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 Spaceti 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 Spaceti affinity were granted their own intents.
This ant that he had a far more direct connection with their laws. He would be able to utilize them with almost the sa 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 ca as a tiding of fate. Comprehension of the concept flowed into Damien's mind with the sa smoothness as Spaceti, almost as if telling him that he was always ant 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 ti I master this ability, will I truly beco 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 embodint of the Natural Law. Do not despair as you follow its trail.]
'Did this co from the system?'
That unbiased system without full sentience sent him a ssage like this? That was impossible.
'But this isn't manmade. That only leaves one option…'
It was a ssage 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 sowhat closer than before.
'There is a faint stream of sothing…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 to access more of its abilities. Yet, this improved Void Mana can't sense the stream?'
Damien's curiosity was imdiately piqued.
His body floated through space at a seemingly leisurely pace, but he traversed countless thousands of kiloters 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 treatnt 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 beca 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, soone'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 beco 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 an it'd be sothing 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 imdiately felt a strange sensation roll through him.
A tornado of fragnted mories ravaged his mind.
But at the sa ti, a beautiful whiteish-blue light enveloped his mind and brought serenity.
'I see. Is her ntal situation being worsened by sothing taking place in her body?'
Damien couldn't help with Zara's ntal 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 beco sothing 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.
The Nox Mana that polluted a majority of her body cowered in fear.
'Stop resisting and beco 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 rged with Zara's system, it ford a new deathly mana that Damien had never seen before.
A small smile ford on his face.
'Yeah, a mber of the Void Family should be at least this talented.'
Damien's smiling face imdiately scrunched up in disgust.
'…I'm glad I didn't say that out loud.'
While lanting the embarrassnt of his last na, he returned his focus to cleansing Zara's internals.
anwhile, within Zara's mind space…
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