Void Evolution System
chapter-1872

The sounds of war were brutal throughout the Sacred Abyss. The common population was forced to remain in their homes and pray that the destruction didn't reach them, but only some were successful.

They didn't know that even then, they were lucky.

If Damien and the Dark God were present in the true Sacred Abyss Universe, the entire cosmos would have been destroyed within minutes. Not a single person would have had a chance to survive.

They did not immediately use the height of their power. It was as if there was an unspoken agreement between them.

First came Existence.

The Existence that the Dark God controlled came in direct contact with the Existence that Damien built. They were completely different despite being the exact same.

Existence was a strange thing in that it was always anchored. Damien's anchor was the True Void, but despite how it looked, the Dark God's anchor was not the Sacred Abyss.

No, the anchor was incredibly important. If the anchor was destroyed, one's ability to use Existence properly would suffer as well.

Damien was willing to anchor himself to the True Void because he understood how important it was to him. The Sacred Abyss did not have the same worth to the Dark God.

Rather, it was no more than a tool for him to exert his strength with. It was due to his decision to forgo an anchor that the Sacred Abyss was constantly collapsing under the weight of his presence.

He could have taken the easy route and calmed it, but he refused. Instead, he took the much longer and much more annoying path of holding the cosmos together with his essence. He became its anchor, a decision that Damien could not understand.

The way they perceived Existence was inherently different as well. To Damien, Existence was a beautiful yet flawed concept.

It was everything, but exactly because of that, it was riddled with holes and flaws. Existence as a concept was always meant to be imperfect, but the concept's perception of itself, built on the human perception of it, craved perfection.

Only after meeting it directly and spending time with it was Damien able to convince it that perfection was not necessary.

Rather, it was perfect even with all of its imperfections.

This interaction created a new kind of Existence based on Damien's perception and the concept's own acceptance. That was the force under his control.

It was tame. Though it was able to attack and it was willing to follow his will without any complaints, it had a sense of tameness to it that could not be removed. Damien had treated it too docilely. There wasn't anything wrong with that, but the result was a relatively docile Existence.

The Dark God was clearly different. He, as a person who didn't even know what docile meant, was far more forceful in all of his training.

To reach this level, he did not think to become familiar with the two concepts and develop friendly relationships with them. Instead, as he sensed the concepts further, his goal was set to subjugate them. He took control by force and did not allow any sort of rebellion against his command. He didn't care if the concepts had spirituality. He did not care to understand them further than what he already knew.

With his strength alone, he forced them under him. He essentially took them hostage.

To say that this was the wrong path was wrong. There was no such thing as a right or wrong path. In terms of familiarity, the Dark God's many years of living made him a match for everything Damien accomplished with his hard work.

And, because the concepts under him were familiar with suffering, they were immediately hostile to anyone he used them against. So, what did the difference in their Existence look like when manifested on the battlefield?

Damien always manifested Existence as a universe before. To him, the best way to show its power was by creating something with enough scale to house it all.

However, after his experiences in the Land of Nothingness, that was no longer the case.

Damien's Existence was like a sharpened blade. The blade he used against the Dragon Lord was his inspiration. After trying for so long and failing to combine Existence and Nonexistence, he instead chose to use the things he learned from each concept to change the way he used the other.

Existence itself was now compressed into the form of a translucent sword. Its aura surrounded Damien and shielded him from his surroundings, while the power itself was concentrated on the blade. As his version of Existence was tamer, he had to be smarter about how he used it. Compressing it like this allowed him to manifest the same kind of strength as the Dark God.

Because the Dark God was really, really strong.

His Existence was a massive storm. The way it presented itself was almost like Nonexistence, but it could not be denied that the force he was using was that which existed.

The huge storm of black energy was terrifying. It surrounded Damien, hiding the Dark God from him, and attacked ferociously.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

What attacked Damien could be called stars and lightning bolts, but those were only the physical manifestations. In reality, the Dark God was striking him with the pure essence of laws.

Every star contained another aspect of Existence, and when they exploded on Damien's body, they forced him on the defensive. He had to rapidly understand what the Dark God's attacks meant and find ways to repel them, almost reminding him of his first few times fighting in the Land of Nothingness.

Damien's sword was swung without technique, yet it was so beautiful that it felt like an absolute sword realm. Each cut, each stab was cutting through the storm, bringing light into this dark realm. The light danced through the air, attempting to locate the Dark God's body.

Damien wasn't going to allow his enemy to put him in this kind of position. He had to admit that the Dark God's Existence was better than his, but that was irrelevant.

The only reason the Dark God was better was because he had millions and billions of years to learn these concepts and embolden them.

He could also reach that level if he had time.

The problem was that he didn't. Regardless, their fight was happening now. Time was not something allowed to Damien.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

He jumped off of the illusory ground and approached the storm with his body.

'Void Sword Art Fourth Step: Spatial Collapse'

BOOOOOOOOOM!

All of the lightning and all of the clouds were blown away. That shadowy figure was once again revealed, but the Dark God was prepared.

He had so much time while Damien was caught up. How could he not be?

His hand struck out. Damien's eyes widened.

'I have to…'

It was too late.

BOOOOOOOOOM!

'...dodge.'

Even as he thought it, he was enveloped in that force.

A twisted Existence unlike anything he'd ever felt before.

For a moment, Damien was reminded of who exactly he was facing.

The Dark God. The Cosmic Conqueror. The Destroyer of Worlds. This was a being who had not destroyed just one or two cosmos. No, he was far greater than that.

And somehow, it had become Damien's job to defeat him.

One could call this battle many things, but easy was not one of them.

Simple was not one of them.

For the first time in a while, Damien had to prepare himself to struggle. Yet, even that was not a problem.

After all, if he didn't struggle here, then what would any of his effort be worth?