“Haa…haa…”

Damien rapidly teleported away. He didn’t know how Hun Fang was doing after his attack, but he certainly wasn’t in good condition.

With two broken arms and a leg that was still in the process of healing after turning into meatpaste moments prior, he wasn’t in good shape at all. His internal injuries from Hun Fang’s sound attack had been healed already, but his organs had been considerably shaken up by the following physical combat. In short…

“It hurts like hell.”

But he wasn’t going to leave any loose ends. Void Flames sprouted from the air in front of him. Due to all the souls it had consumed while they were still inside the room, it had grown considerably.

“Go.”

At his command, the Void Flame shot into the collision area where Hun Fang was swallowed by the dragon’s breath and lit even the sky itself on fire.

The space was already filled with light because of Damien’s starlight and the brightness of the energy beam he had shot just now, but now that it had also been wrapped in flames, it truly looked like a sun.

‘Now’s my chance.’

He moved rapidly. The runes on his body changed to enhance his speed, and spatial mana raged around him. He disappeared from his position instantly, appearing in front of the purple fruit that he had been coveting. At that moment, an unexpected problem arose.

‘Tch! How am I supposed to grab this?’

The fruit was still being protected by an array of branches. If he wanted to claim it, he needed to move or destroy them. But he still needed a few seconds to heal the bones in his arms, so they were currently unusable.

As he was trying to figure it out, the air behind him exploded.

“NOT…SO…FAST…!”

Hun Fang’s ragged figure appeared without warning.

Crack!

Damien felt a sudden impact on the back of his head. His skull had cracked slightly.

‘What the hell!’

It felt like he was smashed in the head with a hammer. His vision was getting blurry from the sheer force. When he turned around to see what hit him, he finally saw Hun Fang’s condition.

If Damien thought he was in bad shape, he had to change his mind when he saw his opponent. Hun Fang looked on the verge of death.

His skin was charred black and falling off in flakes. Some portions of his muscle were already visible. His face looked similar to a certain DC villain, with one side no longer containing any skin. His arms and legs were dangling as if they were boneless.

Blood leaked from his body in insane proportions. It looked like it’d form a river below. Damien was surprised that he was even standing.

‘Did he just…headbutt me?’

It was an insane tenacity. His arms and legs were incapable of moving and from the looks of it, he was running out of mana as well. In that situation, wouldn’t it be better to give up?

Even Damien would do so if it wasn’t for his insane regeneration speed. But this guy in front of him was still fighting. Damien was sure that if his skull cracked, Hun Fang would still find another way to continue fighting.

‘What’s driving him so far?’

Damien couldn’t help but wonder. The Primordial Undying Fruit was indeed a Heavenly Treasure, but it wasn’t worth dying for. Hun Fang’s motivation couldn’t be so simple.

But now wasn’t the time to be thinking of it. Although he had sustained yet another injury, the time it took for Hun Fang to attack him was enough for his arms to heal enough to be usable again.

He appeared in front of Hun Fang in an instant. His leg whipped around like a whip and impacted him in the center of his chest.

“Urgh!”

Even as he was thrown away, Hun Fang didn’t yell in pain, only letting out a muffled groan.

Hun Fang didn’t have any strength left. Even the last attack was just one of desperation. After being pushed away, there was nothing else he could do to stop Damien’s advance.

‘DAMMIT!’ He furiously yelled inwardly. ‘I can’t lose like this! If I do—!’

“I don’t understand your resolve, but I can respect you as an opponent. Therefore, I thank you for the battle. It’s been a good lesson for me.”

Damien spoke seriously. He had learned too much from the battle against Hun Fang. From the weaknesses he still had to the things he had become overly reliant on without realizing it, there was too much he had to think over once he had the time to do so.

He bowed in sincerity. At the same time, his body flashed away. Hun Fang could only watch powerlessly as he did so.

Damien’s arms didn’t have any strength left in them, but he used spatial distortion to make up for the lack of strength. Within seconds, the branches keeping the purple fruit safe had been ripped apart.

That crystalline purple fruit was finally revealed before his eyes. But as he looked at it, he felt a wild and powerful aura spread from behind him.

‘Again?!’

He grabbed the fruit hurriedly and teleported away from where he stood. In the same second, the remaining branches of the Primordial Undying Tree’s peak were blasted to shreds.

“I. CAN’T. LOSE.”

Hun Fang roared. His mouth didn’t move. He had to use mana to move his vocal cords for him.

“COME FORTH, IRA. LEND ME YOUR—”

Damien knew what Ira was. It was the Sin of Wrath itself. He had been preparing to do everything he could against the final being Hun Fang was preparing to summon, but his preparation was in vain.

A shadow appeared behind Hun Fang without warning. A swift chop hit his neck, knocking him unconscious. He was already at the end of his rope, so it wasn’t a difficult task for the shadow at all.

That shadow enveloped the unconscious Hun Fang. A pair of eyes within stared at Damien.

And Damien stared back. Soon, though, he shook his head with a sigh. ‘It can’t be helped.’

He turned away from the shadow that was taking Hun Fang away and looked at the fruit in his hand.

‘It would be best to look for a better environment before consuming this. Let me save it for now.’

The Primordial Undying Tree tells you that it’s best if you consume it now. It says it will be able to help you digest its power if you do so.

Damien raised his brow with interest. Although it didn’t seem like an ideal situation, having help from a Demigod would definitely help him reap the most benefits.

His gaze turned to the ground below him. There, he finally saw the aftereffects of the battle he had just been in.

Within a hundred kilometers, all the existing flora had been torn asunder and strewn about. Within the debris were also the corpses of geniuses who couldn’t escape the blast radius.

But aside from the purple layer of leaves, the rest of the Primordial Undying Tree was standing tall, and the geniuses within it were also fine under its protection.

Among them, Damien’s gaze focused on a single one. Seeing her face now, he unconsciously smiled.

‘Just a little longer…’

As if she had heard his thoughts, Ruyue nodded at him with a smile. Seeing this, Damien only felt more guilty.

‘She’s been so understanding this entire time, but I haven’t done anything to reciprocate her trust. Looks like I have a lot of work to do when we leave this realm.’

Suddenly, his smile turned into a mischievous grin. Looking at Ruyue, he brought his hand to his mouth and blew a kiss.

And leaving a final wink while feeling the satisfaction of seeing Ruyue’s blushing face again for the first time in a year, he threw the purple Primordial Undying Fruit in his mouth and bit down.