Void Evolution System

Once again, the core explosion revealed itself to the world.

Damien had a hard time containing it at all. Unlike the dark beast, it was incredibly volatile and always waiting for a moment to burst.

He kept it in a plane without space and time, so that its explosion absolutely couldn't happen, but the instant he brought it back to reality, it blew.

Damien knew to leave as soon as possible. Even then he was hit by a little wave of chaos that made it out through his portal with him.

However, the majority of the explosion was contained within the barrier he set up, completely engulfing Grand Duke Lance.

It had to be remembered that Malefice wasn't much weaker than Malevalon, which meant his core explosion was at a level that had more than enough power to harm and kill Supreme Gods.

But Grand Duke Lance was still a God in his own right. He immediately used his mana as a defense, blocking or redirecting the majority of the energy that came towards him.

Throwing was a nuanced power once he got used to it. Even if it was energy, as long as it was thrown, it fell under his domain.

As such, a defense like this was easy to hold up.

It looked like Damien had underestimated him.

'Well, that's probably what it looks like.'

But that wasn't the case at all.

Damien never underestimated Lance even if he was the weakest of the Grand Dukes. If he wasn't capable of at least some self protection, then he would've already been dead, right?

Grand Duke Lance was the weakest only because he was being compared to people with unreal strength.

As someone who was trying to kill him, Damien was forced to respect his strength and respond in kind.

That explosion which returned to the world was not the same as it was when it first appeared. No, it had been enhanced beyond belief.

Damien toyed with it while it was in that place without space and time. He played with forces that should've never been touched. He tried to master chaos.

It was the force of uncertainty. It existed to do things against the grain, to rebel against the ordered structure of the heavens.

Because only with chaos could there be progress and change. It was a force just as related to time as it was to destruction.

Damien had a hard time at first, because he was trying to take an orderly approach to comprehend it.

That was wrong from the start.

Chaos was chaos. If he wanted to comprehend it, he needed to let it run wild and do whatever it wanted to do.

The bomb was the perfect test subject. Damien could let it change and grow as it pleased because he was going to release it to kill. He didn't need to worry about chaos ruining things because that bomb was also chaos incarnate.

As such, he injected so much chaos into it that the bomb's base properties had changed.

Now…

Grand Duke Lance experienced it firsthand.

His barrier was torn apart, and every barrier he created after that was instantly dispersed into the environment.

He pushed his arm out, grabbing the energy so he could use his throwing talent to defend himself, however…

'I can't…?'

He couldn't touch anything.

His ability wasn't working like it normally did. He'd lost his power to grab energy like it was physical and use it to his advantage.

'Shit!'

The Grand Duke's power was limited in uses. Controlling energy was the most creative possible thing he could do with it, unless he wanted to mimic telekinesis.

He didn't have any ability to "create."

With his malakh unable to form a proper barrier and his power fluctuating as if it forgot its identity, he was left defenseless in the storm.

WHOOOOOOOOOOSH!

The sound was atrocious. It was hard to concentrate on anything when it felt like his eardrums were about to shatter into a million pieces.

His Godly body was filled with the energy of chaos. His skin burned off and his flesh melted like it was drenched in acid.

Grand Duke Lance roared as pain overcame his body.

He reached out with his soul, seeing if there was a way for even it to escape, but the instant it touched the outside chaos…

Something snapped within the Grand Duke.

That single ounce of pain was so severe that his spiritual world was shattered, leaving his mind in crumbs.

His body and soul would follow soon enough.

The power that was contained in that explosion…

It was enough to destroy a universe if it was used in the wrong place.

Even if it was a Supreme God, survival was hopeless.

After all, it wasn't an explosion that would end in a few seconds or minutes.

No.

This explosion would continue to rage on for months on end.

And by the end of it, nobody could know whether Grand Duke Lance would even be left with remains to bury.

***

It was like a bass drop.

A sound struck the earth and traveled through it until it was audible from anywhere on the planet.

Everyone looked in the same direction, and even if they were on the opposite side of the world, they could see the bright light on the horizon and feel the tremors that it caused.

Those in the immediate vicinity made treks to see it, realizing that it wouldn't be going away anytime soon.

Those who managed to reach it in time found themselves encountering an invisible wall that completely protected them against the terrifyingly beautiful energy storm taking place on the other side.

And vaguely, some of them thought they saw the figure of a man, or perhaps it was a ghost.

An evil spirit who was being tormented for his sins.

The massive dome of energy became a source for many folktales and rumors. Some even took it as an act of God and worshipped it.

The only people who could really know what was taking place were few.

Among them, Grand Duke Maveth.

He knew that energy. It felt quite familiar.

And he wasn't the only one.

A man who'd come here thinking it could become his new domain, Malevalon Straea.

He felt an energy that was close to him, one that touched his very bloodline.

The energy of his brother…

An energy that could only be released if he'd died…

He stared into the horizon with dull eyes that didn't reflect an ounce of emotion.

But deep in his heart, there was rage.

'My things…'

If Malefice's death aura was here, then nothing he left in the Heavenly World would remain if he ever returned.

It wasn't a feeling like grief.

The things he owned, the things that were his…

Those things were being destroyed.

And that filled his heart with more hostility than anything else.

'Damien Void.'

The Grand Dukes had been mentioning him frequently. It must've been his doing.

'The last time we met…'

…he humiliated him and ran off with the Celestial Prison.

'A revenge…'

'...and a reckoning.'

Malevalon Straea made his way towards the shining light in the distance.

And he wasn't the only one.

The enemies Damien was trying to draw in were all attracted to his bait.

This was the moment he'd been waiting for.

With Grand Duke Lance's death as his opening gift…

…Damien was going to show them what a real reckoning looked like.