My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger

Chapter 954: Chapter 955: First Wave

And of course, the moment Matia face appeared, another siren transformed.

His hands trembled.

His subconscious was betraying him.

The next siren became Wendy.

Then another shifted into Leona.

This had to stop.

Damon covered his face.

“Matia!”

His voice cracked.

“Kill them. Kill them all. I can’t look anymore. Just do it!”

Matia didn’t hesitate.

Wendy, meanwhile, snickered quietly.

“You use women for your fantasies and then order their deaths.”

She shook her head dramatically.

“Classic noble behavior.”

Damon stared at the sky in silent agony.

Oh, the injustice.

The men in the other boats slowly closed their eyes.

Some of them even saluted.

“I wish I was this brave,” one whispered.

“Vice Commander, you’re my role model.”

“I knew he was a legend from the first time I met him.”

Damon heard every word and felt absolutely no pride.

Meanwhile Matia stepped off the boat.

Her small foot touched the water and the sea instantly froze solid beneath her. Frost spread outward in a rapid circle, turning the waves into thick ice.

She drew her sword.

With one clean swing, a beautiful siren’s head flew through the air.

Blood sprayed across the frozen water.

Ironically, the first one she killed was the siren that had taken Lilith Astranova’s form.

Matia did not stop.

Her body blurred.

Ice erupted outward from her blade as she moved, turning into a storm of razor sharp frozen hail mixed with splattering blood. The sirens barely had time to scream before they were cut apart.

Their song ended abruptly.

There was nowhere for them to flee.

The sea itself had become their prison.

Matia had frozen everything around them, sealing the water all the way to the jagged cliffs ahead. Trapped on the ice, the sirens could only die where they stood.

Within moments every last one of them was slaughtered.

Silence returned to the sea.

But something useful had come from the massacre.

The water between the boats and the cliff was now completely frozen, forming a solid path of ice.

There was no longer any need for the boats.

The expedition gathered together on the frozen surface.

Damon raised his hand.

’Ashborn.’

Dark flames erupted across the abandoned boats.

The wood ignited instantly, black fire devouring the vessels until nothing remained but drifting ash and smoke. No evidence was left behind.

Once the last boat collapsed into embers, the group turned toward the cliffs.

The rock wall towered above them.

Steep.

Jagged.

Dozens of meters high.

For a normal person it would have been an exhausting climb.

Damon simply bent his knees.

Then he jumped.

The ground cracked beneath his feet as he launched upward, soaring through the air before landing smoothly at the top of the cliff in a single bound.

For the first time, his boots touched the soil of the Demon Continent.

The moment it happened, something inside him stirred.

His heart thumped once.

Deep within him, the Seed of Depravity trembled.

An invisible wave of energy spread outward across the land like a silent pulse.

Far away, in a distant fortress, Paimon suddenly opened her eyes.

Her expression stiffened.

“Huh… what was that?”

She closed her eyes again, extending her senses across the land.

For a moment she felt nothing.

Then a messenger rushed in with urgent news.

“The first wave of enemies has landed on the coast!”

Paimon frowned slightly.

“One hundred thousand soldiers…”

She leaned back in her chair.

“They’re really going all out for the first wave.”

*****************

Ships stretched across the horizon as far as the eye could see.

Each vessel carried different seals and sigils carved into their hulls. Massive magic formations glowed along their decks, ancient arrays humming with power capable of altering the very world around them.

Soldiers stood ready aboard the ships.

They were armed in gleaming armor and carried weapons engraved with advanced rune magic. Their presence alone created a crushing pressure in the air. Thousands of battle auras mixed together into a suffocating tide of power that pressed down on the sea itself.

Above them, the sky was filled with massive metal airships.

Runic engines glowed beneath their hulls, propelling them through the air while rows of magical cannons pointed toward the land below.

Around the airships flew riders mounted on powerful magical beasts.

Wyverns.

Storm hawks.

Massive drakes.

Among them were winged fae and fairies, alongside members of the goddess races who needed no mounts to fly.

Below the water’s surface, the ocean moved with equal purpose.

Massive sea beasts swam alongside the fleet, their chains held by riders who could breathe beneath the waves. Entire formations of merfolk guided the ships through hidden reefs and treacherous currents, leading underwater armies toward the enemy shores.

And this…

Was only the first wave.

More ships continued to arrive from the distant horizon.

At the center of the fleet sailed a massive command vessel.

It was an enormous hybrid airship capable of both sailing the sea and flying through the sky. Layers of protective runes glowed across its armored hull while towers of magical artillery rotated slowly, scanning the coastline.

This was the command ship of the first wave.

Inside it stood the supreme commander of the invasion.

A young woman rested one hand on a long spear.

Her dark hair flowed behind her in the sea wind, while her crimson eyes watched the distant coastline with calm authority.

She was breathtakingly beautiful.

And absolutely terrifying.

This was Abellona of Valtheron.

The Third Princess of the Empire.

Leader of the first invasion force.

Her mission was simple.

She was the vanguard.

Her responsibility was to establish the forward base that would allow the armies of the goddess races to invade the Demon Continent.

But Abellona understood something the others did not.

This was not her true purpose.

Her army was a distraction.

A massive, flashy invasion meant to draw the eyes of the demons toward her fleet.

Away from the smaller expedition force led by Damon and Seras.

The beach ahead was quiet.

Almost peaceful.

Golden sand stretched along the coastline while waves rolled gently against the shore.

When the sun set today…

It would be buried beneath ash and blood.

Abellona stepped forward.

She raised her spear.

Her voice rang out across the fleet.

“I am Abellona of Destruction.”

The wind whipped around her cloak as she pointed the spear toward the continent.

“And I declare war in the name of the Goddess Races.”

Her arm swung forward.

“Fire!”

The world changed color.

Thousands of magical artillery cannons ignited at once.

Blinding beams of energy erupted from the fleet, streaking across the sky like a storm of falling stars.

The coastline disappeared beneath a wall of explosions.

Mountains shook.

The sea trembled.

And the Demon Continent burned before a single soldier had even set foot on its soil.