Chapter 524: Gravely Mistaken

Damian floated toward Krazgor’s massive kneeling form, boots touching down on top of the reanimated corpse’s head.

Standing there, two meters tall on a forty-meter giant, Damian’s gaze swept across the assembled army.

"You and your leaders believe you’re the ones declaring war on humanity today?"

His voice grew harder, carrying across the two-kilometer Domain.

"All of you are gravely mistaken!"

The black sun pulsed overhead, pressure intensifying.

"For it is I, Damian Valcor, who has come to declare war on your entire race!"

The words landed like hammer blows, each one driving the truth deeper.

Thousands of giants stared up at the armored figure standing atop their fallen Chief’s reanimated corpse.

An armored demon wreathed in black flames from his mount, backed by a crimson sky and a black sun, surrounded by dozens of their own dead warriors kneeling in submission.

"A demon..."

Someone whispered it, the word spreading through the ranks.

"He’s not human..."

"No human could do this..."

"What kind of monster–"

Damian’s hand rose, fingers spreading.

Light flashed as something materialized in his palm.

A handgun, sleek and compact, its surface catching the crimson light in strange ways.

Then it began transforming.

Click

The barrel extended smoothly, stock materializing from compressed components as the entire weapon reshaped into a rifle instantly.

The giant army recoiled, confusion mixing with their horror.

"He has a gun too?!"

"This demon uses–?!"

"What is he–"

Damian’s Aura began flooding into the rifle, crimson energy pouring through the barrel.

The weapon started glowing, brighter and brighter as power condensed.

A bullet formed in the chamber, compressed Aura taking solid shape.

His voice emerged calm and absolute, the first half of a sentence that promised annihilation.

"And this war shall only end–"

The rifle’s glow became blinding, energy spiraling around the barrel.

Understanding crashed through the giant commanders outside the Domain.

"SCATTER!"

The roar came desperate and too late.

"EVERYONE MOVE NOW–"

The younger giants turned to run, boots churning mud.

But they were too slow, too close and too clustered together.

Damian’s whisper finished the declaration, each word sealing their fate.

"–with your younger generation’s annihilation!"

The trigger pulled.

BANG

The recoil made Damian’s entire frame jerk backward, his boots nearly losing purchase on Kragzor’s head.

But the bullet left the barrel, Aura-condensed and absolutely lethal.

CRACK

Space shattered around the projectile as it flew, reality breaking wherever it passed.

The bullet began pulling in everything around it like a black hole of compressed power.

More Aura, more energy, more mass...

Growing larger with each meter, accumulating force that transcended common sense.

And then it struck the clustered army.

BOOOOOOOOOM

A perfect hemisphere of absolute nothingness erupted where hundreds of giants had been standing.

The sphere expanded rapidly, easily many times larger than the ones Damian had created inside the second portal.

His A+ rank power, combined with everything he’d gained, made the destruction exponentially worse.

The dome grew and grew, swallowing everything in its path.

Giants at the edge tried to run, their boots finding no purchase as the sphere’s gravity pulled them backward.

"NO–"

"HELP–"

"I DON’T WANT TO–"

Their screams cut off as they were consumed and erased from existence completely.

There was no blood, no bodies and no trace that they’d ever lived.

Just empty space where hundreds of warriors had stood moments before.

The sphere collapsed inward, imploding with a sound like the world ending.

And then silence spread across the world, absolute and total.

CRACK

The Domain of Despair began dissolving, the crimson sky fading, the void-ground returning to muddy earth.

The black sun overhead dissipated last, its terrible presence lingering even after it vanished.

Damian landed on regular ground, his boots sinking slightly into mud.

The rifle disappeared into his spatial ring, replaced by his axe materializing in his hand.

The familiar weight settled against his shoulder as he turned toward the portal exit, now visible in the distance.

His steps began, slow and measured, walking backward so he never turned away from the remaining army.

Rain fell again, washing blood from his damaged armor.

His movements looked casual, almost lazy, like someone taking a stroll rather than retreating from thousands of enemies.

But every giant watching could see the truth.

His Aura was depleted, his body swaying slightly with each step and his armor caved in and scorched.

He was wounded, vulnerable, exposed and seemingly defenseless.

One good strike would end him.

But nobody moved... Not one warrior raised a weapon or took a step forward.

They stood frozen, thousands of giants watching a single human walk away.

Damian’s boots kept moving, carrying him meter by meter toward the portal.

His axe remained ready, his helmet tracking across the assembled army.

Daring them, challenging them and knowing they wouldn’t accept.

The distance closed, twenty meters from the exit, then ten.

Still nobody attacked, nobody charged and nobody tried to stop him.

Five meters... Three... One.

Damian’s form touched the dimensional barrier and passed through, disappearing back into his own world.

Whoosh

The portal shimmered, then went still.

And only then did the giants seem to breathe again, tension releasing all at once.

One of the remaining commanders stood among the survivors, his hands gripping his weapon hard enough to dent the metal.

His eyes tracked across what remained of his army.

Dozens died inside the Domain, their bodies reanimated.

Hundreds more erased by that final attack, not even bodies left to mourn.

And worst of all, the ones who remained.

Thousands of warriors, bred for combat, trained from birth to conquer.

They were standing motionless, weapons lowered and eyes hollow.

Their morale wasn’t just broken... It was annihilated.

’We came here believing we were bringing war to a weaker species.’

The commander’s thoughts came bitter and hollow.

’We brought overwhelming numbers, superior strength and absolute confidence in our victory.’

His gaze found the spot where Damian had vanished.

’And a single one of them walked into our army alone, killed our Young Chief, turned our commanders into his servants, erased hundreds with one attack...’

His grip tightened further on his weapon.

’And then walked away, daring us to stop him.’

He looked at his surviving warriors, at their faces showing something he’d never seen in his people before: Fear.

’How do we fight someone like that?’

The question burned in his mind, demanding an answer he didn’t have.

’How do we wage war against a demon who turns death itself into his weapon?’

Rain continued falling, washing away blood but unable to cleanse what they’d witnessed.

’How do we restore our honor when our Young Chief died the most dishonorable death imaginable?’

The commander’s eyes closed, his mind replaying Damian’s declaration: "For it is I, Damian Valcor, who has come to declare war on your entire race."

And somewhere beyond the portal, in the human world they’d planned to conquer, walked the monster who’d done it all alone.