Walking along the streets, the neon lights of the upper Hive faded behind them, replaced by the flickering, yellow glow of bioluminescent moss and rusted steam pipes.

The deeper they went into the infrastructure of Abysshaven, the heavier the air became.

Damien walked with his hands in his trench coat pockets, his stride long and confident a stark contrast to the limping coward he had played moments ago.

"Isabelle," Damien broke the silence, his voice echoing softly against the wet metal walls.

"Tell me exactly what happened. After I grabbed the Veil."

Remembering he had been transported over to Lyra's body in a rush, he couldn't help but wonder how Isabelle survived against all the other angels there

And sure enough, hearing this question, she couldn't help but take a deep breath, a look of reminisces flashing through her eyes.

"It was terrifying, Master," she admitted.

"The moment your fingers touched the Veil of Stone, your body went rigid. Your eyes... they rolled back and turned completely white. Then you collapsed."

"Even though you said there was no time to rest, it wasn't until you actually collapsed I understood what you meant"

"Collapsed?" He asked

"Yes collapsed" Isabelle nodded grimly. "You were breathing, but your soul was gone. I tried to wake you many times, but nothing worked."

She hesitated, looking at his back.

"Master, you were unconscious for fifteen days."

Damien stopped walking. He turned around, his eyebrows raised.

"Fifteen days?"

'The Surface War lasted three days,' Damien calculated internally.

'Probably because of the backlash I wasn't able to wake up, it seems I should be careful when using this ability in the future'

Muttering inwardly, another question crossed his mind.

"And the Angels?" Damien asked.

"How did you get my body out of the Garden without being turned to stone?"

Knowing how they both struggled, he was extremely curious how she pulled it off

However, hearing what she said, nodded with understanding.

"That was the strange part," Isabelle said, her eyes widening at the memory.

"When you fell, I grabbed the Veil to carry it. As soon as I held it... the weeping angels stopped."

She mimicked the motion of holding the heavy stone blindfold.

"The statues didn't move. Even when I blinked. Even when I turned my back to drag you out. As long as I held their Sovereign's mask, they stood frozen in place like... like obedient soldiers."

Damien smirked. "Divine Authority. Even without unlocking it, the King's Crown commands the subjects."

Thinking of this, they both resumed walking, heading towards the sewers

"What about you young master, what happened?" Isabelle asked softly.

"For fifteen days... I couldn't feel you in the contract bond. It was like you vanished entirely."

Damien nodded. He couldn't tell her about the System or the DP purchase.

That was a secret he kept even from those he regarded as his own

Fortunately, he had long soon thought of a response for this sort of question should it ever arise.

"The Contract Gem," Damien lied smoothly, tapping his chest.

"It resonated with Lyra's danger. It pulled my consciousness across the void to the one person who needed it most."

Isabelle's demon tail flicked. "Lyra? Is she safe?"

"She is now," Damien said. His eyes darkened as he recalled the final moments of the war.

"The Surface was... messy."

He gave her the summary as they walked. He told her about the Second Prince mutating into a Void Monster.

About the destruction of the Dragon empire Army.

About using the collective Will of the continent to erase the Void Shrine.

"He's dead?" Isabelle asked, a growl in her voice.

"That bastard Prince?"

"Atomized," Damien confirmed. "Wiped from existence, the only way he could survive is if the void Demon God took action himself."

Isabelle let out a long, shaky breath. A weight seemed to lift from her shoulders.

"Good," she whispered, her fists clenching. "Leona... Lyra... I'm glad they survived."

The two had almost reached their destination, as they noticed the atmosphere changed.

The air here was thick, humid, and smelled of sulfur.

The abyss mana density was suffocating, poisonous to humans, oppressive even to demons.

Damien took a deep breath, filling his lungs with the toxic fog.

"Strange," Damien murmured.

"Master?"

"A few weeks ago, this air would have killed me," Damien said, flexing his gloved hand. "I had to circulate mana from you constantly just to stop my lungs from rotting."

He exhaled a puff of grey mist.

"Now? It tastes like fresh oxygen."

He looked at his skin. The faint, geometric tattoos of the [Hollow King's Authority] pulsed as his new crossed shaped pupils shone under the abyss light.

His Celestial Life Physique felt like it had evoked becoming a part of the abyss.

"I feel... complete," Damien whispered.

Muttering this, he reached over his shoulder. His hand grasped the hilt of the Pantheon Sword.

SHING.

He drew the blade.

When they had first entered the Abyss, the sword had been dull, grey, and dormant, starved of the Mana it needed to function.

Now?

As the blade slid from the sheath, it hummed. A low, predatory vibration that made the shadows recoil.

The crystal steel glowed with a faint, hungry white light, surcharged with the residual Will from the Surface War and Damien's own 7th-Order evolution.

Isabelle took a step back, the hair on her arms standing up. "The sword... it feels so much stronger."

"Indeed it is" Damien grinned, seeing his own cross-shaped pupil reflected in the steel.

"And so am I."

Saying this, they soon reached the end of their journey where a massive maintenance tunnel lay.

Before them stood a massive, circular grate, rusted reddish-brown and covered in slime.

Beyond it lay the vast, labyrinthine sewer system of Abysshaven, the underbelly of the city where the waste of a million monsters flowed.

The smell was horrific, a mix of rotting meat, alchemy runoff, and old blood.

Shadows chittered in the darkness beyond the bars. Hundreds of red eyes blinked in the gloom.

Damien stopped in front of a wooden sign nailed to the wall. It was painted in crude, dripping red letters.

[WARNING: KEEP OUT]

[ZONE: ABYSSHAVEN SEWERS]

[DANGER LEVEL: LOW]

[NOTE: MUTATED RAT INFESTATION]

Damien read the sign and let out a scoff.

"rats?" Damien chuckled. "Just use them to test how well my mana works in the abyss now that I have it back"

He swiped his sword through the air, the white light cutting a clean arc through the darkness.

"Isabelle," Damien commanded. "Stay close. But don't interfere unless I say so."

He kicked the grate open.

CLANG.

The sound echoed into the dark tunnels, silencing the chittering for a brief moment.

"I need to test this new body," Damien said, his voice brimming with arrogant confidence.

"And this looks like perfect target practice."

He stepped into the muck, the white glow of his sword illuminating the path ahead.

"Come on out, vermin. Dinner is served."

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