The sudden end of the apocalyptic situation that had overtaken the Wild Continent left all those who were able to witness it in shock.
Other than the 3rd classes, who were still too busy taking care of the mindless Lesser Nox to notice the changes in the battlefield, all others were simply staring at the motionless heavenly vine as it was beaten into nonexistence.
Damien and Zara appeared in this very atmosphere, acting oblivious as they met Galantis at the heavenly vine.
"Young Master!" Galantis greeted when he noticed their approach.
Damien nodded. "How's it going? Any benefits?"
Galantis shook his head with a sigh. "None. It seems that the treasures of this vine have all been coalesced into two different cores. The first is at the peak of the vine, and the second is at the very center of its body. The first is easy to reach, however, the second…"
Galantis trailed off and let his words become vague, but Damien understood his intent. Just as there were some tasks that needed to be left to brute force, some tasks required immense precision.
Galantis could absolutely claw out the second core, but if he did so, just how much raw material would go to waste?
There was no need to even think about it when there was a spatial expert present.
"Then I guess it's time for me to do some work," Damien said with a smile.
He closed his eyes and let his awareness penetrate the dead vine's surface. Instantly, he was met with an incredibly interwoven set of structures, so complicated that a headache struck his mind for merely trying to navigate it.
Damien furrowed his brows and focused his awareness. 'This vine…'
He shook his head and saved his thoughts for when the task was over. Slowly but surely, he unraveled the vine's complex structure, following the traces of aura inlaid within to locate the second core.
'Finally.'
He breathed a sigh of relief as the crimson-red and gold core came into view. And unexpectedly, there was a second surprise next to it.
'Haha, this guy really had bad luck until the end.'
Damien used his spatial mana to wrap around the two objects buried in the center of the vine and carefully displaced them, bringing them into the outside world without a single trace of damage.
Zara's eyes immediately lit up. "Can I?"
"Go right ahead," Damien responded easily. "What else is he good for?"
He tossed Sir Theon's dead body to Zara, who changed into her beast form and began feasting in a way that reminded everyone that she was born a beast.
Damien smiled wryly. Zara had come out of her small seclusion while he was binding the false World Core, awakened by the strong breath of Nox Mana she felt through her connection with him.
And naturally, she woke up hungry.
Damien shook his head and let her be. In the end, this was no different from his own Devour ability, so he couldn't really comment at all.
Instead, he collected the heavenly vine's second core, a clear pouch filled with unknown viscous liquid, and investigated the two treasures in his hands.
The thought he had earlier cemented itself in that moment.
'This heavenly vine is a taboo existence.'
Even in the memories he'd taken from the various ancient Emperors of the Wild Continent, Damien had never seen such an anomalous existence.
'The vine wasn't just able to regenerate from nothing, it was able to absorb people's abilities from their corpses. Such an ability simply isn't possible in the universe's power system.'
Damien knew well what it meant to be an anomalous existence, as there were none as anomalous as him. In fact, even this ability of the heavenly vine was similar to his own Void abilities.
'So it truly comes back to that.'
The fact that this was a Void Corridor, a place outside of the universe's jurisdiction, meant that the restrictions and structure of the universal system didn't exist outside.
Damien's Void abilities, the heavenly vine's abilities, and even the Nox's Demonic Providence were all proof that the Abyss was a place more lawless than any other.
But it also meant that the Abyss was a place of endless opportunity, a place where one could obtain reality-altering power if they could survive.
'The internal core contains all the blood vitality that the heavenly vine collected, which isn't very helpful to me…as for the external core, this liquid seems to be the vine's lifeline. If I devour it, I should be able to enhance my Samsara Intent to a new level.'
Damien grinned. This time's expedition was really fortuitous. It was likely the least amount of work he'd put in thus far in comparison to what he gained.
Nevertheless, there was still one problem.
'How long has it been?'
At first, Damien thought the time dilation was constant at the strange rate he'd heard from Alexandra, but after binding the false World Core, he realized this wasn't true at all.
Rather, the time dilation was always randomly changing at such a subtle and intrinsic level that even Damien couldn't detect it with his current abilities.
Such smooth transitions in dilation that didn't even alert those within was absolutely an ability at the peak of Time Laws.
'Well, I just hope it hasn't been a month.'
Damien looked into the sky.
Until the Void Corridor spit them out, they were stuck here. Now that the greatest trouble had been taken care of, the only thing left to do was…
"HEAVEN'S ARMY!" He roared, his voice amplified by mana so it boomed all across the battlefield.
Countless beings snapped to attention, staring into the sky at the man flanked by the same giant who killed the heavenly vine.
Seeing their eyes on him, Damien opened his mouth to speak.
"Lucas Streem was a traitor!"
His opening sentence cut through the silence, causing countless people's hearts to skip a beat.
"Asuran Gate has betrayed the universe, however, we soldiers of Heaven are not scum of the same feather! Today, we have an opportunity to achieve a great victory and wipe out the Nox forces of several sectors of Eien. If we win this battle, you will all be heroes talked about for many generations to come!"
Damien's continued words caused their blood to boil. Flames of vengeance and determination alit in the eyes of those soldiers on the ground and even the extreme peak masters among them.
"Today, we have defeated the greatest threats! The heavenly vine is destroyed, and the Nox Supreme has become nothing more than dog food!"
Damien directed their attention to Zara absolutely devouring Sir Theon's body.
"Fight! Fight and kill all of our enemies, so we can return to the universe with glory!"
Damien's final roar shook Heaven and Earth.
The Nox who'd just found out that their Supreme was truly no better than dog food lost their opportunity to take initiative.
And as if a rolling tide…
RAAAAAAAAAAH!
The roars of valor spread and infected all Heaven's Army troops present.
The war began once more.
However, this time…
It was nothing more than a one-sided slaughter.
The Nox who lost their leader felt their morality drop by several leagues, and without a central power to guide them, their structure fell apart entirely.
And dealing with a disorganized crowd?
It was truly no different from slaughtering pigs and chickens.
