My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger

When those words were spoken inside the Holy City, Damon did the only logical thing he could think of.

He kicked down the door.

His boot slammed into the heavy wooden door with enough force to rip it from its hinges. The impact echoed through the corridor as the door burst inward, crashing against the stone floor with a deafening boom.

Inside, he found little Ranar sitting together with Luna, Iris, and several heavily armed knights. The entire room had been fortified from floor to ceiling with defensive magic. Thick barriers shimmered faintly across the walls, and despite the destruction ravaging the city outside, everything within remained calm. The distant tremors felt as though they belonged to another world entirely.

They were even having tea. From the scent, it was the high quality type.

The instant the door exploded inward every knight reacted on instinct. Chairs scraped violently across the floor as they surged to their feet. Steel sang from its scabbards while mana erupted through the room, dozens of blades flashing toward Damon as countless sword tips halted mere inches from his neck.

Well for those that were sitting, the ones by the door already had murder on their minds.

For a long moment nobody moved.

The knights stared.

Damon stared back.

Recognition slowly dawned across their faces. The tension bled from the room as one after another they lowered their swords, withdrawing their mana and returning their weapons to their sheaths.

Had it truly been an intruder...

...that person would already be dead.

At least he didn’t have to worry about his daughter’s safety.

Evangeline rushed into the room first.

Damon’s gaze drifted past them until it settled on Ranar. Without another word he took a single step forward, his body dissolving into shadows before reappearing silently beside her.

Reaching her before Evangeline.

"Alright, sweetie, we need to go... actually, all of us do."

Before she could even ask another question Damon leaned down, slipped one arm beneath her, and lifted her effortlessly into his embrace.

"Daddy... what’s going on? Why is it so noisy?"

Damon smiled softly, though the worry hidden behind it never quite left his eyes. He adjusted her comfortably against his shoulder before turning toward the exit. Around him the knights immediately fell into formation, filing out with practiced discipline. Damon could sense Jarvis among them, while deep within Ranar’s own shadow rested the powerful Seventh Class Shadow Drone he had left to protect her.

Only then did he finally leave the Holy City.

The moment they stepped outside the scale of the disaster became impossible to ignore.

House Brightwater’s airships were already descending from the heavens, their enormous shadows sweeping across ruined streets as they positioned themselves for evacuation. Soldiers hurried back and forth beneath them while loading ramps lowered toward the ground.

Tall flags swayed as more ships came to help none combatants evacuate.

Or at least that was the excuse.

Nestled safely against Damon’s chest, Ranar slowly lifted her head.

Her small golden eyes widened.

Far in the distance, towering pillars of smoke climbed into the heavens while flashes of lightning illuminated clouds blackened by ash. Buildings collapsed one after another, each impact rolling across the city like distant thunder.

Almost unconsciously her tiny fingers tightened around Damon’s clothes.

"What is that..." she whispered.

Damon followed her gaze toward the burning horizon.

For a brief moment, he simply watched.

"That..." he answered quietly, "...is war."

Ranar lowered her head, burying her face against his shoulder as though she wished to shut the world out.

"I don’t like it."

A gentleness rarely seen crossed Damon’s expression. He slowly ran his hand through her hair, smoothing the strands as his fingers lingered there in silent reassurance.

"No one does."

The airships settled onto the ground with thunderous force. Their ramps crashed into place as troops immediately began boarding. Anything that wasn’t essential was abandoned without hesitation. Every second mattered.

Damon boarded the flagship only after making absolutely certain Luna, Iris, Eva, and the others had safely embarked. Before the massive hangar doors had even finished closing, the engines roared to life and the colossal vessel began climbing into the sky.

Standing near the open viewing deck, Damon looked back one final time.

Beyond the sea of smoke and drifting ash...

...he saw a familiar figure slowly rising.

Aetherus.

Damon bit the inside of his lip before forcing a faint smile onto his face.

"Now you can’t hide from the public."

Without another glance backward he turned away, his coat swaying behind him as the flagship accelerated into the distance.

Amid the chaos of evacuation, no one noticed that one of House Brightwater’s escort vessels had quietly taken aboard Lilith Astranova, Renata, and several operatives disguised as brightwater knights.

Either way...

The Holy City would cease to exist today.

Even if the Temple somehow emerged victorious...

...it would not be a victory.

Lilith reached up and removed the enchanted device concealing her appearance. As the illusion dissolved into motes of fading light, her emerald eyes settled upon the colossal figure of the God of this world slowly ascending above the burning city.

"I guess Damon was right..." she muttered, her voice almost lost beneath the roar of the engines. "The Holy City is only sacred to mortals. The God of this world doesn’t seem to think much of it... he wouldn’t even mind its destruction."

Renata continued tapping across the crystalline device in her hand, lines of information shifting across its transparent surface as casualty reports and tactical updates poured in. Her expression barely changed as she calmly weighed every gain against every loss.

"We lost a significant number of Shadow Drones," she said after a moment. "Fortunately, they were older models. With the materials we recovered from the Temple... we can build more.".

"How do you feel to see your impossible dream come true?" Renata asked softly.

"I never believed it was impossible. It was either me or them." Lilith said in a cold voice.

"This world Renata, if you want to change it. Don’t ask for permission."

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