Chapter 808: Chapter 809: Evils Unleashed It was that simple. It was straightforward. The pattern had been there the entire time. The options were plain. Kneel and pray to the goddess until she forgave them and freed them. It was straightforward, in hindsight it was a matter of time, you simply had to be patient. Then surely remorse and repentance were the way out of the trial of faith. After all the warden, the hollow saint, was not a fighter. However, if that was truly the case, then why wasn’t the hollow saint free from the trial. It could not be the answer. And so, after his time wandering the darkness, Damon reached a conclusion. The way out of the trial of faith was the rejection of the divine. That was why he destroyed the statue. The darkness was expelled. Light erupted and pushed through every corner. The white glow illuminated what had once been a bleak void and, with the darkness gone, a large metal door emerged. Hundreds of magic seals were interlocked across it in a complex pattern Damon did not even understand. Still, it held a quiet beauty. The etchings shimmered over the silver surface, faint and inviting. "How... How can you destroy the goddess? How can you break the trial..." The hollow saint’s voice trembled. Fear and confusion weighed on every syllable. "This... this is blasphemy. We would be inviting divine retribution. The end is neigh..." Damon looked at him and released a soft sigh. "The end is always neigh. If the end comes, it will not be because of gods but the decree of man." It was mankind that shaped their world. They built their towers, grew their crops, mastered nature. The goddess existed but Damon had never seen her act. The hollow saint lowered his head. "Why... why, if it was so... why have I been here..." He had been trapped for longer than his natural lifespan, longer than his fourth rank power should have ever allowed. He had knelt so long he no longer knew whether his legs were still part of his body. Only to find the answer was as simple as smashing a statue. Damon shrugged. "I never really like fanaticism. Too much sweat for something as fickle as blind faith. That’s the difference between me and you." He stepped closer, gazing down at the hollow saint. "You wait for a god to give you something. I get what I want myself. Because I know gods don’t care. Praying for something easily achieved by human hands is pathetic." Damon had lived enough to understand the pointlessness of waiting for divine favor. And even if you got it there was a steep price. "But without god we are nothing but beasts..." The saint’s voice cracked. He clung to his belief with shaking hands. "And with god we are monsters. We have killed and done worse in the name of the goddess." The hollow saint’s shoulders trembled. Tears dripped onto the floor. His entire life, every belief, was unraveling before him. Damon understood that feeling. Eidolon had changed him in ways he could not yet name. "What about faith... what about faith..." The saint screamed and grabbed his head. "Lord Aetherus, what about faith? What about my devotion? Faith is meaningless... it’s useless..." He ranted like a man whose mind had split under the weight of truth. Lazarak raised his small hand and touched his arm, stopping him. "You misunderstood the point my friend is making. Faith is not lost. And it is not useless. We must have faith, but it must never be blind. Blind faith turns us into cattle." The saint slowly lifted his head, staring at Lazarak’s infant form. "The question is not ’Do gods exist?’ It is ’What do you owe a god?’" Lazarak spoke gently. "Your answer must be... nothing but acknowledgment of their existence. Respect is optional. Obedience is a choice. And faith must be earned, not inherited." The words shook the hollow saint more than the shattering of the statue. He dropped to the floor, sitting numbly. Lazarak understood Damon. He learned from him. But he also understood Damon was changing. This was not nihilism. Not rebellion for its own sake. This was self-determination in a world where gods demanded obedience by default. Damon inspired the god who watched him. For a god who fears being forgotten, Damon’s defiance was intoxicating. Damon was everything Lazarak was not. Self-determined, unafraid, and unbound by divine expectation. Lazarak was mad. Damon was mad. But Damon’s madness burned differently. Lazarak bit his lip then smiled faintly. ’He’s going to change the world. I know it.’ Lazarak thought silently. And yet a wave of sadness passed through his heart. "I... I won’t be there to see it, will I..." he whispered to himself as Damon walked toward the grand magical door. Damon looked over his shoulder with a small frown. "Where’s the key?" Lazarak turned to the hollow saint. The man stood up for the first time in ages, legs shaking, and stumbled toward the broken statue. He pawed through the stone fragments until he found a glowing object buried inside. He rushed toward Damon and offered it with trembling hands. Damon took it casually. He lifted the key, feeling the cold bite of the metal. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮 As soon as it neared the silver doors, the magic seals reacted. Light spread through the patterns. Chains of mana unraveled. The ancient doors groaned and pushed outward. Damon’s heart pounded. A raw, liberating rush surged through him. The doors opened. A soft ray of light touched his face, and the gentle breeze from the outside world brushed against his skin. At last he was free. And for the lower world... The evils imprisoned in Eidolon were unleashed. The final act had begun. From now on they would face the world itself. "I’ll find a cure for my sister. No matter what it takes." Damon’s cold voice echoed into the sky, carrying his will across the land. Let the heavens of this lower world bear witness. To the boy who had failed to die.