted immediately. A fiery light converged in his eyes. Reddish-silver spatial mana flared around his body.
"Yes!"
He burst forth with unholy speed. The mana around his body shifted gradually from what it was at the start of the battle.
He could see Damien's intentions clearly now, and he had no plans to waste this opportunity.
Perhaps he'd be crippled after this battle, perhaps he'd never be able to improve again…
But before he reached that point, he'd reach a level that he could've never imagined before today!
