The day passed quickly. That night, Damien had no reason to return to the battle arena. His win streak had already been completed and regardless of the circumstance, he would fight the Overlord tomorrow.

Instead, he spent the day cooped up in the safety of his own home.

There were two things for him to do.

Firstly, he submerged himself in thought and made some preliminary plans for his expedition into the warzone. Even if he couldn't properly plot out scenarios until he was briefed in 2 days, he could at least mentally prepare himself for things to go wrong.

Secondly, he studied his opponent. Having a connection with someone with status like the Director's came with more than just a few benefits. One of these was his ability to gather information that others didn't have access to.

'Sheesh, every time I feel how easy life would be with a backer, it makes me wonder if I should just cave and join one of those major influences. Haha, how nice would that be.' Damien thought to himself.

If it was already this easy with a mere connection, how easy would it be if he had an entire Holy Land's resources and backing? There was no doubt he'd reach the extreme peak of 4th class in just a year with ease.

Nevertheless, gaining this backing came with its own problems. And with Damien's personality, him being thrown into the political game between major clans would be a disaster for whoever was backing him.

The reason he could act so freely and offend people as he pleased was because he was a wanderer. More than that, the reason he could do so without worry was because his family was safe in the Human Domain.

He'd entered the Divine Realm through an Abyssal Corridor, after all. Not only was this method unconventional, it was wholly impossible for anyone else. His tracks started and ended in the Dawn World.

'Aside from that, this guy is really something. Ranked top 50 in Heaven's List, top 100 on the Dimensional Leaderboard, has connections with people from almost all the prominent Holy Lands and Demigod influences..'

'And most of all, he's a wanderer like me.'

Damien smiled in admiration as he read more about his opponent. With the Director's reach, he was able to put together a profile so detailed that it was scary.

'Hm? A spatial affinity? Space and wind, huh, how interesting..'

Damien had met plenty of spatial users in the past, but never one on the same level as him. Whether it was Tian Yang or Kurt Galloway, they were both Demigods, supreme existence with a grasp on space that he couldn't even imagine.

But..

His abilities remained special regardless.

Even after meeting Leona, another Celestial, this fact remained true.

In fact, despite the rarity of the spatial affinity, the common populace didn't put much stock into it. It was widely believed that Space Laws were weak and secondary unless one could reach untold heights with them and flip that standard.

Damien's usage of spatial abilities completely overturned this belief. Ever since he was a yoyng fledgling, he'd been creating ways to make his spatial abilities more destructive.

Bladeless was the first ever example of this.

When it came to spatial abilities, Damien's methods were far more conceptual than the average user. He had an intrinsic connection with space that he could feel even before the existence of mana in his body, a level of elemental affinity that was rare even if the entire universe was taken into account.

Therefore, when it came to spatial practitioners that didn't far outstrip him in power..

Damien didn't worry at all.

'Hahaha, this guy is a level 350, just barely a high-level 4th class being. If he had any other affinity, I would probably suffer by his hands. Even if I won in the end, I would still lose at least two or three limbs in the process.'

His next opponent wouldn't be like Bianca. He was battle-hardened, but he was also unrestrained. He tasted the benefits of being a wanderer and used Hidden Death Valley as a field to gain the resources he couldn't get without backing.

'Except, you're still being suppressed, huh.'

This man, the man named Leon Holfort, was definitely capable of reaching the Emperor Bracket. The only reason he remained as the King Bracket Overlord was hidden suppression.

'Whether it's you deciding not to poke the hornet's nest or them actively suppressing you, it still stands true that you'll never stand equal to them. What a shame..'

If he had the willpower to fight his fate, he would've been a perfect soldier. With his power, he could've earned the academy's backing easily, becoming a genius who could stand on par with those Emperors and Paragons in terms of both status and power.

Damien was the perfect example. He was still relatively weak in the eyes of others, but he still garnered the Director's attention. Not only was this because of his talent, but also because of his defiance and willpower.

If he never stood against the Bloodlock Clan, how would his name have made its way to the Director's ears in the first place?

And if he didn't have the balls to stand against the Bloodlock Clan, would the Director have ever considered him as a candidate to carry out his special mission?

Damien relaxed in bed and closed his eyes, turning off the holographic screen hovering before him.

'You should be sorry, Leon..unfortunately, I won't be able to let you off easy tomorrow.'

The difficult fight that should've taken place, Damien didn't think he could entertain it.

Because he wanted to show Leon something.

To this fellow spatial practitioner, he wanted to show what it meant to be strong.

***historical

The next day, the battle arena crowd was met with a surprise.

All matches were canceled. A major event was taking place.

Someone was challenging the King Bracket Overlord.

In the past 1,000 years, this type of challenge had only taken place four times, and every single one of these four times ended in a brutal loss for the challenger.

Knowing this, the arena crowd was even more flabbergasted by the additional piece of news they heard.

Due to a ruling from the Board of Directors, this fight would take place without the dueling system's protection.

In essence, it would be a true life of death battle.

With this news came word of Damien's feats over the past two weeks. His rapid rise through the ranks, his domineering entry into the battle arena, and even his "killing" of Bianca became common knowledge to all, leading them to wonder why he was even alive to fight this battle.

The fact that he was given a chance at redemption after breaking the academy's most sacred rule was madness to them.

Zara walked among the crowd and listened to these stories. For the past almost two months, she'd been far too enveloped in her training to pay a single lick of attention to the outside world. She'd been rapidly consolidating her strength and improving on her Shadow Laws, learning to separate them into light and darkness to exponentially grow in power.

It wasn't a coincidence that she exited her intense training today. Damien called her out beforehand, telling her that something fun was taking place.

Besides inviting her to watch his battle, he also did so for the purpose of inviting her to the warzone with him. He hadn't had the chance to contact her recently, after all.

As she walked into the arena, Zara felt a wry smile surfacing her face.

Judging by the words of these geniuses, her Damien had been causing trouble again..a great deal of it.

The number of geniuses congregating in the arena was massive. By the time noon arrived, the stands were filled with millions upon millions of them.

And walking into the arena were two.

A purple-eyed man with jade white skin, a lean yet perfectly muscled build, and a domineering aura, and a robust man with glistening green eyes and tanned skin, his aura not losing out to his opponent in the slightest.

Crackle!

As they met in the middle of the arena floor, their aura fought for supremacy, their gazes locked on each other.

Unlike other arena battles, this one was real.

There was a chance that only one of them would exit the arena tonight.

And neither of them planned to be the one who stayed.