Whatever Eximus' story was in the past, it was clear that he had been too corrupted by Chaos for any of that to matter. The entire story about his daughter had to be a lie since he didn't know anything about it, and the rest of his reasoning was just nonsense from the start.
"So, the gist of it is that you think the world order is wrong and you want to bring chaos. Cool. Who cares?" Damien said, turning to face Eximus.
"Basically, you're an easily influenceable person who was corrupted by Chaos and used as a vessel to do everything you've done. In fact, I'm starting to realize why I didn't recognize you as a projection from the start."
Damien scoffed. "You're all that's left of Eximus' ego. The body has already been taken over by Chaos."
It made sense. Eximus may have been feared in the past, but that was when he still had a proper state of mind. He was probably able to commit countless atrocities under the banner of Chaos, serving it as his God.
However, with the passing of time and the containment in this isolated space, that version of Eximus vanished. From the start, he was only chosen because it was easy to mold his beliefs. Chaos abandoned him when he ran out of use, stole his body, and used it to plot out everything that Damien had been chasing so far.
To say he had been thoroughly fooled was wrong, but he hadn't grasped the entire picture from what he investigated.
Nevertheless, it didn't change much.
"Eximus, you're a pathetic guy, you know that? You're one of those people who has delusions of grandeur without a single ounce of ambition. Some fortune landed in your hands and you suddenly became bold, but that's not who you are and that was never who you were."
Damien walked towards the monk, whose entire demeanor changed when Damien started talking.
His insecurity even from their previous conversation was enough to prove everything Damien said correct, but his current state was the final nail in the coffin.
At the end of the day, the reputation Eximus built for himself was constructed on a foundation of lies.
All of his deeds were also the doing of Chaos and Chaos alone.
Nothing and nobody had terrorized this island like Chaos had. It was as if the Spiritual God wanted to make sure that its record and reputation were never surpassed.
So, though Damien only said it jokingly…
'I guess I really am being led around by Chaos. I should be prepared to fight a Spiritual God, not a madman.'
Damien was given a reason to hurry and find a way out of the containment unit. If he was tracking Chaos, then it was definitely going to be more difficult than he originally expected. However, since the body still belonged to Eximus, it at least wasn't impossible anymore. "Wait! What are you doing?! Do you know who I am?! I am Eximus! Eximus, the ruler of Chaos!"
The projected ego clawed at Damien's legs, trying to grab his attention. Damien only sighed and ignored it.
'Technically speaking, he's also a victim, but if he didn't have a tendency towards madness from the start, then he never would have been chosen.'
A slight wisp of Nonexistence left Damien's body and took hold of the projected ego. At this point, it was fine for Eximus to disappear and pay the price for his sins.
'This is complicated.'
He didn't have enough time to check whether Chaos had possessed Eximus in its full form or not. If it had, then he was nowhere near equipped to fight it without using the Void too much and offending the Land of Nothingness itself.
He liked his chances more if Chaos had only partially escaped its seal in a weakened state, but was it safe for him to move without guaranteeing it?
Damien had killed many people in this realm and he'd seen many more die. It didn't affect him just as any other death didn't, but he had a deep understanding of the consequences of dying in this realm.
Everyone would forget him. Every trace of him left in the True Void Universe would disappear. His family, friends, and cosmos would be left as easy prey for the Dark God.
Was it worth risking that future for a society filled with people he didn't know? What if he lost his life over a whim and everything ended?
Still, he was never the type of person to run away from a bad situation.
'Even if I put aside my original reasoning and abandon thoughts of helping this island's people, fighting a Spiritual God is still a useful experience.'
If he won, it would yield him boons that were guaranteed to be extremely helpful to his training.
'And more importantly, Spiritual Gods are just a step below us.'
Fighting a true Spiritual God would be good practice for his fight against the Dark God. It was worth struggling if it made that fight easier.
Damien gripped his fists.
Never in his life had he been concerned about the stakes. He always moved first with confidence that he could destroy everything in his path and come out successful.
Being an adult, being someone with the weight and responsibility of the world on his shoulders, he couldn't just charge ahead like that anymore.
He had to think out his decisions and move methodically. He had to stay focused on only the goal at hand and do only things that would work towards said goal.
He couldn't have that same attitude of walking the line between life and death with a smile on his face anymore.
'But I can't forget it.'
Even if he became a truly untouchable entity, he could never forget that part of him that was absolutely confident in everything he did.
'It's not a matter of chance in this fight.'
Especially when Nonexistence was his chosen combat method, chance didn't exist.
As long as he had the mind to compete against the Spiritual God, he could take it down.
He placed his hand on the containment unit and let a pulse of power run through it. With that motion alone, the containment unit shattered.
'I've done enough thinking. I just have to flawlessly execute now.'
He had to kill Chaos.
Neither doubt nor uncertainty would stop him anymore.
Not after he'd come this far.
And so, a night passed. The artificial sun signaled the start of a new day, and more importantly, the start of a huge event on the third island. The crowd was already packed into the arena. Hundreds of thousands of people watched in person, while millions more watched through broadcasts. The announcements had already passed. The anticipation levels in the stadium were too high for the announcers to interrupt. They merely introduced the two people who were preparing to fight and got ready to make the call.
Damien and the Dragon Lord looked at each other from across the battleground.
The final moment to decide whether this event would end in blessing or catastrophe had come.