Just what was the connection between them?
Damien knew that the Dark God was familiar with the Worldwalker, but he assumed it was one of many fate lines that appeared as the Worldwalker walked his journey across the Void.
However, that city painted a different story. The fact that the Dark God was so quick to kill him yet positioned him so that his death allowed him to imagine a situation that did not occur in reality was suspicious.
It was clear that he had a seething hatred for the Worldwalker, but its origin was still a mystery.
Damien appeared as himself this time. He was in the First Dungeon, which meant that if the battle was allowed to continue without any interference, it would take a very long time for them to determine a victor.
Every time they killed each other, they left a piece of their own energy in the other person's mindscape. That energy meant nothing in small amounts, but as they continued to fight, kill, and die, the amount of energy would increase until it was enough to kill indefinitely.
The goal here was to win more than one lost so that in the end, one could kill the other before it was too late. If their minds were broken, their opponent was given the opportunity to do anything and everything while they were automatically recovering.
Allowing another Supreme so much freedom and control was practically begging for death.
Damien didn't need to walk to find the Dark God. The moment he returned to was then, when he first met Zara. She was facing a beast tide back then and needed his help to survive.
He originally assumed that the Dark God would appear as the young wolf, but that was incorrect.
'He must have found a way to influence things.'
The Dark God put himself in a beneficial position. Rather than becoming a single entity that he could not understand, he split himself into many forms and took control over the entire beast tide.
Of course, he was in control of the wyvern as well.
All of those beasts turned to face Damien with fury in their eyes. That fury was directed at him, but it seemed to be coming from the wrong place.
'What is this feeling?'
Damien was starting to believe that he was not the enemy in the Dark God's mind.
Still, he was the one fighting. The Dark God's malice landed on him only because there was nowhere else for it to go.
The horde of beasts charged at him, forcing him to fight back.
They were no longer the same beasts he fought before. As the Dark God gained some control over the mindscapes, he was able to tip the scales and shift the memories.
More specifically, he exploited Damien's old memory of this place.
When he was traumatized still, he viewed this part of his life very differently. In his mind, those beasts were invincible entities that were practically the apostles of death.
That was how he was forced to fight them. With his small power as a low-level being, he had to face them like it was his first time.
The Dark God clearly could not speak in his current form, but his thoughts were perfectly conveyed as their mindscapes were connected.
His seething rage provoked him to tear apart anything and everything. The very fact that Damien appeared in his memories as the Worldwalker sent him off the edge.
His personality was actively changing.
Or rather, his personality was finally coming out of the shadows. Everything that he kept hidden behind the veil of confidence and godly demeanor came to light, and Damien was the one who had the pleasure to experience it.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Explosions ran rampant in the cavern as a battle erupted in full force. Damien was back to his old ways, teleporting and using the Void Sword Art to maneuver through the crowd and kill as many beasts as possible.
All the while, he was in his thoughts. There was an entire battle ahead to consider everything he was questioning about the Dark God.
More importantly, he needed to turn the tides in his favor.
'At this moment, neither of us have left much of anything in each other's mindscapes. But, he is gaining strength and I am stagnant.'
He also wanted to find out how to change the memories to benefit himself. He also wanted to become bigger and stronger so he could unravel everything he wanted to know and defeat his enemy.
Instead of ending the battle rapidly, Damien tried to prolong it. He took the chance to focus on the mindscape itself and become familiar with its ways.
The Dark God had time in the first world to learn. He had time in the second world as he held the absolute advantage the entire time. Damien never had this time. He was forced to create it in the midst of battle just to make the same achievements.
'It all comes back to our concepts.'
At the end of the day, even this space was created through the merger of Existence and Nonexistence. It looked like a stroll through memory lane, but it was nothing like that.
These scenes were merely manifested because they were closest. They could be reached easiest, so their environments could be recreated to house the two Supremes.
To gain influence and change things, all he needed to do was properly use Existence and Nonexistence.
Luckily, the Dark God taught him exactly how to do that.
Damien killed and killed and killed. He was used to killing mindlessly, so he didn't pay the Dark God any mind as he focused instead on the mindscapes themselves.
It did not appear in their reality, but his energy was definitely in use. It surrounded the mindscape and created a cocoon, allowing Damien to influence it.
His eyes widened slightly. As he wrapped his energy around his own mindscape, it touched upon something else as well.
He tried to stretch his power further, but that secondary space resisted fiercely.
Damien grinned. That space could only be one thing. He couldn't completely cover it, but he could definitely grab onto the edge.
That was enough. He placed as much energy as possible in the space between the two areas and brought them closer and closer.
He forced them to bleed together.
The space shook as its structure was broken. The Dark God's power advantage disappeared along with all of the other conveniences and cons of this First Dungeon clone.
And, as Damien cut down the last of the beasts, he jumped and shot into the hole that appeared in the sky.
This battle was clearly not anywhere near its end, but this installment of it was surely getting there.
This was a perfect place for him to answer all of his questions about the Dark God. In this place where the Dark God could not hide himself, he could reveal everything about that hidden entity.
The Dark God's mystery was the only thing that kept him fearsome.
Damien was no longer different from him.
If that layer of shadows was ripped off, if the Dark God's true self was revealed to the world…
…then Damien would absolutely win.
He had no doubt about it.