Weakness.

Damien had always been thoroughly aware of his weaknesses, but they'd always been internalized.

The weaknesses that stemmed from his own lacking existence could be fixed through training and effort, so he never put too much stock into them.

Instead, he worked ceaselessly to rid himself of weakness and truly become untouchable.

However, there was one thing he'd forgotten.

As a practitioner, emotions were both a blessing and a curse. The presence of emotions allowed for the presence of determination and drive, and the presence of emotion allowed for expanded creativity which helped with comprehension.

However, at the same time, when these emotions were directed towards other people, they became a curse.

Strong hatred could be a source of determination, but it could also cause one to fall into the depths of despair and bottleneck their training.

In the same vein, strong love could be an equally strong source of determination, but it was the greatest exploitable weakness in existence.

The second a loved one became one's captive, it was unimaginably easy to manipulate the enemy.

Damien had this weakness just like any other human being. However, he'd originally believed it negligible since his women were in the Human Domain, tucked away and safe from his enemies.

Zara wasn't a factor he'd considered.

He simply never pictured a situation where Zara was captured.

'I should've known.'

Nox Mana's main property was always to corrupt. The reason Damien was so much better equipped to deal with the Nox in comparison to his comrades was also because of his immunity to their corruption.

Zara didn't have this immunity. The more she devoured the Nox, the more she was corrupted by their mana.

Damien fought with his everything.

Space became a malleable substance that was used to attack and defend. Calypto's space was manipulated and twisted to the extent that it wouldn't naturally heal for many years.

The seas were split into countless sections and dried up, any land even tens of thousands of kilometers away was heavily impacted by the spreading fluctuations of Damien's madness.historical

But he didn't stop.

He was like a feral beast without limits.

Damien's eyes were dyed in reddish-black. Flame-lightning of the same color arced from his arms and burned the oceans to nothingness.

He punched with the force of a thousand meteors, he slashed Mirage like a swordsman making his last stand.

But all throughout, he never touched Zara.

His body swerved through the air and flashed about randomly. Zara's terrifyingly powerful claws and shadows found themselves striking nothing but empty air due to his intense evasion tactics.

Damien could sense her. Through their spiritual link, he knew exactly where she'd be and what she'd do.

Of course, since their contract was one of equals, she could do the same for him..

But her spatial perception wasn't nearly developed enough for her to effectively block his advent.

BOOOOOOM!

Space compressed and folded before exploding over Sebastian's head. The butler was flung down into the sea floor, surrounded by mountainous walls of water that had yet to fill the empty space between them due to the spatial distortion in the air.

BANG!

A terrifying fist landed on the butler's face as he took in the situation. It was followed by a flurry of physical attacks that didn't leave him any room to maneuver.

Xiu!

At that moment, Zara's body flew through the air and cut by Damien's side once more. She landed next to Sebastian and immediately slashed out her claws, coating them in a swirl of shadows that attacked Damien as they sliced through the air.

'Dammit!'

Damien found himself trapped in a world of darkness. Everything around him became an enemy.

Sticky shadows tried to restrict his movement, shadow constructs of all shapes and forms charged at him and shot at him with harrowing destructive force, and Zara herself was like the world's most skilled assassin, attacking in the narrowest gaps that even Damien couldn't fully defend against.

'I can't fight them at the same time..'

'Seven Stars Encircling The Moon'

A chaotic fist of countless different streams of mana combusted and shattered the surrounding darkness. Damien teleported away, grabbing Mirage and slashing with all his might.

'Void Sword Art First Form: Bladeless'

'Void Sword Art Third Form: Dance of the Void'

'Void Sword Art Fourth Form: Spatial Collapse'

'Void Sword Art Fifth Form: Dimensional Severence'

Mirage became a weapon of mass destruction.

Massive gashes in space spanned thousands of kilometers and blocked in the battlefield. Damien's figure became a collection of afterimages as he danced around the constricted space and made his movements impossible to read.

BOOOOOOM!

Space collapsed around Sebastian and trapped him in a black hole spatial phenomenon. As the butler began to break the phenomenon and escape, a thin black line cut towards him at an incredibly slow, yet almost instant pace.

SHING!

The spatial collapse and Sebastian were cut together, but Damien wasn't able to see the end of this fight quite yet.

Zara's body flew at him the second Dimensional Severence left his blade. She tracked him no matter how he teleported and deflected his attacks effortlessly as if she knew their each and every weakness.

And she might as well have. As the companion who'd stayed by Damien's side the longest, she was most aware of his bad habits during battle. Even if she wasn't consciously controlling her body, her instincts alone were enough to completely counteract him.

'Fuck!'

No matter what, he couldn't harm Zara.

It wasn't a matter of sympathy. If he could save her by defeating her completely, he'd do it in a heartbeat.

However, he could feel it through their connection.

Zara's current state was similar to his state moments prior. Some integral process was taking place in her body, something that could seriously benefit her if allowed to finish.

'Ah..I see.'

Damien finally understood.

'This is like a parasitic battle.'

Zara was being corrupted, but she was earnestly fighting for control. While Damien didn't know the details, he could at least understand the stakes involved in that battle.

'If she wins, she gains everything she's been working towards, but if she loses, her ego gets extinguished and she remained a puppet.'

Damien's fury almost raged out of control again. Sebastian must've known. He must've provoked Zara into attacking him because he knew that the second Damien struck Zara, he'd harm her progress.

A puppet that couldn't be attacked, what better tool was there than this?

'I just need a single opportunity..'

If he had a single second to himself when Sebastian was unable to defend against him, he felt like he could turn the situation around.

'I can't kill him, but now that he's this weakened, I can at least..'

Damien felt it when he struck Sebastian. The butler's strength wasn't nearly what it was when they first started.

After all, he wasn't an unkillable monster either. Even if he was too strong for Damien to affect him much, his mana capacity was still the same as everyone else's.

After using so many mana-filled attacks, it was inevitable for him to start running low.

Damien shot out like a rocket and engaged in combat with Sebastian again.

His fist connected with the butler's jaw, but in consequence, he was kicked in the knee and his flow was disrupted.

He kicked like a whip into Sebastian's side, but the butler instantly used the force to his advantage and redirected it at Damien.

'His skill level outstrips mine too much.'

Damien couldn't land a hit without being countered. After a few sparks of an instant, Zara joined as well and forced Damien into a deeper hole.

His eyes darted around like mice. His awareness was extremely focused on the current two enemies he needed to fight.

Everything other than the battle was disregarded.

'One second is all I need..'

Reddish-black sparks decorated his eyes and aura. His power level suddenly spiked.

'Just a single second...'

The reddish-black sparks began to pollute his mana. He swiped his hand through the air and covered Zara in spatial mana, teleporting her away as he slammed his hand down in front of Sebastian.

BOOM!

Sebastian covered himself in a cocoon of Nox Mana to evade the blast. When the chaotic mana explosion died down, the cocoon shot out like a curtain of sand and enveloped Damien.

Damien thrashed within the curtain in a bid to remove all the Nox Mana latching onto his body. He roared like a mad Titan as he tore his way through any obstacles in his path.

'Just one second..if I can distract him for a single..!'

BOOOOOOM!

The ocean below burst into an explosion of foam.

The valiant figure of a nearly-destroyed Titan warrior spiked out of the water and slammed into Sebastian like a tank!

The Titan warrior's arms and legs wrapped around Sebastian's body and forcefully held him in place.

"GET HIM NOW!"

"BEGONE, VERMIN!"

Damien's perception heightened to the maximum. Every spark of an instant felt like countless seconds.

In this slowed world, he flashed away.

His body appeared behind Sebastian.

He grabbed the Higher Nox butler's head like a basketball.

And at the same time, he sensed the terrifying agglomeration of mana gathering between Sebastian and the Titan warrior.

'I..don't have time.'

BOOOOOOOOM!

Sebastian's gathered mana exploded forward like a beam of deathly light.

Time resumed.

Damien and Sebastian vanished from the area.

And the Titan warrior stood in the air with a massive hole in its body.