Void Evolution System

It was an exciting match, sure, but the result was still as expected. Damien had grown unreasonably in the past few weeks, to the point where nobody on the island could keep up with his progress.

Kura got much better than she was when they first fought. The weaknesses in her defensive fighting style hadn't yet been fixed, but she'd properly created a framework for the solution. She presented it in battle against Damien, and it alone was enough to make his previous strategy unviable.

Unfortunately, his web had become much more sophisticated. And, it wasn't just for setting up a final attack either. The web itself was an attack and defense mechanism that could easily capture opponents and weave them into a situation that they couldn't escape.

Nevertheless, it was a fun battle. Damien had been bored for the past two days, practically watching his other body's point-of-view like a television show for entertainment, but he had to focus his attention on fighting Kura.

It was by far the most interesting of the battles thus far. Even the battle that came after, with Quill and the last Chaos Faction member, was overlooked as people excitedly awaited Damien's showing in the rest of the competition.

Behind the scenes, in a waiting room for the surviving competitors, Kura found Damien again.

"You were just a brat a few weeks ago. What the hell happened?" She asked, approaching with a grin.

"What can I say? I'm something of a genius," Damien responded cockily.

He was glad that she wasn't taking her loss too seriously.

Kura was one of the few people on this island who had the potential to move to the fourth island soon. He didn't want to be the one inhibiting her path.

"You may be a genius, but I'm nothing to laugh at either. Just wait. One of these days, I'm going to catch up to you!" "Sure, but I'll already be back home by the time that happens."

Kura clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes. She didn't take his banter seriously. His tone was too obviously sarcastic. Regardless, it did somehow feel like he wasn't lying at all.

"Ah, right."

Kura's eyes widened slightly as she remembered why she had come here in the first place.

"Have you heard the news?"

Damien shook his head.

Kura sighed. "Right, you wouldn't be so calm if you had. Something strange is going on behind the scenes. I don't know why, but it's like they're trying to rush you into a fight against the Area Lord."

"Hm? What do you mean by that?"

Damien made a sound of interest as she captured his full attention.

Kura's story started with how she herself ended up in the tournament.

Originally, she challenged Yanui several times for the tournament spot. She won more than she lost, but she was forbidden from killing her opponent since she was already slotted to participate in the tournament.

Essentially, by challenging Damien and losing, Kura lost her chance to participate.

She tried and tried and eventually gave up, but the temple's officials approached her not even a day prior and proposed her a deal, asking if she wanted to take Yanui's spot.

She, of course, agreed. She was even more tempted by the tournament after hearing that her new rival was also participating. She went and challenged Yanui again, won, and was granted the spot.

"It's just suspicious because it was too easy. Yanui may be weaker than me, but it's only marginal. I shouldn't be able to beat her so one-sidedly."

"Hm…"

Were the Water Temple's people trying to sacrifice Kura after understanding what the end of this tournament entailed? If so, then did Yanui have some kind of importance that Kura lacked?

Damien asked, and he got the response he was looking for.

"Yeah, Yanui is the Temple Master's daughter. That's why I'm saying it's weird. She always gets preferential treatment, but now they want to be fair? It doesn't make sense."

"It also doesn't make sense how that situation is pushing my fight with the Area Lord," Damien chimed in.

Kura grinned sheepishly, realizing that she'd once again gotten off-topic.

"I brought it up because something similar is happening in the Fire Temple too. Apparently, that guy Quill disappeared after his match. Nobody knows where he went, but he's already been replaced. And, the most important part…"

"...your match against his replacement is happening in an hour."

"What?"

Now, Damien was really paying attention.

As Kura said, they were absolutely plotting to bring the match between him and the Dragon Lord closer. 'Damn.'

He could guess why.

'My main body's movements were noticed.'

Someone was working against the grand scheme, so they were obviously going to try to make his struggle futile.

The main body was already meeting Eximus, so hypothetically it wouldn't affect the plan, but…

'Tch. It's annoying being the clone body.'

He quite literally could do nothing but wait, follow the tournament, and stall until the main body finished all of the important matters.

For now…

"Thanks for telling me."

"No problem. I like honest competition, so this is rubbing me the wrong way too."

He thanked Kura and left the waiting room. An hour was not much time at all. While it passed, he watched his main body's perspective. His frown got deeper and deeper until he heard his name being called to the stage.

He walked up as he had done several times before. No matter how he got used to the cheers of the crowd, they always felt disgusting when he thought about the fact that they were all being deceived into willingly walking into their deathbeds. The other name that was called was unknown. It wasn't worth mentioning, and there wasn't a single bit of justification accompanying the entrance of a new competitor like there was with Kura.

The only thing the announcer said was that Quill had withdrawn with a mysterious injury and someone had been sent to replace him.

If that person was like Kura, a worthy competitor, then there wouldn't have been anything particularly special about it besides the fact that the fight had been moved forward by a day.

The person who stood against him was not like Kura at all.

'...what is this?'

While the announcer spoke to the audience, Damien addressed his opponent.

"Why are you doing this?"

The man standing across from him was quivering in fear. He was clearly unskilled and unworthy of this stage, so why was he here?

"I…" he responded shakily.

"I have no choice."

Damien looked into that man's eyes.

Right, those were not the eyes of a competitor. They were the eyes of a hostage.

He sighed to himself.

'In the end, the powers at hand have too much authority. Even if I try to destroy the tournament at this point, they'll still find a way to turn this entire city into ash.'

The match started. Damien resigned himself to facing the Dragon Lord no more than a few hours from the time this match ended.

After all, it had become impossible for him to lose.

'Main body. I hope you're fast enough.'

Because at this point, the parallel timelines were getting eerily close to converging.

And that was not a good thing in the slightest.

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