Damien's eyes shot open.
His irises reflected brilliant blue and abyssal black, but with every second, the iridescent blue light swallowed the blackness and refused to let it live.
5 minutes had passed, and with the Saint Emperor's unexpected aid, 50% of the World Core had been purified.
There was nothing left for Damien to do.
The reflections faded from his irises, and his consciousness returned to reality.
'I still need to facilitate the process to watch out for changes, but it should be largely autonomous at this point. The Saint Emperor also can't regain control without spending a considerable amount of time tipping the balance again. After all…'
This newly formed World Core wasn't the same as the one that'd been corrupted the first time. This World Core was influenced by Damien, and transitively, the Void.
"Is it finished?"
The words didn't come from Park Jinho, but from the Saint Emperor. The Nox Demigod smilingly looked at Damien with a look of interest coloring his eyes.
Park Jinho looked over curiously as well.
Damien glanced at Park Jinho and nodded.
"It's finished. His power should be significantly weakening with every passing second."
"Aha, that one is true, but it isn't pleasant if you look down on me too much."
The Saint Emperor's demeanor was ever-changing. In a split second, his jovial attitude turned cold.
"It is true that my defeat was decided long ago, and it is also true that my best course of action from this point forward is retreat, however…"
The Saint Emperor raised his arms above his head and began to gather mana.
"Let me leave you a reminder. This retreat was not caused by you, it was not provoked by the measly forces you dare to call Heaven's Army. This retreat was forced by a single man and his ability to alter the very fabric of reality."
The sky turned black.
The sun disappeared from Calypto, and the entire realm was submerged in blackness.
It began to rain.
"I do not particularly enjoy being looked down on. I shall leave you a treat before I leave, a reminder of why I am titled an Emperor."
"You think you can leave as you please?" Park Jinho sneered.
"Do you truly believe you can stop me?"
The Saint Emperor snapped his finger.
The world cracked.
It wasn't a mere expression, it wasn't an action that took a great deal of power to execute.
A mere snap of the finger created a crack that split Calypto into two even halves.
Crack!
Crack! Crack! Crack!
RUMBLE!
Spiderwebs spread from the crack and the structural stability of the world was immediately challenged.
"Fuck!"
Damien cursed as he inserted his consciousness back into the World Core. He pushed Void Mana into the pure blue World Mana and controlled it, using it as a tether to hold the world together.
"Hahaha! You were planning to use this planet well, were you not? An Emperor's possessions…are his alone!"
KA-BOOM!
A crackle of lightning resounded through the world. The torrent of rain pouring from the blackened sky became furious, and even Damien began to feel its effects.
'He is…corrupting the world again.'
Damien's eyes hardened.
This wasn't a corruption that would ever reach the World Core now that the core itself regained its ability to fight.
There was no real benefit to corrupting Claypto a second time.
The Saint Emperor was merely toying with his enemies.
He turned Calypto into a land uninhabitable by any race other than the Nox, he turned it into an infertile land that couldn't birthe or house a single ounce of life.
And there wasn't a single person powerful enough to stop him.
Park Jinho and Damien could only powerlessly watch as the oceans around them turned black and the world was ruined.
'At this rate…'
Damien frowned. At this rate, the entire world would be destroyed, along with everyone on it.
'How would I even stop him…?!'
Frustration set in.
Frustration caused by weakness.
This was absolute power.
Even while limited to the form of a 4th class being, the Saint Emperor could easily waste a planet.
This was the same feeling Damien felt long ago, facing an opponent whose status wasn't much weaker than the Saint Emperor.
Watching a battle where an entire horde of Demigods had to work together to fight a single being instilled the same sense of powerlessness deep into his bones.
The true pinnacle of the universe was still far away.
It wasn't something he could touch yet.
But…
'It's closer than I imagined.'
It burned. The desire to become stronger was almost suffocating.
But this type of suffocation, Damien didn't mind at all.
He watched the Saint Emperor with cold and indifferent eyes.
He engrained every detail of the latter's existence into his mind, from his appearance down to the intricate nuances of his mana.
"Next time we meet, I will destroy you," Damien muttered.
The Saint Emperor looked over with an anticipatory smile on his face. "I truly hope you can live up to those words."
His body floated into the air. The life-or-death arena faded from existence, and the Saint Emperor began moving to exit Calypto's atmosphere.
As always, he was uninhibited.
Damien and Park Jinho watched desolately as he left.
"Should we do something?"
"Even if we want to, can we?"
Damien looked over at the downtrodden Park Jinho.
The spark his eyes once possessed was gone.
"Facing a Demigod in single combat is an eye-opening experience, huh."
"Eye-opening…is definitely one way to put it."
"…"
The duo sat silently.
There was nothing to say.
They saved Calypto…didn't they?
Despite its state, the world was still alive…wasn't it?
But they only felt desolation and disappointment.
The Saint Emperor was like a storm. He appeared, acted without restraint and plunged everything into chaos, then left as if nothing happened.
Damien and Park Jinho had weathered that storm, sure, but as people who'd faced it directly, they understood more than anything the truth behind the situation.
"We were spared."
"He treated us like unruly children."
"What a disgusting feeling."
Battle was an imperative concept in this world. Battle was what drove society to improve, and it was what allowed every individual a chance to ascend to Godhood.
Battle was something that almost every practitioner loved, even if it was to different extents.
But…
That was only when the battle had purpose.
The Saint Emperor's battle against Damien and Park Jinho…?
It was utterly pointless.
It was a show of power and a move to crush the spirits of the enemy.
It was the mere whim of a higher existence.
Damien begrudgingly picked himself up off the floor.
The severed ocean around him was dyed black due to recent events, and acted as an opaque barrier hiding him from the rest of the world.
Haa…
A sigh leaked from his lips.
Mulling over a pointless battle was more pointless than the battle itself.
Trying to rationalize the utterly random whim of a higher existence was more pointless than even that.
Instead, he had to move forward.
Just like he'd always done, he had to move forward while pushing the past behind him.
Next time, his battle with the Saint Emperor wouldn't be pointless, no, it would be the moment the Nox realized just how terrifying of an enemy Damien could be.
Until then…
Damien turned to Park Jinho with a tired smile on his face.
"Since things have come to this, should we do some damage control and salvage what we can?"
Park Jinho looked back at him with the same smile on his face. It seemed he had also realized the same things as Damien.
"Mm," Park Jinho gave a sound of affirmation.
His eyes turned up at the blackened sky.
"After all, the war never ends."
