*CRACK!*

Yohr smashed the ice statue of Valentina with his tail into thousands of icy fragments, making an azure mist float before Damien's face.historical

"NO!!! V-Valentina.." Damien's eyes widened to the extremes as he suddenly felt losing an important part of his soul..especially the soul connection he had with Valentina. He could no longer feel it! It was as if the connection got cut off permanently, which could only mean that the other person had died.

'NO! She can't be dead..No..she can't!!' Damien felt like he was losing his mind as he crawled towards where her icy remains were present and gathered the small icy fragments into his hands, wishing that what he was seeing was just a nightmare or probably a mind trick being employed by Yohr.

His voice had become weak and feeble, and he was feeling as if someone was choking his heart.

Yohr couldn't help but smirk in glee as he saw how devastated and shaken Damien was the moment he killed that annoying ethereal beast. He couldn't help but take this time to get revenge for the humiliation he experienced because of this little mortal and said, "You seem to be very much in pain. She must have meant a lot to you..did she? Hahahaha..see boy..this is what happens when you go against my orders. Did you seriously think that you could defeat my divine self? Look at yourself now..you are soon going to die, and you even had to see your loved one die right before your eyes. All this could have been prevented if you had obediently listened to me the first time, hahaha."

Damien was barely hearing Yohr's words as all his surroundings just seemed to blur and fade away while looking at the broken fragments of icy crystals before him. His eyes had become bloodshot, and his body and heart had become completely cold to the point he couldn't feel anything.

"Valentina, come back..You can't die..You promised to never leave me.." Like a madman, he was mumbling her name and calling out for her again and again while holding her fragmented remains in his hands.

Within just a moment itself, all the memories of her played in his mind like a videotape, remembering the first time he met her as a cat-filled with wariness and hostility.

The times she endearingly called him Big Brother..

—

Valentina shook her head, "No need. Didn't Big Brother say there's no need for thanks between us?"

Damien smiled gently, "I am not thanking you for healing me. I am thanking you for coming into my life."

Valentina smiled and hugged Damien tighter, "Then I also thank you for being my Big Brother, and I don't want Big Brother Damien to ever leave me."

—

"I never left but who told you that you can leave me first..No..I failed you..I always have.." Damien's lips were grinding against each other as he felt like his heart was ripping itself apart, not expecting that he would feel the same pain he did in his past life whenever he lost the people he loved.

The amount of guilt, sadness, and despair he was feeling was enough to make him feel like his soul was splitting into pieces.

He had yet again failed to protect his loved ones when he had taken overbearing oaths of even defeating gods and making sure nobody dies this time. Only now he realized how foolish and naive he was to think so and to make such statements without having true power.

He could now understand why Luna mocked him for saying those things at that time. Even a fallen god with barely any cultivation was able to reduce him to this state and even took away Valentina from him.

Damien clenched his fists as his eyes suddenly became cold and sharp, thinking to himself, 'He must pay..He has to die for what he did..If only I had more power..'

"I will put you out of your misery, boy, heh," Yohr sniggered as he extended one of his limbs to grab a broken Damien, but Damien suddenly looked at him with bloodshot eyes, and for a moment, Yohr felt like his soul was being squeezed by something terrifying.

Still, he ignored this feeling thinking that his injuries were messing with his mind and extended his claw.

Damien saw Yohr extending his claw to grab him, but he didn't feel any fear but instead, he was looking at Yohr with killing intent that seemed to penetrate right through his soul.

'If only I could turn back time and kill him before he kills Valentina..' This was the thought that passed through his mind as Yohr's claw continued to reach for him, and at that moment, his claw suddenly froze in midair.

In fact, not only his claw but everything around Damien seemed to have frozen in time and seemed still.

Even the expression on Yohr's face seemed to have frozen, including his eyes.

[ Anti-God Arts ]

3rd Stage - [ Shadows of Time ] - Unsealed

[ A forbidden power that awakens when you realize the necessity of time and its power to change the very fabric of fate and reality. Just like how any object casts a shadow when blocked by light, the strings of time cast shadows when touched by the energy of the universe, every single second down to its smallest fraction. Use your powerful soul to use the shadows of time to rewrite your future, present, and past. Then the whole universe will succumb to you as long as the shadows of time exist. But beware..going against the natural laws and using the forbidden shadows of time won't come without a price. ]

Damien's soul was shaken by the sudden influx of information he comprehended, and suddenly he felt like he had found the ray of light he had been looking for desperately.

But he learned that the cost would be his precious soul essence which was only at 75%, especially since the recovery of soul essence was not that easy.

But he had already resolved his heart, and without a single moment's hesitation, he began to burn his soul essence.

'Shadows of Time!'