Void Evolution System

"Haa…"

The only thing Claire could do was sigh.

Her son liked to be perfect. He almost always did what was expected of him and never acted in ways that would make people admonish him.

Perhaps it was a move he made to gain everyone's favor, or perhaps it was his nature. Regardless, Damien liked to be the person who never made mistakes.

Even now, he couldn't admit that what he'd done was a mistake.

And what was Claire supposed to do?

She could see that he was waiting for her to yell at him or punish him. He had guilt in his heart, but he refused to show it.

However, she just couldn't bring herself to do it.'

'My son is not a perfect person.'

He made mistakes too. His were considerably more damning than the mistakes normal people made, but that was just something that came with the territory.

And, in all honesty, this wasn't Claire's first time experiencing this scenario.

"Your father is the same way," she said, patting Damien's head and drawing him closer instead of doing what he expected from her.

"He liked to run around and do whatever he wanted without thinking about the consequences. Oftentimes, we were stuck dealing with those consequences, and sometimes they were as severe as the ones that lay on the other side of your wager."

Dante Void had taken many risky paths to get to where he was today. He failed in the end, but that was not because of the risks he took.

Rather, the precise reason why he was able to stay alive while being chased by the full force of the Dark God's followers was the risks he took.

At the end of the day, no matter what he wagered, Dante always came out the victor, so those things were maintained, and he was able to train with an efficiency that others couldn't replicate.

If Damien wanted to relieve his guilt by hearing negative words from someone, Claire and them weren't the right people to go to.

Not only did they unconditionally support him, as he was one of their own, they had been through things others couldn't imagine as they followed someone who was almost as impossibly talented as Damien, so their view of reality was typically different from the norm.

But if Damien searched the rest of the palace, perhaps he wouldn't find anyone who would be willing to go against his decision.

It wasn't because he was a tyrant.

The people of the palace trusted and respected him. He had done so much for them in the short period of time that he'd been in the Heavenly World, and every time he did something new, the palace saw a qualitative increase in strength and standing.

Even this time, before he went to the Sacred Abyss Universe, his actions allowed them to completely eradicate the forces of the Straea Clan, completely wiping them off the face of the earth.

And, what about Claire herself?

Wasn't one of the pillars of the palace saved from lifelong torment because of him?

Damien wanted to feel the negativity that would inevitably rise in response to his decision, but Void Palace wasn't going to give it to him.

That was what it meant to have a home.

Damien calmed himself, fully accepting the benefits that came with unconditional love, and pulled himself away from his mother.

"This is how it happened…"

He already told his mother and Serena about the five year deadline and the war, but he had yet to explain to them the full situation and how it became like that.

As he went over the events that took place in what was the past few years for him but only months in this world, both his mother and Serena gasped, their eyes wide with shock.

Damien was casually telling stories about fighting people on their level. He was eons younger than him, still a baby who hadn't even lived 200 years of life.

Yet, he was already acting on such a high level.

In all honesty, when looking through the eyes of someone with this kind of power at a young age, Damien's decisions became more understandable.

He was still young and reckless no matter how mature his experiences made him.

He still needed to take those risks in order to improve, and not even the greatest odds in the world would stop him.

"Damien, I know you're confused, but that only means that you are aware of the consequences of your actions," Claire said.

"Tell me, are you planning to let this world die?"

"No."

Damien answered without a shadow of a doubt.

"Then is there any reason to worry? Be confident and chase your dreams. We will all support you from behind, so that even when you falter, you can stand back up."

Claire smiled warmly at her son.

Serena nodded on the side, the same expression on her face.

This situation would not be dire as long as they worked together.

'This world…'

Serena was already doing the calculations in her mind.

'If our power is combined, then we can easily slow the time flow enough to gain what we need to prepare.'

Damien was planning to do it on his own, but he had forgotten that he had an entire clan of time users by his side, more than ready to work with him.

Claire was also making plans, more for the future of the palace itself than the world. If they wanted to properly wage this war, they first needed to become the leaders of this world, a force that all others obeyed.

Damien saw the gears in their heads turning.

Perhaps more than anything else, this was what cemented it in his mind wholly.

'This won't be as much of a challenge as I thought.'

Because he really didn't have to focus on anyone but himself. While he focused on improving to fight the Dark God, the rest of the world would follow him in stride.

Damien calmed himself again.

"Huu…"

He felt a bit troubled by the fact that he couldn't oversee everything, but that was just how life went.

'Everything will be fine.'

He had to take the prospect of doomsday out of his mind entirely.

No matter what reality told him, it wasn't real unless he allowed it.

'Then, my main focus should be improvement, and since I got the opportunity, I should reel the Dragon Clan in without fail.'

There was no need to panic and there was no need to fret.

Everything would go his way.

Perhaps he came back here to be admonished, or perhaps he just wanted acknowledgment from the people he respected the most.

'Speaking of…'

"How is he?" Damien asked.

"He…?" Claire repeated in confusion.

"Ah, um…my father."

Damien felt awkward. He couldn't call him "dad" comfortably yet, but it felt awkward calling him "Dante" as well.

He was left without a proper way to refer to the man who contributed to his birth, and that left him childishly fiddling with his words to move around it.

"Ah!" Claire exclaimed as she realized what he was talking about.

"Your father is doing better and better every day. It won't be long before you get to meet him," she said with a smile.

Damien nodded, not sure how to feel.

He'd done what he needed to do here. He felt a pull to stay for longer for many reasons, but now wasn't the time to take even a single instant of rest.

He needed to return to the Western Region and recruit the forces there as fast as possible so they could join the rest in war preparation.

And, while he was at it…

'I guess it's right about time for me to truly get a hold of this thing called Existence.'