Damian stopped mid-step, his head turning toward the sound.

A little girl was sprinting across the courtyard, her small legs pumping as fast as they could carry her, dark hair flying behind her.

She looked maybe six or seven years old, wearing pajamas that suggested she should have been asleep hours ago.

’She seems familiar...’

His mind worked backward through recent memory, trying to place where he’d seen her before.

But before the connection could form, the girl reached him and wrapped both arms around his leg in a crushing hug.

"Thank you!"

The words tumbled out breathless and sincere.

"Thank you for saving Papa and Mama and me today!"

And suddenly the memory clicked into place with perfect clarity.

’Ah... she’s one of the survivors I rescued from Lufen Portal.’

Commander Reeves had been holding her when Damian emerged from the dimensional barrier.

Damian crouched down slowly, bringing himself to eye level with the child.

His hand settled on her head, fingers threading through dark hair in a gentle pat.

"Little girl..."

His voice came out softer than usual, something almost warm bleeding through.

"What are you doing here so late at night? Shouldn’t you be sleeping?"

The girl’s face scrunched up, determination bleeding through her exhausted features.

"I was waiting for you to return!"

She pulled back slightly, one small hand digging into her pajama pocket.

"I had to give you this before you disappeared again!"

Her fingers emerged clutching something small, a charm made of braided cord and carved wood.

She thrust it toward him with both hands, the gesture carrying weight that transcended the object’s simple appearance.

"Here, take this! This is my lucky charm!"

Her voice rose with earnest conviction.

"It always protects me! Always! So with this, no bad man can ever hurt you again!"

Damian’s hand extended automatically, palm opening to receive the offered gift.

The charm settled against his skin, surprisingly cold despite having been in her pocket.

He stared at it for a long moment, his mind blank, not knowing what to say to that kind of innocent faith.

The girl saw his expression and interpreted it as doubt, her small face becoming even more serious.

"It really works! I promise it does!"

Her hands grabbed his free one, squeezing with surprising strength.

"When we were about to die today, when that scary giant was going to hurt us, I closed my eyes and prayed to my charm as hard as I could!"

Tears formed at the corners of her eyes, emotion breaking through.

"And then you came! You appeared like magic and saved everyone! So you have to believe m–"

Before she could finish, Damian pulled her into a hug.

His arms wrapped around her small frame carefully, holding her like something precious and fragile.

His whisper emerged barely audible, meant only for her.

"I believe you."

The girl went still in his arms, her words cutting off mid-syllable.

"Thank you for giving me such a precious gift."

His voice stayed steady, gentle and absolutely sincere.

"I’ll keep it with me... always."

The girl’s arms came up, wrapping around his neck as she buried her face against his shoulder.

And within moments, her breathing evened out, exhaustion finally claiming what adrenaline and determination had been holding back.

She fell asleep in his arms, her small body going completely limp.

Damian remained kneeling there for several long moments, not moving, just holding the sleeping child while moonlight painted everything silver.

Then footsteps approached, measured and careful.

"I’m sorry about this, Mr. Valcor."

Commander Reeves emerged from the shadows, his wife beside him, both of them looking exhausted but alert.

The man’s left arm ended in bandages where it had been severed, the stump wrapped in medical dressing that showed signs of recent healing.

"She insisted on staying awake to thank you properly. We tried to get her to sleep, but she refused until..."

He gestured helplessly toward his daughter, the words trailing off.

Damian stood slowly, his movements careful not to disturb the sleeping girl.

He crossed the distance between them, then gently transferred the child into her father’s remaining arm.

Reeves caught her with practiced ease despite his injury, cradling her against his chest.

"Damian’s fine, Major General."

The correction came quiet but absolute.

"And she didn’t bother me at all. Children should be allowed to express themselves however they see fit."

Reeves’s wife stepped forward, her expression showing gratitude mixed with concern.

"You must not have eaten anything since... since everything happened."

Her voice became gentler, almost motherly.

"I prepared dinner earlier, kept it warm in case you returned. If you’d like to join us, we’d be honored to–"

But Damian was already moving past them, his boots carrying him toward the headquarters entrance without pause.

His voice drifted back over his shoulder, polite but final.

"Thank you for the offer, madam. But I’ve had a long day and would like some rest."

The door opened under his hand, then closed behind him, leaving the family standing in the courtyard.

Reeves and his wife remained perfectly still for a long moment, their daughter sleeping peacefully between them.

Then, moving as one, they bowed deeply toward the door where Damian had disappeared.

The gesture carried weight that went beyond simple gratitude.

No words could express what they felt, what he’d done for them, what it meant that he’d walked into hell alone to bring them home.

So they just stood there in silence, bowing to empty air, while their daughter dreamed of heroes and lucky charms that brought miracles.

****

Damian’s boots carried him through empty corridors, past doors that all looked the same, until he found the room he’d left hours ago.

The door closed behind him with a soft click, sealing out the world.

He stood there for a moment, alone finally, the silence pressing down with weight that felt almost comfortable after everything.

’Now that I think about it...’

His hand rose automatically, fingers moving through familiar gestures.

’I haven’t had the time to check the status screen since coming back from that portal.’

Light flashed as the status screen materialized before him, transparent and glowing, filling his vision with information.

His eyes tracked across the display, scanning for changes.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Strength: 800 → 863

Stamina: 800 → 832

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

’Devouring so many giants inside my Domain wasn’t without merit.’

The observation came clinical and detached.

’Both Strength and Stamina have broken past the theoretical limit as well.’

His gaze tracked the values, noting what hadn’t changed.

’Leaving only Speed still at 800.’

The imbalance sat oddly, one stat lagging while the others surged forward.

But his attention had already moved, finding the skill section where something new had appeared.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Time Reversal: SS rank

Allows the user to reverse the flow of time for themselves or a target, returning to a previous moment while retaining all memories of events that were undone.

Current Limitation: 10 seconds.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

’Even though I can only go back 10 seconds for now, the skill is still labeled SS rank... As expected of Time Law.’

His gaze swept over the details, finding no warnings he’d expected.

’But after using it once, my understanding seemed to have become... lesser.’

The sensation had been subtle but undeniable.

’I should figure out all the limitations when I get some time.’

His eyes moved downward, finding another change.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Bond: Kuro (A+ Rank)

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

’Kuro has broken through two minor-ranks.’

The jump was significant, more than normal cultivation should have achieved in such a short span.

’The energy from that old bird seemed to have helped him.’

His hand rose unconsciously, touching his temple where the light from the Oracle had entered.

’Hopefully he can wake up soon.’

The thought carried weight mixed with something approaching loneliness.

Damian’s gaze tracked upward, finding stats he’d barely registered before.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Perception: 463 → 500

Luck: 10 → 80

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

’If I remember correctly, Perception reached its maximum limit once I got the Child of Light title.’

The number sat at a clean 500, perfect and final.

’As for Luck stat...’

His eyes tracked the jump from single digits to a number that actually mattered.

’I don’t even know what it does in practical terms. Talk less about why it increased...’

The Child of Light designation? Divine protection? Something else entirely?

He had no answers, just numbers that refused to explain themselves.

Then his gaze finally fell on the section he’d been unconsciously avoiding.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Title: True Demon, Child of Light, Chosen One

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Damian stood perfectly still, his eyes tracking across the True Demon title.

Then his hand moved, dismissing the status screen with a gesture.

He walked to the bed, his body moving automatically while his mind stayed fixed on that title.

’I don’t know what this title means or what it does.’

He sat down on the edge of the mattress, springs creaking slightly under his weight.

’But if walking the path toward ultimate peace means becoming a True Demon instead of a True God...’

His gaze lifted, finding the ceiling above him.

"Then so be it."

The words emerged as barely a whisper, carrying across the empty room.

He laid back slowly, his head settling against the pillow, his body sinking into the mattress.

The exhaustion that had been held at bay through sheer determination finally crashed down on him, pressing against every muscle and bone.

His eyes started to close, darkness creeping in at the edges of his vision.

But just before sleep could claim him completely, an image flashed through his mind.

Commander Reeves standing with his wife and daughter, the little girl sleeping peacefully in her father’s remaining arm.

A family reunited, alive and happy.

’Mom... Dad...’

The thought emerged unbidden, carrying longing he usually kept buried.

’I miss you.’

Then his eyes closed completely, consciousness finally surrendering to sleep.

For the first time in what felt like years, Damian drifted off like a normal person...

****

Then his eyes snapped open.

And everything was wrong.

Damian found himself standing, his body upright without conscious effort, wind pulling at his crimson hair.

’H-Huh?’

His thoughts stuttered, confusion making it hard to focus.

’Where... am I?’

His gaze tracked across his surroundings, taking in details that made his breath catch.

A rooftop stretched before him, above a city that glittered with lights spreading to the horizon.

The railing where he’d once stood waiting for police to arrive.

The table where he’d finished his final meal before death came calling.

’This... this is the place where I died... where I jumped off...’

Every detail matched his fragmented memories, down to the way moonlight caught the edge of the railing.

’Am I... dreaming?’

The thought came confused and uncertain.

He remembered lying down, closing his eyes, drifting toward sleep.

But this felt too real, too present, too detailed to be just unconscious wandering.

Before he could process further, a voice cut across the rooftop.

"We finally meet again–"

Damian’s body spun, his head snapping toward the source.

A figure sat near the edge of the roof, perched on the railing like gravity meant nothing.

A hooded cloak obscured their form completely, shadows pooling beneath the fabric in ways that defied the moonlight.

"–Alessio."

The sentence finished, landing like a stone dropped into still water.

And Damian stood frozen on that rooftop, trapped in a place that existed somewhere between dream and reality, facing... the Hooded One.