What did it mean to be an Absolute, and was it possible to attain that level without giving everything up?
It was a question that Damien never considered asking himself. He always just thought that he could have everything because his path had been smooth thus far, but would it really be that way?
He could become a Supreme with that attitude, but would it be able to take him to the final level of power that stood beyond the reach of even people like the Dark God?
Now wasn't the time to be searching for answers, but Damien would have to keep the question in the back of his head until he found the solution he sought. Erasing oneself wasn't about losing one's ego. It was about putting down all material thoughts and worries, becoming one with the mind of Nonexistence.
Damien could do this easily. He had already been in that mind state before. All he needed to do was reach it a second time. He closed his eyes and focused. He put away everything about the Dark God and the Heavenly World. He put away thoughts of his friends, family, and his own future.
When his pupils saw light again, they were hollow, amethyst voids. Though Damien was still present, it was as if his mind was in the clouds watching his body from above.
He finished following the procedures on the wall and stepped out of the bathhouse, not giving himself a second look in the mirror. His body naturally dried itself as he summoned a new set of clothes and put them on.
As if she could sense that he was finished, the woman arrived in front of the bathhouse door right as Damien opened it, bowing slightly.
"I will now take you to the second ritual."
It was the second of two. Damien was taken into a separate house. On the wood mat floors, there was an array of candles surrounding something of an altar. It did not have anything on it other than a single black rose, picked from the garden outside of the building.
There was another person in the room, an elderly man who looked to be the person the woman was referring to earlier. Damien sat down in front of the altar with his legs crossed. Seeing that he was in position, the elderly man began to chant.
The candles flickered with his words. The atmosphere in the room changed as Damien's mind experienced a euphoric sensation. Were there drugs in the smoke? Damien couldn't tell, but he knew that his body wasn't being negatively impacted by anything.
Since he was already present, he quietly allowed the ritual to proceed, focusing on the man's chants to see if he could decipher anything.
'The structure is completely different from anything I can make out. The Existence and Nonexistence that this man experienced are too different from mine, so I cannot use my own knowledge to understand his.'
Still, Damien listened. He tried his best to understand the message and emotions carried in those words. Though he was still clueless by the time it ended, he was glad he did so.
It was a new experience. Perhaps it would help him in the future, and perhaps it wouldn't. Regardless, it was an experience that defined Damien's existence.
No more words were spoken after the ritual ended. As if they didn't want to break Damien's state of mind, the elderly man and the woman both remained silent. Even while leading him back to the waters of nothingness, the woman only used motion to convey her intent.
It seemed that Damien's preparations were over. He followed the woman's example and sat in a meditative stance on the lakeshore. He closed his eyes, feeling the nearby presences disappear.
As his mind drifted into the blackness, the liquid from the lake leaked out and created a puddle under him. More and more water came out, cocooning him in its grasp and dragging him into the main water body.
Both his mind and body were submerged in Nonexistence, and once again, he was shown a story that he had never seen before.
It depicted a man who wanted to be king. He fought hard for his entire life, winning the hearts of the subjects and getting closer to the throne. When he reached it, however, he found that he could not sit on that seat?
Did the people not like him? Was he not worthy?
No, he was both well-liked and worthy. The citizens would surely follow him in their most desperate times and listen to him when they needed advice.
However, nothing the man did proved that he was worthy of being king.
He had to find that which made him worthy. He had to turn those citizens into loyal subjects who would not complain even if he made drastic changes to their livelihoods.
If those citizens believed that the changes he made were for their own good, then they would not complain.
A trusted king had the ability to convince his people to follow his lead in both peace and hardship.
Did Damien have that?
This story was about him, though it was not about his journey to be king.
Unlike Nonexistence's story which he was forced to interpret on his own, this story practically screamed its meaning to him.
This was not his meeting with Nonexistence as it was for everyone else. At the moment, the one speaking to him was the Void itself.
It needed him to prove himself, but it would never tell him how.
That was for him to understand. If he couldn't even do that much, then he wasn't worth considering for the position of king in the first place.
He was that man. He wanted to be king, and he'd won the Void's heart. It was willing to follow him when he was in hardship, but it was not yet willing to fully submit itself to his whims.
It needed him to prove himself, but it would never tell him how.
That was for him to understand. If he couldn't even do that much, then he wasn't worth considering for the position of king in the first place.
'Right, the final goal has always been the Void.'
He had to focus hard on controlling Existence to the point where he barely used the Void's power. Afterward, he had to focus hard on controlling Nonexistence, so the same situation repeated itself.
This realm taught Damien a lot about Nonexistence, but it was also constantly reminding him that this was only a single step in his journey. It may have been one of the last ones, but did that matter if he fell halfway up the final stair?
From the very first moment when the Void Physique unlocked and saved him from his misery, his goal was to go above all existing laws and stand atop the pinnacle of all things. Was that why his mind was being plagued by thoughts of being Absolute recently?
Now that he had reached such a point in his training, the world itself was telling him to stay focused and never lose the grit that brought him this far.
All Damien had to do was confirm it.
'I will not be satisfied until I conquer the Void.'
It was the meaning of his name, wasn't it? It was the very dream his father had for him when he chose it, wasn't it?
The second he made that vow, his time in the waters of nothingness ended.
Nonexistence wanted to enter Damien's body and become one with him from the moment he entered the water. The Void was only holding it back so it could hear that promise from Damien himself.
Now that the Void was no longer inhibiting its path, Nonexistence flowed into Damien's body and soul instantly.
His very existence was being changed.
"Harmony" was finding a place for itself in his being.