Sanity potions, thanks to Isabelle being a half-demon and the contract gem and celestial life physiqe sustaining him, Damien didn't need them

However, as a means of leverage and exchange in the future, he didn't mind having them.

And so with this in mind, they both left the rust bucket and walked outside the settlement

The only difference now is that no guard dared disturb them, especially after what happened last time.

"Amazing, isn't it? Such scenery doesn't exist in the main world of Elias. Had we not been forcefully trapped here, I wouldn't have minded coming here for vacation"

"Maybe even shoot a few movies"

Laughing to himself, Damien sighed with regret as he felt his body screaming with weakness

Although his research on fusing all his cores with abyss mana had started, it was far to early to see results.

Now being unable to afford anywhere to stay, they had to once again venture outwards to find a place to rest before starting commissions.

Fortunately, after a while, they found a pace

Here, the neon glow of Abysshaven didn't reach.

They had climbed high into the canyon walls, finding a hollowed-out alcove nestled within the petrified lung of a giant.

It was quiet, hidden from the prying eyes of the Drifters and the stench of the gutter below.

However, as soon as they stepped into the shadows, the "Warlord" façade crumbled.

Damien stumbled, his legs giving way.

"Master!"

Isabelle was there instantly. She caught him before he hit the ground, easing him down against the bony wall of the cave.

Damien tore the cracked silver mask from his face. He doubled over, his body convulsing in a violent fit of coughing.

SPLAT.

Thick, black blood splattered onto the grey dust. It sizzled, steaming in the cold air.

"Dammit..." Damien wheezed, wiping his mouth with a trembling hand.

"The recoil... is worse than I thought."

Using his half-made [will arts], projecting his ego to crush another mind, this required immense mental stability.

But his body was currently a wreck, poisoning itself with every breath of Abyss air. The strain was tearing him apart from the inside.

Even with Isabelle's help, the damage done wasn't that easy to recover

"Here," Isabelle whispered.

She didn't look like the demon who had just decapitated a two-headed mutant.

The red glow in her eyes had faded back to a soft, worried crimson. Looking at her young master, she reached into the void gem and produced a canteen of water and a cloth.

An item that, thanks to Elizabeth's overprotectiveness, had saved them many times to date

"Stay still, young master, I won't take long"

She said as she cleaned the black blood from his chin with a tenderness that belied the violence of her hands just an hour ago.

"You pushed too hard," Isabelle scolded gently, pressing the cool cloth to his feverish forehead.

"I know you're strong, but your body is still..."

"Broken?" Damien finished with a weak smile.

"Human," Isabelle corrected softly.

She sat down beside him, pulling his head onto her lap.

Damien didn't resist. The Contract Gem in his soul hummed, pulling purified mana from her core to stabilise his failing heart.

For a long time, there was silence. Only the distant hum of the settlement below and the rhythmic beating of Isabelle's heart against his ear.

"Gorim's story..." Damien murmured, his eyes fixed on the jagged rock ceiling.

"About the Madman."

Isabelle ran her fingers through his white hair. "Your father."

"Yeah." Damien let out a shaky breath.

"For sixteen years, I always wondered where he was, what happened, what did Aelinor mean when she said my family disappeared."

He closed his eyes.

"But to think the Void mark gradually eroded his sanity so much! I should have known!"

"If only I had grown stronger! If only I had been more attentive!"

"Back then, as I saw him smile, I thought everything would be fine, and I could go on my own adventure!"

A single tear leaked from the corner of his eye, hot and stinging.

"But Isabelle! Everything is not fine! The once honourable Voss family forgotten in the world, my father, the glorious world's strongest man, trapped with madness in this hellhole."

"My mother chasing after her lover and most likely the ancestor right behind"

"The rest of the Voss family, although I'm sure elder Magnus and the others are taking care of them, but it's not the same!"

"Are the heavens really after the surname Voss? Is fate really something that cannot be changed!?"

Isabelle's hand paused in his hair. Looking at Damien, this man who had defied the gods when he was only twelve years old

The same boy who promised to protect her, to call her family, to punch the void demon god and to cure his father

The boy who warned about danger in the future and assembled the world's most rebellious team

The united beasts, the elves, the dwarves, and he had even met a dragon during his journey

Yet such a boy was now on the brink of tears in her lap.

In a trance, she didn't know what to do, a major part of her just wanted to hug, protect and reassure him that everything would be alright

However, did she really have the right to say such a sentence?

Thinking of this, her eyes narrowed with determination.

No matter what, it was time for her to become his shoulder to lean on.

"We will find him," Isabelle vowed. Her voice was low, vibrating with a possessive intensity.

"We will tear the Corpse Collector apart. We will break the Rotting King. And we will drag your parents home."

Damien opened his eyes. He looked up at her.

In the dim light, she looked ethereal. Her horns, slightly longer now, framed a face that was no longer just the shy maid who followed him around. She was like a Queen in the making.

"You're changing," Damien whispered, reaching up to touch the tip of her horn. "The Abyss... it seems to suit you."

Isabelle leaned into his touch. She turned her head, pressing a kiss to the palm of his hand.

"Perhaps," she admitted. "However, I think the place that suits me best is right beside you"

She said this with her gaze full of affection and unwavering in nature

"It doesn't matter if I become a monster, as long as it's beside you"

Damien held her gaze. He smiled, a genuine, crooked smile.

"I am the Villain, Isabelle. Plus in this battle against gods, a monster seems like good help"

He squeezed her hand.

"So it's alright, as long as you're my monster."

Isabelle's breath hitched. A flush rose to her cheeks, darker than usual. She leaned down, her forehead resting against his.

"Always," she breathed. "Yours. Only yours."

The air between them grew heavy, charged with a tension that had nothing to do with magic. It was the desperate, clinging intimacy of two souls stranded at the end of the world.

Damien closed his eyes, drawing strength from her warmth.

"Get some sleep, Isabelle," he whispered. "We have a long day tomorrow."

Isabelle didn't move away. She shifted, curling around him like a dragon guarding its hoard, her head on his shoulder.

"Master?" she asked after a moment, her voice sleepy but curious.

"Hm?"

"That power. At the gate. And with the worm." She shifted slightly. "Gorim called it a trick. But I felt it. The air rippled. It wasn't mana. What was it?"

Damien opened one eye. He adjusted his position against the rock wall.

"It's called Will," Damien said.

"Will?"

"Yes, will, most people think will is a byproduct or just a necessity for breaking through 4th order, but I realised they are wrong! It's much more than that!"

"You see, Mana changes the laws of physics. Aura reinforces the body. But Will... Will overwrites Reality." Damien said, raising his hand with clenched fists

He looked at her.

"I realised it when I lost my mana. If I cannot use magic to burn the world... I must simply refuse to accept a world where I am weak. I impose my Intent onto the universe."

He dropped his hand, exhausted.

"I'm developing it into a system. Three Arts."

"Three?"

"Sensory Intent," Damien listed. "To see without eyes. To predict." "Will Cladding," he touched the dull sword next to him. "To armor the weak." "And King's Mantle," he touched his own chest. "To dominate the strong."

Isabelle looked at him with wide, shining eyes. "Teach me."

Damien chuckled softly. "Not yet."

"Why?" She pouted slightly. "I am strong."

"You are strong," Damien agreed. "But your mind is chaotic. The demon blood makes you rage. Will requires absolute, cold focus."

He stroked her hair again.

"Once we get to Layer 2... once I stabilize my cores and you learn to control everything better... then I will teach you. We will build a new magic system, together"

Isabelle smiled, satisfied. She snuggled closer into his coat.

"A new magic," she murmured, her eyes fluttering shut. "I like the sound of that."

Damien watched the bioluminescent moss glowing on the ceiling. He felt the Contract Gem pulsing, thump-thump, in time with Isabelle's heart.

He was dying. He was hunted. He was in hell.

But as he drifted off to sleep, holding the girl who would burn the world for him, Damien realized something strange.

He wasn't afraid.

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