"Ack!"
Damien clutched his head in pain as a wave of fragmented memories rushed into his spiritual world.
Death, destruction, darkness; these three words were the only ones he could use to describe their contents.
'What is this?' He wondered as he tried to organize the messy array of images.
It wasn't just the fact that he'd devoured 100 of them at once, even the memories of each individual were in pieces, never following a singular time flow.
Like shards of glass littered across his spiritual world, the memories remained. But regardless of how he tried, he was unable to find order within them.
'Is something missing?'
When he devoured the Fifth Primal Sovereign, he was shown a great deal of the latter's life. Damien had no way of knowing if he saw everything, but he knew that at least the important parts were covered.
The memories played out like a film back then. He watched from the Fifth Primal Sovereign's perspective while his life unfolded.
The memories of these Nox, however, didn't hold any semblance of similarity, whether in content or form, to those of the deceased Sovereign.
'Let's put them away for now.'
Damien quickly used his own spiritual intent to suppress the chaotic memories and seal them away within his mind.
When he had the opportunity, he could naturally look over them. But for now…
'Is that bastard finally going to show up?'
There was still one enemy left, a mid-level 4th class Nox who was acting as the leader of those he just faced.
But no matter how critical the previous battle became, it didn't show itself at all.
Damien's awareness spread through the city. Before long, he found exactly what he was looking for.
'Heh, trying to run?' He scoffed inwardly.
Mirage appeared in his hand, and without a moment of hesitation, he slammed it into the ground.
'Void Sword Art Sixth Form: Worldbreaker'
BOOOOOOOOM!
Dust and debris flew chaotically into the sky, the surrounding buildings collapsed in a domino fashion as the attack's shockwave spread.
Within seconds, the city was leveled to the ground.
'It's nice to see Worldbreaker's effects outside of the battle arena, but still…I wonder how it'll look at full power?'
Damien naturally held himself back so he didn't ruin the world too much. He couldn't afford for it to be destroyed quite yet.
Nevertheless, he achieved his purpose. With the city now leveled, the small mid-level 4th class Nox was exposed in broad daylight.
"Running with your tail between your legs isn't very leader-like of you, is it?" Damien asked sarcastically after teleporting in front of the being.
"Ah…ah…!"
The Nox whimpered as he backed away. Just a second ago, he'd personally witnessed how Damien slaughtered the other 4th-class Nox.
Just because he was a mid-level 4th class didn't mean he was insanely powerful. It was a given that Damien could kill him just as easily.
Only, his intelligence had completely developed. He knew exactly what was happening.
'I…I need to escape!' He thought in a panic. His eyes darted around, but because Damien collapsed the town, there was nothing he could use as a distraction while he ran.
'Ah, the ground!'
"Thinking about escaping?"
The devil's whisper entered the Nox's ear. Suddenly, he found the ground drifting away from him.
Rather than being lifted into the air, though, he was instead being separated from reality.
"I was wondering why the memories I devoured are so disorganized and fragmented, but there's really no way for me to figure it out. After all, when has there ever been a case where someone devoured a Nox's memories?"
'What is he talking about?'
The mid-level 4th class Nox felt a wave of confusion hit him, along with a certain ominous feeling that he couldn't pinpoint the cause of.
But then, before he could regain himself, Damien's voice appeared right next to his ear.
"So I was thinking: if I have to put the puzzle together on my own regardless, shouldn't I acquire as many pieces as I can first?"
A large hand grabbed the Nox's face. Through the gap in those fingers, the being could see a pair of gleaming purple eyes looking down at him.
"S-spare…m-me…"
"Thank you for the meal."
It was the last sentence he heard. Spacetime Essence transferred into his body from Damien's hand and wrecked his internals. Before he could even writhe in pain, a cloud of black gaseous essence swallowed his body.
'Devour'
Damien licked his lips as he watched the Nox being struggle to escape. The Void's maws entrapped its prey, slowly savoring his taste as it devoured him.
Without suspense, the mid-level Nox died even more pitifully than his underlings.
'Too easy. I guess there's a reason why Theasi is just a peripheral camp.'
Damien dispelled the Dimensional Cage and floated down to the ground. Just as he expected, even the mid-level 4th class Nox's memories were the same.
Because it was only a single target this time, Damien could feel it far more clearly.
'They obviously don't live with broken memories. It feels more like something is forcefully shattering them during the process of transmission. Or maybe…does it happen upon death?'
In the first place, the Nox were a strange species. Despite following the same growth system as every other species, they were able to do things that fundamentally went against the universe's laws.
For one, the way they dissolved upon death.
'In their dissolved state, even if I devour them I don't receive any benefits. Whether it's memories or power, it all vanishes as if the beings were never alive in the first place.'
Yet, the Nox also possessed the miraculous ability to gather together and fuse as one after they died. The puddles of ink that even the Void Physique couldn't find value in would suddenly become priceless limbs and organs for the newly born Nox being.
'Is it truly that? When they die, are they completely broken down into their base components so that the newly born lifeform isn't just an amalgamation of egos? If that's the case, then…'
As Damien was stuck in thought, Zara materialized next to him, bringing the trio of geniuses that accompanied them along as well.
"Damien, are you okay?" She asked quietly, snapping him out of his thoughts.
He smiled back with a reassuring look. "I'm fine, I was just thinking about something. Never mind that, though. How was your hunting?"
"Great! I think I killed around 10,000 before you brought the city down. The rest died as collateral, so I couldn't count them."
"You might've killed more, but I got the big ones. Who's the real winner here?"
"Obviously me. Didn't you say we were competing for most kills? You sabotaged yourself from the beginning."
"Tch."
Damien scoffed, knowing he couldn't argue. He really could've killed a decent number of Lesser Nox before targeting the 4th classes, but he got too absorbed in the prospect of devouring their memories.
'I didn't even get anything good from devouring them either.'
"Alright, fine. You win." He said with a sigh.
"Hmph! I told you from the start!"
While the two playfully bantered, the three behind them were forced into shock once more.
Leveling the city was one thing. Even they could accomplish the same feat as mid-level 4th classes. But the fact that it took less than 5 minutes for the duo to completely obliterate the Nox present within?
That wasn't something any of them could accomplish.
'I see why he wanted to take it alone now…' Tyler thought to himself. Besides the obvious efficiency, it was yet another show of power.
'But this time, it wasn't meant for us.'
Damien definitely knew that their trio had no thoughts of rebelling or disobeying after the incident in the toxic forest. The reason he went so far as leveling the city had to be something else.
'Haa….never mind. I won't be able to understand his actions no matter how hard I think.'
As Tyler resigned himself to ignorance, Damien's voice entered his ears.
"Now that we're done with that, it's your turn. Are you all ready?"
This time, the trio would have to show off their power.
And they had to be sure not to disappoint.
