Chapter 1559 Abandoned [1]
Ruyue's victory, Elena's victory, neither were the first to happen.
The first victory actually happened in a place nobody could expect, a place where nobody was watching.
The first victory of the war took place when a group of Demigods from the palace whose names had been written in no history books arrived at their target location and eliminated those they were ordered to eliminate.
They didn't make a fuss over it. They didn't try to gain recognition. They completed their task and returned to the palace without another word.
That was the start of it.
All around the world, countless battles took place.
Void Palace and Straea had been at odds for too long for either side to hold back as they finally clashed head-to-head.
Sometimes they lost, sometimes they won. People on both sides died at a relatively consistent rate for the most part, but once the real experts of the palace made their entrance, the scales tipped in their favor.
All of these battles were taking place at relatively the same time.
There was something of a difference between their timing since it took different amounts of time to reach the battle locations, however, as they all took place within a week of each other, this period of time was considered a time of reckoning in the Heavenly World.
Nobody was safe.
Hundreds of cities and towns were destroyed. Even more people died.
And through it all, the conflict between the palace and the Straea Clan continued to heighten.
It was rare for people to live in an area where they couldn't feel the trembling of the earth.
It was as if the entire Heavenly World was shivering, wondering when the war between its denizens would finally be over.
Luckily for it, this war was taking place in the shortest span of time possible.
The way Straea set up this confrontation made it so it would all end fast.
Everyone was fighting at the same time, so the results of this war would come out by the end of the month.
However, because all the battles were taking place adjacently, reinforcing another group was simply impossible for the most part.
Damien had to move fast during this time. He was mediating everything and making sure everything would end with Void Palace's victory.
He'd already defeated five Gods from Straea. As he continued looking over the Straea groups, he realized that Duke Horacio was actually not like the rest.
He originally believed the Foreign Races had planted themselves within Straea to try and kill him, but that wasn't correct.
It was really only Horacio.
The rest…
Well, the rest had actually withdrawn.
When Horacio was converted, Damien completely removed the Sacred Abyss Universe's influence on him. As such, the Foreign Nobility believed he had died.
They didn't know he was still alive as Damien's slave.
Considering that a Duke had died, they realized that they had to be a bit more careful with Damien.
They had to send either a group of Dukes or a Grand Duke to stand against him.
And if they wanted to eliminate him completely, they first needed to separate him from everything that could protect him.
Damien was somewhat safe, but not completely.
He had a moment of respite as the Foreign Races regrouped, but a moment was only a moment.
They wanted him dead no matter what, which meant there was no way for him to escape the threat to his life unless they all died.
The war was, of course, Damien's main priority.
But there were a few more things he was paying attention to.
After all, the world was too big for the war to be the only thing happening.
Damien was currently far away from society, in a place that was made specifically so that others couldn't find it.
Here, there were four people who were hiding away, trying to avoid all conflict until they could return to their primes.
They were the 4 Evils.
Envy, whom Damien had met before, sparked something inside of him.
Was it compassion?
He went sure.
Whatever it was, it was a feeling that he never really entertained.
As such, he was curious about their group, about them who seemed to be headed towards reform.
Envy had already been home for several days. She'd already explained her encounter with Damien to her peers, and she'd already fed Wrath the fruit he'd given her.
Originally, there was a lot of confusion about how she'd returned.
It became evident that Damien knew where they were hiding, which was incredibly dangerous for them.
However, Envy placated their wariness.
If he wanted them dead, he never would have let her go.
He never would've given her the means to cure Wrath.
However, even she wasn't expecting him to visit.
He just appeared in their small hideout as if nothing was wrong.
And immediately, they all put up their guards.
Damien looked around.
Lust and Gluttony looked the same as before. Envy was looking healthier than she did when he saw her on Ice Luan Mountain, while Wrath's body was covered in bandages that he hid under his clothing.
"You guys are…"
He didn't want to say it, but it came out subconsciously.
"Never mind, don't worry about it."
He decided against saying the last word, since he didn't come here to form enmity with them.
"You…"
Wrath growled at him.
This entire situation was sudden and confusing. His instinctive reaction was to show hostility and try to establish dominance.
It was animalistic, but it made sense considering his circumstances.
"Relax," Damien said, not letting him say anymore.
"I'm not here to fight you. I'm here to offer you an opportunity."
"I don't want your goddamn–"
"Stop!"
Envy stood in front of Wrath and stopped him.
"Let's listen to him first. If he really says something preposterous, then we can talk about it then. Don't cause problems where you don't need to."
She was the only one who had accepted the situation for what it was.
A man with untold power was in front of them telling them he'd come bearing gifts.
This was a man who only she truly understood the heights of, a man who they absolutely couldn't offend.
Even if he came here to kill them, it wasn't as if they could do anything about it.
So what was the harm in listening to his offer?
"Tch."
Wrath clicked his tongue and looked away.
Envy was…
She was the only person he'd listen to.
She'd gone to such lengths to save him. He couldn't just stand here and argue with her when she clearly only had his best interests in mind.
Damien calmly waited for them to sort themselves out.
'Maybe I should stop teleporting places.'
He wondered if it was better to enter naturally so these interactions could take place as they were meant to.
'Nah, it's too troublesome.'
In the end, it was easier for him to just do things the way he wanted to.
Others would eventually accept it.
Nevertheless, with Wrath placated and the rest still watching him with the same wary expressions, he said his piece:
"Let me enter your minds."
That was his main purpose in coming here. He wanted to see what was going on in the minds of the other Evils, to see if Envy's change was consistent or unique to her.
"If I like what I see…"
He didn't come empty-handed.
He truly did bring them an opportunity. It was just a matter of whether they saw it as one or not.
"I'll return all of you to Divinity and heal your injuries."
The only caveat was that they'd have to lay down their arms and never act against the palace again.
Even as they listened to him, it seemed too good to be true.
But Damien never did things without purpose.
And when he'd already set a precedent of being willing to help…
It wasn't too much to just let him do what he wanted, right?
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢