Chapter 1297: Hunt [4]
Before Damien went to meet the Inhuman Emperor, he killed half of the remaining Nox Lords on the Ancient Battlefield.
He, of course, had the ability to slaughter them all, but he decided against it.
After all, he saw for himself the intensity at which Iris and Tiamat were acting.
The Karmic Emperor was already dead, and as if they were racing against time, the two women rushed to find Nox Lords.
They wanted to take as many of them as possible for themselves before Damien culled them entirely, and who was Damien to impede them?
He had no interest in snuffing out the burning flames of determination in their eyes.
The remaining Nox Lords were prey for them alone, so that they could grow as they wished.
That was his gift to them.
Nevertheless, there were two tasks left to complete once the culling ended.
The first was checking the Saint Emperor's position.
He'd been essentially nonexistent for the entirety of the war, and Damien was concerned about what a man like him was doing with this time.
And he did find him.
The Saint Emperor was unmoving, sitting calmly as if he were waiting for something.
He had a slight smile on his face and looked quite peaceful, but as if sensing Damien's perception sweeping over him, he opened his eyes and nodded.
'He's waiting...for me.'
He didn't know why the Saint Emperor was doing this, but he was absolutely certain he was waiting for him.
He was likely waiting for him since the Ancient Battlefield opened and he learned Damien was alive.
"..."
Damien pursed his lips.
No matter how much he wanted to go find out everything that mysterious man was hiding, he couldn't go haphazardly.
He had to take down distractions like the Inhuman Emperor first, and before he even did that, there was one final important task.
'Status'
He thought the word, and for the first time since ascension, he saw the system's appraisal of him.
The status window changed upon reaching Divinity.
Sections vanished while other sections appeared. At this level, Damien wasn't the only one whose strength was pointless to measure in numbers.
Demigods no longer needed stats to describe their physical state, nor did they need a section to tell them what their skills or traits were. All of this became deeply ingrained in their bodies upon ascending and reached a point where it was impossible for the system to know them better than themselves.
However, the status window did still exist.
It merely showed different information privy only to Divinities.
[Status]
[Damien Void]
????
Male - Age 65
Level 400
Divinity: Hegemon God
Legend: Mythical Hero
Title(s): [•••••••, Apostle of the Void, Evolver, Heaven's Wrath, Supreme Genius]
Physique: Void Physique
Authorities:
[Devouring - 100%]
[Immortality - 50%]
[Elemental - 75%]
[Spacetime - 75%]
[Samsara - 75%]
[Cosmic Duality - 75%]
[Existence - 50%]
The changes were a plenty and Damien spent a long time finding their meaning before he went and confronted the Inhuman Emperor.
Firstly, he'd finally overcome the chasm known as "Level 399" and stepped into the next stage, which was satisfying to see.
The section that showed how much experience he needed to get to the next level also disappeared, marking the most definitive difference between lower and higher existences.
From this point forth, it wasn't so easy to get stronger. One needed to expand their Divinity and flesh it out while building their Legend more and more until they finally reached the threshold of Godhood.
Of course, there were stages to this process, however, Damien and the rest of the Demigods in the lower universe still didn't know what these stages were.
The two sections that followed gave clues, though.
The section titled "Divinity" showed the name of his Divinity, the one he chose for it, and served as a constant reminder of what he was meant to achieve.
And the "Legend" section which termed his current state, "Mythical Hero," was the replacement of the "Experience" section.
Mythical Hero was likely a level one's Legend could reach. As Damien thought about it, he somewhat figured out how the progression of said terms would go.
There was likely something along the lines of "Spiritual God" in the future, where the Legend he built became enough to garner worship from the masses. Perhaps there were other levels for different paths that he couldn't think of, but as long as he kept growing his Legend, he was certain to find them eventually.
This was the new way of progressing power that he needed to become accustomed to.
It did make him a little happy.
Now, he wasn't the only one looking at a nigh useless status window. The rest of his peers would have to suffer alongside him!
The last change was the biggest one in terms of appearance.
Where stats, skills, and traits used to be was left a single section, titled "Authorities."
Authorities were the power of a Demigod. They were, for most people, the law foundation that formed one's Divinity, and encompassed every part of a Divine's power.
Damien's case was strange.
Devour became its own complete Authority. This was the system's attempt at quantifying the Void, but the most it could see was what the Void allowed it to, so only the singular skill ingrained in Damien's body appeared.
Immortality was a reference to his regenerative abilities and bloodlines. The power to give him a true immortal body that couldn't be killed, something even Gods didn't have.
And the next four were the fused laws that made up Existence.
Their "completion rate" which Damien could only assume had something to do with reaching Godhood, was stuck at 75%, while the Authority of Existence was at 50%.
It wasn't hard to rationalize this one.
He had yet to combine those four fundamentals. Once they reached 100%, they would combine and his Existence Authority would reach 75%, and from there it was just a matter of comprehending Existence itself.
The new status window was far more streamlined than ever before, which Damien quite appreciated, and, within its simplicity, he could feel the complex workings of Divinity.
The powers that used to be under his control were still under his control, however, anything unrelated to his Divinity would be weakened to the extreme, which would eventually land him in a spot where he had no choice but to forgo everything else for its sake.
Luckily, Damien put his everything into that Divinity, so even if he did experience this consequence to an extent, it wouldn't be nearly as terrifying as it was for others.
'If I want to know more and confirm what I think I know, I have to go to the Heavenly World. My time in the lower universe is almost up.'
That was Damien's conclusion.
Everything from this point forth was in the Heavenly World. There was almost nothing left for him in Grand Heavens Boundary.
He already knew what he was going to do with his time before leaving, and he already made plans to leave.
But the first step was not in the Heavenly World or Grand Heavens Boundary, it was right here on the Ancient Battlefield.
Damien walked forward, his eyes landing on that man.
The Inhuman Emperor looked at him as well, those manic eyes wide and unsettling.
And they began their fight.