My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger

Chapter 999: Chapter 1001: Goddess Of Salvation

Damon blinked, unsure if she was joking. He had unconsciously assumed priestesses would be stiff, reserved, distant.

Clearly, that assumption had been wrong.

”You are the fairest flower in this garden,” he said smoothly, ignoring the murderous look Wendy was giving him.

Tamia’s face turned red almost instantly.

”I... you flatter me, my lord. If you desired any of my sisters, you would only need to court them.”

Damon looked genuinely surprised.

”Aren’t priestesses meant to be celibate? I thought you wouldn’t be allowed love or marriage.”

Tamia shook her head gently, smiling.

”What kind of wicked god would forbid his priestesses from finding love?”

Damon paused.

In his mind, he had imagined strange rituals, vows of eternal devotion, lifelong solitude in the name of their deity.

She stopped walking and turned to him.

”The temple encourages us to find love. We are only required to remain pure before marriage. That rule exists to protect us, not to restrict us.”

She resumed walking.

”Have you ever fallen in love, my lord?”

Damon’s expression softened slightly.

”I have.”

”Love is painful,” Tamia said quietly. ”If you love someone, you will suffer.”

Damon thought she spoke from experience.

Before he could respond, she shook her head.

”I have never fallen in love. It is simply something the Unknown God teaches. If you love someone, you must suffer. But if that is true... why do we encourage love? Does our god want us to suffer?”

Damon didn’t have an answer.

He thought of Lilith. Of Ishana. Of bonds that were not romantic yet powerful enough to shape lives.

”Maybe he isn’t just talking about romance,” Wendy said at last.

They both looked at her.

”Love between couples is what people think of first. But what about love between a mother and child? Siblings? Friends? Your home? If you love, you will suffer. I know that first hand.”

Damon’s chest tightened slightly.

He was the reason for that suffering.

’Wendy...’

Tamia was silent for a while. Then she smiled.

”You are very insightful, my lord. Many demons have come here. All of them dismiss love as weakness. Except you.”

”Yeah, well,” Damon said lightly, trying to brush the weight away, ”not everyone likes talking about their feelings. But your philosophy is interesting.”

Tamia’s smile widened slightly.

They passed beneath a wide stone arch.

”Then allow me to properly introduce you to the Snake Temple. This is the oldest temple in the world.”

The moment they crossed the archway, the scenery shifted.

The gardens faded behind them, replaced by polished white stone and towering pillars. The air grew cooler, quieter, reverent.

Before them stood two enormous statues.

One was unmistakable: the Goddess of Doom.

Beside her stood another figure.

A woman Damon recognized immediately.

He had seen this statue once before, long ago, when he had accompanied Lilith to the temple where she received her stigmata.

Tamia gestured toward it.

”That is Lolth. The Demon of Salvation.”

”The Demon of Salvation...”

Damon remembered the name carved beneath the statue from long ago. He had seen it before, but never dared to truly look at it. Never dared to appraise it.

He had learned the hard way that true beings did not like being examined.

His gaze shifted instead to the figure beside it.

The Goddess of Doom.

Her face was hidden behind a thin veil. Her posture that of a widow in mourning. In one hand, she held a bleeding heart. In the other, a sword pointed downward as though the war had already ended and all that remained was burial.

Just looking at her filled Damon with a suffocating certainty.

Death. War. Endings.

This was not a goddess of wrath or destruction.

This was the goddess of the end.

Then his eyes drifted to the other statue.

And the feeling changed completely.

Where Doom felt like a funeral, this figure felt like a sunrise after a lifetime of darkness.

Hope.

Warmth.

Joy.

A quiet, impossible belief that things could be better.

Damon felt his shoulders loosen without realizing it. His breathing grew calmer. For a fleeting moment, he felt like a child again, staring at the sky and believing all his dreams could still come true.

”What... is she?” he muttered.

Tamia looked at the statue with a soft smile, as though she were looking at an old friend.

”Worshiping a Demon King is blasphemy. That crosses into the territory of gods. Only gods should be worshiped. Though... the Unknown God is both, which leaves a grey area no one quite knows how to handle.”

She folded her hands gently in front of her.

”So we honor demons. And worship gods.”

She glanced at Damon.

”We honor the Unknown God. And so too, his brides.”

Damon frowned slightly and turned to her.

”His brides? I thought only Doom was...”

”Yes. She is,” Tamia said. ”But she is not the only one.”

She turned fully to face him.

”A bride of the Demon God does not always mean a wife. A bride is simply someone destined to be married.”

Damon’s brow furrowed.

Tamia’s eyes returned to the statue.

”It is said that long ago, before our goddess created this world, she was once a mortal. A woman born with an attribute that marked her as the bride of a god that did not yet exist.”

Her voice lowered slightly.

”She became the object of fascination for many ancient beings. Many... curious old ones.”

Damon listened in silence.

”She rose to power. But on the verge of becoming a true being, something changed. She was filled with hatred for the Unknown God. In that hatred, she stole the divine spark of Lolth... and ascended into godhood.”

Damon’s eyes widened slightly.

”And Lolth?”

Tamia’s smile returned, faint and strange.

”Lolth wished only to be closer to the Unknown God. So she accepted becoming a demon in her place.”

She gestured toward the statues.

”That is why we have a Goddess of Doom... and a Demon of Salvation.”

A quiet breath left Damon’s lips.

”The Goddess of Doom was supposed to be a demon...” he said slowly.

Tamia nodded.

”We could have had a Goddess of Salvation.”