Bang! Bang! Bang!
The two's battle continued with raging ferocity after that brief respite. However, the battle situation itself was quite different.
In the beginning, Damien was only taking attacks without countering. He focused wholly on defense to keep himself alive under Sebastian's brutal onslaught.
But as time went on, his disposition shifted. He became bolder, wilder, and more reckless. His weapons disappeared from his hands and his fists struck out without fear.
The shattering of their bones rang out constantly.
Yet, it only took an instant after they shattered for the bones to regenerate.
In a situation like this, why would Damien have to worry about injuring them?
He struck out with insane fervor. His fists were like unfeeling machines attached to his body. Sebastian found himself cornered not by Damien's force, but by his madness.
'This human…is insane!'
Sebastian realized long ago that Damien wasn't right in the head, but at this point, even such an evaluation didn't do the young genius justice.
He was utterly mad. There wasn't a single shred of rationality in that outwardly stable mind.
No matter how he got hit, no matter how he got injured, and no matter how close he got to death, he always stood back up with a grin and continued fighting.
In fact, his excitement only grew as he took heavier hits.
'Dark Touch.'
Sebastian's hand struck out like a snake, his finger poking multiple spots on Damien's body.
In the next instant….
Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew!
Whizzing sounds emitted from the young genius' body as his joints collapsed and blood spurted from his pores. Nox Mana penetrated his defenses and began corrupting his Mana Circuits.
"Hahahaha!" Damien laughed wildly.
He could feel it.
With every injury he got, the strange essence populating his mana stream was being further integrated with his body. Not only was his life force increasing, but his durability and power were also doing the same.
'It's a good power, something I need to explore more in the future. Before that, I'll just do what I can through this battle and hold this asshole back until reinforcements arrive!'
Damien grinned. At this point, it had to have been at least 45 minutes.
15 minutes was a long time, but it wasn't nearly as long as the time that had passed.
'And now, I have the qualifications to fight back.'
Perhaps he couldn't kill Sebastian, but living wasn't an issue anymore. Sebastian wouldn't be able to kill Damien as long as Damien's focus didn't waver.
And how could it?
There was nothing present to distract him.
The Vinyard continent was nothing more than a collection of shards in the ocean at this point. The ground below was almost nonexistent, especially after Damien and Sebastian's last clash.
The two stood in the air now, and if they wanted to land on solid ground to fight, they'd need to relocate to another continent entirely.
'I can't allow that to happen.'
The air was Damien's domain. With nothing blocking his range, he could teleport essentially anywhere. As long as he had this advantage, leading Sebastian on was much easier.
'But that guy isn't as dumb as he looks. Actually…dammit, he even looks like a smartass.'
Damien dodged a fist and sent his own punch forward. He teleported in the same instant Sebastian caught the punch and appeared behind the butler, aiming Hel at his head.
BANG!
A loud explosion of spatial mana laced with unknown concepts rang through the air. Space quaked and almost shattered from its impact.
An iridescent blue stream appeared above Damien's head along with the spread of a domain. Space suddenly came under his complete control.
Damien clenched his fist, causing an intense distortion to spread into the surroundings along with an intense spatial confusion.
"Oho, have you decided to use everything in your arsenal?"
"Hah! With your power, you can sense it, right? Someone interesting is on the way."
Sebastian's eyes narrowed. "Indeed they are, but does that affect me? I shall kill you before they can even reach my toes."
"Try it if you can," Damien smirked.
'Lowly Souls…Come.'
Sebastian's eyes suddenly lit up with dim black light. His hands came together to form a string of complex symbols as if performing a summoning ritual.
A pulsation of power spread through the air.
Nox mana danced like beautiful women, slithering through the air and creating a spiderweb that spread to the far reaches of where the Vineyard once stood.
The mana burrowed into the ground and disappeared.
The atmosphere turned silent.
Xiu!
Damien flashed to the right to avoid the terrifyingly fast object that cut by his side.
"Oh? Now this is interesting…"
Sebastian's amused voice brought him back to reality.
Damien's eyes turned cold.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?"
His voice was laced with thick killing intent. The killing intent fumed into the atmosphere and dyed the world red.
BOOOOOOOM!
Reality warped under its weight. A mountain of corpses that reached Calypto's atmosphere appeared like a mirage behind Damien.
"So this is your reverse scale? That's fun to know. Does it hurt to see?"
Sebastian's teasing voice went completely ignored.
Damien's eyes were trained on the figure that just arrived.
Black hair like the dark skies revealed by moonlight at night, golden eyes that shone like beautiful gems above the mortal world, a crescent-shaped mark on the glabella that added a mystical charm to her appearance…
Zara.
Zara was standing next to his enemy submissively.
Her golden eyes gleamed with killing intent. A disgusting aura of blackness swirled around her like a swarm of bees.
'She's been corrupted.'
Damien realized it as soon as he saw her, but this only made him angrier.
"She's quite the specimen. Who would've thought one of our seeds would survive until this era!"
The Soul Summoning spell was meant to summon any Nox Being with lower strength than Sebastian to fight for him as a puppet. When he used it, he expected to see a revived army of millions that would pressure Damien into a quick death.
But instead, he summoned someone else. Someone who'd apparently devoured every Nox in the environment and remained as the last living Nox Being.
She was a specimen that greatly interested Sebastian.
He looked at Zara like she was a precious doll, bringing his hand up to investigate her internals and Mana Circuit.
BANG!
A shot from Hel exploded the space between Sebastian and Zara.
"Don't you dare touch her."
Damien's cold voice rang out again.
He was enraged. He was more furious than he'd ever been.
Although Sebastian didn't say it out loud, his demeanor alone was enough of a tell.
Zara had become his hostage.
Zara had become his puppet.
"Ohoho, little lass, how about you show your worth by killing that human over there?"
Zara's body moved like a machine. Resistance was clear in her eyes, but her body evidently didn't follow her will.
VOOOOOOOOOOOM!
A massive aura burst out of Damien's body. Space swirled into a mess, time lost its flow, and an aura of utter desolation spread across Calypto.
He didn't care.
He didn't care how it happened and he didn't care why it happened.
The second Damien saw Zara standing next to Sebastian…
Something within him snapped.
