There was no massive explosion, no remarkable sign that his slash had even caused damage. There was only the darkness left behind once all light was consumed by that thin black line.
The world was silent. When light once again flooded the area, Damien was finally able to see the effects of his new art.
The ground had been cleaved in two even though the slash didn’t extend that far. Although the girth of the new chasm wasn’t anything major, the depth and length were indeterminable.
Other than that single far-reaching line, nothing else remained in front of him.
“Haa…”
The distant sounds of battle finally returned as everything went back to normal. It was only then that Damien realized how far he and Polius had moved from the original battlefield.
Each of their blows carried the power to wipe out tens of Captains at once, so it was only natural that they wouldn’t be confined to a small area while making their exchange.
As Damien caught his breath, his mind became focused on the sword slash he had just released. To him, it was more than just a mere skill. He had obtained a surprising amount of insight while he performed it.
Dimensional Severance. It was something he had been cooking up for a long time, but he never found the proper catalyst to turn it into reality.
A sword that could cut through even the dimension itself. This was a move that would be possible to use purely with his dimensional magic, but he hadn’t reached a high enough level of understanding to do so.
As such, he needed something to fill in the gaps. Now that he had unlocked his low-level Void Essence, he had finally found that something.
As for the black lightning, golden sunflames, and other additions he made before he cast, they weren’t necessary unless he wanted to increase the power output. As for why he did it, it was more instinctual than anything.
In that moment when he finally grasped Dimensional Severance for the first time, he simply allowed his mind and body to harmonize without trying to force his will into the process too much. And the results spoke for themselves. Damien had been able to eliminate the Commander without much problem.
Boom!
A sudden explosive sound filled Damien’s ears, which promptly began ringing as if he had just survived a nuke. His thoughts immediately scattered, his vision becoming blurry due to the abrupt impact.
Damien’s body had flown away before he even realized what happened, but after being in life or death situations so many times, he was relatively quick to regain his bearings.
When he focused his attention on where he was previously standing, he saw the body of a man wreathed in an inky black substance.
“Hahaha, that attack of yours sure was something! Whew, I really would have died if I was hit by it.”
The man talked in a casual tone, but his words were laced with an unseen rage.
Damien’s eyes widened in shock. Who else could the man be besides Polius?
“Impossible…”
Damien couldn’t help but mutter the word. It was truly impossible. With the restriction and pressure of Spatial Collapse blocking his retreat, it should’ve been impossible for him to dodge the incoming Dimensional Severance.
Damien was well aware of the power of the attack he had released. Even if it was him in Polius’s place, as long as he didn’t have the spatial element, he was guaranteed death.
“I can see that you’re curious about why I’m still standing in front of you. Since you’ve proved yourself as someone worthy for me to use the power bestowed upon me, so allow me to explain. Well, the best way to learn is by doing, isn’t it? So let me just show you instead.”
Polius’s figure disappeared, arriving in front of Damien before he could react. A massive hammer made entirely of inky black substance crashed down towards Damien’s head.
Bang!
Damien raised his arms in an attempt to block, pouring his mana into them to heighten his defense. But for some reason, it didn’t seem to have much effect.
Crack!
The sound of his bones breaking seemed especially loud in that moment. But Polius didn’t seem to hear it. His foot whipped forth like a scorpion’s tail and hit Damien square in the chest.
Damien shot back like a bullet once again, but the only black hammer followed his path. The hammer in the air morphed its shape and became a towering sword that stabbed towards Damien’s chest once more.
Damien’s body flashed backwards to dodge the slash, but in that moment, Polius grabbed the hilt of the sword and unleashed a wave of black sword intent that followed Damien’s movements. In the next instant, hundreds of similar waves joined it in its pursuit.
Damien’s face hardened at the sight. His body became wreathed in lightning as spatial essence coated him. Due to the restrictions of the Trial World, he could only teleport a single meter away from his position, but the sword waves were blotting out the sky, making one meter an even tinier distance than it already was.
With no other option, Damien was forced to block instead of dodge. He was so sure of his last attack that he put everything into it, and now he didn’t even have a weapon to fight back with.
His body twisted at unnatural angles, narrowly dodging each sword wave as they congregated on his position. But no matter how dexterous he was, he’d only be able to properly dodge if there was an opening to capitalize on.
“Keuk!”
In the end, tens of sword waves still managed to impact his body, riddling him with cuts and gashes. If it wasn’t for the fact that he was able to divert the majority of the force using vector control, he’d have been cleanly sliced in half.
By the time the sword waves ended, Polius had already arrived in front of Damien once again. The inky black substance on his body split into three, creating two clones of Polius to his left and right.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Three consecutive impacts rang out as the three Poliuses punched Damien at the same time. What followed was a bloody beat down with no mercy.
Damien was thrown around like a rag doll and continuously chased by the main body or the clones. Each time they attacked him, their fists made sure to land on a spot where he had already been gouged by the sword waves.
Damien had expended a great deal of mana and mental strength to execute the Dimensional Severance earlier, so he didn’t have much of a choice besides enduring the beating
.
His regeneration had already kicked in a while back, but with the rate at which he was being injured, it simply couldn’t keep up.
Polius flashed in front of Damien once again. The inky substance coating his body reached forward and attached to him, forcefully tugging him to the ground.
Bang!
Cracks spread through the earth from the force of impact. Damien felt something in his chest shatter, causing copious amounts of blood to flow from his mouth.
Without giving him time to rest, the inky black substance crawled up his body like a slime that was attempting to consume him. Damien instinctually let out a wisp of Void Essence when he felt the devouring force, causing the substance to reel back in fear.
Although his vision had become slightly cloudy from all the impact force he had to endure, Damien’s mind was still working clearly. From this distance, he could observe Polius more clearly.
It was then that he realized where the sense of incongruity he had been feeling came from. Rather than Polius controlling the black substance, it seemed like it was the other way around instead.
The substance was simply using Polius as a medium to execute its will. It reminded Damien of a certain symbiote with the way it acted.
‘Ah, Those dark imps did something similar, didn’t they?’
It had been so long that the memory didn’t surface until now. Perhaps it was because he didn’t truly regard the dark imps seriously at that time that he had forgotten.
The followers of the Nox had a trump card. For those dark imps, they exchanged life force in exchange for power.
But this Polius clearly had more status than those canon fodder that were sent to earth. His life force didn’t seem to be depleting as he used this power at all.
“Aha, it seems you realized something. Are you curious about how I’m able to access strength above my level like this? The answer is obvious. This is the benefit you gain from being an apostle of our Lord.”
“Keuk…that bastard Lord of yours really seems to love the color black. What, is this what happens when an edgelord evolves into a demigod?” Damien’s broken body shuddered as if he was disgusted by the thought.
“You still have the nerve to be arrogant at this time? Even with this kind of beating, you still haven’t clearly understood the situation you’re in, have you?”
Polius gazed at Damien, who was still plastered to the ground, in disdain.
“Say, I’ll give you a final out. How about you join us? It seems my Lord has taken interest in the power you used at that final moment. You’ve already seen it, the boundless power that can even dwarf the power you used at that time. If you gain this power, can you imagine how powerful you’d be? If you aren’t an idiot, take the opportunity you’re being given.”