My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger

The rising pillar of debris climbed into the sky until flashes of lightning crackled through the ash-filled clouds, turning the world into a storm of stone, dust and darkness.

Buildings crumbled. Towers split apart. Anyone unfortunate enough to stand beneath the rain of swords was simply erased.

Such was the chaos of a battlefield.

And once Damon had opened the door to large-scale destruction everyone else followed.

The Temple Knights abandoned restraint. Mages gathered together and moments later the heavens were illuminated by a blinding flash of white. An enormous spell descended from above, engulfing an entire section of the city before detonating with a thunderous explosion that flattened everything within its reach, leaving behind nothing but a massive crater.

Damon smiled within the rolling dust.

His attack had looked spectacular, but the truth was he had deliberately avoided every sacred site. The swords had struck military compounds, defensive positions and the open streets, throwing the city into chaos while leaving the temples themselves untouched.

"What have you done...!"

Evangeline’s voice barely rose above the roar surrounding them.

Damon laughed.

"Hahaha... nothing. I haven’t done a single thing. Look around you. My Magical Arsenal didn’t hit a single sacred site."

Evangeline narrowed her golden eyes, carefully surveying the destruction.

He was telling the truth.

Not one temple had been struck.

Apart from the unfortunate people standing where the swords had landed, his attack had been almost surgically precise.

"What about the people you killed?"

She muttered under her breath.

Damon simply reached out, grabbed her hand and pulled her forward as they sprinted through the ruined streets of the Holy City, weaving through collapsing buildings and the endless clashes between shadows and knights.

"Collateral damage. Every one of those people chose a life of war. This is the outcome."

His voice remained calm.

"A warrior should not grieve when he falls upon the battlefield. They have met their Goddess. They died with weapons in their hands, taking enemies with them. There are far worse ways to leave this world."

Evangeline bit her lip but said nothing, allowing herself to be pulled deeper into the chaos.

"That’s just wrong... we were fighting on their side though," she whispered, staring at the devastation around her.

The streets were littered with broken stone and shattered bodies. Smoke drifted between collapsed buildings while screams echoed from every direction. Priests dragged the wounded away as knights tried desperately to reorganize their broken formations.

Damon did not answer immediately.

His expression remained calm as he continued walking, his hand still wrapped firmly around Evangeline’s wrist, pulling her through the ruined streets with neither haste nor hesitation.

He simply did not see it the way she did.

They were never on the temple’s side.

To Damon they had always been enemies. Temporary cooperation did not erase years of conflict, nor did it wash away the blood they had spilled in the name of faith. Today they merely happened to be fighting a common threat while standing on opposite sides of an invisible line.

Eventually he exhaled softly.

"I know what you’re thinking."

His voice carried little emotion.

"You think they’re innocent because today we’re standing beside them."

His blood shot eyes eyes drifted toward another group of Templars rushing past.

"I don’t."

Evangeline lowered her gaze.

She understood that much.

Damon was not someone who separated enemies into convenient categories. Once he judged someone to be an enemy that judgment rarely changed.

Still...

She could not accept it.

These people were cruel, many undoubtedly deserved punishment...

But not all of them.

Not like this.

She quietly bit her lip and allowed herself to be pulled forward, unable to find words that would change his mind.

Meanwhile, beneath the Holy City...

Inside the Ruin Cathedral, silence had reclaimed what moments ago had been the greatest treasury on the continent.

The endless rows of relics were gone.

The mountains of gold had vanished.

Even the enchanted display cases had disappeared.

The cathedral had become little more than an enormous empty chamber.

Ghost stood before an enormous stone doorway, its ancient surface embedded with hundreds of luminous gemstones that pulsed softly with sacred mana.

The Shadow Elf remained perfectly still, awaiting orders.

Damon’s clone looked at it for a long moment before pointing lazily.

"Take the door too."

Ghost gave a silent nod.

Several Shadow Drones immediately surrounded the massive doorway, their shadows spreading beneath it as countless runes illuminated across its surface.

Stone groaned.

The foundation trembled.

With slow, unbearable force the entire doorway was uprooted from the wall itself before sinking into the shadows.

Not even the frame was spared.

Damon folded his arms in satisfaction.

"Waste not."

In one hand he held several weapon-type Holy Relics he had collected specifically for the battle ahead.

Each radiated holy power.

Each was worth kingdoms.

Each would shortly be used against the people who had forged them.

He took a slow step forward.

The instant he crossed the threshold he could already feel it.

The temple had undoubtedly realized someone had breached their treasury.

There was no point remaining hidden any longer.

His main body was already moving toward Ranar.

As far as Damon was concerned, nothing in this city mattered more than his daughter.

If everything collapsed...

If Aetherus truly descended...

If the Unknown Order lost...

None of it mattered so long as Ranar survived.

His clone, however...

Had a different task.

He stepped into the open air.

Massive demonic wings unfolded behind his back, each feather formed from living darkness. They spread wider and wider until they blotted out part of the sky before beating once with enough force to scatter the smoke beneath him.

His figure slowly rose above the rooftops.

High above the burning city he hovered alone, silent as a specter.

Then he slowly lifted his sword.

"[Midnight.]"

Darkness gathered along the blade until the world itself seemed to dim.

He swung.

The slash crossed the city in absolute silence.

Only a heartbeat later did reality catch up.

A black fissure carved through the Holy City, splitting streets, towers, walls and plazas apart as though the land itself had been folded open by an invisible hand.

The wound stretched for miles.

Stone shattered.

The earth split.

Ancient foundations ruptured.

For the first time...

Damon possessed enough power to permanently scar the landscape itself.

Far away, upon a marble balcony overlooking the battlefield...

Aetherus slowly raised his head.

Golden eyes settled upon the lone figure suspended in the heavens.

His expression did not change.

He had ruled battlefields long before kingdoms had names.

He knew that look.

An enemy had challenged him.

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