Void Evolution System

Currently, there were far too many people around Damien for him to be comfortable.

The Foreign Nobility had yet to attack, but there was no way Damien would believe they didn't have the intention to.

'They want me dead.'

This, Damien knew for a fact.

He had Duke Horacio's memories. He knew exactly how the Dark God had ordered them to find the "anomaly," and he knew that he was that very anomaly.

Duke Horacio had lived for…well, it wasn't that clear.

His memories were covered in a fog, not because they were locked, but because even Horacio's own existence couldn't particularly remember what it had experienced.

There was something strange happening within the bodies and souls of the Foreign Nobility themselves, but that wasn't something Damien could currently learn the answer to.

All he knew was that Duke Horacio had accompanied the Dark God's forces to raid several cosmos, and that the process of eliminating anomalies was practically streamlined.

'Corner them, eliminate all variables, and destroy without mercy.'

Anomalies weren't always people. Sometimes they were objects with great power or even concepts and laws themselves.

In all cases, the best way to remove anomalies and create room for the Dark God's interference was to isolate them from anything that could help them and force them into a situation where they couldn't resist.

This way, there wouldn't be any risks associated with the moves either.

Damien glanced around.

'Grand Dukes Famas, Klaus, Lance, and Maveth.'

They took each cardinal direction and kept Damien surrounded.

Even they were aware that Viscounts and Counts didn't stand a chance against him. The Dukes could probably contain him properly, but why would they risk it after they already lost Horacio?

Damien's power didn't make sense. When they were facing someone they couldn't understand, their first and only instinct was to make sure that person had no openings to exploit whatsoever.

And they did so perfectly.

Damien stood in the middle of their encirclement and tried to figure out a way out, but with the Existence barrier and his enemies teaming up to keep him contained, there was really nothing he could do.

'Unless I can kill them all and escape…'

It just wasn't possible.

The Grand Dukes were Gods stronger than Claire and Malefice. Damien was at the level of a Duke, sure, but even several Dukes together couldn't fight them.

The established hierarchy among the Foreign Nobility was absolute and unchanging.

'But it's not like I can give up here.'

Letting them have their way simply wasn't an option.

'Then I should just–'

BANG!

"Khhh!"

Damien gritted his teeth and grabbed his wrist, or rather, the stump where his hand was a second ago.

"Don't do anything stupid."

Grand Duke Klaus mocked him with a smile. His arm was still outstretched with two fingers pointed forward.

A mere flick, a motion Damien couldn't sense, was able to instantly destroy a piece of his body.

'They can read me.'

Damien didn't care about his hand. He didn't regrow it, just for safety, but he wasn't too worried about the damage.

What concerned him was the fact that Klaus had sent him a warning shot the instant he had the thought to fight.

"What do you want from me?"

Damien growled, pretending to be uninformed. It was only half an act, since he still couldn't figure out why they were stalling.

"What we want…well, obviously it is your life. If you are wondering why we aren't attacking…"

Grand Duke Famas looked around.

"...do we have a need to?" He questioned.

"You are a unique entity even among the anomalies we have seen in the past. Isn't it okay for us to entertain our curiosity a bit before you die?"

Famas was assured of Damien's defeat. He talked big, acting arrogant, but he wasn't actually as overconfident as he seemed.

This situation…actually wasn't a first.

This had happened once before, but at that time, it was a different Void.

Dante had been surrounded after he'd been deemed an anomaly, and the overconfidence of the Foreign Nobility gave him the opportunity to escape.

That day, Grand Duke Famas suffered a terrible defeat, and the Foreign Nobles were forced to stand down as the Straea Clan and the Divine Order took over and finally captured Dante in the Celestial Prison.

The prison turned Dante into a cripple who could no longer be a threat to the grand plan. He was meant to be killed eventually, but before that happened, the Celestial Prison itself was stolen.

And the thief was none other than his son.

Famas wasn't stuck in his ways. He learned from his mistakes, and because he refused to let his confidence blind him, he made sure that the plot against Damien was far more elaborate.

He was only being contained for now, because before they moved to kill him, they needed assurance that he wouldn't be able to escape.

Assurance in the form of a hostage.

Claire Ellowyn, his mother. If they had her in their possession, would be still be able to fight and resist?

Wouldn't he be prepared to give his life so she could live?

He would.

The Grand Duke wasn't wrong about that.

But he severely underestimated Damien's mentality despite all of his preparation.

See, Damien wasn't a man who would give up when he was forced into a corner.

He wasn't a coward who would accept the worst-case scenario no matter how bad things got.

They could put his mother in danger. They could take her hostage if they wanted to.

But why would he trust them to let her go after he died?

"Oh? Has it been established?"

Grand Duke Famas suddenly spoke, attracting Damien's attention.

Snap!

He snapped his fingers, summoning a mana projection in the air in front of Damien.

"I'm sure you were curious, so I made sure you'd be able to see for yourself."

As the projection cleared up and formed the picture being transmitted to it, Damien's eyes narrowed.

There she was.

His mother fighting against Malefice Straea.

She had three beasts in front of her, each serving a different purpose. Meanwhile, her enemy was zipping around like a sentient comet and fighting all three of them without breaking a sweat.

The battle was raging on quite spectacularly, but that wasn't Damien's focus.

The projection he was seeing…

It couldn't be Malefice Straea's work.

'There's someone else there.'

Another enemy in the vicinity.

'Someone she can't sense.'

Danger.

Huu…

Damien's breath was loud. In the silence of this place, it resounded and echoed as if to make everyone acknowledge its presence.

But that was the only reaction he showed.

He closed his eyes and steadied himself.

With every second that the projection continued, Damien got angrier.

And the angrier he got, the calmer his mind was.

There were only two questions he continued to ask himself. Two questions that ignored the concepts of "possibility" and "impossibility" in favor of rage.

Those two concepts didn't matter to Damien anymore.

Impossibility only existed if he allowed it to.

So there was really only one thing that mattered.

When was the last time he found himself as cornered as this?

And…

Just how long would he allow this to continue?