The two stayed still for many minutes, reveling in the taste of each other's lips before Rose decided to pull away.
Rose was first to speak. "When are you going back?"
"Not long after we leave the secret realm. It's been my plan since the beginning." Damien replied.
Rose stayed silent, falling into thought. It was only an entire 5 minutes later that she spoke again. "I'm coming with you."
"Eh?" Damien was forced to do a double-take. She was coming with him? Their relationship wasn't that deep yet right?
But Rose didn't allow him to possess too many questions. "That's right. I'm coming with you. I can see that you want to convince me otherwise, but you should know by now that it's impossible."
Damien stared into her eyes for a bit before shaking his head wryly.
"So, when we get outside I have to explain to the emperor that not only have I kissed his daughter twice, but I'm also going to be taking her to a different world? Aren't you just asking for my head?"
Rose shrugged. "I'll tell him with you, so it'll probably be fine. Besides, he knows my love for adventure, so he will most likely be supportive."
"Fine, I'll take you with me. But you have to give me a clear explanation of why you want to come after we leave this place."
Rose nodded. They had already been wasting time with their drama instead of proceeding forward, and they only had around 2 months left in the secret realm. It would be foolish to continue wasting time.
As the two of them stood up, Zara suddenly chimed in, "Damien, why were you guys biting each other?"
"Cough!" Damien almost choked on air when he heard this question.
Zara had no problem randomly talking about "mating" but her innocence always showed when on the topic of human customs like kissing. Even though Damien knew she was the same age as him, he had trouble treating her as anything but a child.
"Ah, don't worry about it. That's just something humans do when they like each other a lot." He responded, attempting to evade the question.
But Zara didn't let him off easily. "So when I lick your face, we are kissing too right?"
At this point, Damien was only seconds away from rolling on the floor in awkwardness. "Ehm, yes you can technically call that kissing, but it's different. Don't worry Zara, you won't have to know any of these things soon."
Zara was still confused why Damien was looking so fidgety when he was talking, but she ignored it. 'Humans are interesting!'
With their small drama over, the trio finally made their way over to the ancient door at the end of the hall. It was obsidian black in color, matching Damien's ring, and contained countless intricate designs on its surface.
Speaking of the ring, Damien had already put it on his right middle finger, next to his spatial ring that was on his index. It was the least he could do to show his respect for Kurt.
Damien stopped in front of the door and turned towards the other two. "I don't know if their strength has been hyped up or anything, but the one on the other side of that door is part of a race that used to easily wipe out humans on this planet."
Rose nodded solemnly as she continued his sentence. "Right, it's better to be over-prepared than underprepared. Don't worry about us and open the door."
Damien nodded as well and followed her wish. All it took was a slight push and the ancient door swung open, revealing the scene inside.
There was a massive cavern-like room filled with artistic sculptures and designs, looking like the main hall of some royal family. The only difference was, the room was mostly empty.
Only two things stood within the room. At the very back center of the hall, stood a massive black obelisk that pierced towards the heavens. Even though it had most likely been over 1000 years since its installment, it was still pristine as the day it was made.
The other thing in the room stood in the very center of it all. It was a large creature, around 10 feet tall, with a humanoid body and massive wings. Its skin was darker than a starless sky, while its wings took the same color, looking slightly similar to Zara's.
Its body was masculine and naked from the torso up, with what looked like torn pants from the waist down. It was packed with muscles more pronounced than even the most athletic men on earth.
And finally, its face. Its face wasn't visible at first, but when the trio properly entered the room, the entire being's figure jerked.
As if waking up from a previously eternal slumber, the being slowly raised its head. Its eyelid fluttered and slowly opened. Lid, not lids. The creature did not seem to possess a nose, instead having a massive cycloptic eye that took up a great portion of its face. The first thing it saw? Small humans that would be a great first meal.
Its massive mouth twisted into a wide grin, which literally spanned from ear to ear, it's teeth sharper than any blade. Even if it was more normal than any of the depictions from the previous hall, its head was alien enough to terrify any normal mortal.
It was already in a standing position when it was put in stasis, so it stretched out its arms as if waking from a long nap. And then, it finally spoke. Its grating voice caused goosebumps to involuntarily form on Damien's arms.
"Good good good! Humans! I don't know who prepared this feast for me, but I shall partake in kind!"
Then, it charged at the trio. Damien went left while Rose went right, with Zara melding into the shadows and disappearing. When the Nox finally attacked, it didn't manage to hit anyone.
It wasn't disappointed, though. It had been many years since it had prey, so it was fine with playing the long game. As its eye scanned the surroundings, its two arms snapped. The joints where its elbows should be had inverted, and its forearms and hands had sharpened. Its arms now looked like two scythes.
The first one it decided to target was Damien since he had already charged an attack. Damien grabbed his sword and got ready to parry the oncoming creature.
Boom!
A loud sound was produced by the clash, but the temple was too sturdy to even rumble on impact.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Damien and the Nox kept flashing violently, both aiming for the kill, but Damien quickly found himself encountering a problem. When his blade struck the Nox's scythe-like arms, the impact was hard, as it should normally be.
But whenever Damien changed his target and attempted to inflict true damage to the creature, something mysterious would happen. The area of the Nox's body that he struck would change, becoming ink-like in its texture. The inky substance would then stick to his blade and attempt to swallow it into the Nox's body.
'Their main power must be their bodies. Let's try fighting with elements now.' Damien activated his vector field and immediately used his sword art. His body became illusory as he disappeared and reappeared in countless areas surrounding the Nox, sending massive spatial tears in its direction.
The Nox let out a grating laugh. "Kekekekeke!" And then it made another wild move. Its body was suddenly cut into multiple pieces, the unused parts splashing to the floor like water.
The Nox was now riddled with holes as if it was on the verge of dying, but it was still laughing madly. Every single spatial tear Damien sent in its direction passed through it without doing damage, the areas of impact having been cut from the Nox by its own two hands.
As the danger passed, the inky substance on the floor flowed back into the Nox's body, filling the holes that were previously there.
The Nox watched Damien with anticipation. This scene usually made its prey feel despaired and helpless, but it was bound to be disappointed.
Currently, Damien only had one thought in his head. 'What would happen if I devoured it?'
It was at this time that Rose and Zara made their move. Now that its power had been gaged, the trio decided to use their full prowess to defeat it. Any mistakes would lead to an early death, which none of them wanted.
Appearing at the Nox's back without any warning, Rose grinned and raised her arm.
"Illusory Throne."
The entire room faded to black, with the only things left being Damien, Rose, and the Nox. For the first time, the Nox became wary.
A massive ethereal throne manifested behind Rose, and from it, hundreds if not thousands of blades emerged, flying towards the Nox.
BOOM!
The impact was louder than any of its clashes with Damien.
"KREEEEEE!"
Oddly enough, there were no injuries on its body, but the Nox was forced to screech in pain. It attempted to charge at Rose, only to fall into the floor. It then jumped, attempting to return to its previous elevation, but it ended up moving to the right, into a small box-shaped room.
Time continued to pass and the Nox was getting frustrated. Whenever it moved, it would end up in a different small room, and every direction it took was different than the one it intended. It had completely lost its bearings in the pitch-black world.
The Nox once again was forced into a small room, but this one was different. Biting cold filled the room and tried to infect the Nox. Projectiles of ice randomly shot out, wanting to pierce its body. The Nox once again separated parts of itself, but this was the wrong decision.
The second the inky liquid touched the ground, it was frozen at a molecular level and briskly shattered. It was the first time since the fight started that the Nox had taken damage.
This cycle continued, with Rose leading the Nox randomly and forcing it into a state of confusion and Zara slowly freezing its body, injuring it. Damien could only stand by and watch incredulously as this happened. It was the first time he was useless in a fight. But he knew he had a method to help.
Using space as a medium, Damien forced the molecules in the area around him to vibrate intensely, generating a superheated plasma. Then, he gathered all of this plasma into one place, preparing a final attack.
If freezing it at a molecular level could break the Nox, burning it should have a similar effect.
The Nox was on its last leg, its body had thinned considerably and much of the substance making up its structure had been broken off. Finally, Zara was able to freeze its legs still.
"Now!" Rose shouted.
"You don't have to tell me twice!" Damien responded. Like a certain overpowered guy in a world where people were named after vegetables, Damien stuck his palms forward and unleashed the massive beam of plasma he had been preparing.
VOOM!
Just the beam's movement was enough to cause the air to split. Nothing was allowed to exist within the same space as this plasma. Seeing the beam heading in its direction, the Nox screeched once more, but it was unable to move.
Zara had thoroughly trapped its legs and was freezing them even as the beam approached. Without any suspense, the attack hit its target.
And with only a final harrowing screech, the Nox disintegrated into nothing but particles.
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