Damien's status had gone through a qualitative change, and it wasn't a matter of stats.

Damien had long learned to ignore his stats as they never properly represented his power level, but every other portion of his status contained important changes that he thoroughly enjoyed seeing.

Mainly the Affinities section.

'Samsara Intent and Spacetime Intent..'

Damien now had an affinity not for Life and Death, but for the cycle of Samsara as a whole. On top of this, the affinity as well as his ever-deepening Spacetime affinity were granted their own intents.

This meant that he had a far more direct connection with their laws. He would be able to utilize them with almost the same instinctual proficiency as a beast, but this was only the base ability of these new skills.

Their main benefit was the gateway they opened. Through these intents, Damien would be able to carve his own path into the universal law, growing independent from yet connected to the existing system, becoming an existence that stood on equal terms with it.

This was a level similar to what Demigods reached.

'This is my path to Divinity.'

The introduction of Samsara into his abilities was sudden and abrupt, but it came as a tiding of fate. Comprehension of the concept flowed into Damien's mind with the same smoothness as Spacetime, almost as if telling him that he was always meant to tread this path.

'I have comprehension of Samsara, but I have yet to digest it enough to use it in combat. However, my potential has increased yet again. By the time I master this ability, will I truly become unparalleled under heaven..?'

A delusion of grandeur filled Damien's head. The thought of crushing Demigods under his feet like trash was incredibly enticing.

'But even with all this, my rebirth seems to be a gift that keeps on giving. What could this possibly be..?'

Damien's eyes went to the holographic notification floating in the air before his eyes.

[The flow is an embodiment of the Natural Law. Do not despair as you follow its trail.]

'Did this come from the system?'

That unbiased system without full sentience sent him a message like this? That was impossible.

'But this isn't manmade. That only leaves one option..'

It was a message from the universe itself.

'Amazing.'

It was the only thing Damien could say before his mind went to work.

The flow he'd been vaguely feeling for so long..felt somewhat closer than before.

'There is a faint stream of something..leading to Zara..'

It wasn't mana, nor was it any other form of energy that Damien had encountered before. When he unleashed his Void Mana into the atmosphere, even it couldn't sense the presence of that stream.

'How odd..! My Void Mana went through a qualitative change along with my body, and it seems that the introduction of Samsara allowed me to access more of its abilities. Yet, this improved Void Mana can't sense the stream?'

Damien's curiosity was immediately piqued.

His body floated through space at a seemingly leisurely pace, but he traversed countless thousands of kilometers within seconds.

He arrived at the prison realm within the Sanctuary, an isolated space solely for storing those who could be used later.

Until this point, it remained empty. Damien had a bad habit of killing everyone who crossed him, after all.

'Though, I do have a new target in mind to enjoy the treatment of this space.'

There was a certain butler who would be able to enjoy the prison realm's various facilities the second Damien caught him. But until then..

A mountainous beast stood within the otherwise desolate realm. Even though it thrashed violently and rebelled, none of the prison realm's defenses activated against it.

'Zara..'

Damien's eyes became sorrowful as he looked at her. He could feel his spiritual connection with her weakening by the second.

'She's sacrificing everything for her goals, huh..'

With his new comprehension on Samsara, Damien's understanding of Zara's situation also heightened.

When he first saved her, it was still possible for Zara to retreat. She could've expelled the Nox Mana from her aura and forfeited her gains for the sake of survival.

But instead, she chose to fight on.

'Really, someone's been teaching her terrible habits.'

Despite how close he was, Zara wasn't able to recognize his presence at all. It was almost as if Damien didn't exist.

Or rather, it was like he'd become a part of the universe.

'What are those..?'

His eyes moved across Zara's figure. On her glabella and eight other spots along her body, faint blue lights glowed like checkpoints.

'Is this related to the flow?'

The universe had just told him to confidently follow the flow. If this was also a part of that, didn't it mean it'd be something good?

Damien's body flashed and appeared atop Zara. He gently placed his hand upon a blue spot on Zara's back and closed his eyes.

He immediately felt a strange sensation roll through him.

A tornado of fragmented memories ravaged his mind.

But at the same time, a beautiful whiteish-blue light enveloped his mind and brought serenity.

'I see. Is her mental situation being worsened by something taking place in her body?'

Damien couldn't help with Zara's mental battle. Just as he had fought for endless years in his spiritual world after being struck by a Demigod's True Voice, Zara would have to repair her spiritual world on her own.

'But if I can alleviate the process even a little, I believe she can succeed on her own. I guess I have to accept that this little girl grew into a badass.'

Damien smiled wryly. In the end, Zara had become something akin to a female version of himself. He really had to wonder why she chose him as her role model when Tang Lingzi existed, but her love brought him endless emotion that he didn't know how to deal with.

'Is this what it feels like to watch a sibling grow up? Damn, it's a bit annoying.'

The introduction of this new form of affection endlessly flustered Damien, but it brought him an equal amount of warmth.

This warmth was motivation to always move forward.

Just as he'd moved ceaselessly on Apeiron for 2 years to grow in power and return to earth to save his mother, he felt infinite motivation to protect Zara and let her grow up happy.

'If the pain you experience is vital for your growth and happiness, then who am I to stop you from experiencing it? Just as I promised before, I will always stand behind you and support you with my everything.'

A gentle stream of warm mana flowed from Damien's palms and swirled in conjunction with the blue spot. Samsara Intent penetrated Zara's physical body and created a pathway from her head to her tail, leaving no spot unmapped.

And following the scouting expedition of the Samsara Intent, the true cavalry arrived.

Void Mana flowed into Zara's system.

historical

The Nox Mana that polluted a majority of her body cowered in fear.

'Stop resisting and become her power.'

Damien flared his Void Mana with all his power. He activated Devour and turned the Nox Mana into pure essence, feeding it back into Zara's Mana Circuits to empower her.

This process changed the Nox Mana, removing its corrupting properties. As the essence merged with Zara's system, it formed a new deathly mana that Damien had never seen before.

A small smile formed on his face.

'Yeah, a member of the Void Family should be at least this talented.'

Damien's smiling face immediately scrunched up in disgust.

'..I'm glad I didn't say that out loud.'

While lamenting the embarrassment of his last name, he returned his focus to cleansing Zara's internals.

Meanwhile, within Zara's mind space..