Void Evolution System - Chapter 1793: Death’s Hold [3]

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The water was black, dyed by the surroundings. It was a part of Death’s Hold, but it wasn’t always that way.

Merely, when it accepted Damien, it changed. From past to present to future, if one looked at one’s memories of this place, there would always be a river. Damien smiled.

‘So you accepted.’

He knew the concept couldn’t communicate with him, but he was glad it accepted his sincerity.

It might have seemed improbable for him to be the only person to recognize the emotional aspect of the story in the eons that this realm existed, but it actually wasn’t.

In the first place, Supreme Beings did not consider emotions very often. Damien found his humanity drifting further and further away from him with every passing day.

He was still able to recognize emotions so well because he valued them. Putting aside his love for many people and the emotions they brought him, emotions had always been important to Damien.

He remembered the depression he felt before he fell into the First Dungeon. There was a kind of raw yet naive hopelessness in his system that had never afflicted him again after that day.

When he first fell into the dungeon, he felt desperation and fear. As he progressed through it, he lost many of his emotions to madness and bloodlust.

In Apeiron, he gained them back. In the Cloud Plane, he gained an opportunity to get rid of them.

Over and over again after that, from his adventures in the Human Domain to the tales of Grand Heavens Boundary and beyond, emotions had been a big part of his journey.

However, each and every time he worried about it, ruminated over it, and overcame it.

He always managed to keep those emotions safe, even if they had to be confined to a single aspect of his life.

If it weren’t for his emotions, he wouldn’t have reached this point. He couldn’t remember how many times the pure indifference in the core of his soul threatened to eat away at all of his emotions. However, each and every time he worried about it, ruminated over it, and overcame it.

He always managed to keep those emotions safe, even if they had to be confined to a single aspect of his life.

As someone who had such a connection to emotions, when he reached a place above the clouds where even human life was nothing to him, he did not lose those emotions and ascend in mind.

Most of the others here did. Before they entered the Land of Nothingness, they allowed indifference to be the core of their character. They permitted it to rule their lives.

Sure, the Land of Nothingness that turned them forgotten changed them and reintroduced them to many of the emotions they lacked, but was that enough?

It was like they were given new life. The emotions they felt were heightened like their hormones were imbalanced. They made impulsive decisions regularly and needed to consciously understand how to keep their emotions in check and feel them only to a moderate level.

Maybe people like that existed on the later islands, but they definitely weren’t here.

On the second island where the true bottom tier of the Forgotten resided, emotions dictated everything.

Pride, greed, and lust. Anger, joy, and sorrow.

Within the swirl of human emotion that each and every one of them felt, it was impossible to distinguish the woes of Nonexistence and sympathize.

No, in their reckless states, they’d take the scene at face value and die before they had a chance to reconsider from a more mature perspective.

Some of them may have even been overwhelmed by that sorrow. It mixed perfectly with the sorrow they felt being stuck on this island and amplified it.

Maybe this place was called Death’s Hold because it was the place people went to succumb to exactly that.

Nevertheless, it had nothing to do with Damien.

The life he chose to lead was what allowed him to reap benefits like these. He didn’t feel remorse, guilt, or sympathy. Instead, as he stared down at the black water running over his feet, he wondered about something else entirely.

‘What should I build?’ People went with castles because they were easier to build on a larger scale. They were symmetric and the exterior structure was extremely simple to create.

Once they had experience making the exterior, they could then the interior into a much more ornate space by focusing on smaller areas one by one.

It was a good strategy to both grow and create something lasting. Every castle in this land was unique, despite there being thousands of them. However, it wasn’t Damien’s style. He wasn’t really a “castle” person.

He liked Void Palace architecturally because of its intricate inner space that was like a maze of different dimensions. It was ingenious and unique, a feat that forced others to admire it.

The exterior was a masterpiece, but it was still similar to many other palaces because their base structure always had to be relatively similar. With what he’d experienced in claiming this land, he didn’t just want to populate it with a regular palace like any other. He wanted to do something special with this place, something that would truly honor Nonexistence’s origin. He started building without a goal, just seeing where his thoughts would take him.

Oddly enough, what came from his energy was not necessarily a man-made structure at all.

Rather, it was nature.

The black river was soon surrounded by small critters and creatures who were not afraid of its current. The beasts who originally lived in the forest approached warily, captivated by their harmless appearances.

The ground was just black and filled with debris similar to wood chips. That changed immediately. A sprawling display of flora populated the ground and created space for a thriving environment.

Sure it was all the same black color as the rest of the forest, making it difficult to discern, but that didn’t matter.

The beauty of this place was not meant to be recognized by anything other than the concept it was created by.

As Damien’s power continued to thrive, Death’s Hold itself began to expand. A huge clearing was made in the middle of the forest, from which a tree more massive than any other was born.

It rose high into the clouds, branching out into a complex canopy that looked more like a labyrinth than the top of a tree.

The trunk was lined with steps that spiraled it from top to bottom. They didn’t serve any purpose but to make the tree accessible. There was nothing built for those steps to lead to.

The forest’s vibrance was far beyond what it was before. It continued to grow as Nonexistence accepted Damien’s interference.

He focused mainly on the environment since he wanted to see Death’s Hold transform, but if he wanted to keep others from ruining the sanctity of the area, then he still had to create something here that signified his ownership.

Then, what could he create to scare away intruders while still maintaining the sanctity of the forest he created?

‘I know.’

It was time to have a little bit of fun with Nonexistence.

Well, it would be fun for him.

For the enemies who would reveal themselves soon enough after seeing Death’s Hold’s changes, however…

…obviously, it was going to be the most fun they ever had. If it wasn’t, then it was also fine if they just died.