Three pitch black stars that were crackling with deathly lightning. Three shining golden stars that were ablaze with sunflames. A single star in between them that fused the properties of both elements as if they were yin and yang.
And those seven stars encircled a moon that fluctuated with the light of spatial mana, being so densely packed that even the usually colorless mana gained a hazy glow.
Damien's fist looked like the revolving orbit of planetary masses around a sun. It was a truly mesmerizing sight.
But to Polius, it was hell. He couldn't see the beauty in the attack. He could only feel the palpable waves of destruction that spread from its surface.
His dark material sprung into action, becoming a densely packed shield in front of him that bore the impact of Damien's fist.
But this attack wasn't simple enough to be blocked by a mere shield.
A soul injury like what Damien had just sustained would leave most people incapacitated for unknown periods of time. Even if they were able to function, it was impossible for them to fight with their full power.
That was what both Polius and the dark material thought as they saw the attack flying towards them. By the time they sensed the destructive waves, it was already too late.
A massive explosion incomparable to any of those before shook the world.
The seven stars were already unstable due to the volatile elements that formed them, especially the seventh star that fused both elements.
The only thing that was keeping them in check was the silvery spatial moon that encompassed Damien's fist.
But when the moon imploded, the stars around it began to collide with each other. With each collision, the explosive force that rocked the atmosphere grew exponentially stronger.
The ground rolled like it was made of liquid, forming tsunamis of earth that bore down on the surrounding few kilometers. Space cracked into pieces and tried its best to repair itself, but every time a new star collided with the rest, the cracks were only blown open wider.
Polius was forced to stand in the middle of the scene of calamity. He still couldn't move his body. Truth be told, he had injured his own soul to strike Damien's. Otherwise, there was no way he could create a force that could surpass the physical plane and impact the soul.
That was the naked truth. It was also part of the reason Damien never encountered soul-based techniques before.
A mortal was never meant to sense or make use of their soul. Their soul was still in its growth phase, unable to fully blossom without the feedback from a Universe Baptism.
Since Polius abused the fact that the dark material was formed from a portion of a higher being to cast a soul attack, he naturally had to make a sacrifice. And that sacrifice was a piece of his soul.
Unfortunately, he was more normal in comparison to Damien. He was still bearing the brunt of the soul-rending pain. He knew that even if he escaped this battle alive, he'd have to recuperate for many weeks before he could function normally again.
And so, he could only rely on the dark material to bear the destruction he was being forced into. Wave after wave of destructive force impacted his body, bypassing even the dark materials protection. Combined with the pain from his soul, he was enduring the cruelest torture imaginable.
But if it wasn't for the dark material, his body would have already become ashes.
Finally, the colliding stars met with the seventh star, and the implosion of the spatial moon completed.
Wap!
It was an awkward sound to say the least. The deafening sounds of explosions were more domineering, but this unusual sound seemed to trump them even though it was much softer.
Polius was already disoriented, but his mind became blank when that sound entered his ears. In the next second, a suction force erupted in front of him and threatened to drag him in.
A small black dot had formed at the point of collision, and it was that dot that emitted the suction force. Even Damien felt like he was being pulled into it.
He hastily revolved his mana and constantly teleported until he was a safe distance away. He was lucky he reacted in time, because not even a second later the suction force seemed to multiply a hundredfold.
The rolling tides of earth were pulled back to their original position before vanishing into the black dot. Even though it was kilometers worth of rock and debris, the dot swallowed it like it was nothing.
The space that was almost repaired no longer had the chance to do so, as even space itself was being consumed by that black dot.
From the effects on the environment, one could infer how abysmal Polius's situation was.
The dark material clawed at the ground as it tried to gain footing, but it was no use. The ground that it latched onto was easily consumed by the dot.
It desperately moved back and tried to retreat, but it had missed the opportunity Damien had taken. Retreat was no longer an option.
So, it decided to fight. The dark material billowed out to a scale it had never reached before. The blackness in it was much much darker.
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Polius's body couldn't contain a dark material with this much power. It was no longer restricting itself to the strength of its host.
The only thing the dark material cared for at the moment was survival.
The raging dark material covered the black dot with its blackness, attempting to stop its suction with sheer force.
Crack!
A small crack appeared on the black dot as the dark material continued to pressure it.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Massive impacts rang out. The dark material had been reinvigorated by the crack on the black dot and became even more volatile in its attacks.
The cracks on the dot began to spread and the suction force began to weaken with time. As things stood, it looked like the dark material would win out.
However, there was one factor that forced that outcome to change.
The dark material was a parasitic entity. Without a host, it couldn't survive.
And what would happen if the dark material overexerted itself while ignoring its host's limits?
The force the dark material had used to combat the black dot's suction had already entered the realm of 4th class. Although it could've used 3rd class force to achieve the same thing, it didn't have the time to do so if it didn't want to be consumed.
That was the consequence of being in such close proximity to what was essentially a miniature black hole.
While the difference between the two was only a single class, there was a vast difference between someone who had undergone Universe Baptism and someone who hadn't.
When Damien's gaze landed on Polius's body, he was shocked to say the least.
The man was incredibly robust before. As someone who had practiced martial arts diligently for a long period of time, it was only natural.
Polius had a body that most professional bodybuilders would commit genocide to have.
But now, he was nothing more than a husk. His body had become as thin as a sheet of paper, where even a slight gust of wind would have him flying through the air.
His tanned skin had become an odd greyish-black color akin to a wilted corpse, and his eyes had sunken to the point where they looked hollow.
If it wasn't for the slight hint of life force Damien sensed, he would think the other man was already dead.
Well, he wasn't far away from it.
Polius was only seconds away from death due to the overexertion of the dark material. The dark material, no matter how strong its original power was, needed to use Polius's power to exhibit its strength.
And so, it had leeched his lifeforce to save itself from being consumed by the miniature black hole.
The dark material began to wither as it lost its source of energy, but the miniature black hole also began to disappear. In the end, it had barely managed to survive.
Or at least, that's what it thought.
As Polius's withered body collapsed to the floor, the dark material detached itself and began moving in a separate direction.
It was being summoned back to the being it originated from.
But before it could answer that summon, it found its path blocked by another body.
The body of the man who had put it in such a pitiful state.
And before it could react, Damien reached his hand out and grabbed it.
"Devour."