Void Evolution System

Damien's battle soon became far more heated. A third opponent appeared while he was dealing with the Nox mage, forcing him to divert his attention to others instead of finishing off the mage.

'It's not enough.'

A pair of eyes watched Damien's every movement, uncaring of the rest of the battlefield.

These sharp eyes were piercing and even a tad lustful in the intent they conveyed.

Naturally, these eyes belonged to the butler.

'The Master ordered him to be tortured to the brink before being killed. This isn't enough, is it?'

The butler bit his nails anxiously. Even though the elapsed time wasn't long, he wasn't satisfied with what he'd seen.

The battle was simply moving too slowly, it was too boring. It lacked the grandeur he'd imagined!

'These idiotic generals have no sense of unity. If they just worked as one, wouldn't he be captured simply? I refuse to let the Master's intentions be twisted by a group of barbarians!'

His thoughts swam maniacally through his head, tempting him into all kinds of scenarios he could use to entrap Damien.

At the same time, he remembered the conversation he had with the Saint Emperor months prior.

***

"Sebastian, I met quite an interesting child today."

The speaker was a tall grey-skinned man with black hair that flowed down his back like a river. His sclerae were black and his eyes were a piercing red color, but oddly enough, he gave off an impression similar to a scholarly young master.

"Who is this child, Master?" Sebastian answered his master's call.

"Haha, of that, even I'm not sure. However, he is extremely talented. He might even be a match for my son."

"For the Young Master?!" Sebastian exclaimed in shock.

"Mm, exactly. That child is a top talent that hasn't been seen in millions of years, yet the human side has a genius of equal standing. Isn't that interesting?"

The Saint Emperor smiled into the distance with blurred eyes. He didn't need them to see what he desired.

A boy with immense bravado and spirit, a boy with a bloodline that made his soul shiver, a boy with a strange yet familiar scent emanating from his body…

"Right, if anyone wished to match him, they must at least be at this level."

Turning back to the butler, he spoke once more. "Sebastian, I have a task I want you to execute. Even if it fails, I will not fault you. Consider it a simple…test, if you please. Find out whether this boy is a worthy opponent for Dante or just another ant that needs to be crushed.•

Sebastian bowed his head without a second thought and replied enthusiastically, "As you command, Master."

***

'The Young Master could kill these mere generals with a single slap! What does the Master see in that boy?'

The butler wondered as he looked at Damien. He was ordered to test the boy, but clearly, these lesser generals weren't enough to do so.

'If I'm to judge whether he is worthy of the Young Master's attention or not, shouldn't I test him myself?'

The butler smiled with a hint of mania as he stared up into the battlefield.

'To bring out one's full potential, one must first endure unspeakable torture, was it? Ah, Master truly has a way with words.'

With that thought, he made his decision. Though, it was better to say that he let go of his restraints.

'Master, forgive me if I kill him. If he dies, it just means he was too weak to face the Young Master anyway.'

The butler's body disappeared.

Time seemed to freeze.

And then…

BOOOOOOOOOM!

The air for several thousand kilometers exploded.

Damien only felt a sudden breeze pass by his face before the world flipped. He didn't even register the pain in his face until he'd shot backwards several hundred kilometers.

"Nngh!" He groaned, realizing that he couldn't properly formulate words. Before he could even regain his senses…

Bang!

Crack!

His body finally crashed into a rock several thousand kilometers away from the main battlefield.

His spine cracked on impact.

"Fmghk!"

Damien failed his attempt to curse from the pain. Soon after, his body fell out of the rock indent he'd created and fell to the ground.

Crack! Snap!

The sound of Damien's bones rearranging and fitting back into place was especially jarring in the silence this far away from the battlefield.

His face was a mess. His jaw was hanging loose and his skull was fractured in several places. It was a miracle that his brain didn't take much damage.

After his spine returned to one piece, Damien stood up and grabbed his face, snapping it up into its rightful place.

"Ahh, fuck. I can finally talk again. You know, I'm all for appreciating culture, but I can't appreciate a culture where a punch to the face is your greeting."

He massaged his jaw casually as he shot a glare into the sky. There, a figure stepped out of the rippling space and appeared.

"Oh my, well I dearly apologize if I caused you any fright. As you said, this is how we greet people in our culture, so it can't be helped, correct?"

"Tch, I didn't know being a Nox meant having no friends. What's the point of all that power if you're going to live a lame-ass life of servitude anyway?"

"Hohoho, you may insult me as you wish, but please do not direct any ire towards my dear master."

"And if I do?"

"Would you like to experience the answer to that question?"

The butler's eyes turned cold and his aura flared outward. Space shattered, unable to endure its pressure.

"I only wished to play a bit when I dragged you out here. I suggest you do not force me to be serious."

Damien smiled a cocky smile. He smiled as if everything in the world was below him, ants for him to crush as he pleased.

"I should be the one saying that to you, Cuck Emperor's Dog. You know, the same way I was talking to your bitchass emperor's wife last night."

"You…!"

"Hahaha! Your master is the Saint Emperor, so your Young Master must be the Saint King, right? It's crazy how I'm going to single-handedly curb stomp two generations of the same family line in the coming few years."

Damien almost cackled from the pleasure of insulting someone with such childishness.

Who cared?

Sophistry was meant for humans, meant for denizens of the civilized universe. It wasn't a tool that scummy barbarians like the Nox should be allowed to use.

'Right, everything belongs to us. For the ones who try to destroy it…?'

No mercy.

No negotiation.

No courtesy.

'Life is too short to be the bigger person.'

Damien thought it with a smile on his face as he revolved his mana carefully.

In the almost infinitely slowed time that Damien perceived, he was able to clearly see how the Box butler's face went from red to black.

He could clearly see how the aura around the butler's body became laced with killing intent.

And he could clearly see as the butler shot himself through the air like a comet, intent on slaughtering Damien with a single strike.