“You understand what I want to ask, right?” He said, addressing Hassan’s formless voice.

“I do,” Hassan responded succinctly.

“Then…?”

Damien didn’t get a response for a long time.

It wasn’t an easy decision to make, after all.

Did he want to give up, or did he want to try again?

Hassan was unsure whether or not the man before him could grant him the redemption he still wished for in the bottom of his heart, but it was true that Damien was the only individual who had been able to enter his spiritual world and survive the tumultuous journey of his memories.

Yet, even if Damien truly could give him a chance at redemption, did he want it?

He wasn’t good for anything. He couldn’t grow his power without binding worlds, but he couldn’t bind worlds without experiencing torture.

He was tired of torture.

Hassan had lived his entire life, over 100,000 years, being tortured.

What else could he contribute?

Did the world even need him anymore?

It was a new era, and in this new era, there were geniuses like Damien and the girl who came with him who could fight with such determination against the terrifying threat posed by the Nox.

How could he help them?

Hassan had lived most of his life in solitude, alone in this quiet realm with nothing but his thoughts to entertain him.

His mind was much more rational than one expected from someone who found themselves in this situation.

He thought about it rationally.

If he couldn’t provide any benefit to the universe and the innocents he’d hurt so terribly, there was no point in living. The best way to atone for his sins would be to suffer in the afterlife and in his next life.

In the end, he could only sigh.

“I can only offer two things: my talent and the Clear Lake Heart. However, neither of these things can be given to others,” he finally said.

Damien raised his brow. “What do you mean?”

“The Clear Lake Heart can only ever recognize one owner. If it is removed from my body, it will fade back into the universe and be reborn as a new treasure,” Hassan explained.

Damien frowned.

‘With this attitude, it’s clear there’s no way for me to convince him to continue living. But it seems he’s not willing to leave if he can’t contribute anything.’

Damien decided to follow his usual style and be completely honest.

“I can work around both of these issues. I can inherit your talent, and if you’d like, I can bestow the Clear Lake Heart on someone worthy of its power.”

“Is this possible?” Hassan asked incredulously.

“Maybe not for other people, but it is for me. The only question is: are you truly willing to die?”

“…”

“…I am.”

Hassan made his stance clear.

Damien sighed.

This was the third.

The experts of the olden era were never willing to live in this new generation, and Damien couldn’t blame them.

Everyone and everything they knew was gone, and as strangers in this new world, their only purpose would be to be used as tools of war.

Nobody wanted to live such a dire fate.

Damien could only acknowledge their existences and carry their stories within him, so their legacies never died out.

“Whenever you’re ready, I can start the process. Do not worry. You will not feel any pain,” Damien said firmly.

And Hassan…even though his spiritual form was incorporeal, Hassan smiled radiantly.

“Very well. Do what you must.”

Damien gently allowed Void Mana into Hassan’s spiritual world. With the latter providing not a single hint of resistance, it was an incredibly smooth process.

And when he finally gathered enough mana, he uttered that sacred word.

“Devour.”

Hassan closed his incorporeal eyes.

The Clear Lake Heart kept his mind lucid at all times, which meant pain could never inhibit his thoughts.

Rather, he felt the pain much more clearly due to the heart’s influence.

Yet, in this moment, even though he could feel his life force and spiritual world being sucked away in a vacuum of mysterious force…

…he didn’t feel any pain.

The feeling of death slowly encroaching upon him, the feeling of drowsiness that lulled him into the eternal sleep he’d been longing for, he cherished it to its fullest, finally free from the torture that life had been.

Eventually, Hassan’s body wilted into a soulless husk, and his spiritual world became nothing more than an empty plane lacking any ego.

Damien felt his body changing. That pleasantly painful feeling of the Void Physique altering his body overcame him, and the trait, Law Controller manifested itself on his status window.

When the process ended, he opened his eyes and swept his palms through the air.

Shing!

Shing!

Shing!

Shing!

The chains stabbed through Hassan’s arms and legs were cut away, and his body disappeared into the Sanctuary.

Perhaps to Damien, this was just another encounter with an unfortunate senior.

Perhaps to Damien, this interaction would be nothing more than one of many Legends that led to his eventual ascension.

However, to the universe, it was something much greater.

Hassan was dead, which meant his influence on the universe would begin to fizzle out.

Those 6 remaining Infected Source Worlds wouldn’t feel the effects for a few months due to the solidity of the laws established on them, but Holy Light Star felt the influence of his passing almost instantly.

And Damien himself…

…soon realized that Hassan’s gift to him had propelled him into his 2nd revolution of the extreme peak.

***

The Prismatic Sun Holy Master’s mana held the same rainbow color as her eyes, and its effects were equally mystical.

As she fought against Malak and his group, she displayed prowess far surpassing Pandora’s level, utilizing a Law that held such profundity it could be compared to Damien’s Spacetime Laws in pure aura fluctuations.

However, despite the strength she held as an individual, she was still confined to Pandora’s body.

Unless she wanted to turn her disciple into a waste by overexerting her body and promoting her strength too much, she had to conform to several restrictions.

The problem was that Malak had his full strength, so the best the Holy Master could do was fight him evenly.

Their battle had gone on for several minutes already, and Pandora’s body was reaching its limits.

If there wasn’t a change soon—!

It was like the gods listened to her wishes.

Voom!

The entire Holy Light Star shook. There was no massive mana pulse or other catastrophe that accompanied this shaking, but “something” changed.

Holy Light Star…became a dead star.

With no World Core, with no world laws, there was no longer a means to maintain the calamity cycle, nor was there such thing as a restriction remaining in the realm.

The Nox lost their advantage, and the vitality stolen by the realm itself was returned to the air and reabsorbed by those it was stolen from.

With Damien’s pyrrhic “victory” against Hassan, there was nothing left to be said.

This battle was already won by the Grand Heavens Boundary.