Chapter 446: Chapter 448: Unrelenting The road to the academy was surprisingly smooth. Damon had expected some kind of incident—knowing his luck—but nothing happened. Now that he was far from the Grand Duke, he could finally allow himself to relax. He thought about Leona, Sylvia, Evangeline, and Xander... Leaving abruptly without talking to them wasn’t his best moment, but he had too much to think about at the time... More than that, he had been eager to leave. After all, it would be suspicious if he suddenly started coughing up blood. He could have let those nobles hit him and acted like that was the reason, but he couldn’t let those weak, inexperienced fools touch him. That would be an insult to anyone who had actually put in the effort to obtain their power. "As if I would let fools who probably relied on expensive potions to rank up..." They had some training, but that was about it. Even goblins had more coordination than them. The airship had been traveling for two days... The world of Aetherus was a big place. Soltheon was huge. But that wasn’t the only reason why a flying vessel would take so long... The truth was, it had to take safe air routes—free from monsters or natural anomalies. If they passed by the wrong air route and happened to run into a flying monster too powerful to kill, they would all die. While Damon wasn’t in a death zone anymore, the world itself was not an ally. Everything and anything was trying to kill you. If there was anything that was progressive, it was sharing what he had learned with Lilith. He hadn’t hidden anything from her. He told her everything... he talked about the pillars—and more importantly, the one in their world: Bellum, the Pillar of Conflict. He also mentioned the true beings, as well as things he had not yet figured out. Like the No Absolutes Accord and Akasha. For now, Lilith had decided they should look for the temple where she got her stigmata and try looking for clues on the lesser gods—but more importantly, a cure for Luna. Naturally, she made her own theories and conjectures. Of course, she hadn’t been slacking either... She’d been eyeing people she would potentially recruit, looking for ways to earn funds while staying under the radar... Though somewhere along the line, she broke off into complaints about Renata Malcrist. Speaking of Renata, Damon suddenly recalled he had some grudges against her. However, he was willing to wave it off because she had helped them when... they were fighting Rashi Ignath. That said, Lilith had given him a deadpan expression, as if dealing with Renata would be easy. As he had heard from Lilith. "That woman has reached the third class..." Hmm... Damon had to admit it—Renata Malcrist was powerful. At second class, she could hold her own against Lilith, who was in the third class. Now that they were in the same class, it was obvious she only got more difficult to deal with... He looked out at the evening sun... He was really enjoying standing there and overlooking the drifting clouds. While Renata was powerful, Lilith was also close to reaching the fourth class... Which was actually a turning point. A fourth-class entity was no joke. With someone like Lilith, even if she couldn’t kill something at the fifth class, she would still be able to hold her own. "I need to get stronger too..." It wasn’t about surviving. It was about thriving. That said, Lilith had toyed with the idea of recruiting Renata Malcrist... probably why Damon had the violet-haired girl in his thoughts so much. But Lilith had shut it down herself. While Renata was strong, the real reason Lilith wanted her was because apparently, she was an administrative monster. Controlling funds, paperwork, negotiations, logistics, and all that nonsense was her forte. After all, Renata Malcrist was the sole owner of the Malcrist territory. Even with no parents, she had made her house function—even as a child. Damon walked back into the airship. He had seen land and clouds beginning to give way—they would soon land in Valerion. ’Even if we wanted to recruit her, she wouldn’t join anyone foolish enough to challenge the Temple...’ And even if she joined—how would they ensure her loyalty to the cause? Damon and Lilith were trapped, because the Temple was their enemy simply by virtue of their power—and the Unknown god who had given it to them. Well, he was sure Lilith hated them all the same, with or without the Unknown God... "And I’m sure many people do... Renata is just not one of them..." After all, you don’t rise to the top without a few enemies... The Temple had millions. The question was how to convince those millions that it was worth fighting this giant. The world needs a rallying point... an icon, a face of their nonexistent organization. Someone who seemed powerful and could perform the miracles. Most of all—they must be notoriously difficult to kill. "Where the hell are we supposed to find someone like that..." Damon didn’t really have any luggage, so by the time the three girls opened his door—already ready to go after the airship had landed... He was already by the door. He pulled his hood up. Luna and Iris were arguing about something nonsensical while trying to get Lilith’s input. He ignored the girls, letting them do their own thing... Damon was plotting something worse than treason. He was plotting blasphemy. Yet strangely enough, his heart was calm... It was a given—he would not die. It was simple. He was one of the wretched main characters of this era. He was not allowed to die so early in the game... This was the epoch that would decide if the Unknown God would obtain Bellum—the Pillar of Conflict. The fate of their world was literally in the balance... maybe even their whole universe... The God of the Abyss was watching. He was waiting... He will obtain his prize.