My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger

Lilith glanced at Damon as he flipped through Sylvia’s file again, her lips curling into a mocking smile.

“You really can’t handle rejection, can you? So now you’ve stooped to stalking your crush?”

Damon nearly choked on his own spit.

“Wha—what?! I—I’m just concerned about her! I just find it weird that her file is so different!”

Lilith sneered.

“And I imagine you just happened to memorize her three sizes and weight while you were investigating?”

Damon coughed, looking away.

“Ahem, I—you—I happen to have a photographic memory! So if I happen to know that her sizes are—”

Lilith rolled her eyes.

“Oh? Then what are they?”

Damon smirked.

“You couldn’t get that info out of me with torture.”

She tapped a finger on her chin, feigning thought.

“Fifty thousand zeni.”

Without hesitation, Damon exhaled.

“B88-W58-H85.”

Lilith’s grin widened.

“You really have no shame.”

Damon leaned back in his chair, completely unbothered.

“Shame doesn’t put food on the table”

she sneered. “you are a closet pervert…”

“I am a pervert—pervertedly obsessed with money.”

She picked up a book, flipping through the pages.

“You have so many vices for someone so young…”

Damon ignored her, picking up Evangeline’s profile instead.

“She has so many talents… too bad she can’t see past her own ego.”

Lilith glanced at him, tilting her head.

“Evangeline Brightwater is a high noble. Having an ego is natural.”

Damon shook his head.

“That’s not it. She doesn’t even realize she has an ego. She just expects everyone to play by her elitist rules—without even meaning to. She talks about justice, but she does nothing to change the status quo.”

Lilith chuckled softly. She could tell he wasn’t just criticizing Evangeline.

He was concerned.

“You’re worried about her.”

Damon scoffed, shaking his head.

“I can’t afford to worry about other people… It’s just—if she continues like this, blinded by her own radiance, she’ll only end up suffering.”

Lilith flipped to the next page, her eyes narrowing.

“Hmm… hey, come look at this.”

Damon glanced at the weathered old book she was reading. He sighed, standing up, his clothes slightly wrinkled from sitting too long.

He stepped behind her, close enough to catch the faint scent of gardenia —the natural fragrance she always carried. The warmth of her body radiated against him, and his shadow twitched slightly at the proximity.

“What is it?” He asked feeling somewhat weary of the long hours.

“Take a look at this. I’ve been going over all recorded accounts of spirit summoning, and I found this old book, written by an imperial scholar—Caiem van Wladimir, in 458. It documents the dark spirit Rashi Ignath.”

Damon’s face scrunched up.

Lilith continued, flipping through the brittle pages.

“It says that Rashi Ignath controls flames—dark flames that are both as hot as passion and as cold as resentment… it says and I quote… ” it shall scorch thy soul.” Furthermore…”

She held up the book. It seemed to be a scholarly work that debunked myths and legends.

“It also says that Ignath was born when Ashcroft invaded the Verdant Continent.”

Damon sighed, leaning back.

“Yeah, except that’s just a myth. Ashcroft isn’t even supposed to exist. This whole book is useless—it debunks itself.”

She nodded.

“Yes, but—if you cross-reference it with this—” she tapped another book, “—you can actually glean something important. But that’s not what I’m trying to show you.”

She pointed back at Wladimir’s account.

“He wrote that the dark spirit didn’t just appear in the Evil Forest. It possessed a vessel—a person—to carry out its power. The longer it had, the more it acclimated to the host, eventually creating a projection of itself to fight while it hid in the vessel. Until, finally, the host was completely taken over.”

Damon’s expression darkened as he looked at the old sketches of what the dark spirit was supposed to look like.

“So, according to this, if they had stopped the vessel before full possession, they could’ve prevented the tragedy…”

Lilith nodded grimly.

“And that means we just identified the dark spirit being summoned.”

Damon sighed. “That doesn’t really help us, though, does it?”

She shook her head. “It does. The book also states that this spirit cannot possess someone unless there’s a gap in their heart—an emotional wound, doubt, desire… something it can exploit.”

Damon’s eyes widened slightly as realization hit him.

“So you’re saying… the reason the other vessels failed wasn’t just because they were weak. They also didn’t have a big enough hole in their heart.”

He held his chin in thought.

“When I was a kid, back to back used to tell me—if you let goosebumps appear on your skin, you open yourself to possession.”

Lilith nodded. “A lot of emotions make your hair stand on end. But fear is one of the strongest. That’s why most of the attacks happened at night—to scare the targets.”

Damon nodded slowly.

“As the attacks continued, the summoner collected more data and refined their methods. Repetition is the mother of learning. But…” His brow furrowed. “The attacks stopped two days ago.”

Lilith closed the book.

“That means one of two things—they’re preparing for something… or they ran out of a crucial ingredient.”

Damon looked at her sharply, he was curious. “Which ingredient?”

Lilith turned her gaze back to him, her cold smile sending a chill down his spine.

“Your blood.”

Damon blinked.

“That’s right… I haven’t gotten into any fights or deadly training lately. The summoner must’ve run out of the blood they scooped up from the ground last time.”

Lilith stood up from her chair, her voice quiet but firm.

“That—and they’ve found a vessel that meets all the requirements. A hole in their heart, and a lot of spirit affinity.”

She smiled coldly, her fingers clenched.

“Which means they’ll be making their move soon. And we still have no suspects. Just speculation.”

She turned to him, her fists clenched, her eyes weary but determined.

“You’re going to be a target. So no matter what—don’t leave my sight.”