Sebastian's rapid figure appeared before Damien's eyes in a mere instant.

BOOM!

Two fists collided and split the air.

The earth cracked and shattered to pieces, creating a massive crater. Space trembled at the might of the collision, yet the two beings who created such force were unmoved.historical

"Oho, not bad for a human!" Sebastian, the Nox butler, commented with a grin.

"Yeah, and you're not bad for a scummy invader!"

Damien pushed his fist forward with a burst of mana as he shouted his reply. His left arm moved like a piston, shooting a punch into Sebastian's stomach before the latter could react.

Or at least, that was the goal.

Bang!

A dull sound rang out as Sebastian caught Damien's fist.

"Has the rush of battle made you forget our strength difference? How ignorant."

"Yeah, that's my bad."

Damien grinned and moved his right arm, sliding it across Sebastian's arm to parry his motion while simultaneously materializing an object in his hand

Freya's silver sheen reflected Sebastian's face as it fired off tens of rounds in a single instant. With Freya's immense speed, Sebastian truly wasn't given a chance to counter!

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Sebastian's body was covered in a spatial explosion. Damien immediately teleported away and took Mirage into his free hand, mentally preparing himself.

'He isn't trying to kill me.'

Damien could at least surmise this much from their first clash. The reason he used his fist instead of a weapon was to test this theory of his.

In the worst-case scenario, his arm would've exploded, but that was merely a necessary risk.

In exchange for his gamble, he was able to understand a portion of his enemy's intentions.

'His killing intent is superficial. I can only tell because of the All-Seeing Eyes. Even my survival sense couldn't interpret his killing intent properly.'

The explosion began to clear up. From within, Sebastian's unharmed figure emerged.

"So you aren't a mere dullard as I originally assumed. Were you gauging me? Did you find anything worthwhile with your attempt?"

"Eh, this and that."

Damien shrugged and took a battle stance.

'That Saint Emperor bastard..I fucking hate that sadistic bastard..'

He shot forward like an arrow. Mirage swung through the air in a beautiful arc, marking the beginning of Damien's offensive.

Mirage's sword techniques drew mystical patterns in the sky. A flower of spatial distortion was formed in the air as Damien pressed Sebastian harder and harder. The butler continued his nonchalant act, however, and blocked every attack with a calm look on his face.

Damien's eyes hardened. Freya vanished from his left hand.

'Void Sword Art Fourth Form: Spatial Collapse'

Damien slammed Mirage downward, shattering space at its very roots and forcing the creation of a black hole.

Sebastian was naturally trapped in the middle. He gazed around the total blackness of his surroundings with interest.

Tapping the air, he found that the flow of his mana wasn't nearly as stable as usual. Even his internal systems were being somewhat influenced by the space.

'This human has some tricks up his sleeve!' The butler thought to himself.

But unfortunately, it wasn't enough. Sebastian tapped his fingers through the air, creating a spiderweb of inky black mana.

The second he pulled on one of the mana strings, his force was transferred to all the others, creating a resonance that immediately shattered Damien's spatial phenomenon.

'Seven Stars Encircling The Moon'

A bright white light too close to be natural appeared in front of Sebastian's face the second the spatial phenomenon shattered. Chaotic mana flowed together and bloomed into a beautiful disharmonic explosion that swallowed all things.

'This..!'

BOOOOOOOOM!

Sebastian's body shot through the air and crashed into the ground, deepening the already chasm-like crater that'd been formed by the force of their continuous impacts.

Damien's eyes tracked his every movement like a hawk. In this battle, he couldn't allow Sebastian even a single spark of an instant to counterattack.

His body turned into a comet as he trailed Sebastian's path. His speed continuously increased, gravity multiplying countless times around him to amplify his speed.

'Void Sword Art Sixth Form: Worldbreaker'

Xiu!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

An unhindered Worldbreaker, the first of its kind.

It lived up to its name perfectly.

From the point of impact where Sebastian was, the ground collapsed in a fan-like pattern stretching out over the horizon.

Rushing winds like hurricanes could be heard from below, signs of the various terrifying spatial storms and cracks that formed due to the pressure of the impact. Even after Damien's original attack lost power, these naturally formed phenomena would continue devouring the earth until they were full.

The continent nicknamed the Vinyard was only a little less than 100,000 kilometers across.

And Worldbreaker turned almost half of its area into a wasteland lacking in any of the harrowing plant species that forced people to avoid it for so long.

As for the other half, it was currently in the process of collapsing entirely due to the main battlefield's expanding presence.

It was truly a scene like world destruction.

But was that enough?

Damien didn't even halt to appreciate the tens of thousands of kilometers of land he'd just wasted.

'Stagnant Reality'

'Dimension Shift'

'Void Sword Art Fifth Form: Dimensional Severence'

'Spacetime Severence'

Damien cut the world in half with everything he had. Spacetime, the dimension, and even reality to an extent were torn to shreds by the immensity of his power.

Accompanying this destruction was the expansion of the Space-Time River Domain. With its help, not inky was the surrounding destruction amplified immensely, but it was also contained within the domain's range so as to concentrate the attack's power onto Sebastian alone.

The environment once again suffered immensely. Sebastian's body floated limply in the air within an isolated spatial phenomenon, the earth around him vanquished to totality.

"Haa..haa.."

'That should've done something..right?' Damien thought as he wiped the blood flowing from his lips.

"Were you perhaps thinking that you could injure me with that attack?"

A voice whispered into his ear. Before Damien could turn around, he felt a force strike his head with power that felt like a direct impact from a tank round.

"Keuk..!"

Damien's body shot back, blood leaking from his mouth.

His skull almost shattered from that hit alone.

The Space-Time River Domain, Damien's powerful body, nothing could protect him from Sebastian's immense power.

"If that was your thought, then you'd be pleased to know that you were correct. You have indeed accomplished something outside of my expectations."

Sebastian's figure appeared a few meters away. There was a deep gash running down the side of his face, apparently refusing to close even with his healing factor.

This gash was only one of many. The butler's signature suit was drenched in its owner's blood.

However, Sebastian didn't seem bothered by it. Instead, he smiled wider than ever. His disgustingly black aura permeated the atmosphere and mimicked his expressions.

"Since you showed me something so interesting, I should reward you as well. Today, I'll allow you to witness the techniques of this humble butler!"

He disappeared into the wind with a deranged smile on his face.

And all Damien could remember about what came after..

..was pain.